Beijer Alma Aktie

Welcome to the Beijer Alma Q1 Report Presentation. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO, Johnny Alvarsson; and CFO, Peter Forslund. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Hello, everybody. Good morning, everybody. We will start -- I will start now talking about the general market demand as we have seen it during the first quarter of 2026.

And if we start in the United States, where we have 4 companies working, we can see an improvement in the market compared to last quarter in 2025. The general market has improved, and that goes more or less all over our customers for the U.S. And then if we move to Europe, excluding the Nordic, the market has been very stable demand compared to last quarter. And then if we continue East to Asia, same story, stable market. And finally, if we go to the Nordic region, it's been an improved market and that depending on the large customers we have in the Nordic has also improved their sales and the request from components from us.

Then in Beijer Components, finally, the aftermarket business has been rather stable, a little bit lower turnover, but basically about the same level as same period last year. Then if we move to Beijer Tech, we have niche companies and some of them are doing extremely well. And generally, I should say that it's a mix in those companies. Some have received orders for -- maybe for the whole year more or less. And the development is very good. So overall, it has been a good quarter for our business.

And we have improved our margin according to what we promised a 15% increase in EBITA, and that's where we are the first quarter at least. And -- so I think that we are on the right track for the future. What we did not have done is any acquisitions in the quarter. And we have projects going on in Beijer Tech, and we started up new resources in end of this quarter for Beijer Components. So we expect there will come acquisitions later on this year and hopefully also in Q2.

And by this, I think I'll leave over to Peter to talk about the financial performance.

Yes. Thank you. A short comment then on the Beijer Components side. Then if you look at the net revenue, we have an effect from the action plan that we had last year, meaning that we have a drop in the top line based on that we have ceased some of the nonprofitable or less profitable deals affecting top line in Beijer Components in the quarter with around SEK 50 million. Johnny has talked around the demand. I think it's good to point out the profitability that we are now at 19.4% on the EBITA level. I will comment a little bit on where that comes from a little bit later.

Moving over to the Beijer Tech side. So here, we see a stable quarter with good demand coming from several companies. If you look at the Industrial Products, it's a little bit cautious still on the industrial demand side, but both Fluid and Niche are performing on a high level. We have a backlog effect that we have talked about a little bit in the Beijer Tech coming from that we have done investment in some of the companies within Niche Technologies, and they delivered very strongly, but that effect is still there in Q1. It's smaller than in Q4, and it will decrease sequentially over the remainder of the year from that.

Going in and commenting a little bit more on the financial performance. If we look at the order booking side, it's -- we have an increase in the order booking side. We have talked about this a little bit in the calls that we have had previously that in Beijer Tech, the order booking can vary a little bit from quarter-to-quarter. This quarter, we have an organic growth in order bookings in Beijer Tech with around 8%. And that is partly done because we have had one of these positive swings where one of the companies have got a large bulk order during the quarter, driving up the organic growth within the order bookings. So underlying order booking is more according to the organic growth in net revenue rather than the one in order bookings. But these effects will continue to have from quarter-to-quarter, a little bit here and there.

Looking at the EPS or earnings per share, we see a very solid growth from SEK 2.60 up to SEK 3.40. It's coming, of course, from the profitability going through, but it also comes from lower interest rates and better financing conditions as we renegotiated terms last year, and that was also a onetime item affecting comparability in Q1 '25.

Let's then move over to the financial results a little bit more in detail. If you look at the profitability in Beijer Components, you have a little bit of a positive mix effect coming from Chassis, if you look at sequentially from Q4. We have a higher portion of the revenues in the Chassis area this time. We also see within Beijer Components that we have a profitability improvement compared to last year in all geographical areas, meaning that it's not, so to say, directed only to 1 or 2 regions, but it's a broad-based increase in profitability.

We have talked about the action plan measures. Important to remember that we expect a similar effect in the second quarter compared to the second quarter last year. Alcomex has been a topic on these calls for a longer time. We say that Alcomex is developing according to plan after the actions taken in the action plan last year. Profitability has sequentially improved.

On the Beijer Tech side, we have commented on that specifically, but I think worth just mentioning is that the quarter is affected by lower transaction costs in Q1 this year compared to last year, as Johnny said, that we have not closed any acquisitions. So great. That was a little bit more on the in-depth financial side.

Let's move over to a little bit on the cash flow and capital efficiency. On the cash flow in the first quarter, the seasonal pattern repeats as we have expected. This is following the trend from the last couple of years based on yearly rebates in the Chassis Springs, but also that we -- say sales build up in the first quarter compared to the fourth quarter.

Looking at the capital efficiency, one of our 2 financial targets where we've set a target level of 50%. Here, we are then showing an increase based mainly then on a solid EBITA growth.

Going into a little bit on the financial position. We see that we have a financial strength to continue to invest and achieve the targets we've set. There is headroom for acquisitions when the time is right. And the net debt to EBITDA, we have a fairly stable ratio there. So that was what I had in mind on the financial position.

Johnny, I hand back to you if you want to say something more about acquisitions.

Yes. We are -- as I say, Beijer Tech, as you know, have been doing a number of acquisitions every year, and same procedures last year. Now we didn't have anything during this first quarter, but we have projects going on. And we have started up this model where we try to use Beijer Components organization to find acquisitions out in first time -- firstly in Europe. And that work started actually 1st of March. So I expect that we will have some result of that during the year, but it will take a time before you build up the relations with people around in Europe and also with our own people, so they start to look for acquisition targets. The work is going on. And as I said, I hope something will materialize during this year in that area. But -- and we have the financial positions to do probably more than we can find of nice acquisitions.

Great. So, Johnny, summarize the quarter shortly.

Yes. It's -- January and February was slow, but then it was really like a boom in March. And that is what we can see more or less all over our markets. And we have not seen any effects of the turmoil in the general environment so far. And nobody knows what's going to happen in the coming quarters. So we have to wait and see and adapt the situation. We have seen some kind of mentions that there will be some price increases in some materials, but we don't know yet. And -- but we will try to follow that and we adapt to price increases from our suppliers and transfer that to our customers.

And by that, I think it's time for Q&A.

Yes, let's go to Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Max Bacco from SEB.

Well done in the quarter. Just 3 quite short questions from my side. First, the strength here in March, have you seen that it has spilled over or continued in April as well, if you could comment on that?

To be honest, we don't know really. It's too early to say.

Okay. I understand. And then I noted in the report, and I think you, Peter highlighted as well that net financials clearly down here year-over-year. And in the report, you said it was explained by lower market interest rates and improved financing terms as well. Is there anything else in that number that explains the decrease, which is more perhaps of a nonrecurring nature?

No. At some point, you could have, sort of say, a little bit of revaluation effect on cash sitting in different locations affecting it SEK 1 million or SEK 2 million at each direction. But there is no other sort of say, onetime effect really in that number, no.

Okay. Perfect. And then the final one, you mentioned it here in the report and the presentation that some SEK 50 million has been lost within Beijer Components due to actively phasing out low-margin businesses and activities. Is it a similar impact on the order intake as well, SEK 50 million?

Both yes and no. I mean in the quarter, that's the picture. But if you look at the order intake in the second quarter, then, of course, a part of it is not -- has already come if you take the comparison figure. But roughly, you have a timing effect, of course, from the order to the delivery. So the longer we get -- you lose a little bit of the similarity.

The next question comes from Anton Ingves from Nordea.

Anton here from Nordea. Starting off here, you mentioned the pickup in demand for heavy vehicles in the quarter within the Industrial segment. Is there any other end markets here that stands out in either way?

