Welcome to Lifco Q2 report for 2024. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to CEO Per Waldemarson and CFO Therése Hoffman . Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Lifco second quarter earnings call. We can start with going directly into slide number 2 in our investor presentation and have the high-level look at the overall group performance in the second quarter. We are growing sales with the 8%, consisting of actually small negative organic decline sales, helped by around 8% growth from acquisitions and a small 0.6% help from foreign exchange rates. The EBITDA is also growing with around 8%. EBITDA margin is in line with previous year, around 24%. And then we have slightly lower profit for tax due to continued higher interest costs affecting this quarter.
We have strong operating cash flow, increasing that with 37.5%, and then earnings per share growing by 5%. If we look at the first six months of 2024, we obviously have slightly lower growth numbers on sales, given that we had a weaker start in the first quarter. I just want to remind everyone that, as we mentioned in the last call, you know, the first quarter had a negative effect from Easter, especially in the Dental field and parts of the System solutions, and we now get a little bit of a bounce back effect in the second quarter. So you should keep that in mind when reviewing this quarter as well. With that, we can go into...
I can also just mention, sorry, on this page 2, that for the first six months, we had a negative organic sales growth of -4%, acquisition contributing with around 8% for the first six months. Then we can go into page 3 and look a little bit more into the different business areas. As mentioned in the previous slide, if we go into the Dental field, there is, you know, some effect from the Easter, which we already mentioned last quarter. So we have a bounce back, a little of a bounce back quarter. If we then maybe look a little bit more on the six-month period, you know, we are growing sales with around 6%, helped by acquisitions.
And then margin is obviously growing a bit more and better EBITDA growth of almost 10%. And that has partly to do with the relatively better performance in the higher margin companies, which typically would mean own product companies in Lifco or prosthetics own company, own products and/or software companies, compared to the distribution. This is where we have slightly lower margin, obviously. So that's the Dental field. If we go into demolition tools, we basically are still facing weak market conditions. We have been now mentioning that for quite some time. And in this second quarter, we are declining sales with 8%, despite acquisitions in that case there as well.
Then obviously, with that, weak organic development, it's basically a negative operational leverage leading to lower margins. Still, we are holding up margins pretty well. We are doing 26% EBITDA margin in the quarter compared to 20% last year, which basically is one of the reasons that we have slightly better performance in the high-margin companies in that field. For the first six months, we are then declining quite severely with almost 13% in sales and 23% in EBITDA. I just want to take a short moment to a little bit describe where we stand in this market conditions. We are obviously facing a tough construction-related markets around, especially around Europe, where we have the majority of this business.
We saw that, you know, the early signs of that decline started already more than two years ago, and it's been a slow, sort of negative change, directional change, up until about, you know, Q3 last year, where we've seen the markets on this lower level condition now for some time. Then any given quarter can, of course, be slightly different depending on, you know, deliveries from certain companies and all that. But the feeling in the underlying market is same, is still the same at low levels as we've been mentioning now for some quarters. So that's important to mention. If we go in then to Systems Solutions, the last area, we are growing strongly there with 90% in the quarter in sales and 21% in profit margin.
Obviously, helped by acquisitions, but if you look more on the like-to-like organic development, it's overall a solid development, both in the quarter and for the first six months, but we should be aware of that it's a very mixed view in different parts of this business area. It's not really, you know, it's more on the company level than maybe on the divisional level. We are reporting also sales on different divisions in that area, but within, you know, any given division, there is quite a different type of development. So basically, we have some companies that are facing a little bit of what we see demolition tools, weak construction markets, and then we have other companies that have, you know, more positive development because of different specific things in their relative niches.
And overall, we can just conclude that we have a very broad and diversified business area that holds up strongly also in this economic times that we're facing right now, with very strong modules in this area. But then we can go into page number, actually next page, page number 4, and we only update this slide once per year. So I just want to give a little bit of a sort of pre-information now after six months. You know, we have a negative organic growth for the first time in the first six months since the IPO.
We're working very hard to hopefully address that, but, you know, market condition will be important for the second half, and we don't know where the market will turn or if it will turn in the near future. But I want to also mention here that acquisition is an important part of our growth engine, and we keep contributing also in 2024 from acquisitions. And then we can go into page number six. It's also a long-term slide. And I just want to mention that we know we are very focused on the free cash flow per share, and in this slide, we measure it in the best way, I think, where we actually measure the real cash flow after CapEx, and the only thing that remains is the dividends and acquisitions.
