Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Hexagon First Quarter 2024 Report Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to hand you over to the President and CEO of the company, Mr. Paolo Guglielmini. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, good morning. Thank you for joining our Q1 2024 Earnings Call. We are pleased to report another solid quarter with organic revenue growth of 3%, resilient margins, and strong cash conversion. Slow demand in Europe and the weak construction market, combined with strong comparable growth in prior periods, made for a difficult backdrop, but the teams did very well to capitalize on a strong U.S. market, the demand from countercyclical verticals, and more importantly, our own innovation and proximity to clients in order to deliver a 13th quarter of consecutive growth. The gross margin at 66.5% and the operating margin at 29% were solid achievements despite slower growth and inflation.
We delivered on those through focus on recurrent revenue, growing at 6% in the quarter, now at EUR 520 million, with SaaS growing above the 20% mark, and through innovation for active cost management and portfolio optimization, as we have seen from the recently announced divestments. Cash conversion was also very positive in the quarter at 88%, considering its seasonality, supported by the constant internal focus and a favorable mix. Despite the short-term challenges in market demand, we keep on strengthening the business model. We have an exciting pipeline of innovation ahead of us, and we are very well positioned looking into the future. Moving on to slide number four. We have leveraged regionally our balanced footprint. In the quarter, we grew the business in the Americas by 4% despite the weakness in South America, with good demand coming from infrastructure, from manufacturing, aerospace, and defense.
EMEA was flat, with market conditions that are remaining difficult, particularly in Central Europe and the U.K., but supported by commercial aerospace growth and good adoption of our software solutions. Asia was up by four percentage points in the quarter, despite a very strong quarter last year in India. In China, the market is and will remain challenged, but this quarter highlighted once again that we have a fantastic team in place, making the most out of the local trading environment, as analysts and investors got to appreciate during the visit to our operations earlier in March. Moving on to the detail of the divisional performance in slide five. Manufacturing Intelligence recorded growth of five percentage points. ALI grew at 2% on a tough 2023 comparable of 16 percentage points of growth. Geosystems contracted by two percentage points. AS and SIG grew by respectively 8% and 5% in the quarter.
We've also included in slide six a snapshot of the division's quarterly top and bottom line development for your reference. If we now go through the divisional performance one by one, starting with Manufacturing Intelligence in slide seven. MI delivered on revenues of EUR 478 million at an operating margin of 26%. MI is exposed, as you know, to verticals and regions that in this moment are in very different phases of their life cycles, some more challenged than others, but still managed to grow also in orders, although in low single digit in Q1. We're doing very positive progress with our laser trackers portfolio that's supporting precision robotics for large-scale applications, aerospace in particular. We have seen good growth in our software portfolio, particularly in simulation and the enterprise quality management solutions, pushing recurrent revenue for MI up eight percentage points on a year-on-year basis.
The margin progression of 100 basis points was achieved through the divestment of PMI and the continuous efforts on rationalization and operational excellence. Moving to the Asset Lifecycle Intelligence division in slide eight. ALI closed on EUR 192 million of sales with a continuation of its positive momentum and trajectory. SaaS revenues were up by 20 percentage points in the quarter, recurrent revenue up by 10 percentage points, building a stronger foundation into the future. Last year, 16 percentage points of growth in Q1, with very strong perpetual licenses representing the tough comparable in both top and bottom line. But looking further, the strategy of digital continuity, from design and engineering all the way to operations and maintenance, is gaining momentum.
In the quarter, ALI also held a very well-attended and successful customer advisory board, with some of our top clients really appreciating the data and cloud centricity of the direction of the business, which we will continue to build on through the acquisition of Itus Digital, recently announced a next-generation asset performance management solutions. Moving now to Geosystems in slide nine. Geo recorded sales of EUR 377 million in the quarter, down by two percentage points, although still at a very healthy margin of 31%, despite the negative impact of FX because of its cost structure in Switzerland. Market demand and confidence in both commercial, residential projects, and infrastructure spend, particularly in China and in Europe that accounts for almost half of the geo business, is the short-term challenge for Geo. But we have very strong reasons to remain confident in the future of Geosystems.
We have a clear technology edge in geomatic solutions. We have a very differentiated offering for reality capture. We see continued growth of our AECO software portfolio and an innovation roadmap that we have pursued in the last quarters, and all of this will allow us to bounce back to growth as demand improves. Moving to autonomous solutions in slide 10. AS recorded sales of EUR 135 million at an operating margin of 35%. In the quarter, we have seen strong adoption of autonomous technologies in agriculture and in A&D. Correction services within AS grew at 30%, positive sign towards the long-term plan to build recurrent revenue and move towards software-defined, accurate positioning solutions. We have seen more muted demand in mining, primarily due to timing of deals, although the outlook remains positive, driven by adoption of digitization and safety solutions for this sector.