No. I should say it's in United States, it's a general market has improved. We noticed that in Q4, it seems like many customers were waiting to place orders depending on -- they were unsecure about the political situation in the United States. And now in Q1, they actually have put the orders to us. And I think it's -- I don't know, but my conclusion could be we have to continue with the industry regardless what happens politically. That's kind of trend. I mean we cannot sit and wait what's the next words coming from U.S. around what's happening in the world. Industry has to continue.

Perfect. Very clear. And then going a bit over here to Alcomex, which you mentioned here. But kind of how close are you to a margin level where you are satisfied in relative terms, could you give some flavor of how much have you done and how much is still expected here going forward?

We still have some -- we are closing businesses still in that area. So we will see the full effect end of this year. But it's positive now. It's going in the right direction, but we are not on a double-digit level yet.

And if we look a bit longer term to perhaps a 20% margin level in Beijer Components. Is that one of the key things here? Or what's the other main drivers here to get up to 20%?

Well, it's -- I mean, the market. And of course, when we have removed nonprofitable businesses as we have done, I mean, we are very close to that 20% already now. So if the market continues and the actions we are doing, then I think we will be there at some time.

Perfect. And then just one final, if I may, here. The strong margin here in Beijer Tech, what's the main driver? Is it Niche Technologies? Or is it just a broad improvement in all segments here year-over-year?

I would say it's a broad improvement. Yes, of course, that the Niche is doing fine is, of course, helping in that sense. And also the lower transaction cost is also helping on the margin on that side. So you have a little bit of mix. But of course, some of the bigger companies are performing well, that helps, yes.

The next question comes from Carl Korsheden from DNB Carnegie.

Just a few follow-ups here from my side. If we look a bit into M&A, you talked a little bit about Beijer Components here, hopefully contributing with some deals later on throughout the year. But can you say anything about the M&A pipeline currently in Beijer Tech?

Yes, we have one. And I expect that we will see some closing during second quarter.

Yes. That's very clear. And how would you say the comparisons for Chassis Springs are here going into Q2?

Fairly normal. Yes.

I think so. Fairly normal.

Chassis had 2 good years in '24 and '25. I think that's good to bring with you that they had 2 good years. And so from that perspective, over the full time cycle, the comparisons are fairly tough, but there's nothing that stands out in the second quarter.

That's clear. And on Beijer Tech, you mentioned that you had received sort of larger bulk orders there, partly driving that strong, I guess, organic order intake. Is it possible to specify, I guess, the sort of duration of that order intake? Should we expect that to hit the P&L already in Q2? Or are those longer-term projects?

It's longer term. So here it's more over a year. I mean some of the companies are fairly small, sometimes they get the full yearly order at one point in time more or less when they open up books and so forth. So you should look at not for next quarter but over time.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.

We are reading the questions right now.

Exactly. Yes. So we have a question on the organic growth in Beijer Tech, that it's evaluated for various reasons. This quarter, we posted an organic growth of the 6%. And from that, around 2% comes from, so to say, the capacity increases.

We have a question on our best view on the inventory levels on the Chassis Springs side. Johnny, do you want to take that?

Well, the inventory levels on -- if we talk about on customer, we know that the Meca business, they have actually reducing their inventory of economical reasons. So we -- that affects us. That's a problem. Why it's very hard to make a forecast about sales every quarter. In spite of that, we had a pretty okay quarter in aftermarket.

Then we have a question about Alcomex, solid performance. The margin, as I said, is not double digit yet, but very close to. And it's hard to say about the future, but I think that we will -- I expect a growth in the business also for the remaining part of the year. And the material prices increases well, we will try to transfer them to the clients as fast as possible, but that will be adapted to each case depending on what material prices are increasing or not.

It's very difficult to give a general view, but this is, of course, an important topics that we follow and execute on, probably an effect, probably something that will come in the second quarter here. All right.

No further questions?

No further questions.

Thank you for listening to us and meet you in a quarter again in July, and have a good time until then.

Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Welcome to the Beijer Alma Q4 2025 Report Presentation. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, Acting President and CEO, Johnny Alvarsson; and CFO, Peter Forslund. Please go ahead.

Hello. Welcome, everybody. My voice is a little bit different today. It's not because of stock time, it's because I have got a cold. And for those who don't know me, I can tell you, I have followed this company since the early '90s and been doing quite other businesses. But last year, I was in here for a number of months as CEO -- and we can start with the presentation.

Together with me, there is Peter Forslund also, who has been in the company for about a year.

Yes. Good morning, everybody.

And we will go through 5 different subjects. It's the highlights from Q4, financial performance, acquisitions, where we're going in the future and Q&A.

If we then go to the highlights for last quarter, we can say that Beijer Alma consists of 2 large divisions, one is Lesjofors and one is Beijer Tech. Lesjofors is today mainly a number of companies producing springs with different brands. We have around 19 brands. And we are in most parts of the world without exception for South America and Australia. And the other part is Beijer Tech, who at this moment is only in the Nordic area and is acquiring quite different businesses in Industrial Products, Fluid Technology and Niche Technologies. And Beijer Tech is very, very, very equal to what we call serial acquirers that work in the same way with a very small overhead, and when you buy a company, you keep the company and you just develop it as it is, you don't look for synergies.

And Lesjofors, to a large extent, is the same. But many years ago, when it started part of the Lesjofors, we have an integrated business. But during the last years, the companies we have acquired around the world, they are in the same way stand-alone businesses as with Beijer Tech. And we are in -- as I said, it's 19 countries. And we take the next picture.

As we communicated yesterday evening, we have now a goal of growing the EBITA margin with 15% per year. And as you can see, this is what we just did in 2025. We also have a goal now for the capital efficiency, and that is 50%. And there we are a little bit behind, we are on 46%.

Those of you who met me after Q1 last year, remember, I talked about how you should look at Beijer Alma and what I said about also the margins we can expect for different businesses. And for those who remember what I said, you can see that we are on track to our goals. It will take a few years more before we have reached our goals, but we are sure on the right track for that. So we had a nice EBITA margin growth during 2025 and also during last quarter. And I should say, we have started to now put more emphasis on capital efficiency, but this is just in the beginning of a story that will last for many, many years.

Go to the highlights of the quarter. It's been a tough period, depending on market circumstances around the world, also for us specifically in some cases. But in general, if you look at the markets in United States, it's been no change, more or less. It's a slow market, but it's no change -- rather -- neither upwards or downwards.

In Asia for us has actually been a positive trend. We have good opportunities there. We have new customers coming in. And in the Europe, it's also okay. In the Nordic, it's more slow business when we talk about Lesjofors. But in the niche businesses in Beijer Tech, it varies between different companies. So there we see positive trends.

And as you see, we had a growth of 3% organically between 24% and 25% in the quarter. But the currency hit us hard and it probably will continue because we had still -- the dollar is on a very low level compared to 1 year ago.

Then we can go to Lesjofors. And Lesjofors, as I said, is the same as -- Lesjofors are the only business we have in the United States. They are on a slow side. The positive side is that we, in Asia, have new opportunities with new customers. And just as a small example, you might have heard of that the new chips for AI are supposed to be cooled by water. And we actually have no customer. They are supplying the small spring to the connectors to this cooling water to AI. And with the volumes there is in that area, it will be a nice business for us. It's a nice example for new areas.

On the other hand, in United States, we have had very nice business in medical. But as we expected, that is going down now this year, and we're looking for new opportunities in the United States.

In Europe, it's rather same level. But for those who know us that the springs for door springs business has been reduced and our export to United States has more or less stopped. So that affects our volume, but all other businesses going about on the same level. And very nice is that our aftermarket business, the springs for aftermarket for cars that accounts for about 20% of turnover is going very well. And we are now back on levels before we stopped the business in Russia and before the pandemic also. So we have had a very nice development in that area.

