Hello, everybody, and welcome to this half-year report of Trelleborg, and more focused on our quarter two performance of 2023. As usual in these calls, I, Peter Nilsson, is starting the call and also ending it. In between also, I will have Fredrik Nilsson, our CFO, assisting with the financials. Also in the room here, we have also Christofer Sjögren, Head of Investor Relations, if there is any questions that might be directed to him as well, so you know that he might join as well. Kicking off, as usual, using the presentation that is on our webpage as a guidance throughout this call.
Turning to page two in this deck agenda, starting off with the highlights, then some individual comments on our business areas, then Fredrik will guide you through the financials before I do the summary, also some comments on the running quarter, as usual, also finishing off with a Q&A session. Turning to page three, heading for our quarter, another strong quarter, we are performing good, we are generally satisfied with the development throughout the quarter. Sales came in with SEK 8.7 billion, which is a strong increase compared to last year, an increase of 18%, which is then split on organic sales, 3%, M&A 9%, currency 6%.
EBITA up by 14% to SEK 1,563 million, which is then corresponding to 17.9%. Maybe there a comment, I saw some of the early flashes here that you're ending up at 18.0, and this is a rounding error, in our calculation is actually ending up in 17.94. When you calculated it with full millions, it's actually coming up at 18.0. That is a discrepancy here which might be noted with by some of you. This is the highest quarterly EBITA to date for us. Items affecting comparability coming up at - 194, and we're also increasing the guidance on items affecting comparability. Fredrik will get back and comment on that in his part of the presentation.
Very strong cash flow in the quarter, which of course, very satisfactory as well, that we see that we are managing inventory, we are managing accounts receivables, and managing our purchasing in a good way, which is basically a doubling of the cash flow compared to two years ago, with a very strong cash conversion now also in the last 12 months, but also that Fredrik will come back and comment more focus on that. A very, kind of, a very. What should I say?
A quarter which dramatically changed Trelleborg in a way that we now finally, you might say, we concluded in the quarter, we concluded the divestments of our tire business and as well our printing blanket operations, which then, let's say, finally leaving this behind us, and now we can focus on the remaining Trelleborg fully. Following this, we also had a Capital Markets Day in the quarter, where we then increased both our financial as well as our sustainability targets, which I trust all of you, or most of you, already have noticed.
We'll not comment a lot about that in this call, but those of you who want more of that, you can go back and read on the press release from this Capital Markets Day, and also, of course, mentioned also in the quarterly report. A very, let's say, a quarter for us with a lot of things happening, and with a strong focus on the future of Trelleborg. I'll back and comment on that now that we are building a new Trelleborg, and with a strong focus on what Trelleborg is to be, but meanwhile, also delivering, we feel, strong figures in the quarter. Moving to page four, and more comments on the organic sales.
Here also, rounding, just to be also clear on that, our exact organic growth is actually 3.4%, so a little bit closer to 4% than maybe some of you noted in your comments, at least yourself and analysts noted in your comments. The total is 3.4%, which is then basically even split, where we have 3% in Europe, 4% North and South America, and 4% in Asia and rest of the world. Very evenly split organic sales in the geographical regions that we are following across the world. Page five then, agenda, again, business areas, and then quickly moving to page six, which I comment on Industrial Solutions.
We're heading here, solid quarter in all aspects, organic sales +6, which is somewhat, let's say, mixed performance throughout the different segments. Nevertheless, let's say, a solid +6 in the quarter. Very strong sales, especially for LNG-related businesses and also for marine solutions and port and marine operations. We also see healthy growth in aerospace, also automotive, OE kicking back. Also we have some nice railway projects being delivered in the quarter. Somewhat weaker sales, which is, I guess, well known. Residential construction is down with fairly sizable figures. Certain industrial segments with less so down. Nevertheless, we continue to note that the sales that we have into kind of wholesaler or distributor networks was weak for us in the quarter.
