Earnings Call: Q2 2021

Sep 1, 2021

Of 2021, we have our CEO, Thorsten Turling and our CFO, Reinhard Meyer. Looking at slide 4, the agenda of today's presentation is as follows. We will start by going through the key highlights and takeaways for the quarter as well as an update on the business in general. After that, we will go through the financials in more details and our financial performance in the second quarter and the first half of the year, followed by our perspectives and adjusted outlook for the financial year 2021. As always, you are invited to ask questions during the Q and A session that at the end of the presentation. And with this, I will hand over to you, Thorsten. Thank you very much, Sarah, and good morning. Also a warm welcome from me to all of you. I have been looking forward to this presentation as this is my first Quality presentation as CEO of Niel Fisk. But of course, also because we believe we have a good story to tell About a strong performance in the Q2 and a positive outlook. With this, let's go to Slide 5 for the highlights From the quarter. Overall, we are very pleased with our performance in the second quarter. We saw strong demand throughout the quarter resulting in a revenue close to 258,000,000 Corresponding to an organic growth of 38.5%. This development was driven by substantially higher order intake, Which was seen across most regions and segments. The high demand reflects a broad based recovery In our markets, the strong sales increase is also the result of the successful activation of several business initiatives, Including our focus on growing strategic accounts and broadening the access to customers. Driven by the positive effect of high volume and increased capacity utilizations, Our gross margin improved by 1 percentage point compared to the Q2 2020, reaching 40.9%. Overcompensating the material and freight cost increases that we faced in the quarter. This improvement, together with higher revenue and a lower overhead ratio, Contributed to significant improvements of EBITDA before special items. EBITDA before special items more than doubled In the Q2 'twenty one compared to the Q2 last year, reaching €41,900,000 leading to an EBITDA margin Before special items of 16.3%. This corresponds to an increase of €21,800,000 Compared to the Q2 last year at an improved 5.8 percentage points. With the substantially higher business activity, working capital grew by €9,200,000 However, due to continued prudent working capital management, working capital ratio improved to 16% Compared to 21% in the Q2 of 2020. As you know, in connection with the trading update released on 30 July, we have upwards adjusted our guidance for the full year. We will give you a further update on this towards the end of the presentation. Let's move to Slide 6 For more details on the business during the Q2. During the quarter, We have experienced a continuing positive development in the overall economy across regions, as we have seen authorities And governments progressively having eased the COVID-nineteen restrictions, leading to overall higher business activity. Overall, the pandemic has increased awareness about the importance of clean and healthy environments. Our customers see cleaning as even more critical to business success than before. As a consequence, We have experienced a sustained high order intake across geographies and customer segments. With our broad portfolio of products and services, Nielfisk is well positioned to address customer needs Towards new cleaning standards. This is an important driver for our current and future growth. In Europe, our revenue grew in Q2 by 46% versus prior year. This growth is broad based across the territory. This includes the shipment for a large order For our autonomous cleaning machines, the Nilfisk Liberty SC50 as well as its big brother, the Liberty SC60, To a large retailer. In the Americas, our revenue in the quarter is up 40% versus prior year. Here we are broadening distribution in the U. S. As well as growing with strategic accounts. In Q2, we achieved continued growth in our consumer business as well as strong growth in our private label business. We benefited from high demand for home improvement products but also from the successful launch of an innovative High Pressure Washer Range, the core series at the beginning of the year. As many other companies around the world, Nielfisk has been impacted by global supply chain constraints, leading to shortage of components And substantially higher material and freight costs. Throughout the quarter, our teams across functions We have worked around those challenges, substantially ramping up production volume in order to serve all our customers. With the sustained high order intake, we couldn't fulfill all orders in the requested time frame Given tight supply markets in a recovering global economy. Furthermore, in June, We have communicated an exceptional price increase that shall help mitigating the impact from the substantially higher material and freight costs. Overall, we are very pleased with the performance of the Q2 and our position for the remainder of the year. Now I will be handing over to Reinhard Meyer, our new CFO, who will take you through the financials. I'll hand over to you, Reinhard. Thank you, Thorsten, and good morning to everyone. I'm Reinhard Meyer, CFO of Niel Fisk. I'm happy to be here and to present the financial results to you. Moving to Slide 8, I will Start the financial review with the income statement. Overall, it was a positive quarter where Nielfisk demonstrated Strong execution power and a strong financial performance. We are pleased with this result. Total revenue was up by €66,700,000 compared to Q2 last year, which was heavily impacted by the pandemic at that time. It is worth