Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this Webcast on Bittium's Half-Year Financial Results. My name is Karoliina Malmi, and I'm the Head of Communications and Sustainability at Bittium. With me here today is our CEO, Petri Toljamo, who has started leading this company in the beginning of April this year. Before I hand over to you, Petri, I'd like to remind you all we have reserved some time at the end of the presentation for Q&A. Please use the Q&A box on your screen to write us questions, and we will answer them at the end. Now over to you, Petri.
Thank you, Karoliina. Good morning, and thank you for joining us today. My name is Petri Toljamo. I started this 1st of April as the CEO of Bittium. I'm excited about my new role as the CEO. I was six years with the Board of Directors of Bittium, and I see a lot of opportunities, especially on the defense side, for Bittium to grow. Based on my background, I believe I'm in a good position to help Bittium take ourselves to the next level. First, a few forward-looking statements. Some statements made in this material are relating to the future circumstances and by their nature. Those forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty, and therefore Bittium Corporation disclaims all obligations to update such forward-looking statements. We will go over the financial results for the first half year. Our net sales and order book grew significantly.
The second quarter net sales grew by 15.6% year-on-year, and we were at EUR 22.9 million. Looking for the business segments, what we have: the defense and security net sales grew by 19.4%, and order intake grew significantly to EUR 20 million. Medical business segment net sales grew by 4.5%, and order intake grew to EUR 4.6 million. Engineering service net sales grew by 6.3%, and order intake grew significantly to EUR 6 million, which basically doubled the order intake number. To summarize the first half, net sales grew by 11.3% year-on-year and was EUR 42.2 million. Our order book increased by 25% year-on-year and is now at 43.1% , which puts us in a very good position to have the strong order book situation. Second quarter operating result was EUR 1.1 million, representing 4.9% of the net sales.
What impacted the profitability level was that we have continued to make certain investments for the growth, which made an impact on the profitability level. We announced earlier that we had a one-time cost related to the restructuring of the medical business segments, which led to EUR 2 million annual cost savings, and that impacted by EUR 0.9 million our second quarter operating result. To summarize the first half, the operating result was EUR 1.5 million, representing 3.6% of the net sales. Going to financial review, starting with this quarterly financial developments. We are presenting here that two years, sorry, for three years quarterly developments. The second quarter, the total was EUR 22.9 million, services EUR 7.8 million, while the products were EUR 15.1 million. Which is notable to hear, if you look at last year, the second quarter 2024, the product business side has been growing significantly here.
On the right, there's operating results, and as we see, the trend is positive. In 2023-2024 we spent time on the turnaround on the profitability side, and that was made well. Now it's the time for the growth. The second quarter, EUR 1.1 million, representing 4.9% of the revenue. The same comparison, but now on the half year, 11.3% year-on-year. In total, EUR 42.2 million, services EUR 16.3 million, and the products EUR 25.9 million. If we compare that to the first half, what we had the situation last year, the notable here is the growth, especially on the product sides. On the right, you are able to see then on the operating results curve as well. R&D investments decreased year-on-year, EUR 7.7 million, representing 18.2% of the net sales, while we had last year on the comparable time EUR 7.9 million.
EUR 2.2 million was capitalized, which is less than we had in the last year, EUR 3.9 million. Also, the depreciations decreased to EUR 1.8 million, while we had EUR 2.8 million last year. The total R&D cost and the impact on the P&L was EUR 7.3 million, while last year it was EUR 6.9 million. The investments, main focus on that is especially on the tactical communications and the radios for the defense market, but we are also making significant investments also on the medical technologies and the products and the software. Looking for the cash flow, I think the trend has been positive on the cash flow. First, the net profit with adjustment on the first half, EUR 4.2 million, change in the net working capital, EUR 5.2 million, interest and taxes - EUR 0.1 million, net cash from operating activities, EUR 9.2 million, which is significantly higher than last year.
Net cash from investing activities, - EUR 5.2 million, and net cash from financing activities, - EUR 4 million, which included the dividend payment of EUR 3.5 million, which changed the net change in cash and cash equivalents to be zero for the first half 2025. Assets and the liabilities, first looking at the assets, the non-current assets, EUR 85 million, which included the property, plant and equipment, EUR 19 million. Capitalized development cost EUR 15.8 million and other assets, EUR 15.1 million. On the current asset side, the inventory was EUR 24.7 million, trade and other receivables, EUR 28.9 million, and cash and liquid assets, EUR 21.7 million. On the equity and the liability side, equity EUR 107 million, liabilities EUR 49.7 million, which included the trade and other payables, EUR 24 million, interest-bearing debt, EUR 20.8 million, other liabilities, EUR 4.9 million. Our equity ratio remained at the excellent level, being 70.7%.
