It's a pleasure to welcome CEO of SKAKO, that's Lionel Girieud, and CEO of SKAKO, that's Thomas Pedersen. They promised to take us through the 2023 numbers, highlights from what I guess we could call an eventful year, and also expectations going into 2024. Welcome to you both. Before I hand over, I would also like to welcome those of you who participate in today's presentation. You're very welcome to ask questions. I can see some have already done. You can do it in Danish, and we'll help with the translation. You could also do it in English. That's up to you. Please don't hesitate to ask questions here for Lionel and Thomas. We will, of course, record the presentation and publish it on different platforms afterwards. But with that, I'll pass it on to you, Lionel and Thomas. The floor is yours.
Thank you very much, Rasmus. Thank you for everybody to participate in this event where we will like to present our annual report and figures for 2023, as well as a deep dive into the continuing business of Vibration. I will do the start, and then Lionel will take over when we go deep dive into the Vibration continuing business. We have the normal disclaimer towards the presentation, but many of you have already participated previously, so you know this. The agenda is as follows. SKAKO at a glance, then we'll go through or I'll go through the results. Lionel will take the deep dive, then we will close this event or our presentation with guidance and ambitions for 2028. Then we have the Q&A, which we will have afterwards.
It has been a pretty exciting year for SKAKO due to the fact that we actually, at the end of the year, divested the concrete business so that we are now a focused SKAKO with only one division, which is SKAKO Vibration. In SKAKO Vibration, we have the three segments that you already know: recycling, minerals, and fasteners. We are an international equipment provider in the vibration business. Compared to last year, then we are approximately half of the employees due to the fact that we divested SKAKO Concrete at the end of the year. We are 115 employees located in the different countries where we are located. The headquarters is still in Faaborg, and we have main offices in Strasbourg and San Sebastián. At year-end, we had 2,004 shareholders, whereof 94% is in Denmark.
As previously, the board of directors and management holds approximately 33% of the shares. If we take the brief of 2023, then you can see that the numbers on order intake, revenue, and so on have compared to the annual report of 2022 due to the fact that those numbers are only covering Vibration business, even though we actually divested Concrete at year-end. That is how IFRS accounting policy says that we have to report. So the figures that you're seeing here are actually for the continuing business of Vibration. Of course, when we look into the P&L, then we have the money that we received from divesting the Concrete business. But given this, then we can see that our revenue is going up. Our EBIT before special items ended at DKK 24.6. That is a growth of 25%, which we are very happy about.
Our EBIT margin is just below 10%, and our earnings per share 26.34. That is, of course, influenced by the divestment of the concrete business. Just to summarize the P&L for the continuing business, then you can see that our operating profit before special items ended at DKK 24.6 million. That is just above the new guidance that we gave when we announced the divestment of concrete. We presented a guidance covering DKK 20 million-DKK 24 million, and we are slightly above that. Then if you go further down in the financial statement, then you can see that we have a result for continuing business after tax of approximately DKK 14 million compared to DKK 12 million the year after. And then we have a line of discontinued activities after skat, after tax, of DKK 67 million.
That is a number covering the activities of concrete during more or less the whole financial year onto the 29th of December, and then the gain that we received from selling the concrete activities. Then we end up having a result for the year on DKK 81 million, which is compared to last year where it was DKK 25 million. The highlights for the year and what we are looking into is a growth in revenue on 4.5%. But what we feel is very, very strong for the continuing business is that we succeeded in growing the EBIT with 25%. And that is, of course, driven by an increase in the revenue and also an increase in the gross profit margins. And then we have succeeded in also having the capacity cost to grow less than the above figures.
The divestment of concrete and also the continuing business have given us, if we look at cash flow from operation combined with the investment activities, a very strong cash flow. At year-end, we end up at a net debt of -DKK 137 million. That is, of course, due to the divestment of concrete where we received an amount from Zefyr Invest, who purchased that. That was also relating to that the board of directors approved sending out an extraordinary dividend for our shareholders of approximately the same amount as the purchase price from Zefyr Invest, which was DKK 123 million. We sent it out DKK 122 million to our shareholders, even though we also, of course, had some cost for that. Those costs for the transaction are actually covered by the continuing business. We more or less have put out all the purchase price to our shareholders.
The backlog, as you can see here, is decreasing by 12.4% compared to 2022. That is due to the fact that 2022 was influenced by that we had an order push back from COVID. The order backlog end of 2022 was higher than normal. We are more or less back to a normal order backlog. If we look at the balance sheet figures, then we can see here, still at year-end, we have a lot of assets due to the fact that we have in hand at year-end a strong cash position of approximately DKK 140 million. As I mentioned before, the net debt minus DKK 137 million, which is due to the strong result and also the divestment of concrete activities. The ROIC is, of course, also influenced by the result and the balance sheet ending up at 91.5.