noticing that we are in Europe and Americas with this achievement slightly above the pre pandemic levels. Reported growth was at 34.9%, negatively impacted by 3.4% from foreign exchange effects, Mainly related to the U. S. Dollar and with a smaller impact by the Turkish lira and Russian ruble. For the 1st 6 months of 2021, revenue for the total business came to €495,100,000 And that corresponds to an organic growth of 24.3%. Foreign exchange rates had an effect Of minus 3.5 percent on total reported growth, mainly due to a lower U. S. Dollar rate compared to 2020. As a result, total reported growth in the first half of twenty twenty one was 20.7%. Our gross margin is up in the quarter with 100 basis points and came to 40.9%. This positive effect of high volume and increased capacity utilization led to the improved margin despite the negative impact From exceptionally high freight rates and higher raw material costs. Our substantially higher sales in Q2 Improved the overhead cost ratio by 7.7 percentage points compared to Q2 last year From 38% down to 33.3% in Q2 'twenty one. I need to correct to 30.3% in Q1 'twenty one. This development was also supported by an improved cost structure And prudent cost management across the company. Due to significant higher business activity During the quarter compared to last year, our overhead costs grew by €5,600,000 Versus Q2 2020 and came to €78,200,000 Activity related costs like travel and marketing were still at a lower level during the quarter. Due to higher revenue, better gross margin and lower overhead ratio, EBITDA before special items More than doubled in Q2 'twenty one and reached 41,900,000 euro landing To an EBITA margin before special items of 16.3%. This corresponds to an increase of €21,800,000 Versus Q2 last year and EBITDA margin improvement of 580 basis points. In the first half of twenty twenty one, EBITDA before special items reached €78,300,000 compared to €44,100,000 for the prior year. The result corresponds to an EBITDA margin before special items of 15.8%, which is 500 basis points higher than the same period last year, obviously driven by the higher revenue in the period And lower overhead costs. Finally, special items amounted to €3,700,000 in the 2nd quarter Compared to €8,700,000 in 2020. The special items mainly relate to 1 off costs in connection With the leadership changes announced in May. And with this, let's move on to a short review of our reporting segments, Starting with Europe on Slide 9. In Europe, we are very happy to see a strong and positive performance Across all markets. This development was driven by higher demand levels as well as an increased activity within large accounts, Including the large order of autonomous cleaning machines for a leading retailer, which Thorsten just mentioned in his update as well. Revenue in Europe amounted to €119,500,000 corresponding to an organic growth of 46%. We have seen a healthy recovery in the regions, North Europe and Central Europe, As COVID restrictions were progressively lifted in these markets. In Southern Europe, we have seen an outstanding sales performance in the quarter That was well ahead of the pre pandemic levels. So all in all, a very positive development in the business in Europe. Gross margin decreased slightly versus last year due to some large volume deals. EBITDA margin grew due to a lower overhead spend ratio in relation to the business activity. Now moving on to Americas on Slide 10. We are happy to see a continued Positive development in U. S, our biggest single market. In America as a whole, revenue in Q2 amounted €75,700,000 against 58.3% last year and this reflects an organic growth of 40 0.4%. The growth was mainly driven by strong order intake in the U. S. As a result of our increased focus on Strategic accounts. In Canada and Latin America, the performance was also very positive. Gross margin in the Americas region increased by 110 basis points over prior year And subsequently, the EBITDA margin before special items also went up with the support of lower growth in overhead expenses. Now turning to slide 11, where we have the numbers for APAC. We saw organic growth of 35% in the region with good performance in the Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand. China and Southeast Asia delivered strong organic growth over prior year, but activity remains below pre pandemic levels, Mainly due to the high exposure towards the hospitality segment in most of these markets. Gross margin increased by a very healthy 6 percentage points and EBITDA margin increased even further to a solid 16.2 percent for the region. Let's move on to Slide 12 for our Consumer and Private Label segments. We are pleased to see that the consumer business is continuing its very positive development in 2020 With a sustained strong performance in the Q2 of 'twenty one. Revenue in the quarter was €26,300,000 corresponding to an organic growth of 7.1% and this comes on top Of a strong growth of 21.1 percent in the prior year period. This solid growth development in Consumer Has benefited from our renewed focus on this business and the successful launch of our new core series, An innovative high pressure washer range. The consumer demand is still fueled by higher spending For Home and Garden Improvements. Our private label business revenues amounted To €15,900,000 corresponding to an organic growth of 46.6 percent, Driven by higher demand from key customers, which led to significant order intake for the period. Turning now to the balance sheet and the cash flow on Slide 13. As you know, Nielfisk has since the escalation After pandemic, focused intensively on the cash flow improvement. We have actively managed our inventory levels to match And fulfill expected demand, whilst have a clear focus