Thank you and good morning everyone, and welcome to the Lifco Q1 presentation. We can start by going into slide number two in our investor presentation. On a high level, we can conclude that this was another strong quarter for Lifco, driven by continued very positive development in our Demolition & Tools and Systems Solutions segments, partly offset by a slightly weaker development in the dental field, which I will come back to in the next slide. On the overall group level, we see a sales growth of 30% in the quarter, of which 14% is organic growth. Acquisitions contributed with 12%, and we also had a positive effect from exchange rates in this quarter.
On the EBITDA level, we see growth of 25% in the quarter, but it actually means that we have slightly lower margins than Q1 in 2021, which was, looking back to last year, still a quarter where we had slightly lower cost levels overall following the pandemic where most companies were going into more cost saving attitude during the pandemic. We still had that effect in early 2021. We also have an effect on the margin, a small slight effect that, you know, raw material pricing is a continuous challenge for many companies and also us.
I would say for the most part, our companies are adjusting very well, and they are, you know, able to push through price increases quickly enough to compensate for the higher input costs in their products. Of course, as I mentioned in previous quarters, we have some companies with longer order books where we have some difficulties getting this full effect translated quickly enough. That's a small effect in this quarter as well.
If we go further down and look at the cash flow, it's first of all, I'd like to mention when it comes to cash flow, that Q1 is a seasonal effect where we normally have lower cash flow mainly due to the receivables that we get paid by end of year, end up building up in Q1. We also had that effect this year, and in addition to that, we also have, as many companies around us, an inventory buildup effect because in these strong market conditions and this challenging supply chain situation, most of our companies are building up some safety stock to make sure that we can hopefully deliver going forward. That has some effect.
It's not a huge impact, and therefore we can actually meet the same cash flow as last year, despite these effects. Our return on capital employed is still on a very good level, 23%, if you include the whole balance sheet, and 160% when excluding the goodwill, which is once again an, you know, explanation why we can have solid cash development despite very high growth in most of our companies right now. With that, we can go in more to the segments on page three , where I'd like to start to comment a little bit about the Dental. Here, as I already mentioned, we had a decline in sales and also a drop in profits in this quarter.
The perspective here should be also, first of all, looking back to last year. We had a very strong first quarter in 2021. It's partly a comparison effect here due to the lower cost levels that we had in many of the dental companies following the pandemic. It also led to extraordinarily good margins in last year's numbers, which we have commented previously. Just to repeat, everybody is on the same page, we saw roughly around the summer of 2021 activity levels and cost levels being back more to normal levels. As the market had been back for quite some time and the companies were in a more forward-looking mindset.
This is not only effect for us. It's also an industry effect that, you know, when competition is also out more actively doing activities, we have to follow as market leaders to keep our positions. Then for Q1 2022, I would like to specifically highlight one effect that is a little bit out of the ordinary for us. We had an additional negative sales and profit impact from COVID restrictions in China, which led to problems for our prosthetics business, where we have one major production unit in China producing prosthetics sold mainly to the German market. This led to a situation where we basically lost orders because the German dentists, our customers, had uncertainty in delivery times due to the COVID restrictions in China.
We had to also find other production alternatives to make sure we could deliver, which led to increased cost. Here I would like to highlight that the situation improved during the last weeks of the quarter for us, but as you all know, the uncertainty around the COVID situation in China is still ongoing. It's just something we have to continue to be aware of. If we go further down to Demolition & Tools, it's very strong. Market conditions still remaining, which we have now for quite some time. We're growing sales with 46%, thanks to very strong organic development and complemented also with some acquisitions.
Margins in this segment, as those of you who follow us for some time can see, they are quite volatile, or more volatile than the other areas. This has to do with, you know, different margins levels and different product segments because some mix effects can come into play. The margins are, you know, still a little bit lower than last year. We also have in this area some effects from cost levels being more normalized now, which were not the case one year ago. In Safety Solutions, we also have very strong growth in both sales and profits coming both from organic development and acquisitions. I would say here, most of the companies in this segment had a very solid quarter.
