Thank you all for joining us today. I'm Niklas Willstrand, Head of Communications at Fagerhult Group, and it's my pleasure to welcome you to our Q4 2025 result presentation. On the call, we have our President and CEO, Bodil Sonesson, along with our CFO, Oscar Wallstén. Bodil will begin with a brief overview of our fourth quarter results, followed by highlights focusing on smart outdoor lighting. Oscar will then provide a deeper dive into the group's financial performance. To close, Bodil will summarize the key points before we open the floor for your questions. We will start with questions from the conference call participants, and then take questions from the webcast. You can ask questions in the chat window on your screen, and I will then read them out for Bodil and Oscar.
Please note that today's session is being recorded and will be available on our website later today. With that, I will hand over to you, Bodil. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Niklas, and good morning, everybody, and welcome from my side as well to this webcast call. During the period, we have maintained a strong focus on structural improvements and internal efficiencies to strengthen the group. While some business areas are currently working to stabilize their operations, others have successfully navigated the market volatility by focusing on the renovation segment and on continued innovation. Cross-selling initiatives, such as the expansion in data centers and a stronger push in sales, are now creating better commercial drive, even though it's still very early days in some of the initiatives. We continue to work on the combination of sustainable and smart solutions, as you know, which is today also a strong focus on circularity. We are pleased that our acquired brand, Trato TLV and Capelon, are progressing according to plan.
Our smart outdoor business, led by Capelon, is performing very well. This quarter, five new Swedish municipalities placed their first order, and we also reached a major milestone in Norway with our first deal on the market in the city of Modum, and this is especially exciting because it proves that we can successfully take Capelon's technology across borders. To give you an idea of the scale, we now manage over 1 million light points through more than 50,000 installed nodes. An example of a circular initiative, we have launched Libera from iGuzzini, a new outdoor lighting solution, which is designed from the beginning with circularity in mind, and it's built entirely without glue or silicone, so every part of the luminaire can be fully recycled. All brands are also very active in cutting emissions and supporting the sustainable transition.
So looking at the start of 2026, we face a tough comparison because of the unusually large orders that you probably remember that we booked in Q1 last year. We see some positive signs, but I would say that it's still too early to say that the market have officially turned. So now look into... Let's look at the numbers, first Q4, and then the year to date. An order intake for the fourth quarter amounted to SEK 1,844 million, representing an organic change of -9.8%. The decline was primarily attributed to the Collection Business Area , while the Professional Business Area reported a growth in order intake compared with the corresponding period last year, and this is a result of the acquisition of Trato TLV.
The fourth quarter was the best quarter of the fiscal year in terms of net sales, which increased by 1.8% to SEK 2,040 million, which represent an organic decrease of 1.6%, Adjusted for Currency Effects and Acquisitions. Overall, the group reported an operating profit before IAC of SEK 196 million, which represents an increase of 37.1% compared to last year, and the operating margin before IAC amounted to 9.4%. In Earnings Per Share, before IAC was SEK 0.70 for the quarter. So to be clear, we are not yet satisfied with the results, but it's a clear sign of progress, especially considering that we have had no tailwinds from the market, and our performance is driven by our own actions rather than any external factor.
So when we look at year to date, organic order intake decreased slightly compared with the previous year, and an order intake for the period January to December of SEK 7,928 million represents a decrease of 2.3% or 2.5% , almost the same, Adjusted for Currency and Acquisitions. The group net sales for the period from January to December of SEK 7,891 million shows a decrease of 5% t or 5.8% , Adjusted for Currency Effects and Acquisitions. The group's operating profit before IACs for the period January to December, so the full year, was SEK 607 million. An improvement when we compare the two half years, the second half year improved by 30% in profitability and in an operating margin of 7.7% .