on strong efforts on credit collection. These efforts obviously continued in the Q2 and we saw a strong improvement of the working capital ratio to sales By 5 percentage points. As a result of the significant higher business activity, working capital end of period Increased to €154,300,000 up by €9,200,000 compared to last year. The positive development in demand seen in the 1st 6 months of 'twenty one has led to increased trade receivables of €41,200,000 driven by an increase in revenue. Our inventories increased by €22,400,000 Driven by increased demand and to compensate for the supply chain constraints. Trade tables increased by 43,000,000, Mainly as a result of the higher inventory procurement. Thanks to continued proactive working capital management, The working capital ratio to revenue improved to 16% at end of Q2 compared to 21% end of the last year Quarter 2. Increased efforts in R and D and operational investments being on the same level as last year has led to a modest CapEx growth of only €100,000 versus prior year. We see a strong free cash flow in the quarter Reaching €19,200,000 With this strong development, we are up by €10,000,000 versus Q1 'twenty one, But down versus a very extraordinary prior year. For the 1st 6 months of 2021, Cash flow from operation activities amounted to €34,700,000 corresponding to a decline of €6,800,000 Compared to the first half of twenty twenty, Net interest bearing debt was reduced by €46,500,000 compared to last year, subsequent To strong cash flow generation. As a result of strong EBITDA, strong cash flow And net interest bearing debt reduction, our leverage continues to decrease and has reached a level of 2.7 by end of June. And with this, we conclude the review of our financials and I'm handing back to Thorsten. Thank you very much, Reinhard. Turning to Slide 15. As a result of the continuing positive trading conditions that we have spoken about, we believe that the visibility On business activity for the second half of the year has improved. To this end, we had adjusted Our growth expectations upwards, so that we now expect organic growth rates from 12% to 16% for the full year. We also recognize the ongoing impact of supply chain constraints affecting almost every industry All over the world. This has brought substantially higher material and freight costs. Therefore, we maintained our outlook For EBITDA margin before special items in the range of 13% to 15%. Today, we are confirming this guidance, but specify that we expect organic growth And EBITDA margin before special items to materialize in the upper end of the indicated range. And with this, I'll jump right on to Slide 17 for a quick summary of the quarter. All in all, Q2 has been a strong quarter for Nielfisk, and we are very pleased with our performance. We are experiencing a strong growth momentum across regions, and we have achieved improved profitability. Given the sustained high order intake and the supply chain challenges, we have already a very strong order backlog For the remainder of the year, we will continue to work on mitigating the supply chain impact for our customers. Last but not least, Q2 has also seen the arrival of a new CEO and new CFO for Niel Festk. In the past few months, Reinhard and myself went through an intense onboarding process. As a first conclusion, we see for the company great potential ahead. This is also supported Our customers' increased focus on cleaning. We have also reviewed the execution status Of the company's strategic initiatives. Some initiatives are already in full swing to deliver results As demonstrated in Q2. Overall, we want to make sure that we do implement A robust execution framework allowing us to execute well on our core activities. We envision further strengthening of our customer focus and developing a strategic roadmap for long term sustainable growth. And with this, we conclude our presentation and we're now ready to take your questions. Operator, would you please go ahead? Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Christian Johansen from Danske Bank. Please go ahead. Yes. Thank you, and hello, Thorsten and Reinhard. A couple of questions for me. Maybe to start off with where you just finished On your strategy and the review you are doing, should we expect you to come out with an sort of Updated strategy, updated targets and so on? And if so, when? Thank you very much for the question. We are, as indicated, In the midst of the reviews, in discussions among the executive team as well as with the board, as soon as those discussions will be concluded, Certainly, we'll come back with the outcome of those discussions. So I'm not in a position yet to indicate a precise time frame when we'll We're doing this still a couple of months out, but we feel confident that We can identify how to take the company forward with a strong strategic initiative execution framework. And but with this, as soon as this process is concluded in a few months, we'll share the details with you then. Understood. Then a question on this Price increase, which you said you announced at the end of June. So first of all, can you quantify how much you've increased prices? And secondly, When do you expect that to have a P and L impact? Yes. Obviously, this is this was an important decision on our side As most industries faced with substantially higher material and freight cost And despite all efforts to cost mitigate internally, there was no alternative to pass on those cost inflations to the markets. We announced this end of the second quarter. There is a different time horizons of implementation depending on which customer segment And which contractual agreement there is, it can take between 1 month to 3, 4 months of implementation is not all the same. So it will not all kick in