Spinnova H1'25 flash comment: Termination of Suzano cooperation completed yesterday as planned

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 8/28/2025 at 9:16 am EEST.

Source: Inderes

Spinnova released its H1 report this morning. For a development company like Spinnova, short-term numbers are of secondary importance, so our attention in the report was particularly drawn to the comments on technological development and the new strategy announced in June. On this note, the company provided reassuring news yesterday when it announced that it had signed agreements with Suzano regarding the purchase of Woodspin and Suzano Finland, as well as other matters related to the arrangement (incl. the removal of exclusivity rights and Suzano's 5 MEUR capital contribution to the purchased companies) in accordance with the letter of intent announced in June. Overall, based on our preliminary assessment, the report does not contain any significant surprises in relation to market expectations.  

Agreements to terminate Suzano cooperation signed yesterday

Spinnova announced yesterday that it had signed agreements to terminate its cooperation with Suzano. These agreements are being implemented in accordance with the previously announced letter of intent but, of course, the signing of the final agreements removes any uncertainty surrounding the situation. Under the agreements, Spinnova will buy Woodspin, which was previously jointly owned by the companies, as well as Suzano Finland (MFC processing), which is owned by Suzano, at a nominal price. In addition, Suzano will invest 5 MEUR in the acquired companies, and Suzano's exclusive position as Spinnova's partner in wood pulp-based materials will expire. In our opinion, the overall outcome was positive for Spinnova, considering the difficult starting point for the negotiations. We commented on Spinnova's new strategy and the letter of intent in June here.

No significant additional information was provided in the report regarding strategy and its focus areas

Otherwise, Spinnova's comments on the implementation of the strategy and its focus areas were consistent with the June strategy update, and the report did not contain any noteworthy additional information, at least at first glance. In 2025-2026, Spinnova will focus particularly on reducing the production and investment costs of its technology, which is critical for the success and pace of commercial scaling. In addition, Spinnova aims to build an international business consortium around its technology that would collaborate to scale it for commercial production. In moderately positive news, however, the company announced that implementation of its own MFC production is nearing completion. This is significant for development work progress because MFC production plays a key role in the process and was previously carried out by Suzano for the wood pulp-based material. Comments regarding the development work of Respin, jointly owned by Spinnova and ECCO, were limited.  

Net cash at end of H1 was roughly in line with our expectations 

Spinnova's revenue in H1 was minimal, roughly in line with expectations, as the company did not have any technology delivery projects underway. The income statement losses were exacerbated by the non-cash write-down of Woodspin shares, which was anticipated and forecasted, though the loss was slightly smaller than we expected. In terms of cash flow, the report was roughly in line with our expectations, although investments remained very low. As a result, Spinnova's net cash position at the end of H1 was 33 MEUR, which was quite close to our projected level. Consequently, the company's financial position remains secure in the short term. However, due to the prolonged technology development phase (i.e., negative cash flow) and pending capital requirements, we suspect that the company will require additional financing this decade before it can achieve positive cash flow.