Hello, and welcome to the Beijer Alma Audiocast with Teleconference Q1 2022. We do apologize for the delay in starting this audiocast. There was a technical problem. We are very sorry for that and the inconvenience this has caused. Throughout the call, all participants will be in a listen-only mode, and afterwards there will be a question and answer session. Today, I'm pleased to present CEO Henrik Perbeck and CFO Erika Ståhl. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody. Yes, finally, we are online. We have been ready here for quite some time. Welcome to our webcast. We will present our first quarter 2022. I'm Henrik Perbeck, and I have with me Erika Ståhl, our CFO. In addition to the overall performance of the Beijer Alma Group, we will also present our reporting segments, our three subsidiaries. These are Lesjöfors, full range supplier of standard and customized industrial springs, as well as wire and flat strip components, acting globally with majority of sales in Europe. Operator, we are now on page two. Are you? And it's also Habia Cable, one of Europe's leading manufacturers of custom designed cables for customers in the telecom, pure power, defense, offshore, and other industries.
It's Beijer Tech, which specializes in industrial trading and manufacturing within fluid technology, as well as consumables, components, and machinery to Nordic industrial companies, and also building automation. Beijer Tech is also a platform for acquisitions into new industrial niches. Now we would like to go to the next page, straight to page four.
Complete.
On page four then, just some overall comments on the quarter. In general, the first quarter was a strong one. External factors and uncertainty are of course affecting Beijer Alma as many others. Demand was fundamentally favorable. Our business model is robust and resilient. It's thanks to our diversified customer base. Our company succeeded in growing their order bookings, net revenues, and operating profit in the quarter. However, we are now navigating an increasingly uncertain world. The Covid pandemic is continuing to cause disruptions in China and actually in some parts of Europe too. In Europe, the war in Ukraine has resulted in enormous human suffering, as well as disruption in the world economy and global supply chains. For Lesjöfors order bookings and sales grew in both business areas. The Chassis Spring operation in Russia was suspended since March.
Habia Cable showed growth driven by favorable demand in the Industry and Telecom, as well as defense customer segments. For Beijer Tech, a broad-based organic growth in the Nordics was further supported by acquisitions, and operating margin continued to improve. The geopolitical situation will impact the group both directly and indirectly, which makes the situation extremely difficult to assess. Apart from managing the supply chains, our companies also need to handle increasing inflation through price adjustments and cost control. Finally, as mentioned already in the last call, we had two new acquisitions. Swedish Microwave and Mountpac became part of Beijer Tech this quarter. Next, page five, please. Now, continuing with an overview of the group's financial performance. In general, based on the strong recovery and performance in 2021, we are facing tougher comparables this year.
Despite of this, looking at the performance, we can see that order bookings grew by 32%, of which 13% organically. Net revenues grew by 33%, of which 13% was organic, which was supported by price increases. The operating result before items affecting comparability increased to SEK 271 million with a margin of 15.9%. This is then exclusive of an impairment of assets in Russia of SEK 25 million. Moving on to the performance of our reporting segments, our subsidiaries. Next, page six, please. Lesjöfors, our spring manufacturer. It's organized into two business areas. These are industry, with mainly customized products to a very diversified customer base globally. The other is chassis springs, and these are standardized replacement springs sold to car part wholesalers, mainly in Europe. Order bookings for Lesjöfors increased by 23%, and organically down by 1%.
Net revenues grew by 31%, of which 7% organically. For industrial springs or industry, the largest business area, the growth was 39% broadly across geographies and customer segments. In particular, Nordic region was strong, whereas in the U.S. and Central Europe, growth was a little lower, partly due to indirect effects from customers lacking other components. In China, disruptions due to COVID lockdowns had some effect on operations towards the end of the quarter. The recent acquisitions in Lesjöfors, Alcomex and Climent, are both reported into this segment and contributed well to the business area. Chassis springs, demand in the aftermarket continued strong in Europe, but the effect of the suspended operations in Russia impacted net sales and of course, order intakes from March. Sales to Ukraine is also on a very low level due to logistical reasons.
We can also note that winter in Europe has been fairly normal, but not quite as harsh as last year, which could have a dampening effect on demand. The operating result before items affecting comparability grew to SEK 191 million, which corresponds to an operating margin of 18.7%. Due to the uncertain situation in Russia, we have made an impairment of assets of SEK 25 million. Next, page seven, please. Now to Habia Cable, our specialty cable manufacturer. Habia is not organized into business areas. However, sales to nuclear power, defense, offshore customers are usually strongly project-related. This can create more volatility, and that's why we show the dynamics of these segments down on your left on the slide. Demand was good in the quarter, with order bookings amounting to SEK 312 million, up organically by 53%.
