Welcome to the Alimak Group Q1 2023 report presentation. For the first part of the presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the question and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing star five on their telephone keypad. I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO Ole Kristian Jødahl and CFO Sylvain Grange. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and welcome to this quarter one 2023 call then for Alimak Group. With me, as you know and heard, I have Sylvain. If you turn page, the group had a very strong start to the year and driven by a strong operational performance. You see we have increased our margins with 5 percent points, and half of it is operational performance, the other half is the integration of Tractel. Both these elements have been managed very well during the quarter and given us a solid start. In addition, we also finally, I could say, start to see positive contribution from a volume perspective from wind. That's very encouraging, of course, and I come back to this.
The overall also the Tractel and Tall Crane integration works well, as you also can see from the figures. We also conducted the rights issue during the quarter where we then successfully raised close to SEK 2.5 billion and used that to repay some loans. Turning page, diving into the group quarterly summary. We see that order intake ended at SEK 1.87 billion, up 78% over last year, where 65% is coming from the acquisition of Tractel and Tall Crane, and where we also have a 6% organic growth. This is supported and driven by industrial and wind in the quarter.
Revenue, we report SEK 1,745 million, up 86%, where then Tractel and Tall Crane contribute 67%, and we have a 12% organic growth. The organic growth here we see in construction, HSPS, industrial, and wind, while we had a slight decrease in Facade Access. EBITDA adjusted increased to SEK 289 million, a very strong result, from SEK 107 million last year, with a margin of 16.6%, from 11.5% last year. As you can see also in some of our aggregated figures, when we compare the full, or if then Tractel would be part of the group last year, we have an increased EBITDA of 41% quarter-over-quarter.
Strong again, strong operational performance and significant contribution from the Tractel acquisition. Turning page and starting looking into divisions. We look at Facade Access first. Order intake was then SEK 493 million, up 86%. This is the division where we have a very high contribution from Tractel, so that contributed 82%, and we have a 3% reduction in organic growth. We see that the market is still good for both parts. Of course, you know, now we tighten even more our pricing and contractual terms. We see that Tractel have been even tighter in this than legacy Alimak, and still our order intake held up in a solid way, and also service continued to contribute positively for us here.
Revenue was reported to SEK 485 million, again, heavily supported by Tractel acquisition of 60%, and a small organic drop then of 1%. Overall, it's Americas, which is holding up the best and was very strong in the quarter. EBITDA increased to SEK 29 million, up from SEK 4 million last year, and the margin of 6% versus 1.5%. Again, you know, or fully impacted by this Tractel acquisition. As we know, they have a very solid business in Facade Access, reporting historically more than 20% EBITDA, while the Alimak part has been then on, yeah, very low profit margin level.
We are of course not happy with the level, but we have the right things going to start lifting the results going forward. If you turn page. The Tractel integration is moving according to plan. As I said, this is the division where we have most to do from this perspective. It's led by then Philippe Gastineau, who was the former CEO of Tractel. During the quarter, we have set the new organization here, and that is, of course, the first step to really get the right structure and governance in place so that we can manage it. Now we will in each of these three regions, we will start to dive into the local markets and set the right procedures and ways of working.
It's North America where we really have a solid base from before both organizations where we I would say we are fully up to speed, but it's more things to be done in Europe and Asia Pacific. I could also mention that, of course, immediately, you know, when we got together, we tightened the pricing management and also contractual terms. But what takes more time is, of course, to get full control over the project management and set the right routines there. But actions are being implemented and developed, and we clearly, of course, expect to start to lift this the profit in this division going forward. Also important to note is that together now, combined, we have a leading market position globally, and we have a complete product range handling both low, medium, and tall buildings.
Turning page and looking into construction. Order intake was SEK 469 million, up 46%, and also here a solid contribution from both Tractel and Tall Crane with 44% in the quarter and a small negative organic growth of -4%. We saw that demand for new equipment was lower in the quarter, but a strong rental and also service order intake. We also need to remember that quarter four of last year was very high. Overall, we think and see that this market is holding up quite well for us globally. Revenue was reported to SEK 467 million, up 73%. Again, 46% contribution from Tractel and Tall Crane, while we had a 20% organic growth in the quarter.