Earnings Per Share before IAC was 1.93%. As always, Oscar will share more details when we get to the financial section. As you know, I always have a special section, and in our previous calls for 2025, we introduced our four business areas to provide a better understanding of our operation. Having now covered each one of them, we will conclude the final report for 2025 by focusing on smart outdoor lighting and its innovative capabilities. As cities and municipalities increasingly seek to reduce energy consumption and meet ambitious sustainability targets, our newly acquired Capelon is a very strong and reliable partner. So we start by looking at growth drivers, and therefore, I want to highlight to you.
So we are seeing a global transition away from what we call high-pressure sodium lighting, and this is driven by regulatory bans and the immediate 70% energy reduction achieved by switching to LED control solutions. Our solutions makes it easy to reach sustainability goals by ensuring that light are only active when and where they are needed. By using dimming and smart scheduling, we significantly reduce energy waste without compromising on safety and quality. The second point is that we have old 2G networks that many systems rely upon, and they are currently being shut down. This means that an existing infrastructure as well is becoming obsolete and needs to be replaced. We, at the Fagerhult Group, provide a future-proof solution that ensures our customers stay connected and in control of their lighting as these networks disappear.
So modernizing how we manage infrastructure allows for a complete overview of every light point. So by moving away from manual inspection toward automatic status reporting, it becomes easier to identify exactly where attention is needed. And this creates a much more efficient maintenance process and ensures that the lighting network is always performing at its best. So we are looking, when we look at the market, a very attractive market with a projected annual growth of 19.5% through to 2029, and Europe is currently the global leader, holding 35% of the world's installed base with nearly 12 million units. Only a modest portion of these are currently equipped with luminaire controls. And the most exciting part is that despite that leadership, the market is far from mature.
We're now entering a second wave where early LED installations are reaching the end of their life cycles, and this creates a natural opening, not just to replace the hardware, but to upgrade and modernize the control system at the same time. So let's zoom in on our home market, the Nordics, to give you a feeling for the opportunity. And there are approximately 6 million streetlights currently installed across the region, and the most compelling part for us is that the LED penetration is only at 40%. So this means that over half of the market, roughly 3.6 million light point, is still running on old, inefficient technology.
As cities push to meet their climate goals and phase out old systems, we have a ready-made runway to modernize the remaining 60% of the infrastructure, and simultaneously, we are also evaluating other countries outside the Nordics. So when we go back to Capelon, so what we do is that we turn basic infrastructure into a strategic asset for any city. So... And we do this in a very modular way, so the city can take a step-by-step approach. So we will typically start with centralized cabinet control to give the customer immediate monitoring. From there, we scale up to individual luminaire controls, which is put on every luminaire, which is where we see the real, real, real energy savings through position dimming and motion detection. And the long-term value, however, is that this creates an open backbone or infrastructure if you want to.
So once the network is in place, it's easy to add services for the future, like waste management, smart parking, and much more. For us, this model is key because it offers a very low entry barrier for the customer. They can start with the cabinet of control while building a long-term pipeline for upselling as their urban needs evolve. When we then look at Capelon and what they've been doing so far, they are a very proven leader in smart outdoor lighting and is already trusted by 23% of Swedish municipalities. If you look at the slide, you can see there are many names, and they are already, all of them, partnered with Capelon, but the momentum doesn't stop there. In addition to these established names, we have many other municipalities that have signed up.
I'll give you a few examples, like Sundsvall, Lidingö, Nacka, Tyresö, Salem, Mariehamn, Linköping, Solna, and Motala, has also started partnerships with Capelon in various capacities. And I think the trust is also reinforced, but that we work with key infrastructure partners, national, like Trafikverket. Okay, so this foundation also provides an opportunity for growth. So we can focus on strong references and a proven focus and open standards and seamless integration, which means that we are very well positioned for geographic expansion, which goes beyond our current market. So let's zoom in once more and look at one of the deep roots and one of the long-standing customers of Capelon, which is the city of Gothenburg, which has been a customer for many years.
Gothenburg relies on our technology, and they have around 950 cabinet controls, and with that, nearly 200,000 connected luminaires. This extensive infrastructure allows the city to light up and dim almost the entire urban area efficiently. I think that's a real, great real-world example of how our solution provide the reliability and scale necessary to support major city operations for many years to come. With that, I will end that part of the section and hand over to Oscar for more financial information. Please, Oscar.