And we have been growing that with about 24% on average since the IPO, and also growing it this year, as you can see that we are going in the right direction. Obviously, when it comes to cash flow, we should not be, you know, too focused on the individual quarters, as that can be, you know, varying between quarters, but the long-term directional improvement of this free cash flow per share is crucial for Lifco. If we then go to page 7, just briefly mention our financial position. We are, our interest bearing net debt is now at 1.3 times net debt EBITDA, which is exactly the same as one year ago, despite the acquisitions we done and despite the dividend.
With that position, we have, you know, financial capacity to continue doing further acquisitions when we find the right companies, for the reasonable valuations that we look for. We will come back to acquisitions in a few moments. If we briefly touch upon page number 8, also a long-term slide, you know, we are looking for continuous increase of our profits. We have done that for most of the years since Lifco was started in the late 1990s. And actually now, after six months, we're also growing the total EBITDA profit for Lifco in the first six months. You can see that on the rolling 12-month basis.
Obviously, with a, you know, big negative effect from the Demolition & Tools segment that is actually shrinking quite severely this year, compensated by strong performance in terms of solutions. So that's where we stand right now. If we then go to page number 13, which I don't normally present, but I would just like to take a few moments to talk a little bit about what we do. As you all are aware of, we are facing more difficult market situation in parts of Lifco, and I just want to highlight, you know, our operating model that is very much based on having really strong management in each individual company. And this we've been working on for many years, and we constantly work on making sure we have really the best possible management in our companies, and I think we really have that.
I just want to take a few moments to really mention how strong these individual local management teams are working in, you know, adapting and addressing the changing market conditions. And they've done a really good job, and continue to do a really good job of being, you know, very, very close to the market and take the actions where needed directly. And they are, of course, supported by a very strong team of excellent group managers that all have been born and raised in Lifco, which really puts the right culture into this playbook. So I would want to put a big thank you to the whole team in Lifco for being very, very good in acting in these type of market conditions. And then we can go to page 21.
A little bit specific look on the Demolition & Tools segment. We are actually looking at the development here for quite some years. And, as you can see from the right-hand side, we have been facing difficult times before. You know, in 2009, it was a very severe drop. The market condition we are facing now are not even close to that situation, so it's much softer recession, if you like to call it right now in that field. And we also had, you know, some weaker development in 2013 when there was a Euro crisis and then in 2020 when it was COVID. So, we can just conclude that this is a cyclical area, and from time to time, we are facing this.
Despite, you know, this, we are still holding up margins, I think, on a quite good level, which is another indication of the great work that's been taking place in all these companies to address the market situation. And then we can go to page 23 and do a similar deep dive into the Systems Solutions area. And here I just would like to mention on the long-term perspective, and I think many of you can see that from our numbers, it is a totally different business area now compared to, for example, 2009, where we were severely impacted by the financial crisis. This was a very small part or existing portfolio that was the Lifco Systems Solutions back then. And also compared to 2013, or even five, six years ago, it's a different area.
As you all know, we have a very mixed exposure, but it's a very, I would say, today well-balanced and differentiated business area. Of course, with some challenges in certain areas, just like we see in the machine tools, we have some companies with the same type of problems. But we also have many other companies with more stability and also some companies with some structural growth in their respective niches, that sort of compensates in this. And then I can move all the way down to page 33, and just conclude a little bit on the acquisition side. We have now, after the first half year, we have consolidated or actually announced 5 acquisitions, contributing with a little bit more than SEK 1 billion in sales.
These are all, you know, great niche companies with good margins and solid historical track record. On this slide, I just want to repeat myself, which I normally say on these calls. We are very active in searching for companies, and we have a very, very good team, a quite small team, but very good team looking for companies. The timing of when deals materialize is always unsure. Once again, we only acquire companies when we really find the best ones and when we can get them at reasonable valuation. There are many opportunities out there. We are basically looking all over Europe nowadays.
Being broad in the structure like Lifco, you know, first of all, we're very broad in terms of where we are in our industries and our verticals, and also then we are open for finding new great niche companies. That is a big advantage with that broad look, because we can—if we use this in the right way, we can basically really look for the best companies and be sort of patient in our deal screening around Europe. A big advantage is that we're never forced to acquire in any specific segment if we don't feel it's fully comfortable around that. Having said that, of course, we often find adjacent business in areas we are, but they also complement which we're quite new niche companies in the field.
So that's where we stand right now, and I think this was the last page I wanted to present, and then I would like to open up for any questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Nordea. A few questions from my side. Firstly, I mean, the big sequential margin delta in demolition was a bit surprising to me, at least. You mentioned mix effect as one. Is it possible to sort of quantify the special order deliveries in Q2, maybe versus, or put it into context versus deliveries in Q1? Because this was a clear uptick.
