Thank you, and welcome everyone to Investors Year End Report and our conference call this afternoon. We will start out with our CEO, Johan Fuschel followed by our CFO, Helena Saxon. And then we will open up for questions. Please, Johan.
Thank you, Wiebeke. 2020 was for sure a special year heavily impacted by COVID-nineteen. And we all know that it led to severe suffering for people, but also contraction of the economies around the world. However, we also know that different industries have been hit in different ways, and that we can also see in our reports today. Looking forward, of course, the rollout of the vaccine provides a big opportunity.
And we also see that supply chains are working reasonably well and manufacturing is in most places up and running. So there are clearly positive areas or positive factors entering 2021. But there are also risks. COVID-nineteen is still not controlled. And our question, of course, what if the vaccines will not bite as we hope?
Could there be more mutations, etcetera. That is, of course, a risk. And as we all know, there are also financial risks with that have basically poured a lot of money out in the system. And I think none of us know to what extent that is for future inflation and higher interest rates. So there are always those kind of opportunities and risks.
But as always, predicting the future is difficult. And that is why flexibility remains key. Being prepared, being flexible and try to seize the opportunities but handle the risk. That remains our key focus. So with that introduction, moving down into 2020, that was a strong year for Investor.
I think I can say that I must that the companies have really managed 2020 in a good way. And our subsidiaries have actually increased the profit somewhat during the year and finished the year strongly. With the enlisted company, we invested more than SEK 3,000,000,000 during the spring at attractive levels. And Patrizio, industries, of course, highlight is the acquisition of Advanced Instruments. And as you have seen, the performance was really strong in the Q4 growing at 16% organically with a very high profitability.
Also, IKK performed great last year, up 55% for all our investments in IKG. And despite the investments we made, both within Patrica and with the enlisted company, we end the year with very strong financials and the leverage that is below our target range. And finally then, I think another highlight, of course, is that 2020 was the year when we launched our focus areas and targets when it comes to sustainability, and that is a high priority in our daily work now. So moving to next page, here are the figures. Our adjusted net asset value was 14%, and our total share of the return was up 19%, and that can be compared to the stock market being up 15% in Sweden.
As you know, our goal is to pay a steadily rising dividend. And the board as today proposed a dividend of SEK 14 per share. And just as a reminder, last year, due to the very special circumstances, We took the decision to be more cautious and gave a dividend of NOK 9, about twothree of the original expectation. Jan, I think that to put that in context, almost half of the companies on the large cap in Sweden We didn't pay dividend at all, but we're very pleased to now be more on track on the journey again. And the reason why we feel good about this dividend is that the companies have handed the reset or the pandemic well.
The The company stands strong. And as I mentioned before, investors' financial position is strong. So I think we feel comfortable with our recommendation. We have also proposed to split 4 to 1, and the reason for that is that we have had over the last few years a strong increase in the share of the base. And today, we have about 330,000 shareholders.
And invest to trade at the relatively high share price compared to most large cap companies on the stock on stock exchange. So a split could increase liquidity by providing access to larger share of the base, and that is the Moving then over to listed companies that now represent about 55% of the value of Investor. Key highlights 2020, the spin out of Electrolux professional during the spring. As I mentioned before, we invested in ABD, Ericsson and Electrolux Professional in total SEK 3,400,000,000 during Spring. A number of our companies have also made strategic acquisition.
A few examples are Ericsson's expansion into the the price segment with the acquisition of Cradlepoint and then Atlas Copco doing 2 acquisitions to build Machine Vision division. And recently, Sasienek announced the acquisition of Alexion, expanding into rare disease and immunology. High focus in some companies have also been on the corporate structure, of course, ABB after divesting power grids. Now the focus is to work in the decentralized structure to really supply better customer with the new customer offerings and also increased efficiency in the corporation. Wartsila also reorganized and launched a number of initiatives to improve the internal efficiency in this when it comes to project handling.
We had a number of new CEOs last year. During the spring, we had new CEOs announced and started with Bjorn entering an ABD, Heliama in Epiroc and Henrik in Husqvarna. And now we have coming up on February 1, we have Korkan Engelval, who will join Paul Stark as CEO of with Baixler. And sustainability has been a focus for us in many years when it comes to the listed companies. But over the last 6 to 12 months now, we have further integrated the work into our value creation on plans and be more specific and better KPIs for follow-up.
