Welcome to Glaston Corporation quarter one, 2025 results audiocast. My name is Pia Posio, and I lead the communications, marketing, and investor relations team here at Glaston. Together with me today, I have Toni Laaksonen, our CEO, and Magnus Sjöblom, our CFO, who will go through the presentation with you. We encourage you to share your questions through the chat throughout the presentation. We have reserved time to answer those in the end of the presentation. We saw stable development in architectural glass equipment in an uncertain market during quarter one, and more details about will be covered through the highlights of the Quarter: market review, financial development, and outlook for 2025. With this, Toni, I would like to welcome you to start with the quarter one in brief.
Thank you, Pia, and welcome also on my behalf to hear more about our results. As Pia mentioned, the market situation was still challenging in Q1, and the same situation continued as we were seeing last year throughout the year. Despite the challenging market conditions, we had a satisfactory quarter from the results point of view, and especially we can be happy about our order intake development compared to last year. Our order intake was up +1% year- on- year, and that was driven by the architecture segment, which was like a positive development, especially on the tempering and laminating side. On the other hand, we cannot be happy with our MDS segment development in the orders, so there we were seeing some decline and more work to do to get MDS back to the crawl track.
On the other hand, the MDS profitability was not in line with our expectations, and more work needs to be done with that one. On the sales side, we were down -7%, but still the end result was satisfactory, and especially we can be happy about our service net sales, which was up compared to last year. All in all, the comparable EBITDA was down -12%, but still we reached EUR 3.1 million, so clearly above EUR 3 million, and the EBITDA margin was also satisfactory, 6.0%. On top of this, we launched several actions to drive forward our cost efficiency, and some of those were concluded as change negotiations during the last few weeks. All in all, those savings actions should then help us in coming months and in the end of the year with our profits and also margin.
A few words about the operating environment. As mentioned, the architectural market continued to be soft. What was positive with the market was the fact that we were seeing some demand in Europe in Q1 and some orders, especially from the U.K., and that was a positive fact compared to last year when the European market was very challenging. On the other hand, if we look at the mobility side, last year we received quite many orders, especially from China, but this year we have been seeing a slowdown in the Chinese market and not so many orders from the mobility side as the electric vehicle demand has been declining globally. On the service side, one bright spot last year has been, or was throughout the year, the Americas segment.
We continue to have some demand still on the Americas side, and then, of course, what changed the market sentiment over there was the tariff situation, so therefore the green dot changed into a yellow one, but still we see that there are opportunities also in the Americas in the end of the year if the tariff situation then stabilizes. Good, and then we move forward to the financial development, and I hand over to Magnus.
Thank you, Toni. Let's start with the order intake. The overall order intake was up 1%, so the market remained soft, and the order intake was on a rather low level though. First quarter order intake was EUR 47.1 million, which was 1% up from last year's comparison period. Looking at the regional split, we gained more orders in IMEA and Americas now compared to last year Q1, while China's share of Glaston order intake was lower at 10% against 29% in the comparison period. When looking at the order intake by product area, we had an increase in tempering and laminating, which landed at EUR 11.8 million. The increase was partly due to a weak comparison period, while IG was down by 24% and at EUR 12.8 million.
IG, on the other hand, had a strong comparison period last year Q1, here in China being on a low side compared to comparison period while IMEA being stronger. Mobility at EUR 4.8 million, down by 29%, mainly due to the market activity in the pre-processing mobility market in China slowdown, which was visible also in our pre-processing order intake in China. Service at EUR 17.7 million and down 6% compared to last year Q1, mainly due to upgrades. Moving on to net sales. Net sales were at EUR 51.7 million and down 7% against a rather strong comparison period. When looking at Q1 net sales by product area, we had an increase in tempering and laminating, being at EUR 10.5 million and + 2%. Insulating glass was down 19% to EUR 16.2 million.
The high comparison period had many machine acceptances, hence a decline against the comparison period, partly due to that in this quarter where we had less acceptances. MDS at EUR 5.8 million and down 32%. MDS heat treatment technologies net sales were down from a strong comparison period, mainly coming from a lower order intake in MDS heat treatment in the latter part of the year, contributing then negatively to MDS net sales in Q1. Services, on the other hand, at EUR 19.9 million and up 12%, mainly driven by upgrades from orders gained last year. Let's move on to the net sales by region. Americas at EUR 15.7 million, a decline of 15% year- on- year and catering for 30% of the total revenue in the quarter. Decline mainly coming from tempering machines, offset partly by IG machines. IMEA at EUR 24.7 million and 48% of the total revenue.