Overall, EBITDA improved on sales growth. We're keeping the very strong margin from last year, which was kind of a record high margin a year ago. We are happy to deliver a margin very well in line with this very strong quarter a year ago. Also satisfactory, we can say that inflation, which is, of course, hitting us both in raw material, even though raw material is flattening out, but we see this kind of labor inflation and general inflation, of course, still hurting the business. We feel satisfied with the fact that we have been fully able to compensate for this. A very solid quarter in Industrial Solutions, happy with the performance and well-managed in most aspects. Look at Sealing, also well-managed, but here the demand picture somewhat more mixed.
Organic sales up about 1%, of course, M&A kicking in with 16% up, and then some currency on top of that, which means it's a very strong growth for 23% in sales in the quarter in Swedish kronors. Sales growing in Americas, flattish in Europe, and weaker in Asia, where we have a little bit slower sales development in China, especially for us, where other markets is somewhat compensating. China is the biggest market for us in Asia, and we have had a fairly weak sales in China in the quarter. Also overall in the business areas, we will note the sales to aerospace and healthcare medical increased considerably, we say.
We are investing into these segments, which is also partly an expectation on the lower margin, that we are kind of adding resources in order to create even better growth platforms and make sure that we create solid growth in this aerospace and healthcare medical, and also in some other segments that we have deemed them to be, our, what we call, the speedboats for Sealing Solutions. We are investing in this, we are not really focusing on this individual quarter. We are very focused on creating a platform for the future. Sales automotive increased slightly. We although, saw some mixed performance there between OE and aftermarket, where OE was strong, while aftermarket, a little bit surprisingly, was a bit lower in the quarter, but we see that bouncing back. Also, industrial demand is mixed.
If you look at the different geographies, and we look at the different segments, we note that some of the segments, like the more construction-related segments or, more construction equipment-related segments, are a little bit lower, while other industrial segments are better. Here, we, our view in it is that we also see some inventory reduction among some of our customers in these segments, and that is something, of course, we're watching carefully and where we are a little bit, let's say, inflexible in the way we are to manage this. EBITDA improved in the quarter on the higher sales and the integration of M&A, while the EBITDA margin was somewhat down.
Well known that the initially lower margin that we get from, the, this, acquired growth here, we also, which I will comment, and we are also investing, so we have some sizable number of new headcounts here in order to create better growth for the future. Overall, moving forward in the right direction within Sealing Solutions. We are building a new platform, we are integrating Minnesota Rubber in a good way, and we are refocusing the business a little bit to make sure that we are creating a better long-term growth platform for Sealing Solutions. Turning to page 8, which is the sustainability KPI.
We are improving, as you see, especially intensity. We also note here that the incoming Minnesota is not as good as the rest of Trelleborg. We see future improvement possibilities there. Nevertheless, overall, still an improvement in terms of CO2. We are feeling more and more confident that we will be able to deliver on our long-term targets here, which relates to CO2 emissions and CO2 intensity. Moving down to page nine, where we especially track two other areas: sustainability and renewable energy. Also here, you see, even though it's a 1 percentage point up, also here, we note that Minnesota is coming on with almost zero renewable energy. If we exclude Minnesota, we have a better improvement here.
I think we're going, if I remember it correctly, from 46 up to 53, and now, of course, we also start to work with Minnesota, and we do see great opportunities to improve on this. We're still comfortable also in this aspect, that we will continue to improve considerably in the next quarters. Tracking and also monitoring externally is our lost work cases. In this one also, we see, even though it's a small number in total, we are not overly concerned with this, but we note with satisfaction also here that this is kind of getting better, and this is also an area we will continue to invest, and we will continue to improve. Turning to page 10, agenda, financials, then leaving to Fredrik to guide you through, starting at page 11. Fredrik, please go ahead.
Thank you, Peter. Looking at the sales development, organic sales increased by 3% in the quarter, with organic growth in both business area. Reporting net sales up 18% in the quarter. We have 9% impact from acquisitions, currency added another 6%. Moving on to page 12, showing the historical organic growth. The second quarter was another quarter above our sales growth target. As you also can see in the graph, we have now 9 quarters in a row that has been above 8%.
