Alimak Group AB (publ) (STO:ALIG)
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Earnings Call: Q3 2024

Oct 29, 2024

Operator

Q3 2024 report presentation. For the first part of the conference call, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing hash five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the speaker's CEO, Ole Kristian Jødahl, and CFO, Sylvain Grange. Please go ahead.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Thank you, and welcome everyone to this Q3 2024 call. And with me, as you know, I have Sylvain. So turning page. First, a short recap. Yeah, you know, but I guess most of you know, we are a diversified global industrial company, present all around the world, operating out of five customer-centric divisions. And I think also important to mention is that we have some good fundamentals for our business, supported by global trends like the health and safety focus, more regulations in this area, urbanization, more happening at height, but also in general, in industrial investments. I think it's also a very important element, which is helping driving our fundamentals for growth. We do have a leading market position in the niches where we operate.

We have a large installed base through our history in the market all around the world, and we also drive a very important service business in all our divisions. With that base, of course, we have a lot to service and provide spare parts, too. Overall, we also have a strong balance sheet and cash conversion as a group. Turning page. Also here, you know, the New Heights program, our strategic roadmap. In 2020, we started this thing. It was basically a reset of the group. It had not delivered on financial targets. We had the fundamental issues with the two acquisitions that was done and also operated with a heavy matrix organization. So we put up this three-step plan, which I would say we have delivered upon.

We delivered or reached the first set of financial targets last summer, and now we are full speed to reach the next level, which we set out to do within two to three years, which means then one to two years from now. And turning page, we see we have a target of growing revenue 6%-10%, EBITDA margin north of 18%, leverage below 2.5, and a dividend payout between 40%-60% of net profit. Turning page. We, of course, also have sustainability targets. So first and foremost, now it's the CO2 target of 30% reduction, 2025 over 2019, but we're also in the process for science-based targets.

Net Promoter Score towards our employees with the higher than 40, injury rate for our employees, or our people here at the group for less than 2, and that we also do an ESG assessment for more than 80% of our suppliers. Turning page and diving into the quarter. We delivered a solid performance in the quarter, I believe, and all divisions contribute well, considering where they are at. As a group, we delivered 17.8% EBITDA adjusted, which is another significant step towards our financial targets of north of 18%. And also year to date now, we are above 17, 17.1. We continue our transformation of Façade Access, so they made another step up in the quarter, now well into the double digit with 11.5% EBITDA margin.

We still have, of course, this challenging construction market, which has been here for some time. But we also see now as the, or expect as the interest rates will start to come down, that that market will start to improve going into twenty twenty-five. We continue to manage the business and drive this New Heights plan that we have, and this is also, you know, generating a good cash flow again for us, and we are down to 212 versus 229 in Q2 . Little bit more detail of the quarter. Order intake was SEK 1,592 million, down 5%, but down 2% at constant currencies. And this you could say organic.

Strong performance we see in Façade Access, Industrial, and the Wind divisions, while Construction and HSPS division reported a lower order intake. Of course, we would have liked to see a higher order intake overall as a group, but again, considering, I think, where we see the market, this way we think is okay. But, you know, we continue to work hard also in all parts of the group to really accelerate profitable growth. Revenue was SEK 1,742 million, up 1% or 4% in constant currencies. Positive contribution from HSBS, Industrial, and Wind. And EBITDA adjusted at MSEK 310 versus 279 last year, giving us this margin of 17.8% versus 16.1%.

It's an all-time high, both in earnings and margin, and also, as you know, supported by Façade Access, but also all divisions, I would say. Turning page. Service, it's a fundamental part of our business, and each division has its own global service organization, and this is to ensure that we can attend to the full asset life cycle, the full customer journey, and it provides both, you know, the customer and us with a sustainable business model. We help them with the machine throughout the life to optimize it and prolong it, and it also gives us, you know, this closeness to customer. It gives us a resilient business model and also a nice profitable business.

So we see order intake increased 2%, in the quarter, 6% at constant currencies to SEK 638 million, up from SEK 625 million. Revenues increased 1% or 4% at constant currencies to SEK 640 million, up from 633. And as I said, you know, creates resilience, opportunities, continues to grow, and we continue also to actively grow, or drive growth initiatives, in service. Turning page and diving into divisions. First of all, happy to see that we make another significant step in our transformation journey of the Construction Division. Order intake was SEK 453 million, up 20% or 25% in constant currencies, and it's supported by a significant infrastructure project, one in North America.

