Thank you. Could you please go to slide two? First, I would like to say welcome to our web meeting, presenting our financial report for the shortened financial year 2020. Together with my colleagues, Niklas, Executive Vice President, and Claes, Business Area Manager. We go to slide four, I'll give you some highlights. The pandemic have had effect on the group's operations during 2020, and also, of course, in the third quarter, even though the sales were recovered somewhat during the last quarter.
Actions have been taken to mitigate the negative effects of lower demand in both business areas, where business area components and services managed to maintain a stable profit development throughout the whole year. The integration between TOOLS and Swedol continues to according to plan, with store and purchasing coordination, as well as starting the implementation of own brands in the business area.
The pandemic, we'd like to continue to affect the groups in the coming months, and we carefully follow development and take actions accordingly, even though the group's financial position remains strong, even after the acquisitions we made in February. We go to slide five. I hand over to Clein.
Thank you. I say welcome to Business Area TOOLS, consumables, workwear, and protective equipment. As we communicated earlier, we had a decreasing sale during 2020, and it was also decreasing in the last quarter of 2020, but less bad. Of course, we were affected, as I've said, by COVID-19, but we also have our own internal issues we need to address.
A positive thing for us was at the end of the year, we got some colder and snowier weather, which is helpful for us, especially with our workwear collection. EBITDA ended up at SEK 164 compared to SEK 178 in the quarter, and an EBITA margin of 7.3% instead of 7% compared to 7.6%. The integration of our businesses is continuing according to plan.
Our new organization is in place, as you know, as of close to October. We had a quarter to practice to work in the new structure, so we can hit the floor running first of January this year, as we have done. We are launching our own brands into the tools system. First out is our Gesto shoes, high quality shoes at a little lower price point.
We are co-locating stores according to plan. Six stores, we have them finalized now, and we have some around 25 yet to come. We are continuing our integration program, and we are developing our and developing our business at the same time, and we are building a stable business for the future. Now to slide six, and back to you, Ulf.
Thank you, Clein. Some highlights of components and services. Of course, the sales in the business area decreased also in the quarter, around 10%, and 12% for the year. Of course, affected by Corona as well as weaker summer months, but demand from our industrial customers recovered gradually during the last quarter, as I mentioned before. Measures to improve cost efficiency had a positive effect on the contribution ratios and operating profit during the quarter and the year. Our focus has been on profitable growth, both organic and acquired.
The acquisition of SKF's spindle service operations in Sweden is now integrated in Rörick, and was followed by four corporate acquisitions, with a total turnover of SEK 285 million, and that was concluded after the end of the financial year.
The acquisitions of three electromechanical workshops from Assemblin, former NEA and Mekano, with their presence in Helsingborg, Malmö, Halmstad, and Gothenburg, strengthen our position within industrial services. Our latest acquisition was Öbergs in Karlstad, which is a competent supplier of pneumatics, as well as industrial components. Öbergs will be an excellent complement to ETAB, which is our specialist in hydraulics in the group. We go to slide seven, see if I combine the total.
The general demand, as I mentioned, has been affected in the Nordic region, but of course, with some variation between different customer segments and countries. In total for the group, the net sales decreased by 7% during the shortened financial year compared with last year. The pandemic is considered to be the main reason for the negative sales development, but also in conjunction with weak summer months.
Measures have been taken to increase margin, and that has resulted in stable earnings and also in somewhat okay development for protective equipment. We will continue to work with initiatives to increase sales efficiency in order to improve the profit development. In total, for the financial year, EBITDA decreased by 12% for the group.
One of our main focus areas is continuously decreased funds tied up in working capital, and I'm very satisfied that the group's cash flows from operating activities was very, very strong during the year, in excess of 1 billion SEK. Our efforts to decrease working capital will continue. The board of directors proposes a dividend of 1.50 SEK per share for the shortened financial year.
This is a promised return to the company's dividend policy after last year's uncertainties for future development of the group, which resulted in no dividend being paid for 2020, in 2020. If we turn to slide eight, Niklas will give you some more about our good cash flow.
Thank you, Ulf. Looking at page, slide eight then. My name is Niklas Enmark, I'm CFO at Momentum Group. As Ulf mentioned, during this year, we have had a strong focus on the cash flow in the group, not least during the turbulent times that we have seen during this financial year. The emphasis has been on securing a strong liquidity situation and making sure that we don't take any unnecessary customer risks.
This is, of course, even more important now that we are a larger group after the Swedol acquisition and with a higher CapEx level than before. And as Ulf mentioned also, it is very positive to note that we ended the year with a very strong cash flow from operations during the last quarter, which is normally then a strong quarter cash flow-wise.
We had the cash flow from operations before changes in working capital of more than 300 million SEK, and for the full reporting period, 763 million SEK. Add to this a positive contribution from changes in working capital, both during the quarter and for the reporting period, meaning that for the first time, Momentum Group exceeded 1 billion SEK in cash flow from operations.
In all fairness, a part of that change is in working capital is of course, due to the decreased level of sales, thus reducing our accounts receivables by approximately 100 million SEK during the period. However, the largest change, positive to see, is that we have been able to reduce the inventory levels by some 170 million SEK during the period, despite the lower sales level.