Thanks, Bodil. I would also like to welcome everybody to the call. Good morning. It has certainly been a busy quarter when it comes to structural improvements, and I'm really looking forward to executing some of the coming activities related to cross-selling and operational efficiency, to mention a couple of things. All the many strategic topics continue to make very good progress. We have, like Bodil said, just started the journey. As Bodil mentioned, the organic order intake declined by 9.8%, and that is a disappointment. In the quarter, the order intake is positively impacted by FX and acquisitions by a total value of SEK 33 million. Sales is organically decreasing by 1.6% in the quarter. FX and acquisitions have a positive impact of SEK 70 million.
Still, the fourth quarter was the best quarter this year in net sales in absolute numbers. We're more satisfied with the Q4 operating margin, which landed on 9.4%, an improvement both compared to last year, but also an improvement compared to Q3. The operating cash flow was improved compared to the previous quarter and is almost on the same level as last year's Q4. The main driver behind the positive cash flow is the strong operating profit. Year-to-date order intake is slightly lower than last year. We see an organic decrease of 2.5%. Sales is lagging behind last year by 5.8% organically. Operating margin is 7.7%, which is lower than last year, mainly as a result of lower sales volume. Cash flow year-to-date is SEK 740 million.
It's down because of lower profitability, and the decline is, to some extent, also working capital related. The rolling 12-month net sales shows a slight increase also in the fourth quarter, mainly thanks to the acquisition of Capelon and Trato. Like Bodil mentioned earlier, the last quarter of the year was the best quarter in terms of net sales. The positive margin development continued in the fourth quarter. We now see a shift in the trend in the rolling 12 months operating profit after eight consecutive quarters of decline. Business Area Collection. The fourth quarter order intake of SEK 774 million entail organic decline of 13.2%. The order intake for the full year amounted to SEK 3,496 million , and entail an increase of 2.1% in organic growth.
Net sales for the quarter total SEK 960 million, corresponding to organic growth of 0.9%. Overall collection maintained good cost control and hence a stable gross margin. The operating profit before IAC increased to SEK 127 million. Business Area Premium order intake for the quarter of SEK 572 million entail an organic decline of 6.3%, and the order intake of SEK 2,486 million for the full year showed an organic decline of 6.9%. Net sales for the quarter total SEK 680 million, an operating profit before IAC of SEK 78 million. The operating margin before IAC landed on 12.5%, and it is an improvement compared to quarter four last year.
This business area has benefited from the upcoming trend in the renovation sector. One example of that is product Relight in Norway, where Fagerhult Belysning is represented. Business area professionals' order intake for the quarter increased to SEK 380 million, mainly through acquisitions. Business area order intake for the full year of SEK 1,184 million entail organic decline of 3.1%. The order backlog remains much improved at SEK 436 million. Net sales for the quarter total SEK 388 million, up 46% heavily influenced by FX effect and acquisition of Trato, which is included in the business area numbers from first of July. The operating profit before IAC amounted to SEK 21 million.
During the quarter, Professional business area has continued to focus on cross-selling collaboration, which we consider a success factor going forward. By utilizing existing solutions to expand brands' local offerings, we can strengthen our position in different markets. Infrastructure order intake for the quarter totaled SEK 164 million, corresponding to an organic increase of 2.0%. For the full year, the order intake is SEK 737 million, which is an organic decrease by 7%. Net sales for the quarter totaled SEK 179 million, an organic decline of 7.1%, and operating profit before IAC was SEK 3.7 million. Just like Professional business area, Infrastructure Business Area has continued to focus on cross-selling collaboration during the quarter. By executing this way of working, the business area has secured some key projects in Australia and U.K..
