Call, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the Q&A session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing #5 on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO Ole Kristian Jødahl and CFO Sylvain Grange. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and yeah, welcome to this Q1 call for 2025. As always, as you've already heard, Sylvain is with me here. Let's turn page and a short recap of the group. Well-diversified industrial company, we are a leading provider of sustainable vertical access and working at height solutions. We have some fundamental drivers for success, and those you see to the right here, we are supported by global trends, even though we all have also something now which works against us, as we all know, but it's not really a global trend. We have a leading market position in focused niches. We have a very solid global footprint with a large installed base, which is also a fundamental piece in our spare part and service business globally. Altogether, we have a strong balance sheet, good cash conversion, and a very solid financial position. Turning page, new heights.
This is the transformation program we started in 2020 and which we are staying loyal and true to. We are now in the last part of this first phase, the 2025 year, where we are now in profitable growth. As you will see, we are still delivering profitable growth. Sorry, the divisional structure you see down below and the strategic house, this is really our value creation engine where the divisions are fully owning their full business. As we have also talked about, you know, we are working on our 2030 plan, the New Heights 2.0, which we will come back to during the autumn, where the focus will be even stronger, profitable growth up to 2030. Turning page, these are our financial and sustainability targets. Those of you that have followed us know that we have been delivering on our targets.
This is the second set that we have since we started New Heights. We are well on route to meet all of these if you are not already there, as you will also see more today. Turning page to say some few words about this tariff situation. Unfortunately, it is something that we need to spend time on. I believe it is both unlogical and counterproductive, and it does not do anyone good, maybe at least the U.S. As a global group, of course, it is something we need to manage. It is like any other thing that we are managing in the global business. I think we are managing it in a good way.
Short term, we of course have been working on, like everyone, with pricing management, the terms and conditions to manage, to ensure that we can actually move on the tariffs and of course also optimizing our supply chain. I think we are in a good position to continue to manage this. However, there is also this global economy effect and the markets, you know, how they turn, and it is increased uncertainty, but all of this, it is also the risk, as we know, for a global GDP slowdown. We also see, maybe specifically in the U.S., continued delay of investment decisions because of all the uncertainty. We have not seen any significant impact on our competitiveness. We have competitors, of course, but they are all in the same position like us, no real making stuff in the U.S.
We also feel very strongly that we are able to pass this on to the market. We are confident that our model, you know, will continue to help us manage through these turbulent times. Turning page and diving into Q1. Started off 2025 in a very good and strong way, I would say, continuing our New Heights journey, driving profitable growth. We deliver a strong order intake in the quarter, up 16% and reaching now more than SEK 2 billion. We also deliver a strong earning and margin uptick with margin from now 17.3% vs 16.4% last year. We have made a smaller acquisition during the quarter where we acquired key assets from a Spanish company, Camac Minor, which went bankrupt.
That also says something about the competitiveness now and the difficulty in the construction market where we are managing, I would still say, in a very strong way, in a very difficult market. I will come back to this Camac Minor a little bit later. Altogether, we also report a very solid financial position, taking down our deleveraging to SEK 1.58 billion in the quarter. This also again really opens the door for us for driving acquisitions, which we are now also working even more actively on. Turning page, the details of Q1 for the group, order intake was SEK 2 billion 005, up 16%, 16% that concentrates also. Strong performance in industrial wind, facade access, and HSPS divisions. Revenue was SEK 1 billion 732, flat to last year. EBITDA, we reported SEK 300 million up from the SEK 285 million, giving this margin of 17.3% vs the 16.4%.
Supported by strong performance in construction and HSPS. We continue on our strong trend of profitable growth in a very challenging macro environment. I think we are very well positioned to manage what comes ahead of us. Turning page, service. This is, as we all know, a fundamental piece of the group and also for each division. Very happy to see that we are continuing to grow this strongly. Order intake increased by 9% in the quarter, also in fixed currencies, SEK 819 million now, up from SEK 748 million. Revenue was more or less flat, SEK 643 million vs SEK 638 million. Creates resilience, of course, and opportunities, and it is something we really strategically continue to drive. Turning page and diving into the divisions. Facade access, I would say good performance in a remaining challenging market. Order intake was SEK 496 million, up 17% or 16% that concentrates.
