Welcome to the Trelleborg Q1 2025 report presentation. For the first part of the presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the Q&A session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing #5 on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to CEO Peter Nilsson and CFO Fredrik Nilsson. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and welcome to all of you to this run-through or presentation of the financial performance of Trelleborg in Q1 2025. As usual, I will, let's say, start giving some overall, let's say, headlines on the report, the way we look at it, and also give you some input on the way we look at the business areas. Then Fredrik Nilsson, our Group CFO, will guide you through financials before I sum up with the summary and some comments on the running quarter outlook before finishing off with the Q&A. As usual, we're using a slide deck presentation, which is on our web page. Using that and turning to page two, agenda, as I said, highlights, overall headline highlights, business area comments, financials, summary and outlook, and then a Q&A.
Moving to slide three on the overall, we said a solid quarter with record results. Basically, we can start off by saying the development in the quarter was very much in line with our expectations, and we're happy that all our business, all our three business areas delivered well in line with expectations. In summary, then it's summing up then on sales of SEK 8.8 billion, an increase of 8% compared to a year ago. This 8% is split on organic sales, 1 percentage point, M&A adding 6 percentage points, and then currency assisting us with another 1%. EBITA, basically following the sales development, ends up at SEK 1.616 billion, which is then an EBITA margin of 18.2%, which is 0.1% higher than last year.
This is then in total, let's say, both highest sales and also highest EBITA in a quarter for us up until now. We continue to kind of invest in improving the structure, and we have, let's say, items affecting comparability on similar levels as a year ago. We also noted satisfaction that even though this first quarter is usually quite challenging in terms of cash flow due to seasonality, we managed also to grow that in the quarter. Fredrik will comment on that later as well, but we are, let's say, satisfied to see that we remain on the 90% level, rolling 12 on cash conversion. We also, with satisfaction, also have included in the quarter acquisitions of CRC US and Nu Flow in Canada US as well. Good add-on, bolt-on acquisitions for us, which is strengthening already strong positions. We also post the ending of Q1.
We also announced two acquisitions, Aeroplastics, which is an American acquisition related to interior for aircraft, airplanes, and also National Gummi in Sweden, where we do also an acquisition supplementing our business within extruded sealing profiles. Good quarter, solid in most aspects or not all aspects from our point of view, which is then delivered in a good way, resulting in a record result. Turning to page four, organic sales, mixed development, as you see in the quarter, Europe a little bit more challenging, -5%, partly then compensated by North and South America delivering solid organic growth of 3%, but most of the benefit of best development actually happening in Asia, the rest of the world, where we grow 10% in the quarter compared to last year.
Turning to page five, agenda again, business areas, and then quickly turning to page six to comment on industrial solutions. Solid growth in the quarter, high runnings, organic sales 2%, M&A adding another 2%. As it is mixed development in diversified industrials, where we see, as I say, continued strong development in marine solutions, LNG project-related businesses, and also water infrastructure, all of them showing strong growth. Still continue to be challenging, we would call it construction segments, maybe flattening out in Europe, but we still see all, we do see continued downturn, especially in North America in this segment, and that is hurting us, continue to hurt us in the quarter. Automotive also a little bit subdued, and we see also negative growth in automotive coming from a very, let's say, strong few quarters last year. No surprise for us in a way, but nevertheless, it's a fact.
All in all, well managed as usual, I should say, and we continue to manage the operational aspects of the business very good, and we also continue to invest in structural improvements, which means that overall we managed to deliver the highest ever EBITA and also actually margin with a slim margin to before, but nevertheless, the best ever margin in this business area. Also already commented, New Flow acquired, which is then, let's say, opening kind of a new geographical area for us for pipe relining, pipe repair. Very happy to have that, and will be synergistic for us as we will be able to have, let's say, a better way of selling these technologies also in North America. Post quarter one, a smaller acquisition, but nevertheless very important for this small niche business of extruded profiles.
We're buying the Swedish National Gummi and thereby kind of supplementing our offering, going into a little bit higher dimension profiles, which we were kind of lacking in our offering before. Turning to page seven and commenting on medical solutions. Strong growth with high margins is the heading, organic sales, solid organic sales of 5%, and M&A benefiting from the acquisition we did mid last year, Baron Group, especially then with a presence in China and Australia. Organic sales coming from improvements in Europe, where we still see a little bit muted development both in North America and Asia, but overall, nevertheless, delivering plus 5%. Solid growth overall. We also noted satisfaction that the life science segment, or we earlier called it biopharma segment, is also improving from fairly low levels.
