Hello, and welcome to today's webcast where Inwido will present its financial results for the third quarter of 2026. Joining us today are President and CEO Fredrik Meuller, as well as CFO and Deputy CEO Peter Welin. At the end of the call, we will have a Q&A, so you are welcome to submit questions using the form located to the right of the webcast. If you are calling in and want to ask a question, please press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute your line when you have been handed the word. With that said, I will hand over to you, Fredrik and Peter. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to this webcast covering Inwido's third quarter of 2026. My name is Fredrik Meuller. I am the President and CEO of Inwido, and next to me here in Stockholm today is Peter Welin, our Group CFO and Deputy CEO. We will follow the schedule in today's call, starting off with key group messages, followed by a deep dive into the business areas and our financials.
Then, as usual, towards the end, we will wrap up with an outlook and a Q&A session. As usual, the presentation material is also available on our website, inwido.com. The strength in market conditions that we saw already in Q2 largely followed suit also in the months of July through September. There are signs of light on the horizon, best exemplified by the Scandinavian market and the project segment.
Recovery is so far not fast, but it is happening. Also, at last, the Green Deal is starting to be implemented across the EU, offering some tailwind to the energy efficiency theme and order intake. It is, of course, no surprise to anyone that the Middle East conflict has continued to put a wet blanket on the supply chain in particular, and on demand in general, which is also now driving some fears about the inflation and interest rates going up going forward.
Looking at M&A, the M&A market has been impacted as well. Valuations are a bit trickier at the moment as many year-to-date figures are softer for many of the targets that we are looking at, while at the same time, sellers' expectations on valuation can still be quite high.
As for Inwido, we continued to improve our performance, growing organically in both order intake and in sales, and we reached our highest operating EBITA to date for a single quarter. I think it is a sign of strength also to record organic growth in the order intake, as well as a higher operating EBITA margin across all four of our business areas.
Three of them also grew sales organically in the quarter. We have stuck to a recipe of profitability before growth, where the key ingredients are volume, pricing, operational efficiency, and cost control. If you think that sounds simple, it is everything but because the competition out there still remains razor-sharp. Last but not least, our cash flow was strong once again, reducing our gearing and meaning in turn that we can be proactive and opportunistic when acquisition opportunities do arise.
We've had reasons for some extra celebrations this past quarter. I'm very proud over these milestone achievements in three dimensions across the entire value chain, actually. First, Inwido had one of the highest upgrades in Nordea's ESG rating to a A. Second, SPAR V induer, our e-Commerce business in Denmark exceeded some 10,000 Trustpilot reviews. Worth noting is that more than 90% of those had a score of four or five.
Third, Elitfönster was recognized for its professional sourcing and manufacturing work with aluminum. Well done everyone. Keep it up. Now it's time to look at our four business areas. I'll go through them one by one. We have one slide on each, and in order of size, meaning that we will start with Scandinavia.
This was, again, a strong quarter by Mats and his team, building on the momentum from Q2 and growing top line organically while also seeing a healthy raise to the bottom line. I think it's great to see that the operating EBITA margin is now close to 17%. Sentiment is improving in Denmark and Sweden, and so far, mostly within the project segment.
Norway is also doing a bit better. We did get some tailwind from something called Villaeffekten in Sweden, which is a newly launched government incentive program for energy efficiency renovation, where some SEK 300 million has been allocated per annum up until 2030. I think this is a concrete positive example of the much-needed EPBD directive now beginning to be rolled out in all of the EU member states. Moving on to BA West. As you can see, Jonna's business is growing rapidly.
Integration of our newly acquired entities is proceeding nicely, including Sovereign Group that we took on in Q2. Profit climbed higher in both absolute and relative terms, driven by Ireland and Scotland in particular. In England, the consumer segment remains tough with both consolidation and price pressure prevailing still. Worth noting, though, is that both energy awareness and renovation of social housing is on the rise.
I think the new Labour government looks rather promising actually. Antti and his team keep fighting the fierce headwind blowing across BA East, primarily in Finland, where everyone is lacking volume, possibly with the exception of the project segment. Order intake, profit, and margin were all up, and we saw nice contribution coming from our recent acquisitions. Market-wise, Poland and Croatia are quite strong, with Slovenia a bit softish from the recent government change.