We saw strong order intake driven by equipment orders in Hong Kong and Australia, and also with refurbishment orders in Malaysia. Order intake in EMEA was also strong, supported by the Middle East and particularly UAE. While we continue to see that the North American building maintenance unit market, you know, for the tall buildings continues to be soft. That has been there from, you know, the pandemic hit and through the interest rates and now through the tariff situation. It is something that the PIPE is there. It is just that it is not being kicked or started. It will come at some certain stage, absolutely. Revenue was SEK 482 million, down 1%. EBITDA at SEK 46 million, flat to last year, and also margin-wise, 9.5%, same as last year.
This was negatively impacted in the quarter by some significant work in the final phase of some larger legacy projects. We have talked about this before, that we see that 2025 is the year where we will start to really phase out and should end these older legacy projects. I can't give you exact timing throughout the year, but it's something that we are now finalizing throughout the year. Also, the building maintenance unit market is soft, and that's also, of course, affecting somewhat our factory utilization. Turning page, we continue to drive what really we can affect, you know, it's the aftermarket service, retrofit, refurbishment, and replacement. This continues to serve us very well. It's an important piece of the business and a growing piece. We also continue to focus heavily on infrastructure.
We launched what you can see up right there, infrastructure access solutions, really to take an even more strategic drive towards the infrastructure. We also continue to focus on low complexity equipment. We saw good development both in Asia Pacific and EMEA in the quarter. We drive organizational change and develop the organization. You know, we have closed down a factory in Germany last year. Now it is empty and the land was sold in the quarter, while we are also opening a new office in Indonesia to also ensure further growth. We continue to drive this transformation program that we have set out to do to secure margin improvements and maintain this focus on these areas I mentioned. As you also all know now, this is a division which has full focus from Philippe.
He was in the first phase now of the Tractel integration, managing both facade access and HSPS. While now, you know, that first phase of the Tractel integration, I would say is really done in a very well way. It was time to really stay true to the full overall concept that we have one EVP for each division. Now Philippe will give this division full attention. Turning page, construction, also very solid performance. Order intake was SEK 490 million, up 1% and 1% also in fixed rates. Solid order intake for rental in Australia. We saw also used equipment in Europe continues to develop very well for us. Overall, also a very high book-to-build ratio. This is a high order intake level. It is a good level for us. Revenue was SEK 413 million, up 11%, 11% at constant rates.
The increase, yeah, was driven also by the good order intake in Q4. EBITDA margin or EBITDA was at SEK 66 million, up from the 39, giving a margin of 16.1% vs the 10.4%. It was driven by higher volumes and then primarily in hoist, mass climbing work platforms, and the spare parts, which then have led to improved factory utilization. Turning page. Yeah, we made a small acquisition in the quarter. We know many of our competitors struggle in these times and have struggled for a long time. This was one that went bankrupt, but they have some very nice products that we were able then to acquire the IP. We acquired the spare parts and, yeah, the inventory and of course also the customer lists. It is some ladder hoist solution they have.
They have the hoist or a winch, you know, that we can that fits into the Tractel portfolio, HSPS. They also have this rack and pinion lighter base, which they have more than 2,000 installed machines around the world, which we now will both service and provide spare parts and also hopefully convert in due time. We have launched the Vectio 350, a lighter transport platform in the quarter. We saw some nice orders coming from this. This is also a machine which is now having some new features with the smart mode for both safety and ergonomics. The STS 300 that we launched now, it's almost two years ago. It takes time. The industry is very traditional. Now we really start to see this product moving.
This is a machine then to optimize and make more safe and effective installation and the installation of scaffolding systems. Overall, I would say construction continued to deliver very well in a remaining challenging market. We continue to invest in this business. We will for sure be very well positioned for the day when the market really starts to come back. Turning page, HSPS, also very good start. Order intake SEK 382 million, up 14%, 13% at constant rates. Strong order intake of temporary access solutions in North America. We also saw nice orders in the Middle East and India on the elevator customer segment. Revenue was SEK 349 million from SEK 354 million, down 1% or 2% at constant rates. It is mainly impacted by also the exposure we have here to the construction end market and specifically in Europe then.
EBITDA at SEK 70 million, up from SEK 61 million, giving a margin of 20%, 17.4% last year. Driven by and supported by higher gross margin, favorable product mix, and also good cost control. Happy to see this is continuing to deliver well. Turning page, focus here. Temporary access solutions in North America, really happy to see it's coming back. It has been slow moving. These are suspended access, many also call them. These are, as you see up right in the picture, machines used for maintenance of facade hanging up from the top. Typically a solution that would be in a city like New York, you would see a lot of this. It is not for everywhere, but some markets really do this. We have the drive units. It is an important piece for our business.