That has been repressed for quite some time, but we now see that that segment, which is then related to kind of active bacteria and vaccine and such stuff, you also see that improving now, which is going to be beneficial for us. EBITA and margin up, of course, mainly due to the acquisition and synergies from the integration of the Barron Group. We also want to comment here that we have in medical solutions several ongoing, what we call capacity enhancing projects ongoing in order to really develop into a global business. We are investing in Europe to grow our manufacturing platform in Europe. We are also progressing well with the project in Costa Rica in order to become both more complete, but also more competitive in the Americas region.
Good development overall for medical solutions and managed to deliver then an EBITA margin above 20% in the quarter. Turning to page eight, sealing solutions. Here we say stable, despite some challenging markets, challenging market in some aspects. We'll get back and comment on that. Organic sales ending up at basically flattish while M&A then adding 5% to the sales. We see the sales, so we call it diversified industrial, declined in Europe and North America, but with a solid improvement in Asia. Here, of course, it's kind of a mixed development where we continue to see that the construction equipment and ag is being challenged while we have, let's say, continued good development in other areas like semiconductors. Delivery to the automotive industry weaker in all markets. I think that is general for all our business areas, but that is once again, it's not unexpected.
We had very strong sales end of last year, maybe too strong sales end of last year, and we are well prepared to manage this weakening in a good way. Aerospace continue to deliver very well. I mean, we are global in these aspects, and we are kind of covering all the main OEs in a good way. We continue also, which I get back later, we continue also to add acquisitions into this portfolio, which is growing our portfolio even more and thereby improving our abilities to kind of support the industry even better going forward in the aerospace segment. EBITA unchanged in absolute terms, but impact a little bit by lower production volumes.
We have to note, as usual, when we buy something in sealing solution, we are initially being hit by somewhat lower margin in the acquired business, which we then continue to work with, and we continue to, let's say, improve in order to get them back to the margin where we want them to be. Two acquisitions, one in the quarter and one post the quarter. CRC then with the Southern US exposed to this Gulf area, which is a good local area, especially for oil and gas activities both onshore and offshore. Nice addition to our portfolio in North America and then also acquisition of Aeroplastics, which is then, let's say, once again, I commented on that before, which is then, let's say, improving our offering, widening our offering for the aerospace industry.
Overall, a good quarter of sealing solutions with kind of known challenges in a way, especially related to this construction equipment and agriculture. Turning to page nine, a little bit on sustainability. We continue to improve, 8% lowering of the carbon dioxide emissions year-to-year basis, but we are getting to levels here where we will not see big percentages of improvements going forward. There is still some way to go. Of course, we are adding resources to make sure that we continue to deliver improvements, but I think this 8% year-to-year improvement is for us now a good figure for this improvement and kind of the areas, kind of the figures that we should expect also going forward. Turning to page 10, the other sustainability KPI that we are showing.
Of course, we're working on a lot of other areas as well, but in these quarterly reports, we're focusing on carbon dioxide and also share of renewable and fossil-free electricity. Here we are basically flattish. We are already running on a 90% plus activity, and we are having a few areas where it's difficult actually to get fossil-free electricity, but nevertheless, we're working on finding solutions to this as well in order to improve this figure even a little bit more. I guess that is the overall comments on the business areas and the sustainability. Basically turning to page 11, financials, and then quickly turning to page 12 and ask Fredrik to take us through this section.
Thank you, Peter. Looking into page 12, the sales development report net sales up 8% from SEK 8.2 billion to SEK 8.9 billion.
Organic sales up 1% in the quarter, as Peter said, with organic growth for both industrial solution and medical solution, while sealing solution had a flat development. M&A had a 6% in the quarter and then another 1% coming from currency effects. Moving on, page 13, showing the historical sales growth. The first quarter was actually almost in line with the growth target of 8%, and it was the highest sales growth since the third quarter of 2023. Moving on to page 14, showing the quarterly sales and rolling 12 months for continuing operations. At the last 12 months, the sales amounted to SEK 34.8 billion. Moving on, page 15, looking at the EBITA development, we had a good growth of 8% from SEK 1,490,000,000 up to SEK 1,616,000,000. EBITA was the highest so far for a quarter.