To conclude this BA run-through, let's turn our focus on BA e-Commerce. I know I'm beginning to sound like an old vinyl record, but Bo and his team keep pushing, raising profitability in yet another quarter, reaching 10% in Q3 and almost 11% on a latest 12-month basis, and with a strong organic top-line growth as well. Here we're seeing a successful mix of volume, pricing, efficiencies, and cost management. Now for more flavor on Inwido's consolidated Q3 financials, I'm handing over to you, Peter. Please.
Thank you so much, Fredrik. We start with this page, the income statement. To the left, you can see the development in the third quarter. In the middle, you can see the year to date, and to the right, latest 12 months, as well as full year for last year. Starting with the quarter, sales is +22%, organically is +5%.
We have a negative net impact from increased material prices in the quarter, and this has been offset by improved volume and improved operational efficiency. Thereby, the gross margin is more or less on the same level as last year. The operating EBITA margin has been improved from 12% to 12.3%, and then we have also efficiency when it comes to expenses, and thereby an improved operating EBITA margins.
The operating EBITA has been improved by 25%, from SEK 268 million last year to SEK 334 million this year, a record so far for a quarter. Looking further down the income statements, we can see that profit after tax is +36% compared to last year, and the earnings per share is +32% compared to last year, SEK 2.65 to SEK 3.49.
Looking at the year to date, January to September, sales is +15%, organically is +2%, so we have now an organic growth in the year after a slow start in Q1. The operating EBITA margin is above last year, and the operating EBITA margin is on the same level as last year, 9.8%. However, in SEK, we have an improvement by 15%, or more or less SEK 100 million compared to last year.
Further on in the income statements, we can see the profit after tax is +21% compared to last year, and the earnings per share has been improved by SEK 1.07, from SEK 6 to SEK 7.07. For the latest 12 months, we are just below SEK 10 billion, on SEK 9.968 billion. We have an operating EBITA margin of 10.4%, and the earnings per share is just below SEK 10, SEK 9.96.
On this page, we can see the development in the third quarter from Q3 last year to Q3 this year. To the left, you can see the development on sales, then divided between the different business areas. To the right, we can see the development in operating EBITA. All business areas have improved in a quarter, when it comes to results, both in SEK as well as in margins.
All business areas have a growth in a quarter, but not organic growth. Inwido East has a negative organic growth in the quarter. For the group in total, we have then reached the highest operating EBITA so far in the single quarter with that operating EBITA result of SEK 334 million. This graph is showing the sales as well as the operating EBITA margin in the third quarter from 2020 until 2026. The results in the third quarter was in SEK.
We have the highest operating EBITA ever in SEK, but not the highest margin ever. However, the margin has been improved compared to last year, 12.3% this year compared to 12% last year. We have made acquisitions, and we have six acquisitions this year in the third quarter, which we didn't own in Q3 last year. All acquisitions, they have developed well and had good contributions to the profits.
However, the combined profitability is below the rest of the group, and thereby they have diluted the operating EBITA margin in the quarter when comparing to last year. Excluding acquisitions, we have a higher operating EBITA margins than the 12.3. On this page, we are showing the cash flow before financial activities, excluding financial assets and acquisitions. To the right, you can see the development when it comes to our CapEx.
We have improved cash flow in the quarter. We have a higher contribution from operating activities and improved results, and also lower tax payments in the quarter this year compared to last year. Working capital has increased more this year compared to last year, and we have somewhat higher CapEx this year compared to last year. But in total, we have improved cash flow of SEK 56 million this year compared to Q3 last year.
The improved cash flow, it means then we have then reduced the net debt, that this pace is showing the net debt and the net debt in relation to operating EBITA from Q3 2023 until Q3 2026. We can see that we have a good leverage. The leverage remains healthy, and we still have headroom when it comes to M&A. Net debt in relation to operating EBITA is 1.9, excluding IFRS 16.
If we then calculate on a pro forma basis from the latest acquisitions during this year and last year, we are on 1.8. When it comes to net debt, including IFRS 16, we are on 2.1. So still good headroom compared to the covenants and also good headroom compared to the target of maximum 2.5. Return on operating capital has also been improved.
This page is showing the return on operating capital development from Q3 2022 until Q3 2026. We have improved return on operating capital during the last two quarters, from 11.7% in Q1 to 12% in Q3. We can see an increased operating capital, and the increase is related to acquisitions during the latest 12 months.