at the same time. It has been communicated And depending on the contractual situation, it will hit the numbers a bit sooner or a bit later. I cannot disclose the precise dimension of the price increase. However, I can indicate that the dimension of the price increase Has been tailored as such to be able over a 12 months time horizon to cope With the incremental cost impact, right. So that has led us to dimension the level of price increase. Understood. And maybe just to make sure I understand you correctly. So what you're saying is we should expect some partial impact in Q3 and more or less full impact in Q4. Is that how to understand? Correct. That's correct. Excellent. Then the next question is on these component shortages. Can you in any way comment and preferably quantify how much this has increased your lead time on products? That the lead time on products is impacted in a different way depending on Which kind of product and which site is producing the product. But The average probably has moved out by around 2, 3 months, but there are particular products with bottlenecks that have Moved out even further. There are other categories of products that are available in almost the same time as usual. But something around kind of 2, 3 months in average probably is a reasonable indication. Understood. Quite clear. And then my last question is just on this additional guidance comment that you now expect to be in the upper end of the range. I mean, what has happened since July 13, which makes you add that comment to your guidance? This statement is obviously derived. Every month, we see actuals coming through In our results, but also in terms of order intake, we're getting more and more confidence How the rest of the year will trade. And the statement of guiding you to the upper end Of the indicated range is the result of the consistently sustained high amount of order intake And the level we have gotten to with our production volume output and what we see in the pipeline coming through. That is the to foresee this well in advance in this very constrained supply situation is close to impossible. That's why we were not in a position a few months back to actually predict to what degree we will be able to ramp up our volume output And how the supply situation will evolve on allowing the growth side, but also impacting the margin side. That transparency is getting better with each month, which led to our statement To guide you towards the upper end of the indicated range. Understood. Perfect. Thank you very much. I will jump back in the queue. And the next question comes from the line of Casper Blom from ABG. Please go ahead. Thanks a lot. A couple of questions from my side as well. I understand that it's difficult to be very specific about the price increases, but Maybe we could talk about a little bit about how this is impacting your gross margin in the quarter, the 40.9%. If I look back, for example, at Q2 twenty nineteen, you had roughly the same revenue as you had here in Q2 2021, but you had a gross margin of 43.9%. Is it fair to assume that you would have been at that level had it not been for these high freight expenses and raw material costs? Casper, thanks for the question. I think, let's say, there are 2 effects to it. One is, to say, The larger volume deals, which has led to the slight margin Dilution and the other effect is, as you say, it's the higher freight and raw material costs. So I would think that we will come back to better margins as of Q4. In Q3, we still will see The higher freight and the higher raw material costs as the compensating price increase, which is, so to say, now out, We'll take the effects as of Q4. Okay. But you can't sort of in any way materialize what the Gross margin would have been had it not been for these unusually high expenses? No, because then, so today, I would need to disclose as well what the volume And since we don't disclose that, I cannot give you an answer on this one. Okay. That's fair enough. Then jumping on to the more variable costs, R and D, sales and distribution and so on. I I think many of us had the impression that as the world opens up, we would also start seeing these costs increase. You keep them at a relatively low level here in the second quarter. Is it fair to assume increases on those Let's say, I mean, we have learned our way through the pandemic, and we have also learned how we play digitally In a better way. So we will see certainly a modest growth, but we will not swing back to what it used to be Because the let's say, organization has developed a better way how to Market our products, but also sell our products in new forms. Hence, we will see a growth, but not to the extent they were At 2019 or 2020 levels. Okay. That's very clear. And then my last question. You mentioned interestingly This comment that you could have actually delivered more in Q2 had it not been for the supply chain restrictions. Would that mean that we will also see less of a seasonality in the Q3 than we normally does? Normally, there's a dip due To summer holidays in Q3, will that be less profound this year as you can basically just been blasting on? I think, Kasper, that is a fair assumption on your side. We have increased our order book, and that will help to basically Level out the seasonality. Excellent. Thanks a lot. We have one more question from the line of Claus Elmer from Nordea. Please go ahead. Thank you. Yes, also, first of all, congratulations, you are Starting in Nilfisk, to both of you. The first question goes to Americas, where the revenue is flattish versus Q2 2019, given all the things you're doing, especially in the U. S, but also the poor performance before 2019, One could maybe hope for a better revenue level this year. So maybe you could put More color to