Welcome to the conference call. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions-and-answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key 5 on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and welcome to this quarter four and full-year call for 2023. I'm Ole Jødahl, and with me, as always, I also have our CFO, Sylvain. Turning page and a short recap. Yeah, Alimak Group, diversified global industrial company. We are then focusing on providing sustainable vertical access and working at height solutions. We have, of course, some main drivers for our success, some fundamentals. We are supported by some global trends like urbanization, the more things happening at height, health and safety aspects, industrialization, more trends moving back into the different regions, etc. We do have a leading market position where we are acting in these niches, but that also means we have a pricing position, but we also have nice growth opportunities since we are focused in niches, part of bigger markets.
We do have a global footprint, large footprint all around the world with installed machines, which also founds the base for a solid aftermarket and service business, which is a significant piece and a very important part of the group. That all together leads to a well-managed group, strong balance sheet, and also a good cash conversion, and especially it has been very good this year. If we turn page, we set out in 2020 on a strategy we called New Heights, and this was then basically into three phases. First, establishing the base, securing margin improvements, and then in the profitable growth phase, which is where we are now in this 2022 to 2025 time frame. Turning page, we see our financial targets and dividend policy. We updated this summer, and we then should deliver a revenue overall total growth of 6%-10%.
We should reach an EBITDA margin beyond 18% within two-three years, we said now last summer. We should have a leverage ratio below 2.5 and a dividend payout ratio of between 40%-60% then. Turning page and also to the sustainability targets. This is, of course, a very important piece of the group. We are focusing on health and safety and sustainable solutions. So we have a significant CO2 reduction target, 25 over 2019, and we are also now moving to science-based targets. It's taken a little bit time, but with the acquisition of Tractel, we needed to have a full-year history before we can move forward with this. We have scores to ensure we treat our employees well. We have safety targets, of course, health and safety targets for our people, and we also follow up with assessments of our suppliers.
Turning page and coming into the quarter. We had an overall solid quarter and with exceptional cash flow, I would say, where we continue to do well in most parts. Industrial, height safety and productivity solutions, and wind performs very well in the quarter. I would also say we have a solid quarter from construction, even though, as you have noted, the order intake was somewhat lower in the quarter, but it was equally similar strong in quarter three. So this also underlines, as I've also been saying many times, the volatility between quarters. And also maybe that this is a little bit stronger now, also in a challenging market, but we don't see any fundamental change, and you need to look at the full-year base, and we believe that we will continue like this also going forward.
Facade access margins are not where we want them to be, and of course, not overall happy with that. What we see there in the quarter dragging down the group, but still, it's the same thing, and we are executing on our transformation program. We are 100% sure that this is the right thing that we are doing and that we will fundamentally change this business going forward. Very strong cash flow in the quarter, which also meant that we are further deleveraging and now down to 2.26, well in line with our financial targets. Moving forward, next page to full year. So overall, a very successful year for the group. We have made a significant integration during the year of Tractel, but also Tall Crane. In addition, we have also now shown that we have fixed some of the old acquisitions.
Avanti, the wind division, really performed at a new level this year. We have started, and we know we have the right medicine and activities in place to now fix facade access, and we will do that. We have continued our customer-focused drive, investing into sales and marketing, products and solutions, and driving operational efficiency, which has also led to that we are improving overall results, not only driven by acquisitions. We met the financial targets that we set late 2020 in 2021, and we met them now this last summer, which was a level the group has never done before. And now we have, as you know, new targets for the next years to come. We raised revenue from SEK 4.5 billion up to SEK 7.1 billion, an increase of 57%. We have adjusted the EBITDA of SEK 1.15 billion, an increase of 87% year-over-year.