I think this shows the strength of our business model and the corporate culture that we have. This actually mean that we have been able to increase our turnover of working capital to more than five times this last quarter. The IFRS 16 effect impacted the operating cash flow by some plus SEK 295 million for the period, and close to SEK 90 million for the quarter, which is then mitigated or reduced by the same amount in the cash flow from financing activities.
As I mentioned before, our level of CapEx is high today due to the Swedol acquisition. Of the CapEx during the period, the largest part has been attributed to the Örebro logistics facility that we now own. That investment phase is coming to completion during the first calendar quarter of this year.
However, we see that partly due to the strong cash flow that we have, we will keep up the momentum in our level of investments also going forward. However, for this year, 2021, 2021, the focus for the investment is to facilitate the realization of synergies in the integration of TOOLS and Swedol, aiming to consolidate and revamp a number of stores, establish the common IT platform, which after the start with Finland in this first quarter of this year, will continue with Sweden later on this year.
If you turn to slide nine, I will comment on some performance measures, for the rolling 12-month period. First, let me just highlight that some of these numbers that you see here with notes, are shown, including the Swedol acquisition for comparability reasons then.
Looking at the top line, our revenues stood at approximately SEK 9.2 billion for the last twelve months, including then Swedol. This is down 6% compared to the financial year of last year, also then pro forma, including Swedol. Despite this drop in sales, our EBITDA margins have been kept pretty stable.
This in turn is due to the fact that we have been able to decrease our cost base compared to last year, like for like, out of which around SEK 150 million is decreased in personnel expenses. Our financial cost position is strong in relation to EBITDA, and adjusted for IFRS 16 effect, our net debt to EBITDA stood at 1.8 by the end of the year.
Cash and cash equivalents, including unutilized granted credit facilities, total more than SEK 1.4 billion end of the period. Related to our other external financial objective, our return on equity was at 12%. This measure is, of course, affected by the restructuring reserve earlier on this year as well. Equity assets ratio was 39% at the end of the financial year. Handing back to you, Ulf.
Thank you, Niklas. Since we move on to slide 11. We will continue to focus on the three main areas: integration and merger of TOOLS and Swedol, continued development, and mitigate the effects of what happened in the market. And of course, the third, acquisition-driven growth in business area components and services. We have a strong financial position, and we are increasingly building a good pipeline in this business area. So, if we turn to slide 12, Clein will give you some notes about the integration.
Yeah, very good. Thank you, Ulf. Back to the Tools Consumables Workwear Protective Equipment. We established, we launched the new organization first of October, and now we also have, during the last quarter, carved out a common mission and vision for the business area going forward.
With that as a base, we have continued to work with what should our core values be, our common core values, so that we will start rolling out now together with a leadership training. We are so fully convinced that having our leaders with us in this, on this journey will be, will do the world of a difference. That is being rolled out now.
New ERP system for TOOLS Finland is planned to go live now in a couple of weeks, and Sweden on way to follow in 2022, next year. Local stores, as I said, is going just as planned. You see a couple of pictures there, how it could look from the external side from the shops, and it's worked well. Supplier and our assortment range, that work has been done, and we are or have concluded the negotiations with the suppliers, which has gone well.
And we're also now focusing on, as I said, we are not so happy with the sales development on large accounts in the industrial sector, and we have developed also a small services concept where you can store the consumables closer to the workplace.
You don't have to work so far to get your products. So that is being launched at the same time now. And as we said earlier, the private label is now being rolled out in the group, especially in the TOOLS. Logistics centers in Norway are now concluded. All the regional warehouses have been closed, and as Niklas touched, the Örebro extension is finalized. So now we have our 30,000 m² central warehouse in Örebro, while the Hisingen Backa, which came with the Grolls acquisition, is now closed. So over to page 13, and back to you, Ulf.
Thank you. Yes, what are we looking for in components and services? Well, the main focus is to grow, as I mentioned. We're looking for companies working with industrial components as well as industrial services, and our acquisition targets should be able to achieve long-term, sustainable profitability and growth. So slide 14, and so far, promising results. Based on this strategic focus, we have so far been able to add five interesting business with niche competencies and offerings, in industrial services as well as industrial components, with a total turnover of SEK 300 million.
So, if we go to slide 15, today, after the latest acquisition, the business area now have a substantial turnover in both our focus areas, industrial components, with some 1.1 billion SEK in annual revenue, and industrial services, with some SEK 400 million in annual revenue.
Our company's competencies and offerings will strengthen our market positions going forward, both individually and whenever to advantage for the customers and us combined, and the acquisition pipeline continues to look interesting for further development. So if you turn to slide 16. Before we open up the Q&A, as I've stated before, turbulent times call for a warm heart and a cold head. We intend to continue along the path we have established with a focus on earnings growth, which reduce funds tied up in working capital and corporate positions in order to increase profitability.