All in all, we see strong long-term potential for AS despite the short-term challenge of improving from a 22% growth year in 2023. Lastly, the safety infrastructure and geospatial division in slide 11 recorded sales of EUR 117 million at an operating margin of 21%. It was a good quarter, with a lot of focus on market adoption and project delivery for our OnCall computer-aided dispatch solution that's been recently launched. In this area, we see deals momentum. We see larger transactions as customers, cities, agencies, and municipalities are moving to adopt state-of-the-art cloud-based tools for improved collaboration and effectiveness of their operations. The strong margin improvement of SIG shows the positive benefit of portfolio management and the refocus of the business from services increasingly to pure software. If we now move to finance with David Mills.
Thanks, Paolo. So before we move into the Q1 financials in detail, I wanted to reference the new disclosures that you may already have noted from the presentation so far and our enhanced report published this morning. These updates being in response to the investor feedback last year and represent a delivery on the commitment made at the CMD in December. In the following slides, I would like to take you through what was a solid performance, considering the more muted organic growth with resilient EBIT delivery and improved cash flow. So moving on to slide 13, starting with the Q1 2024 income statement, stepping through the sales bridge. Sales were at EUR 1,299 million, which is a reported growth of 1%, negatively impacted by FX of -2% and a zero net impact from structure, giving an organic growth of 3%.
Gross margin held flat year-over-year at 66.5%, which is a seasonally high level, as we will see in subsequent slides. Operating earnings grew in line with organic growth by 1% to EUR 376.5 million, with a 10 basis points improvement in the margin to 29%. The earnings before taxes decreased due to the interest expense of EUR 43 million versus the prior year of EUR 27 million, resulting from the increased interest rates, driving the dilution at this level. Taxes being 18% in line with the prior year bring us down to an EPS of EUR 10.1. For reference, the EBIT including PPA includes an equivalent EUR 28 million amortization to the prior year and so dilutes the EBIT1 by 220 basis points to 26.8. Moving on to slide 14.
In the Q1 profitability bridge, currency has a marginally dilutive EBIT impact despite the negative currency translation on sales of EUR 23 million having a corresponding EUR 13.6 million EBIT impact, which is a margin of 59%, as the net year-over-year transaction difference is a positive of EUR 5.8 million from a current year gain of EUR 0.9 million and a prior year loss of EUR 4.9 million. The translation movements being mainly driven from the continuing currency trends of the further devaluation to the euro of the CNY by 6% and the U.S. dollar by 1% where sales exceed cost, and a further appreciation in the Swiss franc of 5%, which is the reverse impact.
The accretive structural element reflects the net positive impact of acquisitions less disposals in the quarter, with the material elements being Qognify, Hard-Line, net of the disposals in the SIG division, and the two-month impact of the Hand Tools business in Switzerland within MI. The resultant organic element with a 33% incremental profit is also accretive by 10 basis points. So excluding the currency, we would have delivered 20 basis points improvement rather than the 10 reported. Moving to slide 15. Turning to the gross margin. As already mentioned, the Q1 2024 gross margin was a seasonal high, gross margin at 66.5%, but it was actually equivalent to the prior year, whereas Q1 2022 would reflect a more normal trend. The strong quarterly performance being from broadly resilient margins enhanced by a positive mix of software over sensors in the relevant divisions of Manufacturing Intelligence, AS, and Geosystems.
The rolling 12-month margin improvement improved by 24 basis points over the prior year to 66%. Moving to slide 16. We have the cash flow, which continued to show the improvements building from Q4 and so gives a very positive start to the year, considering Q1 is a traditionally weaker cash conversion quarter. The adjusted EBITDA demonstrates a strong cash leverage at 5%, higher than the EBIT at 1%, as the D&A add-back is increased by 18%. Investment levels remaining at similar levels carry the 5% improvement to cash flow post-investments. A further improved performance in net working capital with a release of EUR 30 million versus the prior year of EUR 60 million generated an operating cash flow before tax and interest improvement of 36%, which corresponds to a cash conversion of 88% versus the prior year of 66%.
Including cash taxes, which reduced by EUR 8 million, and interest payments, which still show the increase year over year mentioned earlier, the improvement in cash flow before recurring is 55%. Non-recurring items outflow of EUR 28 million brings us to an operating cash flow of EUR 190 million up 63%. Moving to slide 17. We take the net working capital in more detail. Following on from the significant release in Q4 of EUR 69 million, a further release of EUR 13 million in Q1 has brought the rolling 12-month sales down to 7.3, which is 60 basis points below Q4 and the prior year Q1. The constituent elements of the movement being receivables and prepaid. The quarter following a strong shipment in Q4 appropriately shows a reduction in receivables of EUR 46 million, with DSOs at a similar level to the prior year at 86 days.
