Very good morning, everyone. Greetings from the sunny and chilly Helsinki. Welcome to join the webcast presentation of quarter three interim management statement for Relais Group. My name is Arni Ekholm. I'm the CEO of the company. I'm delighted to have the possibility to present the very encouraging results of the company today, and together with me, my brother-in-arms, our CFO, Thomas Ekström.
Morning
... who will walk you through the numbers. And this time we make a deep dive on the numbers, maybe a little bit more than we did last time. So, hang in there, and we will soon get into the financials as well. Looking at the agenda, it's fairly comprised. I will repeat some of the slides I showed the last time about Relais' strategy. I think it's very important for everyone to understand how they relate to the results of the company. Business review, I will comment the different business areas we have, and their success in quarter three and the first nine months.
And then, as said, Thomas will have a deeper look on some of the financials of this quarter and the first nine months. And at the end, a summary, Relais as an investment. And then, during the presentation, you have the chance, as usual, to submit questions. There should be a button stating, "Ask a question," on your screen. So at any time, please, send in the questions, and then Erkki will read them at the end, and we will then answer the questions. So please be active. So we encourage you to be active and make a lot of questions for us. Good. First, some numbers.
I don't want to steal the show from Thomas, but I think it's very nice to show these numbers. It's been a tough environment. We all know who reads the news. I mean, the economic, let's say, environment has been challenging. Interest rates have gone up, and for us, an important point is the weakening Swedish krona versus euro compared to last year. And hence, I want to also highlight some of the numbers in so-called comparable exchange rates. I mean, as is, as if, the exchange rates would have been the same this year as it was last year at the same period.
Looking very shortly on the numbers, we reached a turnover of EUR 70.3 million, which is a growth, nominal growth of 9%, but if you would count it in last year's exchange rates, it's 14%. Why is this relevant? I think because over half of our business actually comes from outside Finnish market, so this tells more about the organic growth and partly acquired growth in the marketplace, the strength of the market as such, where we operate. The EBITDA went up to EUR 8.4 million, which is an increase of 9%, and again, in comparable exchange rates, a growth of 15%, which is, under these circumstances, I would say, a very, very strong result of our teams.
Looking at the first nine months, the net sales was EUR 203 million, which is a growth of about 10%, and again, in comparable exchange rate, a growth of 15%. And we will look later more in detail how it is divided between the business units and the geographical areas, which is fairly interesting. The EBITA for the first nine months, we went over the EUR 20 million barrier to EUR 20.7 million, which is a growth of a very strong 23% growth, and then again, taking into consideration the exchange rate, a 31% growth.
Again, looking in the rearview mirror, it's been a challenging year again from the market situation point of view, but I think the actions we have done and the business model we have has proven its resilience and the defensive nature of the market. So in this context, I also want to thank very warmly and congratulate our teams for the strong results you have been able to produce in all the countries where we operate. Right. Recapping the strategy, threefold, three reinforcing themes, as I have told before, for those who have listened to these presentations before. They are in no particular order. I mean, none of these building blocks is more important than the other.
Growth by acquisitions, as I have also presented before, we want to consolidate, and we consolidate the aftermarket, the vehicle aftermarket in the Nordic countries. We are focused, we are a smart compounder, and I will explain what does a smart compounder mean under this market environment, as we have in the Nordic countries. Operational excellence is very important for us. We do not only buy companies, we also develop the companies, and there's, so to say, value to the, to create and, and goal to dig in the operational excellence part.
I mean, again, also in this business, the devil is in the details and, you can with, let's say, fairly small adjustments, make a big effect on the bottom line by acting in a smart way and finding the efficiencies between the companies and, let's say, purchase. And hence, we can then produce the cash flow that we can use, again, to boost the growth of the company. Organic growth, our aim is to grow faster than the market does in average, and we have been able to do that. And, I mean, it, there's no one secret sauce how do you do that.