Looking at the order intake, the total order intake has been improved in the quarter. The organic order intake of the group is +7%, and we have growth in all business areas. Scandinavia +7%, East +4%, West +10%, and e-Commerce +6%. The growth is mainly within project markets, but the consumer segment has also slightly growth of 1% in the quarter.
Thanks to the improved order intake and acquisitions, we have then reached the highest order backlog ever, with the order backlog of close to SEK 3.5 billion end of September this year. If we then divide the order intake a little bit differently, this page then showing the order intake for each market, so not this year, so markets.
This is then showing the organic order intake for the consumer markets. The largest sales consumer markets of Inwido is Denmark, stands for 40% of the consumer sales, followed by Sweden with 24%. So in total, they're two 64%. This graph then showing the organic order intake development compared to previous years from Q3 2025 until Q3 2026. As you can see, we still have a growth. So we have a growth in Denmark and we have a growth in Sweden in the quarter.
Sweden then followed by U.K. U.K. stands for 50% of consumer market, and then Finland, 7% of the consumer market, and combined, those two have 22% of our consumer sales latest 12 months. Here we have continued decline. The consumer market in U.K. and in consumer markets in Finland is still a challenging market.
As you can see, the percentage is actually more decline in Q3 compared to Q2. Still challenging market for U.K. and Finland. The rest is also slightly growth. The rest stands for 14%. The rest, that is Norway, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Croatia. If we then look at the same thing for the project markets, then I must say the project market is much more volatile compared to the consumer markets.
On previous page, when I showed the consumer market, the scale of the graph was up to 20%. Here is a scale up to 300%, just indicating that there's a higher volatility in the project market when it comes to order intake, not when it comes to sales. It then relates to order intake.
Finland is the largest project market of Inwido, stands for 30%, or second largest, 30%. U.K. together with Ireland is the largest market. Finland, there we have a slightly growth in the quarter, and we have the highest growth in Ireland in percentage. In total, a growth of 18% for the project market in the quarter compared to last year. Now handing over back to Fredrik.
Thank you very much, Peter. It's time to round things off. Let me reiterate today's key messages. Green is good, as you know, and here we listed several green tick marks for Q3 that I'm really, really proud of. We do see a stronger performance at both group and BA level.
We see it across both the top and bottom lines of our P&L, and we also see a better cash flow and a healthy balance sheet. Market sentiment is gradually improving, starting with Scandinavia and with the project segment that Peter just talked about. Yes, recovery will take time, but the Ferrari that we've built is picking up speed, which is kind of exciting. If we look ahead then, there is now light at the end of the tunnel.
We don't think it's an oncoming train this time around, so we're cautiously optimistic about our near to medium term prospects. We do stick to our clear game plan with priorities including, once again, first of all, managing the Middle East situation, i.e., securing the supply chain together with disciplined pricing and cost containment, and then pursuing selective M&A. As shown so far this year, we are ready for whatever scenario the market has in store for us. With that said, Peter and I would now be delighted to answer any of the questions that you may have. Please go ahead.
Thank you for the presentation. We will now open up for a Q&A session. As stated before, you are welcome to submit questions using the form located to the right of the webcast. If you are calling in and want to ask a question, please press star nine to raise your hand and star six to unmute your line when you have been handed the word. The first caller is Albin Nordmark from SB1. The word is yours. Go ahead, please. Albin Nordmark from SB1. The word is yours. Please unmute your line. Press star six to unmute your line, please.
Can you hear me now?
Hello, Albin. Yes, we can hear you.
Can you hear me? Okay, perfect. Yes, some technical issues here. Good morning. Nice to see a solid report. I actually have one question on Eastern Europe, but maybe you mentioned this, I did not hear all of the call, but Inwido East gross margin down as it has been tough markets, but then you managed to hold the margin stable year-over-year. Maybe if you can dive into this and give the reason behind it. Thanks.
Well, generally speaking, yes, it is tough. We have continued to look at the cost base, to prune it even further. Our largest entity in Finland is, given the circumstances, still doing quite okay. They have also raised prices a bit, of course, primarily linked to the situation in the Middle East. It is a combination of those factors, really. Where we have seen volume coming into the factories, again, we get the efficiency upside. That is I think really well managed by them. They keep fighting. The outlook is still challenging. We do not see any near term, at least, improvements on the horizon for Finland in particular.
We also somewhat diluted when it comes to gross margins from the acquisitions. We have made acquisitions in Slovenia and Croatia, and looking at the adjusted gross margins, there are some dilution there when comparing to last year.
