Welcome to the QleanAir Q4 Presentation for 2022. 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 star five on their telephone keypad. I will hand the conference over to CEO Sebastian Lindström and CFO Henrik Resmark. Please go ahead.
Hi again and welcome everybody to the QleanAir investor presentation for Q4 2022. My name is Sebastian Lindström. I'm the new CEO at QleanAir since the 28th of November last year, so a little over two months into the job. I had the opportunity to join the board already in May last year, so I've really been able to hit the ground running when stepping into the CEO position. I have for the past 20 years worked as a CEO or other leading management positions in private equity held companies. 10 years of which I was focused on managing turnarounds in challenging situations and the latter 10 years successfully driving growth in a company similar to QleanAir. Joining me in today's call is Henrik Resmark, our CFO with over 10 years of experience in the company.
We will run through the presentation and then towards the end, open up for questions. Let's start on the very recent profit warning that we issued at the end of January. In December, we initiated an in-depth review of our business, of our running and finished projects in Q4 2022. We concluded that an adjustment was necessary. This adjustment, in combination with increased operational costs we had seen over the year, meant that our profit for the quarter would deviate materially from what we had delivered over the previous quarters and historically, hence the necessity to communicate this up front to our shareholders and the market. In total, SEK 21 million of non-recurring items have negatively affected our Q4 results. It's split by SEK 13 million on the gross profit level through one-time write-downs of inventory relating to some key projects isolated to the Nordic area.
In addition to this, we have SEK 8 million on an EBIT level, both relating to the change of CEO with about SEK 5 million and an additional SEK 3 million related to the projects I mentioned before. I want to be clear that when it comes to these large projects, we understand what went wrong, and we have since both strengthened our organization and revisited our approach and the processes involved to prevent this from happening again. Let me be clear, the foundation of our business is stable with revenues at SEK 120 million, well in line with last year and previous quarters, and the important recurring revenues that have been growing quarter-over-quarter amounting to SEK 71 million for Q4 or 60% of our revenue.
Excluding the non-recurring items just mentioned, our gross profit is strong and stable, there still remains, as you know, an issue of increased operational costs that we need to better understand and we need to deal with. Moving to the actual numbers of the quarter. Our turnover of SEK 120 million in the quarter, as said, in line with last year, but in constant currency actually represents a slight decline. Our recurring revenues have continued to grow quarter-to-quarter to SEK 71 million in the quarter and SEK 277 million of recurring revenue by the end of December, giving us a very strong base to build upon in 2023 and providing the resilience should the market conditions get tough.
Our gross margin of 57% and our EBIT margin of -15% is of course a deep disappointment, mainly affected by those non-recurring items that I covered on the previous slide. Excluding these non-recurring items, in this table, the light green area, our message is clear. Our adjusted gross margin is both strong and stable. Our profitability remains a challenge. We have over the last couple of years made significant investments into our organization to drive growth, a growth that we have yet to see materialize. On a final note, we go into 2023 with a strong momentum. Our order intake for the quarter was up 50%. My assignment from the board is clear: steering QleanAir back to profitable growth.
I am not here today ready to give you a timeline. With the great products that we have and the strong team already on board, I'm convinced we'll succeed. I want to be clear that our previously communicated financial targets remain untouched. We have, as said, a great portfolio of products, a strong team on board bringing in-depth knowledge into solutions to some of the most demanding clients out there. Indoor air quality have probably never been as in the top of mind of people as it is today. Our QleanAir solution have a significant impact on the health of people, on the quality of products, and the performance of processes.
Given this, we remain, despite the setback of 2022, and in particular Q4, fully committed to the mid to long-term objective of 10% organic growth, of an EBIT margin ranging in 15%-20%, and the target of paying out dividends in the range of 30%-50% of net profits per year. For any challenge, the upfront plan and systematic approach will determine both the speed and rate of success. We already within the first two months as a CEO of QleanAir, had 30-minute one-on-ones with 80 of our 118 employees, so roughly 70%. I've also already started my journey of getting to know our customers and understand their needs across all three geographies and all three product categories.