We also see good equipment orders in China and Australia and in general, a good service or aftermarket, where we also drive retrofit refurbishments. And this I've talked about before, you know that a lot of machines are coming to end of life, and that gives us a very nice opportunity to work on this concept. Revenue was SEK 479 million, down 6% or 2% down in constant currencies. And but also supported here by a significant service growth. EBITDA at SEK 55 million, up from SEK 40 million last year, giving this margin of 11.5, up from 7.8. And it's driven by that we sign projects at better margin. That is now starting to more and more come in into the business.

Our improved project execution, which we have talked a lot about, but also, of course, supported by the service business, which is an important piece. Turning page, and the focus for this business remains. You know, we drive the aftermarket, the service business, we drive customer focus, technology leadership. We work on our product portfolio. We drive operation, operational efficiency. And, you know, the closing of the Manntech factory is going according to plan. We work on project execution, et cetera, but we also work intensely on putting more focus onto the infrastructure to become less dependent on the construction market, which we are sure will start to improve soon.

But nevertheless, it's nice to see that you know we had a nice infrastructure project last year, and now we also get one again this year. I however also want to mention that this business is driven by you know smaller stable type of contracts and businesses, but also larger contracts. So yes, we had a larger contract in this quarter, but that's also quite normal that we do have larger contracts. But it's extra nice now that it's an infrastructure project. Turning page into construction, and here we continue to face a challenging market, but still, I think overall we deliver a solid result. Order intake was 350 million SEK in the quarter, down from 489, 28% down or 27% at constant currency.

And this is, of course, lower than what we wanted to see, but we also need to keep in mind that it, we measured towards an all-time high quarter last year, and that we have had Q2 in the bag. So again, a little bit of the lumpiness. But again, the market is also very soft, and especially in Europe. So while we saw still, you know, new equipment and rental orders in North America and APAC, relatively stable. Service continued to support, and also the used equipment is an important factor for us in this. So this diverse, well-diversified business model that we have. Revenue was 427 million SEK, down 3% or flat at constant currency.

EBITDA, SEK 74 million, down from SEK 82 million, giving this margin of 17.4% versus 18.7%. And the margin is affected by the lower revenue, but also the fact that we keep up our investments in product development, because we know that the market will come back, and we know that we have a lot of opportunity in widening our product portfolio. And also, of course, our focus on reducing costs and becoming more resilient is also continuing. And that's also what you see, I think, you know, and we'll continue to see that this business is much more resilient than before. Turning page. Market, as I said, is challenging, and we expect this to continue also in the next Q2,3 .

When we come to the mid part of twenty twenty-five, we do expect that we should start to see some improvement in the Wind also in Europe. We continue to drive our well-diversified business model, you know, so you see on the mast climbing work platform, for example, we are working on that market specifically and driving this product range. This has an enormous opportunity for the group because it's a technology that can start to replace scaffolding, making a better, safer, more efficient way for workers than working in a scaffolding system. Just scratched the surface is a significant piece of business, these are things we continue to work on. Of course, you know, the-...

used market to have that flexibility in our business model, but also, as I said, in general product development. So we feel very well positioned to capitalize when the market will start to rebound. Turning page and into Height Safety and Productivity Solutions, we see that they deliver a resilient and good quarter overall. Order intake was SEK 312 million, down 11%, but 8% down at constant currency. Here, we see distribution business, which is the core of this business, continue to develop well and grow, while we see some softer order intake for the elevator customers. That also comes after a very strong 2023, but also, some of the business that we have towards rental and other direct customers affected by the construction market.

So overall, you know, the underlying business is good here. Revenue was SEK 335 million, up 3%, 7% at constant currency. And yeah, good performance, mainly driven by the distribution business. EBITDA, SEK 64 million, up from 51, giving a margin of 19.2% versus the 15.6%. Again, reflecting a good top-line performance and cost control, and it's the margin level that it should be on this business. Turning page, and here also we continue our focus to grow the business, accelerate growth. We are working closer to our customers and try to develop the product portfolio with them. We work on end-user verticals. We work towards our distributors, both to create push and pull.