Aggregated, if you look as if Tractel would have been fully part the full year, our adjusted EBITDA increased 12%. So really taking the group to new heights. Strong cash flow financial position, which also puts us now in a position where we can start to further invest and drive acquisitions again. And then the board of directors then proposed a dividend of 2.5 SEK, up from 1.82, which is an increase of 37% year-over-year. Turning page and a little bit more details of the quarter for the group. Order intake was SEK 1.696 billion, up 22%, 22% from acquisitions, and we report here at -2% organically. Solid growth in industrial facade access, HSPS, and wind. Revenue was at SEK 1.838 billion, up 31%, where then 25% comes from acquisitions, and we delivered a 4% organic growth. And then strong developments from industrial, HSPS, and wind.
EBITDA adjusted increased to SEK 288 million, up from SEK 217 million, giving us a margin of 15.7% versus 15.5% last year. Aggregated, EBITDA increased by 4% in the quarter. Turning the page and going into divisions, we look at facade access first, and then order intake was very strong, I would say, in the quarter, SEK 512 million, up 41%, 24% coming from acquisitions, but also 18% organically. So this is an all-time high for this division. And we see good growth both in the equipment side and also on the service side. And of course, as you understand, all new orders now are in line with our stricter tendering process and pricing philosophy and terms and conditions. So these will meet up with the future targets we have for margins.
Revenue was SEK 505 million, up 14%, where then 25% comes from acquisitions and a negative 12% organically in the quarter. We continue to see some project delays then due to the interest rate macro environment, and especially we see this in North America. EBITDA was SEK 30 million, down from SEK 34 million, giving a margin of 5.9%, which is down on the 7.6% from last year. This is, of course, disappointing, but at the same time, it's also this process that we are working through. We have these old projects, and the cost related to this and the quality of the terms and conditions is not what we are putting as a frame now. We are continuing then to execute on this transformation program. Turning page and looking at the full year.
Order intake was then SEK 1.815 billion, negative 16%, mainly affected by some market effects, but also our stricter tendering process and margin requirements, which has led to, as I've said before, that we have stepped away from some contracts if they don't meet up to what we have as a requirement now. But also important to note that we have a very strong market position now with both the Tractel offer and the legacy Alimak Group offer, which makes us the clear leader in this industry. As you see, we had a very strong order intake in the quarter. Revenue was SEK 1.992 billion, down 4%. Higher interest rate is really what has affected this slightly during the year, which again put some projects on hold or delayed some projects.
EBITDA was SEK 125 million, down from the 206, a drop of 39%, and a margin of 6.3% versus 9.9%. And again, it's the contribution and the clean-out that we do from these legacy projects. Turning page, short business update. We are reinforcing the management team, so we also now have put in place a vice president for technology overseeing the full offer portfolio that we have in this business. As you also know, we announced during the quarter a plan to consolidate the Manntech assembly site in Germany into our facility in Spain. So we have ongoing now negotiations with the German Works Council and a process that overall, hopefully, will be then closed by the end of the year, and that should give us a SEK 60 million annual saving impact then from 2025 and onwards. And then we continue also the implementation of project management.
You know it was basically three phases. It's to really get the organization structure in place. That is done. Then it's about pricing and terms and conditions. These things are done. Then it's about really ensuring that we drive project management throughout. And this is very well in place in some parts, especially North America, but it's still some way to go in Europe and Asia to really have that in the same absolute well-functioning structure. But it's on its way. Nice project here. You know it's a lane extension, so a big infrastructure project where we are then providing a wide set of access solutions, complicated, and it's a multi-million dollar project. So these are also typical projects that we are taking on with this business now.
We also see here that these old legacy projects will also affect 2024, but by the end of that year, we should have very little moving into 2025. So 2024 will also be a year where we are working a lot on these things to clean out. But absolutely, I expect that we should start lifting margins in 2024, but the main effects are expected to come then in 2025. Moving into construction, next page. Order intake was SEK 319 million, down 35% in the quarter, 5% up from acquisitions, and a negative organic growth of 42%. And this is purely volatility between quarters after a similar or equally strong quarter three. And we see no change in the market or in the business or anything, so you should not read more out of that than looking at quarter three and quarter four together.
