Welcome to this presentation. My name is Christian Bekken, and I am the CEO of BEWI. With me today, as always, I have our CFO, Marie Danielsen, who will take you through the financials. Our presentation includes some forward-looking statement, so I would like to point your attention to our disclaimer. Let's talk about the highlights for the quarter. For the third quarter, BEWI delivers solid results, given the very tough conditions in the building and construction industry. We have been in the industry for more than 40 years, which means that we have handled difficult times before. One of BEWI's key strengths is our ability to quickly adapt to, and to adjust to the current markets. During the second half of last year, the market started to decline.
Unfortunately, since the closing of Jackon acquisition took so long, we were not able to start adjusting that part of the business until the first half of this year. But when we take action, we see results. Given the market conditions, we are pleased with the results and the work we do. We deliver good results by our downstream units this quarter. As always, it's a mixed picture. The insulation segment has managed to improve their EBITDA margin from 7.9 last year to 8.9 this quarter. Excluding acquisition, the margin improvement is from 7.9%- 10.9%, even if the volumes are significantly down. We are proud of these results, and we are proud of the work we are doing, and we are not done yet. We will continue to improve day by day.
Jackon was consolidated into our accounts in Q4 last year with a negative EBITDA contribution for insulation, especially from the Nordic business. Since then, we have managed to turn the EBITDA contribution to be positive by implementing measures and BEWI's price model in Nordics. Now, we are also implementing measures into other regions, and we expect to see further improvements in the time ahead. For the packaging business, the end market exposure is more diverse. More than half of the segment sales are from food packaging, including our traditional fish box, as well as other traded food packaging products. The rest is divided between automotive components and industrial products. The demand for food packaging is stable, and the contribution from the fish boxes was strong this quarter. The volume sold of automotive components are up by 23% so far this year compared to last year.
The EBITDA for the quarter is lower than the third quarter last year, partly due to the lower volumes and prices, but mainly explained by 45% lower gap for raw compared to last year. In July and August, customers were worried and emptied their stock, causing a pressure on the gap. The gap improved towards the end of the quarter and has remained solid in the fourth quarter. In October, the EBITDA for raw was approximately the same as the whole EBITDA for the whole Q3 in raw. The EBITDA is also somewhat lower than we predicted when we presented the Q2 result. The main reason is that other industrial product, which is a part of the packaging segment and includes protective packaging and technical components, has been affected by the general downturn in industries across Europe.
Still, we have a strong operational cash flow for the quarter, even if you are operating in quite extreme markets, and our cash position will be strengthened by approximately EUR 100 million when the real estate investments are settled this quarter. We are on track to deliver on our synergies target from Jackon transaction in improving our results by EUR 30 million by the end of next year. Finally, we are positioned to grow our insulation business without further investments. As we are currently fully invested and only using approximately 70% of our capacity, we are planning to invest less than EUR 20 million next year. A few more comments on the measures we implement to adapt to the current market conditions.
I have already mentioned that we have implemented measures in the insulation segment this year, and how the measures have resulted in margins improvement so far. The measures have mainly been implemented in the Nordics, since it is our largest region, and also where the activity declined first. The measures have included temporary shutdown of two facilities, in addition to reducing shifts in many of our facilities. We have reduced the headcount in insulation by approximately 120 people since the start of this year. And yes, we are pleased with the results from these measures, but we are far from done. We will continue to implement measures both in the Nordics and other regions, especially in Germany, where the profitability is currently low. For the packaging segment, the situation is different, as most of their end markets are growing.
Still, we have closed two facilities in this segment, too, including reducing headcount as a result of the optimization of the production footprint following the combination with Jackon. Here, we have been investing in increased capacity for paper packaging and HVAC, and we have just opened a new fish box facility at Hitra and started fish box also in one of our facilities in Netherlands. This picture is an example of how one of our insulation products, Jackodur, which is made from XPS, is used at the roof of a sports center at the ski resort, Val Thorens in France. And with that, I leave the word over to you, Marie.
Thank you, Christian. Sales in the group were in the quarter more or less flat compared to last year. We have organically lost on our top line that is coming both from volumes, it's coming from price, and that has then been compensated with the acquisitions that we have done. EBITDA, we have lost approximately EUR 10 million, 15.7 of this is coming from the organic business. However, 90% of this is related to our upstream segments. This is segment RAW and its segment Circular. So while upstream is challenged by volume and gross margin, we have had been extremely good in adapting our downstream segments to the current market situation. Even with a large volume decline in some regions within insulation, we hardly do not lose much on EBITDA in our downstream segment.
