Brazil's Suzano posts core profit, net revenue above estimates in Q4

SAO PAULO, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Brazilian pulp maker Suzano SUZB3.SA on Tuesday posted a core profit and a net revenue for the fourth quarter above analysts' expectations, while also announcing a new share buyback program and its market pulp strategy for the year.

KEY EARNINGS DETAILS

• Core profit, or adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), stood at 5.58 billion reais, down 14% year-on-year.

• However, analysts in a LSEG poll expected a lower result of 5.36 billion reais ($1.03 billion) for the quarter.

• Suzano attributed the core profit fall to a lower average net pulp price and the depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the Brazilian real in the period.

• Net profit of 116 million reais reversed a 6.7 billion real loss, on the back of lower net financial expenses.

• Net revenue fell 8% to 13.1 billion reais, but beat the 12.5 billion expected by analysts.

• Volumes of pulp sold by Suzano rose 4% to 3.4 million metric tons; paper sales increased 10% to about 474,000 tons.

• In a separate filing, Suzano launched a share buyback program of up to 40 million shares to be carried out within a 18-month period.

• It also said it decided to maintain its market pulp production volume throughout 2026 at about 3.5% lower than its nominal annual capacity.

($1 = 5.1920 reais)