We also see continued success in our confined space. It's an initiative that has been driven for quite a long time. Now we start to see some business coming both in Spain and in the Netherlands. Water companies are adopting our product. Of course, we continue to drive heavily product development changes. Now we have EVP, which is full-time here. So say Maria that has been driving wind for many years. She's now full-time here. I'm sure we will see both changes and we will have benefits from really getting both new eyes and a full-time focus on this business. Turning page, industrial, also here, very solid start. Order intake was SEK 432 million, up 32% or 31% at fixed rates. Yeah, and the strong growth, of course, leads to a significant backlog increase during the quarter. Good growth for both new equipment and aftermarket.
North America, Middle East are the areas in the quarter that are delivering most growth. Revenue was SEK 354 million, down 11%. This is just due to timing of new equipment deliveries. As you know, this is also project business, not that normally that very long project, but still projects. The timing of when you close them is, of course, important. That is the only thing that sits in the somewhat lower revenue in the quarter. EBITDA at SEK 90 million, down from SEK 106 million, giving still a very high margin of 25.3% vs 26.6%. Impacted then by lower revenue, partly offset by improved gross margins and also a nice aftermarket sales share. Turning page and industrial, we continue to do what we have done for a long time. You know, we are focusing on customers.
We are focusing on segments being closer, developing better solutions, understanding customer needs. More and more segments come into this. We are driving, of course, cement, oil and gas, heavy industries, water, ports, and also data centers is a nice growing area for us. Fundamental piece of the strategy. As I mentioned last quarter, we developed this Mini 400 as an Olecom replacement. Now we have seen the first orders coming. We continue also here to invest in both product development and sales resources globally, which you also see a little bit in the result. Sorry, wind, strong start also for wind. Order intake was SEK 217 million, up 24% or 25% at constant rates. Strong growth for new equipment in Asia Pacific and also a promising start in North and Central Europe. Especially the aftermarket is important in the quarter.
Revenue was SEK 153 million, flat to last year. Stable and related to the order intake, of course. Also important to note, it's a very solid uptick in the order book in the quarter. EBITDA at SEK 28 million, slightly down from the SEK 30 million last year, margin of 18.2% vs 19.8%. Still, I would say this is the margin that which is a good level for this business. It's very competitive. We saw a slight decrease due to some mixed effects. You know, here we also continue to invest. Turning page. Yeah, continue to drive operational excellence, improving processes, manufacturing, focusing on both safety and efficiency, cost out to stay competitive in this industry, but also focusing on the top line, you know, investing in both the markets and also our products to ensure that we will continue to grow in this business.
Now it is Rafa, who was the COO in the wind division over many years, and is now the head of wind. That takes us to the profit and loss. Sylvain.
Thank you very much, Ole. Good morning, everybody. Once again, we are pleased to report an adjusted EBITDA growing more than revenue in the quarter. It is a 5% growth for adjusted EBITDA versus an almost flat revenue. I will provide some additional color on the next slide. Items affecting comparability relate to the sale of the Mammendorf real estate. We sold the premises and received 100% of the cash in the quarter. With that sale, the restructuring project is basically completed in a successful way. Below EBITDA, quarterly amortization is coming down. This is due to intangible assets related to the Tractel acquisitions, which were fully amortized in 2024.
Finance net is down as well. That is coming from a lower debt level, lower interest. With SEK 44 million, we are close to what we expect this year, which is around SEK 40 million per quarter in the year. Taxation rates in the quarters come down as well slightly to 25.5% vs 26.1% in Q1 2024. That is basically factoring the evolution in the country mix. With that taxation rate, we are basically very close to what we normally expect in the group, which is around 25% taxation rate as a recurring rate. Combining an improvement in adjusted EBITDA, the Mammendorf capital gain, lower amortization charge, we have a very nice growth in EBIT this quarter. It is a 28% growth.
If we add to that growth the effect of lower finance net, lower taxation rate, that together leads to a very strong increase in the net result for the period. It's a 40% increase vs Q1 last year. Now moving to the main drivers behind the improved adjusted EBITDA. It was a very good quarter for gross margin. We saw margin expansion for industrial, construction, and height safety productivity solution divisions. Facade access and wind were flat in the quarter. There are, of course, some specific drivers for some divisions explaining the improved gross margin, but there are some common drivers as well. All divisions have been working on their manufacturing costs, on their supply chain, on their ability to pass on to the market unavoidable cost increases. Those actions play a big role in the gross margin improvement in the quarter.
