Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Willem Fransoo. I'm Director of Investor Relations at Barco. On behalf of Barco, I would like to welcome you today to this analyst and investor call on the trading update of the third quarter of 2023. I'm happy to have both our Co-CEOs in the room with me, An Steegen and Charles Beauduin, and also our CFO, Ann Desender. This call is unusual for a third quarter trading update, for which we normally only provide a written press release. We're happy that you could join today on shorter notice. The purpose of this call is not to bring extraordinary news. However, we would like to keep the market informed about Barco's focus on profitability in the current market conditions, which have led to lower than expected sales, yet stable and growing market shares for Barco.
Charles Beauduin, An Steegen, and Ann Desender will now walk us through the third quarter trading update, for which the presentation can be found on our website since this morning. Charles will kick it off and take it from slide three onwards.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am happy to take you today through the highlights of this update. Barco's orders for the third quarter were about flat versus the same quarter last year. Year-to-date, they are 4% higher than last year. We saw growth in the enterprise and entertainment divisions, and a decline for the healthcare. China remains weak as the expected recovery after pandemic has not materialized yet. The order book stands at a healthy EUR 523 million, which is 3% higher than at the end of last quarter. Sales for the quarter were higher than Q1. Sales were 12% lower than the third quarter last year. At constant currencies, this was 9% lower. Year-to-date, sales were 2% higher than last year.
In the enterprise division, sorry, in the entertainment division, the sales were solid, and we are comparing a year against a strong third quarter last year, where we saw a rebound of activity after prior supply chain issues. Sales were lower in healthcare and enterprise, with softer demand in Americas and a slower than expected recovery in China after the pandemic. When we look at the outlook for the full year 2023, and given the current market conditions, we are expecting sales to be in line with 2022. At this top- line, the EBITDA margin is expected to be around 14% for the full year 2023.
So, as Charles mentioned already, the headwinds that we saw already in second quarter continued and even intensified in some areas in the third quarter, where we had expected some recovery in China when we talked to you in July, that recovery did not materialize in third quarter. Also, our healthcare and enterprise divisions see softer demands due to weakening macroeconomic conditions. At the other hand, the entertainment market continues to build on a very strong momentum as of last year, and that shows again the post-Covid trend that people really want to go out of house for entertainment. Now, while we're navigating through these tougher market conditions, we are confident that the fundamentals of our key markets are healthy and remain intact.
While we're navigating through the short term tougher markets through gaining market share, through cost containment and also margin improvements, we also continue to focus on our strategic initiatives. Those strategic initiatives are, as you know, focused on our roadmap of new product introductions, as well as our operational efficiencies, that we can be more cost competitive on volume products through our focused factories approach.
Taking a deep dive. Good morning from my side. Taking a deep dive more into the figures of the third quarter by the division of orders, starting with healthcare. In China, we did not yet see the recovery. There is a temporary backwind also coming from anti-bribery actions, which is ongoing, which is against certain hospital officials, in which Barco has no impact besides from, yeah, a temporary freeze of certain demands. We do not expect this very long term, but anyhow, this has impacted the third quarter. Likewise, we do see in diagnostic imaging, sales being impacted by higher inventories in the channels or by our distributors actually bringing down their inventories.
When we look to the sales down on, versus last year, there's, the impact, we have also in surgical and modality, which we indicated before, the phasing in and phasing out of, modality products-
... With the pipeline is healthy, but they just take time to pick up and validate that again in sales. When we look to enterprise, orders higher than sales and further build up on the order book, in particular, think of video walls. When we, ClickShare is typically a business with book and turn business. When we look to the ClickShare business, markets overall was more tough. Compared to this overall weaker markets, ClickShare really did well, and we see in the agnostic space that ClickShare is further gaining market share. But that's, there was an impact, and slight impact on the sales not growing in this third quarter.