Moving on to page 13, showing the quarterly sales around 12 months for continuing operations. The SEK 8.696 billion in sales were the highest for a second quarter. If we look at rolling 12 months, the sales reached SEK 33.1 billion. Moving on to page 14, we have a record high EBITDA for a quarter. It has reached SEK 1.563 billion. There was an increase with 14% compared to corresponding quarter, with profit growth, as Peter mentioned, for both Trelleborg Industrial Solutions and Trelleborg Sealing Solutions. In the result, there was also a positive FX translation impact of SEK 63 million in the quarter. The EBITDA margin, 17.9% in the quarter, which was initially impacted by acquisitions with lower margin.
Moving on to page 15 and looking at EBITDA and EBITDA margin on rolling 12 months, the positive trend on EBITDA continued during the quarter, while the margin declined, as earlier mentioned. Looking at rolling 12, the EBITDA amounted to almost SEK 5.8 billion and with a margin of 17.4%. Moving on to page 16, going into some further details in the profit and loss. We have items affecting comparability in the quarter of SEK 194 million. We have taken some initiative to adjust our cost base. That's the reason why you're seeing a higher amount during the second quarter compared to the first quarter. I will come back with the guidance for the full year a little bit later.
If you continue further down in the income statement, we have a financial net, which was positive in the quarter, SEK 140 million, as it was impacted by a non-recurring income of SEK 218 million before tax. This was related that we closed some interest rate hedges in connection with repayment of loan when we divested the wheel business. Looking at tax rate was high in the quarter, 35%, compared to 24% last year, but it was impacted by a non-recurring tax expense of SEK 150 million in the quarter. This was due to that we made some changes in the group's legal structure after the wheels divestments. If we exclude for that one-off charge to the tax line, the underlying tax cost for the quarter was 25%.
Net profit for discontinued operations includes the capital gain for the tire business and printing blanket business. The total capital gain amounts to SEK 6.189 billion before tax, and SEK 6.052 billion after tax. Moving on to page 17, earnings per share. If you look at items affecting comparability, up nicely with 30% to SEK 4.71. If we're looking at the total group, of course, it was up quite significantly due to that we have the one-off gain linked to the wheels and the printing blanket business, it amounted to SEK 27.67 a share. Moving on to page 18, looking at the cash flow, which was really strong in the quarter, amounted to SEK 1.585 billion, compared to SEK 798 million a year ago.
Good EBITDA improvement, but even more encouraging, a strong working capital improvement compared to last year. As earlier communicated, CapEx slightly higher compared to last year. Moving on to cash conversion, and as Peter also mentioned, we have a good cash conversion. You can also see the trend is going in the right direction since a couple of quarters back. Moving on to page 20, gearing and leverage development. Here I would like to highlight that we are now in a net cash position, so all KPIs here will look negative, but that is due to that we are in a net cash position. If you look at the reported debt ratio, that becomes negative with - 4%, and net cash in relation to EBITDA is 0.1 in the quarter.
We have also continued to buy back share, own shares during the quarter, and that amounted to SEK 957 million during the second quarter. Moving on to page 21, Return on Capital Employed reached 13.9% in the quarter, and this was impacted by acquisitions, which initially has lower returns. I will finish off this section by the financial guidelines for the full year. Most of them are unchanged, but if we start with CapEx of SEK 1.5 billion for the full year, unchanged. Restructuring costs, we have increased from SEK 250 to SEK 400, and that is due to that we are adjusted our cost base to the somewhat lower demand, and also that we are working with some of the acquisitions to realize some of the synergies.
Amortization on intangibles unchanged of SEK 500 million. Underlying tax rate for the full year remains unchanged at 26%. With that, I would like to hand back the microphone to you, Peter.
Thank you. Quickly moving on to page 23. Agenda, again, the summary and some finishing off, and then comments on the outlook for the running quarter. Page 24, another strong quarter. Strong sales increase of 18%, a split on organic sales, M&A up almost 10%. Currency, of course, also benefit, as we all know, from the Swedish krona's weakness. EBITDA up by 14% and to a margin of 17.9 or 18.0, depending on how you calculate. This is then turning out to the highest quarterly EBITDA to date.