It is, of course, a result partly of the cross-selling synergies we have with our own, the products that we have, own, own-branded products that we can distribute through the wholesale channel, but also there are other, let's say, things that relate to the operational excellence that boost the organic growth. Once you then do add-on acquisitions, you can also boost the organic growth further. I wouldn't call it a self-playing piano, but all these parts support each other in the realization of our strategy. Buy and build, I have also shown this before, but I want to make a point of it is equally as important to build the companies than basically, in quotation mark, "Just to buy companies." I mean, it is a combination of both.
That's why it's called buy and build. Invest right, I think under these economical surroundings or circumstances that prevail now in the world, the pace of acquisitions, the frequency of acquisitions has gone down. And what we have noticed, partly, the valuation of the companies have also stabilized or come down. Let's say the downside under these type of times is that some of the best companies, target companies, decide to wait before they sell. So that is, that is a kind of challenge, we sometimes face in negotiations and talks with owners of companies that, of course, we want to make them to join our journey together and grow together, and then, of course, enjoy the upside in the future.
What is important for us when we are looking at these companies, we are screening all the time, say, at least tens of companies all the time, and have many negotiations and talks going on. But we are very picky as well, especially under these circumstances, when the, let's say, the price of the money or the interest rate has risen from the zero levels it used to be for many, many years. Now, actually, the money also costs something, which means that our calculations or the value creation potential, we are very critical in what type of companies we buy into the group. So there needs to be a stable profitability in the company, and good management who is willing to stay in the company.
With our sector focus, I think we have a competitive advantage by knowing the sector. We know a lot of people, we know the companies, we have a good understanding of the market, which we then can capitalize on in the building part. So discipline is a word I have also used before. So if you think about our value creation model and how we calculate the, let's say, the return on capital employed and how we allocate the capital, it is crucial that we do not overpay. So we find the good companies, but we have a, let's say, conservative picture of the pricing and do not overpay, because otherwise it will strain the equation very much moving forward.
Then this building block, which I want to emphasize as well today, I mean, we have some marvelous results of our ability to grow the companies. If you look at our commercial vehicle repair and maintenance business, we have been able to almost double the profitability of these companies. Our lighting business has grown during the last years, and the profit very much. So it is. The companies were already in a good shape before we bought them, but with the support of the group and the teams, we have been able to take this totally to a new level, which I want to also thank the teams who have participated in this job for the hard work. So we really see and start to see the results of this building part.
And we focus a lot in strategy and execution. As I've explained before, all of us in the management team participate hands-on in the work of these group companies. So, I mean, there's the kind of straight line, even if we are decentralized, so it's not a kind of group of standalone companies. There's independence enough, and there's accountability locally, but there's also visibility from the group management and to align the strategies and the execution of the strategy. Then the smart compounding also relates to the sector focus. I mean, it is easier for us to find the targets that are relevant for us. We can compound competence and use the best practices. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it really works in practice.
We take the best practices, and we allocate the, let's say, the competence from other companies to other companies, so we can really do this internal benchmark. We have started to gain enough muscle to benefit from this type of work. Add-on acquisitions, I will show you an example a few minutes later, as a proof of concept. I mean, we have the bigger network we have, the easier it is for us to then also grow through these add-on acquisitions locally and to attract local entrepreneurs to join our, let's say, repair and maintenance chains, for example. All of this should then contribute to accelerating the organic growth. This is the strategy explained in more detail.
This I have also showed you before, just maybe best to focus and look on the amount of companies we have bought during the last three years and the very much accelerated growth from 2020. We went into the stock market in 2019, and then the full effect of the 2019 acquisitions is visible in 2020. 2022 was a challenging year, at least the first two quarters, because of the war in Ukraine and the Omicron pandemic in the beginning of the year, but we really managed to turn the tide for the last two quarters.
Today, we will present the first three quarters of this year and have a, let's say, an outlook for the rest of the year in a verbal form. You may have seen some of our announcements regarding the acquisitions, and you can see a few new logos here. First, we divide the business into two: Technical Wholesale and Products, and then Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance. So it's very focused on two larger business areas at the moment. Technical Wholesale is about, say, 66%-70%. Then the Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance is about 1/3 of the business.