Large video walls still more impacted by the decisions which we took to withdraw from a couple of smaller markets, this in favor of better profitability. Entertainment as third division did very well on both orders and sales. Further build up also their order book. This is a continuing of the further Lamp- to-L aser replacements. Mind that also in these figures, there is no impact of recurring revenues, meaning of deferred on contracts for cinema as a service, so otherwise sales would have been even higher. If you compare the sales to the third quarter last year, this is in line. Mind that the third quarter was a very strong third quarter when the supply constraints were released after we solved these issues in mid-year last year.
Now I give it back to An for more comments from the divisions.
Right. So let me walk you through the divisions. I'll start with healthcare. Diagnostic imaging. As you know, in diagnostic imaging, we provide medical, high-end medical displays for diagnosis and, of course, also software platforms to calibrate colors and images. So Barco has a very high market share there, typically healthy markets. The markets are a little bit softer, as Ann explained already, and that's of course, also compared to a very high reference in third quarter last year when we had a strong rebound of the supply shortages. So today we see markets, strong markets in North America, but China is still challenged.
While we, of course, are focusing on maximizing the sales and of course, also on our profitability growth in the diagnostic imaging business unit, we also basically prepare our innovation pillar and our focus factory approach to prepare actually for future growth in this business unit. So, we see actually enormous progress in our studio factory, where we continue to ramp our R&D and our manufacturing capabilities to ensure that we maintain our cost competitiveness on volume products for the global market. We also continue with new product introductions that will allow us market share gains. And next year we expect actually two new flagship products. One mammography, and the other one is actually a medical display for home reading, for radiology home reading.
On top of that, we will launch next year also our first AI platform for diagnostic imaging. This will help the doctors in their analysis and in speeding up their analysis. And also a 3D display. Again, this will help doctors in analyzing the anatomy, but also in providing better communication to patients for training purposes. So that's the other innovation that will get to the market next year. Also, and we mentioned that already before, we see also adjacent markets in pathology picking up, where digitalization becomes more and more important. One of those is digital pathology markets, where we have already an FDA-approved display, and next year we're launching more of those displays and also AI features to help pathologists in their analysis.
On the other hand, for surgical and modality, where we provide surgical displays and network solutions for operating rooms and customize displays for modality. Here again, markets are softer. We still see the high inventory levels at customer site. And of course, as mentioned before, we had the end of a very large contract at the end of last year, where we're still basically building up the order book to compensate for that. That said, we see actually a solid funnel of new contracts and prospects that will start kicking in in 2024 and the years after. Also here, our studio factory, R&D, as well as manufacturing, are key to remain cost competitive in our surgical and modality market. From new product introductions also here, we will introduce a 3D surgical display and also smart displays.
That's a display, basically, that is more interactive with the doctors and also has AI features in it. From our network portfolio, so our Nexxis family, we will launch next year, next to our high-end Nexxis product solution, also, a more basic version for the mid- segments. And then you can think about day hospitals, smaller operating rooms, where this portfolio will fit. When I walk you then through enterprise, so Ann has mentioned already. You look at the corporate video conferencing market today, it's getting weaker. That said, ClickShare, our ClickShare sales can still basically show a solid single-digit sales growth year to date. This means that we are winning market share in the agnostic space. Today, we are in more than 1.2 million meeting rooms.
There are the weaker market conditions. The corporates also take this moment to rethink how they are using the office space in the future. Now, in the midterm, we believe this is in our advantage because hybrid meetings are there to stay, and the offices will be more and more used for meeting. And again, there are still many meeting rooms that need to be equipped with video conferencing devices. So that's where we see definitely this trend of growing in meeting experience continuing. From the ClickShare family perspective, we are also bringing out a new portfolio beginning of next year. That portfolio will be for the high-end new features to basically enhance further the meeting experience.
We will also come up with a mid-end range, new devices for mid-end meeting rooms, all next year. For our control rooms, the large video walls, yes, we still see continued project delays because of the macroeconomic conditions there, although we have a quite solid order book for the fourth quarter. The last months, we basically launched two new products there. One is our new software platform, Barco CTRL. That is really accommodating the new trends that we see in the control room market, where the operator desk will be central, where you need to feed more and different inputs, where you need to work remotely in a more secure environment. So the Barco CTRL software platform is geared towards that.