We continue to manage inventory with a moderate increase and cyclically lower sales. We see DII at 118 days, but this is significantly below the prior Q1. Though liabilities decreased over Q4, the DPOs are on a solid quarterly improvement trend up to 56 days. The second consecutive quarter increase in deferred revenue is reflective of the billing cycle and strong software performance and helped offset the cyclical release in accrued expenses. So in conclusion, the quarter showed resilience as the business with a marginal improvement in EBIT performance supported by the rationalization program and despite the continued currency headwinds, and the cash focus has given us a positive Q1 delivery building on a strong close of 2023. And with that, I would like to hand over to Ben for the next section.
Thanks, David. Good morning, everybody. If we go to slide 19, here we start with a summary of the strategic priorities that Paolo outlined for the group at the December Capital Markets Day to drive stronger value creation. For this quarter, I'm going to go through examples of customer wins and product launches that highlight the investments we're making to improve our technology leadership and improve our gross margins and drive our commercial execution and expand our addressable market, or TAM. But if we start with operational excellence and move on to the next slide, here we give an update on the rationalization program that we launched in July last year to improve our overall efficiency. So as before, this program has four pillars.
From a synergy perspective, we continue to simplify the organizational structure of the group and optimize the cost of supporting the business with structures like shared service centers to cover order management, HR, and payroll. In the quarter, we completed the disposal of the TESA PMI Hand Tools business, which was diluted to Hexagon's overall growth and profitability objectives. We continue to rationalize our facility footprint, closing a further six sites during the quarter, and we've now closed around half of the facilities that we targeted at the start of the program. We've made further investments in automation to both improve the throughput and cost efficiency of operations and invest in digital tools to support our technical support and service teams.
So collectively, these initiatives generated around EUR 29 million of savings in the first quarter, and we exited Q1 at an annualized run rate of EUR 139 million, well on track to reach our target of EUR 165 million-EUR 175 million. If we move to slide 21. We made further progress during the quarter integrating sustainability into our business. We published our first fully integrated annual and sustainability report, which includes new disclosures according to the GRI on both our sustainability performance and our ambition and roadmap going forward.
And in addition, our R-evolution venture, also during Q1, launched an initiative called Green Cubes, where Hexagon technology is used to capture and provide precise volume measurements, health assessments, and the biodiversity trends of rainforests to aid conservation. There's a link at the bottom of the slide that will explain this interesting concept in more detail. If you move on to slide 22.
Here, you can see the overview of the product footprint that we gave at the Capital Markets Day by division to help understand how our products map to the new divisional structure better. And moving on, what we've done here is highlight where in the portfolio this quarter's customer and product case studies come from to help understand the new divisions better. So we go to the first example on slide 24. Here's an example from ALI. AGC Chemicals Company, a global supplier of glass, chemicals, electronics, and ceramics, have adopted ALI's j5 solution to digitize mission-critical paper-based checklists, inspection reports, and other documents, saving time and ensuring much better decision-making. On slide 25, we have an example from Geosystems' machine control business.
Gnant, an Austrian construction company focused on infrastructure, has adopted Hexagon's 3D machine control solutions to optimize earthworks and grading to improve precision and efficiency and cut CO2 emissions by an estimated 20%-30%. On slide 26, we have an example from Geosystems' software portfolio. Port Houston, a major handler of container traffic, is using Projectmates, our recently acquired SaaS construction management platform for owners, to improve budgeting and decision-making and improve collaboration between field workers and the office. On slide 27, we have an example from our mining technology suite. Codelco have expanded their use of collision avoidance solutions and fleet management solutions to four additional mine sites. On slide 28, we have a customer win for SIG. Guilford Metro 911 in North Carolina have adopted the HxGN OnCall dispatch portfolio to modernise their operations, enjoy greater analytical capability, and ultimately improve public safety for their constituents.
On slide 29, from Manufacturing Intelligence, we highlight an example from the automated quality inspection portfolio. A major automotive OEM became the first customer for our Presto XL automated robotic inspection cells, which accelerate 3D measurement of components and subassemblies. Following on from this on slide 30. For those of you at the Hanover Trade Show this week, if you visited our booth, you will have heard about the new Presto system and robotic automation software showcased, with more product launches to extend the range of this family to measure components of different sizes. The Presto system can measure up to 2x faster than traditional systems. And if you'd like more information, there is a QR code on the slide which links to a report that explains the end market opportunity further. On slide 31, another important product release from Manufacturing Intelligence made during the quarter.
The SmartScan VR800 structured light scanner with dual stereo camera can deliver high-resolution images both on short and long distances and removes the need for complex recalibration when the measured parts are changed over, which saves time and improves throughput for the customer. And then finally, on slide 32, a product from our ventures organization, whose role is to take existing Hexagon technology and apply it to new applications or markets. The Aura sensor is focused on healthcare and the facial aesthetics market, using integrated hardware and software to create a photorealistic 3D digital twin of the face for detailed analysis and simulation. The solution uses our existing photogrammetry, meshing, and texturing tools, as well as technologies from our BLK sensor solutions. Aura was launched at AMWC in March and has had very positive initial feedback and will start shipping later in the year. With that, back to you, Paolo.