Regarding operating expenses, if one excludes the effect of items affecting comparability, we saw a slight increase in the quarter as a percentage of revenue, 24.8% vs 24% in Q1 2024. That increase is basically due to the industrial division, which has a larger sales organization in order to support the growth. All other divisions were either flat or slightly decreasing their G&A in the quarter, despite some cost inflation, typically labor, despite some increases in specific expenses such as product development, digital. That shows that we continue working on our cost efficiency, increasing expenses which are required to serve our strategy, but reducing some cost as well when we do not need them. Let's move on to results for the period. As I said earlier, it is a 40% growth in the quarter to SEK 184 million vs SEK 131 million in Q1 2024.
Excluding items affecting comparability, results for the period was SEK 156 million vs SEK 135 million last year. That's a 16% increase. EPS was SEK 1.74 vs SEK 1.24 last year. Adjusted for items affecting comparability and acquisition-related amortization, EPS was SEK 1.79 vs SEK 1.66 in Q1 last year. If we move to cash flow now, cash flow from operations was SEK 175 million this quarter, slightly below last year. It was a bit soft and mostly related to an increase in working capital driven by higher inventories. Some of it is due to temporary increases, for example, work in progress in facade access corresponding to projects which will be fully delivered later in the year. It will be reversed. Some of it may correspond to additional businesses such as mass climbing work platforms in Australia in the construction division.
In the long run, we are confident we can keep working capital stable as a percentage of revenue, and we will continue to focus highly on cash generation. Next page relates to Net Debt and ROSI. Net Debt came down to SEK 2.4 billion in the quarter versus SEK 2.6 billion, sorry, end of Q4 2024. That decrease is driven by the revaluation of the UOTEMA loan mainly. Our leverage came down to 1.58. That was 1.79 at the end of Q4 2024 and 2.26 at the end of Q1 last year. This is well in line with our financial target of being below 2.5. As I just said, we will continue to focus on operating cash flows. That's very important to us. Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. We invest in organic growth. I alluded earlier to sales, product development, digital. We are actively working on acquisitions.
We have a growing funnel. Of course, with the lower leverage, we do have the necessary dry powder to deliver on those acquisitions financially. We are committed to delivering on our dividend policy, which is to pay 40%-60% of our net earnings. Of course, this is ultimately a board proposal and AGM decision. One final comment on return on capital employed, which has been going up, and we are pleased to see that up to 25.4% excluding goodwill, 10.4% including goodwill. The increase is basically driven by the improved EBITDA. Most of this improvement comes from a better recurring performance of the business. Of course, in the quarter, the higher EBITDA was supported by the Mammendorf capital gain. Again, it is mostly driven by the better recurring performance. On that positive note, I am handing over to Ole.
Thank you, Sylvain. Turning to the summary slide.
Overall, a strong start to the year and something we are happy with. Continue to deliver on the New Heights program and the order intake, as we said, about SEK 2 billion mark in the quarter, increase of 16% and contribution by all divisions. Very nice to see. We increased the group earnings and margins and took another significant step up in the margin from 16.4% to 17.3%, which makes us very well on route to deliver on the north of 18%, as we have said. Now close to two years ago from within two to three years. We will manage, we are managing, and we will manage also. We believe the increased market uncertainty due to the U.S. tariffs. We have a good setup that will manage this. We do have a solid financial position.
We have a good business model, both from a strategic perspective, but also from an operational perspective. This will allow us to continue to invest, I'm sure, in our profitable growth agenda, like we have also done in Q1. We remain committed to our financial and sustainability targets and would like to thank all our employees, customers, and partners for another good quarter and taking the group to new heights. With that, we turn page and move to Q&A.
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. Thank you and good morning. I hope the line is good enough and that you can hear me.
I want to start with tariffs. I think you generate around 25%-30% of group sales in the US. How much of that is imported and how much do you import from China?
Yeah, I can't give you exact numbers, you know, but it's unfortunate now that maybe you should mute when I talk, Andreas. Maybe that's the reason why it's echo. Yeah, thank you. Most of what we sell in the U.S. is imported, but that's the same thing with also the competitors. We strongly believe that we are in a position to move this forward to the market. Very minor is coming out of China, so that has no real material any effect on us as a business. You know, we moved some of that away already when the first tariff rounds came with Trump's first period, you know, so it's hardly anything left from China.