Then our net debt ending at -4.7, also influenced by the divestment of concrete activities. But even if we take out the divestment of the concrete business, then we have a net debt to EBITDA on -0.5, sorry, compared to 0.6 last year. Current year is in minus. So we are way below our still financial ambition on a financial gearing on 2.5 that leaves us room for both dividends and acquisitions if we look into that in the future. The capital structure, if we look at that, then we can see the net debt is decreasing very much due to the divestment of the concrete business. If we look at the proposed dividends, then we are now, for 2023, proposing the same dividend as in 2022 on 5 DKK per share.
On top of that, the shareholders received approximately DKK 40 from the divestment or extraordinary based on the divestment of concrete. Then we can see that our share price has increased significantly, ending up today at DKK 81. On top of that, we, of course, can add the approximately DKK 14 that the shareholders received. So the highest level of the share was approximately DKK 115. If we compare that to a previous period, then we can see that looking into a period from beginning of 2019 up to end of 2022, the share price has gone up from DKK 50 to DKK 63. When we announced this divestment of concrete, the share price actually exploded and now ending at DKK 81 compared to end of 2022 on DKK 62. So this has given the market more visibility into which company we actually have.
As we see the share price, it also has been the market has given us applause for this divestment of concrete and now looking into a more focused vibration business. Then, Lionel?
Yes. Yeah. Good morning to everybody. I'm going to go through a little bit of our business product, our organization as well. And at the end, I will talk a little bit about how we see the future of SKAKO Vibration. So we know that SKAKO Vibration works for three industrial segments. The first one and the historical one is the mineral industry. That's still the most important segment of our business. It represents 40% of our revenue share. For the mineral industry, we say that we provide equipment which can sort and clean raw materials to enable their best use. And then we have the second segment. That's the smallest one in terms of revenue share, 15%. This is a fastener industry, a very specific segment which is linked to the automotive industry mainly, but as well to the construction sector.
And for this segment, we are the leader in Europe. We have a very, very strong reputation. And we provide equipment which can transform bulk into smooth and controlled flow of material. And then the third one, the recycling industry, which represents currently 35% of our revenue. It will become, for sure, the most important in the future in revenue shares. For this segment, we provide equipment which sorts and cleans waste resources to enable their best reuse. And for us, it's, I would say, the more complex, but for our competitor too, the more complex segment because it's a rapidly developing segment. So we need to invent new solutions every day. And then in this segment, when we think about recycling, we think a lot about household waste. But it means that we need to handle material like glass, metal, plastic, paper, organic waste as well.
So very diversified, and even some industrial waste like slag or concrete. So it's a complex segment in terms of technology. For that, we have a range of products which is based on and around vibration technology. All of our products are designed to be included in complete customer processes. It means that we provide equipment with a specific function to be included in a complete industrial process. On the left part, you have two products for the mineral segment. For instance, on the top, a screen. That's a machine which can separate the material by difference of dimension, sorting machine. So the type of material that we use that we handle in mineral segment can be stones. It could be aggregate. It could be iron ore, anything, any type of material from the mineral segment, from the mining segment.
And then you have as well on the left, a washing drum, which is an equipment which can clean and wash iron ore, for instance, or aggregate or limestone. In the middle, two examples of products for the fastener segment. Those two products combined are usually the starting point, for instance, of a line of heat treatment. But in this segment, we do not handle stones or iron ore, what you can imagine. We handle little metallic parts like screws and nuts or washers. So of course, it's a very different type of machine. And then on the right part, two key products for the recycling segment. On the top, one screen again. So the function is very similar to the screen which is on the left part, but it has a special design.
It can separate very sticky material and very light material that usually this type of material that we find in the recycling segments. So a key product for us for this segment. And then the last one, the densimetric table. That's an equipment which can sort equipment by difference of density. So for instance, you can separate easily and efficiently, you can imagine, some plastic and copper, for instance. And so that's as well a key product for the recycling segment. For these three segments, we have three European expert centers. So the first one is a mother company in Denmark, in Faaborg, as Thomas said. That's an expert center for the fastener industry. And then in France, we have in Strasbourg, the expert center for the mineral industry. This is where we make the largest product for us.
So it could be 40 tons, 50 square meters, so very large equipment due to the very large capacity which are required in the mineral segment compared to capacity which are required in the recycling or, sorry, fastener segment. And then at the end, we have the expert center in San Sebastián, in Spain, north of Spain, Basque Country, SKAKO Dartek. We joined the group in 2019, which is completely merged now, completely incorporated into the group. We expect that the minerals in the future, minerals and fastener, keep a solid growth, but the recycling segment is expected to have a double-digit growth. That's why we are focusing we have been focusing our resource in our investment in developing this segment.
