Faced with rapidly changing global market, Bluestar Elkem and Bluestar Adisseo, two overseas listed companies of China National Bluestar (Group) Co., Ltd., worked tenaciously and scored new achievements in 2021. Bluestar Elkem achieved the best annual performance in its hundred-year history, and the sales of liquid methionine and specialty products of Bluestar Adisseo increased tremendously, both accumulating new driving forces for their high-quality development in 2022.

Bluestar Elkem: best annual performance in its hundred-year history, with business operation recognized by professional rating agencies

In Q4 2021, Bluestar Elkem’s operating revenue reached a record high of NOK 10.40 billion, a year-on-year increase of 46%, and its EBITDA hit NOK 3.06 billion, up more than three times year-on-year, with earnings per share being NOK 3.11. The full year registered a total annual operating income of NOK 33.72 billion and EBITDA of NOK 7.80 billion, with earnings per share standing at NOK 7.49, the best annual performance in the 100 years since the establishment of the company.

The good performance was attributed to the strong sales of the company's major business segments. In the fourth quarter of last year, the shortage of silicon and ferrosilicon led to a record-high price, which greatly boosted the sales performance. Good profits from carbon business were also closely related to strong market demand.

As a pioneer of environmental protection, Bluestar Elkem also has outstanding performance in carbon emission reduction. In October 2021, the company released its global climate program, which promised to reduce the carbon footprint of products by 39% by 2031, and finally achieve the long-term goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. If successful, it will subvert the operation mode of the global silicon industry. Implementation of the program will be started in 2022-2024, with financial support from the Research Council of Norway. On November 15, 2021, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St?re inaugurated the Bluestar Elkem Salten energy recovery plant, one of the most energy-efficient silicon production plants in the world. On February 1, 2022 Bluestar Elkem acquired 100% ownership of the Salten energy recovery plant.

As of December 31, 2021, Bluestar Elkem had a net asset value of NOK 19.87 billion, accounting for 47% of total assets. In December 2021, the company received a BBB/stable issuer rating from Scope Ratings. The rating reflects Bluestar Elkem's good financial condition, its solid position in the global silicone and advanced materials market, and the company’s footprint in global steady development.

Helge Aasen, CEO of Bluestar Elkem, said, “The company achieved record results in the fourth quarter of 2021 and the best annual performance in the company’s 100-year history for the full year, thanks to continuous improvement, careful strategic choices, and strong capital and market position built over time. Looking ahead to 2022, we expect even stronger market demand for Bluestar Elkem’s products, driven by the Group's strong market position, while our integrated value chain provides a sustainable competitive advantage and sets the stage for a steadily profitable future.”

Bluestar Adisseo: Full-year net profit up 9%, with strong sales growth in both liquid methionine and specialty products

In 2021, Bluestar Adisseo’s full-year revenue and net income attributable to shareholders amounted to RMB 12.87 billion and RMB 1.47 billion, up 8% and 9% year-on-year, respectively. The steady growth was mainly because liquid methionine sales increased 23% and the sales of specialty products grew by 12%. The global sales network and balanced industrial layout of Bluestar Adisseo enabled the company to fully understand and grasp the global business trends. Proactive product price management, rapidly responsive product supply and continuous efficiency improvement helped the company partially offset the adverse impact of sharp increases in the cost of energy and raw materials in 2021, especially in the fourth quarter.

The growth in liquid methionine sales was attributed to strong market demand in all regions of the world, especially Latin America, the Indian subcontinent and Europe. Despite the shortages of raw materials and energy supply, the Burgos plant in Spain and the Nanjing plant in China maintained highly stable operations. Continued capacity expansion has helped Bluestar Adisseo to further strengthen its leading position in the methionine industry. The second phase of the Nanjing liquid methionine plant, with an annual capacity of 180,000 tons, is progressing well, having achieved 6 million hours of zero-accident operation, and is well into the pre-commissioning phase, with commissioning expected to start in the second half of 2022. The debottlenecking project of the European methionine plant with an additional capacity of 30,000 tons has been in full-capacity production since the trial run in September 2021.

In 2021, revenue from the segment of specialty products grew 12% year-on-year, to RMB 3.16 billion, with significant sales growth of 62% and 16% in China and Latin America, respectively. Sales of ruminant food additives grew by 15%; the synergetic benefits of FRAmelco business integration and the sales of Selisseo increased by 31%; the global palatable products and aquatic products achieved sales growth of 11% and 13% respectively; digestion-promoting products benefited from the further improvement of market penetration and saw double-digit sales growth in the fourth quarter.

Bluestar Adisseo’s “Integration Strategy in China”, which was launched in 2020, is progressing smoothly with significant results. The company’s specialty products capacity expansion project in China entered the basic engineering design phase in December 2021 and is expected to be commissioned in 2023. The newly-built research, development and innovation center in Nanjing, China was put into operation in early 2022. The company’s precision nutritional analysis (PNE) service was awarded the 2021 Sino-French Teamwork Innovation Award in November 2021. Calysseo, a joint venture between Bluestar Adisseo and Calysta, is steadily progressing with the first large-scale production unit for Feikang? innovative protein products. Nearly 90% of the construction work on the project has been completed and the milestone of approximately 900,000 man-hours with zero incidents has been achieved. Engineering and procurement are nearing completion, preparations for commissioning are on schedule, and the project is expected to be in production by the end of 2022.

Vice Chairman and CEO of Bluestar Adisseo Jean-Marc Dublanc said, “We are committed to contributing to China’s commitment to carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 by promoting the green development of the industry with our innovative products and services. In 2022, we will achieve rapid business growth by providing value-creating products and services, despite the risks of coronavirus mutations and supply chain disruptions. We have demonstrated our ability to deliver on our commitments and resilience in the face of adversity over the past several years, and are confident that we will continue to ride the wave in 2022!”