We have profit growth in all three business areas, with, as Peter mentioned, a very strong growth in medical solution due to the acquisition integration of Barron Group. We also had a good growth of 5% in industrial solution and more of flattish development for sealing solution. FX on the EBITA in the quarter of SEK 5 million. Margin-wise, up from 18.1% to 18.2%, an increase by 0.1 percentage points. Looking at the rolling 12-month trend, we have an EBITA of SEK 6,266,000,000 with a margin of 18%. We have had an EBITA growth of 5% during the last 12 months. Moving on to page 17, looking at some more details on the income statements. Items affecting comparability in the quarter of SEK 61 million, entirely related to restructuring costs for adjusting our cost base.
Looking further down in the income statement, financial net, an increase from minus SEK 20 million up to minus SEK 144 million. The main reasons here is that last year we were sitting with a net cash position and got some interest income of SEK 86 million. Now we are sitting with a net debt position, which of course also implies that we get some interest expenses in the quarter. That is the main reason why we are going from minus SEK 20 million to minus SEK 144 million in financial net. Tax rate in the quarter, 25%, which is in line with our underlying tax rate of 25%. Moving on to page 18, earnings per share. If you look at starting with exclude items affecting comparability, we were up from SEK 4.23 to SEK 4.28.
The reason here for plus 1% is, of course, the good improvement in EBITA offset by the higher financial net that I just explained. If you then look including items affecting comparability, earnings per share amounted to SEK 4.08. Moving on to page 19, cash flow. As Peter said, we had a good cash flow in the quarter of SEK 821 million, supported with a good EBITDA development of SEK 148 million. Cash flow from working capital was negative, but that is due to normal seasonality. CapEx was in line with the communicated guidance for the full year, however somewhat higher than Q1 last year. Moving on to page 20, cash flow conversion running at a good level of 90%. We still have a high cash conversion ratio. Looking to page 21, looking at the gearing and leverage development, we ended the quarter at SEK 6.733 billion in debt.
We have done share buybacks of slightly more than SEK 1 billion during the quarter. Debt equity ratio of 17%, so almost flat compared to year-end of 2024. The same with net debt over EBITDA, 0.9, which was exactly the same that we had end of 2024. In other words, our balance sheet remains strong. Moving on to page 22, return on capital employed, 11.8% for the quarter. Of course, capital employed was impacted by our recent acquisition and also on the higher pace of greenfield investments. Finally, moving on to page 23, our guidance for 2025. They are unchanged compared to what was presented in late January, which means that CapEx, SEK 1,650,000,000 for the full year, approximately SEK 300 million in restructuring costs for the full year, amortization of intangibles, SEK 650 million, and then the underlying tax rate of 25%.
By that, I would like to hand back the microphone to you, Peter.
Thank you, Fredrik. Page 24 then, a summary and outlook. Turning quickly to page 25. Solid quarter with record results. I mean, all business areas delivered well in line with our expectations and good execution from all my colleagues in Trelleborg. We are delivering a solid sales growth of 8%, driven 1% on organic and 6% on M&A, and then we are also adding some currency to that, EBITA, following the development on the sales. We are delivering a margin of 18.2 compared to basically on the same level as last year, 0.1 or 0.1 percentage point up. Cash flow good as well, as Fredrik said.
We are happy with the cash generation, and we're also happy that we continue to deliver very nice and synergistic bolt-on acquisitions, although these acquisitions are somewhat pushing down the margin short term. Leaving that and turning to page 26, talking a little bit more about the future. This is actually an area which is, as you know, with a higher uncertainty than usual due to known happenings around the world. We are ending up with this. The month is expected to be on par with the first quarter of 2025. We actually had, let's say, increasing business, improving business environment throughout the quarter, the good order intake end of the quarter. Nevertheless, of course, we have to also recognize this global uncertainty, which is being around from a Trelleborg perspective on the tariffs. We are not overly concerned with our own operations.