Again, also then, highly supported by our rental activities and also from a regional perspective, Americas is standing out as the highest growth area. EBITDA was reported to SEK 86 million, up from the SEK 41 million last year, a good margin of 18.5% versus 15.3% last year, it's driven by a good drop-through from the revenue increase, good cost control, and also our continued pricing management. Turning to next page. This division is now also then becoming a bit of a new business because of the integration of Tractel and Tall Crane. This is moving very well and it's more or less set now, we have a good way of working with this forward. We received another very nice order during the quarter.
You know, we have been moving more and more away from just looking at the product, more looking at the customer and the market needs. There we have a very good example that you can see in the picture here, what we call the Common Tower, where you find it's a complete logistic solution, basically, where you have multiple lifts with different purposes. Some are just handling people, some are handling both people and material, and some handling big material units like kitchen modules, et cetera. This picture is from Karlatornet in Sweden, and something we have been successful with. We have just received another order in Australia for the tallest hybrid timber building in the world.
We see, of course, that higher interest rates and the material pricing is affecting this market, but mostly on the residential side, and that the infrastructure part is holding up quite well. Turning page. Another very important thing, this was actually launched just after the quarter, but we teased during the quarter about this and something we are very proud of. We have released an all new Alimak Scando series, and this is then the 650a. This is the first size that we are releasing. It will be coming more sizes on the way, so it will be completely replacing the old Scandos. It's really setting a new standard. Most of the products going into this is then fully recyclable, up to 97.5%.
It's a 33% lighter machine and also with a significant reduced environmental impact. This is the first real update of this machine in many, many, many years. Turning page. Connected to this, we also fully launch our digital customer portal, My Alimak, where the customer also then gets full operational data access to these machines. They get BIM modeling, they get stress calculation tools, technical data, et cetera. You know, so basically this goes hand in hand. Very nice was that also after the quarter ended, we have been awarded Best Digital Development Award at the International Powered Access Federation conference in Berlin. I think this is also then a nice evidence that we are leading in this industry when it comes to this. Turning page.
We look into Height Safety & Productivity Solutions. Order intake in the quarter was SEK 329 million. Since, you know, we don't really have comparable figures inside the group, but of course, you know, if you look at it aggregated, we see that this represents an overall increase of 7% versus quarter one last year. From a revenue perspective, we report SEK 362 million, and this represents an increase of 19% versus the aggregated 2022, and also with a strong EBITDA of SEK 75 million, a margin of 20.8 versus SEK 54 million and a margin of 18% if you look aggregated back one year. Also a good start and continuation of this Height Safety & Productivity Solutions business.
If you turn page, this is, as you know, something that is 100% former Tractel, and it's now this new division that we have here, and this is also then under continued leadership of Philippe. Focus here going forward will be product innovation and also driving sales effectiveness, and of course, also synergies with the rest of the organization. We have some examples of product development here. We have released a new Dynafor Mecha 7, which is a mechanical load limiter that you see in the upper picture here. It reduce risk of accidents, save maintenance costs, and it's developed and manufactured in-house. This new version also have a significantly reduced cost, allowing us to keep up and further strengthen our margins on this.
On the lower picture, you see from a lift, what you call it, lift tunnel, or, yeah, you know, this e-elevator segment is a very important segment for this business, where the Tirak hoist that Tractel manufactures, is used by most of the lift, global lift or elevator companies globally. They use it when they install their lifts. Important segment for us and also holding up well and a strong development in quarter 1. We see double-digit growth in almost all regions, and it's mostly then driven in the period by Productivity Solutions and the service segments. As I also mentioned, of course, the synergies with the other divisions and the cross-selling opportunities we are working on. Turning page into Industrial.
