Welcome everyone to this Q4 and full year call. I'm sitting here together with Joel Davidsson, CFO. We'll run through the normal presentation, and then we'll open up for Q&As. On the first slide that we usually go over is more a rolling twelve, more the trend. We continue to grow. I keep saying this, when I started three years ago, our rolling twelve was SEK 16 billion, so it's nice to see it's doubled now to SEK 32 billion. We continue to add people across the world, and we're now active in 44-45 countries in the world. We continue to grow, we continue to add businesses around the world, and of course, we'll cover some of that today. Just a little bit of recap.
I think it's worth also mentioning the full year, 2023. I think the heading says a lot on it, and it's been a very eventful year, and also a year with good development, strong development that we're very proud of as Beijer Ref, as I would say, developed extremely good during a 2023, which is a little bit of a year with a lot of different phases.
You know, growing the business over 40% in sales, EBITDA 50%, you know, driven, of course, by a strong acquisition year and entering the U.S. through the Heritage, but also good development, I would say, in all of our acquisitions and also in the underlying business across, not only the U.S., but also Europe, and the APAC region. Also the cash flow being on the agenda for some time, going through the pandemic, building up inventory to support that longer lead times, issues with supply chain, that I think the company has managed extremely well.
Then also, as we have stated over the last quarter, we started our inventory alignment during the end of Q2, and of course, we expected a good cash flow in Q3, which we delivered on, and also an even stronger in Q4, driven by inventory adjustment and also the seasonality. So in the end, I think it's a decent cash flow year, operational SEK 2.5 billion for the year. And we'll come back a little bit, but we see opportunities through 2024 as well to continue the normalization of inventory in the business. Net profit, an increase of 44%, close 50 in acquisition. Of course, the biggest one, in Heritage in the U.S.
We did a rights issue, I'm sure you all know, and then also had a first capital market stage. All in all, I would say a very, a very good year, and then we'll come in here to a little bit more on Q4, in the next slide. So Q4, heading record cash flow, which you know, which is good, and this is also what we've been seeing all along. We follow inventory on a daily basis, so we know what's happening in the different regions. So, we continue to drive that down. And then, of course, you have seasonality, especially in your accounts receivable, as your quarters are affected by seasonality, and I'm sure we'll come back to that when we talk about 2024.
We had a total growth of 31%, mainly acquisitions, and organic was -4%. We'll come back to that in the next slide. EBITDA developed well, stable margins, across the board in the U.S., even a little bit better in APAC and stable in EMEA. Of course, we have some effects as we have negative organic growth, and it's not like we're restructuring the business. We still believe it's good growth ahead. So, good stable margin, which has also been key, as I stated before, that as we draw down inventory, we don't see any negative effects on our gross margin, and that's also what's happening as we expected. Cash flow good, at SEK 1.8 billion.
Of course, a record, but it's been a record every quarter and also driven by, as the business is growing. Good increase of the profit. We'll come back a little bit on the financial net, earnings per share, as we have a different amount of shares as we did, average number of shares. We'll come back to that. Then also a proposed dividend of 1.30 SEK, which is an increase of 38%. Also a strong signal on the market for the future of aligning the inventory according to the growth of the company. Moving on to the next slide, a little bit focused on the sales side.
If you look at this, this picture, I would say on, on commercial industrial refrigeration, a stable quarter continues to be positive on the OEM side. Continues to be driven a lot on the transformation that we continue to see in Europe, both on the heating and cooling side, and, and, Europe continues to grow double digits in the OEM segment, and a little bit weaker in APAC, and we'll come back to that a little bit later, as well. But in general, a good activity on the OEM segment. Also, we started another 40% drop of refrigerants here in January first.
So we expect, you know, long term, this segment to continue to accelerate as we draw down all these F-gases around in Europe and across the world. HVAC, -8%, I would say very good, you know, comparing to +29% in Q4 last year. And I think most of you as being close to Beijer as understood that we, we've been saying that Q3, Q4 last year, and Q1 was very, very strong on HVAC, mainly driven in Europe, mainly driven by the energy crisis we had here. And as we see that, you know, continuing to Q1 on very strong comps, and then it tails off as we move into the summer season, Q2, Q3.
