Welcome to the Trelleborg Q3 2025 report presentation. For the first part of the presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to CEO Peter Nilsson and CFO Fredrik Nilsson. Please go ahead.
Hello everybody, Peter Nilsson speaking. Welcome all of you to this Q3 2025 results. We're going to give you some of our, let's say, input on how the quarter developed. Joining me on this call is also Fredrik Nilsson, our Group CFO, and also Christofer Sjögren, who is heading our Investor Relations. As usual, we're going to refer to a slide deck from our web page. Turning to page two on that section, the agenda slide and a normal starting with some general highlights, some comments on the business areas, and then Fredrik is going to guide us through the financials, finishing off with a summary and some comments on the outlook for the running quarter. Finally, ending our call with the Q&A session. That's the agenda for this call this morning. Turning then to page three, heading of our report, organic growth with higher margin.
A solid quarter in more or less all aspects, a development in the right direction in more or less all aspects. Sales ending up relatively flat compared to last year in Swedish krona, an increase of 1%. Behind this, a very solid organic growth, + 4%, which is something we have not seen for quite some time. M&A also benefiting. We have done several acquisitions, several smaller bolt-on acquisitions here in the last 12 months. That is, of course, also bringing in some sales. That is adding 3%. We have a currency headwind well known by everybody, which is a 6% in the quarter, which is then once again ending up with a 1% on the total sales. EBITDA also up and also with an improved margin, which is an all-time high margin and results for a third quarter.
We are, let's say, a notch above 18% EBITDA margin in the quarter. This is, as I already said, the strongest third quarter to date for us, both in terms of profit and margin. Solid. The great thing you're going to see later also is coming from all business areas. We have a substantial negative effects on EBITDA, almost SEK 100 million or SEK 90 million, bringing us in the wrong direction, if you may say. Items affecting comparability running as planned. Relatively high level this year, but also coming from this rather high number of acquisitions, which is then kind of creating opportunities to improve the structure and make sure we get all the benefits from these acquisitions as we move forward. Cash flow very strong.
I mean, we have to admit surprisingly strong ending of the quarter on the cash flow, which of course is going to bounce back a little bit here in Q4. Nevertheless, we are happy to have the money in our pockets instead of sitting somewhere else. Very solid cash flow, which is of course, yeah, creating a stronger balance sheet and overall better business. We've done a smaller acquisition, small but important acquisition in Singapore called Masters eal, which is an acquisition which is strengthening a little bit oil and gas markets and generally more in the kind of aftermarket related segments of Sealing Solutions, which is an area which we are developing at the moment, an area we're growing into kind of a global business for us.
We'll also note continued share buyback on a level slightly north of SEK 500 million being spent on share buybacks in the quarter. This is the quarter. This is what it is. I mean, overall, once again, a solid quarter. Turning then to the next page, page four, where you see a new slide for us, which I hope you will give some more input on the sales split per geography, which I don't want to comment that much on. More importantly, here we see organic growth in all three major geographical areas, with Europe for us being the softest, slightly better in Americas. 5% organic growth in Americas, which is kind of on a high level, driven a little bit by product deliveries, but that's the way it is. Nevertheless, good solid quarter and a very solid quarter also for Asia, then particularly strong in China for us.
Overall strong in Asia and a kind of a little bit bounce back in Americas and then Europe a little bit softer. In all areas on levels, which I mean, we have not seen for some time, especially if we talk about Americas and Europe while Asia continues on a good level, as you've seen throughout the year for Trelleborg. Turning to page five, the agenda slide, business areas, and then quickly turning to page six with some more detailed comments on Industrial Solutions, organic growth, and we say stable margin and slight uptick in margin. Organic sales 2%, M&A adding 4%. Also, as others here, a negative exchange rate of some 6%. Also behind these figures, we see oil and gas product declined in the quarter, sales declined in the quarter, but that is mainly due to a rather tough year-on-year comparison.
Overall, market still developing well and a very solid cash flow, but that some of these sales is rather project heavy. It is that it sometimes goes up a little bit and sometimes a bit down, and this quarter was a little bit down in the sales, but it's not, once again, it's not a reflection of overall lower activity in this part of the business. Construction industry still muted, but we noted satisfaction that is getting slightly better if we look sequentially, although still, let's say, quite strong decline if we compare year- on- year. Once again, some light in the tunnel and some improvements kicking in. Automotive sales increased in the quarter. I mean, it's been a little bit, how should I say, a little bit strange quarter, if I may say, for automotive.