The latest acquisitions we have done is in Norway, the workshop equipment companies, AutoMateriell and Nordic Lift, and then a smaller add-on acquisition we did to support the Raskone chain in Finland, a local very high-quality repair shop in Jyväskylä in the middle of Finland, Jyväskylä Truck Center. So welcome, welcome, JTC team, to Relais very warmly. So we have all in all, over 1,000 professionals in six countries. Good. Let's look at the business review. A few comments from a commercial point of view, and then Thomas will have a deeper, let's say, look in the numbers and explain what's behind the numbers. So double-digit EBITDA growth percentage for the third quarter in a row this year. It kind of tells about the strength of our business model.
I mean, yes, we did have some challenges last year in the first half year, due to external factors, partly some internal factors, but we have fixed them. I mean, we are operating on a much more efficient cost base at the moment. Our gross profits are very stable, and I think the current economic situation supports the aftermarket type of business, which we have also seen historically, if we go 20, even 30 years back in time. Looking at the biggest business area, Technical Wholesale and Products, the net sales has grown with 9%, in reported numbers, during the first nine months, and in the quarter, 12%. So this is mostly, I would say, coming from the Scandinavian markets.
It's a combination of partly organic growth and partly acquired growth. So if we look at the... There's a lot of numbers now on this chart, but I want to also highlight the comparable exchange rate net sales growth. So that was 19% in quarter three. So if the report is 12, if the currency rate would have been the same, it would have been 19. So that kind of gives away the story about, okay, it has to come quite much from the Swedish market, and the Swedish market has been very resilient, as opposed to the Finnish and Baltic markets, where there has been a, let's say, much more challenging environment, heavy competition, and also the price increases have been harder to get through.
It's not only us, it's generally, let's say, the spare part market in Finland is different than that of the Scandinavian markets. All in all, the organic net sales growth was 5% last year, and that is... No, it was last year in the quarter, and it's the same as year-to-date. So the difference comes from mainly the acquired companies in Denmark and Norway.
Then looking at the Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance business area, which was the roughly 30%, or in the first nine months, 34% of the group sales, grew very strongly in the first half of the year, which is then reflected if you look at the year-to-date number, which is +11%, and quarter three is +1%. You have to bear in mind that the turnaround last year that happened for this business area happened during quarter three, quarter four. So we were having a challenging situation with resources in the first quarter in 2022, and also the Omicron variant and the war contributed to that demand situation. And then we did a lot of changes and managed to recruit a lot of people.
So hence, the growth on quarter three is not so big as in the first nine months. And this, I think I already kind of indicated in the last presentation of after quarter two, that we should not expect a huge growth during the latter part of the year, because the growth already happened last year. So still, all in all, this is a strong performance, and especially if you look at the quarter three plus one, reported growth is actually 5% in comparable exchange rates. And the organic net sales growth is 5%. I mean, it's basically the same as we have not acquired new companies in quarter three versus last year.
The product groups, I will only highlight the lighting business because it's very, let's say, current topic at the moment. We are in the middle of the best lighting season. Year to date, we are flat in reported numbers, but if you look at comparable exchange, it is a growth of 6%, and that is mostly coming, again, since the Swedish krona is the main reason for this difference. It's coming from the strong growth of the Strands business. Looking at quarter three, in reported numbers, the net sales is down with 8%, but then again, in comparable exchange rates, with 3%. And what does this translate to is that the lighting demand has started slightly later than it did last year.
We have noticed that during the quarter, quarter three. However, and I will get back to the outlook, looking at the market right now, market demand seems to have stabilized. So my off-take is that there was some stock left on the retail side, and the customers were cautious making the pre-orders. So the season started a bit later, but, so to say, I'm not worried at all about this. There are uncertainties at the end of the year, of course, coming from partly consumer demand. I would say in this stage that maybe 15%-20% of the product types within lighting are dependent on the consumer demand, and that is effectuated or accentuated now during this season, because now is the time when the consumers buy the auxiliary lights.
