Dear all, warm welcome to this quarter one presentation from AFRY. My name is Jonas Gustavsson, CEO at AFRY. I will do the presentation together with Bo Sandström, our CFO, and we will, of course, have time for asking questions in end of the presentation. Again, a warm welcome. Let's jump into the report, as you have probably seen. The overall headline is that we started up the year in a good way or a strong way. The growth for AFRY in the quarter was 22%, so strong growth, ending up on a net sales of SEK 6.9 billion, obviously the highest number we have had in AFRY. What is also positive is that adjusted organic growth ended up at close to 16%, 15.9%.
It's been a very strong quarter again when we come on the growth side. EBITDA, the EBITDA margin was 10%, and this was a clear step up in all divisions, as you will see later on, but we were, of course, helped with a strong calendar effect in the quarter. The EBITDA in absolute terms, SEK 689 million, of course then, getting a strong top line and also even improving the margin. That means that the EBITDA in absolute terms also ended up to be very strong then. The order stock in general is strong, even on historical high levels. We're ending the quarter with SEK 20 billion in our order stock, which is very good. I'll get back to the next slide. We see a general strong demand across sectors.
We acquired two companies in the quarter, one, a company in Netherlands, BLIX, focusing on renewable energy, and then a smaller company in Norway, adding to our product management position in Norway. In general, of course, moving ahead, we'll get back to that too. We are focusing very much on executing the strategy and driving operations with pricing and operation improvements across all divisions. Again, the headlight is it was a solid and even good start of the year for AFRY with margin improvement as we have also been targeting. Quickly about the market then. As I said, in general, a good demand across many sectors, and of course, looking on the growth numbers that is mirrored in to our numbers.
If you look on the industrial industry and also energy, strong and good demand driven from the green transformation that we see. We see some uncertainties in some sectors. pulp and paper is one sector where we see a bit delayed decisions on CapEx products. Moving over to Infrastructure, of course, highlighting then the real estate segment, which is a segment when we know that there are less investments done. These are two sectors where we see a bit uncertainty in the pulp and paper, and we can also see that the real estate segment, we see clearer signs of demand slowing down. Again, I want to highlight that in many sectors, there is still a very strong demand.
If you look on electrification, the Energy segment, and driven again from this big green industrial transformation that we are in the middle of. If I look on the divisions, we are happy that we can see that all division have improved the margin in the quarter, and Bo will talk more about that a bit later. Just highlighting that, as I said, all divisions are making a step, and Infrastructure ending up at 9.8% and also strong growth. We, you all know that we have been focusing a lot of improving Infrastructure, and we can now see signs of improvement in Infrastructure that we have been targeting. Industrial & Digital Solutions also did a solid quarter, about 10% in margin and also growing.
Process Industries highlighting being very strong over the last years but now ending up in the quarter with about 14%, 14.2% in the margin, which is a really strong performance and growing strongly and strengthening the order backlog. Energy, another quarter, about 10%, and also growing. Of course, the market is very strong. Finally, the... Oh, then we have AFRY X. You all know that we have been working to, you know, reposition AFRY X more into the service business. Making 7.5%, and of course, last quarter, a year ago is not really comparable because then we had a lot of investment in our product portfolio.
This is on our way to putting AFRY X on a clear service path. 7.5% EBIT is a step to where we want to be with that business. Finally, Management Consulting, rock solid, I would say, as always. In general, happy with the fact that all division have improved and also that we are growing. Before leaving over to Bo, highlighting three projects. Of course, we are bringing in a lot of projects. The first one in Denmark, we are supporting the Danish Railway with technical expertise. This is a frame contract, a very good one for us. Second project, APK. This is a project in Germany, building a new plant for plastic recycling, up to 40,000 tons per year recycled in that plant.
A very good project for AFRY. Then finally, ANDE, which is a project in Paraguay, where we are helping to make existing hydro plant more efficient, actually to being able to produce more power out an existing plant. Three products that is very good for AFRY. Of course, this is a selection of many products that we are bringing in in the quarter. With that, I will leave it over to Bo with just the conclusion that it is a solid and good start of the 2023. With that said, I leave it to you, Bo, to take us through the numbers.
Thank you, Jonas. As Jonas said, I will cover the main financials for Q1, and I'll start with sales. Total net sales in the quarter was SEK 6.9 billion, more than SEK 1 billion higher than Q1 last year. On a rolling 12-month perspective, we now approach SEK 25 billion. Q1 was the third in a row 20%+ growth quarter, this time 22% in total growth and almost 16% on adjusted organic growth. Growth was clearly driven by strong demand across our segments, supported by price increases of approximately 5% in the quarter, slightly higher than we've seen in the last two quarters. We see a continued strong development of the order stock, which is now at SEK 20 billion.
