Good morning, everybody. My name is Stefan Jonsson, and I'm here together with Helena Claesson, our CFO. Welcome to this presentation. Short introduction of the company. As you probably already know, GARO develops and manufactures innovative products and turnkey solutions for the electric installation market. We have operations in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Poland. Our activities are divided into two business areas, GARO Sweden and GARO Other Markets. The company has a broad product assortment, and we are market leading within many product areas. Our headquarters is in Gnosjö, Sweden, and we have few production sites, two in Gnosjö, one in Värnamo, Sweden, and one factory in Szczecin, in Poland. Altogether, we have 402 employees. Next slide, please. Into the financial summary, please, Helena.
Yeah. So let me introduce myself. My name is Helena Claesson, and I joined the GARO family as from January first this year. Previously, I have done 15 years for the company with the traffic enforcement, that is Gatso Sweden. Then to summarize the financials. 2018 has been a year of consolidation in comparison with last year, when we acquired two companies to strengthen our position. During 2018, we have also focused on product development and continued to take market shares, which we believe we have also succeeded with. The fourth quarter saw sales 13% better as a strong growth in EV charging and also in construction-related products area combined. Higher operating margin, 14%, as a result of economies of scale from higher volumes.
Also, in the full year of 2018, we can see a sales increase of 13%, operating margin of 12.6%, and the board is proposing a dividend per share of SEK 4. Next slide.
Some operational highlights during 2018. The EV charging had a strong growth in all markets and of all different charging products. We also can see a clear trend that there is a demand for more advanced EV chargers than it used to be. Increasing demand in all countries, also important to say. We have a strong development in other markets, in all product categories, and in all markets. Our product development is very important for the company, and we have more advanced and connected products than ever before. It has to do with the digitalization, of course, and we think we have a strong position there. We had several product launches within electrical distribution products. Important to say also, after the period, is that the board of directors has decided to terminate Carl-Johan Dalin's employment as CEO.
Our sales and marketing director, Patrik Andersson, will take over the role of acting CEO. Patrik has been with us since 2007 and has been since many years a member of the management team. Next slide, please. If we look at the different product areas, we have electrical distribution products, which is still the biggest area in GARO, 50%, the year before, 51%, and project business. Project business is where we sell turnkey solution, and that is 24% of the total business, 26% last year. If we move that into temporary power solution, that's, we can say panels and electrical distribution equipment for mainly the building industry, 8% of the total turnover.
And then last but not least, EV charging, 18%, used to be 13%, 2017, is our most fast-growing area in the company. Next slide, please.
Some financial highlights for the fourth quarter. Net sales amounted to SEK 268 million, which is 13% better compared to SEK 238 million of net sales in the same quarter, 2017. All of this came through organic growth. The EBIT amounted to SEK 37.5 million, which gives us an EBIT margin of 14%, to be compared with 13% for the same period last year. The gross margin in the quarter has been stronger due to scale benefits from higher volume. Also, when comparing with the fourth quarter in 2017, that quarter was negatively affected by increased costs to ensure a good delivery capacity when moving product facilities from Sweden to Poland.
Net income amounted to SEK 25.5 million, giving us an earnings per share of SEK 2.55 , which is 2% less than for 2017.... However, the tax within the fourth quarter of 2017 was boosted or positively affected by SEK 2 million as a deferred tax benefit from our investment in Poland. Next slide. The financial highlights for the full year of 2018. The net sales for the full year amounted to SEK 902 million, which is 13% up from last year. The EBIT amounted to almost SEK 114 million, giving us an EBIT margin of 12.6%. The better result is due to scale benefits from higher volumes, especially in the second half of 2018.
Net income amounted to almost SEK 83 million, giving us an earnings per share of SEK 8.27 per share, which is less than the 8.56 per share in 2017. However, again, we need to keep in mind the positive effect, effects from the deferred tax assets from our Polish facilities, amounting to SEK 9.6 million for the full year. Next slide, please. Now, looking into the segments. GARO Sweden. The general market for installation products grew with about 2.5% in the fourth quarter and almost 4% for the full year. For the segment, Sweden in GARO, the net sales in the fourth quarter amounted to SEK 176 million, which is an improvement of 8% from the same period last year. We can see a strong growth in EV charging, both in the quarter and the full year.
For the construction-related areas combined, we have seen a modest growth in the fourth quarter, but a good growth through the full year. Higher gross margins, due to positive scale effects from higher volumes in the fourth quarter, gives us an EBIT of SEK 24.5 million, which is an improvement of 20%. Last year's, however, operating results was negatively affected by increased costs to secure good service levels in the fourth quarter. EBIT margin in the fourth quarter was 13% and 12.5% for the full year. Next slide. Now, looking into other markets. We have seen strong development in all product areas and in all countries, both in the quarter and the full year. We have had good development in the construction-related areas in Norway, and a strong growth in Ireland, both during the quarter and the full year.