We have already started to adapt in addition to the range, I would say, to the SKAKO Dartek range, we have started to adapt our all products for minerals and fasteners to the needs of the recycling segment. So that's a part of the job we are doing. But on the other way, there are some trends, some current trend underway, very strong and very deep trend underway. For instance, for the mineral segment, part of this segment, the construction sector, is based on extraction of material coming from quarries and sand pits. What we can see is that they are moving quickly to the recycling of construction and demolition waste. So this segment, mineral and recycling, will partly merge in the future. So that's, of course, big change that are underway in all of the industry.
We are ready for this change due to all of the experience, for instance, we have in SKAKO Dartek. The growth of the recycling industry for us is based on three pillars. I will not go into details maybe, but the first one is, of course, the government incentive all across Europe. We are focusing our effort on the recycling segment in Europe. You have a few, yeah, some figures, a few figures. Waste generated is projected to increase by 70% by 2050. Municipal waste has a target to make the recycling of 65% by 2035. On the second pillars, it's, of course, the investment of the private sector, which is already very important and will continue to increase. The last years, we have more than 60% of annual growth of investment of CapEx.
And then the last one, it's, of course, what everybody can feel nowadays is that the drive from the consumer and the society about the needs to increase the recycling of the material. So we expect for sure that recycling will continue to grow. Very briefly, so the needs of the recycling industry is focused on equipment which can convey clean and sort bulk material. And for this segment specifically, we propose equipment which can separate by dimension. We call that screening. Equipment which can separate by difference of density. Equipment which can distribute and feed on a smooth and controlled layer. That's very important because most of the sorting equipment needs to be fed correctly, and our equipment can do that. And we propose some equipment which can wash and clean and scrub recycled material. Sorting is a key technology for recycling.
You understand why. But what you must understand is that we are not in competition, for instance, despite we don't do optical sorter, we are not in competition with other technology like, for instance, optical sorter. An optical sorter needs to have a screen or needs to have a separation by size to work correctly. So all of this technology are complementary in the recycling. Yeah, some guidance for 2020, yeah, for this year and the new financial ambition. So I'll let you talk about that, Thomas. You are muted, Thomas.
Our guidance for 2024 is actually we expect organic growth in revenue of 5%-9%. That is, of course, split out between the three segments that we have. We have solid growth in fastener and minerals where we expect higher growth in recycling. Of course, the split between the three segments will give this average of 5%-9%. Then we guide an EBIT of DKK 24 million-DKK 28 million. That is, of course, also due to the fact that we are investing in the vibration business and particularly in recycling actually to achieve our ambitions for 2028, which Lionel will present on the next slide. So that is why the guidance is like this.
Yeah, we are working on updating our strategy, but we have already got some conclusions. So our revenue is expected to grow around 50% over the period from 2023 to 2028 with a backend-loaded profile. So the growth will not be linear, of course. Solid revenue growth of around 50% per year for, as I told you, fastener and mineral. Revenue in recycling, which is expected to double by the end of 2028 with a backend-loaded profile again. And with all of this, yeah, developing period, we expect to keep our current profit margin around 10%. So more or less a strong growth with keeping our profit margin. Yeah.
That was the last slide, right?
Yes, it was.
Perfect. Thank you very much, Lionel and Thomas. Let's jump into some questions then. I'll try to sort of switch through the slides accordingly to the questions. So I'll be moving a little bit back here to one of the first slides that we had here with you, Thomas. The question goes on the margins, which is, of course, a plus as the one asking the question here states. But with a lower order backlog, is that because you're losing a little bit market share because you have now higher prices, which in turn then turns into potentially higher margins? Or are you sort of winning or losing the same number of contracts that you did in 2022 compared to 2023?
Should I answer that, or will you take it, Lionel?
No, please, please, Thomas.
No, we are not losing market share. As I mentioned earlier, the backlog was actually due to the high backlog that we had end of 2022. What we are looking into is actually that we feel that we increase our margins. Also based on the market that we are looking into, it is very pleasant to see that we actually grow our gross profit even though that we are the split between the segments, of course, will change during a period. What our expectation is, is that we can maintain an EBIT margin on 10% even though that we are growing the business 50% up to 2028.
Very good. Thank you, Thomas. And also then some questions sort of on your capital distribution policy. I think you had a slide with that also here if we go a little bit further here on the dividend side. Sort of there's a couple of questions in this one, so I'll try to translate it here. But of course, you have this permission from the board, which gets from the annual general meeting to do buybacks. And would you considering sort of smaller buybacks on a quarterly basis, one, to signal that SKAKO is not trading on high multiples, and two, sort of to help former shareholders or current shareholders that want to exit this year with an easier opportunity to do that? Maybe one of you could answer.