Items affecting comparability is somewhat higher on a higher level, which also Fredrik will comment on, linked to some ongoing measures to adjust in the areas where we are, let's say, hit with the lower demand, but also to make sure that we get the synergies out of the acquisitions kind of announced. Cash flow very strong, almost doubling to a year ago, which then turning into a very solid cash conversion. Of course, also we note the satisfaction, which all of you already know, that we have, let's say, fully finalized now the disposals of the tire business and the printing blankets, and that is also on the Capital Market Day, which we held a few months ago. We also updated our financial and sustainability targets.
Once again, you can read more about them in the press release from this event or in our quarterly report. Turning to page 25, we are guiding for the running quarter to have a somewhat lower than the second quarter. We are not really seeing yet, if I say, the underlying demand deteriorating. Of course, we note with kind of some awareness that, let's say, the external macro data continues to go down. We also see our customers in some areas becoming a little more careful with focusing on inventory and also with kind of the order backlog. We also see that some of the customers being a little more careful.
All in all, we make the conclusion that it's going to continue to be a somewhat lower demand in Q3, compared to Q2. No drama in this, and this is a direction which we feel is well in line with the kind of the way. Once again, all the macro data is being reported, and the guidance that we usually follow, ISM or VDMA or whatever, is of course, pointing towards a slightly sour environment.
That is the kind of development which actually we are quite okay with, as we are kind of working on integration of acquisitions, and we're working in creating a better platform for growth being forward, and also with the strong balance sheet we have and our ambition to continue to make M&A, which is also might be a development which is actually good for us in these aspects, and that is something, of course, we're working actively with to try to utilize this uncertainty which we see in certain parts of the market. Of course, we know the geopolitical situation, as all of you know, with Russia, Ukraine, and other kind of discussions ongoing.
There is, let's say, as we see, it's a higher degree of uncertainty in these aspects than normally. That is why we're making a special point on that as well. Turning to page 26, agenda, Q&A, then quickly turning to page 27 and opening up for questions. Please go ahead, those of you interested in, getting some more flavor on this report. Please go ahead.
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 Karl Bokvist from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, thank you, and good afternoon. First one, just on the outlook comment there, and if you feel that the somewhat lower demand you anticipate is due to mainly a change in kind of end market demand, or if it's more related to the inventory adjustment among your customers?
It's a combination. We see in end markets, we say, let's say, construction-related end markets, indirectly some construction equipment, maybe some agriculture in those areas, which is a kind of a strong consumer of different kind of hydraulic, pneumatic power equipment, where we see a weakening. I mean, we see the order backlog. I don't know, I only briefly checked on the Volvo, but I saw they note the construction equipment is down by some 40%, if I'm correct. I mean, this is of course, something we also see in this part of the markets. But also in other areas, we also see this more focus on inventory and focus. I mean, we should say that is a part of inventory reduction, but also, I think, an impact from...
That is where it gets a little more difficult, the impact from a reduction in lead times, because the capacity is increasing, and we see that delivery time is getting shorter, and we see some of the customers order with kind of a little bit shorter cycles. But overall, it's a mix, it's a mix of, let's say, inventory reduction, for sure. Karl, we see in certain areas where we see it's a weakening. Also to balance that, of course, some strengthening, continuous strengthening, automotive doing fine, and we see also aerospace and medical health are continuing, and we see also some other, let's say, end markets, which is still strong.
Overall, we see in the big segment of Sealing Solutions with this kind of fluid power, which is related to construction equipment, different kind of tools and different kind of equipment, where there is a certain weakening for sure. I don't know whether that is enough for you?
Yeah. Yeah, no, that's good. Thank you. Then within Industrial Solutions, the EBITA margins are up.
... clearly compared to the first quarter. Seasonality is one thing, but there seems to be other aspects here as well. Could you just explain, if in case there are any particular aspects to keep in mind, and also just going forward, how we should think about the profitability within Industrial towards the coming quarters, really, in case there's also a bit of a slower end market?
I mean, we see there's a mix. I mean, we have already commented, and I mean, that is a good. I mean, within Industrial Solutions, there's a mix of early cycle, light cyclical, and the late cyclical, which is more railway, marine construction, and maybe some LNG is kind of living its own life in a way, oil and gas. There is a combination, and we, this is some up, some down, but it's well managed. We are, let's say, quickly adjusting for the down segments, while trying to benefit from the up segments. We don't really. It's not a particular change from before.
