All right. Good morning. I think it's 9:00 A.M., so let's start. First of all, thanks for joining in on such short notice. As you all know, last night we sent out an announcement, and this call is for Bjarne and Jörg to elaborate a little bit on that announcement. The call is scheduled to last an hour. Jörg and Bjarne will have a couple of slides, and then we do Q&A after as a regular conference call. Without taking too much time, Jörg, I think we should get going.
Yeah, and good morning, everyone. There's an update we want to give you, and that is especially coming from Germany. The market is not in good condition, impacting our results. We're going to talk about a new outlook, but also, more important, actually, what are we going to do about it? If you can flip the slides, Niclas, to the very first next one. All right. This is in a nutshell the key takeaways of the situation in the company. The first really issue is there is a market issue in Germany. The assumption, actually, when we went into the year, we didn't expect growth from Germany, but we expected a certain price volume equation, if you want. What we can see now operating after the first half is that this is not coming through. We started into the year increasing prices.
Then we needed to pass on inflation, but that led to an effect where we lost share. This situation is not sustainable, actually. To really keep the competitive situation up, we are operating on a different price level than we wanted. Price increase is not coming through, and that is certainly impacting margins in the company. What is the reason for it? The market is still at very, very low volumes. We come to that a little later, so I have also some insights for you, so where you really can see how different Germany is operating to all the other regions where we are in. Plus, when you read a little bit the news coming out in Germany and the statistics, we just got the information that building starts in Germany, they were historically low.
The situation is actually worse than what we were seeing last year, and that is impacting not only the German results, but it has such a big impact on the group that we are changing the outlook. That's the situation where we are in. What is then important? Two options. You can just say we sit and wait and wait for a better market. I think everyone knows that Germany needs to build and something needs to happen. The point is, as we're sitting here, we don't see this stimulus coming. We're also looking a little bit into next year, even though there's some slight growth, actually, that will not justify a position where we keep the organization as is. That is why we've looked into that, what can we do? We've decided to reorganize the operations in Germany. You know, over the last years, we've built a nationwide coverage.
The strategy was really to operate everywhere in Germany, build big supply chains all over the country. This we will pause, therefore change to a regional business setup. I come to that a little bit later, how that looks, and then also the advantages it gives. What this includes is restructuring costs in the second half, plus an impairment of assets. We are definitely cleaning up our German operations to improve the results, and especially also making sure there's no further cash flow in from that business because at the moment, as we speak, it's cash-limited. The third one, also important, this only gets us to a new baseline. From here, we're going to look into different strategic options we have.
Out of a regional perspective, we will look into what is that we can do to ensure long-term profitable growth from the market that is then also helping to improve the EBIT and the results for the group. That is literally the steps. You have the situation, you know what we are doing, and then also, you know it's just the first step. On top of that, there will be a strategic review of the business. We believe it's needed. Going to the next slide. Bjarne has the preliminary Q2 numbers for you.
Good morning, everyone. This is just to provide you a little bit of background, also to understand where we are and how we see things. We have the Q2 report in the pipeline to be presented in a couple of weeks. If we take a look at some of the main KPIs, we have a flat organic growth. We had a guidance range of 5%- 10%, and we have also said that it would be mainly backlogged. What we see in the regions is that in Germany, we have a decline in volumes, and that's because we've been trying to increase prices. It is very textbook. We have not been able to see a general price increase in the market as such, so we have lost volume.
In the U.K., you also notice that we are a little bit lower on the revenue than last year, but that is due to the big de-stocking we did last year, where this year is ramping up production volume. Going into the second half, we're confident around the perspective for the U.K.. The Polish market has delivered well. On the earnings metrics from gross margin and down to EBIT, you see improvements both for the quarter and for the first half year, and all of that is related to the extraordinarily high input costs we had last year. They are on a normalized basis this year, and the main driver for this is the group. Finally, just to confirm the overall situation of the group, the financial gearing was at 2.6 x the EBITDA.
It is a ratio we, of course, had intended to bring down with the adjustments we announced yesterday that we are probably more paternal on this level, but it's not anything that is critical to the group. With this, I think we can go back and look more into the actions and the background for the situation.