In the fourth quarter, the cash flow improved from last year, last quarter to SEK 345 million, and is almost at the same level as Q4 last year. The cash flow recovery in the last quarter is mainly thanks to, to the increase of operating profit during this period. The group has overall a good cash-generating process, creating positive cash flow every quarter. During the last three-four years, you can see our strategy has been to reduce the net debt. This has enabled us to invest in new acquisitions. The recent investment in Trato TLV Group and Capelon has increased our net debt to current levels, which are higher than before. Earnings per share increased during fourth quarter after long period of decline. It landed on SEK 1.93 for the full year, SEK 1.93.
We are not satisfied with this level, and we're working very hard to improve the earnings. That was all from me, and now back to Bodil.
Okay, thank you very much, Oscar, so for walking us through the numbers. So I'll give a very short summary. So our focus on structural improvements and efficiencies have kept us moving forward despite a tough market, making this the strongest quarter of the financial year. Some of our business units are starting to stabilize, while others are seeing tangible success by prioritization of renovation and innovation. We are also gaining more momentum in cross-selling, even though it's still very early days, and sustainable efforts like our circular initiatives. So our recent acquisitions, as I said, Trato, TLV, and Capelon, are developing according to plan, and we have successfully in this quarter expanded the smart outdoor segment internationally with our first deal in the Norwegian city of Modum, while five new Swedish municipalities have also placed their first order.
As I mentioned earlier in the call, this is especially exciting because it proves that we successfully can take Capelon technology across borders. We aren't, as Oscar said as well, and I've said it also, not yet satisfied with the results. It is a clear step in the right direction in Q4, and we are making progress regardless of whether the market is helping us or not. Looking ahead, we note certain positive signals, as we did in the third quarter, but it's still too early to confirm a turnaround. I say the same things as I said in Q3. With that, I will hand over to Niklas and Inderes for the Q&A.
Thank you very much, both Bodil and Oscar, and with that, I will ask the operator to open up for questions from those on the telephone line. Thank you so much.
Thanks. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press pound key five on your telephone keypad. The first question is from Lara Mohtadi from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead, Lara.
Hi, Lara here from ABG. Just a couple of questions from my end. Order intake saw quite a significant decline organically in Q4, and you mentioned seeing positive signals despite the tough market. Could you maybe elaborate on where you're specifically seeing these signals? Is it by geography, maybe a stabilization in the U.K., or by segment, or is it renovation projects picking up speed? Or maybe just give some color on this.
Yeah, I think it's all and above what you were just saying. I think there is... You can't point to something very, very specifically, but I see some very early signs in some of the Scandinavian markets in the Nordics, where we see an increased quoting activity compared to before. And I think all of us who's based here, we've seen signals on this before, but we also see some concrete, so we hope that that will help us partly.
... Then I see a big difference between public and private sectors. So, you know, it's that that's also depending, so that's independent of geography. You know, we have some brands who's, for example, active in prisons and transportation projects, and there we see a stronger trend. They, they are busy. We still see an office market, which is quite slow. But where we see parts in the office markets is on the renovation side. So I think, so one of our biggest successes in last quarter is when we can combine office with smart and renovation, then we see success. And then I think in general, we're working very, very hard on the commercial side, so focusing a lot on the quote side, and some of the businesses is having it tougher.
Still early days, it's still too early to say that we see signs of improvements, but I think the focus will help. And then, as you know, we've also launched a few cross-selling initiatives that we spoke about, that we have hopes for, and we've launched that in Australia, we launched that in the U.K., in data centers, for example. But we're still in the very, very early phase. So I don't think that won't make a difference in the first two quarters of the year. And then-
Very clear. Thank you.
I think also the last one, if you look into new investments, you remember last year, we had a lot of investments into big projects in Saudi. Activity has been high all year. There is still a lot of activity, but it's a little bit dependent on the oil price, how and when investments are coming in that region. So there are external factors there, which is also having an impact on us.
Thank you. And, well, the step up in, the operating margin was impressive, particularly, you had a negative, organic growth. Could you maybe help us bridge this, year-on-year improvement? Is it driven mostly by these structural efficiency measures that you've implemented, or is it more due to a favorable product mix? Just give us some color on this.