Meanwhile, we also launched actually our new LCD Wall, UniSee II, and both products were actually very well received with our partners and customers. Barco CTRL is also the basis of our software platform. As we mentioned to you last July, we did a strategic review of our large video walls business unit. And taking into account the new trends that we see in this market, we will focus more, and we are executing along those lines, on software solutions. And Barco CTRL, that platform, is the basis to do that. And then, last but not least, entertainment. So again, strong performance in third quarter, continuing to build up on the strong performance we have seen for the last quarters. When you look at cinema, it's all about the Lamp- to-L aser renewal wave.
We have a very healthy order book there. Capture rate is more than 60%, and as you know, there are only 25%-30% of the cinemas already equipped with laser projectors. So in that sense, that is still a very healthy business for in the years to come for Barco. Also, next year, very important year for cinema, we launch two new products. There is our, brand new media server platform that we're launching early next year, as well as our HDR, laser light steering projector, which is our state-of-the-art, top-line, new projector, that we have developed, that basically will deliver more contrast and better energy efficient, even compared to laser projectors.
Also good to mention for cinema is that we are nicely building up our Cinema-as-a-Service, which will, of course, continue to bring in recurring revenue for the years to come. Immersive experience, healthy market conditions in all our segments, live events, themed entertainment and simulation. Growth there, despite the fact that China remains weak, again, there, the government investments are still lacking. Also here, a full new suite of new product introductions are coming in next year, as well our high-end projectors, that's replacement products, as well as a new projector portfolio for the mid-end markets, which allow us to go into more vertical adjacencies for immersive experience. Here, very important to mention, is our focused factory approach.
So our construction of our Wuxi factory in China is on track, and that will, of course, also for immersive experience, create competitive momentum in the in the mid-end projection market. We also have image processing in immersive experience besides the projectors that we're offering, and here also, we expect two new flagship products next year. One is our high-end live event switcher, so there's the Encore 3 that is coming out middle of next year. And then the first AV over IP software-based switcher that we're also launching next year.
Overall, while in the short term, we continue to focus on gaining market share, cost containment, and making sure that we focus on the margins, we are preparing for the midterm with a new fleet of product introductions with our focused factory approach, to be there to make sure that we're in pole positions for when the markets pick up again. With that, I hand it off.
With that, I conclude before we go into Q&A, to the outlook of 2023 and, beyond. Yeah, it's clear that we are facing, on the shorter term, difficult or more difficult market conditions. With that, we expect the sales for this year to be in line with last year. At this top- line level, we're expecting an EBITDA margin around 14% for the full year. This is an, ambitious, though realistic target, which we are setting ourselves and which we go for.
The extra EBITDA margin is a combination of better gross margins, which we have been seen evolving, and being penciled in over the course of this year, in combination with a set of cost containment actions, which we decided upon and also will be acting on, as of when there was more pressure on the top- line growth. We are preparing as well for the plan for next year and years after. For next year, the top- line growth will depend, always the case, but more, a little bit more, I would say, to be seen on the evolution of the general market conditions, and when the markets indeed do pick up.
As said by Ann, and confirmed by Charles, it's really we will be ready for this new product launches, and we fully continue on the investments to be ready there when the markets pick up again. Meanwhile, defending our market shares. With that, we confirm our long-term guidance to return back to the high single digits growth and the EBITDA margins for the next years between 14% and 18%.
Thank you, Charles, Ann, and An, for this presentation. We're now ready to move into Q&A. So if you have a question, you can raise your hand virtually. You can do that at the top of the Teams interface, and it says, "Raise." And I will allow you to unmute one by one to raise your question. Alternatively, if you can, also post a question in the chat, but preferred is if you speak up and then do it right here in the call. So we're ready for your questions, and I see that the first one's already... So, Matthias, I will allow you to unmute, and yes, you can now unmute yourself and have the first question. Matthias?
Yeah. Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions, and, welcome back, Charles.
Thank you.