Basically, we are a net debt-free company at the moment, and our capability to finance the operations is at the excellent level. We are going to look at the business segments, starting first on the defense and security business segment. Last year, defense and security business had an excellent year. We did grow. Even if we have tough comparison points from last year, in the second quarter, we grew 22.2% year-on-year, and in the half, 19.4% year-on-year. Also, the backlog, like mentioned, did grow significantly. Looking at the market development on the defense and security business side, first, our important customer, the Finnish Defence Forces, we ended with the partnership agreement over last year. With them, we have been ramping up that one. We received the new TAC WIN and TAFCOM node orders in the second quarter. That was all more than EUR 7 million. That was a big deal for us.
Also, we did continue the deliveries for the software-defined radio tactical radios. We did demonstrate the hybrid network where the tactical network is communicating with the commercial 5G network, creating the 5G bubble together with the Finnish Defence Forces and Nokia. On the international customer side, we did continue to receive orders from multiple countries, being Croatia, Estonia, and Austria. We have received new customers or been able to acquire new customers for the TAF SDR radios in Europe. Also, which was announced, there's negotiation ongoing now with Indra, which is one of the largest technology companies in Spain, which is operating in more than 100 countries. We are negotiating with them regarding the SDR radio as well as the production technology deal with them. We have received new orders for securCall, SafeMove, and Tough Mobile 2.
In the medical business segment, in the second quarter, 4.5% year-on-year, and the first half - 2.6% year-on-year. Net sales increased, but the operating result, it would have been positive, but due to this one-time cost, EUR 0.9 million, the results went to the negative side. What was significant on the medical business segment in the second quarter is that we were able to close the deal with our long-term partner and the customer, Boston Scientific, for ECG devices for the next three years, and that also included the joint development, a new product for the U.S. market. ECG device sales outside of the U.S. remained moderate due to the more fragmented markets, which is typical in Europe. Respiro sales were lower than estimated, and we have activities ongoing, and we will update more of that on our CMD, which is happening in September.
Niina Huikuri started as Head of the Medical Business Segment, bringing a lot of background understanding and knowledge for this ECG market. Engineering services business segment, it has a pretty challenging market situation, but we managed to grow 8.5% in the second quarter and 6.3% in the first half. The ongoing customer projects are proceeding well, and we have won new extensions for the projects. Also, the order intake increased significantly year-on-year in the second quarter, like mentioned earlier. There were several defense sector service projects we have won. This was a new thing we defined for the growth strategy that we want to also focus on the defense sector in our engineering service side, and that has started well. We have won new customers from the manufacturing industry as well, and we announced also the cooperation with Terrestar regarding the creation of this new 5G NTN and non-terrestrial networks.
Supporting various defense and security business segment projects continued through the first half, and the challenging market situation continues. There are some budget constraints for the new R&D project, but I would say it's an excellent start still for the year, which helps a lot that we are dealing with a lot of international clients, not just with the Finnish customers only. As we see how we summarize the trends, we believe that the megatrends are supporting the growth, especially in the defense and security side, and there's a budget being increased for the defense at the moment. We are seeing more and more activities with respect to kind of the new opportunities in the defense market. The size and the amount of the new opportunities has increased, and this is something we are working very intensively at the moment to capture the growth for Bittium.
Also, this ECG and home sleep apnea testing device market is growing, and we are now focusing on to win the new customers, building the new market channels, and optimizing the go-to-market at the moment. Also, like mentioned in this engineering services, despite the challenging market situation, we believe it's in the good track this year, which is important for us, especially on the defense side. We have to continue to make investments for the production scalability, which is important to be able to deliver higher volumes in the future to meet the kind of demands in the defense segment. We have also strengthened the organization, bringing new leaders, and we have excellent and committed, highly skilled people, which is supporting our growth strategy. We will have the CMD on the 23rd of September, where we will provide the strategy updates during this fall.
The outlook, we are going to repeat the same outlook, keeping the outlook. We expect the net sales this year to be EUR 95 million- EUR 105 million. Operating results will be in the range of EUR 10 million -EUR 13 million. Finally, we have the investor to welcome all of you to join the CMD. We look forward to providing more updates on our long-term targets and also the strategies for the corporation and the business segments. Third quarter results will be published on the 24th of October 2025. I believe that's now time for the Q&A.
Yes, thank you, Petri, very much. I have quite a bunch of questions here.
Thank you.
Let's start with defense and security and our latest news about possible cooperation with Indra Group. What's behind this cooperation and this licensing program? What exactly do they need from Bittium?