As you can see, the growth has translated into to strong margins despite also here ongoing difficulties with raw material pricing and component pricing that has been pushed forward into the value chain. In this segment, for this quarter, we've been able to manage that very well. Going forward, we can go to page number 5. I'll just talk a little bit about our net debt position. Thanks to our strong cash flow characteristics and the profit improvements, we end the quarter with a net debt to EBITDA of 1.8 times. Which is the same level as one year ago.
The interest-bearing net debt to EBITDA is at 1.1x , which is also the same level as one year ago. This is despite the fact that Lifco has been very active in acquiring companies during the last 12-month period. I think this development is a proof of the strong cash flow generation of our portfolio, also in times of organic growth. You know, with this position, we remain very strong capacity for continuing acquiring great companies when we find the right opportunities at reasonable valuation levels. With this, we can go forward to page number six, and this is a little bit more lifting the lid on more on the horizon, a look at Lifco for many years historically. We are here tracking our long-term profit development.
Our targets, just a reminder one, is to increase profits every year. For the most part, we have been very successful in doing that through a combination of strong organic growth complemented with acquisitions. I would like to once again highlight that we have been doing this development while still paying a small dividend every year and not, you know, asking shareholders for money via capital infusion into Lifco. After the first quarter in 2022, we also had a very good start this year. Of course, we don't make any statements about future. Instead we focus on adapting to the market situation that we operate in.
Then we can go all the way down to page 28 and basically just conclude on the acquisition level that we had. As you all know that we had a very strong 2021 and a slightly softer start to 2022. This is just another example that that doesn't mean that Lifco activity level has changed compared to last year. When it comes to acquisition, it's always difficult to predict, and the outcome will be different between quarters. We are in many different discussions, and we are very active. Sometimes these materialize into transactions, and sometimes, you know, we for various reasons, it doesn't translate into transactions. We continue the high activity level, and ambitions are still very high for future acquisitions.
I'd just like to make one more remark on the acquisition side, and that's actually to mention that this week we announced something that is not very normal for Lifco. We actually announced a divestment of one of our portfolio company. As all of you know, this is not part of the normal Lifco strategy to sell companies, and it will not be for the future either. This company is called Hekotek. It's an Estonian company, that sells sawmill equipment project business into Russian markets or mainly the Russian market. The turnover of Hekotek was about EUR 40 million in 2021, and Hekotek has been in Lifco for about 15 years.
I'd also like to thank the management of the company for all the successful cooperation over all these years. Given the situation right now, we think it's the right decision for Lifco to sell the shares in Hekotek in this market conditions. This is all I wanted to share with you for now. Also like to open up for any potential questions.
Thank you, Per. If you do wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. Our first question comes from Carl Ragnerstam. Your line is now open. Go ahead, Carl.
Hi. Good morning. It's Carl here from Nordea. A few questions from my side. Firstly, I think you mentioned in the report that you had some raw material headwinds in the quarter.
Is it possible, firstly, maybe to quantify which segments you see the most impacts from it? Also, is it possible to quantify the gross margin impact from it, 'cause it's down a bit year-over-year? Thirdly, on that note, is also, of course, if you have, I mean, given that we have seen a lot of raw materials rally post Q1 and if it's fair to assume that that's headwinds could increase in Q2.
There were a few questions there all at once. I will try to answer them. I mean, first of all, when it comes to raw material pricing, it's basically everywhere.
I think the effect for us is more related to how long order books we have and what type of contractual situations are we in with the customers.
Yes.
All our companies are taking actions and are adapting to this. This is once again a timing effect, if anything. I feel very comfortable that the Lifco portfolio can manage this. We have strong enough companies in strong market position that we can deal with the raw material and the component pricing increases. It's just a timing effect that varies between different companies. When it comes to the margin, as we have said, there is some effect of that. You know, given the strong operational leverage that we normally would be seeing.