All right. You mentioned something about that the underlying, the organic EBITA margin was better than reported. Is there any of the acquired units that maybe did not go as planned, or is that just normal dilution?
No, it is more normal dilutions. I think most of them has gone just around plan or very close to the plan from the acquisitions. But the margins on the acquired companies combined are lower compared to the rest of the group when it comes to the third quarters. Then, of course, some acquisitions have higher margins and some are lower, but the combined margin is lower compared to the rest of the group. So we are somewhat diluted for the group, but also when it comes for some specifics there as well. Then looking at the gross margins development for East, there is a dilutions from the acquisitions.
Okay. If we just, maybe the final one on Inwido East or final one from my side. Order intake positive, mostly projects. Case list is in countries, is this mainly Finland or is the order intake positive in Finland? Also the order intake since it is projects, how much, is it in a year or can you give us some sense of how long that order book is or that order intake that you have?
The order intake is positive. The organic order intake is positive, meaning we then excluded the order intake for the latest acquisitions. Slovenia and Croatia is not included in organic order intake. Poland, there is more or less the same. A little bit higher order intake compared to Finland. The order intake improvements for East is mainly then related to Finland and then mainly then related to the project market, where consumer market is still challenging. The orders we are taking now in Q3, some will be delivered end of this year, but it is more or less then going into 2027.
Maybe just to add something on the acquisitions that we made over the last year. I think the starting point for all of them is a little bit different. In some cases, of course, they have not been used to even producing a monthly report, and have perhaps not been used to quite the extraordinary market conditions linked to the Middle East conflict.
I think they are all following plan more or less. Long term, they are for sure the right deals that we have done at the right multiples as well. It already goes to show that we are up there when it comes to helping them with primarily sourcing, the purchasing side of things, plus operational efficiency and the financial controlling. It just takes a while to get the full upside potential pursued here. We are not there yet, but it looks good.
Okay. Nice for them to be under the Inwido umbrella now with messy times. That is all from me. Thanks. Thank you .
Thanks so much.
Thank you for those questions. We will now move on to the next caller, which is Linus Alentun from Nordea. The word is yours. Please press star nine to unmute your line. Linus Alentun from Nordea, the word is yours.
Good morning. Hi, can you hear me?
Yes. Good morning, Linus.
Hello, Linus. Yes.
Good morning. Sorry, a bit of technical issues here on my end, as well as Albin. Just starting off here on e-Commerce, you have had a pretty nice margin development during the last quarters, and I am just wondering here, where is the ceiling on R12 rolling basis? You are at almost 11%, right?
The sky is the limit, Linus. No, but it is a relevant question. I think what we have created here is a different animal compared to where we were just a year, a year and a half ago. That bodes really well also for the future because we must not forget that the volumes that they are seeing are far from normalized yet. But when they do get the volumes in, and as you know, they have three factories in Estonia, Poland, and Romania, then they see the margins improving. On top of that, they have managed their, what we refer to as SMAD costs, sales, marketing, and admin, and development costs really well.
The figures that we see today are actually linked to actions that they took, again, a year, a year and a half ago, where they also embrace a lot of the new exciting technology in, for example, marketing. On top of that, last but not least, they have been really good at working with value-based pricing. So, of course, it is something we are looking at. So far so good.
I think they have quite a bright future. They are doing a really good job. We are actually also looking at bolt-on acquisitions in this field. Something we have not done for quite some time, but that could be exciting entering in some new territory. So yeah, let us not forget that we are the only actor in this field making money. If you look at, for example, one of our larger Danish competitors, they made a loss of EUR 3.7 million in 2025.
Here we are at 10% in the quarter, almost 11% on the latest 12 months basis. We keep pushing. We haven't set a specific target for them, but it's obvious, of course, that when they get the volumes in, they make more money. Hopefully they can continue.
All right. Hopefully more to come then with recovering volumes then. Another question, just a follow-up on Albin's question here on the margin and perhaps underlying margin being a bit stronger than reported. Do you have a number on how much the acquisitions diluted the margin?
We are slightly above this 12.3%. We are not on the levels that we were two, three years ago, but we are above the levels of the 12.3%.
All right. A slight negative.