I'll start, and then I'll hand over to Oscar. I think one part which is very important for us, and I think what we have said before, and that's why we focus so heavily on growth, is that when we reach a certain volume, which means, and I think we have some kind of magic when we go over SEK 2 billion, then you can see that it has an impact on our results. Because we have an amount, even though we've been working hard with efficiencies and everything we can, and we will continue, but we still have quite a big amount of fixed costs. So when you go over that SEK 2 billion, it has a positive impact for us. And I think we've seen that before. You can look at the history as well. So that's one answer to it.
Yeah. No, thank you, Bodil. We also have a one-time off positive margin impact of SEK 20 million across collection and professional in the quarter. That is, as I said, one time off nature. So then that has a positive contribution of approximately 1% in contribution then.
Okay, thank you. Very clear. And if we just dive into the professional segment, that segment saw a decline in margins year-on-year. Maybe could you just give some color on what drove that? Was it primarily volume driven due to the negative organic growth, or what was the reason behind that?
In professional?
Yes.
I mean, in professional, we have Trato TLV that came in, so we have increased volumes, but we also have some of the businesses that have been struggling a little bit during the year, and which has then had a negative impact in the quarter. But we see positive signs in some of those businesses as well, going into the first half of this year.
Okay, great. Very clear. That was all from my end. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Lara.
Next question is from Oscar Rönnkvist from SEB. Please go ahead, Oscar.
Perfect. Thank you very much. Just the first question, I want to jump on, on the last one here. The positive one-off effects, could you tell us that again? And has that impacted the Adjusted EBIT? Thanks.
It's... That's correct. So it has impacted the Adjusted EBIT and the, or-
So the one-
It's before. It's not IAC, it is in operational expenses.
All right. So the SEK 196 that you report as EBIT before items affecting comparability, that is more like SEK 176 on sort of an underlying basis. Is that correct?
That is correct.
All right. Thank you. Now, I was—that was actually sort of my next question: the margin collection specifically looks very high in an historical basis. I think 14%, it's been sort of hovering around 10% in the last two quarters and over the last few years on average. But how much was the one-off in collection in specifically? Thanks.
The majority was in Collection.
All right. Perfect. Thanks. And next one, just on also, continuing a little bit on the orders, but want to take the question a bit differently. But when you highlighted the tough comparatives in Q1 on orders, I just wondered if we sort of should read anything into that, you know, order momentum is still going pretty weak on some underlying basis, or if it's just to remind investors and the market that, you know, comps are specifically tough in Q1?
I think if, if you look upon it, I think it's, it's first to if you looked last year, Q1 order intake was the best one we've ever had historically. And, and in that Q1, if I can remember correctly, I think there was around SEK 180 million of very special deals. So of course, that makes it a tough comparison quarter. But then you also heard me saying, and you see it on the Q4 numbers, I still haven't seen the turn. So that means that-
Yeah
... it's the we won't get help from the markets. So I would say that if anything, there is tough competition, so orders there is fighting for every order, I would say, in a high amount out in the market. I think you also need to remember in that sense, that we are in this cycle of construction. You put lighting in as one of the last parts that you put in, so we are a late cyclical.
Yeah. Understood. Just on the mix between COGS and OpEx, I think that the gross margin is still a bit lower than sort of the historical trend. It averaged pretty fine a few quarters ago, going up in a sort of straight line, and then it was a bit lower in Q3, and now in Q4 as well. It's above or around 39% instead of the, you know, 40%-41% you've seen in the previous few quarters. I think you highlighted the mix effects in Q3. Should we still expect that, you know, that could come up a bit on a normalized basis, on a sort of normalized product mix?
Or, is it any sort of shift that you've made between COGS and OpEx that pushes down the gross margin, but takes away a little bit of the OpEx instead?