Order intake was SEK 372 million in the quarter, up 10%, where 5% was organic growth. Here we have no impact of acquisition. It's a solid order intake for both new equipment and service. We continue to see strong development in the marine energy and mining segments for new equipment, as you have seen for some time. Revenue was up and reported to be SEK 311 million, up 31%, where 25% was organic growth. I think, again, you know, this is driven by our good focus in this division over quite some time. EBITDA increased to SEK 74 million, up from SEK 46 million, and a margin of 23.6%, up from 19.3% last year.
Here also, good drop-through from revenue increase, good cost control, and our pricing management contributes to this strong and good result. Turning page. We are changing leadership in Industrial division. Now David Batson, who is then heading up the Construction Division, will also interim head up the Industrial business. As you know, this mostly shares, you know, the same products, the Alimak machines. I think it's also a good combination to run it a little bit in parallel now. David will do that while we are then looking for the new permanent EVP for this division.
overall, you know, this division has been developing very well for a long time, as you know, and this is a result of the strategic focus that we are putting on this industrial segment and a dedicated sales organization being close to customers that are paying off. Also that we have been driving good product development, where we are not only focusing on the product, but the full full asset life cycle, including service and parts for our customers. I also want to highlight again, you know, we have a strong quarter in Norway, where we are selling these gangway lifts, and these are for supply ships then connecting to offshore wind turbines.
These solutions here actually allow these ships to connect at 20 wind over 20 meters per second and keep stable access into the offshore wind turbines. Turning page and looking into to Wind. Order intake was SEK 208 million in the quarter, up 62%, where of 50% was organic growth. Finally, I would say very nice to see. We have been working for a long time to make this division ready. You know, we have set a good base here and cleaned out what was not profitable business. Now we also start to see that the market is coming back. We see a positive impact from the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act in U.S. and also in China with our China for China strategy.
These are markets now that starts to increase investments in wind again. Revenue was up and reported to be SEK 151 million, up 11%, 4% organic, and again, driven by higher activity in U.S. and also in the service segment. Also a very solid EBITDA at SEK 25 million, up from 16 last year, and a margin of 16.5%, up from 11.6%. Also here, you know, is driven by higher revenues and pricing, cost management. I also want to highlight we have also a beneficial product mix in the quarter. Turning page. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, IRA, has started, you know, and helped increase investment in the wind sector in U.S., so that's positive for us.
We also see that this act that is on the verge in EU, Net-Zero Industry Act, that if that is enacted, we also expect to see similar effects in Europe going forward. We expect gradual improvements now during 2023, and also then further improvements in 2024 and onwards. Our investments and focus on product development and customers, of course, also here continues. One example is that we have been awarded the work with our Avanti Dolphin into this laminated wood wind turbine that has been developed here in Sweden. Turning page, and then we come to the financial summary, and then I leave the floor to Sylvain.
Thank you very much, Ole, and good morning to all participants. We are now coming indeed to an overview of our key financial indicators for the quarter. Many of them have already been mentioned by you, Ole, and we are pleased to present overall green numbers despite the macroeconomic challenges. Regarding revenue, we posted a strong 12% organic growth in the quarter, and that was higher than the 6% organic growth in order intake. However, the quarterly order intake in absolute value is higher than the revenue. That means the backlog kept growing in Q1 2023 from what was already a high base at the end of 2022. This obviously gives some comfort for the revenue of the coming months. Adjusted EBITDA is moving up from 11.5% in Q1 2022 to 16.6% in Q1 2023.
As mentioned by Ole, assuming Tractel had been acquired on 1st of Jan, 2022, the aggregated EBITDA performance would have been 14.1% in Q1, 2022. We see that roughly half of the EBITDA percentage improvement is coming from the Tractel integration, and the other half is coming from operational improvements. At constant perimeter, we have added 2.5% of EBITDA. Operating cash flow has grown to MSEC 108 from a low base of MSEC 36 in Q1, 2022. Next, please. We are now focusing on the bottom part of the profit and loss statement. I've just mentioned the impact of the operational improvements on our EBITDA.