The other lights, which stand for over 80% of the business, are bought, let's say, more evenly through the year, work lights and all types of other professional lights that go to the business to business sector, which is like 80% of our business in lighting. And then finally, before looking at the outlook for the rest of the year, we have two geographical segments, and I think this is very depictive in showing the difference between the strength of the two markets. Firstly, as I pointed out the last time, the Scandinavian market has, or share of the market has really risen to a very prominent level, so it is now on the quarterly level, it's 55%.
You can see on the bottom right corner of the chart here. Finland and Baltics is 45%. So there is still growth in the Finnish and Baltic market, but it's much more flat. And this is again in reported numbers. So in this chart, we have not reflected the effect of the currency rate. So basically, if we would translate this into last year's exchange rate, the growth in Scandinavia would be much bigger. This is partly acquired growth because we bought S-E-T company in Denmark, and also now the latest acquisitions of AutoMateriell and Nordic Lift are reflected in this one. But there's also a very healthy organic growth in this market.
This kind of tells the picture of the division between the markets in the Nordic region. I mean, Finland, Baltics is kind of keeping stable, but the real growth is coming from the Scandinavian markets. The outlook, we do not give a numeric guidance on short term. Thomas will recap the long-term financial target. How I would summarize the outlook for the rest of the year is that it's largely dependent on external macroeconomic and market demand factors. It is really hard to say where the economy is going. I mean, we are not the only company probably saying this, but how the purchase power is affected, how the unemployment will happen, and the construction sector, building sector, it is a big question mark.
Offsetting this, well, yeah, the SEK/ EUR rate is kind of we know that. I mean, it's probably not going to be better during the last quarter. I don't think any of the banks are really expecting the crown to strengthen during the last quarter. So I gather that will be more or less the same effect that it has now. What is offsetting this kind of question mark, specifically, the question mark is, I think the question mark is bigger on the Finnish market than in the Swedish market, but there are some items in Sweden as well, causing uncertainty. What is offsetting this is what we have seen, the defensive nature of the vehicle aftermarket. I think people tend to repair the existing vehicles. We have seen that.
I mean, if you don't buy a new vehicle, you kind of, as a commercial vehicle owner, you have to repair the existing vehicle. I think we have also noticed a shift in the customer behavior from especially some of the fleet customers, looking at more effective ways to manage their cost, i.e., to choose a repair chain that is probably less expensive than the traditional OE players have been. So our market share most likely has risen in Sweden and Finland on the commercial vehicle repair and maintenance business. Our inventory and resource situation is good. I mean, we have... Well, we probably never have enough mechanics, but we are satisfied with the level of resources we have, and it's improved a lot from last year.
We are, of course, constantly recruiting both in Sweden and Finland. Inventory situation is healthy and good. I mean, there's not too much, there's not too little. So with all this, let's say on balance, we feel that we are well positioned to continue the successful implementation of our strategy also during the rest of the year. But then again, the question marks come from the external world and the demand situation. How the market looks like right now, I think the question mark keeps kind of moving towards the end of the year. So we really have not seen too much of a negative development in the demand at the moment.
So I think on the lighting business, it's more a question of delayed demand, but still, I don't want to sound too bullish because we really—nobody knows how the consumers will behave or the companies will behave, if the situation gets more dire, economically, during November, December. So with this, I hand over to Thomas, and then also I will answer the questions at the end, should any questions arisen during this presentation. So, Thomas, please.
Yes. Thank you, Arni. Yes, Arni explained a lot already about the net sales and profitability development, but I'll try to dig in a bit to give you a bit versatile picture of the situation. In this slide, you can see perhaps in the longer term, that sales has increased now three quarters in a row. And EBITDA almost also has increased in all these quarters, so really kind of stable and profitable growth. And the drivers here is, as Arni said, there are some pluses and minuses, but especially commercial vehicle repair and maintenance business, that has been the whole year kind of a theme of improvement. And of course, acquisitions, as in our kind of business model, they bring both more sales and more EBITDA.
