Hi, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of the first quarter results for Alleima. My name is Emelie Alm, and I am Head of Investor Relations. I'm joined here in the room today by Göran Björkman, President and CEO, and also by Olof Bengtsson, CFO. Göran and Olof will take you through our results, and we will then have a Q&A session. You can ask your questions through the conference call, and you can also write them in the field below the webcast. You can also download the presentation from alleima.com. As always, safety is a top priority for us, and I trust that you are safe now and that you know the safety routines of where you are located. With that, I would like to hand over to you, Göran.
Also from my side, welcome to this presentation of Alleima quarter one. Well, I think we have a solid start of the year, and I'm pleased with our performance. Let me take you through the quarter one highlights. We have an order intake growth of 6% if I exclude major orders, and our backlog continued to grow in the quarter. We have a continued positive oil and gas momentum and demand across the board. Other contributors are chemical and petrochemical, industrial heating, to name a few. Slightly positive sequential develop of the low refined products. This is something we talked about in Q4, that they were down. They are down year-over-year, but sequentially improved. I think that is important. We see weakened demand for consumer segment and Strip. Come back to that.
Revenues grew 12% with a positive mix and again supported by oil and gas, chemical, petrochemical, industrial heating, and also medical. We also improved our earnings. Adjusted EBIT margin of 10.1% versus 9.1% last year. This comes through high revenues and improved product mix. Also this quarter, we have successfully increased our prices to offset the cost inflation, and we had the solid cash flow. Also to give a few comments on our strategy, where I think we continue to execute on the strategy. Today, Kanthal announced a strategic partnership to expand the heating offering. We also have had several orders to capitalize on the green transition. Now in April, we announced the acquisition of the production facility, Söderfors Steel, and that is to support growth in medical and aerospace.
Looking at sustainability, I start with the one that I'm not pleased with, and that is the safety development. It is, we see a negative trend, if I look on a more long-term perspective, I think the problem is that we don't. I mean, we've been flattish for a number of years, and that is not good enough. We are now taking actions to improve. Looking at recycled steel, it improved for the 12-month rolling period but declined slightly from last quarter. That is due to product mix, where we, I mean, we had to have a higher share of virgin materials for the mix. We were also continuing to implement buyback programs for, with the customers. Greenhouse gases emissions are, we are in the low range compared to our peers.
Despite already one of the lowest emitters in this industry, we can always improve. You can see we have a nice trend on that. Share of female manager increased if I compare versus quarter one last year, we're now on 22.4%. It declines slightly compared to previous quarter as a consequence of total number of managers. Sustainability is not only about our own operation. It's a lot to do with how we act on the market. We continue to contribute to the sustainability of our customers and other stakeholders through our product offering. Kanthal is targeting growth in segments where industrial heating solutions are contributing to customers' reduction of CO2 emissions, that enables the green transition.
We have received several orders for the industrial heating solutions, and that is in applications like solar, lithium-ion, battery manufacturing, and also downstream steel. This, of course, crucial components for their ability to drive the green transition in their part of the industry. Gerling, that's an acquisition that was made last year. They are targeting the fast-developing hydrogen market, and we have secured yet another frame agreement for high-pressure tubes that will be used to support the build-out of vital infrastructure for hydrogen gas refueling stations in Europe. Surface technology, that business continued its positive development, and deliveries for pre-coated strip to be used for stationary power projects ramped up during the quarter. This is growing in line with the commercialization of that industry.
I mentioned the beginning a couple of activities to deliver on a strategy. We acquired Söderfors. The acquisition is to support our plans to grow the medical and aerospace business. For that, we need the capability of making small-sized bars. We have been looking at different alternatives to do that and now come to conclusions that the best alternative is to buy Söderfors Steel. It is the production capability that made us decide to make this acquisition. Today, Kanthal announced that they started up a strategic partnership with the company Rath. I think we complement each other. Kanthal leading in heating and Rath leading in insulation. Together we will bring sort of the broadest range of sustainable industry heating solutions to the market.
Let's look at the market development and go through all our segments. I think demand during the quarter, I mean, it noted a sequential improvement in most customer segments, while it declined compared to last year for parts of the business. In total, we are well-positioned and long-term trends and underlying tailwinds are offsetting uncertainties in the market environment. We have a positive mix in our growing backlog. Demand in Europe was positive, North America was flat, and if you exclude major orders, while Asia was down, mainly explained by higher comparables, mainly in the energy segments. Quarter one last year was a strong order intake quarter, so overall high comparables. I think from that sense, a solid performance. Quarter two last year was the best quarter ever in terms of order intake.