Overall, I think this Indra and this Spain opportunity is very interesting for us. It looks like that Spain wants that there's a lot of domestic kind of content while they are building this national radio. Bittium is in an excellent position because one of those rare companies which actually have the kind of software-defined radio, both commercially and technically ready and available. We are in the discussion with them to provide both our technology of our product as well as the manufacturing technology, which would help them to manufacture then the radios in the Spanish market. The negotiations are in a very early phase. Our discussions are continuing in a very good manner, and I believe that it's an excellent and very sizable opportunity for Bittium in the future.
Thank you. That sounds good. Is there anything you can comment on Spain's trying to get rid of Israeli radios or cooperation with them? Can you comment on that?
This is interesting, and this is something we have also tried to figure out what is exactly the official statement at the moment. It looks like that there's discussions in the media and the media statements that Spain is not going to use the Israeli and our competitors at all. This is something we have not been able to confirm. How I see is that because Bittium with Indra is in an excellent position in Spain to negotiate about this future Spanish radio opportunity, I believe there might be some truth behind this market news. Like I said, we have not been able to confirm it.
Okay, good. Is there anything you can comment on the size of the potential that lies behind this cooperation?
Like I said, we are in the very early phase of the discussions, and we don't have yet any numbers. If we compare the opportunity for Bittium and both Indra, it's very sizable for Bittium especially.
Okay, thank you. Let's move a bit north and go to our cooperation with BAE , which we signed in summer, last summer, 2024. Is there anything you can tell about the status of the cooperation at the moment? Have you been, have we been able to participate in tenders together with BIA ?
We were expecting to join this industry, this RFQ round in the tender in the U.K.. This has been postponed, not because of us or because our product is more. Political reasons. This is something that we'll work together with BAE . We are ready to tend to kind of provide the updates and participate in the tender when it becomes reality. As you have seen today, we announced that we are launching the new kind of office, and there is a new leader in the U.K.. We are taking this U.K. seriously. We are believing there's significant opportunities. That's why we are investing to have a stronger presence in the U.K..
Yes. How about Austria? We have provided our core backbone network there, related products. How about the radios? Is there any tender ongoing?
Overall, if I look at Austria and the customer, the relationship with the customer has been excellent for a long time. We have been able to deliver the core network for a long time. Deliveries are ongoing. At this stage, I'm not able to comment about the radios, but what we and I personally expect is that our business with the Austrian customer is going to grow.
Okay, good. How many countries has Bittium made pilot deliveries? How big opportunities these are? Pilot deliveries, meaning that the first very initial first phase before tendering.
We have not published the exact amount of the countries. This is not because of us. Many of our customers, they are kind of government and this military side, and they are not letting us announce the kind of the discussions or the deals with them. Therefore, we have said that, of course, we have this Spain discussion ongoing. We have also announced that we have delivered to one European country for the special forces. This is something. We have announced our public references. Beyond that, there are several countries in Europe and Asia that we have been able to deliver the pilots. We look forward to grow the business. Like I said earlier, Bittium radios are both commercially and technically ready. We are in an excellent position now to capture the wave of this modernization and digitalization of this radio and tactical communication systems.
Yes, that's great. About the outlook, are you able to open the drivers behind for different business segments? What needs to happen in order to be able to deliver what's said today?
Typically, the second half is stronger for Bittium than the first half. I think we have a pretty solid plan for the second half. Of course, the defense being the most important there and the largest one. I was referencing earlier that we have an excellent order book situation now. I would say that we have almost all needed orders in place to deliver the results for the defense and security business for this year. I think that there's a solid possibility to deliver the expected outlook.
Good, thank you. About the profitability, after significant progress of profitability during the last two years, it appears that the profitability is yet again taking a step or two backwards due to growth investments and recalibration of medical. Can Bittium still grow fast and scale profitable up at the same time, or is this eating every profitability?
We don't want just to grow the top line. We have to be able to grow profitably. It's true that we have made certain investments after this turnaround round. When we made these reductions, 2023 and 2024, we reduced a lot of the cost. We knew that once we are going forward for the growth path, there are certain investments we need to add and do, especially going for the international market. That's typically what happens in the product business, that you have to invest first. Of course, we are very carefully making all the investment decisions. Of course, we want to grow profitability. In this medical segment, we actually reduced to EUR 2 million of the annual cost. This is an example that we are not, doesn't just want to grow the top line.
Okay, thank you. There is one more question about the BIA and the cooperation, but you answered this already. I think this question came at the same time or something. Yes, that's all for the questions today. Thank you very much.
Thank you, everyone.
Thank you.