Everyone, welcome to this First Quarter Webcast. First some highlights. All in all, a solid start to the year with continued growth and high profitability across the line. The high customer activity and favor business climate for our companies continued in the quarter, and we can summarize the total sales growth of 16%, of which 7% was organic. This should also be seen in the light on very challenging comparisons from last year. The results grew by a satisfying 22%, and we improved our margins year-on-year. I also want to highlight the solid cash flow during the quarter, and that we continue to keep up the high acquisition pace. Six new companies during the quarter, and we still keep our debt ratio at a very good level.
Some more on sales. As I said, we increased the sales according to plan. As you can see in the lower graph, this growth was broad-based and supported by solid double-digit growth numbers in all business areas. As I said, we have tough comps in all of the business areas. In the quarter, we also had good contributions from our acquisitions and also positive currency effect of 4%. We saw continued high customer activity in most market segments, and we don't see any signs of a general slowdown, but we see some variations both in and between segments. Given the uncertain macroclimate, it's of course satisfying to see the continued solid order intake. We strengthened our order backlog from already high levels during the quarter.
Our book-to-bill improved and ended at slightly above 100. I will come back to the market development a bit more within short. EBITDA positive margin and profit trend continued also in this quarter with a very solid EBITDA growth in all business areas, as you can see in the graph. Our company's ability to manage the inflationary pressure and improved product mix and a firm grip on the cost base increased the EBITDA, as I said, with 22%. We also note good contributions from the acquired companies and also an increase of our gross margins, so we have good pricing power in the group.
I mentioned operating cash flow, and this is thanks to a combination of the strong results and high margins, and of course, clear and long-term focus on the working capital improvement. R2RK remained at high levels of 66%. Moving on to some brief highlights on the different business areas. Automation delivered a solid Q1 with good sales development, especially towards the defense industry. Process Mechanical industry flattened out during the quarter, and the segment Medical weakened somewhat from high levels, very tough comps from last year's quarter here. Electrification, also a favorable business development. Despite the challenging comps, we saw 10% sales growth, and in most key segments, electronics, special vehicles, defense, developing strongest.
The sequential decrease from Q4 was expected because Q4 was extremely good in Electrification. We also saw a decline in wind power. We've been talking about the wind power segment for many quarters, and now we saw the actual effects on sales here. We also have some decline in the battery group this quarter, and that relates to a rapid release in supply chain on some battery types that has led to an overcapacity on the market. If you look on Energy, the high demand for electrical transmission and distribution remains unchanged. We have been talking about this market many times, and that there are a massive and long-term investment plan for four grids in most geographies.
But it's important to know here that it's a stickiness on the market due to various things like access of entrepreneurs, materials, and not the least, the long permit processes. This causes variations in product deliveries over time. It's not due to capacity constraints on our business, it's more external reasons that is affecting that. Sales development in building installation continue to be strong, and as I usually point out, when you look at this sector for Energy and for Addtech as a whole, we are primarily exposed to hospitals, data centers, and infrastructure such as railway, so basically non-residential projects. Also in Energy, the wind power weakened during the quarter. Industrial Solutions favorable in general terms, challenging comps here as well.
Sales within the forest and sawmill industry remained stable at high levels, strong deliveries of projects, but with a continuous low demand for new projects. As we have talked about before, we have a solid order backlog here with visibility into 2024. The business development in special vehicles was good during the quarter, and the mechanical industry flattened out. Last, and not least, Process Technology, a very solid quarter. The market situation was very favorable for especially companies supporting customers in process industry, and the oil and gas market is sticking out on the positive side here. Also, Energy and medical market, marine segment continue to show good strengths.
This, in general, strong development within this business area also reflects in the high margin, is fueled by high demand for aftermarket components and services this quarter. To sum up, overall, a good business climate on most segments, but there are variations. We see some variations within segments such as medical and process industry. One thing we can note is that the aftermarket is still strong, while there is some hesitations in the OEM sales, but it's more investment related. Again, it's more hesitations that than signals of a slowdown. That's important to point out.
During the quarter, we have completed six acquisitions. We're keeping up a good pace here. Four of them are outside the Nordics, adding in total SEK 465 million. As you can see, we continue to deliver on our strategy to do more acquisitions outside the Nordics. As I usually point out, our M&A strategy is not focused on geographies, but rather technical niches and cultural match. The Canadian company, Darby Manufacturing, is a good example of that. We have known the company for many years through our U.S.-based subsidiary, Sitab Inc., and it's within an area that we are very familiar with. Looking forward, in M&A, we continue to have a positive view of the acquisition market.