The next question comes from Andreas Koski from BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead. Thank you. Hopefully it will be better now.
I heard your question. Thanks for that. How much would you have to raise your saddling prices to offset the tariffs as they stand today? Have you already raised your prices? How do you plan to implement them?
No, but you know, we have worked on our terms and conditions. Tariffs will be passed on the way they hit, you know, but we also work with our supply chain. It's a lot of details there that, you know, will not be, so in certain areas, it will not be influenced by tariffs. I can't give you an exact number, and this varies also from division to division. We are working on pricing and we are pushing forward pricing.
We feel relatively confident that this will be managed and not really significant impact or any impact in that sense to the business. The more, you know, concern, which is the overall uncertainty about market development, you know, global GDP and investment decision taking and so forth, but not specifically the tariff impact for us because also competition is in the same position.
Yeah. We could not see any of that in your order intake in Q1, which was very, very strong. Do you think some of that strong order intake was driven by pre-ordering ahead of tariffs, or is the order intake number reflecting the underlying situation and more sustainable?
Yeah, you know, we did not have any specifically high order intake in the U.S. this quarter. So no, the order intake is not driven by stock up or, you know, pre-buying in the US, not.
You saw we had good order intake in Q4, and we are also now continuing with even stronger order intake in Q1, you know, for a group. There is, you know, I think we are getting paid for what we are actually being good at doing for over a long, long time, be close to our customers, develop new products, you know, and yeah, be good at what we do and focused, you know, and we continue to be that. I am sure we take market shares and that we are ahead of the game now, but the market overall we cannot influence, you know, but in this market we are doing well.
Yeah, I agree. It is a very uncertain market, and I would be surprised if we do not see, say, decision making among customers becoming slower. Have you started to see any of that already in April, or is that yet to come if it will happen?
I can't say that we have seen any specifics of that, you know, and, but of course, that's the biggest uncertainty. Then again, you had positive or what if you can call it that, you know, or new turbulent news the other day that tariffs will most likely be reduced, you know, and that it might not be Powell be fired and, you know, so there are also signs that maybe things are or could be coming down a little bit, which, and it's difficult to say how much of that you need to see for, you know, giving confidence to the market that that actually investments can go on. It is very uncertain, but it's not all black.
Yeah. Lastly, on the facade access margin, I apologize if I missed this already, but it was a somewhat weaker margin than I and I guess consensus expected, and we know the drivers of that. What about the coming quarters? Do you still have those larger legacy projects to be delivered, or was this sort of a one-off in Q1 and now they've been delivered and the margin should bounce back already in Q2?
These projects are not delivered. These projects are still ongoing, and they have been with us for a long, long time, you know, but they should be closed by the end of the year. I can't give an exact timing. Some might be closed in Q2, some in Q3, and I can't say also, you know, exactly the impact in each quarter.
But, you know, we should be able to phase out, as we have said all along, all these old legacy projects during 2025. I think, you know, if you look at the overall trend, I'm also disappointed being flat quarter over quarter. If you look at the overall trend, I feel still very confident and we are developing positively with this business. We will change it the way we have said. Perfect.
Thank you very much for the help.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Anna Woodstrom from Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me, guys?
Yes, very good. Thank you. Hello.
Okay, good. Just first question to maybe get some clarification. Given that you're working with price increases and so on, should we view the order intake as mainly relating to volumes, or is there a significant price effect in that as well?
No, I wouldn't say it's a significant price effect in that. Nothing extraordinary, absolutely not. That's nothing different to before, you know, we constantly work on pricing and we, you know, but most is the volume and that effect. Yeah.
Okay, good. Going to these Mammendorf projects, sorry. Has that started to affect profitability positively? If so, how should we think about the sort of underlying profitability effect?
Yes, that's now affecting profitability positively. Absolutely. As I said, you know, we had a negative counter effect now in this quarter with these legacy projects, but also the fact that the order intake for new bigger machines, you know, BMUs, has been low for quite a long time. That also affects our one remaining factory, you know, which is the factory in Spain. They had a lower load in the quarter. That is not a quick turnaround in this picture either, you know, because that order intake has been low for a while, but we have the full effect now from the closure of Malmendorf. Great.
Thinking about the timing of the new equipment deliveries in industrial, is that delivery that has sort of been postponed into Q2? Should we maybe view parts of the margin decrease year over year as also a timing effect that should be potentially offset in Q2?