If we then go to Beijer Tech, we did a couple of -- or actually 2 acquisitions during the quarter, one in Finland, Ewona and one in Sweden, Intercut. But there, we also have niche businesses that has developed very well.

And we invested in expanding factories last year, and they have now paid off. So we can see that in our invoicing and the results from those businesses where we did the investments. So it's been a very good development for Beijer Tech during last year.

And with that, I give the word to Peter talking about the financials, and you are welcome back with more questions later on.

Thank you, Johnny. Yes, we go to the key ratios slide. So to say, you see here we have included capital efficiency. That's the first time we disclosed numbers on capital efficiency. We will [ try to the ] annual report also to give you a breakdown on the different business areas with -- the divisions with Lesjofors and Beijer Tech. So we will get more depth in the knowledge over time.

The Board has also proposed a dividend of SEK 4 per share for the Annual General Meeting to make a decision on later in the spring. News there is that the payment will be divided in 2 installments, one in the spring and one roughly 6 months later. We will come in a little bit on the background when we come to the financial slides and the cash flow slides. Yes, we'll leave the other key ratios as is.

I will give you a little bit more on the results and a little bit more on details when it comes to the development. So overall, a stable performance in the quarter. When you look at the profitability levels, you will see a positive mix in Lesjofors. Chassis had a good development. And then we have had a little bit of shrinking business, mainly due to the currency effects within the industrial sector, but that gives a positive mix effect from the chassis side.

Top line in the Lesjofors industrial part is affected by the savings program that we launched back in June. So there is businesses where the profitability levels has not been where we expected that we have closed down. We have closed down a factory. We have, sort of say, stopped the export to U.S. We have closed a business line in Turkey. All of that gives a top line effect that you see in the report that the organic growth within Lesjofors Industry is a little bit more sluggish. So it's both a market thing, but also a decision that we made to stop some nonprofitable businesses to make sure we choose and pick what is really profitable.

And in the quarter, if you take the U.S. door business, that's around SEK 35 million that we lose in top line, and we expect the same level of drop also in Q1 and Q2. That business stopped in the later end of Q2 last year. So the comparisons for the next 2 quarters will also be affected by those top line effects.

We have talked quite a lot about Alcomex, and it's an important part of the program that's going to be running. Alcomex is fairly stable development. I think it's wise to point out there is still work to do before we are where we want to be, profitability levels. The closing of the factory that we did was, so to say, finalized in the back end of November, meaning there is still work to do on that front before we are happy with the profitability in Alcomex.

Beijer Tech, as Johnny mentioned, is performing on a high level. All business areas is chipping in. We saw the -- the effect from the ramp-up from the investments effect was a little bit stronger in the end of the quarter than we expected. We have especially fluid tech, which has performed very well when they have increased the capacity, even above our expectations. So it's been strong delivery from a couple of Beijer Tech companies.

It's also worthwhile pointing out that even if transaction cost is a part of the business, so for comparable reasons in Q4 last year, we didn't have any transaction costs. And when you do transactions in Finland, you have also stamp taxes correlated to that. So a little bit higher transaction costs in the quarter compared to Q4 last year is also, so to say, affecting that you don't really see that the improvement in the underlying performance.

We also can mention a little bit in Beijer Tech side that from the fire safety companies that we have had a very strong end to the year, and this is mainly due to a onetime order that we've had in the quarter and delivered in the quarter. So it's a positive effect from that as well. Not something that we see every quarter, but that business in itself is strong.

Good. I jumped one slide too many. Yes. So talking a little bit about cash flows. We get through a fairly positive cash flow in the quarter, I would say, even strong. And here, you see a little bit of the reasoning on the dividend payment that we discussed earlier that the cash flow in the first quarter of the year generally is weaker due to the setup of the Chassis Spring business when it comes to customer rebates, making the cash flow lower in Q1 and then to get a better flow of the cash over the year, then that's what we have proposed -- the Board has proposed at the annual meeting to decide on splitting the dividend payment, one in the spring and one in October, November somewhere. We expect the seasonal pattern to repeat in Q1 2026 when it comes to the cash flow.

Looking at the capital efficiency, it's been a good improvement over the year, driven by the EBITA growth that we have. And you also see a bit of a currency when it comes to translation of the item as well. So it's -- the absolute number increase looks a little bit smaller than it actually is as it's affected also by currency.

Coming into the financial position. A good news from the quarter is that we have a new financing in place with the 3 Nordic banks, putting on a multicurrency revolving credit facility and a number of term loans in relation to that. It's a 3-year facility with the possibility to extend. We think that we have good conditions and high flexibility in the financing and making sure that we have the financing we need for the coming years.

We are on a net debt-to-EBITDA level of 1.7, meaning that we have a good amount of cash available to invest in growth and in acquisitions. So we should have the headroom that we need to reach the targets that we have set.

Looking a little bit then on the full year. It was close but no cigar on reaching the SEK 5 billion in Lesjofors. We will leave that for next year. So solid organic growth in Lesjofors over the year, around 3%. We have a currency effect. As Johnny said, we expect currency if the rates stay at the current level to be significant also in Q1. Then the longer the year goes on, the easier the currency comparisons will be [ absorbed]. But yes, the dollar at [ 9 ], there is still currency effect to pass through.

If we look at Beijer Tech, we have had organic growth of around 5%. It's a strong performance from Beijer Tech overall in the year. We made 5 acquisitions, adding around 15% in revenue on that side. We made acquisitions in all business area within Beijer Tech. So we have a good spread on the acquisitions that we have done.

Great, Johnny. Then I'll leave it back to you.

Well, I think, I guess it's more to leave it back to questions.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Max Bacco from SEB.

I have 3 quite short questions. And the first one, you already touched upon during the presentation, but looking at Lesjofors, very nice profitability improvement once again also here in Q4, and as you highlighted, mix effect with chassis growing. Is there anything more to add to that? Or is it just the mix explaining the uptick in profitability compared to Q4 '24?

No. But from my side, we have the savings program that we have -- that we have done that we see a good effect from. We get the effect that we expect from it.

That's clear. And then looking at the order intake, I mean, minus 1% organically here compared to Q4 last year, should we read this as any implications for the coming quarter? Or is it more a timing effect?

I think that's mainly the [ co-play ].

Yes, exactly.

It's door springs.

If you look at the Beijer Tech side, I mean, there you see that the order intake is, so to say, on the negative side as well on the organic. And that is because in Q4 last year, it's one of the installation companies or project-driven companies, they had a very high order intake in the end of the year. But that's a project that is delivered over 2 to 3 years, meaning that -- I mean, there is no sequential effect from that from Q4 into Q1, so to say.

And for Beijer Tech in general, they have a lot of project businesses, big projects. That means it's hard to just measure over 1 quarter and see the trends.

Okay. Understood. And then the final question, it's a bit broader question. But -- I mean, given the strategic shift that has been implemented throughout 2025 and then some rotation in terms of group CEO, but also responsible for Lesjofors, how is the organization coping with all these changes, would you say?

Well, we are in the start of the process, but I think the new goals we have now already communicated is well accepted by the organization for sure.

The next question comes from Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea.

It's Carl here from Nordea. A couple of questions from my side as well. Firstly, touching upon Chassis Springs, nice to see growth. But on the other hand, it is a bit decelerating sequentially. Obviously, we have comps that is one factor. But do you see any inventory dynamics as we've seen historically when it's sort of a warm start to the winter that could have impacted the sales volumes in chassis? Or what do you say about that?

I think it's an impossible question. But I can tell you, we have actually problems to manufacture enough of springs. So our own stock is on the low side at this moment. But I mean, I think still it is rather fantastic that we are back on levels as before Russia. That was a very important business for us, very profitable business.