But I would say a good stable development in HVAC, especially if you compare it to +29% in Q4 last year. Then a little bit, we'll come back to the divisions, both EMEA, APAC, and North America. I would say stable development. And then we also finished off with closing four acquisitions in the quarter, another add-on in the U.S., smaller one in EMEA, focused on HVAC accessories, Turner on HVAC in Australia, and then also another nice add-on in India, chiller focused more on the HVAC segment. So I would say a good stable development in Q4 on the acquisition side as well. So moving on to the next slide.
If you talk a little bit about EMEA, I would say, a stable quarter, as they run down inventories quite a lot in the quarter as expected. And also HVAC here, EMEA would be the biggest affected by the strong HVAC growth last year in the energy situation in Europe, you can see a +43% last year. So, I'd say a good stable still on the HVAC business. OEM continues to grow well, +16%, and good double-digit growth for the year. As we usually talk about the OEM segment, that's what we expect as the world continues to transition into other type of refrigerants, and of course, we're focused on CO2-based segment.
Good stable margins, good gross margin development, and then, of course, you have some dilution on the organic in the HVAC segment, but I would say we cover that very well in the business area. We'll continue to see the transition into the technology on the OEM side. We'll continue to expand on our private label, both in refrigeration, but also on the HVAC side, as we talked about before in the Sinclair segment. And we're also adding that acquisition, Condex, one of the leading HVAC distributor in Eastern Europe, and also a base for Mitsubishi Heavy, that's a strong strategic partner to us. So a good quarter in the EMEA segment. APAC, moving into summer season here in Q4, so a very active season and good development.
Q4, Q1 is for summer in our main markets in APAC, and good growth here, both driven by acquisition and organic. HVAC here is not affected as much with the strong comps because it's mainly Europe. We'll continue to see the OEM segment a little bit lower, very compared to very strong, a lot of projects last year. But we're also seeing the trends now on orders within retail, another segment in Australia and New Zealand picking up, but of course, quite long lead times when it transitions from orders into sales, as most of that is coming from our factories in Italy. So we see better activity in the OEM segment as we close out Q4 and also starting in Q1.
Margin, good and improving, in the segment as part of our work here is to, of course, move APAC into the margin target for, for all of the company. South Korea, a new market for us, it's been a very good entering with acquisitions, good synergies, both on the sales side, product side, and cost side, so it supports the business. And in the end, we'll also continue our journey into India, of course, smaller add-on acquisitions. So a good quarter in APAC, finishing off the year. North America, I would say a stable quarter. You see the volumes are down a little bit.
I think if you follow the statistics, you know, you have some weakness in the housing market, that for us is probably most likely building up, pent up demand, a little bit more repair and replacement. That, of course, will also, start, breaking in the future. So I think a very good quarter, very good margins for being a Q4, almost 10% EBITA. Of course, U.S. is very seasonal with focus on Q2 and Q3, while Q4 and Q1 are lower, season. So a stable quarter with good margin, stable gross margin development, two acquisitions add on, a pipeline continues to look good. We'll continue to build, you know, the platform, and refrigeration is growing nicely.
Private label, we have already launched for, mainly for the season, new branches that we are evaluating, and also working with our strategic suppliers here with more strategic agreements as we have in the rest of the world to support us and support them and drive growth to the business. So, very happy with the stable development in the U.S..
Of course, interesting now, talking to our key suppliers, as in towards, I would say, Q3, Q4, transitioning into the A2L product side for the U.S., new product portfolio being launched by the OEMs and a good cooperation with our strategic partner in that product, and that should be coming here towards the end of 2024 and be a very good driver also for 2025 and going forward for the U.S.. Next slide. Wrapping that up for Q4, 31% growth, driven by acquisition, organic 4%, we went over that. EBITDA growth of 26%, then the EPS change, we'll come back to that, as Joel goes through the numbers a little bit, change of number of shares, because of the share issue we did.