Maybe two questions from my end to start. Cinema- as- a- Service, it's clearly sales are picking up. Could you maybe elaborate a little bit on what kind of tailwind this represents on full year basis for 2023 and 2024 in terms of EBITDA margin? Because I believe the costs are below the EBITDA line. So that would be my first question. And then maybe on the cost containment measures, could you maybe elaborate a little bit more on what exactly this entails? What kind of, yeah, I would say, tailwind for 2023, but also next year, we can expect from this. And then I had one final question, if you allow me. There was a licensing deal announced with Crestron.
Yes.
Could you maybe elaborate a little bit on the economics of that deal, and also if there would be, like, an upfront payment that we sometimes see in licensing deals? That would be my three questions. Thank you.
Yes. Good morning, Matthias. I'll start. [crosstalk] Yeah, sure. See how it works. Mm-hmm. On Cinema- as- a- Service deal, really indeed nicely picking up, having an impact as the first spread this year, which is then good news to start the next year. But, for this year, this will have an impact of about EUR 30+ million, actually. So if we would have been able to, if we would have sold it under CapEx deal, kind of, then, it would be EUR 30+ million higher. But this means for next year, that, the deal on its own already, yeah, Cinema- as-a- Service starts not at zero, but that's more than EUR 20 million. So that's in concrete. As to the gross margins and EBITDA, the average gross margin and is on par with other deals.
So this is done, including and in, of course, we have a few set of services included into their warranty, and of course, the interest component.
Just, Ann, if I, if I may, because for me, it's not really clear.
Right.
So for this EUR 30+ million, but that would be as a CapEx sales, but what would be the sales tailwind or the sales this year booked as OpEx deal and these gross margins? I assume you're speaking about the overall deal. It's similar, but more specifically, if you book it in your top- line, I assume it's almost incrementally to the EBITDA line because your costs are below EBITDA. Is that correct?
Costs are not below EBITDA. Costs are taken as a cost into the costs.
Okay. Thank you. And on the cost containment?
Yeah. So I think on cost containment, of course, what we make sure is that we, first of all, do cost savings. So we managed to basically get our OpEx for the second semester below the OpEx for the first semester. So cost savings is the first measure, but also where we don't jeopardize our midterm growth perspective, cost containment actions to basically improve on efficiencies in the organization. So those are the cost containment actions that we're working on. Of course, we also continue our investments in box factories as well as in R&D, because that is for our midterm growth. But that is also gonna help there.
So on the Crestron deal, you are correct, there was an upfront payment made. Why did we go into this Crestron licensing? Because we believe that picture has the opportunity to become the platform for further development. ... And so we see this as not only a vindication of IP, but also as a possibility to build on with other products.
Okay. Could you maybe give an indication of the magnitude of the upfront payment, please?
This is globally, we don't, we can't give details, sorry.
No, but it, it is another payment and a royalty, of course, with all the sales that they do. Yeah.
Yeah. But I assume it's material, the upfront payment?
Yeah. Yeah. And it strengthens, of course, also the whole BYOM concept, eh? Because that's also the concept that they're putting in the market. But again, yeah, the video conferencing market is weaker, and that affects, of course, also our competitors in that sense.
Yeah. Okay, good. Thanks a lot for the answers.
Mm-hmm.
Have a nice day.
Yeah. Thank you, Matthias, for your questions. Stefano, I will ask you for the second question. Stefano Toffano from UBS.
Yes, good morning, everybody, and welcome back, Mr. Beauduin. Three questions from my side. So the first question is on the large video walls. There have been obviously lots of dynamics there. If maybe you can be a little bit more specific on the impact on earnings. I believe that there was some guidance or comments before that you were targeting large video walls to be EBITDA break-even by the end of this year. So maybe if you can tell us a little bit more about that. Then I have a second question, which relates to my colleague, Matthias, what he has been saying for... Again, if you can help me out a little bit to understand the margin improvements based on the self-help potential in 2024.
I know you cannot be very, very specific, but at least if you can quantify a little bit what that impact on the margin might be. And then I have a last question for you, Mr. Beauduin, if I may be so free to ask, what can we... Obviously, it's good news that you are back and you are slowly and steadily picking up your activities. What can we, what can we expect from this going forward?
It's very difficult to hear. Sorry.