Our main responsibility is to focus on what we can affect in our daily operations, and the decentralized earnings responsibility entails. All in the Momentum Group will take the necessary steps to responsibly safeguard earnings, liquidity, and cash flows, to thereby strengthen conditions for the group and its employees over the long term. Our group structure, with two operational independent business areas, is creating new, interesting opportunities for the future and all of the employees. Thank you. Now we can take some Q&A.
Thank you. If you wish to ask an audio question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw from your question, please do so by pressing zero two to cancel. Once again, please press zero one on your telephone keypad if you wish to ask an audio question. There'll be a brief pause while we wait for questions to be registered. Our first question comes from Karl- Johan Bonnevier from DNB Markets. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. Congratulations to a good finish of the short fiscal year. Claes, I'd just like to start with getting a little better grasp on how you see your development given the market conditions out there.
It feels like if I was slightly more worried about market share loss during second quarter, it seems like you have recovered something of that in third quarter, and I appreciate there's a lot of moving parts in your internal integration and all these kinds of things . But how do you feel about your positioning in the market now when you end this quarter and going into 2021 compared to, I guess, the structure you inherited, say, two to three quarters ago?
It's exactly that's what we're focusing on. We have a good visibility where we are developing nicely and where we have the challenges, and we are focusing on getting all our businesses back on track. But, to the greatest extent, we have a good development, and we have a good product offering.
But we have a part of our business which has a decreasing sale , and it will take some time to move that, because you have lost contracts that needs to roll out through the books, and you need to fill up with new won contracts. So, you have a time issue there before it you can see an effect. But we are winning new contracts, but we also still have some effects of a previously lost contract.
In relation to market shares, it's also different if you compare with which part of the business you compare with. But within the industrial sector, you start to hear positive signals from the business, from our competitors. We also see an increased activity, but we are not where we would like to be, so that's why we are addressing that with great emphasis right now.
When you look at these six stores that you now have consolidated and the 25 to come, is there a great risk of losing local market share, or do you have a system to really try to capture the opportunity?
No, no, that is the very, very good part of this, since we have two slightly different business models, whereas Swedol was very shop-oriented sales, and TOOLS was very direct delivery-oriented, and the stores were more as a complement where the customer really needed something in a hurry locally. So, I don't see any risk that that would be any disturbance to the business locally, because the traffic in those stores that we have co-located from the TOOLS side has been very, very low.
So that's the brilliance of this setup, and it was much, much worse when we co-located Swedol and Grolls back in the days to different store concepts with a high traffic, high daily traffic. That is not the case with this setup.
Excellent. Now, that sounds promising. Niklas, you alluded to that, the business model worked nicely and we're giving this kind of working capital release you would expect with, say, low organic growth rate. Is there anything else that is helping you in the working capital that are more of a temporary nature, again, related to these kinds of government subsidy programs or whatever, that we should be aware of? Or is it a clean kind of work cash flow and working capital situation otherwise?
Good question. No, I would say that it's... I mean, what we saw during the year, of course, going back, was the first activity that we pursued was to reduce the purchasing. And then, of course, that reduced our accounts payables a lot. And what we hope for, of course, is to see the mitigating effect that we were actually done, of course, reducing the inventory levels. So, we see that there is a sort of a logical process in the reduction of the working capital.
So, I would say that the effects that we see are related to the activities that we have actually sort of pursued within the different businesses that we have. So, it's not sort of subsidized or in any way sort of influenced by any sort of contributions from state or whatever. So, the cash flow effect is what you see in the numbers. Yeah.
Excellent. That's what I love to hear. And finally, final one from me to... Looking at, it's an impressive kind of acquisition momentum you have presented here in February when you look at- when we look at it. I know you talked about the potential to maybe doubling the size of the, of the consumable service operation. Is that... Do you see the opportunity to maybe move that target closer in time? Or how do you see it, looking at the pipeline?
Well, it depends to. I mean, if we buy companies that have a turnover of SEK 50 million, it will be a larger amount, and every transaction takes the same time, if it's big or small. But I don't have really put the timeline on this. I just said that double the turnover would is my goal, and it's also what the board of directors want us to do.
So, I've not time-framed this, but let's just say that our ambition is to do one each quarter for a year. And it would take time due to the pandemic. It's harder to meet and greet people and companies. But we continuously try to visit companies every month to build up pipe and, of course, get to know people.
Excellent.
But for us to travel to Norway and Denmark and Finland now is unfortunately not able to do, and so we are mostly building up pipe in Sweden right now.
Well, that was good. That was basically answered my second part of the question. If you have identified any, say, interesting larger platform that could be your base in going into the other Nordic countries. And, I guess you have identified them but not been able to meet them or retail at this stage.
That's correct.
Excellent. I'll be back with more questions on that at a later stage. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Carry on.
Thank you. Just as a reminder, if you wish to ask an audio question, please press 01 on your telephone keypad. Once again, please press 01 on your telephone keypad if you wish to ask an audio question. There appears to be no further questions registered, so I'll hand back to the speakers.
Okay. Thank you very much for listening to us. For you who listen later on, please do not hesitate to give us a call or an email if you have any questions. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you.
Thank you. This now concludes our conference call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.