credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings says a new report from Gotham City Research Grifols may have a negative impact on its access to short-term debt capital markets.
“We think that the allegations made by the bass players are unfounded. may impact market sentiment in the short term and impact Grifols’ position in credit markets,” S&P analysts said.
The rating concluded: “This could lead to difficulties for Grifols to access the debt capital market and have potential impacts on liquidity. However, despite the negative impact of bearish reports, the group’s healthy cash generation underlines its credit position.” company.
S&P Global Ratings took a protective decision Grifols’ long-term issuer rating remained unchanged at ‘B+’ They also set a ‘stable’ outlook, given the company’s deleveraging expectations for 2024.
“The deleveraging path for 2024 remains as planned, thanks to the recovery of the group’s operating performance from better fundamentals in the global plasma market and cost-saving measures,” the firm emphasized.
In this way, S&P adjusted EBITDA margin It will remain close to 22% this year, compared to 18% in 2023. The sale of shares in Shanghai RAAS to Haier will also contribute to deleveraging.
In this regard, the analysis house thinks that: Cash generation will be positive by the end of 2023 and recover further in 2024after going negative in 2022 due to working capital and inventory requirements.
The risk rating agency estimates that the company’s leverage will increase to 5.6x by the end of 2024, compared to almost 9x recorded in 2023. “We remain confident in the company’s ability to meet liquidity needs over the next 12 months,” S&P analysts said.
The ‘stable’ outlook on Grifols’ rating reflects S&P’s view that credit metrics will improve slightly, thanks to a global recovery in the plasma market that will support sales and EBITDA.
In any case, benefits in 2024 will be better than expected in 2023 due to the costs of the expense savings program. “Profitability decreased during the pandemic period due to the disruption of blood collection centers, especially in the USAThis created imbalance in global plasma markets.”
Looking ahead, S&P warned that if Haier decides to pull out of its acquisition of Shanghai RAAS, it would create “some difficulties” in refinancing Grifols’ bonds maturing in May 2025.