I will repeat. The third question, which is for you, Charles, is that Stefano, of course, like everyone, is very happy to see you resuming back your role, gradually picking up again. What can we expect from this in the future? Or in the-
Yes, I'm glad to be back. I can assure you that, you know, healthcare leave is no fun, and I prefer to be in business than be on the healthcare side. So, I'm glad to be back, and I will take up duty again in the beginning, maybe not full time, but at least half time or than that.
Mm-hmm.
I'm very glad to be welcomed back by the team.
Mm-hmm. Yep. We too.
Yeah.
Same for us. Yes. And, yeah, we, we align all the time, so, so that, that definitely didn't change there, huh? And then maybe on your question on LDX, so we still target to, to be break even on, our large video walls, business by the end of the year. So also there, a good order book, so still a strong quarter that we expect for fourth quarter, as well as, cost savings, cost containment actions there, that will, get us to that point. On your question with respect to, next years, onwards on the EBITDA accretion, where that will come from, it is a combination of, of further keeping on with higher, gross margins and gross margins improvements.
One aspect which is underpinning this is the leveraging on the focused strategies on the move to Wuxi, in particular, healthcare to China, which is ongoing, which is also very much on schedule. And the diverse moves we are doing there. Likewise, also operating leverage on that top- line. So, keeping our costs and cost increase very well under control, which also, again, this year, we can keep this on quite a bit. But the teams are going full force for that.
Thank you very much, and I apologize for the bad sound.
No problem.
No problem.
Okay. Thank you, Stefano. Next is, Guy Sips.
Yes, thank you. Two questions from my side. First is on the orders in healthcare. Is there some cyclicality in there? Because we saw these orders going down quite sharply compared to the previous quarter, but we saw a kind of same difference between orders and sales in the third quarter, 2022. And is that mainly in diagnostic imaging, or is it more in surgical and modalities where you see these weaknesses? And the second question is on your track to M&A. At the half year numbers, you were indicating that you were, let's say, digging into a bigger file. How are you today, and what was the status compared to yeah end of the first half? Thank you.
[crosstalk] So the, in healthcare, basically, yes, there's cyclicality because... Yeah, this usually tends out to be large bulk orders, and, depending on where they fall, it gives you a high staircase. This has been the case over the last three years, nothing allowing, but this happens on M&A?
Yes, well, on M&A, we continue, as we have mentioned in July. We were working in with Indeed on a couple of avenues here. They're larger files, a strategic fit for Barco. Also, building upon expertise or synergies that we can find in good markets, for instance. And we're progressing on these files, but as you know, with M&A, you have to be a little bit patient, and you have to work it through. But again, there's good progress made there.
As you know, we have not only progress there, but also a very disciplined approach on value creation.
Yeah.
So this is a main focus.
Mm-hmm. It's being created from, yes.
Okay, thank you.
Okay.
Good luck.
Thank you, Ian. Next is Marc Hesselink from ING. You can unmute yourself.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thanks. Thanks for taking the question. First, ClickShare. You I hear a little bit of a mixed picture. You're saying is the weaker market demand, but actually doing very well on the market share side, and you're talking about still high single digit growth, I believe, run rate. It so that means that it's, I would say, sort of in line with the yeah the expectations, right? I mean, that that's pretty normal performance. So the weakness that we're seeing today is then clearly not in ClickShare, right?
Yeah. So, maybe just to answer that. So yes, we see the ClickShare performance did well. Year to date, higher single digits. We do see the markets weakening. We saw already first indications in second quarter. We still are holding the fort there quite well, but the markets are continuing to weaken there, and we see these corporates taking their time, not canceling the way they are gonna organize their meeting rooms, but postponing and rethinking it. And that's an effect that we see actually also gonna happen in fourth quarter. So that's the cautiousness that we want to build in into our ClickShare update.
So I still don't understand. Does it mean that the fourth quarter will be at the same run rate? You're gonna be at a high single digit growth again, or are you sort of flagging that it will be lower?
Even ClickShare, even ClickShare is subject to general economic conditions, and we see that there is a reluctance-
Yeah
... in America especially, but probably also coming over to EMEA on the corporates-
Yeah
- investment.