Revenue was SEK 440 million, up 14%, 6% from acquisitions, and 6% up organically. So yeah, good year overall and quarter, but also maybe especially rental activity was good in the quarter. EBITDA, SEK 76 million, up from SEK 73 million, margin of 17.2% versus the 18.8%. And this is basically a negative mix effect in the quarter since we are delivering more machines from our China factory.
And these machines have a somewhat lower margin and affect the mix then in the quarter. But it also says something about, you know, I think the resilience in the business that we are working truly globally now and drive the business in all parts of the world. Turning page. I'm sure you all know, you know, but on December 11th, a very tragic accident happened in Stockholm. And my thoughts are sorry, I have maybe turned the page wrongly. Yes, I have sorry.
It's a full year figure first. So construction full year aggregated, you would see that order intake was SEK 1.753 billion, up 4%, where we see a strong development overall, I would say, in a challenging market environment. And this is thanks to our business model and also that we continue to see that we can yeah, we expect that we can continue on the same trend also in 2024, even though the market is also expected to remain challenging.
Revenue was SEK 1.748 billion, up 8%. High revenue in basically all parts, but especially also North America, and strong invoicing for rental activities throughout the year. EBITDA delivered SEK 315 million, up from SEK 281 million, a growth of 12%, and a margin of 18% versus 17.3%. So as you see, overall aggregated, a very strong year for construction. So then I come back to my slide on the tragic accident.
Yeah, my thoughts are first and foremost, of course, with those affected and their families. This then involved one of our products, a Scando 650, that we sold in 2017. This Scando 650, it's one of our most standard products. It's been in the market for 20 years, and you all know it's this technology has been here for a long, long time. Yeah, it's one of our most renowned machines. We were allowed or asked by the police to also attend the site to help them in their investigation on the second day after the accident. Then we clearly observed a major issue, and that was two of the bolts of the mast sections had not been bolted together. This is, of course, something that obviously can cause such an accident. The installation was not carried out by us.
But it is, of course, something that we still will now, both from our perspective but also all relevant parties. We do what we can to understand this, how this can happen, and what we can do to prevent something like this happening again. Investigations are, however, still ongoing, and when those reports will come, we don't know, but we are taking part wherever we are asked. And yeah, and then we need to wait for those final reports also to come. Very tragic and sad thing. Turning page, moving into construction. Sorry. That I had already done. Now it's a business update. The infrastructure project in Sydney. So this is also a nice example that we are taking projects in the construction business for infrastructure, and that's an important part and something we also work very structured with, of course.
Then we have also made another step on the digitalization journey that we do have in the group, and we have developed this AliCalc, which is an online calculation tool where then those that install the machines can go online and get this calculation for how to install it, what to do with tie-ins, et cetera. So something that previously was done on paper, but now this is fully digitalized. Very nice tool. Turning page and moving into height safety and productivity solutions. Order intake was SEK 357 million, good demand in Europe, especially then on the elevator rental and installation segments. We also continue to see good, strong demands. Revenue was SEK 349 million in the quarter and EBITDA SEK 64 million with a margin of 18.3%. Turning page, looking at the full year aggregated. Order intake was SEK 1.407 billion, up 9%.
All parts developing very well, especially the elevator business. A stable, solid full year for this business, actually all-time high. That's also what we also see on revenue, which was then SEK 1.410 billion, up 11%, and an all-time high year. EBITDA SEK 269 million, up 6% with a margin of 19.1%, down from the 20%. This is fundamentally for the business, an all-time high result. The margin is slightly down, but this is driven by changed allocation keys of central cost and that they are getting from the group. Yeah, it's an internal allocation thing. If you look at results, you should look at full year result. Those are something, a level that we expect for this business going forward. Turning page and a short business update. In the quarter, we finalized and we inaugurated the new building in Saint-Hilaire.