From my first two months on board, I can, together with my team, conclude that we have three clear short-term priorities. First and foremost, customer focus. We need to move our entire organization even closer to the client. That goes from the development of our products and solutions all the way to the caretaking of the units during the course of the contracts. It all has to start with the customer, it is our knowledge of the customer needs together with our systematic approach that will be key. The second priority is sales efficiency. We have, over the past years, invested in our sales capabilities. Now we need to focus these investments and grow even stronger in proven segments. We need to have clarity on targets throughout our organization and follow up on the results.
If you want to deliver a year, you have to deliver each quarter. To deliver each quarter, you have to deliver each month. The third priority is cost control, as highlighted earlier when I spoke through the numbers. We recognize that we have an issue here, and we are committed to addressing it, because it is through your performance in current trading, i.e., sales efficiency, and your ability to manage cost, that you earn the right to invest. There is no way around it. A quick run through some of the highlights on our three regions. Starting with Europe, it was clearly a weak quarter for Europe. We for sure feel the energy crisis, the rising interest rates, and so forth, that are making our clients hold back on investments.
We have still made continued inroads in the food service segment in Sweden. We've also landed, as stated on this slide, a large renewal contract with ZF in Germany. Moving to Japan continues strong. Revenues were up 27% and order intake up 67%. In the quarter, the Sendai report was published. This is a study from the Virus Research Center, Clinical Research Division at Sendai Medical Center in Japan, and they issued a report showing that our FS 30 in the space of 25 cubic meters with live active influenza virus, were able to remove 95% of the virus within 10 minutes. This study has received a lot of attention at our clients and on our website. Please read this study. Moving over to the U.S., where we had a breakthrough quarters. Revenues were strong.
Order intake actually quadrupled in Q4 over last year. We signed some key large contracts for Cleanrooms in the US, both in the public and the private sector, and we have a strong pipeline for the first half of 2023. Of course, a lot of this is due to the efforts and the strength of the team where we have invested in the US for the last couple of years. We also have a lot of things of the new revision of the general chapter of the USP <797>, where The Joint Commission and the State Board of Pharmacy, along with the FDA and others, have issued an update in November 2022, finally marking a deadline for the compliance of this chapter to the first of November 2023.
Before handing over to Henrik and the financial update, I'd just like to conclude that we have great products for improving indoor air quality. We have a strong team bringing in-depth knowledge to some of the most demanding clients out there. Indoor air quality has never been in focus as it is today. With our clean air solutions, our customers protect the health of people, the quality of their products, and the performance of their processes. Last but not least, our business has a high degree of circularity. Our products are built to last, and we safeguard those products, both their performance and life, through our strong service concept throughout the long, often long contract periods. When these units finally come back, we refurbish them for them to have another life with a new contract or client.
With that, I hand over to Henrik for the financial update.
Thank you very much. Moving into the financial information, QleanAir by region. We are present in three geographies with three different product areas. In QleanAir, Japan is the number one in terms of sales and order intake. Cabin Solutions is a success in the Tokyo area, and we are gaining traction with Air Cleaners through focused and dedicated work. We see QleanAir Japan to continue to grow 2023. Europe is also a strong Cabin Solutions market for QleanAir, growing in 2022. We have yet to reach a growth and a steady growth for Air Cleaners in Europe. Focus is to solve that. We still see a growth potential in QleanAir US, and the positive signs from fourth quarter we shall continue to build upon. Moving into net sales fourth quarter.
QleanAir is delivering stable sales in the fourth quarter. Japan is up by 27%. Japan continues to deliver strong growth. US is up by 107%. We start to see a clear recovery from the US subsidiary. Europe was down by 26%. Focus is to improve and increase the European sales. Order intake for the fourth quarter was very positive, up by 50%. US and Japan are the contributors. Adjusted gross margin is still on a relatively high level. Our business model is strong and resilient. However, the EBIT margin is unacceptable. Higher external and personnel costs in the fourth quarter. This is the other focus area, to get more out of the investments made in combination with cost control. Moving into page 14, strong stable rental revenues.