Those of you following automotive see that it's still relatively tough sales in Europe and North America. China was extraordinary in the quarter, which is, let's say, 10%+ organic growth. I mean, the business that we have in Industrial Solutions has a very good market share in China, and that is where we benefit from this. We have actually a strong development in automotive within Industrial Solutions in this quarter. EBITDA and margin improved slightly. Industrial Solutions is a fairly diverse business, and there are some ups and downs always. Overall, we continue to move in the right direction. We continue to improve. It's not major steps. It's a hard work coming from kind of operational focus and also some of these structural investments, structural improvements kicking in. Overall, a good quarter, well managed in more or less all aspects.
We also should note that when we look at the margin here, these acquisitions that we've been doing are on a lower margin than the overall, and we have some 10s of a percent negative kicking in for that. It could be zero, I don't know, looking at Fredrik, 0.3%, 0.5% on the margin actually coming from kind of these acquisitions kicking in. It will take us a year or so before we can get them back to the overall margin of Industrial Solutions. That is also something that you need to note when you look at the margin development within Industrial Solutions. Turning to page seven and Trelleborg Medical Solutions, strong organic sales growth. Organic sales is up by 13%. M&A not doing any changes, so zero impact from that.
We have to note here as well that we have some product deliveries related to one of our major customers, which is, let's say, boosting the sales dramatically in the sales. If you look underlying and try to kind of neglect these organic sales, the more correct probably underlying organic sales is more in the kind of the mid-single-digit territory. Metric sales, we see also metric sales in Europe developing well. North America, where we still, yeah, struggle is the wrong word, but we still see some negative development where we still have some inventory issues. We don't see the overall activity going down, but we still see our sales is a little bit below where it should be. We are pretty certain that we're still impacted by inventory reductions in especially North America, which we have been for some time.
Honestly, we believe that it's going to turn the corner, but we see it continues and it's difficult to really see through exactly when it will turn. We continue to gain business, we continue to gain orders, and we are overall satisfied with the development, even though the sales, we would like to sell more, of course, in America as well going forward. Life science, which is a kind of the smaller segment of medical, is developing, if I may say, very nice. We are growing that and we are starting, we have been investing in that segment with new factories, both in North America and in Europe. With satisfaction, we see that these investments are slowly, let's say, benefiting us. That is an area also where we see continued growth going forward. EBIT margin up and also, let's say, in absolute terms, we have EBITDA up.
It's higher volumes as you expect, but also continuous structural improvements, especially starting to benefit from, or continuing to benefit from this acquisition of Baron that was made, let's say, a year ago now. Turning then to page eight, Sealing Solutions. If I may say, very solid organic growth in the quarter coming from several areas. If I should highlight something, it's really that we have underlying kind of industrials. The big kind of industrial segment of TSS is starting to do better. We see now growth in Europe kicking in. Asia continued on a good level, which has been good for us for quite some time. We continue to see some weakness in North America. Overall, this core segment of Sealing Solutions improved in the quarter, both with sales and also kind of a higher activity level.
Automotive for TSS is still below last year, particularly still impacted by, let's say, very soft development, very soft development in the aftermarket business. We cannot, I mean, it's not like the aftermarket in itself is down. It's more that we see a very, let's say, uncertainty, especially in the North American market. We see that they are downsizing in stock, inventories are down, and we do expect it to kick back. Once also here, we don't know exactly when. It is kind of, we are supplying substantially below the market demand for a few quarters here, and we do expect that to bounce back eventually. We note in automotive here as well, as we also commented on TSS, very good development in China.
We have a good market share for some of the products in TSS, especially that's our shim business, our brake business has a solid market share in China. Of course, we are benefiting from that as the Chinese market has been developing very, very good in the quarter. Aerospace, very strong all over. We continue to, let's say, get more orders than we sell. Order book is growing and the activity level is growing. Of course, we note, as I trust the ones of you who are following aerospace, that both Airbus and Boeing are very ambitious in the growth plans going forward. We, of course, do our best to follow that. Good development in aerospace. Overall, this means that EBITDA and margin is improving. Higher production volumes kicking in. We have been underproducing for some time. We see also the benefits from the operational improvements.