A few things on our consolidated profit and loss statement. Net sales, I just commented on, and the cost structure in general is growing in relation to the acquisitions that we have done. I believe the elephant in the room here is that we do have a negative loss for the period, bottom line. But I would like to highlight a few things. Keep in mind now that our Raw segment have had an extremely challenging quarter with margin pressure and are hardly not contributing at all to our EBITDA. In the month, we have also had some one-offs and impairments that are in relation to the measures that we now are taking to adapt to the current market, and the outcome and benefit from this will come as from the fourth quarter and so on.
It's also evident in this picture that we do have a too high interest cost, and this is, of course, driven by, yes, the policy rates has increased rapidly over the last quarters, and we temporarily also have a too high debt. The debt increase is a consequence of the recent acquisitions and also in combination that we have spent a lot on CapEx in all our growth initiatives. Our focus now is, of course, to bring down the debt, and we can only hope, but it seems like the interest curve is now decreasing, so that we should be on top of the interest rates.
Cash flow-wise, we do have a strong cash flow, which is pretty much in line with the third quarter last year, and this is even if we had a much, much lower EBITDA and that we have higher interest cost, and this is the benefit from, an improved working capital. And this is even if only at this time, only have a very modest relief in our inventory. CapEx, EUR 12.5 million in the quarter. 7.6 of this is in relation to our normal maintenance CapEx. Isolated in the quarter, this is a little bit higher than we have guided on, on the 2.5% of sales.
On top of that, we have all these investment schemes that Christian also has mentioned, before, which is investments in new capacity to enable organic growth, and it can also be customer-specific investments. We have been spending a lot of CapEx in the good times, and this is, of course, both to make sure that we have facilities that are in good shape, but it has also been for all these growth initiatives. You can expect much lower CapEx going forward. Christian mentioned it as well, but you should expect that CapEx will not exceed EUR 20 million next year. All this means something to our capital structure. We have a net debt that ends at EUR 563 million, in the quarter, pretty much in line with where we were at year-end.
However, if you look at the net debt, excluding IFRS, it's decreasing. It's a consequence from the divestments on the real estates. Currently, leverage and return on capital employed is moving in the wrong, in the wrong direction, but there should be no doubt that we have this as the highest priority to take down debt and leverage, both from reducing the balance sheet that will come from the divestments on the real estate. We are working actively on our working capital, and there are other measures. But of course, earning-wise, all these initiatives now taking to adapt to the new market will impact. We are taking down CapEx, and we will start to capitalize on all these initiatives that we recently have invested in.
If we then take a closer look to the segments, starting with Raw, mentioned again that this is the segment we have the toughest challenges at this time when it comes to the financials. 70% of the segment's external sales is to the building and construction industry, and the low activity in that market, of course, impact segment Raw directly. Operationally, though, we have some very positive things ongoing. We could earlier in the quarter announce that entered into a long-term agreement with Karl Bachl Group, which is one of Germany's largest supplier of insulation solution. This is for supply of EPS and also recycled content, and we expect Bachl to become one of our larger customers in this segment. We are also about to go into commercial production in our new extruder in Holland.
This extruder will produce gray and recycled EPS, and it will be a great contribution to our production. It will be a great contribution to the grades that we offer to the market, because as per today, we have limited production of gray material and also of recycled material. As mentioned, a tough quarter, it is the gross margin that is impacting the segment to the largest extent, even if we do also have lower volumes. It has been volatile raw material prices, and it actually so that in the quarter, it has been times when the styrene cost has gone up, while the market prices for EPS has gone down. So it's a turbulent market, and the normal market mechanism, I would say, is actually put out of play.
And as a consequence, again, the drop in the EBITDA, 90% is actually related to the gross margin, and the residual 10 is related to volume, and also that we, oh, we have built up the cost structure because we do have a new production line with the extruder that not yet contribute to any profit, but will then go into production now in the fourth quarter. Insulation, then. This segment has strong headwinds, but operationally and also financially, it's delivering fantastic, considering the market circumstances. We experience now a low market, but a stable low market. And we took early on measure to adapt to the new market situation, and this has paid off, and we see all of the now positive impact from this. We have reduced shifts, we have taken out temps, we have closed one factory temporarily.
We are converting one of insulation sites to a circular site, and close to 10% of the employees in this segment has unfortunately had to leave us. Part of all the activities that we now are doing has been made possible due to the merger of Jackon, because that has enabled us to actually look into an optimal production footprint. And again, given the market conditions, the segment performs extremely well as per today. But what we are doing right now is actually also creating a platform for the future growth. And this is partly because we are fine-tuning our operation, and we have also invested a lot, so now we have a very well-invested platform that can take on the growth when the market turns. Looking at the financials, I believe it's a very strong evidence for what I just mentioned.
