Hello and welcome to Elanders AB Conference Call. My name is Laura, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen- only mode . However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. I will now hand you over to your host, Magnus Nilsson, CEO of Elanders Group, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Thank you, Laura. Welcome everyone to Elanders Phone Conference. Together with me here is also Åsa Vilsson, our CFO. I will now go directly to slide number 5 and talk about our fourth quarter. Our underlying demand improved in the quarter, and if we adjust for declining prices in Air & Sea, we had actually an organic sales in line with previous year. Our adjusted EBITDA margin continues to improve and came in better than both the previous quarter and last year, and was reaching 8.7% compared to 6% last year, which is a result of all our actions we have done to lower our cost base, also to improve our efficiency, and also with the help of recovery in sales. We also improved our adjusted EBITDA result, and our adjusted result for tax came in 38% better than previous year.
Also positive in the quarter was that North America continued to have organic growth, and also Asia came back to growth in the fourth quarter. Europe had a negative organic growth, but that was mainly because of lower prices in the Air & Sea. If we then go to slide number 6 and look at our cash conversion, we can show that we continue to deliver very strong cash conversion, which ended at 92% for the full year. If we then go to slide number 7, look at Supply Chain Solutions, our organic growth was negative at 2% compared to a negative growth of 4% in the third quarter, but if we adjust for Air & Sea, organic sales was in line with previous year.
If we look at the result, we can show a very positive development with both improved EBITDA margin and EBITDA result, and our adjusted EBITDA margin actually came in at 8.5% compared to 5.9% last year, which is the highest ever for Supply Chain Solutions. Very positive in the quarter was that LGI, our German subsidiary, could show a strong improvement in their margin after all the actions they have done during the year, which helped to improve the margins for both Supply Chain Solutions, but also the group, as they represent almost 50% of the group's total sales. If we look at the outlook for Supply Chain Solutions in 2026, is overcapacity in warehouse space still our biggest challenge, but also our biggest opportunity?
Because if we in 2026 will manage to fill up the space step by step, will this be a very important driver to continue to improve our result? If we then go to slide 8, look at Print & Packaging Solutions, you can see that organic sales for the first time this year didn't decline and actually came in at the same level as last year. Traditional printer products continued to decrease but was compensated by strong organic growth of 10% from the strategic important product segment Online Print. Fourth quarter is the absolute most important quarter for Print & Packaging Solutions, and it was very important that we managed to reach the same level as last year when it comes to both EBITDA margin and EBITDA result, and their adjusted EBITDA margin came in at 9.1% compared to 8.9% last year.
If we then go to slide number 9, look at the development of our different customer segments in the quarter and start to look at electronics. The picture continues overall to be very positive, and in the quarter, we could see an organic growth of 2% because of stable demand both in Asia and Europe. Fashion had a negative growth of 4%, but if we adjust for Air & Sea, we had an organic growth of 1% instead, mainly driven by continued recovery in North America that had an organic growth of 7% as a result of lower churn, improved new sales, and new customers. The demand in Europe was in line with last year if we adjust for Air & Sea.
If we look at automotive, it continued a negative trend but improved compared to previous quarters and showed a negative growth of 3% compared to around 10% in the last nine months. At the moment, it looks like demand is starting to stabilize from our customers, and we can also see that their forecasts are now more accurate than before. If we look at Other, Other showed a negative trend with a negative organic growth of 7% compared to 3% in the previous quarter, and it was mainly FMCG volumes in the U.K. that decreased together with traditional print products in this customer segment. Industrial showed a strong recovery in the fourth quarter with an organic growth of 9% compared to a negative organic growth of 7% in the third quarter, and it was mainly Germany that was behind improvement but also increased volumes in Air & Sea.
When it comes to healthcare, we can see a negative growth of 11% as a result of two discontinued customers, but the underlying business remains stable. If we then go to slide number 10 and look at how things will be going forward, we can see that the market continues to be very uncertain, but after seeing the positive result in the fourth quarter as a result of all actions we have taken in 2025 to lower our cost base and make our organization more efficient, I'm carefully optimistic when it comes to 2026. And as I mentioned before, is overcapacity still both our biggest challenge but also our biggest opportunity in improving our profit, which means that new sales and organic growth with existing customers continues to have the highest priority.