To be a bit more specific, we have maintained our total gross margin on a stable high level on an aggregated basis, notably reflecting our active price management policies and our continuous effort to optimize the cost of our products and solutions. The gross margin is now close to 40%. At the same time, we pay continuous attention to controlling the cost below the gross margin. At constant ForEx, those have increased by less than inflation. The higher revenue has mechanically led to higher adjusted EBITDA margin, once again, moving from 14.1% on an aggregated basis to 16.6% in Q1 2023. The increase in financial net charge mostly comes from the interest related to the debt raise for the Tractel acquisition. The increase in the average tax rate is due to the new country mix implied by the Tractel acquisition.
This is in line with our expectations and the comments we made when releasing the Q4 results. Next, please. Result for the period was SEK 124 million versus SEK 70 in Q1 2022. Adjusted for items affecting comparability, this was MSEC 127 versus MSEC 70 in Q1 2022. Earnings per share was SEK 1.72, posting a growth of 76%, and adjusted for IAC, it was SEK 1.76, growing by 80%. One comment regarding EPS, those have been calculated according to IAS 33, implying a restatement of the prior period EPS to reflect notably the rights issue discount. Next, please. We are now coming to the cash flow. We have paid more cash interest.
We have paid more taxes in the quarter versus Q1 last year. This has been overcompensated by much stronger earnings. The working capital grew again in the quarter. We are not there yet. We are not where we want to be in that respect. We trust more should be done and will be done to contain working capital looking forward. The outcome is a cash flow from operation at MSEC 108 in the quarter versus MSEC 36 in Q1 2022. Next, please. The net debt has decreased significantly in the quarter, mostly due to the successful BSEK 2.5 rights issue.
As a matter of fact, the issue was oversubscribed by 19%, and we are obviously very grateful to our shareholders for their financial support, and we take this as a sign of confidence in the company. Leverage is now down to 3.72. Factoring rolling 12 months of Tractel EBITDA, the leverage is 2.87. You will surely remember that we had previously announced that we were planning to be around 3 after the rights issue, so we are on target or slightly better. It remains a high priority to carry on deleveraging in the remaining 3 quarters of the year. M&A is still seen as a good way to generate value for our shareholders, but we are on pause in the very short term as deleveraging will prevail over inorganic growth. The other capital allocation priorities remain unchanged.
You will have noted that the dividend proposed by the board at the AGM is indeed within the range determined by the related long-term financial targets. Next, please. We're now moving to balance sheet. The most significant changes in the balance sheet relate to the Tractel acquisition and its financing. Equity was obviously impacted by the successful BSEK 2.5 rights issue. Long-term borrowings have decreased in the quarter as we have used the proceeds of the rights issue to repay the bridge loan and some of the RCF. At the end of Q1, the biggest component of our debt is a term loan of EUR 300 million maturing in 2025, but with 2 one-year extension options, which may take us to November 2027. Now I'll hand it over to Ole again.
Thank you. If you turn page to the summary slide. Sorry. You know, we are very happy with the quarter, as you can understand. Strong operational performance. Also then, we have managed to drive and integrate Tractel in a very solid way now in the first five, six months, where we have been able to maintain the profit level. Therefore, we also see a significant contribution from the Tractel acquisition in our figures all the way through. Here we continue to work on this, of course, intensely. Yeah, we'll report back on this every quarter, of course. We are also keeping up a strong focus on our product and service development, and happy that we could announce some very nice product releases during this quarter.
This is something that you will continue to see from us. We have announced that June 14th here in Stockholm, we will have a capital market day, where you will get a little bit more insight into the status of the New Heights program again, and also, of course, a bit more deep dive into HSPS, a little bit more deep dive into Facade Access and what we are doing there, and also some updates of the other divisions. We see, as the rest of us around us, that it is still a challenging market around, and we also expect that these challenges will remain. As we have been managing this well before, we feel even better prepared now. We have a solid structure.
We have a good organization and leadership, and we feel more than ready to take on challenges that are coming. With that, I also want to thank all employees for delivering another solid quarter. Thank you. Then we move to the Q&A.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Hanne Lindbo from DNB. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, guys. Thanks for having me. My first question is on Facade Access, because when I look at the numbers, it seems like the legacy Facade Access margin is not improving. My question is basically when do you expect to see an improvement here?