You know, we are not increasing our margins as much as we maybe would do in a normal market situation. There is some effect of that, and we are working very hard on this in all our companies. We're working, you know, with new price levels and also how to address the order books that we have in this situation. The exact timing of how the outcome will be is very difficult to sort of mention in Lifco and also to look forward in this because it's a constant, you know, I would say almost weekly battle on how to address these issues in all our companies. For the most part, and for all parts, I would say we're doing a very good job with this.
You know, we have to keep in mind, when you have longer order books going, you know, 3, 4, 5, 6 months out, and a constantly changing material price situation, it's a challenge that we have to address. Another thing I'd like to highlight also is that when it comes to gross margin, you know, there's also effects of mix effects that can come into play that, you know, some companies have high gross margins and some companies have slightly lower. You know, when you have different growth perspectives and different parts of the portfolio can also come into play in this dimension. I think going forward, you know, we're not making a statement. We can conclude that, you know, it's not over when it comes to price increasing.
It's still happening right now, so to say.
You mentioned the prosthetics business as well. I guess that is one explanation to the gross margin down. Is it possible to give any flavor on the impact from it?
No, I think it's as you can see in the numbers. There is an effect. It's not dramatic on the whole Lifco level, but it was important enough for us to highlight it in this quarterly numbers. As you know, if you follow us for some time, we don't normally, you know, pinpoint specific company effects. This was actually more of a specific company effect that we thought was big enough to mention in this quarter.
You said.
you know, I think also what I can say is that it's a very high margin business for us in the dental area, this prosthetics business, which we have been communicating previously.
You said that the effect is easing during the quarter, right? Should we assume that you have an effect still during Q2?
Well, what we communicate is that in the later part or the last weeks of the quarter, we saw an improvement, improved situation. What will happen going forward with China and COVID restriction, as you all know, it's impossible to forecast. Going into this quarter, we saw an improvement. What happens, you know, from here on is still a risk factor. You have to follow China COVID strategy and this type of situation to make
Mm.
A forecast around that.
Also in terms of M&A, would you say that it's tougher to sort of do due diligence and find a good valuation level when we have this kind of inflation? It's tough to really say what a company is making on an underlying basis. Is that hampering? No, not deal flow, but the number of acquired companies?
I think in general it's been a special situation the last three years with COVID coming in and then the effect post-COVID that many companies had extraordinary good development following the COVID period. You know, lower cost levels, et cetera, makes it a little bit more tricky to understand you know what is the fundamental earnings situation of the company. I don't see that as a major hurdle for us to continue doing acquisition. We're able to navigate through that when going deeply into the companies. What could happen and what has happened to us, and I think some others, that you might...
When diving deeply into numbers, you might slightly switch your view of the company, which might have led to maybe a few companies that we watch, you know, looked a little better than they really were that we actually saw. That's, I mean, that happens all the time, but in this period, maybe that had some effect. In general, I wouldn't say it's a major challenge in that respect. It's the same situation to buy companies now as it was, you know, three years ago from that perspective.
Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
As a reminder, please press zero one on your telephone keypad to ask a question. Our next question comes from the line of Karl Bokvist. Carl, please go ahead.
Thank you and good morning. My first one is if it would be possible just to comment if you are seeing particularly strong or weak demand from any end markets within Demolition & Tools and/or Systems Solutions?
I mean, we haven't commented that specifically in our quarterly report, which we've done sometimes historically, and I think this is an indication that it's you know, pretty much across the board. I think some companies have seen you know, extra good conditions in North America, but for the most part, you know, the European markets are holding up very well also in this quarter. It's a strong market conditions in those segments across the board in Q1.
Understood. Just regarding, we talked about cost inflation, but if we think about lead times, have you seen any changes to the current situation, compared to, for example, end of this year and how it progressed throughout the quarter?