Moving on to the next slide. The next slide here, you see again, a summary where the currency continues to decrease. I think you have that in all your models as well, in there, and then organic -4%, and then M&A +33%. Next slide. I think we usually go over this slide, just seeing a little bit on the sales side, how it's developed. And of course, if you look for quite some quarters here, very, very good development. But also if you look on the organic side, you know, we're comparing the quarters here in Q3 of 19% last year, Q4 18% and Q1 15%.
And those comps were mainly driven by the EMEA and Europe and the HVAC and the situation on energy last year. So we have another quarter to go to flush that out, and then we'll move into more normal comparables, but also moving into the high season for us in Q2 and Q3. Moving on to the next slide. Here, we focus a little bit on the HVAC. You could see the organic growth levels here last year. Also again, driven by mainly EMEA, 29% up and only, I would say, 8% down. So if you look at the you know, more trend over the last couple of years, it's still a very, very good development.
Then you see we have another quarter here in Q1 to flush out with this situation we had last year. Next slide. EBITDA growth continued to be good, 26%, and then for the full year, 53%. So you know, a good, good year and a good quarter and continue to grow profit. And also we'll come back a little bit later on the cash flow with Joel. Here you see the margin development. We are a seasonal business. The main difference on percentage margin is sales is higher in Q2, Q3. The main area we have is on cooling equipment. Of course, also getting stronger and stronger in heating, that will help Q1 and Q4 going forward.
But good margin development in the business, good growth margin, stable, as we continue to flush out inventory. So I would say a very good Q4 on the margin side as well. Then I'll hand over to Joel to go over the P&L.
All right. Thank you, Christopher, and good morning, everyone. As Chris already covered the sales and EBITDA, I will focus here on the rest of the P&L. As communicated in the press release in connection with our capital markets day, our Q4 net profit is impacted by items affecting comparability in both our operational results as well as on the tax line, which are related. The non-recurring cost in the operational results amounts to SEK 60 million in Q4, and is primarily related to consultancy and advisory costs connected to this tax restructuring in the U.S. And those 60 million is what is making up the difference between EBIT, excluding items affecting comparability and EBIT.
Moving on to net financial expenses, which amounted to SEK 117 million in the quarter, and it's worth noting here that it was impacted by a positive FX effects of approximately SEK 10 million in the financial net. Taxes in the quarter was positive of SEK 274 million, and was impacted by the tax restructuring in the U.S. and the tax impact of items affecting comparability in the operating results. In total, the tax effects associated with these items affecting comparability amounted to SEK 434 million. Taxes in the quarter, excluding items affecting comparability, amounted to SEK 160 million, corresponding to an effective tax rate of 28.9%. The tax rate was impacted by high non-tax deductible transaction expenses and an adjustment, adjusted assessment of the local loss, tax loss carryforwards.
Net profit, excluding items affecting comparability, amounted to SEK 393 million, which is an increase of 6% compared to Q4 in 2022. So moving over to next slide. Despite the increase in net profit, our EPS, as already mentioned by Chris, decreased by 14% to SEK 0.76 in the quarter. And that is, of course, related to a different number of shares as well, following the rights issue in March 2023. EPS for the full year amounted to SEK 4.33 , which corresponds to an increase of 23%. Next slide. As communicated, we continue to deliver a strong cash flow in Q4, amounting to SEK 1.8 billion, out of which SEK 1.1 billion was driven by re-release of working capital, which was essentially split 50/50 between lower inventory and seasonally lower AR.
Moving over to next slide. Overall, the last two quarters has represented a significant pickup in our operational cash flow generation, and the operational cash flow for the year amounts to SEK 2.5 billion. I will go over to the next slide. Net debt, thanks to the strong cash flow, net debt was reduced by approximately SEK 500 million in the quarter, despite our continued high M&A activity. As a result, net debt to EBITDA, excluding leasing and pensions, decreased to 1.7x from 1.9 in last quarter. With that, I hand back over to Christopher.