We have good firepower, thanks to the strong balance sheet and solid cash conversion. That, in combination with our well-filled pipeline of high performers, means that we see good opportunities to maintain a good pace going forward. Over to you, Malin, some more details on the figures.
Thank you. Our focus on keeping a firm grip on the cost base continued to improve our cost efficiency quarter by quarter in comparison to sales, as you can see in the left graph. This, in combination with our company's ability to offset the inflationary pressure, improved product mix, and good leverage from both acquisitions and organic growth, defended the margins at high levels. The first quarter EBITDA margin came in strong at 13.7%. When adjusting for the revaluations of contingent considerations and one-offs, which had a net positive effect on profits by approximately SEK 16 million, negative effect, obviously, we end up at a very satisfying 14% for the quarter. We believe the rolling twelve-month margin level should persist throughout the fiscal year. Inventory levels is a concern and a key topic for the management team.
The buildup over the last two years is primarily driven by the strong sales growth, of course, fueled by the supply chain restraints. The last few quarters, we have seen a steady improvement of inventory levels versus sales, which is reassuring, the trend we expect to continue, even though during Q1, we saw a flattening out, which of course, is a disappointment. This is something that I know that my colleagues in the business areas, teams have full focus on, I'm convinced that we will soon be back on track again. Our profit over working capital remains on high levels, thanks to profit margins and overall efficient management of working capital. I'm also very pleased to conclude a strengthened cash flow and cash conversion, also in this quarter, despite the continued growth.
The continued improvement is primarily driven by the high margins and the improved working capital development relatively to the same period last year. Our financial position is strong and improved sequentially, which is pleasing, and despite the high acquisition pace during the quarter. The KPIs are fluctuating over the year, but are on average at satisfactory level. We don't foresee that the market interest hikes will impose any restrictions on our strategy in the foreseeable future. We have comforting headroom to support our ambitions going forward.
Thank you, Malin. If we look ahead, despite the uncertain macro situation, my confidence in the resilience of our strategic positions, partly driven by the green shift in the society, remains, and the outlook for the coming quarters is good. As I already said, we currently see no signs of a general slowdown in the business, and we have well-stocked order backlog with good quality, which, as I said, strengthened further during the quarter. The market varies in different segments, but I'm firmly convinced that our ability to quickly adapt to changes in the business situations means that our companies will continue to create conditions for long-term profitable growth and take the opportunities that also rise in whatever business climate we are in.
Finally, to sum up, I am pleased with the quarter. We conclude a very strong start of the year, despite the tough comps, continued growth, and improved profitability. We strengthened the backlog, as I've been saying a couple of times. About the outlook, it will be the same message as for many quarters now. For the coming quarters is good, but of course, we're humble how the macro uncertainties around us will affect the future market conditions. I think the final word here would be, as I also point out regularly, that we keep one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake, and make sure that we continue to develop in a good way. That was that.
Now I'm looking forward to some questions. Please go ahead.
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 yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Good morning. It's Carl here from Nordea. A few questions. Firstly, I mean, is it possible to sort of give any flavors on sort of the demand development during the quarter, sort of month by month, and if you have seen any big changes in that situation in any of the segments?
Yes. Hello, good morning, Carl. We saw an improvement on demand during the quarter. Sequentially, in the quarter, month-by-month, what was a positive development? I would say more or less across the line. From that perspective, it's clearly a positive development.
Okay. Sounds good. Also, I mean, you said that the backlog strengthened. I guess that means a positive book-to-bill. Is it possible to quantify the book-to-bill during the quarter? Or is it just above one, or is it?
Yeah, yeah, I would say, I mean, it's, I guess you can say just above one.
Okay, first.
That is also, I would say, broad-based. It's in all business areas apart from Industrial solution, and that is because of the very, very tough comps on the sawmill order intake last year. If you take that aside, then we have a positive book-to-bill in all of the business areas. That's, of course, a strength. It's a broad-based situation.
Okay. In Energy, you at least wrote in the report that the number of projects decreased during the quarter. Could you just remind us, maybe I entered the call a bit late, but what is behind that?
Sorry, what is?
Behind that.
Yeah.
I mean, the decrease-
Yeah
... in number of completions.