A decline of 9% mainly coming from IG machines and MDS machines, partly offset by tempering machines. APAC grew by 12% against a moderate comparison period and total at EUR 11.3 million, which is 22% of Glaston net sales in Q1 2025. China share was 16% of Glaston total net sales in Q1. Now let's move to profitability. Our comparable EBITDA was down 12%, landing at EUR 3.1 million. We can see the quarterly cyclicality here, where Q1 being on average a lower EBITDA quarter typically. The comparable EBITDA margin was down to 6% from 6.4% in the comparison period. I will go through these in more detail in the reporting segments. Let's start with the architecture segment. Machine orders were up by 19%. There were positive developments in tempering and laminating technologies, partly offset by insulating glass technologies and services. Service order intake was down 6% due to upgrades.
Net sales - 3% compared to comparison period, landing at EUR 41.2 million. The decline in insulating glass technologies was partly offset by tempering and laminating and services. EBITDA margin at 8.4%, an improvement from comparison period, which was 7.9%, mainly driven by higher services share. In addition, we initiated change negotiations in Finland on the 9th of April to increase efficiency and speed up decision-making in the architecture. Moving on to mobility display and solar segment. Order intake was down by 20%, mainly due to a reduced amount of pre-processing orders from China. Order backlog at EUR 25.1 million and being 25% higher compared to Q1 2024, thanks to the rather strong order intake last year in MDS. Net sales were down by 20% due to MDS heat treatment machines, which had a strong comparison period, and services net sales down by 2%.
Comparable EBITDA was -EUR 0.4 million from comparison period, which was a +EUR 0.1 million. The lower net sales and margin in MDS Heat Treatment affected the segment profitability development. We come to the cash flow. The operating cash flow was slightly negative, being EUR 0.2 million in Q1 2025. Somewhat low cash flow is typical for us in the first quarter. The slight negative cash flow was partly impacted by the soft market, i.e., the amount of advance payments from the customers were smaller due to the rather low order intake. Balance sheet reflected the negative net change in cash flow, so gearing increased to 33% and was somewhat higher than the comparison period. I guess this is my part, and I hand over to Toni then back. Thank you.
Thank you, Magnus. Updates on the major events after the review period.
The annual general meeting resulted in a repayment of capital in total worth of EUR 0.11 per share, and that will be paid in two installments. The first installment taking place in May this year, and it will be EUR 0.06, and the second installment in the end of this year, which will be then EUR 0.05. The reverse share split was also concluded and resolved by the annual general meeting, and that was then executed after the meeting with the portion of two to one. On the other hand, today we announced certain organizational updates, and that was then one continued action from the cost savings initiatives which we have been implementing, and with these changes we drive forward our efficiencies and we are speeding up our decision-making, and with these moves we are also responding to the market situation.
A few words on the outlook for the rest of the year and for the whole year. The outlook remains unchanged, we keep the same outlook as communicated previously. On the market situation, we still see slowness in the greenfield investments, but there are opportunities with our new products. We saw certain good orders with our new thin triple IG solution in Q1. We have also clear opportunities with our service business and upgrades with the brownfield sites. On top of that, we continue to implement continuously the structural cost savings, and we are taking actions to secure that our cost base remains efficient in this situation, and with these actions, we believe that the profitability level is in line with the previously communicated outlook.
All in all, our estimate is that the net sales will remain at the same level, and the comparable EBITDA will stay at the same level or increase slightly compared to last year.
Thank you, Toni. Thank you, Magnus. Let's move to questions. We have received some. I encourage you to share those through the chat, and we start with market situation. Toni, commentary on the markets appear to remain cautious but not overly pessimistic. Has the draw been reached with the order intake?
On the market side, I would communicate so that we still have a lot of opportunities in our sales funnel. Of course, the market situation is causing slowness in the decision-making and postponements with the decisions by the customers, but we are not seeing any order cancellations or anything like that. The tariff situation, of course, is impacting on us, and in that sense, the customers are thinking that when to do the investments and how the tariffs might impact on the investments. Also, they are waiting for clarity on the tariff situation before making the final commitments. That's currently the uncertainty which we are seeing from the customer side.
Thank you. Diving into China, demand situation currently, how do you see that?