We can see increased sales of EV charging products in all countries in the quarter, as well as in the full year. Net sales for the fourth quarter amounted to SEK 92 million, which is 23% better than the same quarter last year. EBIT amounted to SEK 13 million in the fourth quarter and gave us an EBIT margin of 14.1%, following strong growth in sales volume in the quarter. The slightly lower operational margins for the full year is the result of investment of sales and marketing activities during 2018. Next slide, please. Now, looking into cash flow. The cash flow from operating activities was SEK 27 million in the quarter and almost SEK 73 million in the full year, thanks to an improved EBITDA and a lower increase of working capital compared to last year.
Cash flow from investing activities amounted to SEK 5 million for the quarter and approximately SEK 22 million for the full year of 2018. The comparing numbers for the quarter and the full year of 2017 include the acquisitions of the two companies done during last year to strengthen our position in project-oriented business, as well as product development. Net working capital amounted to approximately SEK 180 million in the quarter, and is then higher than in 2017 due to higher stock and receivables. Net debt was SEK 45.7 million, and an equity per asset ratio of 52.4. Next slide, please.
Yes, coming into the growth and development opportunities, there are really two things that we would like to point out here. Product development in all areas has always been and will be a very important part of our activity, and that, I mean, we are developing current products, new or additional products and product areas is always important to look at, especially in the fast-growing areas. New business divisions for new products or new business areas, and of course, new geographical markets. And of course, acquisitions. We made two acquisitions during 2017. 2018 has been a year where we tried to integrate those acquisitions in the best possible way in the company.
It worked out well, and of course, we are all the time looking for acquisitions in Nordic electrical companies, new or additional products and product areas. Of course, companies with an edge. The company we bought in 2017 is, WEB-EL is a good example of that, and of course, on top of that, new geographical markets. So that will all together provide GARO with a nice growth. But this plan is unchanged. That has been our strategy since quite a long time. Next slide, please. A small outlook. The demand for construction-related products in Sweden we think remains at a high level, but is gradually slowing down as expected.
As expected in 2019, there is a lower number of construction starts, and that will have an impact on the number of newly built homes. Maybe not in the first six months, but probably in the later part of the year. The trend in other markets served by GARO is expected to be favorable. We see a strong growth in the EV charging product area and a continued expansion of charging infrastructure in all markets. All in all, GARO continues to have a positive view of market conditions in 2019, mainly driven by the expansion of charging infrastructure. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that was our report. Thank you for listening. Now we will move into if anyone has any questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you change your mind, press star followed by two. While preparing to ask your question, please make sure that you are on mute. So the first question today comes from Kenneth Toll of Carnegie. Kenneth, please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so, I was a bit surprised to see the change of the CEO late last night. Looking at the Q4 report, I mean, all the numbers look great. It's good growth, good margins, good cash flows. There are no real signs of problems when looking at the numbers in the Q4 report. So could you elaborate a little bit more on the reason for the change of the CEO?
Well, I can only agree to what you said. There are no reasons in the report or anywhere else to be found in the figures. But we think that there is a window of opportunity now, and there is a lot of positive opportunities for the company to take care of. So we think we need to speed up, and we think there is a lot of positive things that we have to deal with during the next couple of years in all markets and in all product areas, but of course, mainly in the area of EV charging, where things are moving very, very fast at the moment.
Okay. Does it relate, when you talk about speeding up, do you mean more internal product development, or is it also, I mean, that you need to do acquisitions and that the former CEO didn't agree on that strategy or?
No, but I mean, the decision-making process in a fast moving market is very important. Product development is one example where we always had a very good speed and still having a good speed. I think we have to speed up even so, and also in the market activities, we have to increase activities. They are very interesting at the moment in many markets, but still, there are more opportunities out there. So altogether, it's a matter of leadership, basically.
Great. Yeah, and then, on the outlook, GARO talked in the middle of the year that you have had success on the EV charging side, also outside of the Nordic region, in some other countries. Have that continued into Q4, and what is the outlook for 2019? Say, Germany, yeah.
It has continued because we have outside Sweden, we have had a lot of nice activities in six to seven different countries. We have had a nice breakthrough in Poland, where we have made agreement with a utility company and one gasoline station chain as well for our chargers, which we think is very, very positive. We have also for bus charging made our first deliveries and so on. So there is a lot of positive things that has happened, and we have a very broad product portfolio, and we are feeling that the market is asking for more advanced solutions, which it suits our plans very, very well. Which means that it's more interesting for us to work in that direction, to be honest with you.
A final thing then. In temporary power, it was the second quarter when demand or sales from that product segment fell year-over-year, and you have often referred to this area as the most early cyclical part when it comes to the construction-related part of the businesses. If we go into a situation now in 2019, where the construction-related businesses goes down a bit, as you write in your outlook statement, and at the same time, you have good growth in the EV charging side, can you relocate internal resources and move employees so that you can sort of manage that changeover internally in a good way?
That has not been necessary so far, I have to say. But if the situation would be like, like you are saying, we could, yes, the answer is we could relocate, but we are not there yet. We have had also end of the fourth quarter, some very positive things going on also in the temporary electric solutions. So, but it's true that this is probably the area in GARO, which is most affected, up and down, if something happens in the market. So that's true. But again, it's not a very big part of the company. Important for us, but still, it looks quite okay.
Mm. Okay, thank you.
We currently have no further questions, so back to you, Stefan.
Okay, no further questions. So thank you very much for listening, and hope to hear you soon again. Bye-bye.