We have this local-to-local setup, and we will be able to deliver without any kind of noticeable impact on our earnings. Of course, there is uncertainty, and it would be strange if people were not kind of a little bit more concerned than before. That is why, although we are kind of in a way without this tariff situation, we would, of course, be more positive. We are ending up with the best estimate we can do at the moment, that the demand will remain on par with what we saw in the earlier quarter. That is, once again, it's a little bit tricky than usual since we do not know exactly what's going to happen in the quarter. Also with that, we are ready to adjust. We are ready to kind of adapt if needed.
We feel as we stay in close to the operations, we are having kind of an operational model which will address whatever happens in a good way. With this, turning to page 27 and the final agenda point, Q&A, and then turning to page 28 and opening up this Q&A session.
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 Erik Golrang from SEB. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Three questions. First one on margins in sealing solutions. Get that volumes are down, that's negative, but you obviously have price mix that's positive. Is that not helping margins at all?
Is it all the dilutive impact from acquisitions that drags down the margin year on year? If so, say something about the timeline to bring up margins on acquisitions. Let's start there.
I mean, we still have not working here. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Lost you there for a while. Are you back now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Yes. Okay. Sorry, we have some problems here.
The next question comes from Erik Golrang from SEB. Please go ahead. Can we start all over again? The next question comes from Erik Golrang from SEB. Please go ahead. Please go ahead.
I have no idea if you've answered the question or not, but you can say something about the scope of margin dilution from the acquisition ceiling and the timeline to resolve that.
I don't know what's happening here, but we have some problems here, Erik. Sorry. Can you hear me now? Erik, can you hear me now?
The next question comes from Erik Golrang from SEB. Please go ahead. Please go ahead.
I can hear you, but my line keeps mute and unmute. Yeah, I mean, there's an echo. I cannot.
Sorry, Erik. I cannot. I don't know what it is. Okay. Jasmine, moderator, please take the next question and see if it works better with someone else. It might be that Erik has some problems.
The next question comes from Agnieszka Vilela from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three.
Maybe starting with the outlook, Peter, you mentioned that there has been some uncertainty in the outlook related to the geopolitics, and this is maybe why you gave a bit conservative guidance for Q2. Could you tell us about the development so far in April? Have you seen any hesitance from your customers already due to the tariffs?
No, I mean, I cannot say that it's been any major change, but of course, everybody, we don't know exactly if there's some pre-buying or if there is any kind of delays. I mean, it's basically impossible, Agnieszka, at the moment to give you a view. There's no drama. There is no, let's say, major changes, but it would be strange if people were not pre-buying or delaying until I know it. We need to be cautious here.
I mean, we do not really have any meaningful facts to guide us. Of course, we are talking about the flattish demand. We were plus one in Q1, and I mean, we would probably, with kind of a normal situation and the order intake we have seen, we would probably be in a slightly more positive here for Q2. I mean, it is still, you know it, I know it, that there is a lot of things happening every day, and it goes a bit up and down, and that is really where we need to be a little bit cautious in this one. There is nothing really in our weekly order intake or on our weekly sales, which is indicating that there is kind of any major change in direction here in the first weeks of April.
Yeah. Perfect. Thank you. Understood.
On medical, I think that when you reported Q4, you warned a bit about the timing of the new year in China that this would impact the margin in Q1. However, the margin you reported for medical was rather strong. Can you explain what's happening? Did you see at all any negative impacts from the timing of the Chinese New Year?
There was a negative. It was bumpy in the quarter, and that was something. We have a good March, to be very open about that, which is kind of creating an uptick. It is a small down. I mean, I think if I remember the figures correctly, we were in 21 in Q4 and now 20 in Q1. It was slightly down and a normal quarter.
We lost one or two weeks due to Chinese New Year, and that is, of course, impacting us also for this, let's say, slim downturn in margin.
Perfect. Thank you. The last question maybe to Fredrik. In your profit and loss account, you report quite negative other operating expenses in the quarter compared to previous quarters. That obviously affects the reported EBITDA, whereas your gross margin is quite strong actually in Q1. Can you explain what's behind these other operating expenses and whether they are temporary? Thank you.
Two main components. One is related to PPA depreciation. Of course, now we had Barron in in this quarter. We didn't have that in Q1 last year. There are also some other acquisitions that we have done here later in 2024 and early 2025. There is higher PPA depreciation, and then there is also some FX impact.