It was a fire where one of the buildings was burned down in 2021, and now we are having a very nice new modern facility for inventory management. We also have launched some new products in the quarter. This is, of course, a very important piece of that business and something we put a lot of efforts in and accelerate. We want to do even more. We have a new version of this Blocfor, which is a safety device that you are connected to when you work at height, and also the Tralift, which is a chain hoist to use in corrosive environments. So we will continue in this business to invest in sales and marketing, product development, service development to ensure that we can drive long-term profitable growth here. Turning page, industrial. Order intake was SEK 384 million, up 24%, 25% organic.
Another great quarter, significant increase in new equipment orders in multiple segments and regions, also very solid on the aftermarket side. Revenue was SEK 404 million, up 21%. Also same organic. EBITDA increased to SEK 95 million versus the SEK 69 million last year and a margin of 23.4% versus the 20.6%. So again, you know consequence of the good year that we have ongoing in that division. Looking full year, order intake was SEK 1,457 million, up 12%. And again, you know we have had good order intake basically across the board, maybe especially in northern Europe. Marine offshore has been very good for us, and this solution we have done for offshore supply boats servicing wind turbines. Yeah, ship-to-shore cranes has been important, and it's an important segment for us, and of course, also the aftermarket. Revenue, SEK 1,386 million, up 22% in the year.
EBITDA at SEK 322 million, up from 217, 49% increase, margin of 23.2%, up from the 19%. So very, very, very strong result for this business. Industrial, next page, some examples. Yeah, we have amongst in the U.S. bridges, new permanent installed lifts for some bridges that are being modernized. We are selling multiple lifts, a brownfield project, a potash plant in Jordan. We work and have had several nice orders for ship-to-shore cranes and also a nice service agreement out in the North Sea. So you know very diverse, and we work across the board, good business, and lots of opportunities going forward. Wind. Order intake was SEK 141 million, up 20%, 17% organic. Most markets developed well in the quarter, but maybe especially China and Denmark, and also positive impact from new product releases. Revenue was SEK 166 million, up 29% and 26% organic.
EBITDA was then SEK 25 million, up from the 12% and a margin of 14.9% versus 9.4%. So again, a very strong, good quarter for wind. Looking full year, next page, order intake was SEK 689 million, up 34%, 26% organic. And yeah, it's the effects from this really the turnaround we did with this business, really customer focus, product development, taking out cost, operational efficiency, et cetera, being appreciated and getting increased market share with our key customers. Revenue was SEK 674 million, up 24%, 17% organic. And again, basically, it's the same thing. EBITDA, SEK 120 million, up from 69%, a margin of 17.9%, great margin, up from the 12.8%. So an effect from all the things that we do and also a nice drop-through when we get volume here. Turning page to short business update.
In Europe, it's been signed this by the European Commission, the Wind Power Action Plan. This we expect, of course, to give us an increased growth in the wind industry. We don't expect a lot to happen in 2024, but from 2025 and onwards, we should start to see more growth coming in from the market. We have increased market share basically everywhere, but also in China. They are appreciating us, and we are developing new solutions. So yeah, again, maybe don't expect the same type of growth in 2024 as 2023, more stabilized but a solid year and then stronger growth again. We expect from the market in 2025 and onwards. That takes us to the financial summary. Sylvain?
Thank you, Ole, and good morning. So moving to financial summary, order intake and revenue grew strongly in the quarter, and most of the growth is inorganic.
It is interesting to note that both order intake and revenue show growth organic rates in Q4 slightly improved versus what we saw in Q3. Book-to-bill ratio is down in the quarter but has been close to 100% on a year-to-date basis. So we start 2024 with a high backlog level, and that is giving comfort for the revenue of the coming quarters. Quarterly adjusted EBITDA reaches 15.7%, as already mentioned by Ole, slightly above reported Q4 2022 and in line with aggregated performance of the same quarter. Looking at the year, we achieve an EBITDA margin of 16.2% versus 13.6% reported in 2022 and 15.7% on an aggregated basis. So as we have already said, we have increased adjusted EBITDA in absolute value and as a percentage of revenue in 2023 in relatively adverse macroeconomic conditions. And I will come back to operating cash flow later. Next, please.