Looking ahead, we're meeting even higher comparables. Let's start to look at the short- cycle, low- refined products. They were down year-on-year, but slightly up sequentially for the group. If we look at industrial, it is a decrease in Asia, North America, but up sequentially and still positive in Europe. It's Kanthal and Tube that is driving the development in this segment. Consumer, negative, especially in white goods and for compressor valve steel, which is hurting then Strip mostly, and we have a sharp decline in Strip. While we can see, for instance, in application wiring Kanthal, that is also in the consumer segment, they were down year-on-year, but slightly positive quarter-over-quarter. Oil and gas, I mean, investments continue to materialize. We had both OCTG and umbilical orders, and we have a continued solid project list.
Chemical and petrochemical application tubing is positive in all regions, but mainly driven by Europe and Asia. Industrial heating, we see solid development with strong underlying momentum in end customer segments like semicon, metal, solar, glass, steel, many sub-segments needing sort of electrification. Transportation, strong aerospace, particularly titanium tubing for hydraulic systems. Medical, we have a strong positive underlying development. However, timing effects in the quarter are somewhat related to the major order we received in quarter four last year. Hydrogen and renewables, still a small segment, but we have a strong order intake growth in the quarter, positive trend, and we are finding new opportunities all the time. The positive development was mainly related to hydrogen in the quarter. Again, we have a diverse customer segment exposure, and that is clearly one of our strengths.
We have a good momentum and sequentially improvements. Remember, the high comparables we will meet in the next quarter. Let's look into order intake and revenue a little bit more in detail. The order intake is strong. We have an order intake growth of 6% if we look at the rolling 12-month period. In the quarter, we had a positive organic order intake of 6% when we exclude major orders. It was SEK 1.3 billion last year related to, well, power generation and oil and gas. This quarter, we had two major OCTG orders with a total value about SEK 880 million. The total order intake was SEK 6.4 billion. Organic revenue grew 12%. Total revenue approximately SEK 5.4 billion.
And book-to-bill 119% in quarter one and 115% rolling 12 months. Well above 100, and our backlog remains solid, and it's growing. Even more in detail, looking at the components of the top line. Rolling 12 months order intake trend is upwards. That's the orange line. This means that we are growing our backlog. Year-on-year bars for order intake are getting smaller, but that is of course because we're meeting higher comparables. Slightly lower volumes compared to the corresponding port period last year, but that is supported by pricing, ASC charges, and also positive product mix. We also see tailwind from currency. We'll also get into more of the details later on. Overall, organically, strong development both for orders and for revenue. Some more details on earnings.
Adjusted EBIT increased by 48% to SEK 567 million. Margins on 10.5%. It was 9.1% last year. It's supported by higher revenues, favorable product mix. Currency had a positive impact of about SEK 80 million. ALLEI also diluting, so it's diluted by roughly 0.9%. Price increases are offsetting cost inflation. We continue to have a positive effect from that. Even though now energy prices are more in control. We see a result of passing on less energy surcharges to our customers then, of course. However, general inflation has increased. To match this, we have been increasing our base prices, and we've done that in a successful way. This is something I am very pleased with.
Maybe it will be little more difficult, but we're still managing this, and we have, of course, then a good pricing in our order backlog. As everyone else, we are also affected by higher cost, and we are dependent on the cost inflation, but we're still positive. Let's see. I think we could have a slight impact on margins short term. The reported EBITDA SEK 1 billion, including metal prices effects of SEK 479 million, and we had a free operating cash flow of SEK 404 million. Tube. Tube is performing well. It shows good momentum. Organic order intake of +16%, excluding major orders. That is strong across the board. Strong oil and gas momentum for OCTG and umbilicals, and where we booked two major OCTG orders, totally SEK 882 million.
Also high order intake in the chemical and petrochemical and in aerospace. Year-over-year decline for mining, construction, and industrial, we can see a positive sequential development for the lower refined products, which is good to see. Organic revenue, 14%, mainly driven by oil and gas and chemical and petrochemical segments. Adjusted margin on 10.7% despite some margin dilution from alloys. This is supported by high revenues, positive product mix, price increases compensate for cost inflation, and currency had a positive effect on roughly SEK 61 million year-over-year. To comment there, strategy execution, as I said before, in April now, we have signed an agreement to acquire a production facility, and that will be organized in the Tube division. We also received orders for high-pressure tubing to support out the build of hydrogen gas refueling stations in Europe.