Yes. Here we have a little bit of insight, actually, when you separate the situation in Germany. What we've done here is the 2022 volumes, actually. This is indexed at 100%. What you then can see is that all countries literally in 2023 went into that crisis, so losses of volumes of around 30% ish. In 2024, another setback, actually, across our market. Really, two years we were going into that, markets came down. You see the magnitude is different, right? What happened in 2025, we see recovery of all other regions. This is the green line here. When you look at all other regions, we are looking into something at 80% recovery of where we were in 2022.
If you want, in these markets, we are still operating with 20% lower volumes than we historically had, yeah, but it's a completely different trajectory than the German business. The German business went further down in 2025, as I discussed. We are down now to 50% of the historic volume. What you really can see here is, and it's the only market where we're operating that is taking that direction. It's half of the business that is left, and instead of having a stable development, it's further going down. That is the situation. You can argue and say there were so many improvement efforts going in, and that is true. Just to recall here in 2023, 2024, we have taken almost DKK 200 million of cost savings out, only in Germany.
Massive restructuring, massive change of the organization going in, but all this is not supporting and not helping in a market with such low volumes and even worse, the price level that we are currently seeing is impacting margin. That is why we think doing further adjustments is the right way. What you then also can see is actually, we did that exercise here. If you just separate the German businesses out of group, the rest of group had a double-digit EBIT margin, very close to our long-term financial targets of 12%, including a full headquarter that we are entertaining here in Copenhagen. From my point of view, it really shows how strong group is. In all countries we operate, Germany is our problem.
This is a loss-making business, and we believe we cannot just sit here and wait for a better market, but we have to adjust to something else to make it sustainable and then take fresh action from it. That's the situation. Going next. This is what we do. Here you see the German map. Literally from that, as I said, nationwide coverage, being everywhere, having a sales team for the whole market, we're going to reorganize into six profit centers. You can see them here. There are three profit centers in the east of the country: Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, the one in the south of east. We have one in the north. We have the one close to Hamburg, which is also delivering to Denmark. We have one in the rest of the country, also delivering to Benelux. There's one in the south, mainly CSU in the Frankfurt area.
That is the regional profit centers. What does that mean? We're going to build six strong regional units with own leadership in the region. Sales will be reorganized into the regions. Customer service will be reorganized into the regions. On top of that, there will be a central back office for service functions. Different setup. Why do we believe it's right? What we really want to accomplish here is, I call it sell around the chimney. Instead of entertaining all these supply chains across the country, it's really about making sure we're using the capacity that we've built in the region and doing business with customers in the area, very close to the customer, and really developing these regional markets. That is the strategy behind it. We believe this will lead to better margins in the regions.
Plus, it will allow us to operate on a lower cost base, i.e., giving us a better competitive edge to really perform stronger in the region. That is what we are up for here. There were for sure questions, and it's only fair. What happened with all the stuff we were doing? We were talking about we have a new ERP system for the whole country. We are driving home and the capacity. All this is still there. It is the same platform we are operating. We will not change the way we operate, i.e., it's still the same platform for when it comes to ERP and processes, very lean processes. Actually, it's a very successful project. It's running very well.
To be very clear here, it is only because we have that one platform we can now reorganize into a profit center structure, ensuring that even though we are executing more local, we're still keeping certain standards across those profit centers. That will continue helping for performance. Same for home. The way we run our plans will not change. That is all there. We know the capacity upside. All this will be continued executing, but in a different setup. The last point here is, and that leads a little bit into my comment about a strategic review. We also believe that this regional setup is an opportunity to further consolidate the market in Germany. It is a flexible structure. I think from here, we can explore various options, actually, to really build something that is profitable or prepare for profitable growth long-term.
That is why we believe it is the right move to go into this regional setup. Going next, this is for Bjarne to give you a little bit what that brings, but also costs financially.
Yes. As always, it's a game of two halves. In such a restructuring program, we put money in in order to get the restructuring done. That will have an impact on our reporting in Q3 and Q4, where you see there will be reported special items in the region of DKK 80 million - DKK 100 million. That is all cash-based and will be paid out during 2025 and into 2026. That should bring us the benefit already this year of around DKK 20 million, and then into 2026, around DKK 40 million on top of that as the plan is looking right now. Looking at, let's say, the EBIT result, there will be additional benefits from the asset impairments we are doing. There will be around DKK 15 million this year and an additional DKK 15 million coming in next year. That takes us to the impairment topic.