This was mainly driven by telecom and industrial customer segments, but also good activity in the defense markets. Net revenues grew by 16% organically, mainly in telecom and industrial segments. Thanks to good capacity utilization and increase of share of the defense, nuclear, and offshore versus previous quarters, also the profitability improved. However, material supply continues to be a challenge, as well as the COVID situation in China, which is causing disturbances and affecting deliveries to a certain extent. The operating results improved to SEK 34 million in the quarter. Next, page eight, please. Beijer Tech operates two business areas: fluid technology and industrial products, both acting within industrial trading and manufacturing. Further, it's a platform for acquisitions into new products and business areas such as building automation, which is reported into industrial products.
Thanks to a continued strong demand in the Nordics, growth in order bookings amounted to 38%, where 23% was organic. Net revenues grew broadly by 46%, of which 26% was organic. Within both business areas, industrial products and fluid technology, growth was broad over the Nordics and revenues grew organically with support from price increases. In addition, the last year's five acquisitions contributes to the profitable growth. Challenges remain in the form of longer lead times and price increases, and they are handled proactively by the companies and are expected to continue. Operating result increased to SEK 53 million with a healthy 12% operating margin. There was already some good impact in the quarter from recent acquisitions, Swedish Microwave and Mountpac. Next, page nine, please. I will now hand over to Erika to comment further on the financials.
We can go straight to page 10.
Thank you, Henrik. This is probably the busiest page of the whole pack, and I think it includes a summary of the quarter. Of course, I will not go through all of that. I will only highlight a few things that Henrik has not already mentioned. One thing to notice is then the profit after net items, which is up by 14% at SEK 238 million . I would also like to comment on the cash flow. As you see that is negative in this quarter, and this has a lot due to the fact that we have the higher accounts receivable driven by the higher sales, and we have also higher inventory levels, which is then related to the higher material cost and higher volume that we have added to secure availability of period.
I think also one other thing worth mentioning is the fact that the first quarter is usually quite weak cash flow for the Beijer Alma Group, and there was, of course, no different this quarter due to the seasonality of our business. Of course, as you see here, we have an impact on our available liquidity here as well, which of course is related to the lower cash flow that we had in the first quarter. When we look at the net debt, it is important to keep in mind what Henrik has talked about. We have made seven acquisitions since April last year, five in 2021, and two in 2022, which of course has had an impact on the net debt situation as they have been financed by debt to a large extent.
Please go to page 11, please. This page then shows the bridge of order bookings and net revenue for the first quarter for the Beijer Alma Group. In the first quarter, we have had a tailwind of approximately 4% from currencies for both order bookings and net revenues. The total growth for order bookings was 32%, and for net revenues it was 33%. In both cases, we had an organic growth of 13%. Then we had 15% growth in order bookings and 16% growth in net revenues from the acquisitions that were made in Lesjöfors and Beijer Tech. Now move to page 12, please. These pages then have two different pieces showing the contribution from the subsidiaries to net revenues and operating results. All three subsidiaries report growing net revenue, as Henrik has already presented.
Beijer Tech and Lesjöfors then also had the support from their acquisitions. On the operating results side, we have, as Henrik Perbeck's mentioned, an items affecting comparability item of SEK 25 million, which then is related to the impairment of assets in Lesjöfors in the Russian company. Looking at the margin development for Lesjöfors, we had an impact, a dilutive impact from the acquisitions of Alcomex and Plymouth Spring. We also had a gross margin impact from inventory buildup and increased material costs, which have been mitigated by price increases. I think it's also worth mentioning that for both Habia and Beijer Tech, they had very good result improvements, and that is something that we want to highlight in this quarter.
All in all, it added up to an operating result before items affecting comparability of SEK 271 million, including then the item affecting comparability was SEK 246 million compared to the SEK 215 million last year. Now I hand over to you, Henrik.
Yes. We go to page 13. Actually, we can go straight to page 14. Some concluding remarks. I would first like to highlight our sustainability work, which is of ever increasing importance. We published our 2021 sustainability report in March, so today is a good opportunity to present the focus and the progress. Our objectives are in areas that are relevant for Beijer Alma and related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The main objectives are sound business ethics with a social commitment. It's more efficient use of resources, such as energy and materials, and reduced climate impact. Finally, and most importantly, a safe and stimulating work environment for employees. Looking at the progress, let's please go to page 15. I'd like to report that we have made improvements in most areas during 2021.