Now with some entities where you have got to strengthen the local currency compared to, for example, dollar or euro. There is a negative when you revaluate your, for example, accounts receivables. There is a little bit of negative FX as well. That is the two main components.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Anders Roslund from Pareto Securities. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hi. Good afternoon. I have two, and I'll start with one on automotive. If you could talk about that exposure a bit, what you're seeing in terms of how it differs, the demand between Europe, North America, Asia, and if you've been seeing any prebuys as of recent.
First of all, we do not have any direct exposure to OEMs. Very, very limited direct exposure. Our exposure is mainly to tier three, tier four, or in odd occasions to tier twos.
We are kind of ahead, generally ahead of the underlying business. It is somewhat challenging for us to give some geographical differences. Overall, we see the same development everywhere with maybe a little bit more positive view on Asia than Europe and North America. I mean, it is really not, we are not exposed that much to automotive, so it is difficult for us to comment on that market.
Okay. Just to follow up on that, because Europe has been the worst performing market now for you for two quarters. Could you talk about what is driving that? I guess it is not the automotive exposure then or what are you seeing in Europe?
Automotive is down, but so is the kind of mainly core industrial, like hydraulics, pneumatics, machinery. This kind of stuff is performing a little bit lower than we have seen before.
I mean, we do not see any drama in that. That is also, let's say, there are also the project-related businesses, which is adding a few extra percentage points in the quarter where we had higher project sales in Europe a year ago, which is this quarter kind of benefiting us a little bit more in Asia. Asia is being pushed up a little bit by higher project sales, and Europe is pushed down a little bit with lower project sales. Once again, we do not see it as a drama, and we do not, I mean, the only area where we actually see the noticeable downturns is in this, what we call, let's say, construction equipment, hydraulic, pneumatic. That is an area where we are exposing continued downturn.
With that said and done, we have actually seen an improved order intake in the quarter, and we see it's kind of flattening and even improving here going forward. Hopefully, these orders will turn into sales, and then hopefully, we will see a slightly better performance going forward than we see in the last few quarters in Europe.
All right. Thanks. A final question from me is on the sealing solutions margin. You're starting the year now with margin, and margins are typically higher in 2022. Do you think you'll see a seasonal drop towards later this year, or how are you thinking about the moving parts around that?
No, no. I mean, our ambition in sealing solutions is that that margin will improve, and that is still in our overall plans. I mean, we need to work with it.
We need to get a little bit demand back in certain core segments. I mean, we know that we are fairly satisfied with the margin in a way, even though we're aiming higher, but we still have had a little bit of challenges in the major segments. I mean, if I say fluid power, which is the major segment, sealing solutions has not been performing as expected volume-wise. We do believe we're working with fairly high contribution margin, fairly high gross profits in sealing solutions. If volumes is getting somewhat back, you're going to see a good leverage from that one. Of course, with the high uncertainty at the moment, we do not know really when that's going to happen, but it has continued to run on a fairly low level, lower level than we wanted to be.
We believe, once again, if or when the demand kicks back a little bit, that you're going to see a good leverage, good upside when these volumes kick in and we, yeah, start to sell more on these gross profit levels which we have.
Okay. Great. Thank you. That's all.
The next question comes from Timothy Lee from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. My first question would be on also the month-to-day development. Can you also comment a little bit about any difference between the performance in different regions that you can call out? Any changes in particular noticeable in each region that you can highlight?
If I understand you, you're relating to the sales development. I mean, Asia generally is doing good. Asia generally is doing good, driven by product sales.
We have good LNG sales, good semiconductor sales, good, let's say, harbor project sales, good infrastructure sales. Good, let's say, overall demand. We also see the machinery industry in both China and India, especially, is doing good for us. Korea benefiting from our point of view, both on semiconductors and also on the LNG. Japan flattish, but overall good development in Asia. Europe may be a little bit more challenging in certain aspects. No pickup in the construction and also somewhat muted in some of what we call core industrial or in this kind of more construction equipment-related agriculture is more challenging, while most of the other markets in Europe, food, beverage is okay. There is kind of mix and geographical differences. Honestly, I don't know. It's kind of still the core markets is somewhat muted.