The increase of the order stock compared to last year was 14%, still a healthy level, although somewhat lower growth rate than seen during the last quarters. On EBITDA came in at SEK 689 million, 46% higher than last year, and the EBITDA margin ended at 10%, an improvement from 8.3%, corresponding quarter last year. Improvement was supported by a positive calendar effect and higher attendance in the quarter. With an increased margin focus, we managed in the quarter to take growth to EBITDA in a better way than previous quarters, despite a somewhat lower utilization level on average. We managed then to deliver the strong growth without, in general, increasing the level of subconsultants.
We for Q1, we report no items affecting comparability this quarter. There are, for the group, no material project one-offs affecting the quarter. Looking then at the development by division, we see a very consistent quarter. We see strong growth in all divisions in combination with an EBITDA margin improvement in all divisions. We're quite happy to see improvements across the divisions on EBITDA margin with Process Industries this quarter as the shining star. In addition, besides calendar effects and others, the improvement in AFRY X was, as Jonas mentioned, supported by the restructuring of the product portfolio in Q4, where we now have reduced investments into the product portfolio.
Margin improvement in terms of divisions, supported by calendar effect, but those calendar effects noticeably different for different divisions, related to their respective geographical footprint and share of subconsultants that also affect the impact on EBITDA. To the cash flow and financial position, some highlights from there. Cash flow from operating activities was again weaker than last year. We continue to build up working capital related to work in progress and accounts receivables. Partly, this is fully expected and related to the strong growth levels, but our ambition is in general to address the working capital development in the upcoming quarters. Financial net debt increased somewhat on the back of the weak operating cash flow, with two acquisitions contributing also in the quarter.
Available liquidity remained very strong, currently at SEK 4.2 billion. An update on the financial targets that the board reiterated during the quarter, on a rolling twelve perspective. Growth continued to strengthen from a healthy level, well above the 10% level, 10% target. On EBITDA margin on a rolling twelve, we took a significant step from the 2022 full year margin of 8.0%, to 8.5% now on a rolling twelve-month perspective. The calendar effect supporting this improvement is estimated at 0.3 percentage points. Despite the increase in financial net debt, we deleveraged somewhat during the quarter to 2.2x , given the strong improvement on EBITDA in the quarter. I leave back to you, Jonas.
Thank you, Bo. Getting quickly to the summary. As you all know, just to recap, we presented an updated strategic framework at the Capital Markets Day a few weeks back, and in general, we are fully occupied to execute on that. Just to remind ourselves, we have six levers, and especially on our businesses, we are looking on that in three clusters, where three divisions are more in the cluster one, you know, global decarbonization and the energy transformation. These are also three division doing very well, growing with good margins, so full speed ahead. Infrastructure, the second cluster, it's a clear focus, as Bo said, and we have talked about to improve our margin.
The third is the Nordic Industrial and Digital portfolio, also here to keep and improve the margin, but also growing and finding our niches, and then supporting with how do we work with clients, you know, making sure that we are an attractive employer, and then finally, how we drive operations. We are very much occupied in executing on that strategy. That means basically that right here and now, it's all about, again, then operations. We are looking in pricing all the times and making sure that the strategic framework are going into actions, and being very close to the market because we see some segment doing very well. Of course, if you look in the real estate, we are very close to the market to adjust if we need.
That's where we are in operations. Again, a solid start of 2023. With that, I will invite Bo back, and we will open up for any questions that you might have.
Yes. We open up for questions, as Jonas said, and use the function Raise Your Hand if you have a question, and don't forget to unmute when it's your turn. We take the first question from Johan Dahl at the Danske Bank. Please go ahead, Johan. Johan, you can go ahead with your question. Don't forget to unmute if you have a question. We don't hear you right now in the room, let's just hang on a few seconds.
It seems to be that we have some problem with the questions.
Okay. Let's try Raymond Ke at Nordea instead. If you can, Raymond, and go ahead with your question instead.
Yeah. Hello, can you hear me?
Yes. Perfect.
Yes, we hear you.
Three questions from me. First one, were there any, should I say, one-time effects that were very positive, such as success fees in, you know, Process Industries or Management Consulting that perhaps should be considered when we look forward, or were these a normal level of performance, so to speak?