Thanks, Joel. So trying to wrap up the presentation with first a summary of 2023. We started off here, but, you know, we're very happy with not just the financial development, but also the business development during the year, entering the U.S., entering new markets, strong margin development, good growth, catching up on the cash flow that we've been talking about for a while. Also, you know, looking at what Joel just mentioned on the net debt, strong balance sheet here to continue to support our growth journey going forward.
Good acquisition activity and all good, I would say, development in, in these acquisition, plus, of course, entering, North America, that will have a, that's a huge potential plus over, the long-term future, and a lot of things happening there that supports our business. We did, of course, do a rights issue, but also positive, our shareholders oversubscribed by 44%, so very appreciated of, our shareholders believing in us and the strategy that we're doing. And then, of course, also some of you, were at our Capital Markets Day and streamed it, where we talked a little bit more about our new financial targets, the vision, and, and the strategy going forward. So, we, we close out 2023, very strong, I would say, and a good platform for the future.
Then moving on to the final slide, where we try and talk, you know, summing up Q4, and also talk a little bit on the business here going forward, as we see it. So a good finishing off, stable on the year, I would say a quarter as expected, at least from our side. Acquisition continued to perform well, HVAC negative compared to a very, very strong Q4 last year. Cash flow coming in at our expectation, and also then wrapping up the year with a good cash flow, and we expect that to continue. Good activities on the acquisition side, four in the quarter, and of course, 16 on the year. And then also with the dividend, increasing that to our shareholders by 38%.
So all in all, I would say a stable quarter to finish off a very good year for Beijer Ref. So a little bit, you know, looking forward, we focus more on the long term, and we see the trends that we've been talking about all along continue to support. We have a lot of activities on phasing out the F-gases, here on 40% cut on the quota levels in EU, 30% in the U.S. We continue to see in Australia and New Zealand. And of course, this is very positive for our whole business model and the OEM side, as we move into, you know, the next 5-10 years on that segment, that it will accelerate the pace on that business. And that continues to be very active.
The U.S. here, more of course, short term, will through regulation move into a new type of HVAC equipment based on more natural refrigerants, A2L. So we see that, you know, starting to talking to our OEMs, being active already in Q3 and Q4 of this year, and that will also have an impact on our business. The U.S. platform continues to build up well, and we have a lot of good initiatives together with the team there and our expertise at Beijer on the refrigerant side, private label brands, and also more active with our partners to have strategic agreements. And then the pipeline continues to look positive. Worth mentioning, just short term for Q1 next year, I think I've been fairly clear on this.
This is the, the quarter we continue to, you know, have very strong comps in, in, especially in the EMEA, +17% organic, in 2023. And again, we saw that, you know, ebbing out in, in March of last year, this, this very, very high demand due to the energy prices. So we, we still have one quarter left of that. Another thing worth mentioning, you know, being a, a trading business like us, you know, a number of working days matters quite a lot.
We do have two less days in, as Easter is moving from March to April, but of course, this will be picked up in Q2 and Q3, so there's no effect on the year, but I think it's worth mentioning that it will affect Q1, but of course, on the year, it will be neutral. So that would be our last slide. So now we're open for questions from the audience. So thank you very much for listening, and we're ready for the questions. Thank you.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Adela Dashian from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Adela Dashian, Jefferies, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead.
I hope you can hear me now. Yes, if we just start on current trading, it seems like you are experiencing less of an impact from the challenging macroeconomics than many of your industry peers are reporting or expecting to report. Could you give us some additional insights into why what's driving this? And if there's any specific market or region where you're expecting maybe a worsening effect going into the high season this year? Thanks.
Yeah. Thanks, Adela. It's a very good question and a very hard question to answer, of course. Not paying enough attention to what other companies are experienced, but I think, you know, that, of course, we are also affected by a general climate in the business. I think we are a type of company that's more, you know, active in segments like replacement, repair, aftermarket service in our business model, being a, you know, wholesaler distributor. And of course, also, most of our customers, not all of them, but most of them are smaller mid-size installers who doesn't build up inventory. They, you know, they work in a segment where we work on a daily business.