Of course, this uncertainty in Germany is seen on a few customers. It is nothing strange. US or North America has good project deliveries. In South America, for instance, we have good oil and gas deliveries there, which is benefiting us. We still struggle in North America, especially. We still struggle in the construction equipment, agriculture. You see also this kind of construction in general is also challenged. We have other segments also in the US doing good. Once again, LNG and some of these machinery segments actually doing quite okay. It is a kind of a mixed portfolio, automotive, soft all over, with a slightly better performance in Asia than the rest of the world. I mean, that is weak all over. That is kind of expected. I think I commented on that before. It has been a little bit too good.
I have really no surprise that we have, let's say, a small downturn in automotive. I'm not sure that that is kind of a guidance for the future or more kind of an inventory focus in those areas. That is the case I can say, Timothy. I don't know if you're happy with that. We have a follow-up question.
Understood. Yeah. Maybe I'll do a follow-up. Are you seeing, say, in the U.S. market, the end users or your customers to be relatively more hesitant than the other regions? I just want to figure out if there's any sequential development difference between customers in different regions.
Not really. I mean, it's more customer-specific than segment-specific. I mean, some customers are closer to the business and other customers a little bit more slower in responding. That is not really linked to the geography.
I see as suc h. I do not see any difference there between Europe and North America. It is the same kind of behavior everywhere. Of course, I mean, we all know it is high uncertainty. I mean, nobody is speculating at the moment. People are a bit cautious. I think that is, of course, pushing down the sales somewhat, but it is difficult or even impossible to give kind of a figure on the impact from that.
Understood. Understood. Very helpful. My second question would be on your guidance for second quarter. Can you also separate between pricing and volume, and how do you see the development in the second quarter? Pricing is, of course, getting lower. I mean, of course, we will be adapting prices if you are hit by tariffs or hit by some kind of non-operational stuff. There are some currency movements also, which is pushing the pricing.
Overall, we are not expecting any kind of major price increases going forward. In a way, the mix going forward should be more volume positive than price positive. Once again, we are talking about very small figures here.
All right. Very helpful. Thank you.
The next question comes from Eric Gulrang from SEB.
Please go ahead.
Thank you. Is it a better line now? Yes. Very good. I'll try again then on sealing solutions margin. If you can help us out to the magnitude of the margin erosion year on year that comes from acquisitions, we would assume that price mix still helps offset at least some of that volume. Again, I mean, there is a negative. We do not want to give, let's say, an exact figure on it, but I mean, it is less than 1%. Let's put it at that.
It is a, let's say, a meaningful impact, but it is less than 1%. I think that we can say from the acquisitions. Price mix is probably a slight positive in a way. We still are suffering a little bit from volumes. It is not kind of really taking off as expected, especially in those kind of, let's say, the core volume segments, which once again, I mentioned many times, hydraulic, pneumatics, but that is kind of the big bulk of sealing solutions. That is where we will see benefits if volumes get back there, which we have, let's say, a more positive order intake in the quarter compared to the previous quarters. That is also where I think the uncertainty is, whether these kind of increased orders will actually turn into increased sales in this quarter or that is being pushed forward.
We do see, I want to be clear on that one. We have been complaining about this, once again, construction equipment ag for a few quarters. It's been depressed, and we've been running, let's say, 10% plus, minus 10% plus on those segments. That is more flattish positives in terms of order intake now. We do see a change in that. If that is happening, then you're going to see some good drop through in sealing solutions. That is kind of dependent on actually how sales will turn out. Orders are there, but we don't know exactly when the customers will call for their products.
Okay. Thank you. Second question on medical. If you could try and sort of what do we need to see more of an uptick here?
I guess it's especially related to the North America market, which is the biggest part here. Do we need the green fields coming online, or is it more the end market or the customers that are a bit hesitant to place orders? No, we think overall, I mean, we are plus minus in the quarter, plus five in the quarter, and that is fairly reasonable. We do see some. These are some, I shouldn't say, to be careful, it's our customers, but they're a little bit bumpy orders sometimes, which is not really. They are generally not taking these businesses, more taking weekly orders and then auto ordering. They're not as focused on inventory working capital as our normal customers. That's why it's kind of a little bit bumpy. We shouldn't put too much.
We have to expect, we have to be prepared that it is a little bit bumpy. Overall, we feel the demand is better. We see the life science, biopharma finally, let's say, kicking in a little bit positive. We do see inroads in Europe. As you say, we are smaller in Europe, but we do see that the inroads there is paying off a little bit. We are getting more orders. We do have a mixed bag in, let's say, North America. We say that it's down overall in North America. I don't think it's the market down. I think it's more that we have had, let's say, a little bit unfortunate mix of customers in the quarter. We are generally quite positive that the volumes will remain on a solid positive organic growth.