Yeah. No, you are right. The legacy Alimak margin is not improving in the quarter. You need to remember, as I said, you know, that this is the division where we have the biggest, let's say, integration impact, where we have two relatively sizable organizations coming together. The first and the, you know, focus was two things. One was to ensure that we put the right structures in place when we now take new contracts from a pricing and contractual management perspective in place. That was done immediately. We had a common view on that, and that tightened even further because Tractel had an even tighter view on that than legacy Alimak.
The other piece that we focused a lot on now initially was to set the right governance structure, of course, you know, to get in place the organization. That we have done now in the quarter. The dive will go into each of the markets. To manage this business, one thing is their pricing and, you know, ensuring that you take the right contracts. The other element is the contract management, and that is really now what will be the focus, of course, going forward. Along with also some other bigger topics that we have still not fully addressed, you know, with the make or buy manufacturing footprint and things like this that will also be worked more on in the coming months. That's the main reason, you know.
In a way, I could say I'm happy that, you know, it is like it is, that it hasn't really fallen or something is broken. I feel very confident now that we are setting the structure, and we are doing the right things to really start to lift this. I also want to highlight again, you know, that Tractel have been delivering north of 20% EBITDA on this type of business while we have been, as you know, delivering hardly profit at all. We believe, and we work intensely towards that this should come up to the Tractel level.
All right. Can we expect some improvement already in Q2, or what would you say?
I don't want to express explicit, you know, promise of when and what, but my view and what we work towards is that we should improve this every day. We expect that we should start to see improvements. Absolutely, yes. Mm-hmm.
Great. On the construction, you said that demand for new equipment was lower. I was kind of wondering if we could get some more color here, like which markets, are you talking about? Also if you could comment on the outlook for, the Scanclimber.
Yeah. The Nordic market is, as you know, in quarter four, that was, that was, softer or weaker. We also still see that to some extent, you know. Overall, we feel that it's holding up quite well. It was lower on products in the quarter. Remember, we had a very good quarter in quarter four. If you look a little bit over the time, you know, the order intake also for products are holding up quite well. Then it's more, you know, I think effects in the residential area rather than on the more infrastructure projects where also our machines are used, you know, more.
It's difficult to say going forward how this will be and how much effect we will see, so far, we believe it's holding up quite well, actually.
Yeah, that's great. Could you remind us, like, roughly how much is residential construction of the construction business?
We don't disclose, or we have never talked about those figures, in general, you know. This is also it would be basically impossible to say, you know, because a great deal of our sales goes to rental companies, and where they choose to, you know, use their machine is something that we don't have, you know, full knowledge about. It would be something that we also really couldn't do with certainty.
All right. my last question is on wind, because you talked about this beneficial product mix. first question there, like, which products are we talking about here? do you expect this positive mix to continue going forward?
Yeah. You know, it's two types of main products, you know, in the lift or in the wind area. It's the lifts, and it's ladder guided lifts, more with ladder systems. This is, we have a stronger development in the quarter on the ladder side, and those have somewhat higher ladder guided lifts. They have somewhat higher margins. That's why we have a positive mix effect in the quarter. When we want to highlight this mix effect, it is because, of course, you know, that we can't expect to have that every quarter, or, you know, it's not.
It's not a new level directly what you see here, but it is an improved overall profitability in the quarter, driven by somewhat higher revenues, driven by our, you know, strong focus during the last three years to take out what shouldn't be there, you know, what is not profitable enough, focus on product development, focus on costs inside our manufacturing, and pricing and being close to our customers, you know, so that they also accept our pricing. We feel that we have a very strong position. We believe that we also, going forward, should be able to work and develop margins here, but we need to be aware that also mix is affecting it from time to time.
All right. Great. Thank you. That was all for me.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question comes from Gustav Österberg from Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, Ole and Sylvain. Three questions from my end, please. Firstly, if you could, I mean, there was a very high organic drop through quarter-over-quarter in the quarter. Could you elaborate a bit on what you're seeing in terms of net pricing relative to volume effects? I mean, is this largely driven by pricing catching up, or is it mainly driven by better factory load?