I mean, we, I think we guided on Capital Market Day that we're still aiming for a slight uptick in margin year-on-year. It's not going to be any drama. We feel that we're moving this business in a step-by-step improvement area, but I don't really want to give any more guideline exactly on the margin or what we're doing. This is a long-term efforts. Industrial Solutions has been improving for a multiple of years, step-by-step. That is kind of the ambition going forward as well.
Understood. Just the final one on the, perhaps, let's call it timing between now when you are investing and adding costs related to medical and Minnesota, and when you first expect to start realizing synergies, be it on revenue or cost?
Cost synergies is fairly okay. For Minnesota, I think that has been well delivered, but of course, the sales synergies which we're aiming for takes a little bit longer time. I mean, it's really, we have guided that we're gonna be back, and we have no kind of margin impact from lower initial margin on MRP in two, three years. I think that is something that we need to adjust to. Of course, step by step, we're gonna get closer to that overall margin within Sealing, and at the same time, also start to get the benefits from. We are already getting benefits in partly in aerospace and medical and healthcare, and that is something that we also continue to invest.
We are kind of ahead of the curve and maybe investing more than we get the benefits. If you simply focus on margin optimization, then probably we shouldn't invest in this, but we want to create a better long-term growth profile, and that is kind of our target at the moment, to build a better Trelleborg with a long-term focus, and to deliver on these targets that we have, that we're gonna get to an EBITDA margin of 20% plus, and on top of that, also delivering solid growth here of some above 8% annually.
I mean, we feel that we are well in line, well, let's say, geared up to achieve that, and that is kind of our target at the moment, to create the foundation which will deliver these financial KPIs over time.
Understood. That's all for me. Thank you.
The next question comes from Klas Bergelind from Citi. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Hi, Peter and Fredrik, Klas Bergelind at Citi. My first question was also on piece. I want to come back to the margin here. To me, at the Capital Markets Day, I really liked the margin ambition, but I struggled a little bit with the moving parts of why we should get this 50 basis points per annum improvement to the margin. I'm trying to understand to what extent this quarter had any project deliveries end of the quarter with a good margin. If that's the case, typically, those deliveries used to have a negative margin impact on projects, and it looks like it's projects with positive impact, which is good to see. If you could comment on that, Peter.
Are you talking about Trelleborg Industrial Solutions now, Klas-?
Yes
... especially or?
Yes.
Yeah, yeah. No, no. Industrial Solution is more project dependent, and it varies in between quarters, and that is why. Okay, I know you're focusing on the quarter, but for us, it's more a rolling 12 development, that there's gonna be some deviations between quarters. We feel that not necessarily, I mean, okay, that was probably, let's say, more the old story of a bad margin when we had kind of more oil and gas exposure and stuff like that. The projects is not necessarily having a worse margin. It varies a little bit, and of course, it comes on top. Contribution margin brings, it comes on top of everything else, but that's the way it is.
I mean, in general, I don't feel that, as I said, the project business is kind of worse than anything else. It's more a little bit bumpy.
Mm-hmm
on the sales side, but from a margin perspective, it's really not any kind of drag in any way as we see it.
If I may say also-.
Yeah
... I think you're correct, Klas, in that the project businesses that we supply today does have better margins than a few years ago, if you will, and we have divested a lot of projects that did not help contribute towards our margin ambitions. Whereas today's LNG, hoses, and so forth, tend to be a good project margin for us, since a couple of years or a year back. Yes.
That's great.
If we do invoice for a project today, it does not hamper the margins.
It's bumpy in sales.
That's great.
It's gonna be bumpy in sales, but not in margin.
Very good. My second one is on the construction verticals. Peter, can we talk through rough magnitude of declines here and by regions, you're going to meet easier comparatives in the second half, at least in Europe, and I'm trying to understand the volume declines better. Also, if you could help us with how much construction Europe is for you at group level? Finally, sorry, a lot of questions in one, how much is new build versus replacement?
If you say the construction, I mean, we have.