Yeah, thank you, David and Ben. In conclusion, we delivered on a solid quarter despite the challenging market conditions. Cash, margins, recurring revenue are a very good testament to the strength of the business model. As you've seen, we're also making good progress in terms of operational improvement, in terms of innovation delivery, and building a more and more rich technology ecosystem to make the group resilient and ready for the challenges and the opportunities into the future. I will now hand over to the operator for the Q&A part of the call. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Our first question comes from the line of Daniel Djurberg from Handelsbanken. Please ask your question, Daniel.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, Paolo, and David, and congrats to solid numbers, cash conversion, etc. I have a question first on you mentioned short-term challenges that they are prevailing in Geosystems in EMEA and China especially. Should we expect things to get to worsen Q2, Q3 compared to what we saw in the quite muted demand also in Q1? First question.
Yeah, hi, good morning. Thanks for your question. I think the trading conditions in China in both the construction sector and manufacturing have been relatively challenging now for several quarters in a row. The same is true for the construction sector in Central Europe. Looking at the pipeline that we have in portfolio and sometimes the complexity in closing deals or the timing to completion, it's easy to notice as well the SMBs and smaller companies that are in the supply chain of automotive manufacturing in Central Europe are probably feeling the pinch of inflation, but that's been going on for several quarters in a row. The only thing that we can do is to be very well sort of disciplined and positioning ourselves well in terms of innovation into the future.
All in all, we do not expect trading conditions to change massively into Q2 as well as us having performed at similar growth levels last year's Q2 versus the first quarter of 2023.
Perfect. Thank you. If I may also, today, David, on the R&D spend, can you give a little bit of comparison numbers from Q1 2023, especially on the net positive effect on the P&L? I think it was EUR 63 million in the quarter if you compare the difference between capitalization and amortization of R&D.
Yeah, no problem at all. So I mean, we gave the split of the R&D for the first time. So you see the EUR 211 million spend, the EUR 118 million cap, and the EUR 55 million amortization coming to the EUR 148 million. Just to give you some of those in context, the capitalization rate of 56% is completely consistent with the full year run rate last year. The spend level is probably best to benchmark that off the Q4 spend and showed, despite inflation adjustments into salaries, a EUR 2 million reduction from the previous quarter. So that was down from EUR 213 million in Q4.
Perfect. Thank you. And the final question, if I may, on the cost savings up now to EUR 139 million and adding EUR 29 million or something in the quarter. Should we expect the final tranche of the savings to be seen already in Q2, i.e., that you will reach the average EUR 170 million already in the end of Q2?
I'm sorry to interrupt you. I don't think we'll quite reach it into Q2, but I would hope to reach it by Q3, Q4, as we originally said. As we mentioned last quarter, we would have expected it to start to slow down the incremental increase. It was actually a little higher this quarter because with the muted demand, we tried to accelerate where possible. So we expect to hit it ahead of time or on time.
Yeah, exactly. To expand on what David was referring to, I think if you look at the performance in Manufacturing Intelligence, the performance in AS and SIG, you see that the businesses that have experienced a little bit more growth are starting to leverage and kind of utilize the work that has been done behind the scenes in terms of optimization and restructuring. So what we're trying to do is to make sure that we position all of these businesses well for when demand will strengthen up.
Sounds great. Thanks. And I'll get back in line.
Thank you, Daniel. Our next question comes from the line of Andre Kukhnin from UBS. Please ask your question, Andre.
Hi, good morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I'll go one at a time as well. Could you maybe comment on how the monthly cadence of the quarter progressed, especially in the manufacturing intelligence business and in particular in Western Europe? Have you seen any improvement in the run rate there, or is it still too early?
Yeah, hi, Andre. Good morning. I don't think we have experienced a radical difference in terms of bookings per month if compared to prior Q1s in any specific region. Of course, there's a dependence on deals and the specificity of the pipeline, but nothing that was noticeable.
Got it. Thank you. And just coming back to the new product launches, we indeed enjoyed the time spent on your booth at Hanover earlier this week. Would you say any of these new product launches like Presto XL or the SmartScan VR800, any of them are potentially real blockbusters like BLK360 proved to be?
Well, we definitely do hope so. I mean, we think that everything that's happening in the pipeline of MI, both from a precision robotics perspective and from a software perspective, basically is there to either generate more throughput in inspection, moving dimensional quality inspection into the manufacturing process, or is aimed at digital continuity so that customers can make better and better usage of 3D data as to try and improve their own quality standards or the quality of their design or the quality of their machining.
Thank you. If I could just follow up, I think what was really different with what's thought of as BLK360, I think it fundamentally changed the way a certain process is done to a kind of structurally more efficient one and would use their product. Would you say Presto or the VR800 have that potential to actually change the process with that product or system introduction?