I will highlight in particular in terms of climate impact. We have reduced our carbon intensity by 32%. This has been achieved through a number of projects, including installing solar panels on factory roofs to supply factories directly with electricity. Also, several Lesjöfors plants in Sweden have shifted or are in the process of shifting to biogas, the heating process, which can reduce their local carbon footprint by 70%-90%. I'm also happy to see that workplace accidents are continuously reduced towards our zero vision, and this is our highest focus no matter where in the world we have our production plants. Next, page 16, please. Conclusions on the key developments in the quarter. Demand essentially remained favorable, and the group increased order bookings, net sales, and operating results. The uncertainty has indeed increased overall.
In addition to the COVID situation, the war in Ukraine is causing some direct effects, such as the suspension of our operations in Russia, but also indirect effects such as amplified challenges in the supply chains and increasing inflation. Consequently, we continue to focus on price increases. Two well-performing companies was acquired into Beijer Tech, Swedish Microwave and Mountpac during the quarter. We are continuing to look for attractive companies to continue our profitable growth through acquisitions. Finally, I would also like to note that from the first of June, Johan Dufvenmark will join us as our new CFO. This also mean that it is the last time you hear Erika in this forum. Thank you, Erika.
Thank you, Henrik.
Now we will move on to Q&A, which, for the final time, you're eager to answer. Please, page 17.
Thank you. If you do wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing zero two to cancel. The first question comes from the line of Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Hi, it's Carl here from Nordea. A few questions. Firstly, on the organic growth, could you try to split up, I mean, of the 13% you grew in the quarter, how much is coming from price and how much that comes from volume?
Well, I can say that there is a significant part coming from price, but it's a mix of two effects.
Is it a majority price or is it a majority volume or?
We have a, you know, a very diversified customer base and product base. You know, it's a combination of both, and I can't give you a direct number on that.
Okay. Perfect. Also on China, I guess the lockdown situation has obviously worsened post Q1. What impacts does this have for you both in terms of direct and indirect ones? I guess you have 10% of your employees in China, right?
In terms of impact, we saw, actually, one week in March our factories had to close down. That was. They opened up again after a week. I would say now mainly it's the indirect effects related to delivery of materials, both incoming and outgoing, our products, and also of course the general logistics situation not only within China, but also going out and into China. It depends a little bit on different regions and different timings, but we are producing at full speed at the moment. You know, there are disturbances. Often, you know, we can catch up, but we expect some disturbances going forward.
it sounds like it's sequentially the same as in Q1 or so far in Q2, the headwinds from China or?
We've only been a few weeks into Q2. I would say that it came towards the end of Q1, these effects. You know, as we speak, as you read in the newspapers, it's ongoing. It depends on different regions. Right now, all our plants are running.
Okay. It seems fairly okay, at least for now. In terms of the raw material situation, you've handled it quite well so far in Q1, obviously. Given that the inflation came late in Q1, in terms of steel prices, et cetera, is it fair to expect a more significant headwind in Q2 and Q3 compared to Q1? Or would you say that you are able to offset it through price increases also in the very short term?
I think the volatility on the pricing of raw materials is continuing. Of course, it's not better with the impact from the Ukraine situation. It is absolutely the highest priority for all our companies to work with these matters. Primarily, of course, raw material, as you mentioned, but we also have some other factors such as energy. It continues to be a market where it is understood from parties in the value chain that, you know, these kind of swings needs to be pushed on through the value chain. You know, with the combination of our inventory levels that also Erika mentioned and our contracts, we continue to focus on this relentlessly to mitigate these direct effects.
Okay, perfect. Also in terms of Habia Cable, you had 53% organic order growth. Is this driven by any larger orders or is it sort of bread and butter businesses performing quite well? Also, can you split the order intake by subsegments perhaps, or give some flavor on it?
Well, as I said, Carl, if you use the word bread and butter, in looking at what we present, you know, we have Industry and Telecom, which is what you could call more non-project oriented. That is the main growth driver, both in terms of order intake and sales. High demand in Europe for industrial sectors and also in the telecom sector, thanks to a lot of the 5G rollouts that are going on. Those are the main drivers. As you can also see, the more project-oriented business with defense, offshore and nuclear picked up a bit versus previous quarters. Although the comparable a year ago was actually quite strong there.