We also have to note also here, we have a negative impact from acquisitions being made, which is kind of the same dimension as we see in Industrial Solutions. Some 0.3%, 0.5% negative impact on the margin if we are trying to kind of adjust for the acquisitions. We're doing the acquisitions, of course, because we believe they are good for us and they are improving the business overall. It will take some time to get all of these improvements into the margin. Already comment on the Masters eal acquisition in Singapore.
That is part of a small acquisition, but it's part of an overall game plan to strengthen our activity within, let's say, aftermarket for seals and especially related to oil and gas and mining and other segments, which is more kind of project-related, where you need, let's say, local presence in order to get this business into our books. That's happy to be with that. We think it's a good strategic add-on, although once again on a very minor level compared to the overall sales of Trelleborg. Turning to page nine, some comments on sustainability. Continue to improve substantially. I mean, we say here we are not getting to the end of the game, but we are getting down to levels of CO2 emissions from our scope 1 and scope 2, which is kind of becoming very low. We, of course, are going to continue to improve.
We continue to do better also in this aspect. I mean, do not expect these kind of improvement steps going forward. Next page, page 10, and it's basically the same here. We have a substantial tick up in a sense of share of renewable and fossil-free electricity. We are now up to 92%. I mean, the remainder here is very difficult because in some geographies you actually cannot get it. We are getting also here to a situation where we cannot improve that much anymore, to be honest, because we are, let's say, stopped either by very major investments to turn it around or that is simply not available in a few geographies. Very good development. Very happy to show this. There were continued good developments in sustainability. We are doing good in these aspects. I mean, once again, the focus going, we cannot improve on this criteria.
The focus going forward will be more smaller steps and more kind of what we call, I say, energy excellence programs where we're working hard with all the factories in order to improve and to do better in more minor aspects. These big steps, you will not see these big steps going forward, but we're getting to a situation, I don't say being perfect, but we're getting to a level where we cannot justify the final steps to get it even better. Turning then to agenda slide again, page 11, financials, and page 12, and leave it over to Fredrik to guide us through this section.
Thank you, Peter. Let's then start on page 12, looking at the sales development. Reporting net sales increased by 1% from SEK 8.442 billion to SEK 8.532 billion. We have organic sales growth in all three business areas in total 4%. Structural changes added 3% growth in the quarter. As Peter mentioned, we have negative translation effects that reduced the growth by 6% during the quarter. If we then move to page 13, showing the historical sales growth. In the third quarter, we were close to our sales growth target, achieving 7% sales growth with a constant FX. Looking at page 14, showing the quarterly sales and rolling 12 for continuing operations. The sales in the quarter, as I said, reached SEK 8.5 billion. At rolling 12 months, it reached SEK 34.7 billion.
Moving on to page 15, looking at the EBITDA and the EBITDA margin that continued to improve further. EBITDA excluding items affecting comparability increased by 5% to SEK 1.541 billion in the third quarter. We saw profit growth in all three business areas. Looking at Industrial Solutions, which was up 1% in EBITDA due to operational structural improvements, which was partly offset by negative translation effects. Medical Solutions was up 10% in the quarter. Finally, Sealing Solutions was up 6% in the quarter due to higher production volumes and operational improvements. Margin-wise, we rose from 17.3% up to 18.1%, supported by the organic volume growth and the operational improvements. Looking at the EBITDA and EBITDA margin on a rolling 12-month basis, EBITDA amounted to SEK 6.331 billion with a margin of 18.2%. EBITDA has been growing with 6% during the last 12 months.
Moving on to the profit and loss statement, looking into some more details in the income statements. Items affecting comparability, SEK 72 million in the quarter, which was entirely related to restructuring costs for adjusting our cost base and due to the recent acquisition. Financial net, I would say on par compared to last year, SEK 126 million compared to SEK 128 million. This is actually despite that the debt level is higher this year. That is also a good achievement. Tax rate for the quarter, excluding items affecting comparability, amounted to 26%, a slight increase due to timing. Page 18, earnings per share, excluding items affecting comparability, amounted to SEK 4.20 in the quarter, an increase by 11%. That was due to the higher profitability and the effect of the ongoing share buyback program.