You are saying underlying margin compared to reported. The acquisitions are included now, so the underlying and reported is the same thing. There is no extraordinary items, something like that in this statement. It is just stating that when we acquire companies, and this has always been in the past, when we acquire companies, we are short-term diluted because the margins of the acquisitions are lower compared to the rest of the group.
Then we work when it comes to pricing, we work when it comes to synergies in materials, our purchase, and we work with operations, and over time, we are improving the margins so we have the same margin on acquisitions as the rest of the group in general. This is normal for the business, so it is nothing unusual. There is no extraordinary things here. It is just stating that when we acquire companies, the margin of the acquisitions are lower compared to the rest of the group.
Yep. Got it. A question here on M&A and the pipeline forward. You mentioned solar shading companies in the report as well. Could you perhaps elaborate on that and perhaps the size of some of the targets in the pipe?
Yeah, sure. As I have said, I think I stated it already in our Q2 report that it has proven a little bit trickier the last few months to get to a handshake on valuation. It is not for lack of targets. We have quite a few interesting discussions ongoing. That makes me cautiously optimistic about the next three to six months, where we can hopefully announce a signing or two.
But it is tricky because many of the targets that we are looking at have had a so-so year-to-date performance. At the same time, they point towards a fantastic hockey stick going forward, meaning that their valuation expectations are on the high side as well. We have been, particularly over the last few weeks, flooded by teasers, i.e., prospective cases from all around, but primarily from the U.K.
It is on the same theme as before, i.e., many of them are in financial difficulties and then not something for us. The targets, the discussions that we are having are covering both existing and new markets. Again, the sweet spot for us these days is somewhere turnover-wise between EUR 30 million and EUR 60 million, and that is where these targets are. On solar shading, as I have said before, the companies that we would be looking at for some kind of entry into that segment are typically a little bit bigger, but we would still be looking for a majority stake.
They can be in the vicinity of EUR 100 million - EUR 200 million in size. Of course, also typically more profitable than the Inwido average. Some of them are in the 15%- 20% + EBITA margin category. We are working on that, and again, I think it looks quite promising. I think it also goes to show that the Inwido model is very attractive. Quite a few are knocking on our door and want to involve us in various processes, but we are for many reasons, selective and cautious.
All right. Got it. That is clear and exciting also. Just a question here ahead of Q4, as you state, the organic order intake, was positive across the board. How do you reason when it comes to Q4 and perhaps price cost effects also?
There is a billion-dollar questions in that sense. Yes, the order intake is plus in the quarter, +7%. However, the increase is mainly related to the project markets and the +18%, whereas consumer markets is +1%. So there is, in that sense, a negative mix impact. When it comes to material inflation, that is the big question, how material prices will develop.
We can see one challenging thing for Inwido is, of course, the gas prices. Gas prices continuously goes up, and it is now on a second-highest level. That has a negative impact, especially on the glass prices. So that is of course a question mark in that sense. We have also somewhat interest rate is going up, and that was a question how that will impact the markets.
Last year, we had ROT, and that was a change in the ROT of Sweden, and that impacted Scandinavia with a bit higher sales in Q4 to utilize the full ROT, and then it was changed from the beginning of January. Then, of course, we have all the worries of what happens right now in Europe. Then the biggest question, how will the total impact be in Q4? It's a little hard to say right now.
There's a lot of psychology involved in a lot of the markets. So we work with scenarios. One scenario is, of course, that households, particularly if you look at Scandinavia as a market, still believe that they have quite a lot of money in their wallet, and they look at energy prices going up and the fact that they have pushed that renovation project in front of them for quite some time, and they realize or recognize the fact that it will have a big positive impact on their quality of life.
So they go ahead because the world is a crazy place, but at the same time, life must go on. So, yeah, it's always going to be a bumpy ride, but we do see light at the end of the tunnel. The recovery of the market will take time, but it is moving in the right direction.
Maybe just one comment on glass prices to what Peter said. So far, we have benefited from the fact that there is an excess supply of glass across Europe, so we haven't been hit in that particular input category as much as one could perhaps expect. That could happen, as Peter said, now later in Q4 or early in Q1. Having said that, we are a big buyer and an important customer for these suppliers, so I'm not overly concerned about it. But so far, the Middle East conflict has been more hampering us in the areas of aluminum, PVC, energy, and transportation.