But on the other hand, then we see in the numbers that heavy competition in the spare parts markets, in the Technical Wholesale and Products in Finland and the Baltics, kind of is kind of impacting negatively on the increase in profitability and sales. And then we have the weak krona that impacts both sales and profitability when we translate to euros, the krona-based business numbers. So all in all, but I dig a bit deeper into the profitability. Gross profit and gross margin, you can see that three quarters, still third quarter numbers, you see steady growth driven by the factors I mentioned, both in euro terms, but more importantly also in as a gross margin percentage.
That has been driven. Our development has come despite the fact that we have had a heavy increase in sourcing costs, especially in the Technical Wholesale business, and also the weak krona, which impacts the euro-denominated acquisitions of goods. Then one driver of the improvement in the gross margin is, of course, that we have the weight of the commercial repair and maintenance business has increased, both through acquisitions and also through efficiency and profitability improvement measures. So all in all, a really good development on this part also. And combining the kind of gross profit, gross margin development with a steady, stable, moderate increase in operating expenses, these are the kind of main factors behind the improved profitability for us.
And then this also shows the actions we have taken in the whole business model through acquisitions, through operational excellence, through internal synergies. So all in all, also from this point of view, a good development. Go to the balance sheet side. Net working capital has been a key focus area for us for the past 12 months, and you can see the good results. The whole net working capital has come down by 16% from the kind of corresponding period last year. The biggest impact has come from increased trade and other payables and also decreased inventories. In Q3, there was in inventories a bit of an adverse development due to that we bought the AutoMateriell business in Norway and Nordic Lift, so we also bought inventory in that transaction.
And then also in the lighting product group, we have made some growth-related, more exceptional, inventory acquisitions. So without those, there would have been also a continued more continued improvement in net working capital. But all in all, in this respect, also a good development, and we are moving forward. Of course, then these two factors, improved profitability and improved net working capital, transcends down to the cash flow from operations. Good development here, even though you see that on quarter level, there's a negative development, but that's totally driven by the factors I mentioned about the acquisitions of AutoMateriell and Nordic Lift, and also the investments in additional inventories. So all in all, we have managed to improve cash flow from operations. Pretty good.
And you look at the cash flow as a whole, all except all the funds that we have managed to kind of gain from cash flow from operations have been used for investing activities and also to, to kind of, reduce indebtedness and, and pay out dividends. So really good balance here. In that sense, also, no additional debt, so we have been able to kind of pay down of the net debt during the past, quarter and the past year. And here you can see the net debt picture more in detail. Liquidity is really stable, cash stable, and then we have together kind of amortized on the interest-bearing loans and also made some acquisitions. So really solid, good position here also during the year.
And we have the same amount of facilities to be used for future acquisitions and investments in the business. So stable development and stable numbers in this respect also. Looking at the leverage, we have here, due to these numbers presented, we have managed to reduce also the leverage and net debt to last twelve months EBITDA. We came down from 4.1 at the end of September last year. We are now at 3.5 with the LTM net debt to LTM EBITDA. So here also a good development, and this is of course driven by acquisitions we make and when they are timed.
About net debt and financials from the P&L perspective, as we have discussed before, here you see that we know that interest expenses has increased due to the increased interest rate level, driven by the increased STIBOR and EURIBOR levels. That's been a negative impact on the kind of pre-tax profit. As discussed before, we have had FX-related net losses, net changes here due to that the internal loans provided in the group in krona has been exchanged with a kind of weaker krona to euro. We have had, for the full period this year, we had EUR 1.9 million negative impact. Last year, we had EUR 1 million negative.
But then again, as we translate kind of beginning of quarter to end of quarter FX rates here, you see on the... For the exchange gains and losses, we had EUR 0.5 million positive number for exchange here. So in that sense, the development in or increase in interest rates will not have such a big impact on the net profit this quarter and this period. Balance sheet numbers, no big changes here. Quite stable. Despite the acquisitions made, the group balance sheet total is quite stable. Also, equity is stable. So no big changes here. Also, cash assets, as said, on a stable level.