With that, moving over to Patricia Industries, which now is about the quarter of the value of Investor. A couple of highlights. I Slight Sernova and Laboure doing significant acquisitions during the year, and we have supported also related to those. 3 Scandinavia has took a very important decision when it comes to the divestment of the Asset Network Infrastructure. That is an important deal for investor because, first of all, it's a highly value traded deal.
And Secondly, it will also give a strong liquidity. In total, we will about SEK 5,000,000,000 of which we have received a little bit more than SEK 1,000,000,000 in the 4th quarter. And then on the Kiefer side, Slatko joined as CEO of Melndik in November and is now up and running. And also, of course, within our share of the Patricia business focusing on the subsidiaries and also our part of the profit, our 40 Part of the profit in SEK 3,000,000,000 You can see that the subsidiaries' total sales is about SEK 40,000,000,000 And you can see that if you add the our part of the profit in SEK 3, the EBITDA amounts to more than SEK 10,000,000,000. So this is the sizable part of the company.
On the next page, you can see the operational performance. You see the big hit during the spring when the pandemic started, but you can also see the recovery in the Q3 and of course the strong quarter that we just released. Then on Page 13%. You can see that the organic growth was 14% for the subsidiaries in the quarter, and the adjusted profit growth was almost 30%. But you can also see there is a widespread between the different companies, so let me on that.
On Page 14, you can see that Merendike grew 41% in the quarter. If we exclude the PPE business, the underlying organic growth for the group was 9%, and that consists of a growth of 5% for Wound Care and an underlying growth in Surgical of 14 with the growth in surgical this quarter within that segment, we had a very high growth in the gloves business. You can see that the profitability also improved quite a lot. Sarnova continued to perform well and adjusted profit margin increased. Advanced Instruments, I mentioned before, excellent start under our ownership.
And then, Teilhard, here we did see a return to growth since the company grew 12% in the 4th quarter and also hear with better profitability. So for these 4 companies, very strong performance. On the other hand, vulnerability, La Brea, Affirmative, as you can see, are still affected by COVID-nineteen, and that is mainly related to the fact that they have high risk groups in the customer base this difficult to reach the customers and in some cases related to level re, it also is due to postponement of elective procedures. However, you can see despite the sharp falls in sales that the profitability has remained at good levels. Saying then a few more words about the different I think I mentioned the underlying growth of 9% and the split between wound care and Sertica.
When it comes to the PPE business and looking forward, we expect to add or we expect to have additional sales of PPE also into 2021. But we expect it to be significant less than we had in 20 empty. And that is also the reason why we have done an adjustment when we have valued Menelik, basically lowered the multiple a bit to account for this fact. Profitability, very strong, driven by good cost efficiency and, of course, leverage on sales. Another highlight was that the cash flow was extremely strong in the quarter, and the company distributed almost EUR 350,000,000 in the quarter.
Moving then over to PermaBid. As mentioned before, the organic growth was 10%. Europe and America roughly in line with that figure, while APAC grew somewhat in the quarter, and the EBITDA margin increased. Moving to Sarnova, organic sales amounted to 19%. And here, I can say that both Yes, the preparedness and acute grew at strong levels in the quarter.
Acute was a little bit higher, but not both were 15% or higher. And also hear the underlying profit margin increase. And importantly, the expansion into the revenue cycle management a business that will now be called Digitech closed in the quarter. Moving then over to La Baurie. The organic sales growth was 14% in the quarter, and we continue to see a sharp decline in elective year already in gastro, and that is related to postponement of some procedures The underlying profitability the reported profitability increased somewhat, while the underlying profitability 3 somewhat compared to last year.
Moving down to Piyap. Organic growth, as I mentioned, was double digit in the quarter. Actually, all geographical regions Contributed positively, but Europe was showing the strongest growth. And also when it comes to different division, all divisions Grew in the quarter, but Ergonomic Handling had the highest growth. The profit margin expanding quite a bit compared to last year, but we should Remember that last year was negatively affected by cost for the acquisition of Tawhid.
So adjusting for that, the pro The margin last year was 24%, so up a bit, but not as much as you can see in the P and L. And the company was to launch a number of new products mainly related to the automotive, but also to the electronics and e commerce businesses. Advanced instruments, I I've already mentioned the key figures, and you can see the good performance. We will continue now under our ownership and invest both in the commercial organization to drive long term growth and also within R and D. Those are top priorities to grow this profitable company.