Yes. I think if you take the sequential story, it's really what we told in Q3 that Q3 last year was, sort to say, very weak. So the comp there was easy compared to what we are facing now. Q4 is a much more normal comp.

Okay. So you see nothing in the sell-in, sell-out dynamic then in the distribution part of your chain?

No, it's very difficult to have that kind of detailed understanding of where we're moving.

Okay. That's clear. You talked about the production discontinuation of November, December. Were you able to absorb volumes in other units? Or what impact did that have in the quarter?

Yes, exactly. We are moving the production to other facilities. But when you do that, there is always a period where you're not performing on top, so to say, to cover all needs. And I think that's fully expected and fully accepted.

[ We are partly ] -- as you maybe remember, there was a factory that burned down in Finland last year. And [ that manufacturing is ] moving to Sweden, but it takes time to order machines and everything. So that will take probably -- in 1 year or something, then we will be back on the same track as before.

Okay. That is very clear. And you also touched upon the big orders and deliveries in fire safety in Beijer Tech. Is it possible to give any magnitude on that?

No, it's difficult to give a magnitude, but it's -- I mean, if you look at organic growth, say that it's less than 1% or so, around that number that you add an extra percent on the organic growth from that.

And the final one, if I may. I mean, I've seen many AI angles in storage, but I didn't expect it in Beijer Alma, to be honest. So could you talk a bit about that you touched upon the AI chips spring opportunity? How big is that business now? What do you see in terms of potential when you talk to your potential or already existing customers?

Well, it's -- I just gave you just an interesting example of what's happening in the market. As this door business went away as we have -- let's say, the medical business in Asia is doing very well. At the same time, the medical business in U.S. as planned is going down and suddenly comes this up. So that is just how the market looks like and suddenly something else that shows up. We will have volumes, but I can't give you any figures about that.

And yes, as we said before, that we will take, sort of say, questions on the financials, and we go into acquisition and give the strategic update, and then we will open for questions if there are any left after the strategic update as well. But we thought it's good to cover a little bit of questions here on the financial side before we move on. So please next question.

The next question comes from Carl Korsheden from DNB Carnegie.

If we just look a little bit on Beijer Tech, I noticed it's 8% organic growth in the quarter, which is obviously strong, but maybe not as much of a drop-through on that growth as one might have expected. Is there anything to highlight there? Is this the transaction costs you were talking a little bit about? Or is there anything in terms of a mix or similar you should also keep in mind?

No, I think transaction cost is a good one. I mean, in the last quarter, we had a very, very strong from the Niche Technologies. Now we have a little bit of more mixed growth that also, so to say, there is a slightly mix effect on that, but not much.

So in terms of profitability, the comparison, if you add back the transaction costs, you come up a bit and it looks more reasonable.

And if we circle back a little bit more to the Lesjofors margins, is it possible to quantify the magnitude of these different components if we, for instance, talk about the cost savings in Alcomex, possible mix effect, I don't know, medical perhaps in Asia driving something to that and also the winding down of the U.S. operations in Alcomex?

We also have -- we reduced the overhead cost rather dramatically in second quarter. That also -- say it's a combination of a number of different effects, including what you mentioned also. So it adds up to these figures. And some of you know what I think is the future goal for that business when we are through. Still we have some things to clean up after Alcomex during this year as well.

Yes. Understood. And on the topic of Alcomex, is it possible to give any indication where we are currently standing in terms of margins there?

I will not comment on that detail level. But I mean, year-to-date, the profitability has really moved in the right direction. We're improving from last year. We expect to achieve a more stable '26. But as we said earlier, we are not fully there, and there is volatility still to be expected there.

I mean you have to remember in the base of the door spring market, the door spring market is still what we will classify as very weak. So coming back and coming up is also connected to getting volumes back. It's one of the markets where it's darkest, so to say.

Yes. Understood. And just finally from my side, if you just look at the demand situation overall, I think it would be helpful to hear you talk a little bit more about the current sort of market situation, maybe particularly the Lesjofors industrial side of it. It seems like the organic growth in that part came down slightly sequentially here versus Q3, even if we adjust for the Alcomex comparison in the U.S. there and order intake may be slightly on the weaker side or so. So just to hear you talk a little bit about what you're seeing currently and maybe what we can expect in terms of trends for the next 1, 2 quarters.

The Nordic part, Lesjofors Nordic is a big part of -- important part of Lesjofors. And they have a couple of large customers there, and that is truck industry. And as you know, truck industry is down and that we suffer off as well as ABB Robotics.

On the other hand, we have Hitachi, which is growing dramatically. But of course, that is not fully compensating for the downturn in the truck industry. But I guess that the truck industry is on its lowest level now and probably will pick up, and that will help the Nordic business.

In the Asia then we have medical business doing well. And as I mentioned, this springs for the liquid cooling of chips. In United States, it's -- it doesn't happen that much. It's a slow business, and we have some large customers since many, many years, and they are on the low side than in industrial. So -- and who knows about the future.

I think probably when truck industry improves, it will -- you can see that in our figures. And then we will also, of course, work normally trying to find new projects with existing customers and also new customers.

You see a diversification between the different, so to say, segments in this market, just as Johnny is pointing out that you have a number of areas that are strong, then you have a number of areas that are clearly weaker. And that makes it difficult to get the full picture. It's really down to the segments. We have energy, we have defense, we have a number of segments that are strong, both in Nordics and in other places, but you also have segments that are weak.

So we -- the difference between the weak and the strong ones are fairly high at the moment.

Yes, that's super helpful. And just maybe one last from my side. If we just look at, yes, management and now there has been some changes recently. How long do you expect it will take to find a new permanent CEO?

It normally takes between 6 and 8 months as last year.

The next question comes from [ Patrick Schwartz from Pareto Securities ].

I have a couple of questions here. First, on this move here from Finland to Lesjofors. How should we think about capital expenditures during 2026?

That part is covered by insurance. We have a very good insurance.

Yes, that's great. And then on working capital here, there's been kind of a release here during the last quarter and also this quarter, and you've made some great improvements. How should we think about working capital here in the near term? Of course, over time, you expect to improve profitability to working capital. But yes, any color here in the near term?

No, it's difficult. As Johnny said a little bit in the beginning, we are starting to work with the capital efficiency, trying to get an understanding out in the organization and trying to get this as one of the important daily tasks in many functions. And, so to say, it will take time for the effects for that to come in.

Short term, it's very difficult to guide anything on that. I mean, we can look at the history, but -- we have no better guidance than that.

And then also on kind of a previous question here on kind of the seasonality. Of course, it's been so far a bit of a colder winter. How should we think about Chassis Springs here on working capital build?

We are -- as I said, we [Audio Gap] -- we had problems with production volume in the end of the year. We were not -- didn't have enough that we have to build a bit more stock now in January in that area. It's dramatic, but [Audio Gap]. It's totally -- we have a number of different areas. So it's hard to judge what the total value will be for the stock for the whole of Beijer Alma. [Audio Gap] we will come back. We will show a few targets on the future now. So we can talk about also the stock values and capital efficiency. Maybe there...

And then finally, on kind of order intake here, plus 1% in Lesjofors. And how was Chassis Springs here given that I assume a large part of the drag here was related to door springs?

Yes, exactly. We don't guide on, so to say, the order intake specific for chassis. We only do that on the full level.

Great. Then we will continue with a very short part on acquisitions and then go into the strategy part.