We think that the return on investment that these solutions offer is noticeable. When it comes to Presto, you have a return on investment case for customers that's built on throughput and being able to really operate lights-out manufacturing facilities. And in terms of the scan that we just released, it is a similar dynamics to what we have seen with scanners for geospatial applications in the past. You're basically going to reduce the labor aspect of data capture and potentially also help with the skill level and the learning curve of those operators, making the data capture more simple, more intuitive.
Thank you very much. If I may, just very last one on portfolio, can we think about further disposals as we go through this year and into 2025, or was PMI kind of more of a one-off cleanup?
Yeah, Andre, we keep on looking within the portfolio. We think that PMI and ITS disposals have been sort of important as the marginal profitability in those division shows. So we keep on looking for opportunities. It's pretty clear that we look for businesses that have a faster organic growth trajectory, that have accretive margin characteristics, and we're focused on recurring revenue. So we want to make sure that that's part of all the businesses that we invest in the portfolio.
Great. Thank you very much for your time.
Thank you, Andre. Our next question comes from the line of Joachim Gunell from DNB Markets. Please ask your question, Joachim.
Thank you for that. Good morning. So if we can pick up that growth discussion just once more, the mixed outlook commentary here and the fact that you emphasize that your mid-term targets are even reached, they're baking a downturn, etc., is it fair to assume, basically, that based on your current line of sight, that you anticipate that Hexagon will be below that threshold for 2024 and recoup that in the remaining remainder of the period? Since, I mean, the comp situation will obviously continue not only in Q2 but also in Q3.
Yeah, Joachim, good morning. What we'll see about that, I think the guidance of 5%-7% is for the period, but of course, we benchmark ourselves off that guidance as we move into 2026. I find that the market conditions have been challenging now for several quarters. And then, of course, in between sitting on a continuous demand in terms of digitization, in terms of supply chains and backlogs, some of that weakness took a little bit of time to kind of work itself through the system. We monitor macro, and we hope that there's going to be changes instilling more confidence for an acceleration into the second half of the year.
Thank you. On the free cash flow side, Q1 is usually not a great working capital quarter here. Assuming that the current growth mix dynamics continues into, say, Q2, is it fair to expect greater than normal seasonality here on the cash flow side?
I mean, as I mentioned, the Q1 cash flow is a good cash flow for a Q1 and at 88% coming off the back of a very strong 103% in Q4. We've had two very good quarters. I mean, we're very focused on it, but we remain with our target 80%-90% for the full year, and that's what we're aiming to do. I'm just pleased to have a good start to the year with the 88% banked already.
Fully understood. And just finally, more to say long-term here, on the ambition to basically increase technology value through data monetization, can you just provide some comments here on how you long-term plan to compete with the larger technology firms as they move into the manufacturing world here with greater software offerings and how Hexagon will eventually win in this space?
Yeah, I mean, I find that different data types have different requirements in the way you acquire that data, you store that data, you analyze the data, and you put it to good use. So in an industrial setting, it's very difficult to have sort of a one-size-fits-all approach to that. I like what we are doing, for instance, in Geosystems applications where we are becoming better and better at driving an attach rate in between scanners and building reality capture tools that are best in class, right, and then giving platforms to customers so that they can store that data, share that data, collaborate within those point clouds. We're building more and more AI into HxDR so the customers quickly and quasi-autonomously will be able to label and tag components within those platforms.
And then, of course, we work to build a more expansive technology ecosystem on those platforms. The reason why we've talked in the past about the partnership with NVIDIA is because bigger customers in the context of the construction sector want to be able to do large-scale visualization and simulation of the data that we capture through our devices and, for that matter, through third-party scanners as well.
Perfect. Thank you, Paolo and David.
Thank you, Joachim. Our next question comes from the line of Sven Merkt from Barclays. Please ask your question, Sven.
Perfect. Good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. I understand that you hope for a macro improvement in H2, but any meaningful contribution from new product launches that could help you as well in the rest of the year? And then secondly, did I understand it correct that the annual run rate costings are now EUR 5 million higher than you initially expected, and is there any chance for a further increase? And then finally, just on the reinvestments of the cost savings, you commented in the past that you hope to maintain much of the cost savings, but given that we are now a few quarters into the programme, any more clarity you could provide us on what proportion you hope to keep? Thank you.
Yeah, hi, good morning. I can give you some high-level commentary by division in terms of the innovation on both software platforms and precision robotics that we think is going to come and help us throughout the quarter, of course, for what we can see having been already released. I mean, in MI, there's a lot of focus on precision robotics is the one challenge that customers have and want us to solve for them. So we believe in what we're doing in terms of automation there. In terms of software, we try and build an offering that is open but also well-connected. So we see good adoption in Nexus. We've talked about the role of our venture investments in the context of Aura.
We have developed in the last 18 months a connected worker solution that's a great fit for manufacturing customers that has been brought to market as part of the Nexus sort of portfolio, and we see good uptake in there contributing to the recurrent revenue number that I've mentioned. In ALI, it's all about digital continuity. We see more and more customers that have asset management requirements that see the benefit in having a tools provider that guarantees data centricity in between the design and the operation. So I think we've done a lot of innovation in ALI that's come into fruition to support that growth into the rest of the year. For Geosystems, as you know, we've been investing.