So those trends might be different in other type of industries and companies that we are not affected by. Then I think in general we continue to see a stable business in our markets. And then, of course, on top of that, you have long-term trends that's, you know, independent on economy or the outlook will continue to drive on the OEM side. You have to transition into natural refrigerants. You have the U.S. now moving in during the end of the year in A2L-based HVAC, and you cannot, you know, buy the old product. So you have a mix of these long term. And of course, the business model that I would say is pretty resilient even in these times.
We haven't seen a big difference in the market. It's been, as we said, here in Q3 and Q4, fairly stable. And then, of course, we have the comps here coming into also in Q1. But in general, it continues to be pretty stable in our markets.
Got it. And my next two questions actually relate to the U.S. market, and the first one specifically to the underlying sustainability trends. Let's say there is a change in presidency in the U.S., do you feel like this could potentially affect your performance there?
No. So I've asked my U.S. partners on that, and I think the answer, which is pretty straightforward, is that the legislation that we see is already legislated, and whoever is the president, nobody believes that they will agree on changing existing legislation, because that means that both the Democrats and Republicans need to agree on doing it. So I think we feel pretty good about the sustainability, the trends we see, because it's already legislated. So we don't expect anything affecting our business on the transition that's happening in this area because it's already passed and it's already legislated.
Yeah, let's see about that. And then finally, on the U.S. as well, would it be possible for you to provide any kind of year-over-year performance in the business there? I understand that's difficult to do, but any type of year-over-year performance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Yeah. So we don't disclose that on our acquisition, right? We have now the U.S. starting on January—started in January 21st, being a part of the normal business or the non-acquisition business of Beijer Ref as we closed the transaction January 20th, if I have the right date in front of me. But I think what we stated is that the way we saw the business developing was you know. The way we saw the year was a stable Q1, a little bit weaker Q2, a stable Q3, and a little bit weaker in Q4. But overall, you know, if you look at the market data out there, we have you know by far performed better than what we see on shipments and et cetera.
But it's also related to that, of course, we have aligned our inventory situation in there. We see more repair than replacements in the market, but I would still see it as a fairly stable year and good margins in the business. And then I think, you know, looking into 2024, I don't think we're seeing any big changes over Q1 or Q2, but of course, there will be a pent-up demand in the U.S., sales of housing and the new technology transition in towards the end of the year, which will be positive for our business. But in general, I mean, that's how I would describe the U.S. business.
All right. And then just the final one for me. Should we expect any additional one-offs related to the tax restructuring in Q1?
... no.
Okay, great. Thanks.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Good morning, it's Carl here from Nordea. A couple of questions as well. Firstly, on pricing, now that you see that demand is soft, it's been a little bit soft here for a couple of quarters. What, what do you hear from, from, from the OEMs in terms of the pricing environment? Are they starting to consider lowering prices in order to potentially regain some volumes in, in maybe both AC as well as their two water subsegments?
Yeah, I think across the board, it's a little bit different if you look at segments and regions, right? You're in the middle of the summer season in the APAC region, and there we haven't seen any changes on the pricing side. In May, of course, you're now into Q4 and Q1. It's a little bit of off season and as we are talking now to, you know, our customers and suppliers, it looks pretty stable as well. On the heat pump side, you know, I keep saying that as it's not a core or a big segment for us, we're still doing okay in that segment.
So, it's not really affecting us so much on the pricing side anyway, so we wouldn't be a good, you know, information on that side. So in general, I would say, it continues to look also stable in the EMEA region. And in the U.S., there are announced price increases from all the OEMs, for you know kicking in here in towards, I think, the end of Q1. How are they gonna stick or how they will develop? I don't know, but all OEMs are increasing prices on the HVAC side in the U.S. as move into end of Q1.
What magnitude do you see for your business Rheem in this case?
Yeah, I wouldn't disclose that.
But it's low single digit, I guess.