For the group, including items affecting comparability, earnings per share were up SEK 3.94, also 11% up. Moving on to page 19. As Peter mentioned, we have a very strong cash flow in the quarter, which reached SEK 1,741 million. On a high level, half of the improvement came from the higher EBITDA and the rest from efficient management of the working capital. CapEx is well aligned with the communicated guidelines for the full year, but marginally higher than Q3 last year. Moving on to page 20, the cash flow conversion was 92%. We continue to deliver a high cash conversion ratio. Moving on, page 21, the gearing and the leverage development. Net debt at the end of the quarter at SEK 8,280 million. Share buyback during the quarter was SEK 554 million. Ended the quarter with a debt equity ratio at 22%. Small improvement compared to Q2.
Net debt in relation to EBITDA 1.1, which was slightly higher than year-end. Of course, we had also paid out the dividend during the second quarter and we had continued the share buyback program. In other words, our balance sheet remains strong. Moving on to page 22, return on capital employed reached 12% for the quarter. Our capital employed has increased compared to last year, mainly due to the acquisitions. I would also like to note that our return on capital employed has sequentially increased from Q2 to Q3. Finally, the financial guidelines for 2025, unchanged compared to what we communicated after our second quarter. CapEx, SEK 1,650 million for the full year. Restructuring cost, around SEK 500 million for the full year as well. Amortization of intangibles, SEK 650 million. Underlying tax rate for the full year, around 25%.
By that, I would like to hand back the microphone to Peter.
Thank you. Agenda slide, summary and outlook. Quickly turning to page 25. Looking at the quarter, organic growth with higher margins, good quarter overall, but we picked out a few highlights. We see in the quarter an improved, generally an improved demand, higher activity levels, or continued high activity level in some areas. We see an improvement in that. We also note with satisfaction, of course, that all our three business areas recorded organic growth in the quarter, which has been quite some time since we saw that the last time. Overall, better activity, although not a kind of a big jump upwards, nevertheless, improvements in most areas. We also note that these higher sales are also improving our margins.
We have a fairly sizable uptick in margin year- on- year, and it then boils down to the strongest third quarter to date, both in terms of profit and margin. We also note that we continue to do what we call value-adding M&A, although, in impact, this is our 10th bolt-on acquisition since Q3 last year. Of course, this is a high activity level. It is, as we said before, impacting our margin negatively in Sealing Solutions and Industrial Solutions, but we are at the same time improving our overall positions. We are very certain that this, when they are fully integrated, there will not be a drain on the margin or rather the opposite. It takes some time to get there.
We also note that with continued buybacks, we continue to have a solid balance sheet, which is, let's say, allowing us both to continue on a high CapEx level, continue to do M&A, continue to absorb the growth, which is in the quarter in terms of working capital, and also, on top of that, continue to do share buybacks. That was the summary. Turning to the last quarter, and then turning to page 26 and some outlook, we expect the demand to remain on this level. For those of you who have read the report, you see that we have these extraordinary project sales within Medical Solutions. They are not going to kick in.
With this outlook, you should read it that the continued overall demand, we might be, we do not know exactly, as we otherwise would not sit here exactly where we end up, but we believe that this is probably not going to be north of 4% in the next quarter. We could be one percentage point or some lower than 4%, but we believe it is going to be on a similar level. If this continued higher activity level remains, then we will look with more positivism on the future. With this comment, of course, we also know now there is still a big, what we call a geopolitical situation or geopolitical challenges out there, and things might happen which could impact the demand short term. That is, of course, with this comment on a continued good market, it comes with this kind of comment.
Turning to page 27 agenda and to the final agenda point, and turning to page 28 and opening up for questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Alexander Jones from BofA. Please go ahead.
Great. Good morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions. If I can have two, please. The first on Sealing Solutions and specifically the industrial business within that. You talked about higher growth this quarter. Could you help us understand, was that broad-based or were there particular end markets within industrial driving that? To what extent was that the end market improving or more market share gains and innovation success that you've had as Trelleborg? The second question, if I can, just on the medical business, can I clarify on the one-off project sales this quarter? Is there any element there of pull forward that will be reversed in future quarters or is that just sort of one-off extra sales that we should not extrapolate in our future numbers? Thank you.