This slide illustrates the relation between the book values of units in QleanAir balance sheet and the revenues stemming from such units, including service. We call that the recurring revenues. The recurring revenues increased to SEK 71 million in the quarter. The recurring revenues are a solid base of revenues that to a larger extent are predictable in the future. Now SEK 277 million during full year 2022. The book value is relatively low, SEK 53 million, compared to the recurring revenues, and this is a contributor to our gross margins. Revenue split and installed base. Quarter by quarter, we continue to increase the installed base. We see a growth in Air Cleaners in Europe and Cabin Solutions in Japan.
The cabin solution in Europe is also a solid market for us. The number of installations is increasing more than the revenues, and this is partly because of the fact that the average price for an air cleaner unit is considerably lower than for a cabin solution unit. We are lacking primarily product sales, and once we get US up to further speed, we anticipate an improvement in sales growth. Moving into the final slide before I hand over to Sebastian again. Net profit. We continue to amortize according to plan every quarter. However, the short-term credit facility is utilized to a higher extent compared to a year ago, explaining the increased net debt to SEK 184 million. The net debt equity ratio is 1.0, and the equity ratio is above 28%.
Cash flow is lower in the fourth quarter, primarily because of lower EBIT in combination with the delayed projects affecting the working capital in a negative way, increasing trade payables and also the inventories. Handing over to Sebastian for a summary.
Thank you, Henrik. To close off the presentation part of the session in front of the Q&A, what we do at QleanAir is really important. We dedicate our work to improve the health of people, the quality of products, and the performance of processes, and we do so throughout all our three product categories: the Cabin Solutions, the Air Cleaners, and our Cleanrooms. Looking at the amount of clean air that has been delivered through our solutions out there, we estimate that by the end of December, we clean about 6.4 billion cubic meters of indoor air per month. It does matter because air pollution is a key challenge for human health. People die prematurely from exposure to polluted air.
We spend an important time of our lives in indoor environment, and indoor air quality can often be more polluted than outdoor air. With that, I would like to open up for questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Anders Roslund from Pareto. Please go ahead.
Okay. Good morning.
Morning.
I would like to start off with a question regarding Cleanroom and the new legislation you talked about. This USP <797> has been pending for years now. What is the update you talk about here, and what does it mean that this is up in November 2023?
Yeah. You're quite right that this regulation has been out there, I think maybe it's back on since 2012 or something. We've seen some of our clients moving strongly in the direction, but there really hasn't been a deadline. There was a revision to this general chapter back that was published then in first of November in 2022, where they both actually increase who's sort of regulated by this chapter, that's one positive piece. The other thing was that they actually put out a deadline of first of November 2023 to be compliant. I can tell that already State Boards of Pharmacy and Joint Commission have started to do citations on some of the players in the market for not moving into being compliant with the regulation.
We actually currently signed a contract just back in Q4 with a company that had received a citation and is now pushing for compliance. I think it's exactly that there wasn't really a deadline. There is a deadline for first of November. That's a pretty tough deadline as there's many companies, hospitals and pharmacies, that have sort of been holding back on the investment. Our expectation and the market expectation is that to get all of these companies compliant is probably gonna be a journey over two, three years forward.
Okay. So far you've got two large orders last year that I expect is the reason behind the upturn here in sales and also order intake of course. You talked about the strong pipeline.
Mm-hmm.
Could you talk more about that?
Yeah. To cover that in a describing sense, I would say with our U.S. team, our focus right now is to getting installation resources on board to prevent us from getting into really long lead times in delivering these Cleanrooms with this search related to this new chapter or the update of the chapter. That describes it, I don't know. We don't go in and say exactly what our backlog is, but that is for sure much stronger than when we entered in 2022 for the U.S. The team is really focused on getting more people resources on board to deliver to this demand.