Last year, we promised the market to give financial goals beginning of this year, and we issued those yesterday after the decision in the Board of Beijer Alma. And we -- our goal is to have an EBITA growth of at least 15% a year, where we expect that 10% to 12% will be acquired growth and 3% to 5% organic growth. Organic growth, of course, depending on the general market, how it develops. And so what will happen also now is that we will use all the companies we have around the world as a base for acquisitions in other areas and we used to like -- we used to buy a lot of spring companies, but we'll also buy companies with other smaller components around the world, is our goal.

That means also we will have an even more international footprint for the future. And we will also improve -- try to improve the capital efficiency, put focus on that. And our goal is to be above 50%. We are now on the level of 46%. So it will take a while, but we will implement measurements in the organization -- to make it stimulate to really work with the capital efficiency in the group.

Okay, we can go to the next slide. And here, you can see how we have grown over the years. So if we have this 15% growth, we will double our turnover roughly in 5 years. And during the last 5 years, we've actually almost been there with 1.8x between 2020 and 2025. And our acquisition focus will be -- always has been actually business to business. We'll work industrial tech. We will work with companies we understand and we are looking for companies at the right price. And if the price is not right, we will not acquire.

And so we will also work where we look at each company. If a company has opportunity to grow its market and keep the margin, we will grow the company. But if there are companies we acquire that has a limited market geographically, we think it's better to let them stay where they are, have a nice margin and use some money for acquisitions of other businesses instead of pushing growth at any cost. But we will -- we have and we will continue to have growth initiatives in all companies where it's suitable.

As you see, we are on many places around the world, but I should say that our focus for acquisitions will be on Europe. At this moment, I personally have experience of acquiring companies in the United States, and we have 4 companies there today. But at this moment, with the market situation and political situation in the United States, we will not focus on that. We will focus on acquisitions in Europe. And we don't think that there are so many acquisitions targets, interesting targets in the Asia.

We have done one in India last year. So we have a footprint in India, and there might come more in the future. But others in Asia is not prioritized. In this moment, it's Europe. We will have as a priority for the future.

And we are going to use the local know-how we have by all these people we have in different countries. It's much easier for an Englishman to talk to an Englishman than if it's a [ Swede ] comes and talk to an Englishman who want to acquire a company.

We are also going to increase our M&A team with more resources. We are lacking resources at this moment, but we have people coming in into the organization.

Great. I think we can leave it open for questions if there are any questions on the strategic part.

The next question comes from Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea.

Carl, are you there? No, Carl.

The next question comes from Max Bacco from SEB.

Just a very short question on the capital allocation going ahead. How will you make sure that capital is, I mean, allocated in the right way when looking at Lesjofors versus Beijer Tech? Will the capital allocation be centralized in that way, ensuring that the right segment is prioritized, so to say?

Well, I should say that all investment over a certain level is decided by me or the Board. As acquisitions in Beijer Alma is decided by the Board.

The next question comes from Johan Dahl from Danske Bank.

Just a question on this European acquisition pipeline. I was -- sort of this is a strategic shift, obviously, going from industrial springs to sort of a wider scope for acquisitions. I was just thinking, can you talk about the current pipeline, the current scouting potential shortlist that you have if you're targeting Europe? I'm not talking about the Nordics, but in Europe.

And secondly, can you also talk about a bit more specifically on the resources you're aiming to add an incremental cost investment to sort of get this going in Beijer Alma?

At this moment, we have pinpointed 4 persons in Europe who already are in the organization, has been there for quite a while. So that cost will -- then we have one recruitment going on, central level. So that's where we start. So the list today is not that long.

So we will start -- this will happen during the year. So we are in a start-up phase now.

Would you say, Johnny, that just looking maybe 1 or 2 years ahead, does it seem fair to assume that Beijer Tech with its Nordic franchise being much more developed pipeline, I guess, that perhaps more will happen there in the sort of short term compared to in Europe? Or what do you have -- do you have any input there?

Yes, depending on how many opportunities there are in the Nordic. But even Beijer Tech might look outside Europe -- sorry, outside Nordic. So -- but very short term, I should say, it's more in Beijer Tech. But in 1.5 year, I expect it to be more in the other area.

The next question comes from Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea.

It's Carl here. Can you hear me?

Yes, we hear you, Carl. Yes, we hear you.

Okay. Great. Sorry, I couldn't unmute for some reason. Looking at the EBITA growth, 15% over a cycle, you said 3% to 5% organic. If you are a top line company that is typically generating GDP plus, right, you've done that historically, don't you think it's a bit prudent to be at just 3% to 5% organic on the EBITA side?

Well, it's over a business cycle, and it's -- we always strive to be above as you say. But can you tell me what the organic growth or the GDP growth will be next year in Europe? I can tell you where we're going. So it's just an indication that we see that the majority of the growth will come from acquisitions, but of course, we will push the organic growth as well. It's just an indication. It's not an exact figure.

Yes. So it's not an indication of how you see the drop-through of the potential volumes coming?

No, no.

Okay. Very good. And also on your new financial targets, obviously, we know it from the [indiscernible], I guess. We've seen other companies implementing similar targets, some successful, some less. So my question is, how will you work with these financial targets to really get them deep into the organization, the subsidiaries, each and every employee? And will you incentivize every manager or potential branch manager on the exact same metrics? Or how will you work with the financial targets to achieve the profitable working capital where you still have quite some upside to?

Yes. So our intention is to have an incentive program for each MD, Managing Director of the companies to improve their targets on each company from where they start. I mean, it's depending on some are on a very high level and on a lower level. But the intention is to implement it in every company, yes, but on an MD level.

And when will that happen, you think?

During spring.

The next question comes from Carl Korsheden from DNB Carnegie.

Just a follow-up on the financial targets. When you're talking about this 15% over a business cycle, are you sort of expecting to remain your current dividend policy as well? Or do you think you will have to reduce that in order to reach this target? And also if you could elaborate or say anything in terms of leverage profile? Do you have an internal target on how high you can go in terms of net debt to EBITDA? Or how do you see that?

Yes. Dividend policy stays as is. There will be no change to the dividend policy. We will stay where we are. When it comes to the gearing and the debt, I mean we have been prudent on going above 2. That's, to say, I wouldn't call it an internal target, but the company has been prudent in terms of the leverage. So I think it's fair to say that we are striving to be at the levels around 2 or slightly above.

It's not a gearing story where we will gear it up to 4 and use the gearing to fund the growth. It's about generating good cash flows in the business and invest them wisely over time. That's what it's about.

Got it. And just a follow-up, maybe, yes, you sort of mentioned that Beijer Tech might also be acquiring outside the Nordics eventually. But just -- when you're speaking about these companies, not just in springs, but other components as well, are you primarily then targeting companies with their own sort of production capabilities? Or can it also be sort of technical trading companies? Or do you have any ideal profile for that?

The answer is yes, yes, yes.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for closing comments.

Great. Johnny?

Yes. Thank you for the interest you showed in us. And well, unusually many questions. I'm happy for that. And I see you in a quarter. So thank you, and goodbye.

Bye.

Thank you. My name is Johnny Alvarsson, and we also have Peter Forslund here.

Good morning, everybody.

And this is my third and last quarter report in Beijer Alma. So next Monday, the permanent CEO, Oscar Fredell, will join us, and he will take care of this company for the future. I'm glad to say this is the best report during these 3 quarters and probably since many years ago also, I think.

In spite of that, we have not really pushed everything to be maximum. It's a very normalized result we see out of this quarter. We had a healthy growth in the period, an organic growth that was very nice. The reasons are, among other things, we have, for instance, expanded it's 4 factories within Beijer Tech that we have expanded and 2 of those -- or actually 3 of those have during this period started to deliver from the expanded production area. And that has also, of course, meant that we can actually work down the backlog we have from those factories.

There have been too long delivery times. And that is why the -- one of the reasons why we have more deliveries in this quarter and also better result. And demand has improved in general, but it is normal in our case, it's a volatile market depending on where in the world and in what segments we are.