We have organically dropped, lost approximately 30% of our sales, and that corresponds to the EUR 26.6 million. But if you look at the EBITDA, organically, we have only lost approximately EUR 0.5 million. And that means that we move our EBITDA margin organically from 7.9% up to 10.9%. And this is a result from all the measures that we have taken to adapt to the market situation. It's strong price management, it is the synergies, and also now that we are benefiting from the lower raw material prices. Looking at the acquisitions, all of them are contributing positively, but the margin, as you can see, is lower, and that is related to our German operation, which is a quite large share of this, acquisitions.
And the measures that we are taking in Germany, they will only be visible next year. Moving then into packaging and component, where demand in food packaging and automotive remains very solid. End market, food and automotive now corresponds to 75% of this segment's sales. And that's then a combination of that we have a growth in our fish box operation. We have declining sales in our trading business, currently, when it comes to food packaging, but we have growth in our automotive sector with more than 20%. End market HVAC corresponds to 5%, and that leaves approximately 20% to other industries, looking at the end markets. In the quarter, we do have some lower sales to the industrial market, including HVAC, than we expected.
Measures are just like in insulation, now taking to adapt to the more softer market and also to utilize the merger with Jackon. In the quarter, it has been decided to close two production sites in these segments, and that will have a positive impact financially as from the fourth quarter. Operationally, we have some really important growth initiatives ongoing. Our latest fish box factory in Jøsnøya is since a few weeks back, up in production. We are investing in increasing paper packaging production in Denmark, and that will more than double our honeycomb production. We are expanding our HVAC production in close relation to our customers. Even if that market is a little bit down, currently, we and the customers have a very strong belief in HVAC for the future. In the quarter, sales is down approximately 10%.
It is the trading business for food packaging that is impacting us negatively, and to some extent, the sales to industrial customers. We do not manage to compensate this with the acquisitions. Keep in mind, looking at this segment, that we have a large portion of the operation in Norway, but in packaging and components, and that means that it's also suffering from the weaker Norwegian krone, so that also erases some of the EBITDA. And finally, Circular, which is the segment that is responsible to collect used EPS for further conversion into recycled raw materials. Our key priority is to secure the waste streams, and we have, year to date, now increased our collection with approximately 40%, and that is due to the acquisitions, mainly. The segment is impacted by the lower activity in the building and construction industry.
For that reason, that the beads or the grades, that we produce of recycled content is mainly sold to such applications. And the selling price is very close related to the virgin price, and we also have a rather long value chain, so it's tough for Circular to operate in volatile virgin raw material prices, and it's very sensitive to the margins in relation to this. As mentioned, when spoke about Insulation, we are currently converting one of Insulation's sites to a circular hub for Scandinavia, and this is happening in Norrköping, which, from a logistical perspective, is perfect, both when it comes to the bigger highways in Sweden, but also seafaring. And this also includes investments in additional pelletizing technology so that we can convert even more to recycled materials.
Financially, yes, weaker again, Circular, tough, when you have volatile, virgin raw material prices, but again, priority, it is collection, it is to be able to convert it into recycled content. It is to increase our usage of recycled materials in the whole, BEWI system, and we are getting there step by step. With that, I leave the word back to Christian again.
Thank you, Marie. BEWI's strategy is based on how we see our end markets develop, including trends in demand and regulatory changes, and of course, the need to reduce the emissions across the world. The largest end markets for our downstream units are the building and construction industry, where we supply insulation solution, and of course, the seafood industry, where we supply packaging. In Europe, buildings account for 40% of energy consumption, and 75% of the buildings are not yet energy efficient, and the easiest way to reduce the energy consumption is to improve the insulation of the buildings. For packaging, we all know that the population keeps growing, meaning that we need more food.
In 2022, Norway, as an example, exported 1.2 million tons of salmon, of which more than 1 million was fresh fish, mainly in EPS boxes, the most important product for our packaging division. Just to give you a brief overview of our divisions, our Circular and Raw segments offer raw materials, virgin and recycled, to our Downstream units, as well as to external customers. The setup enables us to be fully circular because we control the full value chain. As an example, we collect fish in our facility in Poland, bring them back to Raw to make new raw materials used of 100% recycled insulation boards. The key driver for growth across the divisions is resource efficiency, aiming at insulating better to reduce energy consumption, delivering sustainable packaging for efficient transport, and reusing material again and again.
