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Very strong, particularly when you consider the challenges
we faced during the year. We continue to deliver double-digit
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management ambition, and we have now had 28 straight
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quarter as well as a record-high full-year result every year
since 2010. That is quite impressive.
The organic growth for our speciality and semi-speciality
solutions continued during 2017 and with 5 percent organic
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as continued our effective cost control with
annual productivity improvements.
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in 2016, mainly due to the acquisition of California Oils
Corporation and higher raw material prices, we have in 2017
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the fact that the Group’s capital expenditure continued to be
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in China as well as investments for increasing our capacity
to meet the strong demand from our customers. We expect
capital expenditure to be at a slightly higher level in 2018
compared to 2017.
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Good working capital management has impacted cash
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organic volume growth, a net negative impact from higher
raw material prices, and working capital tied up for our new
factories in Brazil and China. Our focus on working capital
days continues and some further improvements should be
possible, particularly relating to payment terms with our
suppliers and late payments from some customers.
AAK strives to pay a stable dividend linked to the company’s
long-term performance, and for the sixth year in a row
we increased the dividend paid. Total paid dividend was SEK
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+RZGR\RXDOORFDWHFDSLWDO"
We always try to maximize our ability to invest in growth
and create a higher shareholder return. To ensure we
can continue to grow, we want to have a strong balance
sheet and be well capitalized with a net debt/EBITDA
ratio lower than 3.
The dividend policy for the company is to have a
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cally, the payout ratio has been around 35 percent.
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cant amounts in organic growth, built two new
factories, and expanded others to secure that
we have enough capacity to meet the strong
demand for our solutions. The company will
continue to invest in organic growth, both in
equipment and in our employees, to secure
that we can continue to be the co-development
partner to our customers.
We also have an ambition to continue to
grow through mergers and acquisitions, either to
expand our geographical footprint and get closer
to our customers or to invest in technology that
adds even more value to our unique customer
co-developed solutions.