We split that into two. We have looked at the assets, fixed assets, and intangible assets. As a consequence of this new setup, we have decided to permanently close Biedenborn 1 and the factory in the south called Voigtwangen. They were sitting with some rather high book values in the anticipation that they would be reopened and the value in use would be higher than the book value. We have decided to impair that. We also have factories we have shut down during the last couple of years, back to the curve Jörg presented. We have, of course, had efforts in order to sell that. We have taken another look at the values they're booked at. From a prudence point of view, we've written them further down and will, of course, continue to see how we can realize cash out of those assets.
Finally, before we come to customers, there has also been what we call customer relations, which are part of the purchase price from some of the previous acquisitions. With a loss-making business, it is difficult to defend from a layman perspective. We have also decided to take a big impairment on those intangible assets. On the goodwill, the IFRS rules are that when we do impairments of other assets, it's also an indication that there is impairment on the goodwill. We have tested it with some new and also more conservative assumptions as we do not see this market recovery in Germany that the previous goodwill valuation has been based on. Based on the new assumptions, which are low growth but also lower margins, we do a write-off of DKK 250 million on the goodwill.
On the more technical matters like the back and other issues, it will all be fully disclosed in the Q2 report. The main message is methodology unchanged. It is the underlying business where we see that we don't have the same recovery profile as we have assumed in the past. With that, back to Jörg for some closing remarks.
Thanks, Diljo.
I'm happy to do so. Happy to take this one. We are adjusting our full-year outlook. Organic growth was 5%- 10%. We come in just at one year on the half year. We will adjust it down to around 4%. It is driven by price deterioration in the German market. The EBIT is adjusting accordingly. A number of moving items, we came from 120 to 180. We take the price effect from Germany out of that, and we add in the benefits from the restructuring efforts of the cash one and the non-cash ones. On the assumptions overall, it is only the German market situation that is changing. On minor changes, we are taking our KPIs a little bit down, and the special items, as we discussed on the previous slide.
Yes, I think we're ready for Q&A, and a lot more people in this call than expected. Try to throw your hand up, and I'll try to pick you up. What suggestion? There's a question from Sebastian. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Niclas, and Jörg and Bjarne. Thank you for hosting this call. I have a few questions. I'll just go through them one at a time here. Firstly, I'd like to ask a bit more about the timing and not least the sort of the direction of this reorganization. Needless to say, as you point out, the German market still remains very difficult. However, it's been so for a long time. Now, with what seems to be a more pragmatic government, which also has taken steps to improve house building as well as prospects of more government spending in general, why is it now the time to permanently reorganize and permanently close plants? An extension of that, moving back towards a more sort of regionalized setup, you had a few comments, Jörg, but maybe you could elaborate a bit more.
It appears to be contradicting the direction from your one-process initiatives. I was just wondering what was sort of wrong with your initial analysis about centralizing the German setup. That would be my first question.
Fair enough. So first, why now? I think what really has changed is, for this year, our assumption was a flat market. I'd say anyone in Germany you talk to expected something to happen from the new government, see stimulus. There were people saying the second half will start improving. If you look at the sentiment in the market now from the new government, there's no specific initiative on how the situation will be changed, even though they're in office for a couple of months now. I'd say everyone has corrected their outlook, a positive outlook for 2025. People speculate about 2026. When you really see how the different regions are developing, even though there's a small growth in Germany next year, it's not justifying, actually, this setup, actually. That is the situation where I believe it's why now the right timing. With that, we're not guiding on 2026 here.
The point is, we're not very optimistic about a super good 2026, actually. It needs that market recovery so that the whole market relieves that the competitive situation changes, that also allows for price increases again. As I said, the other option was to just sit here, wait, and accept the loss-making, actually. That is another option. We believe it's the wrong option. Now I come to why the regional setup, I believe it's right. What is first important is for me, we are not giving up on anything we did with the one project. All these profit centers will operate in that ERP system. It will allow us also, you know, it's also about how to steer and lead such a structure. You need financial KPIs, all that. It's super important that we have that platform. That hasn't changed, actually.