So it's a full, let's say, set of tools to ensure that we continue to grow this business. And you have some nice examples in this slide. Turning page to Industrial. Here, another strong quarter. Market, I would say, is stable, is good for us, but it's really that we continue to execute on our plan. Order intake was 342 million SEK, up 4% in the quarter or 8% at constant currency. Solid development for new equipment, where we see North America is the main driver in this quarter, but also in general, steady aftermarket, solid for this business. Revenue was 352 million SEK, up 7% or 11% at constant currency. So strong equipment revenue in the quarter, but also deliveries and projects.

And we also, of course, drive, you know, more feet on the ground, so service technicians, we recruit, and that is also, of course, generating higher revenues. EBITDA at 81 million SEK, up from 73, giving this margin of 23% versus 21.9%, and is driven by increased revenue, good solid gross margin, and cost control. Turning page. So yeah, as I said, we continue to execute on our plan. We are segment-focused, really driving more and more down to each segment to learn more about our customers. We get more people on the ground, closer to our customers. We spend time and money on product development, and all to continue to drive this profitable growth journey that we have been on for a while.

We see some nice developments in the Power and Infrastructure segment in the quarter. Also, we had some nice orders on SOV, Service Operation Vessels, servicing offshore wind turbines, and we saw the first business coming through to data centers, where we have sold transport platforms. Turning page and into Wind, and also here, you know, Wind has become a much more resilient and high-performing business. Those of you that have followed us for a while know how this looked some years ago, and now, quarter- after- quarter, they deliver a very good set of results. Order intake was 161 million SEK in the quarter, up 6% or 11% at constant currency. Solid performance, new equipment across all, but also especially China.

We are successful with our China for China strategy, and we continue also to have and see good progress in the aftermarket as more and more machines are installed out there. Revenue was SEK 180 million, up 7% or 11% at constant currency. A strong sales, yeah, North Europe, China. EBITDA at SEK 35 million, 33, up from 33 last year, giving a margin of 19.4% versus the 19.5% last year, and it's a continued stable margin driven by, you know, good control overall of the business. Turning page, Wind update. Overall, you know, this market, as I've been alluding to many times, it is very different to what we see for the other divisions.

Here we have some few bigger OEMs, and also these bigger OEMs, they are challenged, you know, where they have been in losses, most of them, even though we see better and more stabilized results this year. It's an industry dependent on governments, regulations, subsidies, central decisions, et cetera. So it is a challenging market in that respect, where we have less control over it, but still it's a growing business. And we believe that this is a business that will also continue to grow as the world goes more electric. Wind will not disappear. It's an important part of electrification.

... and as you see, it's a good business for us, which we believe will continue. So with that, we are turning page on profit and loss, and then I hand over to Sylvain.

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

Thank you, Ole, and good morning, everybody. So on this slide, we now present a summary profit and loss statement. Regarding revenue and order intake, I'd like to make one technical comment for clarity. This year, organic and constant currency are the same, as our perimeter has not materially changed, and the foreign exchange rate evolution had a negative impact on our Q3 gross performance. Once again, we are glad to see an adjusted EBITDA growing significantly more than revenue in the quarter. It's an 11% growth for adjusted EBITDA versus 1% for revenue. This clearly indicates that we have overcompensated cost inflation by additional operational efficiencies. Items affecting comparability relate to the closure of the Memmingen assembly facility, partially compensated by an earn-out adjustment with respect to the Tall Crane acquisition made in twenty twenty-two. Last year, IAC represented a significant profit.

The negative difference of 36 million SEK explains why reported EBITDA is almost stable. Below EBITDA, quarterly amortization is at its normal level, around 50 million SEK. Some intangible assets related to the Tractel acquisition will be fully amortized by the end of this year, so quarterly amortization should be closer to 40 million SEK next year. Finance net is slightly down, mostly due to the reduced debt. Taxation rate in the quarter is down to 22.4%, mostly thanks to a favorable country mix. More marginally improved profitability and prospects allowed us to recognize some deferred tax assets related to tax losses carried forward, but our typical tax rate remained closer to 25%. And overall, that means we grow the bottom line, i.e., the net result, by 10%. So let's now review the two main EBITDA drivers: gross margin and operating expenses.