It's a mix. I can't give you the exact split, you know, but we have been working over the last two years. We are continue to work on pricing also. We will do another round, you know. Pricing is, of course, important to us. But also the leverage in the factories, of course, you know. We do have a good drop through when volume goes up. It is a good mix of both, I would say, without being specific or on exactly the split of it. Mm-hmm.
All right. Perfect.
Yeah.
Yeah.
To add to Ole's comments, you know, it's, it applies, the same applies more or less to all divisions across the board. You know, in all divisions.
Yeah
we have a mix of volume and then the price effect.
Yeah.
Perfect. Then on the service business, which seems to be growing well, could you give us some background on what's driving that? Is it a big change in installed base in recent years, or is it driven by older fleets and operators running older equipment? How should we think about the growth potential in the service business?
It's a little bit, you know, varying from division to division here also, you know. I would say the main driver for us is that we have an even stronger strategic focus on this. That's the main thing. If you look into, for example, Facade Access, as I've been talking about before, we see an aging fleet, you know, that there is the potential to do upgrades and refurbishments of older machines because the first machines that were installed, they are coming to that type of age. That's a growing market going forward, which is important to us. We also know that the Tractel has not been focusing strategic in the same way on service, like legacy Alimak. That will create another also increased opportunity going forward.
In the industrial division, you know, service is a very vital part. As I also highlighted, you know, that we have this combined focus in this division now to look at the full asset life cycle, where we strategically drive these things, you know. That we not only want to sell machines, but we also want to sign up, the long-term service contracts at the same time. I think that's the main thing, but also then, like in Facade Access, supported by the fact that some new market opportunities are arising.
All right. Thank you. The final question on the industrial division. You highlight the marine and mining segments that are contributing to growth and where you see sort of better long-term potential. Can you just remind us how large share they are out of the total industrial business today?
You know, we are not disclosing these splits there either, you know. Historically, you know, followed the company a long time, you know, so it's that, you know, energy segments are important to the group, but they have become less important because it was a phase where we also had a strong focus. Now today, we have strong focus on all industrial segments. We are also, of course, benefiting from the fact that our strong historic segments are also now developing very well, you know, overall. That's also, of course, good for us. We have a strong focus on all segments, and that's really what this division is about, you know, that we drive a segmented approach.
All right. Perfect. Those were all the questions from my end. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for written questions and closing comments.
Yeah. We have a couple of questions coming in digital to us here. Johan Dahl, you had the pricing question. Maybe, you know, we have maybe talked about it, but Sylvain, you want to?
I think, I mean, it's question is what's the pricing impact on sales growth? I think it's, as we said, it's a combination of pricing and volume effect on the sales growth. There is a second question from Johan regarding the potential seasonality in order intake for the Tractel business. Maybe the first comment I would make is that, you know, today we see more ourselves as a group with five divisions than legacy Alimak and legacy Tractel. Still, you know, we can try to address your question, depending on the type of business, you know, in Facade Access, there isn't a strong seasonality. It's a project business. In HSPS, there is a little bit, no, it does not repeat the same way every year. Usually Q1, Q2 are slightly less strong than Q.
Sorry, Q1 and Q3 are slightly less strong than Q2 and Q4. There are certain years where it doesn't repeat, and it's not that strong. As you remember, there is a small component of the Tractel business which went into construction. This is a Scanclimber business. There you don't see a strong seasonality, although usually Q1 is lower than the rest of the year.
Yeah. We have a question about the pro forma margin in Facade Access, the 6% versus 7% Q1, whether this was driven by Tractel or Alimak or both. The answer is very clear. It was driven by the Alimak piece of this. The Tractel piece is still moving on like it used to do. It's still the Alimak piece which needs attention and to be fixed. That was the two questions we have here. Nothing more here. I think nothing more pops up. I think, with that, we close for today. I want to thank you for attending, listening in, and also for the good questions that came.
Again, thank you to the team that has provided another strong quarter for us. Till next time, thank you.
Goodbye.