Parallel with these actions, we're continuing to have a high tempo in our rollout of the group's global warehouse platform, CloudX, and also the implementation of AI solutions, which over time will lower our cost base even further and increase our efficiency and create very competitive solutions for our customers. We also still believe that trade barriers over time will create opportunities for global players such as Elanders by breaking up global logistics chains and replacing them with regional and local logistics chains. Okay, that was everything from me, and I open up for questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We'll pause for a brief moment while the queue waits for questions. Thank you. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Thank you. We'll now take our first question from Gustav Berneblad of Nordea. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. It's Gustav here from Nordea. I thought maybe just to start off here on the cash flow, just curious, the dynamics of working capital, has that changed following the strategic initiatives you have made? Because when I look at the last three years in the Q4 reports, we have seen a quite solid working capital release, and now we saw a quite significant tie-up. So just curious about that one.
Yeah, no, I think the difference was that this year, that the fourth quarter was starting pretty slow, and the demand was really improving in the second half of the quarter. So it means that we built up more working capital than normal. That should be released in Q1 in this year instead. So it was a delay in timing, you can say.
Oh, that's perfect. And then, I mean, is it fair to assume, I mean, also there when I look at the last three years in Q1, we tend to see a working capital release, but is it fair to assume that we can expect a stronger release here in Q1 then, or?
We had a pretty strong release last year, but it should be at least in the same level, but hopefully a bit higher. So it should be a bit higher. Yeah.
That's perfect. And then next question, when you now have shrunk the business through these strategic initiatives, exiting the road business in Germany, phasing out the buy and sell, I mean, should we, when we look at the cash flow, expect that amortization of lease liabilities continue downwards from here, or do you see that Q4 now is sort of a good proxy for what to expect going forward?
I think, Åsa, I think it will be roughly the same. I think we get rid of some more trucks now in Q4, but.
Yeah, but roughly the same, I would say also.
Yeah, because we will have same rental agreements and contracts, and it should be roughly the same going forward.
Okay, okay, perfect. And then, I mean, looking into 2026 now, if we compare now to the end of 2025, are there any additional strategic initiatives or cost savings or similar that is sort of not visible in now or is visible in numbers now and will become even larger here in 2026, or could we see additional margin support if you understand my question?
Yeah, no, I think because we are taking lots of actions during 2025 on the cost side, and so we are going into this year in, of course, much slimmer, especially in personnel costs and in admin costs. But it still also depends on the demand. We are carefully optimistic. We don't see a big increase in demand, but now we go in with lower costs. So we are counting on improved margins this year compared to last year, of course. We don't give any forecasts, but overall, all the things we have done should continue to give us positive effects. And if you look at our Q3 and Q4, there was a good improvement in our margins, and we should continue to see improved margins in Q1, Q2, Q3 this year.
Oh, that's very clear. And then just, sorry, the last one here as well. In terms of the Online Print, I mean, showing 10% organic growth, would you say that this is mainly driven by e-commerce, or are you seeing actually a general better demand picture here in the market?
No, I think the demand was very strong, but we also still continue to add new customers in that area. But I must say the customers that we have since the year before were performing really good as well. So overall, very positive. It was very important for us. So we hope to continue maybe to grow this business area even further this year. But it was a really good quarter. 10% was very good growth.
That's very clear. Thank you very much for taking my questions.
Thank you, Gustav. Thank you.
Thank you. We currently have no questions coming through. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad, and we'll pause for a further moment. Thank you. We'll now take our next question from Markus Almerud of DNB Carnegie. Your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning.
Hi, Marcus.
A couple of questions on the end, Marcus, to start. You were talking about the recovery in industrial. What is the growth. Kind of similar question to what Gustav was saying. Is it the growth that we're seeing, is it on the back of e-commerce, or is the market actually recovering? And if so, are there any end markets which are sticking out?
I think for industrial, it was mainly Germany that was driving the growth, especially our customers in thermal technology. It looks like construction is starting to recover in Germany, and also that people invest more in heat pumps and things like that. It was lots of Germany driving the growth for us.