So let's take a closer look at the growth strategy for each division. You have seen this slide before, and I will just briefly touch upon each division. In Insulation, we have come a long way the last couple of years, from being a pure EPS provider before we acquired Synbra, to becoming a provider of full insulation solutions, offering foundations, as well as wall and roof systems, and other different materials. Different insulation materials, such as stone wool, EPS, and PIR, have different sweet spots. This means that if you target to offer customers insulation solutions for the whole building, you have to offer different materials. We have expanded our offering through the latest acquisitions, and we intend to continue to do so.
Also, for the Packaging, we want to be a full solution provider to our customers, offering the best and most sustainable solution at all times, independent if this is from EPS or fiber or other materials. For Raw, we will maintain the competitive advantage of being vertically integrated. We have invested in a new extrusion capacity to increase the production of gray and recycled material. This will contribute to growth in volumes next year. This, due to the fact that gray material is insulating better, so it's a high demand product, and also because the technology gives us the opportunity to use a lot of recycled material, which makes this production very competitive. Circular shall enable us to lead our industry towards circular economy, including enabling BEWI to become a fully circular company. BEWI will strengthen our financial position to deliver on our strategy and financial targets.
We have established a divisional structure with dedicated management teams, and we are considering strategic partners for our divisions. This, to strengthen the financial position, including the cash position. We will take in partners in some of our divisions, like Circular, where a partnership will enable us to reach our targets sooner and at the same time as it strengthen our platform. The investments we have done the last years all support the strategy across the divisions, with Insulation as the key growth driver. In 2022, we acquired seven companies with an annual turnover of EUR 600 million. The majority of this was related to insulation solutions. And yes, this market is currently very tough, but we remain confident about the opportunities from the mega trend in this segment, which is why we have increased our exposure to the building industry and construction industry in the first place.
We experience very low visibility related to volume and prices, especially for segment Raw. Customers are cautious, and raw material prices are volatile. Since the close of the third quarter, the gap for Raw has increased, and Raw had an EBITDA for October, as I said, in line with EBITDA for full Q3. The activity in the building and construction industry is expected to stay low going into 2024. The outlook for food packaging and automotive remains solid for the fourth quarter. And then looking at the EBITDA for the third quarter, it was somewhat behind our expectation, as we have, had expected the Packaging segment to deliver stronger results. That said, the Packaging segment is delivering strong, just not as strong as we expected when we had the, our Q2 presentation.
The visibility is still very uncertain, but based on the outlook we have today, we expect the EBITDA for the full year to come around EUR 150 million. To sum up our key priorities, we are adjusting our capacity and cost to the current market conditions, and this is a demanding thing to do with our organization. But this has improved and will continue to improve our profitability. We are on track with the integration of acquired companies and will extract synergies of EUR 30 million by next year. We will make sure we capitalize on our investments, such as the new fish box facility at Jøsnøya and the new extruder for RAW, positioning ourselves for organic growth. We increase our collection and consumption of materials for recycling.
We are strengthening our financial position by divesting real estate, reducing our CapEx and working capital, as well as other initiatives, and we are currently evaluating strategic opportunities for growth by considering strategic partners for our divisions. And with that, I will open for questions.
So the Q&A session will be held in English. Please post your questions in the webcast console. If you cannot see the form, you have to open up the window in the link above the webcast console, and you can ask questions there. I will read the questions. I will read them in English, even if you have posted them in Norwegian, and we will answer in English. So to start with, we have a question saying that in the release, you referred to that the company is considering strategic opportunities for growth, also aiming at improving the financial position and delivering on the long-term targets. So w ill you consider a share issue to strengthen the financial position?
No, we will not consider a share issue in BEWI ASA, but we are considering to take in partners. I think that's clear to say it like this. We are considering to take in partners, in, for example, as I said, Circular, to strengthen that platform and to go into a more offensive way in Circular to maintain our targets, and the timeline on our targets in Circular.
Okay. The next question is, what type of initiatives are you taking to reduce your working capital?
That's a mix, then, and the easiest one is, of course, inventory, to work more strategic with the inventory levels that we should have. And the next, of course, is to work with customers and suppliers, which takes longer time since that is contractual, but inventory and more focused strategic decisions on inventory levels.
Okay, and then, final question for now. Hello, can you please remind us about your covenants regarding debt leverage? Thanks.
We do not have any maintenance covenants in our bond facilities. There are some in our bank facilities, that is in relation to ICR, the interest coverage ratio, and it's also in relation to leverage.
Okay, so we don't have more questions now. We'll give it, like, 10 seconds, so if you have a question, please post in the webcast console. So if there are no more questions, we will conclude the presentation, and thank you for listening.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We will see you next time.
Thank you.
Bye.