We also during the quarter has inaugurated a new application tubing factory on our Mehsana site in India. Kanthal.Ka nthal continued to see a strong development. They are clearly benefiting from both electrification and the medical trends. Organic order intake of minus 2% in the quarter. This is impacted by timing of orders in the medical segment, but overall a solid demand. Major orders of SEK 350 million in Q4 impacting the quarter, but which will also impact comparables going forward. Positive development for industrial heating segment related to heating elements for, as I said before, semiconductors, solar glass, and other subsegments. Organic order intake declined for heating materials due to lower demand for appliance wire for white goods, and boiler ignitors for the consumer segment, but was up sequentially.
Organic revenue growth of 11%, raw-based positive development across division in all regions. Strong adjusted EBIT on 16.4%, increased revenues, and strong product mix supporting. Also, price increases to compensate for inflation. Kanthal had a positive currency effect of roughly SEK 18 million year-over-year. They, as I said before, they have announced today that they expand their offering with industrial heating through a strategic partnership with the company Rath. Strip have had challenges in the quarter. They have seen a continued weakening demand for stainless compressor steel and consumer-related goods, upper than we expected. We noted a decline in all regions, but it's mainly visible in Asia, where we have a large part of the compressor steel business.
It is a decline from high comparables. Orders are now on lower volumes, nothing that we can neglect. We are taking it seriously, and we're acting with mitigating actions to which I will come back to soon. Organic revenue growth of 1%, we are delivering from the backlog with positive contribution from razor blades and knife steel to the consumer segment. Also, pre-coated strip steel for stationary power projects in the hydrogen and renewable energy segment performed well. Adjusted EBIT margin of 9.7%, that's a decline from last year. We are noticing underabsorption effects from lower volumes. When we are producing, there was a higher cost due to inflation, hard to manage in the short term. We have price increases, which is part of that mitigating the other problems.
We are not getting any real leverage from this now. Even though this decline of volumes, I mean, it's not having a significant impact on the group, we need to protect the division's profitability going forward. We are now taking actions to adjust capacity and reduce cost, and we're doing that by using flexibility. Strip has already reduced their temp workers, and now we are utilizing the flexibility we have on the Sandviken side. What I mean with that is that the Tube division is now supporting Strip division. I think that's an excellent cooperation. Looking at some new launches, we have launched the first large-scale manufacture of Damascus steel. Samples are now with several potential customers, and we are working on commercialization of this product. Leave it over to you, Olof.
Thank you, Göran. If we go to the financial summary then and start in the upper right-hand corner of the slide, we see the breakdown of the total growth. Order intake growing by 7% and revenues by a good 27%. Splitting it up, organic growth of -5% on the order intake. As Göran just mentioned, if we take out the major orders in the two periods we're comparing, we arrive at a good 6%+. Also on a rolling 12-month basis, which is our preferred way of viewing order intake, we are also at a good 6%.
While revenues growing by organically 12%, obviously having a good and growing backlog structure, a small acquisition in Germany contributing, currency, good tailwind from a weak krona, and alloys, high metal prices during the quarter, molybdenum and nickel, is behind this, and so 7% and 10% respectively, on impact on the growth. If we just to comment on the alloy surcharge, if we look ahead into the next quarter, if you remember last year in Q2 2022, we had very high metal prices, especially nickel prices. Looking ahead, we think that this surcharge will turn neutral or even slightly negative in coming into that quarter.
Going further down the income statement, we see a 10.5% adjusted EBIT versus 9.1% last year. In absolute terms, we are increasing by 48%. A very high positive metal price effect in the quarter takes our reported EBIT to just above SEK 1 billion. That corresponds to a margin of 19.4%, also an increase from last year. Net financial items very close to zero. We have, as I will come back to, no debt at the moment. Further down, normalized tax rate of close to 23%, a little bit below the guidance. NWC, I will also come back to that, 32% of revenues. A good free operating cash flow in the quarter.
Some seasonal buildup of stock, but a lot less than last year. Also good collections made in the divisions. ROCE, if we look at the capital employed, and if we take out the cash, we are seeing a return of just above 16%. Finally, looking at the earnings per share, and the adjusted earnings per share is SEK 1.75, and that's an increase by 28% from last year. We just go to the bridge on the next slide, that takes us from the SEK 384 million in adjusted EBIT last year to SEK 567 million this year. SEK 102 million, that is what we call organic, coming mainly from price and mix.