Lesjöfors has mixed demand, and we have organic growth both in sales and bookings. And what is especially good in this quarter is Chassis Springs that has expanded dramatically and it's mainly Germany and the U.K. that are the strongest markets. In Industry, Asia and Europe are growing. In Sweden, we see a very stable market, but we see that large customers like ABB and Volvo Trucks are reduced, but we have others growing like Hitachi and other smaller is growing. So in total, it's a stable market in the Nordic.

In U.S., we see a market that is down depending on some large customers we have in the industry, but also that the Dexcom project, as some of you might have heard, for the medical market according to plan now is on a lower level. But at the same time, one of our companies in the United States has actually got more orders to the medical market. So -- but I can foresee a more push for sales in United States in the future.

Our problems like Alcomex, we are halfway through. We have done a lot. Not everything is finished yet. but it's going according to plan. And so probably end of this year, most of the outstanding problems are solved. And we have also taken care of the problems in Turkey and reduced costs there.

In Beijer Tech, there is also variation, but overall a stable demand. And -- but we see some companies, as I said, that have expanded their capacity, has really boomed in the quarter with deliveries to customers. And it's a growing organic growth in the quarter. And of course, as you've seen, there are profitability improvements. It's a combination with mix effects, but also some specific companies.

And after the quarter, we have acquired a company, Ewona in Finland. And I can say we have more coming up in the future. We have a backlog of potential acquisition targets working -- that we are working on just now.

As you can see here now, the order book has increased by 7% to SEK 1.7 billion and net revenue by 12%, organically 7%. And the adjusted EBITA margin was now on the good level of 15.8%. My view is that there is a potential to grow that further in the coming quarters. Of our turnover, most part comes from Lesjöfors, but 34% comes from Beijer Tech. And at this moment, in Beijer Tech, we are acquiring businesses, but acquisitions will come later on in Lesjöfors in the future.

Specific to Lesjöfors, we have the net revenue increased by 7%. I can comment there even though this medical project in United States in John Evans' has slowed down according to plan, but we are actually growing in other areas of the world to the medical sector. And we have a special sales resource working in that area, and they are working with customers worldwide. And Chassis Springs are doing very well, and they seem optimistic on this year in general. And we have some plans eventually to also expand that business for the future.

So the adjusted operating margin increased to 18%. So it's on the way to the long-term goal. In Beijer Tech, order bookings increased by 18% to almost SEK 600 million and net revenue increased to SEK 650 million. But as I said, we have now reduced the backlog, and that's a healthy reduction because delivery time to couple of the companies was far too long for our customers. So they were forced to say no to orders earlier. So now we can cope up with the demand from the market. And all are doing well, but of course, niche technologies are extremely well, and that's niche-oriented companies selling mainly outside the Swedish market that are doing very well. And regardless of the general market, they have the niches. So they're normally always performing very well. And the adjusted operating profit EBITA increased to SEK 84 million. And also the margin was slightly increasing in this area.

I'll leave the financials to Peter.

Thank you, Johnny. Yes, a brief look on the financials. I think we have gone through most of them. We present a fairly strong cash flow. That's a metric we haven't really discussed, driven by the good profitability, but also that we have a little bit positive effect from Chassis Springs that the stock buildup has been a little bit slower in the quarter compared to last year, giving a positive cash flow effect compared to last year.

Net debt are at 1.8, meaning the acquisitions that Johnny was talking about, we should have headroom to do without sort of say, gearing up the net debt too much.

Yes, that was all for me.

Then acquisition was Ewona, a company -- a niche company in Finland, who is a nice size of business, and it's a high-margin business. So it fits in very well to the tech portfolio of companies. And in this industry, when you win a project, it's not only price, it's also the connections you can get from -- between the buyer and the seller. So it's very much up to the people from our side that meet the seller and they like the future ideas. And that is, I should say, more important than the exact price you pay. And in this case, obviously, we have been good in meeting the demands or wishes from the sellers. And as I said before, we see a lot of activity going on, on the acquisition market at this moment. Then we will see how many of these deals we can win, but I hope there will be a number of them during the coming months.

If you look at the history, we have done 32 acquisitions since 2019. This year is -- will be a better year than last year. And I expect that this is a trend that will continue in the future. And we are going to put more efforts on acquisitions in the future. We have hired another person to work with acquisitions coming in the beginning of next year.

In conclusion is Lesjöfors, we have reduced the overhead, and we have clarified that the geographical area managers are really fully in charge of their businesses. And I think we have good people out there in our organization, very competent, many of them with very long experience and full understanding of also how the market looks like, who is the customer and how to take care of the customer. So I think we have a very good base now for future growth in the Lesjöfors area, combined also with future acquisitions in other areas with similar products and not only springs.

Beijer Tech, as you've seen during last year, is performing better and better and obviously have the ability to convince sellers that we are the best buyer. And in a week, Oscar Fredell will take over and he has a very long experience of acquisition and with the setup where you leave them in like a compounder. So I think there are opportunities for the future development of Beijer Alma is extremely good.

Great. Then we go to Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Carl Korsheden from DNB Carnegie.

Obviously, a very strong quarter. So thank you for that. And if we just turn the page a little bit and look on the order intake, that was perhaps something that came in slightly weaker combined -- compared to the rest of the report, which looks very, very strong. Could you perhaps elaborate a little bit what you're seeing there in terms of order intake?

Well, I'm not that worried about order intake. As I said, we had a very huge backlog in a number of businesses, and that's why the delivery level has been very high. And then also, we have really have no bookings, they get orders and delivery within a few days. So I feel pretty confident for the next quarter.

And if you also go back and look, so to say, we had a little bit the opposite situation in Q2 where we had higher organic growth in the orders than in the revenues delivered out, and that also creates a sort of backlog. Adding to that, third quarter book-to-bill tended to be a little bit lower due to the summer season as well.

I think Johnny summarized it good that is strong in Beijer Tech and then most difficult to sort of say estimate in Chassis and then Industrial, there we have a mixed demand with good markets and bad markets. And I mean, that's where we see the biggest uncertainty for Q4 as well for sure.

That's very clear. And could you perhaps also help us break down, I guess, the variable parts here driving the clear margin uptick in Lesjöfors year-over-year? I'm guessing it's a combination of, I mean, the Chassis mix, Medical mix, you have a solid organic growth and obviously, the Alcomex cost savings program is starting to yield effects. Would you say those are the key drivers here? Or is there something else we should keep in mind as well driving this uptick?

No, I think you summarized it very well. It's a mix of those. I mean the cost saving effects are solid in the quarter as well.

Yes. All right. And could we -- if we get into a little bit more detail, could you give any indication where we are currently in terms of margins in Alcomex now that you have seen some effects from the cost savings program? And just remind us again, perhaps where you see this business over time? Is this a 10%, 15%, 20% EBITDA margin business? Or what's your ambitions in the more long term with Alcomex?

I mean Alcomex was like a group in itself. We had a head office with a lot of people, and there was a kind of centralized organization. We have removed the central organization, and we are now building up. So each individual company will act as it should. And it will take time. So I think in a few years, they will be on an average level as other companies within Lesjöfors. But to change the culture, it takes time. But it's positive at this moment, we are on the positive side.

Yes, exactly. We guided sort of say, last call that we started the year negatively that we were at sort of say, low single digits year-to-date at Q2. Q3 is in the same range as Q2 in terms of profitability. So we're moving in the right direction, but it's not a fast journey. It will take time. We will also be helped by, so to say, a better construction market and more demand from the -- for the door springs that is a hefty portion of the Alcomex business. A good margin increase coming up to the rest of the companies in the group.