Yeah. Hi, Alexander. Talking, starting with the medical one, that is really a startup of a new program for one of our customers with a one-off delivery. It's not really about impacting the future. It's not kind of a pull from any future sales. It's simply sales in the quarter due to the link of they're starting a new program. That is kind of the way it is sometimes. It's not any forward buying or something. It's simply a one-off sales. Nothing really that we need. We don't expect it to impact the sales going forward. That's it. If you talk about industrial, one thing is also on the industrial sales of sealing, which we've seen in the quarter. We have been for quite a few quarters talking about the stocking in these activities. One of the impacts in the quarter is no more the stocking.
We are supplying in line with the underlying demand. That is one of the impacts. We don't see still, let's say, the inventory build-up. We still believe that there is, I say, supplying, but we are not oversupplying in the way that they are building stock. The core driver for this is kind of the biggest subsegment, if I say, in sealing, which is more hydraulics, machinery, and this kind of core industrial business. That is where we see the improvements. We are not surprised. I shouldn't say we are surprised because it's been undersupplying for a few quarters. Now we feel that we're supplying in line with the overall demand. I don't know whether that is enough for you.
Yeah, that's very helpful. Thank you.
The next question comes from Agnieszka Vilela from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. I have a few questions, maybe starting with the first one on the growth trajectory in the quarter. If you could share any flavor, how was development in September? How is it progressing in October? Peter, I think before you used to refer to your order intake. How is that developing right now for you?
I mean, it was an improvement throughout the quarter, but also the trick on Q3. All September is always important since the other two months are a little bit impacted by vacation periods. It was kind of an acceleration in the quarter, a stronger ending than the beginning in the quarter. We don't, let's say, put too much emphasis on that one, but it is kind of an improvement in the quarter, if I may say. October, I mean, we don't see any kind of differences, and we don't really want to comment on it. It's really overall guidance remained that we believe it's going to be, say, same growth in Q4 with, let's say, some adjustments coming from these extraordinary sales in medical. Might read this, I mean, it might not be four, it might be three. I mean, we don't really know.
We have an overall good order intake. We have an overall good activity level. We should say book-to-bill in the quarter is positive. We have booked more orders in Q3 than we have been selling. We are growing the order book. We also remain a little bit cautious on this because we know there is inventory focus, cash flow focus on some customers. We don't really want to read too much into it. If we simply did the Excel sheet calculation, then of course, we will, let's say, be more positive than negative in that one. I don't know whether that is enough, Agnieszka, for you.
Absolutely. Maybe if you could give us some color on the regional development as well. Obviously, you have had very strong development in Asia, now followed by Americas, Europe also now slightly positive. In the next few quarters, do you expect any changes to this order, like any other, you know, any region taking over?
No. I mean, I think Asia has been a little bit extraordinarily strong, especially in automotive since we had this big boost. I can't remember exactly, but I think production levels in China for automotive were up, as I'm 12%, 13%. That's, of course, since we have a high, good position with a few of our automotive segments that is benefiting us. Also, the overall industrial development in Asia, especially in China, has been good for us. Somewhat difficult to fully understand, to be honest. It's been ongoing for quite a few quarters, and we do not expect that to be, of course, comms getting more difficult going forward. Nevertheless, a good development in there. Europe is probably more tricky in a way to read. We will see, I mean, in the core, as I was commenting before, the core industrial segments of TSS is improving.
That is more, part of it is a reflection that no more the stocking and more of kind of delivery in line with underlying demand. We do not see any kind of inventory build-up at the moment. That is, of course, if it turns more positive, we will see that as well. We've been undersupplying for a few quarters. We do expect as the markets, if the markets turn more positive, that we will be oversupplying. We don't really see that happening short term. If we go into early next year and this development continues, we're probably going to have some of that. The U.S. is probably for us a little bit more positive than it should be because we have a few product deliveries in the U.S., which is kind of impacting the sales there.
Nevertheless, let's say for us in a good positive territory also coming there from kind of hydraulics and pneumatic segments, which is also part of our core business in North America for sealing. I said, yes, that is, I don't know, Fredrik, if you want to elaborate. I think that that is kind of just to be a little bit more colorful on that development.