There were no real success fees. I mean, as we always said, if you look on Process Industries being above 14%, this is a level that they can be on. We always know that the mix in the portfolio varies. There were no specific one-offs in the quarter.
No. Also on, you know, as I, as I said, on a group perspective, there were no material one-offs, either in divisions or in group as a whole. From a divisional perspective, of course, there are minors in each of the divisions, but nothing that affect the comparability of the results.
Perfect. Second question out of three. You wrote about strong performance in nuclear, and, I think it would be interesting to just know if this is from new sort of nuclear projects or from still, like, decommissioning old projects?
I would say there's quite a few of them that is existing projects, you know, as you know, there is a big interest in new projects, so we are involved in many pre-studies. I would say the volume that we have had in this quarter is mainly from existing projects. Clearly, we see an increasing interest for different nuclear projects, even if it goes into the new small modular reactors. Currently, the performance is coming mainly from existing projects that we have.
Yeah. Finally, the strike in Norway for a week, were you impacted by that at all in any material way?
No. Not in a material way.
Okay. Thanks. I'll get back in line.
Thank you.
Okay. We take the next question from Stefan Knutsson at ABG. Please go ahead, Stefan.
Yes. Hello, Jonas and Bo.
Hi
Congrats on the report.
Thanks
J ust a question regarding your market comment there, where you said that you still see continued weakness within the real estate segment and that you also see some delayed decision times in certain industry segments. I mean, are you afraid that we are on top of the cycle here in industry investments, or how do you view the market? What are the clients saying to you?
Yeah. This is, of course, a big question, and we are you know, we are following very closely, and we are discussing it internally also, since the numbers are very strong. I mean, the real estate segment, I think we all know that especially on the, you know, commercial offices, shopping malls, here we see a weakened market.
We are very much into industrial buildings, still quarter one have been a good quarter for us, but we are very close to the real estate, you know, with interest rates and inflation affecting that segment. The other comment goes very much as I said, for example, pulp and paper, and maybe you have seen that many of the clients have said that, you know, being slightly more careful or how they spend their investments, not closing investment, but we can see a bit of maybe delayed decisions in some industrial segment. Taking that aside, it's been a very strong quarter with strong demand across many segments, since we are a very broad company.
Thank you. Also a follow-up on profitability. I noticed that the utilization rate was down 1 percentage point year-over-year, yet you have this margin improvement. Can you talk a little bit about your pricing strategies and also what you expect on the salary side going into Q2 here?
Yeah. On the pricing, you know, it's of course a never-ending focus area for us. I think it's been in that sense ongoing for a very long time for us, but clearly intensified our focus on the pricing side in relation to, I would say, the last couple of quarters and probably then ongoing for the remainder of the year. I mean, we are, as you say, we are expecting a bit different type of salary increase numbers this year than we've seen historically. The only reason for us not to get margin dilution is to work with pricing in a systematic way.
We're quite happy in a sense where we are. Still a lot of work to do. You know, kinda moving into the year, we get more and more clarity of what type of salary increases that we are facing in our respective markets. We're not expecting anything much different to where the different markets, you know, are landing in a sense in terms of negotiation and agreements. We expect, you know, plus/minus to be somewhere like that. It's still not clear, you know. It's still not finalized in terms of Sweden, specifically.
Okay. Thank you very much for the comments.
Thank you.
Okay. We try again with Johan Dahl at Danske Bank.
Yeah, is it working?
Please go ahead.
Now we hear you, Johan.
The headset, can you hear me?
Yes. Now we hear you.
sorry about those difficulties. I'm terribly sorry. just.
Mm-hmm.
I think, what's the risk? I mean, you've reported your Q1 here. Price is up 5%, you claim. That sort of this is being offset here in the coming quarter by cost inflation. I'm just saying that is, Have you raised prices sort of preemptively here in Q1 to be able to meet cost inflation that is coming in the future? Or do you see this as, you know, price increases will continue, so you will have the net effect being similar in the coming quarters compared to Q1? Sorry for that long question.
It's okay.
I mean, I would say to start there, you know, I mean Q1 is typically a quarter for, you know, with the long agreements and the frame agreements that we have. Q1 is a price adjustment heavy quarter in itself, in that sense. Of course, we're very diligent to make sure that we adjust, you know, prices, you know, on a relevant level, well aware that the salary increases are coming up.