Moving to the earnings summary. Items affecting comparability in the quarter mainly include the impact of the plan restructuring in facade access, partially compensated by the insurance payment we got in relation to the main site of HSPS in France. Finance net is mostly made of interest. The quarterly interest charge results from the higher interest rates, partially compensated by the reduced revolving credit facility drawing. Tax rate is a temporary low in the quarter, and we trace the annual tax rate close to 25%. It's a better reflection of what can be expected in the group moving forward. Now, coming to the results for the period. That was in the quarter, SEK 121 million versus SEK 130 million in Q4 2022. Excluding items affecting comparability, the result for the period was SEK 151 million, and that represents an increase of 36%. EPS was 1.13 SEK versus 181.
Adjusted for items affecting comparability and acquisition-related amortization, adjusted EPS was SEK 1.72 versus SEK 1.87 in Q4 2022. Obviously, EPS and Adjusted EPS were affected by the higher number of shares, which results from the rights issue, which was conducted in the first semester of 2023. I am very pleased again with the quarterly cash flow generation. In particular, we managed to reduce working capital by SEK 278 million. Consistent management focus and efforts have led to a successful quarter and a successful year from a cash point of view. Those levels of cash flow from operations are unprecedented in Alimak's history, but they do reflect as well an element of working capital reversal from 2022. We cannot expect this high level every quarter in the future, but we can expect indeed the focus and the active and proactive working capital and CaPex control to continue.
The high cash flows from operations imply another significant quarterly reduction in net debt, down now to SEK 3.1 billion. Combined with a growing EBITDA, this has led to a strong deleveraging. We are now at a leverage of 2.26 versus our financial target of being below 2.5. As I said, as we said earlier, we will continue to pay special attention to the operating cash flows in the future in order to fund our capital allocation priorities, obviously the dividend according to our policy, the investments we want to carry on making to fund the organic profitable growth and the acquisitions. M&A is definitely on our list for 2024. We'll be looking at acquisition opportunities this year. Now, moving to the balance sheet.
This balance sheet has been significantly strengthened in the course of 2023 and partially via the successful SEK 2.5 billion rights issue and, of course, again, the high cash flows from operations. The rights issue allowed the repayment of the SEK 2.1 billion bridge loan, which, as you can see on the right-hand side, was classified in other current liabilities end of 2022. Maybe one word on our financing structure. By the end of December, the long-term borrowing consists of the EUR 300 million term loan, which matures in 2026 with a one-year extension option. The EUR 2 billion revolving credit facility, EUR 2 billion SEK revolving credit facility, has been recently and successfully renewed for a five-year tenor with two one-year extension options. I'm passing the baton again to Ole.
Thank you, Sylvain. Coming to the end here, summary. Solid end to a great year.
Yeah, I would say it's been an important year. It's been successful and also truly transformational. You see, we have lifted turnover significantly. We have lifted the margins and the result significantly, both through acquisitions. Also, I think that's a good point. We have proven that was a question before because we had two acquisitions that were not performing well. So now we are proving that we can manage acquisitions in a good way and that we have done very well this year. We have also been able to fix wind, which was one of the previous acquisitions, and we are on our way to fix facade access. In addition, we have also operationally improved the group and lifting margins 12% if you look aggregated.
We are continuing to invest in sales and marketing, in product development, services, et cetera, to ensure that we will feed growth going forward. Also, as Sylvain was saying, we now bring also back acquisitions onto the table. This is coming from a very strong cash flow and a deleveraging that we have achieved, which opens up opportunities again for us. I think also, altogether, we have seen it's a very challenging market out there, but as a group, we have managed also that very well. We are well diversified now in all aspects, which means that the group is performing very well in a challenging market. I also hope that we are not referred to so much more as a big hissbolag. We will continue to execute on the New Heights program also going forward.