It was right to integrate it, to put it all on one platform, to standardize it, having same processes. That was right no matter how we operated. The major adjustments we do is, and that is, it's major mainly a commercial adjustment we do. It really starts in sales, whereas we have salespeople everywhere. We have sales regions everywhere. Then we have the supply chain, actually, directing the volumes into the regions. This is the major change because here we go into a regional setup. Literally, we have the plant in the middle of the market. The idea is we really sell around the plant. That also means we will give up a couple of regions where we are selling today. If this is loss-making, there is no sense, actually, to do that.
We are really cutting and adjusting to that regional setup, but at the same time also being stronger in the region. That is what we do. It's not affecting the way we operate. All the one and the home and all this is still there, and it's a platform on how we operate. It's more the view of having this nationwide going forward thing because the assumption here was, you know, why are you selling everywhere in the country? It's because the assumption was, OK, we're going to open further plants, we're going to invest in capacity here, there. This is actually paused, and we concentrate on what we have and build strong regions. That's literally the move here. At least it's a pausing strategy.
Thank you for the clarification. I'll just go back in the queue. You can take one of the others.
All right. I think next question is from Anders Preetzmann. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much as well. Good morning, Jörg, Bjarne, and Niclas. Thank you for taking my questions. I also had a few. Maybe going back to, I mean, Jörg, you mentioned the difference between the new guidance and the guidance you reiterated in connection with the Q1 results two months ago, is the price volume equation in Germany, which has developed negatively. Can you share what your expectations around this are for the remainder of the year? Do you expect price pressure to increase in the coming months, or is the expectation more of a flat development?
From the top line, we still expect that we will be able to gain some of the volume back because we are more flexible on price. This is the fine balance. For the time being, when we don't get the volume, we also get higher unit production cost. That is what we are trying to balance by saying we allow some flexibility on price, which is why we take the organic growth down. It is the best way to defend the current levels.
OK, maybe then on the guided range on EBIT, since you mentioned it, Bjarne, there's a bit of a broad range implied here for H2. Are you able to put some color on what would need to happen for you to end at the lower end and at the top end?
Yeah, I would say that is also a little bit based on the other reasons where you can say on the high end, it's particularly the U.K. If they can overperform on their production, that would give us extra volume. We are confident that can be sold. That would be the main driver to get to the top end. If you're looking towards the low end, it will be some market implications from Poland. Right now, we are confident around Poland, despite we're seeing declining building permits. For this year, we think the impact is limited. That would be, let's say, additional, let's say, a negative impact that would take us to the lower end.
OK, thank you very much. Going from this national to now, again, a regional setup in Germany, I assume it won't necessarily improve the price competition that you're seeing. I know that your unit cost will likely go down. If the pattern here in Germany continues into 2026, should we still expect Germany, if you implement your plans correctly, that Germany next year will also be loss-making?
It's a bit on what level you look at. First, the first level is to make sure that they are cash flow neutral. We know there'll be some payout of the special license in 2026. If we take that out, we want them to be cash neutral. Secondly, you can start to build from, let's say, a positive EBITDA and then potentially also a positive EBIT. The main driver, as we see it right now, would more be that we operate on a lower cost base, not that we expect, let's say, that prices will increase overnight just because we're changing the approach.
That's exactly the point here. At the end, it's about making sure we are delivering strong margins on a plant level. Distribution is a big element of our cost structure, right, because the products don't travel well. It's really about making sure we build very strong customer relationships around the chimney, making sure we are operating at the lowest cost possible. That gives us the competitive edge, and we'll have improved margins. That is literally the strategy. To what Bjarne is saying, for sure, no further cash bleeding from the region. The next level is to make sure there's positive EBITDA development, and from there, also positive EBIT contribution. You have seen from my comment here, it is a big deal when you see that the rest of the group, including a fully equipped headquarter, is delivering more than 10% EBIT, and Germany is tracking that down.
Everyone can do his own calculation of what that number is, and it's a big number. This is our clear target and commitment. This is not sustainable, and that is why we are really taking a hard cut here, but with a clear target to make sure that Germany is contributing and not stopping the group from performing.
