Welcome to the Beijer Alma Q3 2023 conference call. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing star five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the speakers. CEO, Henrik Perbeck, and CFO, Johan Dufvenmark, please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to our webcast, where we today will present our Q3 , 2023. My name is Henrik Perbeck, and with me, I have our CFO, Johan Dufvenmark.
Good morning.
Today we will present the performance of the group and recent development. In addition, we will also present our reporting segments, our two main subsidiaries. These are Lesjöfors, a full range supplier of standard and customized industrial springs, as well as wire and flat strip components. Lesjöfors is acting globally with majority of sales in Europe. And it is Beijer Tech, acting mainly in the Nordics within specialized manufacturing, value-adding industrial trading and automation in profitable niches. And Beijer Tech is also a platform for acquisitions into new industrial niches. So, today I will present to you what I believe is a decent report in the uncertain operating environment we are in today. It was a Q3 with good cash flow, growth, thanks to the acquisitions, but with lower volumes in the broader industrial segments.
The group noted a very varied demand situation within our diversified customer base. Volumes in the industrial segments are somewhat lower year on year, but other segments, such as automotive aftermarket, medical technology, and other niches, posted good growth. Overall, the margins were stable, although in certain operations, lower volumes resulted in margin pressure. Cash flow remained strong, partly thanks to reduced inventory levels and other measures to improve working capital, which has been supported by more stable supply chains. Looking at Lesjöfors, here we saw a mixed demand between the customer segments. The chassis spring business area posted strong growth. Volume remained high in the beginning of the autumn, driven by stable demand from end customers and normalized inventory levels among our wholesale customers. Within industrial springs, volumes decreased somewhat in the Nordics, U.S., and Asia.
In Europe, UK posted growth, while several operations in Central Europe faced greater margin pressure. A number of measures have been taken, such as savings and local restructuring, to ensure profitability and growth over the long term. Beijer Tech in the Nordics, at a more stable demand situation, order bookings increased organically, partly thanks to new project, but volumes in industrial trading also remained at decent levels. Several of our niche companies noted good demand driven by trends outside of general industry demand. And, this year's acquisitions, Botek and Finn Lamex, are examples of this, and both have had a very good start in our group. So the operating environment remains uncertain related to demand, but also inflation and higher interest rates. This means that overall, we're continuously balancing between growth initiatives and savings.
No new acquisitions were made in this quarter, but our acquisition strategy is long-term, and we're continuing to build relationships with attractive companies that could strengthen the group with future profitable growth. Now, continuing with an overview of the group's financial performance. For the last time, since Habia was divested in Q4 last year, Habia Cable is reported as discontinued operations and not part of the consolidated accounts and the Q3 comparables in this report. Looking at the performance, we can see that order bookings grew by 21%, but decreased by 1% organically. The net revenues grew by 13% and was decreasing by 5% organically. Compared to earlier recent reports, the price component is less significant, but nevertheless, of course, volumes were overall lower versus Q3 last year.
To give you some flavor of the developments during the quarter, we saw a fairly weak start of the quarter in the summer month of July, whereas order intake and revenues improved significantly in August and were more stable in the end of the quarter, in September. The adjusted operating profit increased to SEK 225 million, with a margin of 13.4%. There were adjustments made with a net positive effect of SEK 9 million on EBIT, and Johan will go through this in more detail with you in a while. Moving on to the performance of the reporting segments, our subsidiaries. Starting with Lesjöfors, our spring manufacturer, which is 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. The order bookings for Lesjöfors increased by 18%, but decreased 4% organically, and revenue grew by 15% with a decline of 6% organically. For industrial springs, the largest business area, the growth was 13%, thanks to acquisition and currency effects. As mentioned, volumes decreased in the Nordics, the U.S., and Asia. In Europe, the U.K. posted good growth, while several other companies in Central Europe faced greater margin pressure. Actions have been taken to improve profitability. Some end markets posted growth, such as medical technology, whereas building sector and automotive manufacturing were somewhat weaker. The recent acquisitions, Telform, Amatec, and Tollman Spring, contributed to growth.
For Chassis Springs, we saw a good demand during Q3 , prolonging the spring high season before we now start, come into the low season, which is normally in Q4. Inventory levels at wholesalers are estimated to be normalized, and it was the end customer demand that drove the increase in the volumes. Adjusted operating profit for Lesjöfors improved to SEK 175 million , and as mentioned, there are adjustments made by a net positive SEK 9 million . As you can see, top right, operating margin was similar to preceding quarters at 14.6% on adjusted EBIT terms this quarter. In the report, you can also see the EBITA margin being 1.3% higher than EBIT margin, meaning 15.9% in this quarter. Moving on to our other subsidiary, Beijer Tech.