Yeah. Also the type of Cleanrooms you deliver in the US, I assume, are more adapted to the clients than the Cleanrooms you delivered in the Nordics, where you had more specific and other requirements from the clients.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
I hope that the business is more sort of ready for delivery in the U.S. than it were in the Nordics.
Yeah. To be clear, I mean, we've delivered close to 100 Cleanrooms in the U.S., so we have a pretty good strong process to deliver Cleanrooms. Of course, it's been primarily towards the hospital and pharmacy sector, as you mentioned. We are in parallel starting to have inroads with also the private compounders and both public and private compounders outside of this space, but still within the health sector, right?
Mm-hmm. Okay.
We believe that we have a strong network and knowledge within this sector, and that's where we will remain focused within that sector for the next couple of years as I see it.
Very interesting. Coming back then to Japan, you have gradually increased sales since the COVID, sort of period hampered growth in 2021. Is it still Tokyo to a 100%, or are you able to move outside Tokyo, or is the growth entirely still in Tokyo for Cabin Solutions?
We still see the post-pandemic effect of more people coming back in the office, of course, in the Tokyo area. Japan is a cornerstone of our business. It'll continue to be so, and the Tokyo area remains to be really important. Over the last year, we've really started to build both channel and distribution partners for spreading regionally outside of Tokyo. It's a combination, but of course, Tokyo is still the main part.
How is it going with the Air Cleaner launches in Japan?
I was just over in Japan. I think it's probably just a couple of weeks back, and we have set up a specific team in Japan going after the air cleaner market. It's a really energized team, and they're really out on the exhibitions and starting to really do some business. I think what we have to offer with our premium solutions for air quality really fits with, you know, the high quality standards and, you know, how the Japanese market is really oriented to detail. I think it's a good match. Of course, as you broaden your product portfolio into new area, there is a journey to build those channel relationships and so forth. I feel the team is well underway.
I mean, this is an overall question, but could also be directed towards Japan. The air cleaner, as I see it, is the old business pre-COVID, where you had warehouses, retail, postal, logistics, et cetera.
Mm-hmm.
The new area of virus protection.
Mm-hmm
... in offices, which is a totally different business than the old air cleaner business.
Mm-hmm
My question is, both in Japan, but specifically in Europe, how do you see upon those very different areas, viruses, sort of protection in offices like environments and the historic past with logistic warehouses, et cetera?
So, so-
They're two different-
Yeah, sorry.
No, sorry. That it's a broader question. It's about air cleaner in those two areas.
I think when you look at markets, there's something happening to our PC. I hope we're still well connected. The screen went down, but can you hear me still?
Yeah, I hear you very well.
Okay. Okay. Perfect. Perfect. When you look at our traditional strong Cabin Solutions markets, many of those are of course in the office arena. That means that we already have the channel partners and the touch with clients to expand into the product category of Air Cleaners. If we look at the first sort of breakthroughs that we've made in Japan on Air Cleaners, it's really been towards the office market. What we're doing with this specialized team in Japan is also going after the industrial market, right? As I said several times during my presentation, right? Apart from, you know, protecting the health of people, our products and our solutions are really important in protecting the quality of products and the processes involved, right?
The setup of our Air Cleaners is a very flexible setup where we can adjust, you know, the filter setup very much dependent on what kind of environment we're addressing. I really don't see a conflict sort of in that. To the point I was making under our three priorities is that you will see from us that we'll be much more targeted in our approach and really on the Air Cleaner side follow those proven segments where we've had success and focus our efforts to grow stronger in those. Whether that is within the food service sector where we can really make a difference with our products, could be longer shelf life, less bacteria, you know, all these kind of things, or whether it's in the automotive of aerospace where we've seen a lot of opportunities in the last period.
It's a more focused approach, but I really don't see a conflict between working on the, you know, the logistics, warehousing sort of sector and the office. Different channels for sure, but our products can carry that breadth.