Yeah. Mid single digits, maybe, give or take.
Okay. Very good. And also, I mean, you seem, or you sound a little bit more confident in that your biggest customer, Rheem, that is, is ready to launch your products already, perhaps in Q3. Is that, is, did I understand you correctly there? And also, would you say that it would be a full product offering right away, or do you expect a gradual launch throughout the second half? And the final point, a lot of questions, I guess, on this, is in terms of the pricing ambition, what do you hear from your OEM there as well? 'Cause we have heard several different pricing strategies from competitors on the A2L regulation.
Well, maybe you know more than me on the last part of the question. But no, talking to Rheem, I met them last, yeah, last week, and they feel very you know confident on their the product setup. And if not everybody knows here on the call, but in the U.S., by the end of this year, you're not allowed to manufacture the old products, HVAC products anymore. So all the OEM needs to fully transition into these new type of solution based on more natural refrigerants. And it's a big product change for them. Of course, our comfort with Rheem is that they did most of the product upgrades, started that last year, and they feel very confident on their product manufacturing or development with the A2L.
So, we expect them to be, you know, fairly good in that. I can't talk for that OEMs, of course, but on our main supplier, Rheem, feel stable. And it'll be a gradual launch as you move into Q3. Out there, of course, you need to start launching it then, because by the end of the year, all product lines will be transitioning to, you know, the A2L, A2L-based products. So, on the pricing side, you know, I don't have factual. It's anything from 10%-20% uplift on price on these new A2L-based products. And I would hope and assume that you're hearing similar when you have more discussions with different type of OEMs.
Okay, very clear. And also a little bit on capital allocation, now that we see working capital come out nicely here. How should we look at it over the... I guess it will continue as well over the coming next 12 months here, we'll work after releases, I guess, and leverage is, what is it? 1.5, perhaps 1.6x leverage pro forma. Will you keep the leverage here, or will you deliver a bit here to lower net financials, and or use excess cash, keeping it as a stable leverage ratio and use excess cash to M&A, or how should we look at the capital allocation?
Yeah, I would say that we will not change our strategy. It will continue to be like it's been over the last three years. We see, of course, we'll have or expect in 2024 a good cash generation, you know, seasonality. So in Q3, Q4 will be very good again, the way we see the business. And we'll continue to be active here on the acquisition side. We have a good pipeline, very good track record, and we see good opportunities, of course, in the U.S. as we're building a platform. We still see good opportunities in Europe and APAC. So I wouldn't expect any changes in the capital allocation.
I mean, you'll have some changes depending on timing, but, but our focus will be on continue to improve the, the net working capital and release inventory, of course, more on Q3 and Q4, and then continue to be active, on, on the acquisition side as, as we see it, as a continued good opportunity for us there, going forward.
Okay, that's good. A final one from my side is that you said that order intake is improving in Europe, parts related to OEM. Is it some way driven by sort of a quarterly volatility, or do you see, if I think that you said that retail is picking up a bit, but have you seen the real effect from the tightening quotas yet? Or is it sort of, does it come with a lag, or how does it work, is it, you think?
No, I think it comes with a lag, right? I think you always have some time in—and now we're talking about the OEM segment and mainly Europe, where you have this very active transition. Of course, you went through a period with inflation and the retail side being more cautious and trying to postpone it. Now, also that you don't really see, you know, big effects because we're so strong in a lot of industrial segments and other segments that continue to grow nicely. So I think the common relates, the retail is picking up their heads again. They need to do the transition, so you can't wait for too long.
I was hearing here, actually, on a side note, that even ICA in Sweden, you only have 50% of the stores transitioned. The rest are still running 404 or 404. So they, you know, now we're talking Sweden, so there, there's a huge tail ahead of us to transition, and now we haven't seen the effects yet because the quota, of course, was cut here, but it's getting tight out there to get that type of gases to run your system. So I expect more to start seeing that as we transition throughout the year, on the OEM side, but in general, it continues to be positive.