Yeah, I think in this quarter, you know, there were some what we call special deliveries, but not big enough for us to mention that specifically on our report. But the main effect was that the companies where we have higher margin are holding up slightly better than the lower margin companies in this field. And I give you one example, without going into too many details. We have, for example, one business that is quite resilient in this area with very high margins, and that company is, of course, just being stable, you know, helps on the proportional mix. And then we have some of the sort of machinery companies that have been performing slightly better than the little bit lower attachment companies. So that's basically the main driver of this.
This, I would say, could vary between quarters, you know. Deliveries, you know, we have slightly lower deliveries in Q1, maybe coming a little bit more pushed in Q2. So I wouldn't make it- I wouldn't make too big thing around this because it's not... Yeah, that it can vary between quarters. Having said that, you know, I think in the sort of slightly lower margin part of our business, I would say that's the area where we are mostly exposed to pure construction-related business as well. Whereas in the little bit higher margin areas, we have a little bit more broader exposure. Also there, exposure to construction, obviously, but not only. So, so-
Okay.
That's it. Yeah.
It's very clear, thank you. And also, I mean, I know that you don't disclose order, but on the market sentiment, could you give any sort of indications of the quotations or if you see differences between quotations and firm orders? Maybe if you split it between Brokk and sort of the attachment companies, Kinshofer, perhaps?
Well, we don't really communicate quotations, and we don't consolidate on the group level either, so it will be very, you know, direct, anecdotal information if I talk about that.
Yeah, thanks.
I think it's... Carl, I think it's maybe more to give you a clearer picture, we feel that our construction-related, you know, weaker part of our business has not changed very much since last fall. It's still, you know, a tough market out there. It's still not, you know, catastrophic as it was in 2009, for example, but it's on a weak, low level. And it has, you know, it jumps between different weeks and different months, you know. If you ask the people around in my team, you know, sometimes, you know, they can be a little bit positive, and then two weeks later, they have a little bit more negative view, and it goes up and down like that.
But I would say overall, the underlying feeling in the market has not changed much since last year, since the end of last year, I should say. And then, obviously, we also now have been in a slightly tougher environment for quite some time, which of course means that, you know, the order books have been in order now on a level where we, you know, we don't have much buffer left. We had a little bit of buffer maybe 15 months ago in the system, you know, when things were slightly going down, and now we're on a level where it's, you know, it's not much. But, you know, I guess your what you're really asking is how would the market sentiment be in three or six months?
We don't know, basically. We just prepared for a similar market condition, and we take it from there, basically.
Okay, that's very helpful. And finally, on Dental, the mix you're referring to sounds like it's coming from prosthetics companies, right? Is it purely the prosthetics companies, or is it anything else that is driving the mix?
No, I think in this quarter it was a little bit more than that. But I think we shouldn't draw too much conclusion from one quarter around this, you know. It was slightly better deliveries and sales in the higher margin part of the business, which is, once again, the manufacturing, the software, and the prosthetics. And the prosthetics has been, you know, quite good now since we had this slowdown after COVID, but so that helps a little bit. But it's a short period of time we're measuring right now, so-
But is it a one-time big order that, I mean, that drove-
No, no, no, no, no.
... the mix? Or, or why shouldn't we sort of extrapolate it, or?
No, because, you know, if you take the manufacturing business, these deliveries there to, they are selling to distributors, that can vary a little bit between quarters. You know, you get a little bit bigger order from one distributor in one quarter or next quarter. So we have to take a little bit longer perspective on that. And then, yeah, but I think the prosthetics business has been on a good momentum in the last, you know, since we had these problems after COVID, it's been in pretty good momentum. Mainly perhaps helped by, by you know, inflationary environment and our relative, you know, attractive offer to patients.
Okay, very clear. Thank you.
The next question comes from Zino Engdalen Ricciuti from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking our questions. I'm just, I'll start with just a question on acquisitions, as if you, like, count the number of them, they are, you know, running a bit low, but when you're looking at sales, they are running at a quite nice pace. Would you say that these larger acquisitions are result of some kind of intentional push, or is it just more of a coincidence?
I would say that's more of a coincidence, coincidence. If you look at the deals we made this year, they are still in our range. Maybe they are, as a group, a little bit, you know, on average, higher than previous years. But I think that mainly has to do that we maybe didn't do as many of the small add-ons that we typically would do as well. In any given year, you know, we typically would do, let's say, 60%-70% of the deals will be standalone niche companies, and then maybe 30-40% will be of sort of deals volume. You know, we have done slightly fewer of the small add-ons that come from time to time.