In China, if we start from the mobility segment, there we would say that many customers in the mobility market, they were investing last year, increasing their capacity, but now, of course, this year, the tariff situation is impacting on them because they are exporting a lot of electric vehicles out from China, and then, of course, this is impacting on their demand level. Some of the customers are now thinking that should they still continue to increase their capacity or what to do with their future investment plans, and this is causing certain slowdown again with their decision-making. There are signs that they are not ready to make certain decisions, but if the tariff situation clarifies, then most likely more decisions are done. I would not say that this is a permanent decline in the demand level.
When going to the architectural segment, there the slow market has been continuing as last year, so that remains pretty much at the same level as we were seeing throughout 2024. No major changes in those market conditions.
Summing up the following question, meaning has the market activity decreased clearly or only some softening taking place? If you would need to choose between the two.
With the architectural market, the situation remains pretty much unchanged compared to last year. With the mobility segment, I would say some softening, but of course, impacted by the tariffs.
Thank you, Toni. Let's move to seasonality. Q2 last year was quite weak revenue-wise. Can you remind us, were there any seasonal factors behind the softness, and are you expecting similar seasonality trends to repeat this year? Understandably, we are not giving guidance to Q2 yet, but discussing the seasonality, what are the typical features?
Last year, we were seeing a lot of seasonality due to the mobility orders. We reported a few major orders from the Chinese customers, and they were ordering those with one bigger, let's say, investment cases, so they were bundling the orders together, and therefore we were seeing especially seasonality with the MDS orders. Those then, of course, impacted on our top-level figures, and in Q2, we didn't see anything major from China, and that was also one cause behind the fact that Q2 last year wasn't the best one.
Let's continue with MDS segment. Can you discuss the weak sales but increased backlog in the segment? Is that a timing issue, or are there other factors impacting the situation as well?
There is the MDS segment, there are two parts, so it's the pre-processing in China, and then we have the MDS heat treatment. Compared to the previous year, similar quarter, we had more MDS heat treatment sales compared to what we have now this quarter. Partly, it's timing because of the orders coming in. Partly also is when we are strong enough, have been ramping up the capacity in China to execute the sales in the factory. It's kind of two quarters.
Continuing a bit on the topic, the MDS order backlog is at a decent level. Deliveries have been low levels in past quarters. When should we expect order backlogs to start to realize? Following up to your previous answer.
I would say that already with the coming quarters, we should see that realize. When we have it full steam, the Chinese factory there, and then we have also the orders that we have received from the MDS Heat Treatment is also then gaining some additional revenue in the coming quarters.
Thank you. Can you clarify the thresholds in your verbal guidance of sales and if it's to stay at the same level? Anything more specific you can address on that?
Yeah, we haven't communicated anything clear, any clear guidelines on the deviations, and we keep the same approach when going forward. Still, like I said, the outlook remains the same. We are targeting to have the same amount of sales and EBITDA the same or higher than last year. We are not communicating any deviation limits in that sense.
Staying in the outlook side, and it seems like the following questions are going to be discussed also on the topic. Is the board signaling increased risk in the guidance with the decision to backlog the dividend distribution to November?
I would say that it's nothing to relate to that. In many companies, it's a common practice to pay the dividend or the return of capital in two installments. Some pay in three or even four installments. That was more like the idea with the board decision.
Thank you. Have you seen bigger changes in customers' decision-making in the last month overall? You discussed the market situation a bit, but more specifically short-term backwards.
Yeah, some customers are definitely evaluating the tariff impacts and how those then impact on their investment costs and so on. That is definitely visible in the customers' decision-making process, which is natural.
Thank you. Summing up with the last one, still within the outlook, can you elaborate on your confidence level in the outlook? There are still no changes, but can you share the insight?
Yeah, as mentioned during the call, we believe that based on our sales funnel and pipeline, the outlook remains the same, and we have a solid pipeline. Of course, like I said, there are certain uncertainties with the tariffs, but all in all, we are confident on the outlook which we have then provided to the market.
Thank you. That concludes our discussion and questions. At this point, I'd like to remind that when you actually receive the material afterwards from our website, in the appendix slides, you have access to market indicators which we closely follow to give you also the opportunity to dive into indicators. With that, our plan for financial reports for 2025 is that we will see you and hear you again beginning of August on 8th, and then come back in end October. With this, I would like to thank you all for your time and attention and good questions. This concludes our results for quarter one. Thank you all. Thank you, Toni. Thank you, Magnus.
Thank you.