You're referring to sort of lead time, supply chain problems basically and lead times, right?
Yes, exactly.
Yeah. I think, you know, here I, you know, we have to be humble and acknowledge that this has been going on now for quite some time, and we've been sort of scrambling around in all our companies. We have had problems with deliveries throughout the last 12-15 months period. It has not been significant enough to be noticeable on a Lifco level. I think I mentioned in previous calls, you know, we also probably would've been able to grow even quicker if we had, you know, more access to raw material in this last 12-15 months period. You know, where we stand right now, we've been.
I think we've been doing a very good job in having this, but you know, it's not over in this dimension either. It's an ongoing problem and it's you know, we always maybe a little bit you know careful to looking forward here. You know, as we've been struggling with this for quite some time, and all companies are struggling, the question of course is that you know, if it continues for a longer time and you used all your backup solutions, will it be a problem in the future? I don't know. I can only comment once again that you know, Lifco, we are in so many different segments, in so many different areas that you know, we will have problems in certain companies.
Also I think going forward, but it will be materialized on the group level. I think it's very difficult to say right now. It's still an ongoing challenge, you know, in the portfolio as it is for many companies, not only Lifco.
Understood. Just finally on acquisitions, you highlighted your headroom for it, but just looking at the last couple of years, it seems like implicitly you've been able to find and agree on deals with companies that have higher and higher margins, you know, throughout the years, at least well above 20%. Is it just a you know things that have happened and a you know a natural occurrence or something strategically here that you are focused on?
No. In general, we have an appetite for very diversified niche companies. Ideally global market leaders with a strong global market position in a very small niche, which normally leads to a very high margin potential for such a company. That's not a coincidence that we have the appetite for those companies. The reason we have this appetite is through our historical experience over 22, 23 years Lifco has been in the current format, we've been learning that some of these companies have very strong possibilities to long-term develop very nicely. That's one dimension.
The other dimension is that now we are on a margin level, and we've been on the margin level now for a while at 20% and 20% even above here. It doesn't mean that every acquisition will be above the average because, you know, we are in some areas, especially where we already have a lot of experience. We will sometimes go in and start a journey with a slightly lower margin and try to develop that. We are more focused on the return on capital employed dimension as a very, you know, strict number because we do know that we need cash flow generation also in times of COVID to continue the journey. That's extremely important for us.
Of course margin as well, but we don't set a fixed target for that. We don't. There's no point to say that margin should be this or that, but we need very good companies with good potential for long-term development in Lifco. I think that explains the historical reason and. From here on, we are not setting a target that it has to be this much higher than we are today in future acquisition. Our appetite in general are stronger for very good companies.
Understood. Thank you. Just my final one is perhaps if you could share some thoughts on, in this very inflationary environment when companies left, right, and center are forced to raise prices significantly, how this impacts your kind of long history and track record of just continuously raising prices in general?
I think it's slightly more difficult. If you're talking about the sort of extraordinary margin adding price increase, it's slightly more difficult at this time to catch up. I think that's our experience right now. We are working on that as well to make sure that we are getting the maximum output of the Lifco potential. It has been, you know, a struggle where we just have to work very hard to stay at the levels we were before all this material pricing came into play. I think it's slightly more difficult, but I don't think that means that we can't do it.
We have a strong culture in Lifco that, you know, strives for better margin all the time. We're working very hard on that as well.
Okay. That's all for me. Thank you.
We have no more questions at this time, so I hand the word back to you, Per, for any concluding remarks. Oh, sorry. There are questions here. Our next question comes from Riccardo Romiati from One Investments. Riccardo, please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe on Systems Solutions, can you please help us understand the beat on the profitability if it was mostly coming from a better margin at the new acquired units? I have some follow-ups, please.
Our Systems Solutions is a very diversified area as you might know, and we have some effects on the acquisitions helping us on the margin in this sector. We also have some companies or many companies in the area that should improve their margins during the quarter as well. Not dramatically, but on a good level. It's a mixed effect as we also pointed out in our report.