Gross margin is 100 basis points above Q3 2023. The most significant contributor to the improvement is the Façade Access division, but, as mentioned by Ole, Industrial, Wind, and HSPS achieve as well some more marginal improvements. As a percentage of revenue, operating expenses are going up versus Q3 last year, but most of it is due to items affecting comparability. Beyond IAC, we have taken on some specific additional expenses, such as sales expenses for the Industrial division or product development in Construction and HSPS. We see those expenses as an investment for the future. Of course, we have had some cost inflation as well, typically labor, but we are working on our cost base and broadly manage to compensate inflation by some cost optimization. So, the result for the period was 155 million SEK.

It's a 10% increase versus Q3 last year, as already mentioned. Excluding IAC, the result for the period was 157 million SEK. It's a 47% growth versus Q3 last year, and as a reminder from previous page, this high growth comes from a higher adjusted EBITDA, combined with below EBITDA items, all coming down. EPS was 1.46 SEK in the quarter, versus 1.32 in Q3 last year, and adjusted for IAC and acquisition-related amortization, EPS was 1.79 SEK versus 1.46 in Q3 2023. We move now to operating cash flows, and I start with a comment on Q3 2023, which is a high comparable. We enjoy an unusually strong reduction in working capital in that quarter.

In Q3, twenty twenty-four, cash flows were overall good, with strong performance in Façade Access, HSPS, and Industrial. Last quarter, I mentioned some temporary working capital increases in the Façade Access and Construction divisions. This was reversed in Q3 for Façade Access, but not yet for Construction, where we see now this happening in Q4. Looking forward in the coming quarters, we plan a bit more CapEx, as it has been temporarily very low in the first Q3 of this year, around 1% of revenue, while we expect to be on average around 2%. So our business model definitely remains a CapEx-light model, but I just want to indicate that 1% has not become the new norm, so moving now to the net debt and ROCE.

Net debt decreased by SEK 157 million in the quarter, and that is mostly driven by the operating cash flows. Leverage is at 2.12, down from 2.29 at the end of Q2 2024, in line with our target of being below 2.5. And as already mentioned, we will continue to focus on operating cash flows, which will contribute to future deleveraging. Our priorities for capital allocation remain unchanged. We will invest in organic growth. I alluded earlier to sales and R&D expenses. We continue to actively work on acquisition opportunities allowed by the decreasing leverage... and we will apply the dividend policy, although ultimately this is a board proposal and an AGM decision. One word on ROCE to conclude the financial section.

It's an important metric for us, and it is slightly growing in the quarter to 21.7%, excluding goodwill, and 9.1%, including goodwill. We will continue our work to gradually uplift ROCE. And on this, I hand over to Ole.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yeah. Thank you, Sylvain. So, turning page then to the summary slide. It was a solid quarter where we see that we continue to develop the group into new heights. And new heights, yeah, it's a short recap, you know, the four strategic drivers that that was fundamental and still is fundamental to our business. It's the customer obsession, technology leadership, driving everyday operational efficiency, and recognizing people being the most important asset of the group. We also set up effective decentralized organization in the beginning with four divisions, now five, which have full responsibility for their business, both P&L and balance sheet, and they are driving also the full customer journey or asset life cycle, as I talked about.

You know, they both take care of the, you know, customer needs, understanding what that is, the products, the solutions, and the full aftermarket they attend to. We have built a strong culture around this, and also to ensure that we can make decisions locally, close to customers, and drive a business-minded attitude throughout the organization. I think this has been a fundamental piece, which is continuing to service the group well. So we have a solid financial position now, you know, so as Sylvain also was saying, so we can continue to invest, and we will do that. And also we expect that this difficult or challenging, if you like, market sentiment, especially around construction due to the higher interest rates will start to improve.

And that we, in the midst of next year, should start to see also positive effects in the market for us. And we will also talk in general more about these things. We have an investor update coming up on the November twenty, where we will give you a little bit more insight into also how we will continue to drive accelerated growth going forward. So with that, I would like to thank all our employees, customers, and partners for this quarter, and we turn page and move into Q&A.

Operator

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Andreas Koski, from BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Thank you, and good morning, Ole, Sylvain. Three questions.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Morning.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Starting with façade access, where we had another-

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yes

... solid margin improvement, I would say. If you look at your backlog in façade access specifically, would you say that the margins are higher in the backlog compared to what we have seen in Q3 and Q2? And where should we expect the margin for façade access to be in 2026-

Yeah

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

... in relation to your margin target, the group of more than 18%?

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yeah. Hi, Andreas, and thank you for that question. You know that we-

Question.