All right. Thank you very much. Just a final question before I jump back in the queue. I mean, you mentioned it yourself, but the impairment of DKK 600 million, it seems to me that this is quite a large part of your German entity that you have now written down. I mean, can you maybe share a bit how much of your book value of a German entity that you take out of the books now with this impairment?
Yeah, I think if you use it as kind of a gauge, the CWE region represents more than 40% of our revenue, I think at least in 2024 numbers. As it's acquired assets where it's all assets in Poland and Germany, the asset base is proportionately higher than just that revenue share. Yes, it is a significant cut. As I also mentioned, we have had two, let's say, fairly large factories that have been mothballed. In the current environment, expected sales proceeds are not super attractive. Accounting-wise, we need to impair to either net proceeds or value in use. As we're not using them anymore, it has to be the sales price. They are the, let's say, the big drivers on that. It's also reflecting that we are a loss-making business in Germany.
With the priorities and how to recover, it is not something that we expect to just be around the corner. We have, let's say, taken a stance where we say, we need to do this. Hopefully, we're done in a way so we don't need further adjustments for this.
All right. Thank you very much. I'll jump back.
I think, Sebastian, you have another question?
Thank you, Niclas. I just want to revert to the restructuring savings and try to sort of figure out how they impacted the P&L. You say H2 2025 savings of approximately DKK 20 million. Is this solely SG&A, or is it a mix of SG&A and indirect production cost? Also, adding to that, these restructuring savings, are these gross amount savings or are these sort of net amount? Because in my ears, it sounds like you are also having to get new people out to pursue this more regionalized strategy. Are these, you can say, gross or net proceeds?
If we start with the classification part, the DKK 20 million is a mix of SG&A and indirect production costs. The savings this year of the DKK 20 million, we see that as a net number, which also will be the case for the savings for the next year. Therefore, there'll be some inflation on next year and so on. This is the impact of doing the new.
It's the total cost of going to a new setup.
OK, no, that's super clear. Just for clarification, you're talking about the strategic review for further enhancing profitability. In my ears, again, it sounds like, I mean, are you losing faith in the German market in general? Also, given the exercise that you carve out the ex-German business and showcase the profitability here, are you exploring options here to sort of completely sell your German business? I mean, is Germany still a long-term important market for you guys?
I mean, overall, Germany is an important market as it's a big market. Second, I think we have common sense here that everyone knows that Germany needs to build. It's a question of time. It's an attractive market. That's the first thing. Second is when you look at the competitive situation in Germany and you compare that to Poland, for instance, or also the U.K., other markets around us, you can name a lot, actually. It is still that in Germany, it's a lot of competition, right? We really believe the market needs further consolidation. We believe that this regional setup we are going into now is more agile. It's more flexible, opens up for opportunities. We believe it's the right thing to do to really go into it strategically and see what can we do on that regional basis.
That could be joint ventures, going together with others, consolidating markets. It could be potential sale. It could be potential buyout. We don't rule anything out. The point is that the market, and this is the last two years have shown it, actually, that it needs consolidation. We believe with that new structure, we are going into a better operating model to allow this consolidation process.
Oh, thank you. That's very clear.
Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you again. You're very kind to share the sales volume or the volume, sorry, index graph from 2022 and onwards. It's my impression that you've also taken out quite a lot of capacity in this period. Although your volumes are down, are you able to share how much your capacity utilization has developed in the period as well?
We don't have a specific number, but if we look at it, we are running between one and three shifts on the factories. In Germany, we're not having seven-day work weeks, so you would be down. Net is more than 50%, but it's not near the 70% or 80% where we, as a minimum, should be in order to drive a profitable business.
All right.
This new setup, you see the same factories that we were running yesterday. It's difficult, we reorganize into the regions. With that move, it's the same capacity that we had yesterday, actually. Where all the impairments you see, this is for mothballed plants and closed plants, and this is where the cleanup happened. For now, we took the network from yesterday into a new region. From here, we're looking into the strategic options.
OK. Your capacity has not changed since the last time you mothballed a plant in Germany. That's correct?
Correct. That is correct.
All right. Thank you.
When you look into the capacity utilization of the plants we are running, there's plenty of capacity. Also, when the market recovers in the region, there's plenty of capacity to support that potential market growth that hopefully becomes soon.
