Welcome to this presentation of BEWI and our results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2023. My name is Christian Bekken, and I am the CEO of BEWI. With me today, as always, I have our CFO, Marie Danielsson, 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. Today, I would like to start by trying to put things into perspective. 2023 has been a difficult year for many. Businesses and households have been under pressure following the rapid monetary tightening, and climate change is certainly for real, putting pressure on us all to mitigate the change. In BEWI, we work every day to contribute to mitigate this change. Our strategy and strategic priorities are founded on the green shift.
Not just because we want to take responsibility and see it as a license to operate, but because we see huge value-creating opportunities. In 2023, we experienced the largest decline in the building and construction industry since 2007. In addition to running our operations, integrating acquired companies, and completing several growth projects, we adjusted to the markets by cutting cost and capacity. At the same time, we are proud to say that we will save 63 million tons of CO2 emissions over the lifetime of the insulation solutions we have sold in 2023. This is almost the same as the total annual emission for Sweden and Denmark. Our vision is protecting people and goods for a better every day, and with that vision, we recycle more used material than any other insulation company in Europe last year.
The materials we use are 100% recyclable and mostly made from air, which means they have fantastic insulation and protective properties. With that in mind, let's talk about the highlights for the full year of 2023. For BEWI, the fourth quarter was a good ending on a rather difficult year. We deliver one of the strongest operational cash flows in the history and strengthen the cash position to EUR 94 million in available cash and credit at the end of maybe one of the most challenging years we have had ever, with additional EUR 35 million still on its way from real estate divestments. The EBITDA for the fourth quarter was better than for the third quarter, both in numbers and percentage margin, which I believe never has happened before, as the fourth quarter is seasonally our weakest quarter.
Remember, this is despite the fact that we have increased our exposure to the building and construction industry. The improvement is a result of the fantastic effort made throughout the organization to reduce cost and capacity. On group level, the top line grew by 5% in 2023, following the acquisition completed in 2022. Sales increased for the downstream units, while the sales for the upstream segments, RAW and Circular, declined due to lower volumes and prices. EBITDA was down 19% for the full year. Still, looking back at the market developments we experienced, I am pleased with our performance. We have reduced cost and capacity in our downstream segments, and we have improved efficiency and reduced fixed cost for RAW. This has put us in a position to run profitable business at current levels, and a very profitable business when the volumes and market returns.
At the same time, we have continuously worked to position ourselves for the long-term growth. The insulation team has managed to deliver a strong improvement in profitability over the last years, despite 30%-50% lower volumes, depending on the region they are in. The EBITDA margin is up from 7%-10% since the fourth quarter of 2022. Packaging delivers solid results with a strengthening contribution from the automotive business, and Marie will go more into details on the development for each market. BEWI targets to become a circular company, which includes an ambitious target to collect 60,000 tons for used EPS, in addition to other materials we collect and recycle as well. The market for used material is immature, and it's also impacted by the downturn in the construction industry.
This resulted in 7% lower volumes collection in 2023, but we have a significant increase in the use of recycled materials in our own production. For the fourth quarter, Circular's internal sales was 24%, up from only 4% for the same period last year. Most of you remember that we acquired many and some large companies in 2022. The organization has done a fantastic job to integrate this into BEWI, combined with the hard work to adapt to the shifting market condition. In 2023, we sticked to the following six priorities. One, to increase collection and use of materials for recycling. We completed many initiatives to strengthen our circular segment last year.
With a new strong leader on board, the circular segment is better positioned than ever, and a key enabler to provide the downstream segments with a competitive advantage by giving them access to recycled material. Two, we have reduced cost and capacity to the current market conditions. As already mentioned, we are very pleased with margin improvements in insulation. The packaging segment has also reduced personnel and optimized the footprint, which is expected to give results in 2024. Three, we are about to complete the integration of acquired companies and on track to extract the synergies of EUR 30 million from the Jackon acquisition. Four, we are capitalizing on our investments. In 2023, we completed several key organic growth projects, such as new fish box facility at Jøsnøya , that started production in third quarter.
In addition, we opened a new production line for recycled material for RAW, increasing our capacity and production by 25,000 tons. Five, we have strengthened our financial position and had EUR 94 million in available cash and credit at the end of the year, with additional EUR 35 million coming from real estate dinvestments. This work will continue. Six, and we are evaluating strategic opportunities for growth that also can be contribute for further strengthen of our balance sheet. Our pipeline of M&A opportunities are growing due to the weak construction markets, and we intend to continue our growth journey. BEWI is in a unique position to change our industry, and as I said at the start of this presentation, our products contribute to saving enormous amounts of CO2 by reducing the need for energy in buildings.