It's a small echo here. It's a bit annoying, but I hope that it works well on the line. We continue to work on this transformation of the façade access business, and that's something we will continue. And you know, part of that was you know ensure that we take contracts at the right pricing, and part of it is contract project management, and part of it is operational efficiency in our daily operations. But of course, we started early on to ensure that we priced in a different way than before, and that also means that our order book is better today from a profitability perspective than it was before. But we are still working through all contracts.

We still have, as I said also before, some of that with us this year, and we also expect some of it to be with us next year, but then it will start to fade out so 2026 we clearly see that or expect that we should be at a higher level. We should be higher in 2025, and we should also fundamentally be higher in 2026. The target for us is that we see that this business will and should deliver margins in line with the group targets. Whether we will be fully there 2026 or not, but we should be significantly closer, at least, from where we are today.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Understood. Thank you. Then my second question is related to the group overall. I tried to calculate the backlog development for the group, and I sort of conclude that the backlog for the group is down between 5% and 10% compared to the end of Q3 last year. And maybe if you want to confirm if that is correct, but if it is correct, how do you look at the possibility to be able to grow sales in 2025 versus 2024, despite the quite meaningfully lower backlog? Do you think it will be possible to grow sales next year?

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

We absolutely think it will be possible to grow sales next year, and it's also about timing of the backlog. I can't give you an exact number, but yes, the backlog is a bit lower, but it's also higher quality. And then also, you know, we work and continue to invest, and we also believe that, you know, when market starts to improve, that will also the shorter-term type of business. You know, it doesn't need that type of long order book or doesn't have that type of long order book. So we absolutely still believe that next year will or could be a good decent year for the group. Absolutely.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Understood, and then lastly, just on construction, because we saw a relatively weak order intake in this quarter, and I think the book-to-bill was close to 0.8. We saw a similar situation in Q4 2023, when the order intake was meaningfully below the revenue level, and then in Q1 2024, we saw a significant sequential drop in sales. Is that what we should now also expect for the construction division in Q4, i.e., that sales will come down because of the weak order intake that we have seen in this quarter, and coming back to the Q1 development, when that happened, the margin was relatively weak in the construction segment, and is that also what we should expect for Q4, or will there be different dynamics this time? Thank you.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Definitely it will be some different dynamics, but of course, it's the fact that when order intake comes down, it also affects sales. So, as it looks, you know, yes, we also expect that we should see some lower sales coming through in quarter four due to the lower order intake this quarter. But it's also different dynamic because it also, again, a lot of business that you can compensate or get during the quarter. We don't expect the same type of effects like we saw last time. And then we have also worked on the flexibility and the cost, and, as I also said last time, we were a little bit unprepared.

There were things there we should have seen, which we didn't see, and now we are well prepared, so it will not be the same type of result effects neither as we had in Q1 .

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Yeah. And what does the order pipeline look like for you in construction for the Q4 ? Are we going to see a solid bounce, do you think, on the order side?

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

I can't comment upon that. We have look into those details, but the market remains still challenging, and we expect the market to remain challenging, as I said, you know, in the next Q2,3 . But then there is a natural lump in the business, so you can have lower quarters and you can have higher quarters. You know, the market was the same in Q1 and Q2 this year, where we had a much better order intake, so it was something in the market in Q3 , you know? So we are continuing to-

Understood.

We are continuing.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Mm. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Mm. Thank you.

Operator

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yes. Thank you. We have a written question here, and I think I will leave that to Sylvain, but I can read the question: Could you elaborate on why purchase of property, plant, and equipment are much lower this nine-month period?

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

Thank you, Ole. I don't think you should read anything specific in the phasing of the CapEx this year. Just, you know, we had, we have had some plans for this year, and it happens that, you know, we will invest more in Q4 than in the first Q3 , or, in comparison with the average, in the first Q3 . But it. You know, just phasing of the projects internally, nothing, really specific to be reported on that.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Mm.

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

And on the second comment, you know, we are work-

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

The question-

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

Yes.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

I will read it first, you know, so you know what it is. What is the estimated OpEx run rate for the group?

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

You know, we work on both accelerating the growth and controlling our costs, so looking forward, we do expect some improvement, so a lower OpEx percentage as a percentage of revenue. You know, we not give a specific number, but clearly, that's the objective, and that's one of the way to drive higher EBITDA.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yeah, but as you have said several times also, and we have said during the presentation, we focus a lot on investments in sales and marketing and product development. That's why this is also somewhat higher than what we would expect longer term, as you say. Yeah.