Moving to BraunAbility. This is a company that continues to be negatively affected by COVID-nineteen. And you can see the organic growth out It was down 22% in the quarter. If you start on the consumer business, it's important to remember that the Customer for vulnerability, they are different from the ones buying cars. So the recovery of vulnerability's consumer business It's lagging the recovery we see in the normal car business.
And the reason, of course, is that they are more high risk groups. When it comes The commercial part of vulnerability that has been negatively affected by the fact that there is less public transportation in buses and taxes. But despite the tough times related to COVID, you can see that profitability is holding up very good due to good cost management. 3, Scandinavia, subscription base grew, service revenue up 1% adjusted for some onetime items in the quarter, profit grew 1%. And as I mentioned before the key highlight is the divestment of the passenger network infrastructure.
And after end of the quarter, 3 secondured 100 megahertz spectrum in the 3.5 gigahertz band in Swedish 5 gs auction, and that will make it possible for 3 to build out 5 gs to give their customer a really good offering in that area. Shortly on EKK, you can see that EKK has become a sizable part of Investo now representing 10 I mentioned that the total return for the total investment was 55% Last year, you can see that the company EBITDA being on the stock market was up almost 100%, while the development the funds was up 12%. In constant currency, the funds were up 17%. And once again, you should remember that we are reporting this with 1 quarter lag. So this is up until the Q3.
Our priorities Going forward, of course, make sure we sharpen our role as an engaged owner and always make sure we have an attractive portfolio. And moving to Slide 27, this is the one that is updated that we showed on our Capital I just want to reiterate that we truly believe we have a strong base, strong portfolio for the future with a lot of medtech health care Companies that can benefit from the demographic trends. And also for many of these companies, we see great opportunities geographically around the world. Within advanced engineering, we have a number of companies that are in the forefront where we see good opportunities, It's not the least within automation. Within technology, we have companies like Ericsson and NASDAQ with very strong offerings I can write on the more digital world that we see.
And within the financials, to give one example that IKK, of course, had a great exposure to alternative investment, which is the future growth area. So we have a portfolio with companies that have strong market position and where we see a lot of opportunities to grow going forward. So then to summarize from my side, we will continue to work with the strategy we have that we have worked with for a long time. And of course, we are constantly tweaking it. We are constantly trying move a little bit faster, do it a little bit more efficient, but the basic is still the same based on our ownership model, based on the portfolio with strong companies, and of course, we have a good financial strength to support our companies in the years ahead.
So with that, I will hand over to Iliana.
Thank you, Johan. And Let's take a look at the net asset value development on Page 30. We have seen a steady increase in the last decade and the year and at an adjusted net asset value of DKK 546,000,000,000 and the reported net asset value of DKK 4 on the next page, looking at listed companies, we see that Q4 with a TSR of minus 2%, which led to a full year total shareholder return 8% compared to Rx 15%. However, looking at OMX 30 CSR of 7%, listed company's development was more in line. The companies in the portfolio had mixed performance.
And during the year, Versa and Saab Bob had weaker development, but SEB and AstraZeneca being larger holdings in our portfolio has a bigger effect on Investo as they did not develop in line with the stock market. On the next page, looking Fischer Industries. The total return, excluding cash, amounted to 19% for the year and 5% in the last quarter. The subsidiaries had strong operating performance and cash flow development despite COVID, which helped a lot, but of course, multiple expansion also explains the contribution to this development. On the next page, we can see a graph showing the change in estimated market values in the quarter and the total adjusted net asset value of Patricia increasing from SEK 149,000,000,000 to almost SEK 156,000,000,000 at the end of the quarter.
Most of the Nordic subsidiaries estimated market values increased, while the U. S. Ones, and in particular, BERI had a tougher quarter, partly due to currency. And the new subsidiary advanced instruments that Johan already mentioned is here valued at cost. Looking at the next page, Page 34, the major drivers of the estimated We can see that Malnik's estimated market value grew by SEK 3 with SEK 600,000,000 before distribution due to strong earnings and cash flow, while currency impacted negatively.