I think we have already innovated in reality capture in the last year, and I think we're going to have a more expansive innovation story to tell in the next 12-15 months. We think we're building a very competitive portfolio there. Autonomous solutions has experienced good growth. The growth that we've had in mining is partly down to the strategy of being sort of agnostic and partly is down to digital continuity and building a good solutions offering across the various acquisitions that have been done in the last years. And then in SIG, we're very focused on OnCall because it is a quantum leap in terms of usability and in terms of opportunities for collaboration for those customers. So we have a lot of contribution of innovation, and of course, we look forward to the next quarters in terms of more product releases in these divisions.
Sven, if I could add on the macro for the second half, I mean, it's not particularly that we're calling an improvement. It's just that some businesses, you have easier comparatives. So if you look at Geosystems, the geomatics and construction products part of their business, which is over half of it, was down significantly in the second half of last year already. So you will hit easier comparatives. And in Geosystems, you sell more via channel partners who kind of pull forward the weakness by inventory reduction. And eventually, that plays out and sets a lower base to grow off. If the economy improves in the second half, we'll have to see.
And then just to your question on the rationalization program, my comment was in terms of an acceleration of the speed of realization of the savings rather than the actual absolute magnitude of the end. That's still at the same sort of level. In terms of what proportions we keep, I mean, that's obviously relative to what the growth outlook is. I mean, the more challenging the growth outlook, the more of the savings we would look to keep to ensure that the businesses are leveraging appropriately. And obviously, it's not common across all of the divisions. We have them in different phases at this time as well. So there's no one answer for that, but it's something that we look at based on the growth outlook at the time.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you for the details.
Thank you, Sven. Our next question comes from the line of Alexander Virgo from Bank of America. Please ask your question, Alexander.
Thank you so much. Morning. Hello David and Ben. Thanks for the presentation. I wonder if I could just dig into ALI a little bit. I think if I recall correctly from the CMD, recurring revenue there is about 75% of the business. How much of that is SaaS is the first question housekeeping, I guess, and just trying to think about the dynamics of what you've seen here because if overall growth is 2%, then my math is correct. Your perpetual license decline is quite significant, 20% or something. So if I'm wrong, please correct me. But I'm just trying to understand the dynamics of that, how we think about through the year and into next year. Basically, as you start to see there, I'm guessing an even bigger shift to SaaS and to ARR. So that's the first question.
Then second question would be around gross margin evolution. Obviously, a very strong Q1. David, you talked about that being similar to Q1 last year, and indeed, it is. I'm just wondering again how we think about seasonality here. And I guess a big chunk of that is going to end up being mixed, but I appreciate any comments or help you can give us on that. Thank you.
Yeah, hi Alex. If I take the ALI one. So yeah, for ALI, recurring revenue is about 75% of sales. SaaS is around 20%-25% and is growing at a fast rate. You're right. Within ALI, there is a kind of ongoing shift from licence-based sales towards recurring and towards SaaS, basically. So that shift is something that's been going on for a few years. There is quarterly volatility because you are still booking occasionally perpetual licences. So in Q1 last year, they had a very good quarter perpetual licences. That didn't repeat this year. So perpetual licences were down. But I think over time, as we outlined at the capital markets day, you will continue to see this shift towards recurring revenue. And we were happy with the recurring revenue growth, which was double-digit in ALI during the quarter.
Yeah, and on the growth margin, I mean, as you rightly say, it's always going to be a bit of a mixed discussion. We have that complexity that it's not only a product portfolio, it's a divisional mix, which is quite hard to predict in advance. It's difficult to say that. The other elements that'll affect the gross margin is how much and how quickly any pricing increases comes into the phasing of the gross margin. Again, in the current conditions, how much of that we're able to hold. Obviously, we make price increases, but it takes time for those to come through backlog in some divisions and other areas. It's quite difficult to know when the phase of those will come in.
We always try to protect the gross margin, as you know, and a long-term improving gross margin is something that's very important to us, but slightly difficult to predict.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you, Alex. Our next question comes from the line of Viktor Trollsten from Danske Bank. Please ask your question, Viktor.
Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Perhaps, if possible, some more color on Geosystems and just the sort of comps that you are facing now in the second half. If I try to break out what you have said on reality capture, some assumption on building software solutions, etc., it seems to me at least that for the traditional construction business in Geosystems, it was basically down 10%-15% in the second half. Would you be able to confirm if I look at it correctly, or am I completely off?
Yeah, hi Viktor. Yeah, I think it varied a little bit by quarter, but the geomatics and construction products part of Geosystems started to weaken through the middle of last year. And I think it was probably down that kind of magnitude in Q3 and maybe a little bit less in Q4 and Q1 this year.