Okay. Looking just as a for a comparison with last year, you talked about costs coming back. Were in Q2 last year costs already coming back, or should we still continue to have that effect in Q2? Year-over-year
What we have been communicating is that around the summer, and that's, you know, Q2, Q3, around that period. Basically, the story goes as follows is that, you know, when COVID came in 2020, in March, April 2020, you know, Lifco's very entrepreneurial driven and fast reacting companies put everything on hold. It was an uncertain time, and we basically pulled the brakes in the companies for obvious reasons, the uncertainty we had there. Basically, around the beginning of 2021, the mindset was different. We saw that the markets were back and things were getting, you know, was actually pretty good or actually good in most companies.
It took a while before the, you know, then they started planning for activities and, you know, rehiring functions that maybe disappeared and things like this. We basically cannot give the exact date, but we saw that effect basically normalizing from around the summer of last year.
Okay.
It's more normalized. You can always say, you know, are there as many trade shows in the fall of 2022, 2021 as it was in 2019? Maybe not. You know, there's a general activity level, you know, back into a normal, normalized situation, from that time.
Okay. Maybe my final question. Just so to see if I understand correctly on pricing versus cost. You're still, because of the very dynamic situation, you're still catching up in Q2 trying to raise prices. Is that correct?
Yeah, very much so. We are raising prices in Q2. As I'm trying to explain here is that when you have companies with longer than normal order books, it is a challenge. If you have no order book, it's not a challenge, then you just raise the price and then you know, from if you say you have one month notice, you get full effect of that.
Okay.
When you have very long order books, and you don't have the inventory in these companies, or you purchase on lower material prices, then you have some company. But I think we should not, you know, overreact on this statement. This is a little bit of a, you know, negative effect that we have to work through. On the overall level, we are doing a very good job. I think once again, we should also remind ourselves that in Q1 last year, we had extraordinary good margins in many of our companies following the COVID situation. So I think I'm not, you know, I'm not overly worried about this. You know, it's a constant struggle, and it's not over yet.
We are still working very hard on making sure we are updating our prices quickly enough in the companies. It's not a, you know, a long-term issue for Lifco at this point.
Okay, great. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Johansson. Daniel, please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you very much for taking the question. Obviously, you alluded to your inventory as being a bit higher, a few hundred million SEK, I guess, because of safety stock and supply chain issues. Do you think also that you might have had an impact on that in your organic sales being at 14%, i.e., that your customers have bought safety stock as well?
I think there could be some companies in Lifco that are more in the, you know, in the component manufacturing type of business. You could maybe see some effect around that. Whereas in other parts of Lifco, I don't think that at all. When you sell a, you know, a quite expensive CapEx driven machine to an end user, they don't normally stock up. But we have to be, you know, careful and there could be those effects in general in this economy going on. I think there could be some companies in Lifco where this could be the case. I don't think it's across the board as an enormous problem right now.
I think it's more, maybe related to something we don't communicate, our order books, which I'm very, very glad we don't communicate because I think the meaning of an order book today is could be very different from company to company. There it could be more effect that, you know, the orders are coming in, a little bit tactically in some of our companies. It doesn't really change our mindset. Even you know, we are working very carefully in planning our future and different types of any scenario on that. I don't think that's a dramatic effect so far. Of course, you know, in some of the companies it could be effect. Not on the overall Lifco, it's not a huge effect as of now.
Okay. In terms of the order book, have you seen a lot of movement in the order book that people are placing orders that they are later withdrawing and stuff like that?
No. No. No.
Okay. Thank you.
Now we don't have any more questions at this time. I hand it right back to you, Per, for concluding remarks.
Okay. Thank you very much for listening, and thank you for the questions. I wish everyone a nice Friday and eventually a nice weekend. Thank you very much.