Okay, very good. That's all for me. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Karl Bokvist from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. My first question is partly related to one you were just asked, but just to clarify the order intake, comments, and retail activity, that can you say anything about those kinds of indications for HVAC in general and in regions outside of Europe?
So, to be clear, when we talk order intake, it's pretty much just the OEM segment, and it's not the full OEM segment. On the HVAC side, it's not an order intake business. That's the majority of our business is repair, replacement, and service. So it's a daily business, and you don't really do orders there in our business model. So just on order intake, we do follow it on our OEM business, and it's also related to the project business on there. So it's a limited part of the business that we're referring to. The rest, we don't have really order intake. It's more a daily business as it's a service, aftermarket business.
Understood. Then on working capital and inventory, you see a continued normalization or improvement throughout this year. But what can you say about the inventory levels throughout the value chain? Is it mainly in the distribution part of it now, where you see things that need to normalize further, or do you still see higher inventory levels among OEMs?
No, I mean, I can't speak for the OEMs, right? The inventory situation we talk about is in the distribution side. So it's sitting on our side of the fence. Of course, we are, then, you know, Q3 selling more than we're buying, because we're flushing out inventory. We will start buying here from our OEMs in Q1, to you know, set up for the season in Q2 and Q3. But we'll buy less than we did last year because we're still flushing out inventory. So we'll still have a normal seasonality, inventory will go up in Q1 and Q2, and then it will, but it go up less, if that makes sense, and then we'll flush it out even more in Q3 and Q4.
So we still have some destocking to do towards the OEM, but we are picking up our purchasing with them from being very low in Q3 and Q4.
Understood. And then, just my final one is, outside of Heritage, what can you say overall in terms of performance among your acquired units? Has integration progressed well, or, and the strategic initiatives you're taking, do you see that companies continue to, to perform after you've acquired the, the most recent ones?
Yeah. So they're doing very well. I would state it more, and of course, that's part of the business model on the companies that we buy. There is a very firm pathway on how they will develop over the three years, independent of the market. There is a, you know, entering South Korea, just as an example, we have we could expand their exclusive product portfolio. They get access to 30%-40% more products they couldn't even talk to in the past. We have better pricing, and we're also moving into CO2-based products in that. The same on the HVAC side. Now in the U.S., when we're accessing the two acquisition, they'll get access to spare parts they couldn't get before. So with the business model we have-...
It would take a lot for them to not do well, if that doesn't sound too confident. So they are developing well, margin expansion, and then, of course, you need in the end also the market on the HVAC side to, you know, flush out these costs. But in general, they are, you know, moving towards our target, because, of course, a lot of the acquisition we do on the margin side is lower than Beijer Ref, and the plan is, of course, to get them up there. So they are developing well, and they fit very nicely into our strategic platform. So yes.
Okay, thank you. That's all for me.
Thanks, Karl.
The next question comes from Douglas Lindahl from DNB Markets. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. If you want, on the margins in the quarter, I was curious to hear if, if that's obviously seasonality in there, but, the weakness is even including seasonality a bit on the weak side, I think. Would you explain that mainly through volumes or anything in the mix that's impacting that? Yeah, comments on that would be useful.
Yeah, I think you actually... That's not how we see it. And the reason I think sometimes I think it's good you're asking the question because it'd be good to clarify it. And of course, as Beijer Ref now, based on having, you know, a big new platform in the U.S., our seasonality and the margins are changing. So if you look at it, and compare, is that our U.S. business has even higher seasonality maybe than the rest of it, the Europe, because it's very much focused on HVAC, right?
So their Q2 and Q3, if you look at the margins, they had, I might be right or wrong in my head, you know, but in Q2, there were 15% and 13.5%, and then they're running around 10% in Q4 and Q1. So you'll have more seasonality in the numbers. So when we adjust for this, we didn't see any weakness in Q4 at all. So the U.S.-
Okay
... will drive bigger swings between Q2, Q3, and Q5, related to the U.S.
Okay, understood. So that, that was, I guess, underestimated then externally, but that's useful for you to-
Yeah
... point that out.