And I'm sorry. Yeah, okay. Okay. But it has basically fallen for four quarters now. And I guess just how I look at it, sort of the same magnitude as during COVID-19. Is that how you look at it also?
Yeah, I mean, I would say it's probably a slightly lower decline than you saw in COVID, but it is a significant decline in comparison with any previous construction downturn. So it's not been obvious because we've had continued growth in reality capture, machine control, the geospatial content program, and then the software businesses that sit in Geosystems. But if you actually break it down and you're right, we have flagged this in previous quarters. It did weaken materially through the back end of last year.
Okay. No, that's helpful. And then on the margin profile of this business, it sounds like it has higher than Geosystems average margins. Can you help out just with some sort of feeling for mix in that part of the business?
Yeah, I wouldn't say that there are huge differences between the margins of the different product groups. The impact is more the impact that lower volumes have on your operational leverage and the margins overall. But in terms of gross margins, there aren't huge differences that I would call out to help your modeling.
Okay. No, that's just final on that topic. So on run rate, it seems that sequentially, it is rather flat, more or less. So on run rate heading into the second half, would that be enough to see some sort of growth rate in that business? Is that how we should sort of think around it at least?
For geosystems?
Yeah. Yeah, the traditional Geosystems business. Yeah.
Yeah. I would say the same thing last quarter. We expected the first half of this year to be tough because you were still lapping difficult comparatives in geomatics and construction products. Then as we get into the second half of 2024, we would hope to get back to some growth.
Okay. No, super. And just finally, if I may, on capital allocation because you continue to delever quite a bit in Q1. If you could just help us to think around, let's say, the coming quarters, is it still the plan or the scenario is that you will continue to delever through good cash flow, or do you aim to sort of reinvest that through M&A or organic initiatives?
Yeah, Victor, we stay focused and true to how our M&A roots. There's been a reopening in the last couple of months in terms of variety and quality of assets. For us, it's really down to the right project with the right set of synergies. We feel good about where we are in terms of sort of the balance sheet and the capability to invest. But yeah, it's down to the quality of the opportunity, really.
Okay. Fair enough. Thanks a lot. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Victor. Our next question comes from the line of Toby Ogg from J.P. Morgan. Please proceed with your question, Toby.
Yes. Hey, good morning, and thanks for the question. Perhaps just on the rationalization program, just wanted to come back on the automation side and the rollout of GenAI tools. Could you just give us a bit more detail around that piece specifically? What tools are you using? Has any of this been rolled out yet? And are you actually seeing any productivity gains? How big are those potential gains? And how meaningful of a cost-efficiency driver do you think integrating GenAI tools across different functions could be for you over time? Thank you.
Yeah, Toby. I mean, we make use of GenAI tools in a variety of ways. Actually, from a portfolio perspective, using in different scales AI to improve the quality of our point clouds, it's something that we've been doing for a very long time. Using advanced analytics at the edge to optimize data flows between the sensors and cloud to optimize the cost point for customers, it's something that we've been doing for a while. In terms of using internally these tools for effectiveness, we partner with Microsoft on the topic since now several quarters. We have now a couple of hundreds of people that are using Copilots for effectiveness in a variety of tasks that are related to software development. And so yeah, we do see productivity gains of a variety of sorts from speed to cost.
We work with our partners to make sure that we improve in the learning curve for these tools to become productive.
That's great. Thank you.
Thank you, Toby. Our next question comes from the line of Johan Eliason from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please ask your question, Johan.
Yes. Hey, good morning. This is Johan at Kepler Cheuvreux. Just a follow-up question on M&A. I mean, Ben alluded to that they hopefully would reactivate the agenda a bit more in this year at the Capital Markets Day. How is the pricing developing? Is it sort of coming down to your expectations, or are still the assets you mentioned that were available at a fairly elevated price level? Thank you.
Hi, Johan. I would segment it a little bit. I think for the small and medium-sized acquisitions that Hexagon has done a lot of historically, we haven't seen a huge change in pricing over the last few years. It boils down a little bit to the seller's priority for their business, the partner they're looking for, how you would integrate it. There are other factors at play. So there, I think pricing is as it was. And we have a good pipeline. And you've seen the acquisitions we did of Itus and Xwatch in the last few weeks. And we would hope to do some more going forward. For the larger deals, this tends to move a little bit more, I would say, in line with the overall valuations in public markets. So we obviously had a period of fairly elevated valuations back in 2020 and 2021.
Then they came down. If you obviously look at what the market has done so far this year and some of the transactions that they've been in public markets, they've ended up going back up. I think, as Paolo said, we're very focused on ramping back up the small and medium-sized deals. For the larger deal, there's obviously things that we're looking at. But you have to focus more on the overall valuation and the synergies that you would get from the deal.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Johan. Our next question comes from the line of Mikael Laséen from Carnegie Investment Bank. Please ask your question, Mikael.
Okay. Good morning. Hi. Yeah, a few questions. First one is on MI, if the book-to-bill this quarter was greater than one.