And please note that we have I've adjusted the multiple to reflect the COVID related personal protective equipment profits in 2020. And then 3's estimated Market value grew by SEK 2,900,000,000, driven by the divestment of the passive network infrastructure. Permobil's market value value positively. And TF's estimated market value grew by SEK 733,000,000 due to higher multiples and earnings due to earnings and lower earnings and currency, which impacted negatively. On the next page.
Let's take a step back and look at Page 35. So summarizing our cash flow generation over the last few years. We have received SEK 98,000,000,000 since 2015. From multiple sources, all business areas contributing. And how have we used this cash?
Well, we have paid dividends to our shareholders, and we have invested in selective listed and also acquired 5 new wholly owned subsidiaries. And during this time, the net debt has with 1%. And talking about leverage, on the next page, we can see that the leverage is below the target range. And we can see that our The financial position remains strong after this exceptional and challenging year. Our credit ratings are intact, and the average maturity of our debt portfolio is almost 11 years.
And then finally, on my last slide, the average annual total return. To summarize our performance, we in the last 20, in the last 10 and in the last 5 year period. And for 2020, the total shareholder return 19% compared to fixed Rx 15%. And with that, I the handover to Wilhika for the Q and A session. Thank you, Johan and Helena.
We are we'll now have a Q Q and A session and the facilitator will help you out if you want to raise a question.
Thank you. Thank out. With your questions. Our first question comes from the line of Joakim Gennel from DNB Markets. Please go ahead.
Your line is open.
Thank you for that. So Johan, while this is in line with your communication throughout the past years, can you Perhaps talk a bit about the rationale to highlight in the CEO letter that you are evaluating if Investo is the best home for all of your holdings. I mean, what other factors then your clearly defined investment criteria could, say, come into play in that conclusion If you are the right owner, so to say. And then to follow-up on that, should you come to the conclusion that you are not the right owner, what transaction options would you elaborate with exiting a holding?
Thank you. As you know, we are continuously looking for new investments. And we are continuously we also need to continuously look if we have the right owner and if we see the right potential in the companies. That we have done historically for a long time and that we will do also in the future. So and when we look on whether we are the right owner, of course, we look on the fit with us, our knowledge, our network that we can drive it in the way we want.
But of course, we also look on the potential to share the return in the long term. So We would always do a full analysis in that area. But this is very much in line with what we said at Capital Markets Day during the autumn.
That's fair. And coming back to the DTS Or the dividend you talked about, Johan. I mean, as an active owner representative on the boards of your core holdings, One could argue that this is obviously a signal what to expect in terms of received upstream dividends going into to 'twenty one. Is there anything else here or are there other trade offs that I miss in excess of your already strong financial position?
To be fair, thanks for the question. And I will, of course, not comment on the companies that we report in the coming weeks. But I can tell you that we have a discussion today in the Board about the dividend. And the reason for our dividend decision is just taking one step back, as As I mentioned before, last year, it was a special circumstances with COVID-nineteen. We took a very cautious decision there.
And that was not an easy decision For us that I can tell you because you know we have a goal of stabilizing dividend. But we Truly believe now based on the fact that the companies have performed, they have really showed the ability, flexibility and performed well. So we have a portfolio of strong performance. That in combination with the strong cash flow that we have and a yield that is only 4 point 1% or sorry, a leverage of only 4.1%. Those 2 in combination makes us that those are the 2 key reasons for proposing SEK 14 per share in dividend.
Roger, that and just a final one for me then. I mean, it ties into the last question, but with, say, a financial muscle of almost SEK 30,000,000,000 if I mean, within your gearing target after the dividend you are proposed to pay now. Would you be comfortable with adding, say, a larger subsidiary to Patricia Industries? I mean, larger than the ones we have seen in the past years, Piyap Sanovo Advanced Instruments or I mean, are you preferring to build from the already existing platform?
Yes. That's a great question. We are always looking, of course, to find fantastic companies. If we would find a company that we truly like, like we did with Advanced Instruments, but it's clearly bigger than that one. We will, for sure, try to go for it.
There is, of course, a limitation, but it's clearly above the level that, for example, Advanced Instruments, given our strong financial position.
Interesting. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Erik Laliberte from ABG. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yes. Hello and thank you. I just had a question on Swedish Wharf and Bikram here. And sort of thinking if you could elaborate on what you think of the recent development here and how you view the new strategy by the company ahead. And I'm just a bit surprised here if you still have confidence in So why you haven't sort of increased your holding in this company, given what you typically do in the other listed core assets.
