Good morning, this is the conference operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Addtech AB Q3 report presentation. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions by pressing star and one on your telephone. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Niklas Stenberg, CEO, Malin Enarson, CFO of Addtech AB. Please go ahead.
Thank you, good morning and welcome, everyone. We will summarize the quarter and then open up for a Q&A as always. All in all, we can conclude another very strong quarter. The high customer activity and the favored business climate for our companies continued in the third quarter. Very solid contributions from all business areas, net sales grew with 30%, of which 14% organic, despite tough comps. Of course, very satisfying to see that we managed to improve our margins, despite continued high inflationary pressure. This is primarily thanks to all hard work out in the companies, and a good proof of the strength in our business model and culture.
Our EBITDA increased 37% with an historically high margin of 13.5% that you should adjust for revaluation of content and purchase price. We have 13.1%, which is still a very high margin. The margin improvement is broad-based. Very satisfying that our positive profit trend is continuing. Due to the very solid demand in basically all segments and geographies, the order intake continued to be strong, and the order backlog, as we write in the report, increased in the quarter. The macro situation, as we all know, is highly uncertain, and we follow this development, of course, closely. At this point, we see very few clear signs of a slowdown in underlying customer activity. Of course, well prepared for potential tougher market conditions.
If we go deeper into the sales, as I said, strong growth, 30% on aggregated level, and supported by double-digit numbers in all business areas. As I said, despite tough comps. Organic growth, 14%, and if you take out the price effects, we still have double-digit volume-driven growth, so that is a very strong sign. If you look at the bottom graph of the picture, the key strength in the quarter is that the growth is really across the board. In terms of growth in the quarter, automation, electrification, and energy are the key drivers. If I was to highlight some segments or areas standing out in terms of customer demand, it's continuously the power grids in energy, further increased demand for solutions in energy efficiency, and finally, continued high activity within the defense industry.
As I said in the beginning, satisfying to see the continued high activity, and that the order intake continued at high levels, and the book-to-bill strengths strengthened across the border in the quarter. The subsiding disruptions in the value chain continue, so the lead times are slowly going back to normal. It's early to say that the challenges are behind us. We still are struggling in some parts, so clear focus still on active dialogues with both customer and suppliers. If you look at the earnings, the positive trend continued, as I said, and strong EBITDA growth in all business areas.
It's really due to the active efforts to offset price increase, and also keeping a firm grip on the cost base, that has led to this, and improved margins from high levels. It's good development in acquired companies, and we also have a positive contribution from currency, but it's primarily the strong organic sales that have given this strong outcome. Also positive to see we continue to strengthen the operating cash flow. The effects from higher inventory levels were clearly offset by the strong result in high margins. Our super capacity measurement, R2RK, remained at very high levels of 65%. We will come back to this within short. Very short comments on each of the business areas. As I said, automation, very good market situation in the quarter.
The overall positive trend remains in the key markets, process, mechanical industry, and also medical technology. The increased demand from defense industry continued, and together with an ease of the component shortage and shorter lead times, it had positive effects on the sales. Margins a bit down sequentially in the quarter, but this is mainly related to seasonality effects and some product mix. Electrification delivers another strong quarter, strongest development within electronics and special vehicles. Here also we have some positive effect on the increased demand from defense. The remaining main segment for electrification had a stable market situation. Also in electrification, margin sequentially a bit down in the quarter, same reasons as mentioned above.
The margins in automation and electrification remain at good levels and in line with our expectations. Very solid business situation in energy. Demand from infrastructure products within transmission and distribution continues to improve from already high levels. We also see an increased demand in the quarter from customers within building and installation. When we're looking at this sector, we are primarily exposed to hospitals, data centers, and infrastructure and those kind of segments. Also the expansion of fiber optic networks and installation products, the manufacturing industry had also strong market situation. The wind power segment continued to trend slightly weaker as we've been indicating couple of quarters already.
And this is more of a structural change in, in the, in the wind market, uh, the shift from onshore to offshore windmills that, that is causing a bit of a slower pace. Uh, industrial solution, uh, remains strong, a very tough comps, uh, for this business area. Um, and the sales in forest and sawmill industry remained stable, uh, at high levels, but the flattening in demand, uh, for, for new, new investment projects. But this is, uh, as we have also been talking about earlier quarters, uh, quite undramatic, and, uh, we have a solid order backlog with a visibility into 2024. Um, also very satisfying that customer activity in waste management continues to increase, uh, and also solutions for special vehicles, uh, remain stable at high levels.