Yeah, hi. Good morning. As I said earlier, I mean, we have had basically flat backlog in MI within the quarter. So we haven't been burning backlog in a quarter in which bookings and order intake for our metrology products was up in low single-digit.
Okay. So basically very close to one. Okay. Can you also discuss the prospects for the ALI segment and maybe expand on customer demand across various markets and also explain the progress of EAM, sales and profitability for that part?
Yeah, sure. I mean, I think for ALI, the outlook has not dramatically changed. I mean, we want ALI, and we see ALI having the potential to grow in low single digit into this year despite some of the backdrop that we see in the market. I think that's perfectly achievable. And then it can vary from quarter to quarter based on comparables. I find it to be very important for them that the recurrent revenue growth stays in double digit. That's very important. ALI works at very high, very little churn, right? We have renewal rates that are extremely high. Customers are very sticky. In terms of EAM, we have had a quarter in Q1 in which, because of timing of deals, we haven't had the best SaaS bookings quarter. And we think that that's going to very quickly change.
So we expect to have, on a full-year basis, a stronger SaaS booking year than we have had in 2023 that will support EAM for revenue growth rates in line with what we explained at the Capital Markets Day. So from our perspective, the outlook for ALI is unchanged, and it's positive.
Okay. Great. And the final one is on capital expenditures in 2024. What can we expect for the full year in terms of tangible and intangible capital? Can you say something about that?
Yeah. I mean, as you've seen, we're holding our investment level at a relatively flat level. We have done for the last couple of quarters. The intention with normal capital expenditure bearing any material one-offs is that we would keep it at that kind of flat level,
Okay. Excellent. Thanks.
Thank you, Mikael.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nay Soe Naing from Berenberg. Please ask your question, Nay Soe.
Hi. Good morning. Thank you for the questions. I've got two, if I may. The first one is on your midterm profitability margins. It would be great if I could hear from you what is giving you the confidence, especially in light of some of the top-line macro-related growth weakness that we're seeing. What's giving the confidence that you'll be able to hit those margins, please? And the second question is on some of your recent technology partnership announcements, some really exciting news recently, one with Nemetschek in your reality capture business, another one in your Nexus platform with Microsoft. So it'd be great if you could maybe share the thinking that's gone behind these partnerships and the sort of opportunities that you're looking to pursue with these technology partners. Thank you.
Yeah. Hi. Good morning, Nay Soe. So on the first question regarding margins, we get confidence when we see that we can execute at very good margin and profitability rates when we have growth, which already has happened for some of the divisions in this quarter. The outlook for us is unchanged. I mean, the restructuring program, the divestment, innovation coming in at improving gross margins are a good foundation. We think we are where we should be in terms of R&D spend. And we really are focused on the delivery of those roadmaps into this year and the next one. In terms of the partnerships, I think the playbook hasn't really changed.
We try and be, I would say, more focused on these collaborations, anything that allows us to put to good use the vast amounts of 3D data that we capture with our customers or for our customers, which is the case with Nemetschek, typically to go and improve the quality of designs or the quality of BIMs. When it comes to Microsoft, it's more a partnership that's centered around their cloud capabilities or the capability of some of their microservices or the capability of their AI stack to make sure that we bolster our own software stack with them. But we have very good, I would say, commercial progress with Nemetschek. And when it comes to Microsoft and NVIDIA, we have very continuous and open exchanges at all levels. So clearly, there have been very positive relationships for us.
Very helpful. Thank you. Just a very quick follow-up here. On the margins topic, it's really helpful that you're disclosing the amount of amortization coming from capitalized R&D. I believe it was around EUR 55 million this quarter. Just want to get a sense of what sort of rate should we be looking at for the remainder of the year and then also in the future years? Presumably, they will go up given the investment that's gone into the business in the past few years.
So the amortization rate going up, you mean? Yeah, you would expect the amortization rate or the amortization value to increase over the period because we've had that investment over the last two to three years into the platforms that we've talked about on CMD, yeah.
Any guidance that you could share in terms of the full-year amount that we should look at for 2024 and maybe for 2025, 2026 as well?
Not particularly, no. I mean, it has a natural trend, but it obviously depends on the balance of what investments, whether it's the hardware, whether it's software. So it's dependent on release date and what product portfolio coming into the market.
What's important for us is that the majority of the projects that we have in pipeline that might have an impact in terms of amortization kickback either are aimed at next-generation systems that will come in at very good gross margins because of having embedded technologies that allow us to deliver a step change from previous generation, or we are developing solutions for markets in which we don't compete today, right? So that incremental amortization is always going to come in against a clear commercial benefit.
Okay. Understood. Thank you very much, both.
Thank you. We have now reached the end of the question-and-answer session. Thank you very much for all your questions. I'll now turn the conference back for closing comments.
Yeah. Thank you very much for staying online with us for the last hour. We talk again in three months from now. Thank you.
That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.