Yeah. It will be harder in fourth quarter. Yeah.
Growth was lower in the third quarter than it was in second, in the first semester, Mark.
Yeah.
So we have a careful approach here.
Okay. Okay, clear. Then the second thing is gross margins in general for the different divisions. I think you've been working a lot to try to improve that. Is this an area where, because the focus on profitability, you continue to see it moving up despite the pressure on the top- line?
Yes, it is. If you compare it to also last year, there are a couple of things that do help there. I mean, last year there were some, yeah, non-recurring costs relating to broker fees that had to link with supply constraints, eh? Purchase price variances, and they are not there anymore this year. So that's a win. And then there are a couple of, yeah, quite material costs or impactful costs, like logistics, like energy, that also have come down. So this is the... and, yeah, a material portion into the gross margin uptake, alongside that, with the mix, with the impact from focused factories, from diverse actions on margins, on costs, which we are doing within the margin. So it's a bulk of all different things together.
Well, it's more a nice evolution, the other ones is really the results of hard work and focusing on services.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Mark.
Next in line is Sebastian.
Yeah, hi. Good to see you, Charles.
Thank you.
Happy to see you. Just one question on the M&A. I understand the topic is like to make it accretive, given today Barco valuation. I believe it's tougher and tougher to make it accretive. So how does that impact the M&A strategy? And second question is: Is it the right moment to do acquisition, especially with net cash, which is more or less like 20% of the market cap? I know you never really wanted to do any share buyback, but isn't it the time to activate something, especially if you-
Mm-hmm
... have strong delivery in the midterm, outlook?
Yeah. Did you?
Yeah.
It's the right moment to do it.
Well, you know, there is never a right moment. It really depends on the opportunity.
Yes.
So, we are evaluating for the moment a number of opportunities, which we believe are very interesting for Barco. But, as you can imagine, I am also very much focused on the value creation and on the for the company. And so if we do something, it will be in the perspective of value creation, yes. But, your question regarding share buyback, I think it's a bit premature because it is not in the analyst call like we have now. This is a board decision, and nothing has been announced.
Okay, thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, Sebastian. Then, Matthias. Matthias, you had another question?
Yeah. Thanks. I have two short follow-ups. You mentioned in the press release that, as part of the strategic review, there has been a headwind in Asian markets, which caused a decline in sales. Could you maybe quantify how large this has been on divisional level? And also, what should we expect for next year? Because this repositioning will continue, so should we see more sales headwinds, and is it possible already to give a quantification so that we can model that accordingly?
Yeah, so the impact of the smaller markets in Asia that we actually amount to but plenty.
Yeah, on the top- line, that's not too material to the whole, I would say. It is about, yeah, the materiality towards or the percentage points which it then brings into the EBITDA margin. The concrete nominal impact of that, we're actually not disclosing. To give the range, do not over-exaggerate it, neither, in your model.
Quite small markets that we were talking about for in Asia.
Okay.
And, the other thing for next year, so we're still, of course, looking into how the markets evolve next year. But we still have a very strong product set, also of hardware products that we just launched, like this, this new LCD Wall, the LED Wall that we have just launched, so they will continue to generate sales. We are, of course, focusing our development on the software platform moving forward, but that doesn't mean that the hardware products will not generate sales next year. And, in that sense, we can contain that.
Okay. Then I have the second question. Sorry to come back on the licensing deal, but this upfront payment, was it received in Q3? Is it booked as sales?
Correct.
Double yes.
Yeah. So it's down mid-single digits in the quarter, including that payment, or the mid-single digit is like for like?
Yeah. Part of that was also already in the first semester-
Yeah.
But then, largely, yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Matthias. I see no further hands raised. If you have a question, any of the participants, please raise your hands in Teams. We will put you on speaker. We have no further questions, then we will end the session now. Thank you for your attention today. The recording of this session will also become available on Barco's website later today, and also the slides, of course, of the presentation can be found there. So we would like to thank you again and wish you a great day. Thank you very much.
Thank you.