No, I don't think we've done that. I think when I look upon it, there might be... I would say what you see is related to a few brands, where you have some lower volumes. It's not a general, when I look into the different brands. Then I think we have said for a while, that we shouldn't expect higher margin on the GP side. And also, when I say that you have tough competition on the market, and that we prefer to go over SEK 2 billion, we would rather be focusing- I would be more pleased to see more volume, and then, of course, trying to keep the gross mar- GP, but for us it's more important to get the volume in. Does that give you a pic- does that paint a picture for you?
Yeah, yeah. No, that's good. That's it.
Mm.
Thanks. Um-
But overall, I would say that-
Yeah
... we're keeping the, it's always been one of our strengths, and I mean, we are on the high-end segments, so we're selling lighting quality. So it is important with a high gross profit.
So very right.
Yeah. No, got it. Thank you. Just the sort of the final one on the infrastructure margin. I mean, quite the opposite of connection, I believe, trending quite slow in historical terms. Is there anything structural here that you see? Or could we expect, you know, that to come up to more normalized levels if volumes improve?
I think they're working very hard on it. It's one of the business areas we have a strong, strong focus on on the commercial side. We've had some changes in those sales organizations, and so we will maintain that focus. Then it looks very different when you look into the individual businesses. They are in it's infrastructure, but different markets. So as I said before, you've one business in there selling to prisons, they have a very good market. You have another one who is more into the logistic sides, and I think that market is still a bit tougher. My estimation of it is that we have stabilized, so we should expect to see step by step it going into the right direction.
Perfect. All right. That was all for me. Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press pound key five, and if no one else registers now while I'm speaking, I'll hand the word back to you, Niklas, for maybe written questions.
Thank you very much. We have a written question here: There are a lot of investments in public infrastructure in Europe. Why haven't you seen this effect in your infrastructure business area? Is there a lag to expect, and could you put some color why the Operating Profit Margin is declining?
I think the latter part of that, I just explained. And I think I partly explained some of the other side of it as well, that we are into different parts of the infrastructure business. I think that's quite a wide one. We also see some positives in transportation in Europe, and I think that's one of the parts where we will see investments going in. Then I also, from when governments takes decision, that there will be funding until they really happen, it takes some times very often as well. So I don't think that all of that money has been released yet. But I see a clear trend for the coming years, that we will probably see more public investment than we will see private investment.
Thank you very much, Bodil. So we have another question here: When do you expect to do another acquisition, given your current debt ratio?
Yeah. No, that's a very good question, and we are, of course, keeping an eye on the market and looking for opportunities to invest. I don't think we will go for a substantial investment this year, but we could potentially look into a complementary smaller businesses, yeah, somewhere in Europe. But it won't happen in Q1. But we are keeping an eye on the market and see what comes up as opportunities.
Thank you, Oscar. And we have another question here: Could you indicate the mix between new construction and renovation of old systems? Could you indicate the mix between volume and price in orders?
It's a good question. I can't... I don't have statistics of the mix in terms of how much we do in renovation and new construction. And we can also define renovation in different parts. I would say when you look into the market, if you look at Euroc onstruct, renovation is bigger than new investment, clearly, and that is what we see. So I would say that the majority of what we're doing today is renovation of old systems. Then, if you look into the mix between volume and price related to renovation, we don't earn less margin on renovation projects, because very often we have some advantages. What do we do?
We are closer to the customer very often, and a renovation is, by definition, very often a bespoke solution, and that is our strength, because we can do a customer-oriented solution. And also, it gives us the opportunity to have a dialogue with the customer, so we will be able to get more smart into a renovation system, because the customer and the end user will see the benefit of that, because they will get the decrease on the price on their energy bill. So I would say that for us, renovation, bigger renovation is rather positive for us. It's not a negative. Then I would like to see more new build projects in the market as well, but that is less of them today.
Thank you very much, Bodil. And, with that, we would like to thank you to Bodil and Oscar, and thanks to everyone joining us today. And before I leave it over to Indres, I would also like to mention that, as I said earlier in the call, the webcast will be available on our website later today. So thank you very much, and over to you, Einar.
Thanks, and this concludes today's call. You may disconnect your lines.