Investing.com — stock is down 7.3% during today’s session after the Finnish chemicals company issued a profit warning and lowered its 2026 profitability outlook, citing higher raw material and logistics costs linked to the prolonged conflict in Iran.
The company now expects 2026 revenue of €2.6 billion to €3.0 billion and operative EBITDA of €400 million to €500 million.
As a result, the stock touched a new 52-week low of €15.29 intraday as persistent selling pressure from today’s news as well as a weak Q1 2026 earnings report continues to erode investor confidence in the Finnish specialty chemicals company.
The April 24 interim results revealed that first-quarter EPS of €0.29 missed the consensus estimate of approximately €0.32, while revenue fell 4% year-on-year to €677.3 million and operative EBITDA dropped 13% to €117.3 million — with the margin shrinking to 17.3% from 19.1% in the prior-year period.
CEO Antti Salminen described the quarter as dominated by a “really weak global economy” and escalating geopolitical tensions that created strong headwinds across the business, particularly in the Packaging & Hygiene Solutions segment, where the operative EBITDA margin compressed to 10.1% from 12.0%. Adding to the pressure, analysts have been trimming their price targets in the aftermath of the results, with Danske Bank issuing a downgrade and the consensus target declining from €22.65 to €21.80, reflecting more cautious assumptions on revenue growth and profit margins going forward.
The broader market context offers little relief, with the NASDAQ declining and the S&P 500 also trading in negative territory today, reinforcing a risk-off tone that tends to disproportionately affect mid-cap industrial and specialty chemicals names.
Kemira’s full-year 2026 guidance — with a wide revenue range of €2,600–€3,000 million and operative EBITDA of €470–€570 million — has itself been interpreted as a signal of significant uncertainty, as the company also flagged that raw material cost increases (particularly oil derivatives, which represent roughly one-third of its cost base) and ongoing foreign exchange headwinds could further pressure margins.
The combination of a meaningful earnings miss, deteriorating segment profitability, analyst downgrades, elevated input costs, and a cautious macro environment has created a compounding negative feedback loop for Kemira shares today, pushing the stock to levels not seen in over a year and raising questions about whether the company can return to its operative EBITDA margin target range of 18–21% on a quarterly basis in the near term.
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