All right. Is that also the case in the U.K.? I mean, you seem in the announcement very optimistic or very positive about the U.K. We've also seen some peers in the U.K. reporting recently, saying the same things, reporting of high activity. How about your capacity utilization there?
The U.K. was also going through the downturn. We've closed a complete plant, right? We opened that last year in October, and now we are sitting in a position where just a couple of weeks ago, we added the fourth shift also into that plant. Literally, all plants are running in a 24/7 mode. We see strong demand coming through, and we really have to catch up with supply. We are on a good way, actually. We see way more production volume than last year, and now it's about making sure that we really drive efficiency of all these plants. I think we are on a good way here. We are very positive about the dynamics in the market, and it's a nice business, actually, we're running. Again, the group is showing it.
You know, financing a holding here in Copenhagen, there needs to be strong margins coming from Poland and the U.K. to get this to a 10% EBIT for the rest of the group, actually.
Yeah, I mean, the U.K. definitely seems like a great place to be involved with [H+H] building right now, at least. Maybe just a question on your visibility here going forward. I mean, you're quite certain on Poland delivering as expected also for the remainder of the year. When will you sort of know more about Poland into 2026? I mean, it's my impression that your visibility is rather short, perhaps a quarter or so. What's your, can you maybe just put some more words on your expectations for Poland?
I think one of the key things we are observing around Poland right now is what is going to happen to the interest rate. Because politically, there has been some stimuli that helped the market. There have been some other measures put in place, with other focus. That is not giving any help. If we are to look for positive drivers in Poland, it will definitely be on the interest rate, so a decrease. Right now, the building permits coming out seem to be declining for the time being. It's a little bit too early to call the 2026 numbers now. With the pipeline we have in Poland, we remain confident around the second half.
All right, thank you very much. That was very clear.
Okay, it seems like there are no more questions. I'll just give it one minute.
Could I ask a question? I somehow managed not to raise my hand. Jörg, you mentioned that one of your options instead of reorganization would have been to wait out the market. You think that's the wrong decision. Could you maybe just put a few words on why is that the wrong decision, both given that you've improved the platform in Germany significantly over the past couple of years, and that your competitors are either PE-owned, which may give them limited additional capital, or family-owned. Shouldn't you be able to wait out most of your competitors in this market?
When it's the combination, it's boring, right? The one thing is the internal. You look at a company, you see your group results. You see how strong all the other regions are performing. You see this big anchor actually tearing the company down. You look into the financials and you see there's a cash bleeding. There is a negative EBITDA and there's negative EBIT, actually, right? The question is, you can easily calculate how much volume you need on top to get out of that situation, right? A very simple question is, is that what we really believe? Is that what that can come through in 2026?
The honest answer is, even though with market recovery in 2026, we still will see, as I say, from today's perspective, we don't see these stimulus that are needed so that we really sit in here and say, OK, now the new build will start again, right? It can come, but no one can see it from today. The question is, do we accept another year operating in that environment, or do we take action? That is why we took action. At the same time, we are not giving up on future options. As I said, it's the same plans we are operating. We're getting closer to our customers in the markets, right? That is why we believe for now it is the right move to go into that. From here, allow future building, actually.
That is why we've also announced that it's not the final state, but it's a move that is needed now, puts us in a stronger position. With a strategic review, I think this also allows us and opens up for these future options. That is why from all these angles, we believe it is the right move to do in the environment where we are.
That's very clear. Maybe just one more question from me. Has there been any communication with your larger shareholder in relation to the strategic review and reorganization?
are constant talks with all major shareholders. For sure, at the end, I think it's important to understand the major shareholders' view, and we're going to incorporate that for sure in the strategic options we have, actually.
That was all from me. Thank you.
If no further questions, we'll end it off. Maybe you can say the final.
Yes. Yeah, thanks for taking your time this morning. I think all of us were expecting and waiting really for a better market in Germany. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. This is a disappointment. I hope you see we are taking action here and not just sitting and waiting. We want to actively improve the situation. I think even more important, we want to drive to a better future. That is what we are up for. Yeah, thanks for all your questions and your constant interest in the company. I think we're going to see each other again in two weeks for the general H2 announcement. With that, have a good rest of the week. Thank you. Bye-bye.