Looking at the last three quarters, it picked up, and that's also a pretty similar picture on the order intake. As I mentioned, defense in particular has a good tailwind from the market, of course, because there's a lot of focus on the defense industry these days. The main part is certainly from Industry and Telecom.
The final one from my side is on Beijer Tech, quite nice margin uplift in the quarter. Could you help me split up the margin drivers there? Is it fair to assume that the vast majority of the margin uplift came from acquisitions in the quarter? I mean, just looking at the two you partly consolidated during the quarter, they drove the margin by 100 basis points.
There are several drivers, Carl. I think certainly the acquisitions, you know, the acquisition we have made during the last 12 months period for Beijer Tech are margin accretive, but also we should point out it's also a strong demand situation and you know, a leverage of course a fixed cost, thanks to that. Price increases are contributing to the organic growth. I think you could also summarize it, but you know, Beijer Tech is a lot of diversified companies. Right now, this quarter, you know, fundamentally, all of them are performing well. That adds up to a good margin.
Perfect. Very helpful. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Hjalmar Jernström from Erik Penser Bank. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Henrik and Erika. This is Hjalmar with Erik, Penser Bank. My first question is on the inventory and the change year-on-year. Could you perhaps break down the effects that come from volume building on your part versus increase then in purchase price? You mentioned that both, of course, affecting the inventory buildup.
You mean versus first quarter last year, then of course, we need to add the whole Alcomex group in terms of volume. Unless you rather look compared to the year end. I think that probably half of the growth is sales well, pure volume related, and the other one is then related to inventory buildup ahead of season.
Yeah, we have two effects. The value, thanks to the price increases for incoming and, as Erika said, the buildup because the supply chains are uncertain, so we need to have a good stock to secure our production deliveries.
All right. Thank you. My second question is regarding the order book in Lesjöfors. Could you elaborate a bit on the impact from chassis versus the industrial springs, and perhaps give us some flavor on what you've seen so far in the start of Q2?
In terms of the mix, of course, as you know, all the acquisitions go into the industrial side. In general, in terms of chassis, we have the impact from Russia, which is partly impacting sales, but also, of course, the order intake. Secondly, as I alluded to, we do see a little bit more of a normal winter pattern. Whereas, you know, last year we had a very strong pickup in the spring, both thanks to the harsh winter, but also, post-COVID sort of effect. I say that the effect is probably a little more on the chassis side.
All right. Perfect. Very helpful. Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Aylin Gaytan from Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Yes. Super. Thank you. Thank you for good report. I just have two questions. Firstly, you have been doing price increases for one year now. Is your customer still responding positively, or how are they responding to these price increases?
Morning, Aylin. Well, I don't want to say that any customer is responding positively to price increases. You are right, this, the trend and the development of raw material prices started already a year ago, which we managed through last year. Once again, you know, the swings and the volatility that we see now, it is understood, I think, throughout the value chain that as a manufacturer or in industrial trading for that sake, you know, you cannot absorb these kind of margins. We are very much focused on compensating and negotiating where needed.
In some contexts, we already have, of course, in the contracts that you are allowed to increase the material costs directly. So I would say it's still a lot of understanding related to that, but no one is really happy about it.
No, of course. I also wondered, has the cost caught up? Last quarter, you had some problems. The margin was a bit weaker because the cost caught up from the price increases on raw materials. Are they in line right now, or are we expecting more costs to come up for the quarters?
As I said, you know, we have a fairly good balance of sort of inventory levels of raw materials and, you know, production and orders committed to. There is, of course, a little bit of catch-up effect that we got, as you mentioned, last quarter that in some cases we were able to increase price ahead of the full impact. But I would say, no, we are in this wave, and we are very consciously working towards, you know, securing the future orders and making sure we have the right cost base in terms of materials. Not really a sort of catch-up effect, as such. I think we are in that right now.
Okay, super. Thank you. The last question, how is the pipeline of acquisitions?
As I said, we're definitely looking further for new opportunities. In terms of pipeline, we have our pipeline. Of course, the market may be a bit more cautious now with the uncertainties, but we certainly have things to work with and handle on our side. We continue our focus on looking for companies, and I want to emphasize that good companies is most important. We're very happy with the acquisitions we made through the last year and this year as well. We look forward to welcoming more companies to the Beijer Alma Group.
Super. Thank you so much.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you do wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. Once again, it's 01 to ask a question. There are currently no further questions. I'll hand the conference back to you, speakers.
Thank you very much, everybody, for joining our webcast and this first quarter. Have a good day.
Bye-bye.
Thank you. This now concludes our conference call. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.