Last, process technology also delivers a strong third quarter, marine, special vehicles, energy segments, sticking out most positively. In the marine segment, we now see a clearly positive trend from low levels. I would specifically pinpoint the service and replacement part of the marine segment. Summarizing our first nine months, we conclude a very solid period, organic growth of 17% in the period. EBITDA growth even stronger with 39%, and the margin, accumulated of 13.3%, despite the inflationary pressure on almost all inputs. Cash flow in the period improved year-on-year. Bottom line, we generate earnings per share for our shareholders an increase of approximately 40%. A very strong period.
Looking at acquisitions, we continue to deliver in accordance with our growth plans, 10 acquisitions so far. Total annual turnover that we have added is SEK 850 million approximately, and we have welcomed 250 new colleagues in these acquisitions. In terms of geography, we continue to increase the number of acquisitions outside of the Nordics, and this is just according with our ambitions to be stronger on selected markets and segments. In general, looking at the acquisition market, we continue to have a positive view here. We are working actively to fill and process that attractive pipeline, and we have a lot of ongoing projects in different stages.
One example of an attractive acquisition that we did in the Dutch company ABS that we did in the quarter, into the process technology business area. It's a very excellent complement to this group. It has a turnover of SEK 140 million, as you can see, with good margins. ABS develops valve solutions to the power generation markets, and they are developing different kind of solutions. One example is a unique fast start/stop solution for natural gas power markets. This is a functionality to balance the share of renewable energy into the power systems. We're very excited about this acquisition. Over to you, Malin.
Yeah. Thank you. As Niklas said, the development in sales has come from a very good and broad business situation, as well as a very strong order backlog. Our profit margins continued to improve during the period, thanks to the strong growth in sales, together with our company's ability to offset price increases and overall good cost control. In the quarter, the operating margin was strong at 11%, adjusted for the revaluation of contingent considerations, which had a positive effect on profits by approximately SEK 20 million. We believe this margin should be able to persist throughout this last quarter of this fiscal year. We are happy, of course, to conclude strengthened cash flow during the quarter, mainly due to contribution from higher profits and continuous strong margins. We also saw a relief in working capital this quarter.
Inventory levels rose though, but are still on normal levels in relation to the order backlog. We saw a sequential decrease in inventory versus sales in the quarter, which we expect to continue. Inventory levels is a key topic for the management team right now. Our positive working capital remains on high levels, thanks to profits, margins, and overall efficient management of working capital. Our financial position remains strong and improved sequentially as expected. Our key KPIs are at normal and satisfactory levels. We have no worries for our interest rate sensitivity. It will not impose any restrictions on our strategy in the foreseeable future. We have comforting headroom to support our ambitions going forward.
Thank you, Malin. As I mentioned, of course, we also read the papers, and the macroclimate remains uncertain, and we are of course humble and follow this development. If you look at this picture, I usually show this, it's our five areas for future growth. They are all strategically chosen areas where we have structured underlying growth drivers that are linked to macro trends, especially the green shift. We have the industrial automation, power transmission, electrification of society, and emission reduction, et cetera. Even if the last quarters we have had a very broad-based growth with strong contributions from all segments, we are prepared, and the point I want to make is that we are well-positioned and have growth.
We see potential growth in a number of areas, irrespective of the general business climate. The position is key, but the most important factor for our success, as we always talk about, is the well-proven business model with the entrepreneurial-led and decentralized companies. As in this quarter and the period, very quickly can adapt to handle challenges and capture the opportunities that arise. These two combined makes me full of confident that we are well-prepared for the future. To summarize, before we go into Q&A, another strong quarter, solid growth, and we defend our margins at satisfying levels. Our acquisition engine is running, and we have welcomed 10 more companies so far, and we have a well-filled pipeline and good firepower.
With a clear, very few signs of a slowdown in underlying activity, we are prepared to act if and where the business weakens, and on the other hand, to continue the growth journeys in other areas. Last but not least, in the quarter, we signed the Science-Based Targets initiative, and this is yet another sign of our ambitions within sustainability and our willingness to contribute to reduction of CO2 footprints. We're proud to make this commitment and are convinced that it will benefit us as a group and for our individual companies as well in different ways. Thank you, and let's see if we have some questions.