That's very helpful. The last one from me, I noticed that you didn't really mention the tariff impact in your report or in your presentation. Was there any kind of gross tariffs now affecting you in the quarter?
We have a few individual businesses where we need to kind of redo the supply chain and working with that. Overall, it's kind of minor activity. That is why we don't see that as kind of impacting us. We have a very regional setup. We have, like I said, manufacturing in Asia. We have manufacturing in Europe. We have manufacturing in the U.S. We don't really have a lot of these flows going across. The challenge here is more the metal content where we need to find out. We have a few products where we have metal content, and that is something where we need to work. That is also a question going forward on these tariffs in Europe because some of the export business from Europe into other territories might be impacted by that. It kind of remains an action point, and that is something we're working on.
Overall, on group level, we don't see this as any topic in a way, to be honest. Underlying demand could be impacted, as you say. For our trading and margins, it's not really something that we discuss too much.
Yeah, understood. Thank you.
The next question comes from Forbes Goldman from Pareto Securities. Please go ahead.
Good morning. One question on the TSS margin, which was quite strong here in the quarter. Is this the start of a sustained recovery there? How are you thinking about the 23% target from here? What do you sort of need to reach it?
No, I mean, it is a solid, let's say, step in the right direction. Looking at the margin, of course, once again, you need to remind yourself as well that we have also a negative impact from the acquisitions. Of course, it is a step up compared to last year. We have always said that we're going to get this back to our levels, and this is kind of a step in that direction. I don't want to guide exactly what kind of quarter, but it is coming as expected, as planned, if I may say, this margin expansion coming from a little bit bounce back in our core segments of Sealing Solutions. I mean, that is what we've been waiting for. Once again, we refer to this kind of fluid power, hydraulics, pneumatics, that segment, which is the major part of Sealing Solutions.
That is the area which is going to drive this improvement by extra volumes. Also, in that extra volumes in the right areas, if I may say, because it's also driving a kind of a positive mix within Sealing Solutions. This is a step in the right direction. We still have the kind of overall objective to get back to this, say, 22%, 23%, 24%. I mean, that is where we want it to be. We are fairly certain that we are moving in that direction.
Great. I have a follow-up on that. TSS margins are typically seasonally weaker during the second half of the year. Could you maybe just say anything directionally about Q4?
No, we don't want to do, I mean, we are moving in the right direction. We are, of course, I mean, TSS is more, how should I say, consumable where we supply into the supply chains of a large number of industrial customers. There is always Christmas breaks and all of that. It's always a little bit softer by the end of the year, depending on the activity level they're planning for after the holidays. That is the same seasonality as we always have. I don't know if we can comment any more on that. I don't think so. That is the way it is.
Yeah. Final follow-up on the restructuring costs, looks like a quite big step up here into Q4. Anything in particular happening there?
No, nothing really. It's more timing. There are some projects that we have worked with for a while, and that will be booked as restructuring costs during the fourth quarter.
All right. Great quarter. Thank you. Bye.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Hampus Engellau from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. Could we discuss organic growth on the group level, and I guess also in Sealing Solutions, if you would remove automotive, just to get a sense on how the underlying ex-autos is moving given that we have an opinion on autos going forward? Thank you.
Automotive in Sealing Solutions was not positive. That is something where we still, because they are severely hit, but they are hit by especially aftermarket drop for our brake business. That is kind of negative. If we neglect for the automotive in Sealing Solutions, it's actually going to be even better. That is the one. We are benefiting from the China OE sales, but that is in no way compensating for the drop in the aftermarket business. For TESA, it's not a major impact, Hampus, to be honest, but where there is a slight positive in Industrial Solutions in this, what you call our boots business, where we have a very strong market share in China as well. That is where we are benefiting. It's neglectable in a way if you look at Industrial because it's not a major business of Industrial Solutions, but it is positive. That's the one.
The underlying kind of non-automotive organic growth in Sealing Solutions is actually slightly better.
Excellent. Do you dare giving some indications on how you see auto parts and sealing maybe for Q4? I guess you're looking at the S&P numbers and also have an opinion on the aftermarket.