Also some help from currencies, as I mentioned before, around SEK 80 million. A tiny contribution from an acquisition. It's a net number, actually the gross contribution is a SEK 2 million-SEK 3 million higher. We are also absorbing some M&A costs in the period. This takes the leverage or the operating leverage to 20%, which we think is good. Going down to capital efficiency, the Net Working Capital, SEK 7.2 billion, end of the quarter, very much impacted by high metal prices in our inventories. Inventories stood at SEK 8.3 billion at the end of the quarter. There is, as I mentioned, some seasonal buildup, as we are normally building stocks for the summer stops, starting in late Q1 and then going into Q2.
We have very focused work in the divisions on keeping the volumes and tones down as much as possible, it's masked by the higher metal prices in this quarter. I mentioned the accounts receivables, good job done there by the divisions, good control. DSOs are going down and overdues are also going down. If we take a look at the capital employed, if we take out the cash and focus more on the operating assets and liabilities, we see a good 16% return. We have about SEK 10 billion of fixed assets on our books. Cash flow, next slide.
If we focus this, we can see that we generate around, focus on the table, around SEK 1.3 billion in EBITDA, including the metal effects. We absorb about SEK 700 billion in inventories, and most of that is then the metal prices. Good performance on the receivables, then spend around SEK 116 million on CapEx, up from last year, back to a more normalized level this year. We arrive at around SEK 400 million in free cash flow. That's, if you just take it out of the box, around 32% cash conversion, simplified.
We think that that is okay, given the high metal prices and the seasonal buildup that we normally have this time of the year. If we were to look further down the cash flow statement, you would see tax payments of SEK 189 million coming mainly from Sweden. We have some minor financial items adding roughly SEK +20 million. That takes our net debt change to SEK 277 million. That takes me to the next slide, which is the net debt. Here you see the split of the net debt, starting from the left then we have a net pension liability of SEK 461 million that comes mainly from Sweden. Leasing liabilities of close to SEK 400 million, that's capitalized according to IFRS 16.
A cash position of SEK 1.1 billion takes the net to SEK 256 million, which is cash position. We have no debt. All the gearing ratios are of course very close to zero, and this is obviously far below our capital structure target. The guidance, how well did we succeed with the guidance last quarter for this quarter? CapEx, the outcome in the first quarter was SEK 116 million. The guidance is still SEK 800 million for the full year. It can vary quite a lot between the different quarters, but we stick to the guidance. The currency effects are net SEK 80 million.
We guided for SEK 100 million for the translation and transaction, fairly close, I would say. Metal price effect a bit above the SEK 300 million that we guided for. This comes mainly from the fact that actually both nickel and molybdenum was quite volatile in the quarter. If you look at the moly price, it actually doubled during the quarter. It's normally around between $15-$20 per pound, and it went up to, I think, $36 per pound. The nickel price went from around $25,000 per ton, up to more than $30,000 per ton. Both metals have come down in price at the end of the quarter.
Tax rates, 22.9 versus our guidance, a bit below the guidance. If we go to the Q2 guidance, CapEx, as I just mentioned, we stick to our forecast of SEK 800 million, based on the currency rates at the end of March. We think that we estimate that the transaction and translation currency effects will be around plus SEK 100 million in the second quarter. Metal prices, always difficult to predict, but based on the prices we've seen at the end of the quarter, we believe that remembering that we had very high metal prices coming into the quarter, we think that we are at SEK -200 million impact for the second quarter.
Again, normalized tax rate, we stick to our prediction there as well. I think that's all from me. Back to you, Göran.
Thank you, Olof. Outlook for the second quarter. I mean, we have a positive momentum in most of our customer segments, and I think the underlying trends are expected to mitigate the impact from other uncertainties in the macroeconomic environment. However, with continued caution regarding the impact from cost inflation, demand is expected to remain subdued for both the industrial and the consumer segments in the near term. Going into the second quarter, we do that with the high comparables from the corresponding quarter in the preceding year. Product mix expected to be similar compared to the first quarter. Also, as you know, cash flow is normally lower in the first half of the year compared with the second half of the year. We should make a total summary then. I mean, I'm very pleased with our performance in the quarter.
We are executing on our strategy, and I think we are clearly heading in the right direction. We saw improved market sentiments. We have a growing backlog. We continue to have successful price execution. Of course, then continued high inflation as well. We have a strong financial position and a net cash position. Sustainability continue to generate business for us. I think we have consistent strategy execution.