Thank you, sir. This is the conference operator. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove your question from the question queue, please press star and two. Anyone with a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Johan Sundén of Carnegie.
Good morning, and congratulations to good results.
Thank you, Johan.
I have one question. It's on the margin. You have earlier co-commented that the margin profile for the full-year should not decline compared to where we are on, say, year-to-date or rolling 12 month basis. Given that you haven't had so much support from pricing yet, how kind of aware should we be for increasing cost ahead?
Okay. When you say we haven't had support from pricing yet, can you elaborate a bit on that, what you mean by that?
Yeah. If you said that, you had an organic growth of, say, 14% and about volume was over 10% of those, 10 percentage point of those 14, and we have inflation in the economy that's quite much higher than 4%, in general. You should have had quite much support from cost savings.
Well, I guess one answer as Malin indicated, I mean, our best judgment at this point is that for the short term, we should be able to protect the margins at this point and to continue to push further the price increases. I mean, we still have price increase, but it has eased up, I would say, if you compare to the situation we have been in. So we don't foresee that we will have a change in at least in the short term. What will happen in the bit longer perspective, it really depends on where the inflation is getting.
Of course, it will be harder and harder to increase prices going ahead. If that answered your question.
Yeah. Maybe a clarification. On the full-year, this kind of current run rate of, say, 13.2, 13.3 percentage point in the margin shouldn't be tough to meet, at least.
Yeah, I think that is what we have indicated. Yeah.
Yeah. Perfect. I'll get back in line.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touch-tone telephone. The next question is from Dan Johansson of SEB.
Yes. Thank you so much. Good morning, Niklas and Malin. I think I have two more questions here, if I may.
Morning.
Maybe I'll start with a question on working capital. It was a positive contribution now. The supply chains are easing a bit, and I guess, growth will start to normalize a bit, going forward, although it's on a high level. Should we expect you to continue to sort of, improve on working capital here going forward? Is that your expectation here, for the coming quarters?
Yes, that is our expectations. Absolutely. Of course, as long as growth continues, that makes always the working capital a bit constrained. Of course, we hope for a continuous growth, therefore we are not, of course, absolutely sure what happens to working capital, but our expectations is that it will continue to ease.
Okay. Sounds good. Perhaps the last question, or one more question at least. If you could share some more light, perhaps on the order intake. I think you mentioned, Niklas, that book-to-bill strengthened a bit. Is it strong across the board, like your revenues right now, or is it any particular segments driving that, still very healthy order growth? Perhaps also if you can give some, Is it growing also in terms of volume or it's, or yeah, how does it look in terms of the order intake here?
Yeah, I mean, it's really across the board. That is what is of course most satisfying for us. I mean, it's across the board in all business areas, but it's primarily in the energy sector that is sticking out a bit on the positive note.
Okay. Sounds good. Interesting. Perhaps maybe a final question as well. I mean, in terms of your acquisition dialogues, how is the inflow of new dialogues here? Is there a lot of available targets? I mean, is it a struggle to perhaps come across in terms of prices, et cetera? I guess some companies you're looking at are perhaps seeing a bit of a slower market, but are price expectations or multiples coming down a bit as the market is coming down? Yeah, what do you see in terms of acquisitions here?
I mean, our view on of this is that the companies that we are interested in, you know, we really cherry-pick the companies that usually have a very strong track record and strong positions on the market. In general, I would say they still have an quite optimistic view of the situation. Most companies have not seen any clear signs of of a decline, which means that, you know, they usually don't sell their companies quickly with a rebate. Instead they prefer to continue to run until we are prepared to pay whatever they want. They are not thinking in terms of multiples. They're thinking in terms of a price tag. I would say it's a continuous good acquisition market.
The deal flow is good. I mean, we're always looking into and discussing with several hundred companies, still the same way. We are still getting some, you know, still deals coming into the pipeline. I really don't see any big changes this moment. I think we have to see much more clearer signs of a slower market before we can start talking about the general price reduction.
Yeah. That makes sense. I think that was all from me from now, so thank you so much.
Thank you.
Once again, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touchtone telephone. At this time, there are no questions registered. Would you like to add some closing remarks?
No. Thank you. I had hoped for some more questions, but it's a busy day, I know that. With that, I think we conclude and say thank you and have a good day.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over and you may disconnect your telephone.