Tech operates in two business areas, fluid technology and industrial products, both acting within industrial trading and manufacturing. Further, it's a platform for acquisitions into new, attractive industrial niches such as building automation, and these are reported into industrial products. Order bookings continued to increase in the quarter by 30%, of which 9% organically. The organic growth was partly thanks to new projects, but also a stable demand situation. Net revenue grew by 10%, of which 4% was organic. Within both business areas, industrial products and fluid technology, demand was overall stable, within most industrial trading segments. This picture was similar across the Nordic countries. In several of our new niches, demand was good, and here, demand is typically not driven by other trends than industrial cycle.
I think the latest acquisitions, Botek and Finn Lamex, are really good examples and contribute to growth in the industrial product business area. Beijer Tech's operating result increased to SEK 56 million, with a good operating margin of 11.7%, and there are no adjustments in the Beijer Tech results. I will now hand over to our CFO, Johan Dufvenmark, for some more comments on the financials.
Thank you, Henrik. Let's look into some of the financials. As mentioned, net revenue is up SEK 193 million compared to last year. The largest part of the growth is due to the acquisitions, which contributed with SEK 154 million. It was an equal to an increase of 10%, while the organic growth was -5%. Both Lesjöfors and Beijer Tech showed a negative organic growth, -6% and -3%, respectively. Both Lesjöfors and Beijer Tech was affected by a slow start of the quarter and lower demand in the industry-related segments. The effect from stronger foreign currencies compared to Swedish krona was large, +SEK 119 million.... Also, order bookings increased, and this was with SEK 289 million to SEK 1,666 million.
The acquisitions and currency effect were both positive, while the organic growth was slightly negative, -SEK 14 million . Beijer Tech had an organic increase in the order bookings of 9%, and Lesjöfors -4%. The change in Lesjöfors was related to the industry business area. In order bookings, as in revenue, effect from FX was large, +SEK 121 million . Let's continue with a short look on the segments and how they contribute to the revenue and operating results. As we saw on the previous slide, we had a strong increase in net revenue, and the main effect was within the Lesjöfors, and it was related to the acquisitions and currency effect. The increase in Beijer Tech was mainly related to acquisitions. Adjusted operating profit was SEK 225 million in Q3.
The increase compared to last year was mainly related to Chassis Springs and the acquisitions. Beijer Tech had a higher EBIT compared to last year, despite meeting some tough comparables. We have some items affecting the comparability in the period, and these are comprised of three items. One is the earn-out, which we have reversed for both Tollman and Telform, since the agreed and ambitious thresholds will not be met due to lower demand than anticipated. The effect from this was SEK 46 million . And also, we have SEK 40 million related to a restructuring project in Lesjöfors European operations, which was treated as an item affecting comparability, whereof SEK 7 million is related to cost in Q3, and SEK 33 million is related to future costs.
The restructuring project is related to parts of the Lesjöfors German and Slovakian operations, and some of these costs are related to employees that have left the company. The goals of the restructuring are to lower the cost and to achieve a more efficient production setup. And we did as well, reverse an additional SEK 2 million from the Russian closed down provision from 2022. And as Henrik mentioned, the total, items affecting comparability was a positive SEK 9 million. Now to some of the key financial ratios. The adjusted EBITA is up SEK 31 million compared to last year, the difference to adjusted EBIT being higher depreciation, following a number of acquisitions.
Cash flow of the capital expenditure was positive, SEK 293 million, a large change compared to last year, related to both more efficient use of working capital and as well as some tailwind from lower raw material prices. Net debt is lower compared to last year, related both to a more efficient use of working capital as well as the operating cash flow. The financial net was affected with accounting-related positive effects from high inflation accounting, which is called IAS 29. This effect was related to the Turkish company. The effect was large in Q3, a positive SEK 40 million, and this is since the local CPI has increased significantly compared to previous periods. I'll try to explain this effect shortly. When the value in the balance sheet is revalued according to IAS 29, the change will be booked as a positive in the finance net.
The underlying financial net increased some compared to previous periods and last year. Thank you, and back to Henrik for some concluding remarks.
Thank you, Johan. Yeah, to summarize the quarter, the growth came mainly from the five acquisitions made in the last twelve months. Overall, we saw a varied demand situation across our customer segments. In the Nordics, U.S., and Asia, lower volumes in industrial segments. In Europe, we saw U.K. growing, whereas Central Europe saw lower demand and actions to improve profitability have been taken. Examples such as medical technology and Chassis Springs were areas with good demand and growth, and we saw a continued strong order intake in Beijer Tech, especially in niches with non-industrial trends. We generated a good cash flow, partly thanks to the inventory reductions. And finally, as mentioned up front, our acquisition strategy is long-term, and we're continuing to build our pipeline of good companies that could join our group in the future.
With that, we will open up for questions, operator.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Elinor Garten from Carnegie Investment Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi, Henrik and Johan. I have a couple of questions. First of all, I wonder if you could discuss the outlook a little bit? What trends you have seen here in October? And you had negative organic growth in the Q3, so I just wondering what we should think going forward.