That is said with some uncertainty related to these, once again, these little bumpy call-offs or whatever we are going to call it. We feel that we have turned the corner and it is getting better. With that said and done, it is still going to be a little bit bumpy quarter on quarter here due to the fact that they are ordering bulk more than kind of daily deliveries. Okay. Thank you. The final question on the margin, I guess, potential in industrial solutions. Seems that division continues to surprise positively also to some extent compared to your expectations, if I get it right. I mean, is the potential continuing to move up here given what you are doing on the M&A side, entering some new markets? What is the long-term potential now for industrial?
I mean, we still keep the overall that we want to have a percentage points up a year. It's a mixed bag. It's a lot of different businesses. Also, like in sealing solutions, we have to also be open. I mean, we are okay. We want to improve, but we are already, let's say, performing slightly better than most of our competitors. When we do the acquisitions, they're actually coming in with a slightly lower EBIT margin. We have synergies in all of them. We are very, let's say, confident that it's going to improve. Still, overall, I think we don't want to raise our ambitions more than we are aiming for this half a percentage point up per year. That is really, let's say, the overall guidance that we can give.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Hampus Engellau from Handelsbanken.
Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Two questions for me. Can we talk about the industrial business during the quarter? How was underlying organic growth, if we can remove the project businesses that are kind of more lumpy? I think we had a lot of project business in Q4 and continued in Q1, just to get a sense on how that is trending if we exclude that part of the business. I am sorry to come back on the marginal sealing, but could you maybe talk a little bit how the integration going in Minnesota? Seems like it is now very much dependent on volumes than cost synergies. If you could add some more flavor on that one. Thank you.
Project business. I mean, we call it project business, but I mean, it is small projects. We are not talking about EUR 10 million. We are talking about smaller than that.
We see it more as kind of bread and butter project business. We do not really take that out. It is not that we have individual very big projects, which is kind of improving in the quarter. That is kind of a normal business for us. It is difficult to separate it. When we call it project business, it is probably more that maybe we should phrase it differently. It is more this kind of sales into infrastructure construction into LNG. They are slightly bigger in terms of invoicing per delivery than the others. It is not that it is individual quarters. They are benefiting that we took out that kind of business. Maybe we would have been flat instead. That is what we are talking about. I do not really have the figure, looking at Fredrik.
I mean, I think it's not that kind of impact that we're going from plus 2% to minus 5% or something like that. There could be individual percentage points if we kind of exclude the LNG, excluding the tunnel seals, excluding the harbor fenders, excluding the oil hoses. I mean, then we take out, let's say, a big part of the business. That has kind of been integrated in that business. It's not only project business, also aftermarket and small upgrades and stuff like that. It's not that it's kind of individual big projects. That is kind of, how should I put it, Hampus? Without neglecting the questions, it's not meaningful for us to look at it in that way. On the other one, on the margin, I don't know if you want to comment on it, Fredrik.
I mean, it's really. No, but I mean, you were referring to the MRP, Hampus. I mean, we were clear from day one that it's mainly related to sales units. We need the volume. We have also said that we have delivered more cost units than we had in our initial plan. It is related that we need to get volume growth. Once again, I'm going to get back to that. We're primarily suffering, if I may say, in volume, and especially North America, easiest is construction equipment and where it's kind of a downturn. We want that to get back. We have seen, once again, we have seen a positive order intake for the first time in a while.
If that turns into orders, which they will do eventually, but we do not know whether actually the call-off will be, then we will start to see more, let's say, benefits from the, I would say, the Minnesota, from the improved structure that we have in North America. Because now we have integrated the factories and we are set up, we have streamlined the manufacturing. When volumes kick in, they will kick into a more efficient structure and we will start to see more benefits in that aspect. I should say, also maybe it is a side comment here for North America, but I mean, in North America is probably where we are most exposed to, to call it Asian competition on the sealing, where we kind of start to see some.