Thank you.
Okay. Thank Given what I said before, since the quarterly reports are coming up, I will unfortunately need to be quite brief there. But Our strategy as an owner, we are a long term owner. We own 36% of the company already. That one should, of course, Yes.
So we have a very sizable ownership and 36% of the capital. But our strategy as Being an owner is very clear. Number 1, try to capitalize as much as possible within the hemophilia Guys, really rolling that out, take as much customer and business as possible. And secondly, diversify And they have done a number of acquisitions. And some have turned out well and some have had some challenges in the clinic development.
But that is always the case if you talk about pharma. So that is basically our view on the company.
Thank you very much.
That was all from me. Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Johan Rehavai from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Thank you and good afternoon. Can I ask you starting off with Melnik, I appreciate that you specified what is sort of the underlying growth and also what is Kind of the impact on the pandemic? And I would like to know really about now in Q4, you reported plus 9%. Could you, was there something special happening in the quarter which was, say, impacting the organic growth positively because it's Quite a big number compared to what we're used to here.
Thank you, Juha. I think if you Split it, the question. Wound Care grew by 5%, so that is very clear. And then you have an underlying growth within Surgical of 14%. So why did that grow 14%.
The best guidance I can give you is We saw a very good growth in gloves this quarter, while we did actually see some challenges in drapes and a procedure pack and some other progress were also doing well. So that is how it developed in the quarter.
Okay. And when you look at the market for Mennelik, without giving any forecast on Mennelik as such, I just want Have a get a feeling for Uber like the next 3 years or you can name a specific time period if you want. How do you see the underlying market growing? And I'm not looking for any forecast for Melike how that will I just want to get a for how you assess the underlying market growth to be in Nelikin, given all your regions and where your current practice.
Thank you. I mean there is, of of course, an underlying growth related to basically demographics, underlying growth in the economy And so forth. In some markets, that's more a steady growth, while in other markets, This is faster growth. In addition to that, of course, we have geographic expansion that I mentioned a number of times that we are putting high This is on growing faster outside Europe and the U. S.
But in addition to that, of course, memory costs at specific growth actions or specific tasks, specific areas where they see opportunity to grow. And those are they are tackling both from an R and D side and both from a commercial Fine. So it's very much, I would say, a good market to be in. But then, of course, we need to make sure through commercialization, entering new regions, entering new segments and of course, bringing continuously new facelifts that that we can grow faster than the market.
And if I were to press you on the actual underlying market growth without taking any geographical expansion, I just I want to get a feel for how you see your the underlying markets developing. How what sort of growth rates would you look for? Is Is that something which you that provide us? Without any it's not going to be in a forecast or anything like that?
Johan, even if I feel the pressure I can say that pressure wound carries a good market.
Okay, good. That's fine. When I read all the reports here. I think all companies around are talking about growth right now. I mean, it seems like we have We have tackled the pandemic quite well and it's quite obvious in your numbers as well here.
And now everyone is in a growth phase Without any exemption, almost. How and how are you also now accelerating? Do you feel that we are leaving the pandemic behind us? Sure. There are still seg or companies which are heavily exposed to that.
You mentioned them yourself. Just your focus upon growth versus profitability or stability in 2021, how do you view
Thank you, Johan. To be honest, I don't have a crystal ball. And what we see right now, of course, is in certain areas, We see the spreading of COVID-nineteen still, and it will take some time for the vaccines to be rolled out. So in the beginning of the year here, of course, there are uncertainties out there. Hopefully, the vaccines will bite.
Hopefully, we will come to a more stable situation on the second half of the year. So that is the base plan. But as I said before, we know that forecasting is difficult. We try to do shorter shorter planning to make sure we are close to the markets, close to the companies. Having said all that, what makes your question a little bit more complicated.
It's also the changes in buying patterns. So it's very clear, for example, that services are losing out in a number of areas, but people are using that money also to buy goods in some areas. So Make the puzzle in terms of the demand is also quite complicated to the truth. But we don't have the crystal ball. We can say that the euro is still out on the pandemic as of now.
But we are still we are closing the market
as registered. So I head back to the speakers.
Okay. Thank you. And we don't have any questions over the web. So by that, we would like to thank you all for dissipating and thank you everyone and Juliena as well. Thank you.