Hi, and welcome to Balco Group 's second quarter report for 2025. With us to present, we have President and CEO Camilla Ekdahl, as well as CFO Michael Grindborn. At the end of the presentation, we'll have a Q&A. If you're on call and have a question, press star nine to raise your hand, and then press star six to unmute yourself when given the word. You can also send in questions in the form to your right. With that said, I give the word to you, Camilla.
Thank you, and welcome all to our quarter two presentation. First of all, for all new listeners, a short snapshot of Balco Group . Balco Group was founded in 1987 and consists of several balcony and façade companies. The head office is in Växjö, and the group has approximately 600 employees. Balco operates in two main segments: renovations and new build. The core expertise is to supply glazed balconies and balcony solutions, primarily on the renovation market and to tenant-owned associations. The group has a broad offering of balcony solutions and complementary offerings such as façade renovation, and it can also act as a turnkey supplier in renovation projects. The key markets are Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland. We also have a strong challenger position on other Northern European markets. Let's go over to the quarter.
I'm very glad to say that the order intake in the quarter is the highest, historically, order intake for Balco Group , and amounted to SEK 519 million, which is an increase of 37% compared to the previous year. The increase comes from mainly three areas. First of all, a restart in the maritime segment, where we received an order worth about SEK 80 million to the French shipyard Chantiers de l’Atlantique. This is our first order to both this shipyard and also to France. On this order, we will also deliver doors together with the balconies. This is also a new product which we implemented to our maritime assortment. The second area is Norway, where we received orders of about NOK 180 million during the quarter, and this is also we have communicated with press releases during the quarter.
The third area is also very glad to see that we have an increase in the order intake for the Swedish balcony companies, with about 47% in the quarter. However, the profitability in the quarter is not satisfactory. We are still suffering from delays in the startup of projects during the first half year, and the value of this is about SEK 100 million. This affects both sales, cash flow, and also earnings. The net sales decreased by 12% to SEK 338 million versus SEK 374 million. 5% is coming from negative currency effect. The structural measures we announced in quarter one proceed as planned. The production move from TBO- Haglind in Arboga to the Balco factories in Växjö, Poland, has been completed. The previously planned staff reductions have been implemented at our glazing company in Finland. All these structural costs are taken in the first quarter.
If we go and talk a little bit about the market in general, we can see that the trend of increased activity, especially in the Swedish and Norwegian renovation market, is continuing, as I said in the previous quarters. Customers are becoming more willing to make investment decisions, but the process continues to be long. We can also see that the recovery in the market continues to be affected by uncertainty in the outside world. Therefore, we must always look on the order intake over a longer period. If we look on the first half year, we can see that there is still a very positive trend there, where we have an increase of 9% for the first half year in the order intake.
We can see that there are some smaller positive signals in the new build segment in the Nordic countries, but the increase comes from a very low level, and it will take a while before we see it visible in the increased order intake both for our façade and balcony companies in Sweden and Finland. Since mid of the previous year, the order bookings for the cruise ships to the shipyards have picked up, and this has also resulted in the increase of requests for quotations to Balco . There are a limited number of companies who are able to deliver balcony solutions to the shipyard, and Balco is one of them. Balco is also a very interesting partner for the shipyards, not only for balconies, but also for other products within the steel, aluminium, and glass material.
As now, when we have implemented the doors into our maritime segment, this is an example of that. We can see on the markets that we have had some problems before with the strained competitive situation that continues, and this is especially for the Swedish façade companies and the balcony company in Denmark. We also see a trend of increased competitive situation in Finland, both within the renovation and the new build segments. Hand over to you, Michael, and the figures.
Yes, and start with the quarter for the group and the quarterly result. Net sales amounted to SEK 331 million, down from SEK 374 million last year. Here the organic growth was -7%, and currency effect was -5%. Our adjusted operating result on EBITDA level amounted to SEK 6 million, down from SEK 19 million last year, and it responds to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 1.9%. Order intake was, as Camilla mentioned, record high and increased by 37% up to SEK 519 million compared to SEK 380 million last year. Our order backlog has increased by 4% to SEK 1,439,000 million. The adjusted earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.01 compared to SEK 0.36 last year. Our operating cash flow was negative in the quarter by -SEK 30 million compared to +SEK 48 million last year.
If we look at our segments and start with the renovation segment, here the sales were more or less in par compared to last year, SEK 253 million compared to SEK 251 million last year, and it corresponds to 76% of the total sales of the group. Order intake in the quarter increased by 52% up to SEK 386 million, and it corresponds to 74% of the total order intake. The adjusted operating result EBITDA in the quarter amounted to SEK 6 million compared to SEK 11 million last year, and it corresponds to an adjusted operating margin of 2.4%. Order backlog increased by 10% up to SEK 1,144,00 million, and it corresponds to 79% of the total order backlog. Our new build segment, here sales decreased down to SEK 78 million compared to SEK 123 million last year, and it corresponds to 24% of the total sales.