Six years ago, we launched the world's first insulation board made from 100% recycled material, and today we experience an increasing demand for solution with lower CO2 footprint in our insulation segment. All customers want the GreenLine product, which are the product line with 30%-100% recycled materials. A few weeks ago, we launched a whole new range of products, where we now also can offer fish boxes based on 100% recycled material, with up to 60% lower CO2 footprint. Many of our customers have committed to climate reduction targets and are looking for a solution that we can help them with, and we can also help them with reaching their targets. We use the same approach as the electrical companies use to provide us with green energy, and we are better positioned to use this approach than our competitors.
Number one, because our integrated business model enables us to control the full circular loop from production of raw materials and end products to collection and recycling in circular. And number two, because we have invested a lot in our circular capabilities. Recently, we opened our new production line for recycled material at the raw facility in Etten-Leur, where we are now producing gray and white EPS with recycled content. We are also investing in our increased extrusion capacity for our circular business. As an example, we collect fish boxes at our facility in Poland, bringing them back to RAW to make raw materials used of 100% recycled insulation boards. And with that, I leave the word to you, Marie.
Thank you, Christian. Then we are going to look into the financials, and I would like to spend some time on this page just to give you a helicopter perspective. Sales in the group were in the quarter 8.5% lower compared to Q4 last year, and for the full year, we had a growth of 5%. It is still Jackon and Spain that are the contributors from acquisitions in the fourth quarter. Spain coming into the group as from January 2023, and Jackon from November 2022. Jackon and the residual acquisitions do, of course, have a much, much bigger impact to the year-to-date numbers. In the quarter, we do have lower sales in all our segments, but drop in sales is mainly coming from the segment RAW and Insulation and Construction, where the current market situation impacts us the most.
As usual, this is both driven by price and volume. Looking at the EBITDA in the quarter, EBITDA is now increasing, and even if that is in a totality explained by acquisitions, we clearly see that the measures we are taking to adapt to a softer market now have an impact. I would really like to bring your attention to the fact that even if sales is decreasing the most in segment RAW and Insulation and Construction, we are, from existing business, organically performing better in Insulation and Construction compared to Q4 last year, and we are more or less flat in segment RAW.
If we look at the full year EBITDA, I want to point out that 90% of the EBITDA that we have lost this year, that is related to upstream segments, and that's then RAW and Circular, where it is much, much harder to adapt the cost structure in relation to volume. Packaging component, that's rather flat, compared to last year. Again, it is a very stable segment over time, and Insulation and Construction, yes, organically, they have lost approximately 13% of their EBITDA, but in relation to the lost volumes in that segment, that is a great effort. We are on track with extracting synergies, as Christian is mentioning. Part of this is, of course, embedded in the numbers that downstream delivers, even with the weaker volumes that we have.
However, as you can see, the margins from our acquisitions and in general are not yet so impressive, and this should be seen as a reminder of the leverage and the full potential from synergies that will come along with a better underlying market when volumes are again more normalized. EUR 167 million in pro forma EBITA last year, as you can see down to the right. Keep that in mind into the next page. Then we are going to look into the full consolidated profit and loss statement, and there are a few things that I would like to highlight. Sales, I explained on previous page, so focus on the cost then. The cost base is decreasing.
If you look at raw materials and goods for resale as a percentage of sales, that is in line with last year, but you can see that our external cost has decreased approximately EUR 31 million. And more of that, approximately EUR 17 million, that is related to the settlement we did last year with EU Commission for a claim towards Synbra back in 2013. But the residual then, and that's then approximately EUR 14 million, that is related to lower costs following the lower volumes and general cost cut. And this corresponds to approximately 20% lower cost if you adjust for the EUR 17 million that I just mentioned. Personnel cost then, yes, they have increased compared to last year, but then keep in mind that this is only driven by acquisition.