The next question comes from Max Bacco from SEB.

Good day and very well done here in the quarter and, Johnny, very impressive work during your interim period, I must say. I have some quite similar questions. If we circle back to the very nice margin expansion in Lesjöfors. Would it be possible to give some indication of the drivers or the magnitude of the different drivers? I mean I noticed that the mix were favorable for profitability where Chassis Springs increased share of total sales. And then you also have the cost savings program that is currently being implemented and so on. If you could give some comments on the magnitude of each component, if that's possible, if we start with that.

I mean if you look at the cost-saving initiatives, if you start at that point, I mean, in this first phase, quite a lot of people leaving and those costs goes out fairly quickly, meaning that we guided around SEK 35 million on a yearly basis as well. So we are at a good pace to reach that target, so to say. And a lot of those actions are a little bit front in the third quarter.

And I think on the mix side, you're absolutely right that we are, so to say, Q3 last year for Chassis Springs was, I would say, fairly weak, both in terms of profitability and also in terms of the volume. So of course, you get a little bit of a mix effect in that. But the overall mix effect, it's a little bit more difficult to comment on, but sure, it's a positive effect.

I must say I'm impressed by the organization. We -- as you might remember, we had a factory in Finland that was burned down. And 1/3 of that turnover we have lost, 2/3 we have kept, even though some of them by acquiring products from competition from the market and selling. We also have closed down the factory with Alcomex, where we probably lost 1/3 of the customers. In spite of that, we have these strong figures. So when we can do this and still increase the margin and not only depending on reduced costs in central costs, I think the organization has a very strong potential in the future.

Okay. Understood. Very good. And then to circle back to one of the other questions. I mean, organic sales growth, very strong in the quarter, 7%. It seems like some outperformance at least versus the market. And then the organic order intake plus 2% year-over-year organically. And as you mentioned, Q3 normally seasonally slower and some companies not even having an order book. So which number would you say is more or the most representative of the underlying market and the improvements that you're seeing, if you understand the question.

I mean it's not easy to answer. As I say, we have companies who have said no to orders because they were fully booked. And now when we have increased the capacity, they can start to open up the market and say yes to orders coming in. So it's not so easy to judge where the real level is.

I mean if you tend to look at it, I think we tend to look a little bit more positive on the Beijer Tech side and then a little bit more negative on the Lesjöfors side if you look at the volume, so to say.

But of course, I mean, the market was very strong in the quarter, and we don't see any drop in the quarter 4 on that side.

But the Chassis Spring, I mean, they had an easy comparison as well from last year. And I mean that drives the top line growth of 22%.

Yes, sure, sure. And on that topic, how would you describe the comparables in Q4, perhaps mainly within the Chassis Springs, just to remind us.

I would say fairly normal for Chassis Springs.

Okay. Okay. Understood. And then the final question. You mentioned during the call, Johnny, that you aim to perhaps not immediately, but over time to expand the offering and the share of Chassis Springs within Lesjöfors. Is the intention to do that through acquisitions? Or is it through greenfield investments? What's your thoughts on that?

Organically. [ With distinct resources ].

[Operator Instructions] There are no more phone questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions or closing comments.

Well, I want to thank all who has been listening to me during 3 calls now. And I don't know if this is the last call ever I will have in webcast in my life or some new cases will show up, who knows. But it's been actually, I've liked this period and my ideas I had during the Board time about what we should do and have been able to actually do it myself.

So that's been very nice, and we can see the outcome also, and I'm also satisfied what we have seen. And I'm also -- I've been involved in the process of hiring a new MD and also very satisfied with the person we have found. So I wish the company good luck for the future. Thank you.

Welcome to the Beijer Alma Q2 2025 Report Presentation. [Operator Instructions] Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, acting CEO, Johnny Alvarsson; and CFO, Peter Forslund. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everybody, to this. I'm actually in the Arctic Blog of Sweden and the sun is shining and it's 25 degrees in there. The first picture you see now is just I mentioned, it's for actually Finn Lamex, one of our companies in Beijer Tech, which manufacturing windows, the front window for buses. And that's one of the businesses that are performing very well. And we're actually, at this moment, expanding the factory because the demand is higher than our capacity.

So now you can see, it's myself and Peter Forslund, CFO, who will run this presentation.

Good morning, everybody.

And if you look at this quarter, I think we are rather satisfied with it, and we have managed to improve the profitability some points. If we go to the two business areas as we -- we are actually only have two business areas at this moment.

So Lesjöfors has a mixed demand, and we can -- what we can see is the Nordic market is weak where we have all type of customers in all industries. So that's a weaker market compared to 1 year ago. And the same goes for United States also where the market is much weaker. And I guess it's depending on the industrial situation we have at this moment in United States.

On the other hand, for us, Asia is performing better and Europe is growing. So the mix ends up in a positive development for the group. As we have mentioned earlier, we have one acquisition done a few years ago, Alcomex, that we are struggling with, that we have improved profitability, but still we have an ongoing program to make that up to our standard.

And we have announced earlier the cost that will take for that in the second -- third quarter. We also have reduced staff people in Lesjöfors to have a more decentralized organization where the local MDs are taking higher responsibility and also are allowed to do that. And that's a trend we have started now, and I think there will come some further steps down the line.

Beijer Tech is a smaller business area we have with a very -- like a normal serial acquirer has overall a stable demand, but we have, of course, variations between different companies. And if we look at the Nordic and they are only working in the Nordic area. So Norway is the strongest demand, weakest in Finland, then we have Sweden and Denmark in between. We had organic growth in the quarter, but especially also, we had a very nice growth from the Swemas acquisition we did in Q1, who has performed actually better than expectations.

In the quarter, we announced earlier, actually the 1st of April, we acquired a company in India, and we own 51% of the shareholders and the former owner owns 49%, and we have a program then to buy him out in some years. And then, we made a small acquisition in Beijer Tech in Roykon A/S in Denmark.

And if we look at on the group level, so the order bookings increased by 10% and revenue by 7%, where organically it was 3% for the revenue and for the bookings was 5%. And that's, I think, in the circumstances we have in the world today, that's very good figures.

Our adjusted operating profit EBITA increased to SEK 305 million, and that's an operating margin of 15.1% on a group level.

As you can see, 65% of the turnover comes from Lesjöfors and 35% from Beijer Tech. But the trends are at this moment, pointing a little bit upwards.

If we look specifically at Lesjöfors Q2, order bookings increased by 6%, where everything was actually organically, and net revenue by 4%. And as you know, we have different types of business here. We have something called Chassis Springs, which is to the aftermarket for cars, and that was around the same level as last year.

And the winter was rather mild. So that means and if it's a tough winter, then we have more sales of Chassis Springs. And if it's a soft winter, we have less sales.

Industry increased by 5%. As I mentioned earlier, that was mainly Europe and Asia. And we increased the adjusted EBITA to SEK 234 million.

Beijer Tech organically was 2%. And this, when you look at bookings, I mean, we have very different companies in there. Some of them are more machine or project oriented and orders comes in one quarter, maybe not in the next quarter and so forth. So it varies. But still on the positive side.

And we think that the outlook, I mentioned, from the business area manager, he was -- is very satisfied how it looks for the coming quarter. And the operating profit increased to SEK 83 million compared to SEK 73 million the year before. As you can see, we have three different business areas here with different types of companies.

And the growth you see, especially in Industrial Products comes from the acquisition of Swemas. I should mention here that we are -- actually four of the companies were manufacturing in Beijer Tech, just now are increasing their production capacity by making investments, because their demand is higher than they can meet, and that's also very positive for the future.