Just a reminder for you all, last AGM decided upon dividends to distribute them over two installments, and the second installment will be paid next week, on the ninth of November. So this just as a reminder that this is coming up next week. The record date is the second of November, so today is the record date of those who will get the dividends to the owners. Long-term targets, just to kind of reiterate the long-term target that we have of an EBITDA of EUR 50 million by the end of 2025. Also it needs to kind of perhaps be reiterated that this pro forma EBITDA means that it's a run rate, EBITDA of acquired companies are included in this EUR 50 million.
It is by the end of 2025, EUR 50 million, including the 12 months LTM of EBITDA of acquired businesses. These are additional slides. I won't go through them, but you can look at them later on.
Yeah. There's maybe one point. I generally don't want to go back some slides, but if Thomas, you would-
Yep
... take, the slide where you showed the quarters, the EBITDA per quarter from 21-
Yep, yep
... which was one of your first-
Yep
... first quarters.
Yep.
Flipping through to them, I just want to make a point out of that, once we get there.
Oh, sorry. Yep.
So, we Finnish people are sometimes too modest, but I would say, I mean, this is during the time we have been IFRS reporting, this is absolutely the strongest EBITDA result we have had. And actually, you should add back EUR 0.5 million on the EUR 8.4 million. So with constant exchange rate, it actually would be EUR 8.9 million. And that kind of gives you the picture of the organic strength and the acquired strength of the company. So just wanted to make the point that it was a very, very strong quarter, even in hindsight, probably one of the best we have ever had. But we only started to report IFRS, so we are not reporting in this picture the FAS local GAAP numbers.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
So, but yeah, that was the point I wanted to make. And then, if we flip through back to the last slide before we let Erkki loose with the questions. So just a summary of Relais as an investment. Yeah, thanks. So reiterating, sector-focused consolidator with a long ownership perspective. So, I mean, our modus operandi is not to buy companies and sell them after we have done a crash change in them. So we have almost a perpetual ownership perspective in our companies. We have a long track record of making successful acquisitions and developing our companies. You can see it in the results, you can see it in the way we work.
There's a solid cash flow and profitability track record, which then gives us fuel to do further growth activities and to do further acquisitions and to support our companies. Looking at the market, the vehicle aftermarket is stable, it's growing. I mean, the amount of vehicles is the underlying market. There are about 90 million vehicles, which are all sources of revenue for us. It's a platform, revenue platform, which is very stable. It's growing all the time. And let's say, from the services and products we have, we can offer different solutions for almost any need of our customers. It is also less cyclical, the aftermarket.
Then we have this growing vehicle lighting business with own brands, which is very exciting, and it's growing, and we, we have a track record on that one, and the potential is, is very, very big, even globally, I would say, in that, that business area. And then we have an efficient operating model. We do not have a huge staff of central people. We rely on the local organizations, but we have... let's say we can steer them centrally by using the resources in a, in effective way. So the operating cost, as Thomas showed, it stays on a, on a healthy level. So good, that was the quarter three and first nine months in a, in a nutshell, and now we would be happy to answer some questions. I hope there are many of them.
Yes, there is quite a few questions. First two ones comes from Petri Gostowski. Can you describe the competition in Finnish and Baltic spare parts market in more detail? Is there some new competitors, or is someone aiming to take market share more aggressively, or how would you compare the situation?
Thank you, Petri. Good question. Yeah, the Finnish situation differs quite much from the Swedish or other Nordic markets. So I think the Finnish spare part market is closer to that of the Baltic spare part markets as a kind of a region. It is fairly fragmented. Well, fragment is probably the wrong word. I would say it's... there's a multitude of fairly, let's say, middle-sized and bigger companies dividing the market and fighting for the market shares. The pricing situation is challenging due to the proximity of the Baltic States, and new actors are popping up from the Polish market. Polish actors are active in both Baltic markets and Finland.
Hard to give any percentage numbers, but it's visible in the market development that these actors are taking market shares from the workshop level directly. So it's a tougher competition, and also the price picture is more challenging than the Swedish market.
Good. And then the other question from Petri: Without going into too much details, based on your comments, should we expect the lighting market to reach previous year's level during the last quarter?