As Christian was mentioning, we have been forced to take out personnel, and we have been doing that through all, this year or 2023. In Q1, we actually had personnel cost closer to EUR 52 million, and then we have had salary increases that has impacted the run rate numbers, and now we are approximately on a EUR 50 million euro run rate per quarter. Financial net that we know it has increased due to the higher policy rates. And then again, as last quarter, I have unfortunately to point out that, yes, we do end the year with a negative, net profit bottom line. And then coming back to the previous page, because that is basically what explains this, or these two things really. Last year, when we were standing here, we presented a pro forma result of EUR 167 million.
That was then an EBITA that was already impacted by lower results following the quick downturn in the market, and basically, no synergies were realized. Only comparing the EUR 167 million to where we are at now, EBITA-wise, we have lost EUR 60 million. The balance sheet has grown following the acquisitions, and the policy rates has rapidly increased. This, in combination with the lower market sentiment, has consequently impacted the financial cost in a way that we haven't wished for. This, I will talk to a little bit more on the coming page. About the financials then. Key priority is to strengthen our financial position. We have very good operating cash flow in the quarter, and it's much better compared to last year, even with the weaker results and higher financial cost.
This is explained by the fact that we have managed to reduce working capital, essentially in the fourth quarter. This has been a focus area for us, and it continue to be a focus area. We have managed approximately to reduce working capital as a percentage of sale with 1%, if you compare to Q1, in the beginning of this year. There should be further potential to take working capital down even more. The operating cash flow that we have used for our CapEx, and that is still higher or on the higher end, and that is due to our organic growth initiatives. Not visible on this page, but it will come on next page, is that we have repaid debt, and we have also increased the cash that we have on hand.
Looking then at the capital structure, and I will repeat myself from today and also earlier, closing of larger acquisitions in relation to our size, combined with the market turndown and also rapidly increasing policy rate, that has meant something to our capital structure. As you can see, leverage and return on capital employed has developed the wrong direction in 2023. Again, then, key priority is to strengthen the financial, financial position, and in the quarter, we have been seeing results from our work with reducing working capital, as mentioned. We have also divested shares in KMC, and we have closed some of the real estate transactions previously commented on. That means then together with the good operating cash flow, that we have managed to increase cash on hand with more than EUR 20 million, from EUR 43 million up to EUR 64 million, and we have also repaid debt.
That means that net debt ex IFRS is going down from 367 in Q3 to 331. In addition to the EUR 64 million that we have cash on hand, we have an additional EUR 30 million in available credit facility. Consequently, leverage has come down if you compare to Q3, but still, we have some more to go before we are on our target of 2.5. The activities then that you can expect in 2024 is that we will close the residual real estate transaction, and that will add an additional EUR 35 million. We have set a CapEx target for 2024 of a maximum EUR 20 million. That should be compared to that we have spent more than EUR 50 million in 2023, and we continue to work with optimizing our working capital.
So if we then move into the different segments, we start with RAW. RAW is the segment which financially delivers the best when we can produce flat out, and that is due to the fact that there's a rather low flexibility, we have to adapt the cost structure. 70% of the sales in this segments is to end customers in the building and construction industry, and with the low activity in that industry, that impacts this segment directly then. In the quarter, we have negative organic development of approximately 19%, and as always, mix of volume and price, but it is price that has a larger impact in the quarter compared to volume.
EBITDA-wise then, we are pretty much in line with last year, even with the lower volumes, and that is due to that we do control the cost that we can, and we also have a improved gap that is the gross margin than if we compare to last year. In the fourth quarter, we went into production with our new extruder, and that has a capacity of 25,000-30,000 tons, and in that, we will produce gray and recycled EPS. These are grades that BEWI today have a very limited production of, so it will be a great contribution to our product offering. We now are ramping up and are in commercial sales as from the beginning of this year then. Looking at insulation, well known, but strong headwinds, but delivers both operationally and financially fantastic, given the market condition.
Early on, we took measures to adapt capacity to the new market condition, and we continue to do that, also now. From a seasonality perspective, Q4 is a weaker quarter compared to Q3, but we actually deliver EBITDA in this quarter, in the fourth quarter, that is in line with the third quarter, and we increase the margins further from 8.9% in Q3 up to 10% in Q4. Organically, sales is down 27%, and again, mix volume and price, but opposite to segment RAW, it's a larger share that is related to volumes compared to price in this segment. Worth noting, though, is that the reduced volumes, that is a mix between the market, but also that we deliberately have stopped deliveries of volumes that we do not see profitable enough in this market to be able to optimize our production cost.