Yes
some early cycle construction, some late cycle construction. If you say early cycle construction, which is more kind of window manufacturers and stuff like that has only been hitting us in Europe since, as you say, a year ago. basically hitting us now in North America, and then we talk tens of % in a downturn in that segment. that is something we don't know exactly, honestly, how much is inventory for the window manufacturers and how much is really underlying demand. I think it's a combination, and we do expect that to, as I flatten out on a year-on-year comparison here by the end of the year, not necessarily in Q3, but probably going into Q4, it's gonna be more flattish year-on-year and potentially a slight uptick.
That is mainly hurting Industrial Solutions, which is then in Industrial Solutions being compensated with other strong segments. That is something which we don't see. That has been the dramatic downturn, if you may say. The other construction-related exposure we have is more in Sealing, which then comes into equipment for construction. That is an area where we, I think we are entering that. This quarter was a bit lower in order intake. We see that once again, I don't want to point out Volvo, they have to comment on their figures themselves, but we use that since that is kind of the flavor of the day, down by 40%.
It means, of course, that they start to order a bit less from us, and that is something we note now and where we probably saw a little bit this quarter, where we saw probably we expect it to escalate a little bit into going into Q3 in that segment. That is more difficult to quantify at the moment, to be honest. There, we're not talking tens of %, there maybe we're talking more, potentially 10%. For us, because there is also we're supplying both the OE into the aftermarket. That is something which is more difficult. There's more of inventory build up and stuff like that. When you talk about new construction, renovation, I mean, windows is a lot of, if you may say, renovations, but nevertheless, it's kind of...
There we see new construction, new skyrises and stuff like that, is still holding up fairly well. That is driven not by Europe, but more driven by Asia and Middle East and all of that. That is still okay, but we cannot really see how much of these window manufacturers who goes into, if I may say, renovation and new construction. We, we don't know that. I mean, we need to look. It's not a major part of Trelleborg. We don't want to kind of. As I said, I mean, the most dramatic downturn we have had is Industrial Solutions, but that is kind of more compensated, well compensated by other strong segments. That is kind of a mixed bag of business.
I don't know whether that does give you some more flavor on the way we look at that.
No, that's good. Very quick final one on the aftermarket in autos in Sealing Solutions. You said it was lower, but bouncing back. Are you seeing this already in July, or is this something you expect? I agree-
That was a temporary downturn, which was kind of unexpected for us, to be honest.
You have the brake shims there, which-.
Yeah, it's the brake business who was that one, and we are actually, that is bouncing back.
Yeah, we.
Okay.
We can confirm it was already bouncing back here during June.
Mm-hmm. It was a major impact.
Okay.
There's a few big customers in that one, making brake pads and for whatever reason, which once again, difficult for us to really fully understand, that they were kind of two of the bigger ones, suddenly didn't want to buy anything for a month.
Okay, thank you.
The next question comes from Hampus Engellau from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much. I have two questions, if I may. Maybe starting off on the organic sales growth during the quarter at 3%, and when the between industrial at 6% and sealing at 1%. If you strip back the price contribution, which I would assume would be quite high, given where we've seen inflation rate trending, I would assume that we have negative volumes. If that is the case, is that for each of the business area in specific segments, or is it broad-based lower volumes? That's my first question.
You can go with that one first.
I mean, if you're looking at taken by BI, I mean, tease with the Industrial Solution with 6%, that implies there was a small volume growth, underlying volume growth. Of course, with Sealing Solution on 1%, that was negative from a volume point of view.
In Sealing, is that some specific end segments that you should think about, or is it kind of broad-based?
I will say it's more the general industry, so it's more overall than a specific segment.
It's hydraulic, pneumatic, which is a big one, where we have a multiple of customers, multiple of end markets, where you have these kind of, all kind of moving parts. We have that, and that is probably the area which was.
Yeah
... a little bit. There is where we're reading in, Hampus, that that was kind of inventory reduction on our customers in a multiple of kind of. The problem for us, if we sell into a Vacuum Pump or something, then of course, we sell seals, and they have some sub-assembly parts on Vacuum Pumps, and then the finished Vacuum Pumps. If they decide to kind of cut down on inventory, it's kind of hitting us in a different, in a few different steps. That is what we're seeing, especially in this, if I may say again, on this, what we call fluid power segment, which is a sizable segment within Sealing, even though getting smaller in. The relative size as we grow aerospace and medical and some other sub-segments.