what do we actually see in the U. S. That will be the first question. Yes. Thank you, Claus. Let me give you a bit more perspective. We see The sales growth we have reported on behind that is even a higher order intake growth in the U. S. We could have invoiced more. This is true across the territory, but also true for the U. S. In the second quarter. Wouldn't it have been for the supply chain constraints? So what is there are different elements that are driving the very strong increase Of our sales. Of course, there is a general market recovery. That's not specific to us. That's broad based and this is also happening In the U. S, but there is additional elements to this. The company has focused to develop Incremental distribution channels, broadened distribution, but also business development activities with strategic accounts. Those are activities that have a certain lead time and were already ongoing for quite a while. So some of those activities have really started to deliver very strong results, opening up new distribution channels, But also being listed and making substantial enrolls in additional strategic accounts that the company did not have Before. And that second part of the answer, next to the overall market recovery, This additional presence in customers and channels where the company had not been playing before makes us confident That the growth will also sustain in the remainder of the year end and longer term going forward. That looks sounds pretty good. So you say the growth will sustain, but again, What do you actually mean there? Because compared to Q2 2019 is flattish, but obviously very strong versus Q2 2020. Should you say that we should expect a repeat of the growth we saw year over year? Or Just try to put some more color on that part. Let me answer this way because we don't give guidance per and outlook per region, but I can say the following. Our revenue is currently constrained by the supply chain limitations. And we work very hard to overcome those limitations. And the more we are able to achieve higher production volume, the more we'll be able to increase our revenue. So to be clear, Order intake is substantially higher and also substantially above 2019 levels, the question will be how soon this will materialize in the P and L As we are still constrained by supply chain limitations, right. So and this is more determining factor Of what level of sales we're going to reach this year and what level of sales we're going to reach In the following year as we have ongoing activities to enlarge our supply chain capability and overcome some of the current limitations. Okay. That makes sense. Then I know you're still early days within Nielfisk and The strategy is still ongoing, but a normalized overhead cost level, I know you said you're not going back at what we saw in 2018, 2019, but maybe you could put some more color to when Things are normalized. How much should we add to what we have seen in Q1 and Q2 once traveling, marketing, etcetera, will start to be Expenses. Yes. I mean, as I said, I mean, we are learning our way out of the Pandemic, how to use better digitized ways to communicate, whether to our customers also internally. And that will, so to say, be a key driver. On the other side, we are going to, alongside our strategic rework, Focus on growing certain segments and deliver growth in certain markets. And that will, as such, Bring forward an overhead cost growth. How much that will be? Actually, I would like to defer that to a later stage when we display This strategy work because then it sits together in an overall framing. And I would like to weigh you on that. Other than that, I can only say the cost growth for this year is going to be prudent. And the better framing for the years to come It certainly be communicated in an updated strategy work by Thorsten and me. Okay. We're always impatient to get all the details, but fully acknowledge that you need to do your work before And we have a follow-up question from Christian Johansen from Danske Bank. Just two follow ups. This large autonomous order in Europe, which you flagged, Is this sort of fully revenue from that fully booked in Q2? Or will that continue to flow into Q3? Yes. Thank you for this question, Christian. The vast majority of this revenue, So the products have been shipped and revenue recognized in the second quarter. There was a tiny proportion of it in the 1st, but the vast, vast majority has been invoiced in the second quarter. What is coming thereafter is recurring service revenue. But when it comes to the machines, that revenue has been recognized in the second quarter. And when you say large order, can you quantify how many units it includes? We cannot I mean, we could, but we don't want to disclose the number of units. But the total order For this customer shipment was around €8,000,000 Okay, interesting. And then the second follow-up here is just on special items cost for the second half of this year, if you can sort of Help us what to expect on that line. Well, as you know, Christian, The guidance was that for the full year, we expect to be on €5,000,000 range. As we have basically no specific plans, there could be an upside, but I cannot rule out that there are other special items to come. There's nothing Visually planned now for the second half. So it is a little bit, so to say, a cautious approach in the guidance of €5,000,000 And as there are no further questions, I will hand it back to the speakers for closing remarks. Thank you, everyone, for joining this call and for participating and for asking questions. As mentioned, we are pleased with the results of the quarter and we look forward to welcome you again for the results presentation of the Q3 in a few months. Thank you very much and have a good day.