On the aftermarket, sorry.
I guess I'm fetching for it if you're ready.
Yeah, no, I mean.
If you're looking in Q4.
To be honest, at that time, we are a little bit surprised that it continued on this low level. It's not that people are kind of changing less brakes. The only thing we can read into this is that where we have some tariffs, we have some metal content in those, and some of our aftermarket customers are kind of reluctant to build. Also, when they order from us in Europe and we're sending to the U.S., it takes six to eight weeks. It seems like they are not buying, they're not speculating. Of course, their stock is going down and eventually they need to fill it up. That is where we are a little bit surprised, to be honest, about this rather dramatic drop in the aftermarket, which is not, I mean, it's not that either that they can buy from anybody else.
They need to buy from us because we are specified and we are kind of regional equipment suppliers. That is kind of strange, which we have now seen for two, three quarters. Two, three quarters. That is something where we don't fully understand. Sometimes you try to understand, but sometimes you cannot get the right answers. It cannot continue on that, I mean, let's put it, it cannot continue on that level unless people are neglecting, not changing brakes anymore.
Super. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Timothy Lee from Barclays . Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my questions. I have a follow-up question on launch. For Sealing Solutions, there's definitely a very good market development in the quarter. Can I also say that it is implying some synergies that you get finally from the previous acquisition of MRP? Is it something that is finally kicking in in the quarter? Also, in terms of your previous targets of the 20% one-way EBITDA margin by the end of this fiscal year, is that still something you are looking for?
Talk about synergies, of course. We have always said on MRP that some of the major impact is coming from this hydraulic fluid power segment. As we now see finally some improvements on that, we're getting some benefits from that into the figures. MRP is getting more into normal business for us. It's not really synergy as such. It's more that the market segments, which were strengthened by the MRP, have been very soft. Now we see these markets getting back, and we get the benefits into the figure. We are not at the end of that one because it still has to go up. We are still, I don't know exactly the figures, but we are probably still some 15% or something below the levels where we believe it should be in that particular segment. That is still at a low activity.
Especially if you look at what the farming in the U.S., you look at a little bit of construction equipment, which is still, especially the agriculture looks still very soft. That's where, starting, if you talk to the new administration in the U.S., I don't know. It's difficult to guess where they're heading. One of the areas which I have not been supporting yet and which has been suffering is, of course, the farmers in the U.S. If something comes into that area, we should see even better improvements, especially in that segment. About the 20% is still within reach, but it's going to be tough to get there. To be very open, to get to that level here already in Q4. We are moving in the right direction, and we still see that within reach in a not too distant future.
I shouldn't sit here and say that we can get to 20% in Q4 because there have been some market development. We know the tariff situation. We know the geopolitical areas, and we know this kind of softness still in the construction and, let's say, still quite some distance to go before we are back to normal, especially in this fluid power, which is once again the major segment of Sealing Solutions.
Understood. Very helpful. Thank you. My another question would be on your M&A potential. Continental actually previously mentioned they could probably look for the divestment of their QuantiTech business. I'm not sure whether you can comment on this or whether it is something that you may see interest or if it's in your M&A to your portfolio.
Yeah. I mean, the overall QuantiTech is definitely not of interest for us because the majority of the QuantiTech business has no, I would say, we are in the same overall segment. If you look at their conveyor belts or timing belts or also this, what I call surface solutions, it's nothing to do with that. We have some overlap in terms of non-automotive antivibration and some fluid or hoses, which, of course, we will be interested if we could cherry-pick. I don't think there will be any kind of cherry-pick possibilities. I mean, we're watching it and we're looking at it. Overall, QuantiTech is not of interest for us.
Understood. Thank you very much.
There are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you. Thanks for listening in our quarterly call and summary. A good quarter for us, a good organic growth, a good margin development, and an improved demand throughout the quarter. We still note that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the, let's say, the global arena. That is, of course, something we're watching. We feel confident that we're going to continue to improve Trelleborg and we continue to build a better Trelleborg with ambition, of course, to deliver even better figures going forward. Thanks to all of you. I'm happy to support you in individual calls. Christofer is always available, and so are Fredrik and myself if you want any follow-up discussions or get some clarity on other issues not covered in the call. Thanks again. See you soon and do take.