When that is said, we have also managed to show that we are flexible within this group, and we are able to adjust to the market situations. Also then considering that the market is still very low. When comparing the markets in Scandinavia now compared to 2019 pre-COVID, the Swedish market is in volume down by about 30%, and in Finland and Norway it's more than 20% down, and Denmark is just a little bit less than 20% down. So we are still on a very low market, and we see potential on the market. But then for the question just related to Q4, it's of course a bit trickier.
Yeah, I got that. Thank you very much for taking my questions. We will get back in line.
Thank you.
Thank you for those questions. The next caller who gets the word is Jonny Jin from SEB. The word is yours. Please press star six to unmute your line.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, Fredrik and Peter. I have a couple of questions as well. I want to start with the organic growth here, which looks very good at 5% here, but looking at the currency and FX impact was a bit less positive than I had anticipated. Given the strengthening of the currency throughout Q3 here, my question is, did the sales momentum cool off throughout the quarter, would you say? Because I know that August and September are important months for you. Is that any type of element, or did you see other reasons why the FX had no positive impact in the quarter?
Hi, Jonny. Good morning. First of all, if I start, I think in terms of the months and the momentum throughout the three months of the third quarter, I think we sort of gained momentum. July, August, you always need to look at in combination. It is a bit like January, February. September was not worse in any way. So I think momentum was actually quite solid all across the three months, and almost with a peak in September. Other than that, currency-wise, I do not know. I do not think we have any real comment in.
No. That is one thing we cannot impact.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Understood. I just want to make it clear that there is no effect that we should keep in consideration. Good. Then just moving to gross margin a little bit. I know there have been questions already about this, but I think last time you said that gross margin one, that is selling price minus material, I suppose, was down but compensated by higher efficiency. Is this the case as well in Q3, or did you manage to compensate for higher material prices, with price effect as well, given that gross margin looks good, but you have this negative mix effect? Could you elaborate there a little bit?
No. So if you take our sales prices and material prices, then we have a negative net impact from material prices. This then had been offset by improved efficiency in our factories, as well as having higher volumes in our factories. So same situation in Q3 as it was in Q2.
Maybe if I can just add to that, if you remember in Q2, we had not seen perhaps the full impact of the cost increases and the inflation on the input categories. At the same time, we had not seen the full impact of our corrective measures on the pricing side. Some of that has continued in Q3. If you take one of the larger entities in Sweden, for example, again, already in April, they had their annual price adjustment of, let's say, 3%, 3.5%. On top of that, they were, because of the Middle East crisis, fairly early in Q3 with another price increase where that was possible of another 3%-5%.
Then in September, and some of them have been out in October as well, we've tried to pursue even a third price increase where possible, but that gets trickier and trickier because we are with the larger customers, as you understand, in contracts where we cannot raise prices by maybe more than one or two times per annum. So it has been a little bit of a floating in material also in this quarter.
What has happened, if we start with the supply side, in some cases, we were already in Q2 given surcharges or at least heads-up notices about surcharges. Then when we did sit down with each of these accounts, it turned out that we could take maybe that +10% down to +5%, or in some cases even down to 0%, because we are professional in purchasing and because we are large.
We can leverage the economies of scale, and we are important customers for these suppliers. Then the parallel activity has then been the value-based pricing, where in some cases, and I'm not saying this has been common across the board, but in some cases, a business unit may have ended up actually being able to raise prices by more than what they have been affected on the cost side.
So it's been a net positive impact for them. A bit similar to what we saw during the pandemic, I guess, in the early days of the pandemic. But it varies quite a lot from entity to entity and from market to market. So it's really a battle and some arm wrestling between these two forces, and I foresee that continuing also in Q4.
Understood. I know it's a lot of moving parts, but what would you estimate the price impact were in this quarter on organic growth? How should we view the price effect? It should be more visible in Q4, or?
We have a total organic growth of 5%, and we have a volume growth in the quarter as well. If this is 50/50 now, it is a little bit more volume increase compared to price increase in the quarter when compared to last year, in general.
Okay. Understood. Just one final from my side. I think looking in West, delivery looks good. I just want to question here. Have you started the delivery of the large Scottish order you preceded earlier this year, or is this still ahead of us?
That is a very good question, Jonny. Thanks for bringing that up. We have actually not started that. That will commence in November, and it is not due to our fault, it is because of documentation, et cetera, on the buyer side, this Falkirk Council, as you may recall. There are no volumes linked to that one included in the third quarter figures that will come or start to come from November and onwards.