We have the same strategy, so we will continue to work on the same things and deliver on financial and sustainability targets that we have for the group. So with that, I would like to say thank you to all the employees that have done a great job this year. Solid quarter, great year, but also to all other stakeholders. So thank you, and we move to Q&A then.
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 Hanna Lindbo from DNB Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, everyone. My first question is on construction.
So I know that the order intake can be volatile between quarters, but do you sense that the market has become weaker compared to the last quarter?
Clear answer is no. We don't sense anything of that. It's the lumpiness. And as I was also saying, I think maybe the lumpiness is stronger when you have also this even challenging market. But no, we see no change from before. And I think you should look at absolutely the full year. And this is also what we expect, that we will continue basically on the same path now in 2024.
And facade access, because you had a really strong order intake there. Do you see some sort of volatility in that one, or how does that differ from construction?
Yeah, but they are exposed to a lot of the same market, facade access and construction. So that's still a challenging market.
So, lumpiness, absolutely, also in that business. So you can't read everything out of one month or one quarter. You need to see over time and the trend. Still, it's nothing one-off, big exceptional in the quarter, which really turns around facade access. So it is that we see that the market is still absolutely there, and we have a strong offer. We work very well, and we are taking orders. So yeah, and that we expect also, of course, going forward. And now, as I said also, we get orders with the right terms and conditions and the price levels.
Yeah, that's great. And then I think you mentioned a negative mix effect in the construction unit. Do you expect this to continue in Q1 or maybe throughout?
It's a little bit hard to say, but there is some lower profitability on our—we have a factory in China, which is producing also then machines for industrial and construction. And this is then for construction. For this construction sales, it's hardly anything in China, but it's neighboring market, Asia, Middle East, et set uh ruh, where these machines go out. And I think it's approved that now, tough market, but still, we are generating sales and opportunities everywhere. So that's good for us. But these machines have a slightly lower margin. So that's the thing. And exactly how the mix will look forward, I can't say, but yeah. It's in this vicinity that you should expect from us going forward.
All right. And then you talked about some costs related to old projects in facade access. Which type of cost is this, and how is your visibility on this going forward?
No, but these are projects that are taken with a too low price and with not the right terms and conditions. For example, we have examples where we have taken some contracts where the machine is installed sometimes not all the way in the end of the building, but it's installed a little bit before the facade and everything is ready. So then it's used during the construction phase for facade finishing. And then that's not really what this machine is intended for. This is intended for facade maintenance and the window cleaning after the building is ready. And then we see in contract terms it's, and then we sit with some extra costs related to things like this as one example.
So there are these old projects that were not taken with the right terms and conditions and with the right pricing that still we work through. And most of that will be worked through by the end of 2024. But it will remain, as we see it now, a small piece going into 2025, but that should not be significant. So from a margin expectation, I would expect to start to see that we are improving this now in 2024, but the bigger effect should come 2025.
And just the last question. You talked about project delaying in facade access. Has this gotten worse since the last quarter, and sort of when do you expect this to turn?
No, it hasn't become worse the way we get reports, but we still continue to see it.
This is basically projects that are supposed to be delivered, but then since it's more uncertainty about cost overall for the landlord or the construction companies, they tend to want to delay things. So that's basically what we are seeing. So then it takes more time until we can invoice or finalize.
So there's no cancellations or you are no cancellations or you're afraid of that?
No. No, we have not seen cancellations that we have not seen something affecting us there. So the order book remains, absolutely. So it's more delays, and that's what we expect also to remain until the interest rate starts to ease off and gives more confidence that I think the financing and everyone believes that now we have reached the top, which could maybe not be too far away, that that's actually there. But we will see.
And then we would expect that this starts to improve again.
All right. Yes, that was all my questions. Thank you very much.
Okay. Yeah, thank you, Hanna.
The next question comes from Andreas Koski from BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.
Thank you. And good morning, Ole. Good morning, Sylvain.
Good morning.
