AAK’s Interim report for the third quarter 2016 – all-time high operating profit


· Operating profit, excluding acquisition costs of SEK 15 million, reached SEK
431 million (376), an improvement of 15 percent and an all-time high record.
This despite a currency translation impact of negative SEK 10 million (positive
27), mainly related to Food Ingredients.

  · Total volumes continued to grow nicely and were up 11 percent (2). Organic
volume growth was 4 percent (2). The demand for speciality and semi-speciality
products was strong, generating organic volume growth of 5 percent (2).

  · Food Ingredients improved by 9 percent, reaching SEK 251 million (230). The
picture between the different segments was mixed, with several showing very good
development:
- The Dairy segment continued its trend and reported, yet again, solid organic
volume growth.
- The Bakery segment, however, had another challenging quarter. Volumes
continued to decline, although at a slower pace than during the year’s first two
quarters.
- Infant Nutrition reported strong double-digit volume growth. This was
particularly driven by an extraordinary volume growth for our product range
Akonino® but also by InFat®, sold through Advanced Lipids AB, a joint venture of
AAK and Enzymotec.
- Foodservice reported organic volume growth with good development particularly
in the U.K., the U.S. and the Nordics.

  · Chocolate & Confectionery Fats reported a result of SEK 190 million (166),
an improvement of 14 percent.
- Total volumes increased by 23 percent (4) and organic volume growth was 15
percent (4).
- We saw continued organic volume growth for both high-end and low-end products
with the latter showing particularly strong growth after some challenging
quarters.
- After two years of severely deteriorating market conditions in Russia and
Ukraine, the strong growth during the first two quarters continued, but still
from relatively low levels.

  · Technical Products & Feed reached SEK 24 million (11). Last year’s low
result was, as communicated at the time, due to a planned and extended
maintenance stop.

  · Earnings per share were stable at SEK 6.00 (6.03). Increased financial costs
due to extended borrowings in high-interest rate countries (Brazil, China and
India) and increased earnings in countries with high tax rates had a very
unfavorable impact on earnings per share.

  · Operating cash flow including changes in working capital amounted to
negative SEK 135 million (258). Cash flow from working capital was negative,
amounting to SEK 467 million (negative 81). This was, as expected and
communicated, due to the substantially increased raw material prices during the
last quarters, combined with working capital tied up for the two large
greenfield investments.

  · Calculated on a rolling 12 months basis, Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
was however unchanged, 15.7 percent (15.7 percent at December 31, 2015).

  · As communicated earlier, AAK has during the third quarter acquired the
leading U.S. West Coast based vegetable oils company California Oils Corporation
from Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan. California Oils Corporation, also known as
CalOils, had last year revenues of approximately SEK 1,350 million and a volume
of approximately 110,000 MT.

  · Our new factory in Brazil, which was inaugurated during the second quarter,
is progressing according to plan. Some limited volumes have been delivered. To
be able to deliver the whole product range a gradual ramp-up will continue
during the coming quarters. Our China greenfield project also continues to
develop according to plan.

Concluding remarks:
“Based on AAK’s customer value propositions for health and reduced costs, and
our customer product co-development and solutions approach, we continue to
remain prudently optimistic about the future”, says Arne Frank, CEO and
President, AAK Group. “The main drivers are the continued positive underlying
development in Food Ingredients and the continued improvement in Chocolate &
Confectionery Fats.”

The Interim report for the third quarter 2016 will be presented today, October
26, 2016 at 1 p.m. CET at a Press & Analyst telephone conference. For
participation, please see instructions under the Investor tab at the AAK
website, www.aak.com.

For further information, please contact:
Fredrik Nilsson
CFO
Mobile: +46 708 95 22 21
E-mail: fredrik.nilsson@aak.com

This information is information that AAK AB (publ.) is obliged to make public
pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Markets Act. The
information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact
person set out above, at 08:50 a.m. CET on October 26, 2016.



AAK is a leading provider of value-adding vegetable oils & fats. Our expertise
in oils & fats within food applications, our wide range of raw materials and our
broad process capabilities enable us to develop innovative and value-adding
solutions across many industries – Chocolate & Confectionery, Bakery, Dairy,
Infant Nutrition, Foodservice, Personal Care, and more. AAK’s proven expertise
is based on more than 140 years of experience within oils & fats. Our unique co
-development approach brings our customers’ skills and know-how together with
our own capabilities and mindset for lasting results. Listed on the NASDAQ OMX
Stockholm and with our headquarters in Malmö, Sweden, AAK has 20 different
production facilities, sales offices in more than 25 countries and more than
2,800 employees. We are AAK – The Co-Development Company.

Attachments

10260169.pdf Press release_Q3 2016_ENG_2016-10-26.pdf