Yeah, okay. Yeah, I mean, it's like I said during the call now, is that, I mean, the underlying demand is really, really strong. We have very, very strong positions. It varies, the outcome of the projects varies quarter by quarter. Also here, we had very tough comps from last year on that project completion on Transmission. I guess that is the point, that we will have a long-term stable development here, but you cannot see that, you know, it will increase quarter by quarter, because it varies due to more external reasons, especially the permit situations that you can read about in the paper more or less every day.
That is creating a stickiness on this market.
Okay, got it. The final question is maybe on the margin. You continue to improve margins year-over-year. Is it possible to quantify what is sort of organic measures and what is more M&A-driven?
Yeah, I mean, we're, we have a positive effect on both sides. I think you can say more or less, equally positive from acquisitions, but also we still have a good incremental margins. We are increasing the gross margins, as I said, which is very pleasing, and we keep the costs in good control, as Malin indicated before. It's also very good contributions from acquisitions. It's on both sides.
Okay, very good. That's all for me. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Johan Dahl, from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, Malin and Niklas. Just a few questions, please.
Morning.
On the, you talked about the process industries, having, you know, a bit of a... Yeah, good order book, but maybe some delay in new projects coming in. How do you expect that to play out as we look into 2024, you know? Will there be at a certain stage where you will need to make some adjustments to your capacity in this sense? Or when does it start to become sort of a more of an issue for Addtech, or is it, you know, poor visibility just at the moment?
Good morning, Johan. I guess you refer to Industrial Solutions, maybe, or you said Process Technology?
No, I'm talking primarily about the, you know, pulp and paper, sawmill, et cetera.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I mean, as we've been saying before, it's, when we talk about this, it's primarily the sawmill sector that has had a number of extremely high years, as you know. We have a visibility a bit into 2024, so, you know, at least remaining of this financial year. Of course, at some point, and there is still a slow development on the market, and that is relating to the high interest rates and the end market consumption of saw timber or saw the materials.
Of course, at some point, we need to see an increase, on demand on these projects, so that we continue to fill in the visibility into next year.
Gotcha. Just on the 7% organic growth, do you have any sort of appreciation of what is price in that? Was it, you know, close to your expectations when you started the quarter, that level, or was it a disappointment or positive? If you could just add on that.
Yeah, I mean, as I said during the call, we are pleased with 7%. I would say this was in line with our expectations. Again, you have to remember, we had 17% organic growth first quarter last year, so it's extremely tough comps. Let's see, what was your other question?
Yeah, if you have any view of the pricing component there.
Yes. Yes. I mean, when we, when you talk about this price component, of course, you have to bear in mind that this is more of a. We are trying to make estimations, and that is, of course, difficult when you have 150 companies in 20 different countries. Our estimations is that the price component is still on pretty much the same level. Like 30% price, 70% volume. The inflation is still part of the game.
Okay, thanks.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question is from Johan Sundén, from Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hello, Niklas, and morning. Thank you for taking a few questions from my side as well.
Absolutely. Morning.
First is regarding the wind power segment. You said that you now see feeling the weakness in the segment. Is it possible to quantify the kind of drop you're seeing in organic growth rates to wind power business, and kind of how discussions is developing currently with clients, if there's potential kind of improvement in sentiment, or how should we view that specific pocket?
I mean, as a sum, you could say that the wind power is, you know, some 4%, 5% of our sales. If that is giving some indication on the impact, I think it's to go too much in detail and talk about, you know, how much we've seen the drop here, but that's at least the size of the business. When you talk about the sentiment going forward, I mean, we've been talking about this for the whole year, that we've seen a slower pace, especially in demand, and now was the quarter when we actually saw it on the sales figures. There's a little variations.
We are taking market shares on some customers here, and while on other sides, where we have strong relations, the indications is more that the remainder of this year will most likely be on a slower pace, but hopefully pick up during 2024.
Perfect. Just a clarification on the book-to-bill. When you say above one in this quarter, does that include the quite weak order intake on the sawmill side? Meaning the other segment has a quite strong a book-to-bill, above, well above the one, 100 or 1.0 threshold.
Yes. I mean, when we talk book to bill, we talk about the entire portfolio, so including acquisitions. So the answer to that is yes. It is including the sawmill. If you take those out of it's also organically, you know, on par with last year.
Okay, perfect. Just a final question from my side. It's on the net financial, which was pretty high in this quarter. Maybe it's a question for Malin, can you give some color on what is the driving force behind this step up in net financials on how to model it ahead?
Well, I mean, the it is obviously the interest rates, mainly, I would say. I think that for now, in the first quarter, I think that we see... Then, of course, it's also a revaluations of the currencies. I would say that, what did we see? It's like 86 or something. Let's see here. I think that most of it is interest rates, and then it's also revaluation of currency accounts and also derivatives.