You have already answered some of the questions here, but regarding Europe, it's definitely going sideways or even slightly falling sequentially for Air Cleaners. That's, I guess, due to the tough environment in Europe now. How do you see upon Europe now in the Air Cleaner area?
No. I think maybe particularly in Europe, right? I think we need to. Of course, our company, although we're a leading supplier of indoor air quality, right? The knowledge of our brand and so forth, the size of our company is of course a challenge. That's the one of the reasons, particularly in Europe, that we'll put more focus within specific segments rather than going broad, right? That we can really lead with segment knowledge in our sales.
Okay.
I would just like to say, you know, on the European side, that we've actually on the Cabin Solutions have had quite a good year in Europe and really been able to get some speed into that business in 2022.
Okay. Interesting.
Of course, if I may add, let's remember that of course, through COVID and all the subsidies to the school system and so forth that drew air cleaners back in 2021, of course, at this time of the year, right, we've met quite hard comparables from last year. Our commitment to air cleaners in Europe is absolutely there, and we intend to strengthen that.
Excellent. Uh, then coming back, uh, to, to the operational costs you talked about, they made a significant hike, uh, in the fourth quarter. What, what is, um, sort of one time or seasonal? I'm not talking about the twenty-one million now. I'm talking about the, the, uh, cost for admin sales and, and, uh, product development, uh, which you can control more, more. It's your own decision. What is sort of one time, and what is, uh, long-term you have to address there?
I fully understand your question, Anders. A good question. During 2022, we made a lot of different investments with ambition to reach growth. Obviously, we failed on that. In the fourth quarter, we continued to take certain costs for such measures, and also certain societies opened up to a larger extent. We increased also some of the travel costs et cetera. I mean, that is a level that is not acceptable for a quarter by quarter. It was just very high cost that specific quarter, I would say.
Excellent. We are not expecting now sort of another restructuring program or something like that. It's more of an ongoing process than... How should we look upon this focus on costs going forward?
Yeah. So I think of course, you know, given, you know, the figures and what we have seen, we really need to scrutinize, you know, whatever costs that we put towards our business. Clearly, and it's one of our top three priorities, right? Both to understand and evaluate, you know, where we put our investments. To be very clear, that's gonna be driven by priorities one and two, right? It's really gonna be focused around customer focus or sales efficiency. What that means as far as any adjustments we made, I don't wanna preempt in front of that analysis or concluding that analysis, so to say.
If we look at the margin for the various divisions, you don't report that, but we know that historically, the Cabin Solutions by their business model is the most profitable one, while the Cleanrooms business is slightly lower margins. The Air Cleaners business is supposed to have the same margins as Cabin Solutions. I also understand that competition is fiercer in the Air Cleaners area. It's a huge market potential, but it's also a lot of competition in that area. How do you see upon the sort of growth strategy in the Air Cleaners? Could you really maintain the high margins as you have in Cabin Solutions?
Good question, Anders, again. You are totally correct. Cabin Solutions, there we have the really high margins. It's a combination of we have high margins on the first contract, but we have very high margins on the renewal contracts and especially in Japan. That is a great contributor to our total gross margin. Cleanrooms, yes, we have some homework still to do that. We know what went wrong, we're fixing that right now. We have initially some lower margins on the Cleanrooms if we adjust for certain things. Air Cleaners, again, we have guided on that before. Air Cleaners is much more competitive product area than the Cabin. Still we are aiming for some similar margins also within Air Cleaners.
Again, we have to listen to the customers. We have to really understand the competitive side of it. Yes, we see some lower margins within Air Cleaners compared to Cabin Solutions, for sure. Today, we are not guiding on anything, but as of today, that view is still very valid.
Okay. For my part, I'm very happy with your answers, so yes, it's okay for me for this time.
Thank you, Anders.
Okay.
The next question comes from Oskar Vilhelmsson from Redeye AB. Please go ahead.
Hello, Sebastian and Henrik. You hear me?
Mm-hmm.
Hello? Yeah.
Oh.
Loud and clear, yes.