A couple of questions from me as well. So firstly, a follow-up on construction because you talk about looking at Q3 and Q4 as sort of an average for what we should expect in 2024. So I get to an average order number of around SEK 400 million, which on an annualized basis is SEK 1.6 billion. Is that sort of what you expect in 2024, or how should we read your comments around this?
Yeah, you have calculated very specifically there, Andreas.
But I say more, you should look at quarter three when you look at quarter four so you get an understanding. If you look full year, this business has held up quite well. And I think that's also what we expect in 2024. It's not a year where we expect a lot of growth, but for construction with these challenging market conditions, yeah, but to be more in line with maybe what we have seen in 2023. Yeah, understood. And for the group, do you think the order book that you sit on gives support for you to reach SEK 7 billion or more in sales also in 2024? I think the order book is solid as we see it now. We don't see any risk or anything on there.
Still, I expect that the organization will continue to work in all aspects and that we also will take a lot of orders in 2024. So I don't expect that 2024 should be very fundamentally different than 2023 from a market condition perspective. And then we have had something which has been very beneficial to we have seen very strong effects on wind this year. I don't expect the same type of positive effect next year or this year, but I expect the wind to hold up very well. I expect the industry to continue to develop very well. HSPS has had their all-time high this year. You can't expect maybe that they will have similar next year, but that it's no reason why this should not continue to do well for us. It's a resilient, good business. Construction, we have talked about.
I also expect that with our model, et cetera, that when we have done what we have done in 2023, that we should be able to do the same thing in 2024, or we are even better in 2024 with everything. And facade access, it's lumpy. But you see quarter four now that even though in a challenging market, we take a lot of opportunities or orders, we also continue to work in new areas, open new doors we haven't been before. So if some are a little bit more difficult, maybe in other places, we open new doors. So I expect the group to develop in 2024.
Understood. And the balance sheet is now in a better shape again after your strong cash flow generation and you're now looking for new M&A opportunities.
Can we even expect larger deals if you are able to find any in 2024, or is it more about bolt-ons that you are looking at?
I don't think that we should not larger deals in the sense of Tractel and so forth. We do not have on the agenda. But absolutely, M&A is on the agenda. And we now have two persons working full-time on this going forward. So I see this as an important part of the strategy. It's first and foremost, nice bolt-ons on the product side, on the service side, on technology, et cetera. But of course, some of these are also a little bit bigger. You have all type of sizes. And then it's more a question of what we come to the end with, I think, in this sense. So yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
And then lastly, why have you stopped providing EBITDA bridges for the different businesses? I mean, it's been helpful for us in the past to be able to follow the underlying development of the different businesses.
I'm not sure where we have taken something out that yeah. Where? Or maybe you can address that to Sylvain because it's not the intention to reduce anything. So maybe I'll decide to take that with Sylvain and you yeah.
I will do that.
Thank you.
And then we will look into if there is something we have missed here or yeah, that shouldn't be something we want to. We're actually working on the opposite. What can we improve, and how more visibility can we start to provide in the report also from 2024 and onwards then? Okay. So then I can hope it will be back in Q1.
Perfect. Thank you very much, Ole. Yeah. Thank you.
Yeah.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad.
Yeah, I think so if I don't hear any more questions, I should maybe go from the one that I have online here. So I start off with some of those. So the first question, can you expand on what segments were main drivers behind the strong industrial order intake in Q4? And basically, it's coming a little bit from everywhere, but we remain to have strong order intake in oil and gas and marine. We have ship-to-shore cranes. And yeah, and you saw some of the examples, actually, that I had here. So we pick up orders everywhere, both in industries and geographies.
So it's a little bit also hard to really pinpoint which would give. I think it's more to talk about that we are better everywhere. Then another question in industrial, large growth orders for new equipment and in new areas. Yeah. No, okay. So this is the same question, which I already answered. Then next, strong balance sheet and slowdown in the economy. Is there more opportunities for acquisitions out there now at attractive prices? Yes. As I said, this acquisition will be an important part. I think this market improves again overall. I don't see an issue to find targets. And we work from our end, and they come to us. And we will not acquire if they are not at meaningful margins. But I don't foresee now that that's a big issue as I see it today when we are working on this.