If we look at the financials, we had a change of 7.3% operating profit, plus 13.3% and the EBITA margin is now 15.1%. And we are aiming to increase this by more focus on profitability and organic growth. So I hope we can see this trend for the future.

And the EBIT margin was 14%, also up from 13.2%. Cash flow, about the same level as last year.

Will you mention anything about the cash flow, Peter, where it comes from?

No, I think it's fine. I think, it's in line with what we expected.

Equity ratio is 44%, and that's on the safe side. And we have net debt-to-EBITDA is 2.1x. Of course, this is -- the reason is now compared to last year is the acquisitions we've done, but also the dividend that we do every year.

Earnings per share dropped, but that's depending on the reserves we have made for future costs in the Alcomex case and the Turkish business.

Acquisitions in the period was, what I said earlier, India. We acquired the first, really, step into India. And we think that's a future market. Now to be cautious, we have an arrangement where the former owner still keeps 49%. So we can, in a few years now, learn how the business works before we go into more than 51% ownership. I think that's wise because there is quite different culture in the Indian market.

But long term, I think it's a very interesting area to be in, because we see that more and more production are moving now from China to India. And that's just the beginning of the future I expect.

In May, Beijer Tech made an acquisition of Roykon A/S, is a minor company that also adds to the Beijer Tech business.

So this is just to show you the acquisitions we've done over the years. And I must say it's a number of them are very nice companies with export around the world and some are working more in the Nordic region. But I think, this by keeping the companies very self-sufficient, running own business, that's the way to have success when you are an owner of the company.

And well, conclusion is Lesjöfors organic growth, mixed demand over the world, and we have improved profitability, and I expect that will continue. Beijer Tech stable demand. We have made two acquisitions. And even though our focus is on margin and organic growth, we will do acquisitions in the coming future as well.

By this short presentation, I'll open up for questions.

[Operator Instructions]

Hjalmar Jernstrom. A couple of questions here from my side. On this SEK 120 million of extraordinary items you have taken in the quarter, you obviously mentioned that SEK 70 million is an inventory write-down and the remaining SEK 50 million is related to the closing of a factory and staff layoffs. If you just circle in a bit more on this SEK 50 million, could you say anything here on which unit in Lesjöfors European operations this relates to? And also perhaps if you could give any split in terms of how much of these staff layoffs are related to Lesjöfors HQ versus how much are related to subsidiaries in Lesjöfors?

When we talk about factory, it's one factory within Alcomex. We have a number of factories that's closed down. That is announced also to the personnel. When we talk about how much it is on the headquarter, I have to ask you, Peter, do you have those figures?

Yes. The majority is, of course, in operations when it comes to the people headcount. There are, I would say, around -- between 10% and 20% that is on H2 level or so to say, on more of a white collar level, mainly production.

I mean, we are closing a factory within Alcomex, but also we are reducing the factory in Turkey with a lot of people. That's the number of people we are talking, I think, about 70 people or something in total.

Very clear. And also, I mean, in the report, you mentioned that Alcomex had a slightly better quarter. Could we just clarify here if this refers to an improvement year-over-year or Q-over-Q? And also, if this comment refers to order intake or sales or if it's primarily related to profitability?

I think Peter, should you answer that question?

Yes. I mean, in the first quarter, we guided that, so to say, the profitability in the Alcomex was negative in the first quarter. In the second quarter, we moved to a low single-digit positive profit in Alcomex for the first half year, but we are not higher than that.

Okay. Very clear. And in Lesjöfors Nordic operations here, you mentioned a bit of a weaker start to the quarter, but that then picked up throughout the quarter. Is it possible to quantify that in anyhow, like, how much organic growth in either sales or orders you saw here in June or in the beginning of July, perhaps on a year-over-year basis versus what we saw here in April and May?

Well, we -- probably if you look in the figures, you can find out, but I think it's also -- and we have a very diversified customer base. And -- it's also in new -- we have some new areas we're going into heavy springs, like, for trains. And those projects comes as a few big orders. So I think, it's hard to see. The message we got from the management is that, it's a weaker market generally in the Nordic from all customers more or less.

Perfect. And just finally from my side, on this fire there in Autumn in Lesjöfors, impacting you here in H1. You mentioned in the report that you have decided to shut this factory down permanently now and relocate that production to other factories. Do you foresee any additional cost savings related to this that could then be seen, I guess, on top of this SEK 35 million in annual cost savings that you already communicated? Or is that already, I guess, bundled into that figure, if you get my concern?

No, it's not bundled in, but I mean, we talked maybe SEK 2 million or something like that. So it's -- and that will probably show up in, let's say, end of next year or something, because we have ordered new machines now, but it's a long delivery time and before it's really -- so we're trying to solve the problem through the manufacturing we have and also actually buying some external products to supply to our customers. But of course, there will be some synergies when we have one factory less.

The next question comes from Johan Dahl from Danske Bank.

Just wondering, Johnny, you talked about the decentralization initiatives. I was just thinking, can you in any way sort of see the opportunities there in terms of cost savings? And I was wondering, is that something that, sort of, impacted already here in Q2 positively in Lesjöfors? Or was the, sort of, the earnings improvement in Lesjöfors, was it more related just to the swing in Alcomex in the second quarter?

I think it's mainly -- it's a minor cost savings in the quarter. And it's the swing in Lesjöfors, but also actually Asia doing well and general Europe doing well. So it's a combination of all that. But the cost reductions effect in Q2 is very small that will come later on.

Would you say, Johnny, that being into -- obviously, you've been in the Board for some time, but I was just thinking, do you think you have identified sort of more cost savings potential and productivity improvement potential as opposed to a quarter ago? Or is it fairly much the same plans that you're executing on as we look at it now?

Of course, I have learned more, I think -- but I mean, the real driving thing in this is, when you give the end, these clear goals, you have now -- you own your business, you're supposed to run it, you have supposed to improve it. And that is something that takes quite a while before they change their mindset from what they've been used to during the last years. But the feedback we received so far, we haven't heard that much of feedback, but that has been positive. So...

Got you, Johnny. And just a final question. Do you have any sort of updated view of the inventory cycle in Chassis Springs? And where would you say, sort of, in that -- I mean, it's been volatile in the past depending on your customers' inventories, et cetera. But where would you say we are right now in the Chassis Spring, sort of, cycle?

Can you comment that, Peter?

No, I think we should still continue to see it to be volatile. Of course, we are in the end of high season and that we generally have had more inventory buildup during Q4 for fairly well the patterns from earlier. There is no -- there is very little change in the underlying business as such.

So just looking from an LTM perspective, it's fairly neutral, you'd argue on the Chassis, if not, sort of, below average or above average?

No, I would say, it's fairly neutral. That's right.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more phone questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.

So Johnny, we have a question in the chat from Karl Noren. So he asks, can you talk a bit more about acquisition strategy going forward?

Yes. Well, it's -- I'm supposed to stay here some few months more before Oscar comes. But I mean, the ideas basic should continue as before, but we are, for the future, going to use all the contacts we have around the world now through Lesjöfors. And try to use and to find local businesses in other areas like components. We have not really activated that yet, because now the focus is in Lesjöfors is to improve the margin and go for organic growth.

But the idea is to grow other areas around the world with other components and not only springs. And that, as I understand, is what Oscar also is going to push for in the future. So we have a fantastic network around the world now through the companies owned by Lesjöfors and use those MDs and their contacts around where they are located, should be a very good way to improve our -- or actually to grow our market outside in other type of components.

Great. Then there are no more questions in the activity feed.

Okay. Then, I thank you for the attention from everyone. And we will meet again in next quarter, Q3, and that will be my last webcast in Beijer Alma, because then for the Q4, then Oscar will be in position. Thank you very much, and have a nice day and summer. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.