Order intake though increased by 6% up to SEK 133 million compared to SEK 126 million last year. The adjusted operating result EBITDA in the quarter amounted to SEK 1 million compared to SEK 7 million last year, and an adjusted operating margin of 0.8%. Order backlog for the new build segment decreased slightly to SEK 305 million compared to SEK 355 million last year, and it's 25% of the total order backlog. A look at our financial position at the end of the quarter, the group's equity amounted to SEK 753 million, down from SEK 798 million last year. The equity-to-asset ratio was 45% compared to 47% last year. Our interest-bearing net debt, including leasing debt in relation to adjusted EBITDA, amounted to 7.6% compared to 3.3% last year. We have obtained a waiver with the bank, which is valid until the end of the year.
Our covenants with the bank are well within this agreement. The banking agreement we have with Danske Bank is valid until the end of March 2028, and we have an option for a further two-year extension.
Thank you, Michael. If we look a little bit on the outlook, we say that we are cautiously optimistic for the rest of the year regarding the order intake for the renovation project. For the new build segment, especially in the Nordic countries, we see that the recovery will take longer. The recovery in the market continues to be affected by the uncertainty in the outside world. There continues to be a strained competitive situation for our Swedish façade companies, our balcony company in Denmark, and we also see this within the renovation and new build market now in Finland. The assessment is that the coming quarters will be affected in terms of sales and earnings. Therefore, we continue to focus on our profitability improving measures and work on structural measures and cost savings, which is ongoing. Yes, that's all from us. Questions?
Thanks for the presentation. Just to recap, if you are calling in and want to ask a question, press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute yourself when handed the word. You can also send in questions via the form. The first question here is, is it possible to say anything on the expected margin of your order intake?
If it's possible to say anything on the order intake we have taken, I guess they mean. We can say that on the order intake we have taken, the margins are within the levels where it should be, both in the Swedish market, the maritime segment, and the Norwegian market.
Thanks for that answer. Now we have Sofia Sörling from Carnegie on call. Welcome, Sofia.
Thank you. This is Sofia Sörling from DNB Carnegie. Can you hear me?
Yes, we hear you. Hello, Sofia. Nice to hear your voice again.
Thank you. Okay, I have a first question. Maybe a follow-up on the previous question. This maritime order, should we expect a similar margin as the normalized Balco Group margin, or is it a lower margin in this type of orders or a higher one? That's my first question.
If we see at the maritime segment, the last two ships that we delivered to, it was more or less the same level as the standard Balco Group margin. It was a very good margin on the last two boats, and this one is sold on the same level.
Okay. If we continue on the maritime segment, what is your expectation here ahead? Do you expect any more orders from this segment, or is this good enough at the moment, or what is your expectation?
As we say in the report, we have received more requests for quotations, so we are working on quotations within the segment.
Okay. You mentioned profitability is somewhat dampened by these delays in project starts. Is that in particular in Sweden the problem, or do you see this in other countries as well? Also, when do you expect this to, when do you expect this type of products to start again, or when the problem will be solved in your view?
It's for a couple of different markets, as a matter of fact. We have it both in Sweden. We have it in Norway, more or less the same level in both countries. Also Denmark, also quite more or less the same level, also in Finland in the new build segment, and also some delay in the new build in the UK. Some of them have already started up, otherwise, it's quite difficult to say exactly when they will start. We expect that it will be better in the quarter four of this year as it looks now.
Okay. What would you say is the main reason? I mean, it seems like it's different countries now, but what would you say is the main reason for these delays?
When it comes to where we have the new build segment, there are delays from the builders. This is usually to say that you get these kind of delays, but we've got a little bit more now than we are used to get. That's why we see that as an increase. When we look on the renovation segment, that is mainly linked to either building permissions or discussions as in Sweden with the hyresnämnd.
Okay. Regarding cost measures, do you think you can implement any more cost measures ahead in the second half of 2025 or into 2026, or is it fully implemented now and you really need volumes in order to improve profitability?
We have a couple of areas where we're still working on the cost factor, so to say. Mainly, to get the profitability up, we need to get the sales up. Revenue needs to increase.
Okay. Last question.
Therefore, we are very happy to see that we now got such a good order intake this quarter.
Yeah. Just a detailed question on the Danish market. Do you think this market is different? Do you see a different customer behavior on the Danish market compared to the other Nordic countries in your view?
Yeah. In the Danish market, the product we have there is a very specific product. It is a product that you are, the majority of the projects, they are within the renovation segment, but they are actually that you are getting a new balcony on an old building where you don't have a balcony today. That's the main difference if you compare to the other markets where we are working with the renovation, where in the majority of the projects, you're replacing an existing balcony. If you're replacing a balcony and you have a need, then you have a much more demand of doing something. You are more hesitating, and you have even longer processes, and it takes longer time before you take the investment if you don't have a balcony and it's something nice to have.
There you see the big difference between the Danish market and the other renovation markets.
All right. Okay. That was all my questions. Thank you.
Thank you for those questions. Now for a last question here. What should we expect regarding working capital development the coming quarter?
We expect it to get better, I would say, especially in quarter four. Slight improvement I expect in quarter three, but mainly, yeah, quite improvement, big improvement in the fourth quarter of this year.
Thank you for that answer. That was the end of the Q&A. Now for some closing remarks, Camilla.
Thank you all for listening to our presentation, even though it is the 14th of July, and some of you have, so to say, summer vacation coming up. Thank you all, and I wish you all a really good summer. Thank you.