Yeah, sure. Sure we can. And I also saw a question about what our dividend policy is in the future. What we have presented for the annual general meeting the last couple of years is that we are actually increasing our dividend. Now we are at the same level as in 2022 at 5 DKK per share. But on top of that, of course, the shareholders have also received those approximately 14 DKK extraordinary. So our policy is all the time to pay out dividends for our shareholders. But as you also can see in our annual report and also in the last sentence of this slide is that we are, of course, also when we are growing recycling, especially with a double towards 2028, then, of course, we're also looking into if we should make some acquisitions.
Share buyback is, of course, a permission that we receive on the annual general assembly. The board has, for now, placed all their eggs in paying out dividends. This will, of course, be discussed as we move along.
Okay, very good. Thanks for that, Thomas. And then a question for you, Lionel. It was just regarding these three segments. There was a question as to who are sort of your main competitors in these segments?
Actually, it's a very diversified picture. So some of our competitors can compete, we have a very large range of products. So some of our competitors can only compete on a part of our range of products. Some of them are only located in some countries. And then some of them as well are competitors only on one specific segment. But if I can give a name, it will be JOEST, the German company, which is considered to be a company which is close to what we do in SKAKO Vibration. So they can compete us in many of our markets and most of our segments.
Okay, thank you very much, Lionel. And then a question regarding when you sort of get larger orders. What is your policy on announcing these ones? We know that some industrial companies in Denmark, they have sort of like a certain threshold they need to pass. Then they'll announce such an order to the market via stock exchange announcement. Yeah.
We have the same. We also have a threshold towards when we make an announcement to the market. Of course, due to the fact that now we have divested concrete, some of the policies that we have had will, of course, be evaluated as we move along. We will announce to the market when we have orders which is above our threshold.
Good. And then also sort of like on the organization, were you need to make sort of any adjustments after this demerger with SKAKO Concrete, or did you sort of make a good split between the employees you had on each side?
Of course, we will look into the organization. But the case there is that we have organized the company also in the past that we have a concrete division and we have vibration divisions. Then we have some group functions here located in Faaborg. Of course, those have to be adjusted. But the transition and that divestment of concrete actually sent some of those group functions out of the group. So we are more or less in line with the organization that we need to have. Of course, we have a smaller company to cover some of the costs to be listed and also some of the group functions. Of course, they have to be covered by a smaller company and by the earnings from vibration business.
Good. And then sort of looking at your geographical footprint here on this slide, there was sort of a question if this sort of matches your needs as it is now, sort of your ambitions, or would that perhaps change in the future after the split with SKAKO Concrete?
No, there is no change expected. As I told you, we are focusing our investment and resource in developing the recycling segment and especially in developing the recycling segment in Europe because we have the same rule in Europe, more or less the same law, the same way of recycling, and the same life level. So doing, for instance, the recycling in Africa is not the order. And the same in the U.S. where the rules are different. So no, we will not change that.
Very good. Another question that goes—I think you touched upon it also, Thomas, in your presentation—that your net debt to EBITDA is, yeah, it's almost turning, I think, negative now, indicating that you hardly don't have any debt. And would that sort of increase the opportunities for doing M&A again like you did with the Dartek acquisition some years ago? Are there sort of sectors, areas you would be looking into that could be interesting for your current business?
Of course, if we look into our ambitions towards 2028, then you can see that we will double organic, the recycling business. Of course, our focus is to develop all three segments. Of course, focus is on recycling due to the fact that this is the segment that will grow fastest. Of course, we are looking in the market if there could be some M&As. We will, of course, announce if we go into negotiations on M&As. We will, of course, look into this also moving forward.
Very good. There was also a question. I think it might be hard for you to answer this one. But could you also be yourself a target for an M&A or a takeover? Or has there been any sort of approaches to you in that regard? I guess if there had been, they've been announced to the market. I guess it's limited what you can comment on this.
You're completely right. If we were that and if there had been some request, then we will, of course, have announced it to the market.
Very good. And sort of like some final questions here from my side also, I'll just go a little bit further through your guidance here for 2024. If we look at the Q4 2023, you end the year with quite a strong finish. Is that sort of the usual seasonality, year-end effect, or do you see a strong underlying growth sort of into 2024, which your guidance sort of seems to indicate to me?
Yeah. Usually, we have a strong last quarter. Yeah, that's usual, a stronger last quarter than the first quarter. So yeah, for me, no. Yeah, nothing more to say on that. Yeah.
No. Okay. But that's very good. I don't think we have any more questions. So we'll conclude for today. Thank you very much, Lionel and Thomas, for giving us this presentation.
Thank you for participating.
Thank you for those of you who participated and for all your questions. I'll just wish you a nice day and a nice weekend later. Thank you.