So we haven't changed any way of working or any way of thinking on this. You know, we are still working in the area where we think we can find the best type of businesses for the most reasonable valuations, and that's, that hasn't changed for many years.
Very good. And then just a quick on Systems Solutions, you highlight that it's a significant part is company specific, but you mentioned that there was a kind of a bounce back also on the Easter effect in some companies. Would you say that it's... How material is that, so to say?
No, I think in Systems Solutions, it's not material. It's more, it's more obvious in the Dental field-
Yeah
... where we really are, you know, where it's ticking business and where, you know, basically dentists take a few days off just before Easter, and close their offices in various countries. That has a bigger impact than System Solutions. So I think then it's literally you can do the math on the working days more, I think. In dental, it has a little bit bigger impact than pure working days, because the Easter has sort of... There are some, you know, vacation time of dentists also plays into that equation. So System Solutions, it's a smaller impact.
Yeah. Yeah, very good. That was all from me. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Karl Bokvist from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning. My first one is just on the, what you mentioned there, a bit earlier, Per, that, you know, the ones that are the most exposed to construction and so on are possibly also ones with the relatively lower margins. I'm just thinking here, how should we anticipate, you know, if we assume that the market gradually improves, what kind of impact that could have from a kind of negative mix effect point of view? And the following, the follow-up would be, I mean, you disclosed that Brokk has this very impressive 40% margins, but when you look at the lower end, you know, should we think about, you know, some companies running at 15, perhaps, or there are some that are running even lower?
Well, if you take the margin question first, actually, the variety of margin is actually slightly lower than you described, because the Brokk margin you see in our investor presentation is for the Swedish entity only. And if you take the integrated margin of Brokk, it's slightly lower because of all the sales companies, integrated sales we have in that. So-
Understood.
So the rate is slightly smaller. It's actually slightly smaller. And I'm talking about in a normal market condition. And of course, if the market goes really, really weak, obviously, you know, margins can be tougher when you have a huge volume drop. But if you take a sort of normal market condition, the spread of margin is actually slightly lower than you describe. So the first part of your question, of course, we're sort of after the second part here.
Yeah, no, thanks. It was just, you know, if we assume that just the, the construction market, for example, gradually improves, how one should think about, you know, the effect from a, in lack of better words, negative mix effects, if those units, you know, benefit from an improving market?
Okay. Well, I mean, so maybe I should a little bit go deeper into that explanation. I mean, the companies that are doing slightly better now, they have both construction and maybe some other segments. So they will also benefit from construction coming back. Of course, a little bit, not as direct and maybe as this one. So there's... Yeah, there could be some effect around that. But on the other hand, if it comes back, then you also have the operational leverage playing in our favor again.
Sure.
So, how that plays out exactly, it's a bit difficult to describe.
Yeah. Yeah, no, understood. My final one is just on, on the acquisition strategy. There's been a couple of acquisitions in the UK, Germany, Italy. Now we've seen a couple in Denmark, just, you know, now I'm potentially cherry-picking a bit here, but any particular reason have you strategically chosen to, you know, recruit a few more people there or promote people internally to scout for more M&A in that region?
Not really. I mean, yes, I mean, we have one dedicated person for a couple of years, or not dedicated, but someone is covering Denmark more actively. Maybe that has some impact. But I think when it comes to the announced acquisition, you really see the tip of the iceberg. So what's happening behind the scenes is that we look for companies in many geographies, and we are in active discussion in many geographies. And then where we find the most attractive progress for the most, you know, reasonable valuation is where we strike. So... And that can vary. You know, if you look back, you know, we did a lot of deals in Norway when there was an oil crisis. We did a lot of deals in the UK when there was Brexit. So we are, you know...
I'm not saying that Denmark has any specific problems. That may be more random, but it pops up a little bit in Denmark now. But that's basically how we do it. We look very broad, and then, of course. Yeah, so I think it's a combination of all. Yeah, maybe we do a little bit more active work in Denmark, so that helps. But we do also active work in other markets where you maybe haven't seen the results yet. It might come or it might not come in the next couple of years. We will see, basically.
I think the way to look at it is that we are, you know, we are every year trying to increase our capacity as we grow Lifco, not dramatically, but slightly, and that, of course, leads to better coverage in more and more geographies as we go along.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Okay. Thank you everyone for listening, and thank you for questions. I wish everyone a nice Friday and eventually a nice weekend. Thank you very much.