I think to some extent, you know, of course, you will in a quarter like this, when you're in the middle of things, you will have some positive, you know, marginal effects, in relation to what salary increases that we have de facto in the quarter compared to the price increases that we have realized in the quarter, from a, you know, a seasonality type of perspective.
Okay. Secondly, can you just help us evaluate the Infrastructure margin performance here? I mean, margins are up 150 basis points year-over-year, but I presume that's very much boosted by the calendar. You've talked a lot about efficiency initiatives in Infrastructure. When you look at the results, can you just sort of drill down a little bit what's going on there?
Yeah. I mean, can start. Of course, we have the calendar effect, and depend how you calculate, maybe one percent unit even. What we see, Johan, in this quarter is a clear improvement, and it varies a bit between different business areas in Infrastructure that has improved. For sure, we see real improvement in Infra, also being aware that the calendar was also helpful in the quarter. I think step by step, as we said also on the Capital Markets Day, in Infrastructure, we are absolutely targeting the margin even ahead of the top line. Now we were able to grow, but also deliver a margin improvement. So part of the big step up in Infra year-on-year was for sure real improvements.
Remembering Q1 last year, we had a bit of a heavier sick leave situation in beginning of the quarter. That was also one reason why the comparable quarter for Infra was slightly lower. We see some real improvement in there, but we are also aware of, for example, the real estate for us is something that we need to maneuver moving forward. A step up in Infra, and, you know, we will work a lot to make sure that that trend will remain.
On working capital, you talked about, you know, lifting this priority in the coming quarters. What exactly do you aim to do here on working capital?
No, I mean, what we, you know, this is of course, an important area, for us, in a sense, but it seems to be related to not on a general perspective, but we have working capital build up related to specific segments, specific geographies, and cross settings of those. What we, you know, what we clearly have to do is to, you know, analyze that further, to see where can we take actions in that sense, instead of only, you know, building up working capital, the way we go. Because it clearly deflates our cash flow in the business.
You know, further analysis and then actions that will be more tailor-made, I think, rather than, you know, general actions.
Okay. Just finally on the billing ratio, what was... When you sort of analyzed why it ended up where it ended up, what were sort of the main reasons behind it then, just to understand how we should read that particular measure of efficiency in AFRY?
Yeah. I think, as you say, two areas where we could, you know, I mean, real estate clearly had some effect on the utilization in end of the quarter especially. I would say Energy have also, even though Energy delivers 10%, you know, about 10% in the margin, they have had to use a bit more sub-consultant in the quarter meeting, those product that we are delivering. These are two areas that had a bit lower utilization in the quarter. Clearly, Johan, I mean, we see the 1% unit lower than last year, we are on to maximize, you know, the utilization moving forward. It's a bit different.
Thanks
B it different between division and even business areas. I mean, we have the ones with really good and solid, and we have the ones where we need to do a bit more work to make sure that we bring utilization up.
Thanks a lot. Thanks.
Thank you.
Okay. We don't yes, we have a question from. No, we don't have a question from Korash Noyami. Please go ahead. No? Okay. That's gone.
Hello?
Hello.
Do you hear? Hello, hello. Hey, Johan, and Bo.
Hi.
This is Korash. I'm also part of the company, and also stockholder as well.
All right.
I, question, about, as I am part of the infrastructure as well, I wonder, how to keep and develop the employees and, also attract, better quality, projects with the higher margins?
Yeah.
How do you think about that?
Yeah.
Do we have.
You're putting.
10.
You're putting the finger on, one of our clear objectives.
Yeah.
G ood employees and attract good employees, and how do we bring in the best products? I think we have a clear program and Infrastructure now with the team, both to make sure that we improve our margin. Of course, to do that, we need to make sure that we can keep and retain and bring in good products. Basically, that's the story of Infrastructure. I think the Infrastructure team in the different countries are working on the plans to make sure that we do that.
Exactly. As I understand, as you have.
Thank.
F orward, I mean, you're talking a lot about the building market, but we have some booming markets somewhere else, and that those projects could be also AFRY's.
Ab.
We should try to move.
Absolutely. I think you're absolutely right. When you look on industrial building that goes along with these big investments, a lot of our building competence we are using in that area. You're absolutely right. We are trying to do our best to use all these competence in those areas. Super. Thanks for the question.
We don't have any more questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. All right. With that said, thank you all for listening and looking forward to see you soon again, when we present, probably, we have some meeting in between, but then we have the quarter two coming up in a quarter. Yep. Thank you so much for listening. Have a fantastic day. Thank you.
Thank you.