The majority in acquisition is Spain, and to some extent, also Jackon. And as mentioned before, Spain and also U.K. are, to a lesser extent, impacted by the weaker market, and than we experience in the rest of Europe, and Spain then, and also U.K., of course, they continue to perform very well. Again, then, just short on the EBITDA, we have reduced the shifts, we have taken out temps, we have looked into production footprint, and unfortunately, unfortunately, it is actually 10% within this segment that has been forced to leave us. But as a result then, we actually have organic growth again in this quarter, and that is even with the lower volumes. And short term, we expect the market to continue to be at this low level.
However, we believe that we are in great position for growth in this segment, and Christian will come back to this just after my short presentation. Packaging and Components then. The development in this segment have been mixed in the quarter. We are very happy to see that the automotive customer segment continue to develop well, and now actually contribute to more than 70% of the sales in this segment. But then we have the opposite development in the sales of fish boxes, that we do know that from bio-reasons goes up and down between the quarters. But in this quarter, it was lower than we previously expected. Sales to general industrial customers is also lower, and that is following the general lower market sentiment in Europe.
That means then that sales organically is down EUR 8.8 million, and for the same reason, then EBITDA is lower. The volume mix that we have now, with more sales to automotive compared to fish boxes, that impacts the margin, since we do have higher volumes in the food segment compared to the automotive segment. Not visible then on this slide, but again, year to date, organically, EBITDA is pretty much in line with last year, even if we do have lower sales. And again, that shows the relative stability that we do have in this segment, where more than half of the sales is to the food industry, which is not impacted by the cyclicality that we experience in the residual segments.
And then we have Circular, which is our segment that is responsible for collection of used EPS for further conversion into new recycled materials. Key priority is to secure the waste streams, but due to markets, we have actually collected less EPS compared to last year, and it's also tougher on the margins. This segment is impacted as well as the rest by the lower activities in building and construction, since most of these grades go into raw materials that are used for insulation applications. Following the recent acquisitions, we are very happy that we now can use more materials from Circular in BEWI's own production. And as you can see, close to 25% of the sales now goes internally compared to more or less zero last year.
And with our latest investment in the new extruder, internal usage will continue to increase since we can use this as feedstock into that, machinery and production. And with that, I leave it back to Christian.
Thank you, Marie. I would like to take you through some of the driver for growth in insulation. The first one is that there is an enormous need for solution to improve energy efficiency for buildings. The second is that there is an increasing housing shortage in many of the markets we operate in. We also see great value-creating opportunities within our packaging division, but we do expect that the largest growth will come from insulation and other energy-efficient solution, of course. On this image, you can see a brand-new warehouse for the grocery wholesaler, ASKO, outside Trondheim. The warehouse is 11,000 sq m, and the walls insulated with PIR sandwich panels from BEWI. We are currently operating in rough markets, and the past year, our key priorities has been to reduce cost and capacity and to strengthen the balance sheet.
But our strategy and long-term financial targets are unchanged. And let there be no doubt, we still have a strong ambition for further growth. I started this presentation by saying that climate change is at the center of our business. For the EU to reach its climate reduction targets, we need to use less energy, and we need to use it more efficiently. We therefore believe that insulation solutions will be a key growth driver for us going forward. Our ambition is to double the sales within the next three to five years, and we expect our exposure to insulation and other energy-efficient solution to increase. As this graph shows, the exposure has already increased from approximately 40%-55%, and we believe it will continue to be larger, maybe up to 75%.
When we talk about insulation in this sense, we include sales from RAW and Circular to the building and construction industry, as well as HVAC components from the packaging segment. There are strong market fundamentals for insulation solution, and as mentioned, we would like to divide it into two main categories. The first one is that climate change requires more efficient use of natural resources. The EU Green Deal targets to transform EU to become climate neutral by 2050, and for that to happen, we need to reduce the CO2 emissions. An important part of this is the Fit for 55 package, where the name refers to the EU's target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. The package includes a set of proposals to revise and update EU legislation to make sure the targets are met.
40% of the total energy consumption in EU comes from buildings, and buildings are responsible for more than one-third of the total emissions. This means that it is critical to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. According to the European Council, 75% of the existing buildings are considered inefficient in terms of energy, which means that there is a huge need for energy renovation, often through better insulation. In addition, all new buildings will have to be net zero by 2030, including both residential and non-residential buildings. The second key driver is that there is a large housing shortage in selected markets. The soft markets we saw last year, and partly also in 2022, increases this shortage. Here is an example from some of our markets.