Yeah, fair enough. If we look at the, if you could maybe add some more flavors on the order activity during the quarter, also a bit on the lead times. Are lead times shorter now in second quarter compared to first quarter, or how do you think about that?
It is shorter lead times. I mean, the customers are ordering with shorter, expecting shorter lead times, and that is why it also make the order book a little bit trickier to discuss. I mean, we have commented on that many times. The order book is shrinking, but the majority of it is shrinking with kind of long-term orders, which is, let's say, three months and beyond. That is why it's difficult to really get a firm conclusion out of it, since they are, let's say, ordering with shorter cycles.
I mean, we have been moving from more or less, if I may say, 100% orders going into quarter, and now maybe getting back to a normal or normal scenario, let's say before this, let's say, lead time challenges, where we had kind of 75%, give or take, of the orders when we go into a quarter. I mean, a few last quarters, we've been almost 100%, or sometimes on top of 100%, because we know that some of the guys have been delaying the orders. That is where, all honestly, it's a little bit difficult for us to really follow that, because it's definitely changing the order pattern and changing the way customer expect us to deliver. But as a fact, was the order book, order intake was lower than sales in the quarter.
Once again, I mean, we have difficult to get to a very firm conclusion on what impact that will have on sales. Are you following?
Sorry
Hampus, not to be too complicated, but I hope you're clever enough to understand.
Maybe I can do one more question, just because if I remember correctly, in third quarter last year, we had a similar inventory reduction. I think SKF was very outspoken on that, but they then were more indicating that we had a weaker underlying demand, and then we had demand just coming back. For you guys, do you have, like, more visibility this time to say that it's not only inventory adjustments at customers, but it is actually some slowing demand? Or if you would compare the third quarter last year?
I mean, we, I don't recognize that comment from a year ago from us, because, I mean, we have not seen this.
No, no, I know that.
No, no. We see this Q2, Q3, now coming into Q3, where we do expect some inventory reductions, we do expect also in Q3, some underlying softening. Once again, we talk about construction equipment, agriculture, which is a big user, especially of this kind of fluid power equipment. They are cutting inventory, they are maybe having less hydraulic cylinders on stock. That is going to happen. I think there will be an over softening in a way, in Q3, due to the fact that you have some softening end user demand, on top of that, an inventory reduction. Really, to split that is honestly challenging.
We are trying to look at it, but we do see VDMA and all of that is indicating kind of a lower expectations. Even though VDMA is difficult to read, because that is more based on expectations than really firm orders.
All righty. Thank you.
The next question comes from Agnieszka Vilela from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Perfect. Thank you. Yes, my first question is on the pricing component of your growth. I guess that there is some carryover from the price increases that you implemented for quite some time ago. I would like to ask, when was the last time you implemented price increases? What are your expectation for pricing going forward?
It's of course, some rollovers from earlier price increases, but I would say that is, of course, getting less and less by quarter. We are continuing to raising prices when it's possible, so I would say it's impossible to explain and saying when we last increased the prices. That's part of also, I mean, we are continuously doing that. We are working on the prices every quarter, been doing it every quarter, but of course, it's not as dramatic as before. For sure, we are still pushing in. We had another round of price increases here from 1st of July, and we're going to have more price increases kicking here from 1st of September. That's depending a little bit what kind of contracts you have with your suppliers.
Price increases will continue, I'll be clear on that, we do not see any kind of price decreases at the moment. We know that some of the raw materials is flattening out, I mean, with the, if I may say, the new Trelleborg, we're going to be a lot less dependent on raw materials, we are not really exposed to these kind of fluctuations that we saw more in kind of our wheel systems business before, where we were exposed more directly to raw materials. Our raw material content, generally, in our products is very limited. Of course, we have some pockets where this might be higher, in general, now, we have very, very low raw material exposure, to be honest. We are not really working on that.