Yeah, that's an interesting question. I should be careful of giving any detailed numbers on that. I would say that there is a chance that the demand situation is normal, i.e., on the same level as last year, but there's also a question mark, which is coming from the consumer demand part. We have seen in the news that the online business generally in Finland is down with 40%. Looking at November, December, the part of consumer demand in our lighting business is bigger, as I said in my presentation, so that adds the question mark, that increases the question mark. There's a fair chance that the market is normal, i.e., on the last year's level, but there's also a chance that it's not. My ambiguous answer on that one.
Good. Then Joni Sandvall has four questions. Let's start with the first one. Have you seen continued interest from fleet operators towards independent repair and maintenance chains?
Thank you for the questions. Yes, we can see it in the numbers as well that there is an increasing interest from the fleet operators to work with the independent workshop chains, both in Finland and Sweden.
Okay. Lighting sales declined year-over-year due to soft online and cautious pre-orders. Have you seen any pickup during October?
I'd probably just say the same as I did when I answered Petri's question, that, I mean, there are signs of a stabilizing market. There are signs that the delay, it actually was a delay, that the consumption is picking up, but it's impossible to say whether that pickup continues to the rest of the year.
Okay. And how you view your leverage level given higher interest rates? For example, are you planning to deleverage your balance sheet, and what is your current appetite for M&A?
The appetite is still there, but as I have said in previous occasions many times, is that, should there be a bigger, structural deal or, or bigger, one-time acquisition where would require the use of, of cash outside the, the existing, let's say, gunpowder that we have, that would most likely require some equity or equity-type financing. So we can move ahead with, let's say, small or medium-sized acquisitions, which we do on a selective basis. But then I would say we would not like to increase the leverage, in any dramatic way, so that would require some, as I said, strengthening of the balance sheet. But it's not impeding our ability to do smart acquisitions moving forward.
Okay, and then the last question. There's still time for more questions, so please-
Mm
... send them in. How sourcing prices have developed? Can you comment on your freight contract? For example, are you expecting changes to your freight costs in 2024?
I think we have already experienced, if I start with the freight cost, so we have experienced a declining freight cost from China this year. I'm not expecting. I'm a little bit shooting from the hip, but I'm not expecting any dramatic further reduction in the freight costs. We have pushed the suppliers hard. I have to be open about it. I mean, that's the way we operate. We have started to gather enough critical mass. We do not expect any price increases. We do not accept any price increases either. So we are pushing the suppliers. And in the current economic environment globally, I mean, there's not a lack of components. There is probably declining demand from the OE side, so I see a fair chance of pushing the prices even further down.
So I would not expect an increase in the purchase prices. Then the currency rate effect is impossible to say how that will play in next year. But in the general picture, we do not expect an increase in the purchase prices.
Couple of more questions. Petri is asking, "You did not mention the valuation of the latest acquisition. Should we expect it, it to be in line with the other latest acquisitions, or is there something that impacts this particular acquisition valuation?
I would say, without commenting in more detail, that it's in a level that you would expect to the size of the business. I mean, we do, of course, use a certain scale of multiples, but this also ties into the size of the company. So it's a perfectly normal multiple for that magnitude of that type of company.
Good. Couple of more questions from Tommi Saarinen: "What was the organic growth rate without making the exchange rate adjustment?
Thank you, Tommy, for the question. If I remember now correctly, it was 5%. So that's from the top of my head.
Yeah, correct. Tommy continues, "How the 5% organic growth at comparable exchange rate was split between volume growth and price increases?
Hmm, that's really impossible to say. I would say if we look at the organic growth, maybe even anything over 50% of that comes from the value growth, which is then the price increase growth. So my picture of the spare part markets in both Finland and Sweden is that the volume is either flat or a couple of percent, percentage, growth upwards, and then the rest is coming from the price effect of the price increases locally.
Excellent. That was all the questions. Thank you for the questions.
Thank you, Erkki, for facilitating the questions. So, since there seems to be no more questions, I thank everybody very warmly for to follow this presentation, and welcome you all then to listen our full year results next year when we come out with a date.
Yeah.
Thank you, Thomas, as well. Thank you!