That's a good question, because, as Beijer Ref is changing, the Q2 and Q3 would be, on the margin side, affected more positively on, on Q2 and Q3, and then, you know, Q4 and Q1 is more, you know, you won't get that boost from the U.S.. It's more in line with the, with the rest.
Okay, interesting. And, just you already touched upon M&A, and I, I believe I can sort of sense your, your answer to the question, but it would just be interesting to hear about your, your pipeline, how you're thinking with regards to that geographically, product categories, et cetera.
Yeah, so, you know, now when we're playing in, you know, three parts of the world, is the way we define our business, in EMEA, Africa, APAC, and the U.S., we do have a pipeline in all those three parts. It is within U.S.. Just try and explain U.S. a bit, you know, of course, HVAC, but we're also focusing in the U.S. on refrigeration. So we also would expect, as we continue to acquisition in the U.S., we'll build up also a stronger position on the refrigeration side. So it's in the U.S., it's refrigeration HVAC. In Europe, it's more focused on the HVAC side. As you know, in the refrigeration, we are already extremely strong. And then in APAC, it's both refrigeration and HVAC.
So it's in those areas that. So if you've seen, you know, if you take out Heritage from 2023, it will be that type of acquisition through 2024 as well. So no big changes in the acquisition pipeline versus what you see in the last couple of years.
Okay. Yeah, clear. That's very useful. Thanks so much.
Thanks.
The next question comes from Daniel Johansson from Pantechnicon Advisors LLP. Please go ahead.
Hello, thank you very much for taking my question. I was wondering a little bit about the working capital. The benefit that you saw in the quarter of SEK 1,159, how much of that came from Heritage?
We won't disclose that.
Okay, but was that a significant part?
No, it was across the board.
Okay, um-
There's nothing... You know, in general, in those, there's nothing sticking out. I think a good assumption, if you want to do a mathematical exercise, is just looking at the size of the business and seasonality, and it follows, you know, it's gonna be similar. You know, and if you look at it, it's, of course, mainly EMEA and the U.S., as APAC is more into their high season, and they'll flush out inventory, you know, in Q2, Q3, and the opposite. So size of the business is usually, you know, a good indication on how it plays out.
Okay. And then, you know, given the comments you made on seasonality and Heritage being a little bit different relative to the rest of Beijer, so to say, how should we think about seasonality for 2024 as a whole now? Because I guess last year was pretty evenly distributed, profit-wise, between the first half and the second half. Is that something that's not gonna be the case in this year?
No, no, I think, you know, if we talk seasonality, of course, mainly Q2 and Q3. And in general, we talk when it's getting hot. So I mean, Q2 is back-loaded, and Q3 is front-loaded, if you understand what I say. Well, but in Q4 and Q1, I mean, most of what we sell is heating, and your maintenance service, and repair, and other things. But I think if you look at, if you want to cut the year in Q1, Q2, and Q3, and Q4, I would assume that, you know, I think 2023, as Heritage came in, of course, January twentieth, if you just adjust for that, the seasonality should be similar in 2024 as you had in 2023.
Then you can always, if you really want to get into the weeds, you know, Q2 and Q3 can always switch, which is the highest quarter, and that's mostly related on weather and heat waves. You know, if it comes early, Q2 is higher, if it comes later, Q3 is higher. So you have some seasonality between Q2 and Q3, depending on how, you know, how the heat waves play out.
Okay. And lastly, I happen to notice that if I look at page 18 in the quarterly report, there was a little bit change in the acquisition of how you distribute the acquisition value, so to say, on Heritage, where goodwill went up a little bit relative to the previous quarter. What is this relating to?
Hi, this is Joel. Yes, we did some revision of the PPA related to adjusting inventory values according to guidelines within Beijer Ref Group. So final adjustments to the obsolescence on the inventory and so on.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you, all. Thanks for good questions, and, and also wrapping up, I think an interesting year, and look forward to the journey in, in 2024, together with you. So have a, have a great day, and, and thanks for calling in. Thank you very much.