Good morning, Elena. So, as you know, we don't provide a full outlook. I gave some indications in the dynamics during this quarter that we saw a little bit strong, weaker start during the summer, then it came back well in August and the more sort of stable level in September. So I think that is... And of course, you have the order bookings as some kind of indication. But, I guess, also coming back to the general statements earlier, it is a bit of an uncertain demand situation around in the broad industrial segment. So I think, you know, we saw a stable development towards the end of the quarter.
Okay, thank you. Also a question regarding the strong year-on-year growth in Chassis Springs. What was the main driver there?
Well, as I mentioned, the main driver is what we sometimes call the end consumer demand, meaning, you know, the number of cars that are repaired out in Europe. And this on what we believe are fairly normalized levels of inventory with our customers, the wholesalers. As you might recall, early in the year, we were still getting signals that wholesale customers were reducing their demand. You know, having had safety stock because of supply chains, they went into more normal demand, sorry, normal stock situation, and we had some impact of that in Q1.
Whereas since, actually both Q2 and Q3, I think we see more, you know, the actual end consumer demand flowing through to our sales as well.
Okay, thank you. And then on Lesjöfors, the margin at 14.6 percentage points, is this margin, is this normal levels? Should we expect that we should land here?
So I think we, you know, we have had these levels in the last couple of quarters, and as we have mentioned, we are taking some actions in certain areas to which obviously has the goal of improvement in profitability. Having said that, you know, the volumes are of course an important factor in any, you know, manufacturing business where you always have a certain amount of fixed cost. So, you know, it, I would say it depends very much on the demand going forward, but we are focusing on setting up, on having a, you know, an efficient production platform to get leverage from increased volumes as well in the future.
When is the restructuring cost expected to be seen in the P&L, the full restructuring cost?
So as Johan mentioned, we have made a reservation also for this project, also going forward. So, this is our best estimate now of the cost that we carry in the short term. And so that means during next year, we will see positive effects of these actions.
Yes, but will the restructuring cost be taken in Q4?
But you mean in the real EBIT, so to say, but we have this reserve now, and the cost that we will have within this project will meet that reserve provisions.
Okay. All right, thank you. I do not have any more questions. I will get back in line. Thank you.
Thank you, Elena.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Hjalmar Jernström from Erik Penser Bank. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Henrik and Johan, and thanks for taking my questions. First one then is on the order intake in Lesjöfors. I was wondering, maybe you could give us some general flavor on the pricing component of, of the order intake, and, and maybe some main flavor on your expectations for pricing initiatives looking forward, please.
So as I mentioned in the... You know, over the last, you know, year or so, there's of course been a significant price component in the organic growth, thanks to the increase of raw material pricing and, you know, also price increases to our customers. As we have now come into a phase where the raw material prices have leveled out and started slightly to decrease, the price component is less. So, you know, it's more volume that has... Well, it is the volume that has the effect on the organic growth. So, yeah. Yeah.
Okay, thank you. And then my next question then is on the Chassis Springs. You mentioned the normalized inventory levels of all the customers. Is this referring to some pre-pandemic levels, or what is more of a normalized level? And do you expect customers then to be more cautious with regards to inventory levels if we're looking forward?
So that's a good question. I don't really want to comment on, on, you know, how the customers will behave going forward. But yes, when they were making the extra safety stocks during the what you call it, following the pandemic. Now, referring to what is a normal level, before the pandemic, we have always in this business area seen that as a manufacturer, we do get an extra effect over when the customers have strong sales, they build up inventory, and the other way around.
The conference call will start shortly. The conference call will start shortly.
Hjalmar, just so you know, the speakers will be back soon to answer your questions. Perfect. Thanks.
Hello, Hjalmar, are you still with us?
Hi, yes, I can hear you. Yes.
Sorry, I gave an answer to the internet instead of you. So, I don't know if you heard anything on my answer, but you had a question about the future development of the inventory levels. And it's a bit hard to elaborate on the behavior of our customers, but we have seen also in the past, before the pandemic levels, that there's always a certain amount of what you could call a bullwhip effect, meaning that customers build stock when the sales are good, and they reduce stock when the sales are fading out. So, I expect in the future, we will continue to see variations.
Right now, as I said, we see normalized levels and demand being driven by the end customers.
Perfect. Thank you. And then one final question on my end. There is, of course, nice organic growth in the order intake in Beijer Tech. Can you elaborate a bit on this? Are there particular projects maybe contributing strongly here, maybe some general on particular industries that contributes in driving this growth, please?
As I mentioned, we are now, as you know, we are active in several niches, and not, you know, all of them are sort of classical industrial demand-driven. Also, some of these companies have a little bit more of a project order intake. It is not some specific large project. We see good demand in anything from, as I mentioned, Botek in the waste management area. We see good demand in, in the Källström , in the battery machinery area and also in the building automation. It's several companies that are, as I said, active in niches that are not in the general industrial demand.
Okay, perfect. Thanks. That's all on my end.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for joining our webcast, and wish you a good Thursday.