Then what gross margin do you think you need to generate 18% EBITDA margin? So yeah, gross margin is one of maybe or the most important parameter, I think, on driving industrial business or maybe any type of business. So of course, that's a very important part for us. So we do expect gross margin to improve going forward, but it's also about SG&A. But I can't give you an exact figure. We will not provide that. But yeah, I don't know, Sylvain, if you want to.
No, I think it's I just wanted to add one comment which relates as well to the previous questions which you didn't answer, Ole. We work on our SG&A. We work on the gross margin. So we have projects on both fronts, and that is very important. And some of those projects are related to the Tractel integration.
You may remember we announced some cost synergies between Tractel and Alimak, and we still stand behind the numbers we announced a bit more than one year ago. So it's not going to be one major factor, but it's an addition of projects. And of course, as reminded by one of the person who asked the question, the improvement in facade access margin will contribute to it as well.
Yeah. Maybe also take the next question about other operating expenses that were yeah.
Yes, I think I mean, if you take I mean, SG&A for the group, and we look more on an aggregated basis because, as you may remember, Tractel was acquired in November 2022. So if you look at the aggregated performance of Alimak plus Tractel in the quarter versus Q4 2022, SG&A as a percentage of revenue came down.
So we don't think there is any, I mean, SG&A are not drifting. We are working on this. It has actually come down on an aggregated basis.
Then we have a question. What are the key drivers to make your service offering even better? And it's multiple things. Like always, we work on our solutions. So basically, our offering, what type of services do we offer? We work on the digitalization piece, which is a very important part of increasing our service presence and giving both service to our customers but also for us, generate opportunities. The health and safety aspect is, of course, an important part. In some countries, there are requirements that installers need to be certified and trained by us. In many markets, it's not.
So that's an element that we are pushing and working with stakeholders to ensure that these type of procedures are there because it's a very important part in how you operate and run these machines. And it's also about getting more people on board, expand on our footprint for our services. So it's multiple things that we are working on, and this is being worked on in each division themselves. They understand the market they operate in the best and develop these things as best for each division. Next, do you see even more potential to improve working capital in 2024? And do you believe you can operate Alimak with a negative working capital in the future? Maybe it's a good question for you.
To answer as a second question, I think it's unrealistic to foresee a negative working capital in the future for Alimak, given the nature of our operations. We can have a slim working capital in facade access because it's a project business, but in other industrial businesses, that is not realistic to expect that. Can we improve further? Yes, we are working on it. As I said, 2023 was a bit exceptional, in particular because we had some reversal from 2022, but we still see some potential, and we'll be working on that this year, for sure. If we can achieve it, we will achieve it because we would, of course, do what we can to reduce this every day. But it's not realistic to believe it's negative in the foreseeable future.
Then next question. What key qualitative measures do management team look at to determine if our company is on the right path? Yeah, of course, we do everything. It's all these key metrics. We have an extensive follow-up of each division on a monthly basis where we look at the full set of KPIs: product development, service, geographies. Yeah. So it's a long list of measures. And then it's, of course, also the monthly follow-up of activities and strategies and everything happening there. It's a lot of focus on the culture and on people to ensure that we have a setup which is supporting the organizational structure that we are having, a decentralized organization where people are expected to take accountability and responsibility and drive things forward for them for what they are responsible for. So we work on all these aspects all the time.
I think clearly, this is why we have lifted the group. That's why, since we announced this New Height strategy, we have delivered, and we are moving the group forward every day and every year. Absolutely important. I think that was it. Yeah. That was the questions I have here. With that, I would like to thank you for good questions and for attending. Again, thank the Alimak team for delivering a solid quarter and a great year. Thank you. Until next time.