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

It's a combination, you know, but if you look at the performance this year, you know, we've managed to keep it almost stable, excluding IAC, despite the cost inflation. So, you know, that's a sign that we work actively on our cost base, and then that allows us to make those investments you refer to.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

... So then we have another question here. Could you again tell us about the working capital strategy for the short term, differences per segment?

Sylvain Grange
CFO, Alimak Group

Absolutely. The strategy is clear. We want to control working capital and when we can reduce it, but at the same time, you know, we need to be flexible when we see opportunities in the market, where, you know, for when we can take some businesses with temporary increase in working capital, we do it, and this happens. This has happened this year. You know, in Q2, we increased working capital in Façade Access. This was reversed in Q3. Now we have increased as well in Construction. We do expect some reversal in Q4. In the long run, we don't expect working capital to grow much more than revenue, you know, as a percentage of revenue, so that is clearly our strategy.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Okay. So then that was the last question also on the-- so I'll be with you a second.

Operator

Excuse me, we have one more question in the queue from the teleconference.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yep. Okay, good. Let's take that.

Operator

The next question comes from Anders Idborg-

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yes

Operator

... from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Yeah, just one more question on the margin side relating to wind. You have now had a relatively stable margin, yeah, at least above 18% for, yeah, at least maybe five out of Q6 . It was a bit of a drop there in Q4, but looking ahead now, is this, you know, 18%-20% margin a sort of, you know, a margin we should calculate within wind going forward? Or can it also be a bit lumpy for maybe one out of Q4 going forward? Or how should we look on the profitability on wind?

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Yeah, it's a good question, but also partly a difficult question because and as I was alluding to, and I've been saying many times, you know, that market is something which is more out of our control and is also driven by some bigger OEMs, but you know, we have been doing extremely well, I would say, with a solid business model and with a strong team, you know, being close to our customers over time, which has given us this good position and we, of course, expect, and we work every day to remain in that position, but I also have highlighted before that it is a high margin to be in this business.

If you look into our main customers, they are, some of them in losses, some of them with very, very marginal profit levels. So that if we are, you know, north of 15%-16% over time, I think overall we should be pleased. But at the same time, you know, now we have, as you said, been used to north of 18% for a while. So we will work hard to also do what we can to remain that level.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you. And also maybe some quick comments relating to potential M&A going forward. As you're right, the funnel is starting to fill up with interesting candidates. Is there... I understand you can't maybe say too much on this, but is there anything you can say on maybe any geographies or any particular area which you are more focused in complementing with the M&A in the business, compared to other segments? Or, yeah, is there anything you could mention regarding that?

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Not much, you know-

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Not much

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

... without being too specific, you know. But, but of course-

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Yeah

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

... we have five divisions. We think that all five divisions have a potential to handle acquisitions for the time being. Not in every geography, in all divisions, you know, but all divisions can do. So we look for things, and we are actively, you know, building up the funnel for all divisions. It's around service, it's around product, it's around market or market technology, you know, et cetera. So it's a quite wide thing. And then it's, of course, not only in our hands, it's also someone on the other side of the table that needs to, you know, and we need to come together at the right timing.

So, where the, you know, you will start to see the first things in which geography or which division will be very difficult to say, and we are not ready to disclose anything around that, you know. But the funnel starts to fill up. We have the means to do things now, and that's part of our strategy. So we will do. But we will ensure that we do the right things and at the right price, et cetera, you know? So I don't want to, or we don't want to-

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Yeah

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

... create something that we shouldn't do. So we also have patience in that.

Anders Idborg
Equity Analyst, Alimak Group

Wonderful. Well, thank you for answering my questions.

Ole Kristian Jødahl
CEO, Alimak Group

Good. Thank you. Then we have, let me see. Yeah, let me see. We have a couple of other questions, but they have already been answered, I think, you know, that we got on the written side. So unless there are anything more now in the next second, I think that... No, it's nothing here on the written, then I think we are over with the questions, and I hand back to you centrally. No? Then nothing happens there. Then I would like to say a big thank you for everyone listening in, and thank you to our employees delivering another strong quarter, and till next time. Thank you.

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