No kind of color on how much is what, like?
Yeah, it's 60 in total. I think that, around two-thirds of that is, not that much, but around two-thirds is interest rates.
Perfect. Great. I'm happy there. Thanks a lot, and I get back in line.
Thank you.
The next question is from Karl Bokvist from ABG. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, Niklas and Malin. My first one is, we might have touched upon it a bit there regarding the energy product X, maybe. Could you just comment a bit more on the comments you made about the battery modules and the battery business there, about inventory adjustments and whatever dynamics there are, affecting sales figures for this, for this segment?
Yes. I mean, the underlying position we have on the battery market is, it's really, really good. Long term, long-term development here is, it has not changed at all. You know, you could simplify our battery sales with, you know, our core business is, customer-specific batteries, and the other one is more kind of standard batteries. What we saw this quarter was, as I said, a very quick release on supply chain, and that led to an overcapacity on the market. The customers came from, you know, waiting for a long, long time, building up stock, and then realized that we don't need more batteries at this point. That was an effect in this quarter.
Looking ahead, this will have some kind of effect the coming quarter, but it's really difficult to quantify how much and when. It did have an effect in this quarter.
Understood. A bit on, as you commented with gross margins and so on, but it seems like the underlying profit grew clearly much more than underlying sales. Do you see any kind of dynamics here that you feel might, you know, make this not hold also going forward, if you still see a fairly good demand environment, for example?
Can you, what do you mean it not hold?
Yeah, no, what I meant is that you still see.
Mm-hmm.
You still saw good demand, et cetera, and you were happy about gross margin development, so on. You know, are there any things that could mean that we would see the underlying units having development more in line with our sales figure or any kind of cost figure or some kind of mix that you see that would make us need to take this into account?
Okay. You mean, if I understand you right, if the margins are kind of boosted or we'll be able to keep the margins on this level, is that, yeah, or?
Yeah, but not, maybe not boosted, just that the underlying units perform very, very well. If you see, if you reference tougher comparables, if the tough comparables could all be even tougher on profit development, despite, you know, they're tough on sales, but if they are even tougher on the profit development, that is my question?
Okay. Okay. Yeah, okay. Yeah, I can. If I start, maybe you want to add something, Malin, but I would not say that, I mean, because if we look, if we look on the product mix this quarter, if we look what's coming ahead, if we look on the OPEX development and also on the gross margin side, at this point, I don't see. You also mentioned before, Malin, that we foresee at this point, to be able to keep the rolling twelve margin. No, I don't see that coming.
No, no, I agree. I agree.
Yeah.
All right. Then also, just, it's early days, of course, but, based on what you do disclose about the acquisitions, they seem to contributes with very high margins. Is there any kind of particular acquisition you made recently that explains this? Is there, it's still that the kind of group of companies you have acquired all have very good margins?
Yes. I mean, I would say that it's more broad-based. I mean, of course, it varies, but it's not, I would really say that, the acquisitions overall, has performed very well. This is an effect of what we've been talking about, for a couple of years now, that we are much more focused now on ensuring that, we acquire companies with, with good margins. That has a very good position and possibility to grow. It's more the portfolio that delivers.
Understood. My final one is just more of a perhaps technical thing. If we look at the growth figures from last year, The growth figure for, from, for, let's call it your fiscal Q2 last year, those year-over-year figures do not deviate too much from the year-over-year figures we saw this comparison period. I just want to understand if you feel there is anything ever that you feel is important when it comes to comparisons and tougher comparisons for the next quarter?
Mm.
In case there were any particular project deliveries or any particular margin effects, just to understand, or if the comparisons are pretty similar, both the next quarter and this, as we saw this one?
Yeah, okay. That's difficult to remember from top of my head, but I would say it's probably. As I can recall, there was not any, like, particular things happening last quarter. I think it's tough comps.
Very strong quarter.
Yeah.
Anything special.
Exactly. No, exactly.
Tough comparisons, but.
Yeah. I mean, that is what we are in now. I mean, we will face tough comps going forward, of course. Your question is... The answer to your question is that it's similar situation as this quarter.
Okay, good. That's all for me. Thank you.
This is the conference operator. There are no more questions registered at this time.
Okay. Then I guess we conclude here, and, thank you for listening in, I also wish you a great summer. We talk later on. Bye bye.
Bye. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over. You may disconnect your telephones.