Thank you, Göran and Olof. It's now time to start the Q&A session. Again, you can write your questions in the, in the webcast, or you can ask them on the conference call. Operator, do we have any questions from the call?
We will now begin the question- and- answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star one on the touch-tone telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered a queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star two. Participants are requested to use only hands if you're asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star one at this time. The first question comes from Patrick Mann from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon team, and thank you very much for the presentation. I've got a couple of questions. Maybe I'll just take them one by one. The first one is, you know, your margin improved, the adjusted EBIT margin improved year-on-year, but kind of flattish versus the fourth quarter. How should we think about this 10.5%? How does it progress from here over the rest of the year, given what visibility you have at this point? That's the first question. Thank you.
I mean, I think what has improved versus last year is product mix, price versus inflation. As I just said, looking at quarter two, we foresee that the product mix will be the same. Referring to fourth quarter, fourth quarter was also good product mix. I don't see a big change in product mix between the fourth and the first quarter. Hope that answers the question.
Yes. I suppose I'm thinking more about how does that 10.5% adjusted EBIT margin progress from here. Is it, is it all product mix? Should we assume, you know, 10.5% is a good margin level for your level of activity going forward? Or do you think you could see some margin expansion over the balance of or into the second quarter?
Normally, we don't speculate for the full year, we don't give forecasts. I mean, the market is still positive for us. It's more price and mix than it's volume. I think, I mean, the improvement versus quarter one last year is probably sustainable. However, inflation will start to be a larger problem going forward, I think, even though we've been successful with price increases so far.
Okay. Got it. I suppose it also depends on each division, or as well. Then the other question is, I mean, just looking, you obviously in a very strong financial position from a balance sheet side, net cash. I think your gross cash is now, you know, SEK 1.1 billion. How are you planning to allocate this capital, kind of going forward? Just remind us of your capital allocation policy. Thanks.
We have a growth strategy. I think we've been clear on segments where we prioritize growth. That is in medical, it's in chemical and petrochemical, it is in industrial heating, and it's in renewable and hydrogen. Of course, we're gonna use capital mainly for organic growth, so growth investments. I mean, I mentioned one inauguration of a new production line in India. That's a CapEx investment. Also, of course, doing complementary acquisitions. If you look last year, one was buying out a JV partner, the two other two acquisitions last year was one in medical, one in renewable. This year, we're done. Soon it needs to be closed as well.
The third, the Porsche acquisition, where it's focusing both the medical business and the aerospace business. That is how we will act. Of course, yes, the balance sheet is strong. I think that's good.
Okay. Brilliant. I'll go back into the queue in case I don't wanna hog all the time. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Fredrik Agardh from SEB. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you very much. Hello, everyone. I have a question continuing on the margin. Looking at the Tube division, I get an operating leverage or a drop through 14%, which looks to be quite low given the 14% organic top line growth. Could you give us an explanation to this? Is this driven by the fact that it's mainly price in that, or is there any other good explanation? Also, how should we look upon leverage on that, on the incremental volumes that you're getting now going forward?
What's the leverage?
Sorry?
Sorry. Can you re-
Fredrik, can you repeat?
Yeah. Repeat that, please.
The leverage.
Yeah. Well, the, when I look at the organic drop-through, I get 14%, approximately in the Tube division, which given the fact that you had 14% organic, revenue increase, it seems quite low. I mean, in my calculations, it's significantly lower than you've shown in the past quarters. Is there any reason to why you didn't get more, more margin through or more earnings through given the rising top line?
Not really, no.
I mean, that one part, this is comparing this quarter with last quarter, with the quarter last year. We see in one part of the business, which is power gen, where we had really, really good project orders delivered last year with good pricing. This year it's lower. Part of that is a mix change within one segment. It is power gen. That is the main explanation because I agree with you, 14% is in the low range. You could expect higher on Tube division.
Okay. If we just, I'm saying you don't wanna comment on margins, but if we just look at the dynamics and taking the adjusted EBIT that we have in this quarter and roll that forward, you say that we have good sequential demand, or at least it's not falling. We should have slightly higher FX impact. That means we should make a bit more in EBIT in the second quarter, adjusted all else equal, unless we see some sort of a decline in volume that we don't, do not see today. Is that a fair assumption?
You know that I don't say yes or no to that. I think, I mean, it's not such wrong assumption. I think if we continue with the positive mix, I think there is one negative part in the mix, and that is the business that is down in Strip. Compressor steel is a very sort of high margined product. We have good pricing our order stock. I think a lot has to do with how inflation is developing.