I think worth mentioning on the order intake side, we have actually taken yet another quite large project for social housing in Scotland and linked to our Sidey Solutions group, GBP 10 million, and that is included in the Q3 order intake figures. It looks like a small increase in order intake, but that is because we also got a lot of our order intake in last year's Q3. It is yet another sign of us being in this sweet spot and doing a really good job with it.
Sounds promising. Thank you. That was all from me, and have a great day.
Thanks a lot, Jonny.
Thank you, Jonny, for those questions. We will now move on to the next caller, which is the person with a number that ends with 002. The word is yours. Please press star six to unmute your line.
Hello. Igor Tubic here from DNB Carnegie. I have just a couple of follow-up questions. If we start with the M&A, given that you mentioned that it's hard to negotiate with the counterpart and they believe that the valuation is much higher, are you considering any share buybacks in a scenario where the M&A activity slows down, let's say?
Good morning, Igor. Good question, of course. No, that's not been on the table at all, I should say. I guess we don't really have the mandate for it either. For me, personally, I think it would be a somewhat strange sign. It would implicitly indicate that we were lacking growth opportunities, primarily then on the M&A side, which is definitely not the case.
It's just a bump in the market right now. I think we should all be quite pleased about the fact that we have not pursued some of the cases that we have been looking at in the past. I include in that countries like France, that was on our radar screen, through one or two concrete cases a year, a year and a half ago.
Given what's going on there at the moment, and the outlook for that country, I'm rather pleased with that. Linked to that is the fact that we have a reason to be cautious when it comes to M&A. I do think we have proven over the latest 12 months with the six acquisitions we have completed that we can be very agile and quite speedy when we do see the right targets. Again, a lot of them are coming to us, which is good. I don't feel that we're, at the same time, missing out on any major opportunities. A long answer to your question, but no, we're not discussing that at the moment.
Okay. Makes sense. Thanks. Just a final one also, when you talk about the solar shading business, can you share what the month multiples are in this type of business that you're looking at? Some sort of range.
Yeah. Normally, as you know, we pay typically 5x to 7x EBITA. Here we would most likely be forced to go up to 10x+ . Having said that, I think it would be worth it. We, of course, need to do our homework before pushing the button on that kind of transaction. Looking at the analysis right now, I think it looks quite promising where we would see quite a lot of sales synergies and it would be already day one a positive mix.
It would mean a positive mix impact for the group as such. So, it is something we are pursuing, but we need to find the right target and coming in at the right level. But the traditional multiple wouldn't really work here, meaning without we indirectly wouldn't get necessarily the arbitrage that we would be hoping for.
But I think it would be a very interesting third leg for Inwido to pursue. This trend has already started in Southern and Central Europe. There is no reason for it not happening in the Northern part of Europe either.
Okay. In terms of that type of business, can you share or have you seen anything how that sales in these type of businesses is developing? Is it similar to your business, or is the correlation similar
Yeah
or is there a negative correlation, let's say?
Yeah, there is some correlation. If anything, it has developed better than the window business as such. It varies a bit from market to market, but typically, they have been developing quite nicely linked to global warming and what have you. Let's not forget that we actually have one company within this field already within the group, namely Artic-Kaihdin in Finland.
Smallish, but it's been a bit of a litmus test for us, of course. They have been facing the headwind in Finland as well on the consumer side, but we do see that one plus one can equal three when we put our products together. But generally across Europe, the solar shading business has developed favorably despite GDP not being fantastic in all of the central European countries.
Perfect. Thank you, both of you, very much. Very helpful.
Thanks, Igor.
Thank you for the questions. I see Linus from Nordea, you have raised your hand again. Please press star six to unmute your line. Linus from Nordea.
Hi, sorry.
Yes.
Hi. Yeah, that was actually a mistake on my end. Sorry about that.
No problem, Linus, at all.
No problem. Okay, those were the final questions for today then. We will now conclude today's conference call. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Fredrik and Peter for the presentation, as well as to everyone who submitted questions and joined today's webcast. I wish you all a pleasant day.
Thank you very much. Please pencil these dates into your calendar if you haven't already, and don't forget to follow Inwido on LinkedIn. In the very near term, we have Capital Markets Day coming up here in Stockholm. Always exciting, and do take that opportunity to meet us and our group management team in person if you have the opportunity. With that said, on behalf of Peter and myself, thanks everyone for attending. Stay safe out there and bye for now. Thank you.