Poland is the largest external market for RAW, and U.K. is a market where we have seen the best development for the past year. We also see a great potential in the Netherlands, a market where we have strong margins and a leading market position. The Nordic markets are also expected to have a solid growth. The housing project on this picture is from a project in Trondheim, where BEWI insulation systems are used in the walls. To sum up this section, we see ourselves very well positioned for growth when the market rebounds.
The market fundamentals are strong, as we have just shown. We have reduced costs and adjusted our organization to the current market, meaning that we are now lean and cost efficient, with good margins, even at today's low volumes. We have a lot of unutilized capacity, meaning that we do not need in to invest more to increase volumes.
We have a broad product offering in many geographic regions, with further room for cross-selling. We have strengthened the balance sheet, and we now have EUR 94 million in available liquidity, with an additional EUR 35 million on its way. We have a clear growth strategy and a growing pipeline of M&A opportunities. I will finish up with a short summary. The markets were challenging in 2023, and they still are, but we have adjusted so that we are profitable at the current volumes. We have a solid platform for further growth, and we are very confident in how the strong fundamentals provide us with growth opportunities ahead. With that, we open up for questions.
Christian, we have received some questions through the webcast, and for those of you who wants to post questions, please use the... Post them in the webcast console. I will read the questions. We have one question from Eva Larsson, and I think this one goes to you, Marie. "Can you explain why the leverage, excluding IFRS, is 4.1 when the net debt is EUR 331 million and the EBITDA, the last twelve months, is EUR 109 million? This should given a leverage of 3.0."
Yeah, then you need also to adjust the EBITDA to IFRS, and that is approximately EUR 30 million. And that you can find in the quarterly report, both under depreciation and under interest, because that's where IFRS adjustments hit the P&L. So if you add those two, and then, you need to reverse some taxes, but approximately EUR 30 million, you need to adapt your EBITDA to come to the correct leverage, ex IFRS.
Thank you. And then we have the second question is from Glenn Kringhaug, from ABG Sundal Collier. "You seem to focus on strengthening the balance sheet, while at the same time writing about the strong pipeline of M&A, and expectations of strategic transactions. Should we expect significant M&As? How would this be funded, and how do you plan to balance this with the strengthening of the balance sheet?" Christian?
Yeah, of course, we will prioritize strengthening the balance sheet first and foremost. And of course, as I have stated earlier in my presentations as well, there are different strategic opportunities, like for example, opportunities in one of our division to do strategic cooperations or other ways of doing transactions. And of course, we are a company who, and have been a company for over 40 years. Yes, we will be firm at our growth strategy for the long-term perspective. And what I said in my presentation is that there is opportunities coming out of these difficult times, and the timing on that would depend on all the other things as well, as I said.
Thank you. Then we have a question from Henrik Larsen at Carnegie. "When do you expect the sale of the remaining five properties to close, and how is it or when is it settled?"
There is formalities in the local authorities left on the transactions. I would expect it to happen in Q1, but taking in consideration the experience BEWI have had with these formality processes, I would say no later than first half year.
Thank you. And we have a question from Herman Dahl at Nordea. "Are you seeing any short-term improvements or signs of winds turning in the insulation demand?"
It's difficult to say yes on that question, even if I'm wanting to. But the market and the volume is very low now, and it's wintertime, so the signs, it's too early to say. But we have seen that the volumes we are operating at now have stabilized, and as you see in the presentation, throughout also Q4. So we see the same in Q1, and let's see going forward.
Thank you. We have a new question. I do not know who the name, but it's I think we have answered that already. It's how is the M&A activity, and how do you see the financing of M&As? I think we answered the last part of that question for the financing, and when with regards to the M&A activity, any further comments, Christian?
No. As I said, the only comment is that out of these kind of markets, in the insulation and construction market, there will always be opportunities.
Yes. So, maybe a follow-up question from Eva Larsson. "You are stating that you will be making money in the current market environment. Does this mean that you expect to reach a profit in the first quarter of 2024?" Maybe for-
Again, that's speculating, but when we say that we are making money on these markets, we are talking about the totality of the year.
Yes. So, there are no further questions right now. If you have any other questions, please post, or you can also contact us, per email or telephone. So with that, I think we will close today's presentation. Thank you, Marie, and thank you, Christian, and thank you for those listening in.
Thank you.
Thank you!