And it feels like it's underlying demand which is driving this rather than any e-commerce or anything like that.
Yeah, yeah, it was, yes.
Yeah. When you talk about demand improving towards the end of the quarter, is that across the board, or is it specifically to any end market where you did see recovery?
No, I think overall, it looked good in the second half of the quarter, both in Asia and in America. So general stable demand, and all of our customers were performing well.
I know you don't give any forecasts, but has it continued? I mean, did it start off in the beginning of the quarter and then it continued, or does it seem like more of a one-off pickup?
No, but I think the demand is absolutely more solid now compared to last year. But of course, we are very careful to expect too much. That's why we've done so much action on the cost side. So we expect pretty stable demand and that we will improve our earnings because of all the cost savings and efficiency actions we have done. It's a little bit like the trend in Q3 and Q4 when you could see also in Q3 that we were improving margin despite still a bit negative organic growth. So I think when it comes to growth for this year, we expect that we will recover some kind of growth. But we are a bit careful because it's not easy to estimate.
If it stabilizes like it is and with some growth and all the actions we have taken, we should see a good improvement this year compared to last year.
On fashion in North America in particular, I mean, they also saw growth. What is the status there? In particular, has the churn, the outflow of customers, I assume, has stopped, and how is the inflow of new customers?
Yeah, as you say, the churn has gone down to a much more normal level, and we also have a better inflow of new customers. So you can see it starts to recover. There's still some worries about the different trade actions coming from the U.S. that disturb our customers a bit. But overall, you can see a positive trend that you can see a recovery.
The recovery that you do see, the growth, is it with existing customers then that are recovering rather than new customers coming in?
It's a combination. We've got some new interesting customers that we have secured, and also that our existing customers have more stable demand. So I don't think you can say you see a strong recovery in North America, but there is some recovery in the market, so yeah.
In Europe, you're talking about the fall because of the R&C business, particularly in fashion. If you take that away, what is the fashion looking like in Europe?
No, Europe is roughly on the same level like last year. So it continues to be more stable. I think Europe in fashion has been more stable for us during the last two years compared to America, so it's been more of a roller coaster. So I think Europe continues to be stable. Our customers are doing pretty well. I think the fourth quarter was going as expected, so yeah.
Regarding the overcapacity in warehouses, which we've seen for some time, you've closed some warehouses. Are you happy with the capacity that you have right now, or is it just about waiting for kind of volumes to come back? Is that where we are at right now?
I think we still have more capacity than we want to have. So we have done lots of actions to slim it down. We are now seeing a better inflow into some of these warehouses, but we still have too much capacity, like I said, which both puts pressure on the numbers, but at the same time, this also gives us opportunities. But we will maybe release some more capacity when we have the possibility with the contracts. But at the same time, we can see more RFQs and requests, so.
Yeah.
It's a bit too much overcapacity still, but it also gives us opportunity to go back to organic growth very quickly if the volumes are coming, so.
On the UK, what's the status in the UK?
No, I think U.K. is you can see improvements in U.K. in our earnings, but that's more about all the things we've done in efficiency. But the market overall is still very slow in the U.K. So if you look at Europe, U.K. is the toughest market for us. The other markets, the Netherlands, where we also are pretty big, Germany, much more stable. It's not as big in Sweden, but Sweden also looks much better. So U.K. is still a question mark. But here we have really done lots of actions to slim down, which have helped our earnings. That's our starting point here. But U.K. is still a challenge here.
Okay, okay. And then finally, I guess, just out of curiosity, we talked last quarter about the print-on-demand machines that you were going to put in warehouses and in bookstores in Germany. Anything new on that front?
No, nothing new. We are preparing and planning together with the customer because the big start should be 2027, actually. We will start producing them in 2026, but the big start will be in the new facility will be in 2027. But we will start producing for them already in the second half of this year. So they're an important customer for our Print and Packaging Division.
Okay, thank you very much. That's all from me for now.
Thank you, Marcus. Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions in queue, and I will now hand it back to Magnus for closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for calling in to our conference call. Thanks. Bye-bye.
Thank you. This concludes today's call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.