Okay. And the, and I guess the big orders you've been taking that are mix positive, the backlog you have, that's a sort of fairly backend loaded story for this year in terms of delivery.
Absolutely. I mean, if you look at the large orders, both in umbilicals and in OCTG, they are now into 2024.
Okay. That's fair. Just one last question before I leave. Do you think the downturn in Strip, is that inventory driven or does that reflect the actual underlying demand contraction?
I think it's a combination. I think, if I stay on that note, I may not make a little bit longer answer. I think we saw a decline, I mean, it was not strong in quarter four, and it was also weak in the beginning of this year. I mean, a lot of this business is in China. Not China for China, but our customers are in China. A little bit about the Chinese New Year. Later in the quarter, I would say that we were a little bit surprised that it didn't that it continued so bad. That is why we now are executing the changes that we need to do.
Okay. It is a pretty poor underlying demand story at least.
Yeah. I mean, all in all, I think, I mean, if you compare a year ago, with all the uncertainties and problems with transports, et cetera, I think some customers are more sort of home safe now from their own inventory point of view. Lead times are shorter, so I don't think they sort of overbook as they maybe did a year ago to be on the safe side. I think from that sense, it is some stock adjustments at the customer side.
Okay. that's fine. Thanks. Yeah.
Thanks, Fredrik.
The next question comes from Igor Tubic from Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and thank you for your presentation. I just wanted to ask you, because you mentioned a lot about the cost inflation. Can you give some more flavor about what type of cost you are continuing to see increasing?
Yeah. I mean, if I compare a year ago, I think we were mostly nervous about energy and also transport costs. I think energy, and I think many of us were nervous what's gonna happen in Europe during the winter. That came out better. Energy prices are still on the high side, but more in control. What we can see is that, I would say the more general inflation is now higher, direct or indirectly impacted by salary increases and so on. That is what we see.
Okay. Okay, but didn't you mention that you have energy surcharges now?
Yeah. We have energy surcharges, but if the energy costs go down, those charges go down. We don't have general inflation surcharges, so to say. That wouldn't we need to work with our base prices. I think the inflation has changed a little bit. Less energy and more general inflation.
Okay. Thank you. I don't know, you maybe mentioned it before, but can you give us some sort of outlook for the Q2 when it comes to the different regions for North America, Europe, and Asia?
Little bit difficult to say, but I can comment a little bit how it looks now. I don't foresee any big changes. I think, to some extent, little bit surprised how strong Europe came out in the quarter. As always, we need to exclude major orders. If I exclude major orders, Europe was actually double-digit order take growth in the quarter. Asia, there we had strong comparables, mainly the energy segment, that brought them down. If I look on the, I should say the normal regional business we're doing, like application tube, for instance, that continued to be very strong. Of course, Strip has a negative impact on Asia, and that is probably will continue then. North America, more flat. Oil and gas, positive.
Chemical and petrochemical, flattish. While industrial is negative. I think that is my best assumption also in the near term then.
Okay, thank you. That was all from me.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one. We have a follow-up question from Mr. Patrick Mann from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Thanks, very much. Just wanted to go to working capital. We obviously had quite a big build in the first quarter, and you said that the, you know, the first half of the year is usually seasonal working capital build and then unwind into the second half of the year. I'm just wondering, with some of the alloy prices having come down in the quarter, how do you see the second quarter? You know, does it partially reverse first quarter, or do you still expect to build into the second quarter? Thanks.
It's Olof here. I think you'll see some seasonal build-up, I mean, in general of the stocks before the summer stock. I think we'll see that this year again as normal. Metal prices are coming down, but it takes a little bit of a while before it works through the inventories. If prices come down, stocks will come down as well in value, even though, so to say, the tonnage goes up. Of course, that has an opposite effect.
Sure. Probably still volume impact outweighing price in the second quarter?
Sorry, what did you say? Again.
Probably, you know, volume impact will be higher than will add to working capital by more than price subtracts to working capital in the second quarter.
Yeah. I would say that's quite difficult to say, but probably less than last year. I mean, if you remember last year, the peak in prices in combination with a normal seasonal build-up. We should see less, touch wood, of course, in metal prices. We should see less of an impact this year. Also, we have better controls over our inventories, I would say.
Okay. Thanks very much.
Thank you, Patrick. I think that was the last question from the conference call. With that, thank you all for listening, and we are looking forward to meet some of you at our upcoming roadshow. With that, thank you and goodbye.
Thank you.
Thank you.