More the price increases is more, as Fredrik said, it's more continuously addressing where can we increase pricing? Where are we creating a lot of value? Where do we have a position to kind of be able to further persuade the customers that we're creating value for them? That is a continuous effort. We are by far not the end of the price increase. The price increase is never going to end.
Okay
an item on the agenda.
Perfect. Thank you. Thank you for the flavor. My second question, probably to Fredrik, out of the SEK 150 million increase in your restructuring effort, how much is related to the integration of acquisitions, and how much to the cost restructuring due to expected, somewhat lower demand?
By far, the majority is related to the lower demand.
When you budget for that, maybe first of all, you could give us a bit more information about what you're doing, what kind of restructuring efforts are you taking? Also, what kind of growth decline or volume six decline are you preparing for when it comes to H2 or 2024?
I mean, that is already what we saw in Q1, so we are adopting, and also what we saw towards last end of last year. I mean, it has been a reduction of headcounts. We have closed 3 new factories. Some factories. It's mainly those kind of costs. Of course, when we see a further decrease of demand, we accelerate and do a little bit more. It's not that it's a big thing at 1 site. It's more that we take a little bit here and there. We're doing that all the time, but we have internally here that it should go, what is above SEK 30 million or SEK 40 million? SEK 40 million. 1 project should be above SEK 40 million in order to call it.
Okay. Yeah.
That is ongoing also in the underlying business, Yeah, where we continuously adjust. This is the larger one, and then, of course, with some closure of some sites, that...
Mm.
That's part of the plan.
Yeah, it's not like you're preparing for, you know, a massive decline in demand. It's more-
No
a slowdown.
Sometimes if you have, I mean, a few areas. That sounds bad. Maybe you use this opportunity to create a more efficient structure. You need to push it through. It's a little bit easier when you have a downturn. That is, of course, where we have.
Yeah
always a long list of ideas, and sometimes...
Mm
You pull them out of the drawer and you use them, and sometimes you keep them in the drawer.
Perfect. Thank you. My last question is on China and Asia, but predominantly China. We get, I would say, quite mixed commentary from different industrials now in the reporting season. Some see some improvement in the industrial demand, some see not that much rebound there. What are you seeing? What are your expectations?
I mean, let's put it like, we did expect a rebound, but the rebound is not really coming as we see it. We see that there is some kind of which is kind of benefiting us long term. There's some localization ongoing that, I mean, people are getting a little bit concerned with China being dependent on imported material. There is definitely some changes in the kind of supply chain. Overall, I mean, we see a worsening. I mean, you I think you're following as well. I saw one study from you, actually, from Nordea this morning, where it was kind of more focused on consumer confidence and savings rationale and all of that.
That is where we see these segments, which is more linked to consumer spending, is kind of shrinking. We have the construction-related segments. It's a mix, but I still continue to invest a lot in railway, to invest in energy. Subway still being, let's say, being built out and all of that. It's a little bit dependent on what kind of segment you're exposed to, but for sure, construction and consumer segments is a lot down. It varies also between the different kind of also China, like North is tough, Dalian, Shenyang.
You have, of course, the, the government business in more in Beijing, Tianjin area, which is still holding up, and more the industrial areas, which is Qingdao and Shandong province, and around, let's say, Shanghai is still, let's say, a mixed message. You go down in the south, where we're still holding up the consumer-related in, let's say, Hong Kong and Guangdong areas, of course, more impacted by the lower demand. It is a little bit. That's all right, China is a big country, and the different regions is a little bit moving in different directions. For us, if I may say overall, it's a softening, and it's related to construction and consumer-related businesses.
While the pure infrastructure-related is still holding up, also the export business is a bit mixed. I mean, that is where we need to see that this kind of restrictions kicking in in a few areas, and that is little bit dependent on what kind of customer exposure you have. It's not an easy question to generalize about China, because you have to break it down in region, you have to break it down.
Yeah
in the different subsegments.
Yes. Thank you, Peter.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the telco back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thanks to all of you for joining us on this call. As usual, we look forward seeing you in different environments and meeting up with you to clarify any potential outstanding questions or if you want some more flavor on some topics, happy to support, both Fredrik and myself, but especially Chris Sjögren was available here for any potential follow-up. Yeah, take care and see you soon.