Yeah. Thank you for taking my questions. Just would like to start, maybe Sebastian, just you for us to give us, sort of what in terms of your previous experience, you know, of turnarounds, and sort of, companies in this kind of stage could you apply to QleanAir when you're entering now?
I've had the opportunity, actually my entire career to work in many different industries, across many different sizes of companies. I think there is a lot of similarities across all these companies. Especially it's a benefit when looking at the customer side that you have the ability to understand a lot of different customers. That's sort of on my background coming into this. I think that QleanAir for sure isn't something where I look at my turnaround experience from, you know, that I had back. If I look at the last 20 years, the first 20 years of that was really around turnarounds and so forth.
I would rather look at QleanAir comparing to my most recent assignment, where I started to lead a company in 2012, which was the size of what QleanAir is today, and where we, I together with the team, was able to drive that to double its growth. It included both organic and acquisitive growth, and I think it's a very similar situation where we started with that company versus where we are today with QleanAir. On a journey and developing a company, you always have infliction points, right? You grow, and then you come to a point where you just have to dig down your heels again and energize and go for the next step. I feel that we're sort of in that with QleanAir.
As I mentioned in the presentation, I've had the opportunity already within my first 2 months to talk to close to 70% of all our personnel one-on-one for 30 minutes, and I'm amazed with what I'm hearing, right? I follow a template so that I can really conclude, right? We have great products, and our products are Our people are really knowledgeable and passionate. It's really an exciting time to come into this company. I think all the right things are there to grow. It's a long answer to a short question.
Yeah.
Just to add on that, I've also had the opportunity, as said, to meet customers in both Japan, in person in Japan, through Europe and in the US. What's really nice is that they also really say that our products really work. They do what we promise them to do. Our team is really listening and really interested in providing the solution of the customer. That these two matches are not always the case, but it is for sure the case with QleanAir.
All right. Yeah, yeah, it's a good summary. Just to follow up a little on what you addressed here previously regarding costs and then higher cost levels. If I understand you clearly, it's mainly that just you have sort of overinvested into growth during this quarter?
Correct. Exactly. In combination with certain other costs that are more in that fourth quarter. Again, we're not guiding, but of course, we understand that that cost level is not acceptable long term. That is number one focus currently. Yes, full year 2022, we made several different investments to try to reach growth, and obviously we failed. That is not a long-term cost structure for us, certainly not.
Yeah.
I think it's really what I touched on on the priorities, right? It is through performance in current trading in combination with managing costs that you have the right to invest. Maybe we've been a bit too fast on the investment side versus our current trading, for sure, if you look at our numbers for 2022. That's gonna be a key thing going forward, right? To make sure that, I mean, current trading will eat strategy for breakfast any day. It's really key to keep a good balance with your current trading performance and your investments in growth.
Yeah. That sounds fair. Just to touch the sort of dividend policy here as well, I think the market was kind of worried that you canceled your dividend. How should we sort of interpret this as you sort of step aside a little to your previous sort of policy?
Yeah, also a valid question, of course. We fully understand the value of dividends. As Sebastian said, I mean, our three financial goals, they are very firm, and we are setting now to deliver on that for 2023. As you can see from the balance sheet, we have increased our net debt. From a responsibility point of view, we thought it was better now, a bit uncertain to for 2022 and everything, to be on the safe side to cancel that. I would like to be clear that the policy to pay out dividend is still there. We have a very weak year 2022 behind us. We have increased the net debt.
I mean, we press released a profit warning, it's very clear that our margins and the cash flow is not according to plan. That's why the board is proposing that.
Right. In terms of debt and covenants, sort of what are the terms there for your covenants? Would you like to remind us a bit of that?
Yes. We have two covenants: interest coverage and net debt, of course. We are all clear on both of them towards our bank. We follow the bank agreement. We amortize every quarter according to plan, no deviation in that relationship in any way.
All right. Great. Thanks. I think that was it for me today. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Oscar.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
If there are no more questions, we thank you for your participation and interest in our company, and we wish everyone a good continuation of the day. Thank you.