That is partly probably why order intake is better, because we see some of these guys who are buying straight from Asia or kind of redirecting to local supply. We are able to supply locally while several of our competitors actually are manufacturing in Asia, which is primarily non-American and Asian or Asian companies. That is probably an area where we potentially see, let's say, a small benefit actually from this tariff situation if we can start to look for that. That is an area where we do expect that to improve going forward. It will, let's say, require a more stable development in North America and without these weekly uncertainties, yeah, floating around. I do not know whether that was sufficient, Hampus.
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.
Thank you. Good afternoon. I believe this might be partly related to Hampus' question on Minnesota here, but regarding capital allocation and return on capital employed, you have a group targets of 15, which is now at 12. It's 17 in industrial, 5 in medical, 13 in sealing.
What is the potential and timeline for all divisions to reach the group level, if we put it in that way? Also, when taking the larger acquisitions recently, for example, Minnesota and Barron into account, do you assess that they meet your group target of 15% return on capital?
We do not have individual targets per BA. We only have a group target. That is kind of a mix of group targets.
In some areas, they are kind of beneficial in terms of margin. Other areas, they're beneficial in terms of return on capital employed. I mean, that is the same for EBITA margin. It's the same for growth. It's the same for return on capital employed. We don't really have a kind of individual target. That is why we don't really want to comment on that. Of course, we have our internal plans. We feel, once again, when we reach the 20 on group margin, we reach the sales growth target, we will also deliver on return on capital employed on a group level. I think you can do the calculation yourself and see that if you get this growth in EBIT, both by sales and by margin, then of course, the return on capital employed will jump up also in a very meaningful way.
That is, of course, our game plan.
Understood. That was really the main question. It was just a smaller follow-up regarding the cash flow generation throughout the year. You've done a lot of work internally on working capital discipline, etc. Just regarding this kind of current turbulent environment, do you feel there is an opportunity to lower your internal working capital further, or do you feel that it's a good level right now to perhaps have a bit of safety stock and working capital spread across different regions?
We are not overly concerned about our supply chain. We do not buy that much across the continents. We buy it locally. We have very minor flows across, let's say, the continents. We do not see that as a risky.
At the moment, we don't see, from our point of view, the supply chain is not kind of, of course, we're looking at it and we are redirecting some and we are adjusting some. Overall, it's really a minor topic. We don't see a need for increased safety stock. On the other one, we still continue to see, I think we are well in account receivables generally. We still have some inventory, let's say, things to improve. Overall, I mean, that is still on a reasonably good level. Of course, once again, we see improvements, possibilities in the inventory. Receivables is fairly okay. We're talking about fairly small money here in the, yeah, if you compare it with kind of where the vast majority of the cash flow is coming. It's not going to be a cash improvement due to lower working capital.
It's not going to be a cash deterioration due to, let's say, growth in working capital. We think we have it well under control and it's kind of we know what to do. Of course, some issues, once again, some issues, I shouldn't, let's say, there are some issues related to this new way of doing global trade, but it's not in any way a meaningful impact for Trelleborg.
Understood. That's all from my side. Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
No, thanks for listening in. I think it's a solid quarter for us, record results. Still kind of waiting for some volume coming in. We have been working with the mix. We have been working with the gross profits, as I trust you see.
I mean, we have also record high gross profit in the quarter, which means that now, as we believe, volumes will eventually get back and they will be getting into a more efficient and more profitable structure. We have had a good order intake in Q1, especially at the end of the quarter. We are a little bit now, maybe a little bit careful, you can call it, on our kind of guidance for Q2. We think that is reasonable. It would kind of be strange if there would have been no impact on this, let's say, global uncertainties, which is floating around. That is, we have a good order book and we have a better order book. Once again, that is why we are cautious on the running quarter.
Eventually, we believe that we're going to get further payback on the improved structure that we are working on. Hopefully, we will be able to share that with you in the next few quarters. This is high uncertainty for the quarter, but we still have some beliefs that we're going to see a better end of the year. That is, I mean, I think all of us hope for that. If that comes, I'm sure that you're going to see an even better Trelleborg. Thanks again for listening in. If there is any kind of follow-up question, Christofer is available as usual. Of course, Fredrik and myself are going to support Christofer and yourself in the best way possible. Now we're off for the AGM. We have an AGM here in the afternoon. We have to end this.
Once again, Christofer Sjögren is around and, as always, open to discuss further. Thanks again. Do take care and see you soon.