Yeah, I think first of all, it's just the timing. I can't promise that all of them and that you will have it all back, you know, plus anything, you know, because this is always a timing question, you know, but absolutely when you have less in a quarter, then typically you would have a little bit, you know, they will come back because they are there. They are due to be invoiced, you know, and delivered. Sometimes it's more projects taking more time than others taking shorter time. Yeah, you close.
This is also what I've been talking about since I came here, you know, you have this lumpiness in the quarters, basically in all divisions to some extent, you know. You need to see it that way. When you talk about margin, you said margin is lower. I wouldn't agree, you know, yes, technically, but it's still a 25%-26% EBITDA margin in industrial, which is very, very good. You know, being at that level, I think is something that I'm happy with, even though of course you always want to push it. Just to make the point that we don't see that as a big problem.
Yes, that's very clear. Thank you. Just looking regionally, it seems Europe remains in a bit more negative territory while the Americas and APAC is growing. What is your sort of sense of the European market dynamic currently and maybe going forward?
No, but I think Europe has slowly and steadily started to improve a little bit from a construction perspective, but you know, still Europe has been very slow for a long time. You also have this uncertainty in the market, you know, with tariffs and inflation and whatnot, but long term, you know, I think the opposite, this will strengthen Europe and it will force more investments. We have already heard about several countries what they talk about, you know, defense investments. This will be, this is money that will go into the market, you know. Yes, they go into defense, but that trickles down in overall industry and society in general, you know, all of that money. These investments will strengthen Europe.
It's just a question of timing, but I think slowly and steadily we should start to see Europe coming back unless there is some sort of fundamental global slowdown, you know, that will affect again the market for some time, you know, but that remains to be seen on what happens with the tariffs.
Perfect. Then just the last one for me. Leverage continues to improve. Just given the uncertainty in the market, how is your thinking about M&A in the near term?
Our thinking is that it's an important piece of the group strategy. As I've said also many times, you know, when we did Tractel, that was such a size and significance that I needed to ensure that we, you know, landed that well before we took on other things. Also, not at least due to the legacy of the two previous acquisitions before my time that wasn't really managed that well. We are now in a position where we have proven that we can handle this well. We are in a position where we have really deleveraged in a very solid way and strong financially, even though it's a lot of turbulence around us. We are ready to invest this money wisely. We have a nice funnel. We work very intense on that. I would be disappointed if we don't start to see some things coming.
Great. Thank you. I'll get back in line. Thank you.
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. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.
Yep. Thank you. We have a couple of written questions to us here. We start with the first one from Cashflow Statement. You paid SEK 28 million for earnout. Was this related to toll grains? I think I'll hand that to Monsieur Silva. Yeah.
The short answer is yes. Just to be complete, that's a final payment. There is no pending payment in that respect.
Yep. That should give a clear answer to that question. We have another question here. You wrote about rolling out integrated design services, IDS, in EMEA, APAC regions in the annual letter. Has this started? If yes, what have been the responses so far? Is this kind of service unique or do competitors offer the same service? Good question.
First of all, yes, it's being rolled out. Yes, we are starting to see business coming from this. Is this unique? Both yes and no. It's not unique in the presence, you know, this is something which exists in the market, but it's unique that we as a supplier do it. That also means that our competitors, as far as I know, they don't do it. Why do we do it? Yes, because, you know, in this specific business, you need to understand the business model, you know, and that was something when I got there, we started to, okay, and then we learned that we are actually in the backseat when we sell new equipment, you know, we offer our machines to consultants and architects, not to the real end user of this machinery or the general contractors per se. We work with so-called middlemen.
That is actually putting us outside where we would like to be. It's difficult to sell the value when you are in that position. That is when we decided that we want to change, you know, this concept. We are too far out in the value chain. We want to be closer to the real decision makers. We said, okay, let's start that consulting ourselves, you know, let's be that type of consultant to the general contractor instead of they using third-party players. That has been very, very, very well appreciated because the existing consultants, they have to come to us anyway as a supplier. Now we are just cutting one layer and we are in a prime position to work with the general contractors to show the value.
We are also, of course, in a prime position to ensure that it is designed for the most valued solution, which should be ours. That is the idea and the concept behind it. It works. I hope I answered that question and we do not have any further written questions here. With that, I think we close it from our end. Again, thank you to everyone. Thank you for good questions and for those of us following us and to our employees, customers, partners. Thank you. Until next time.
Goodbye.