Welcome to the VBG Group Q3 2024 report. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the speaker, Anders Erkén, CFO, Fredrik Järdler. Please go ahead.
Welcome to the Quarter Three interim report on VBG Group. Short introduction to VBG Group and its divisions, Truck & Trailer Equipment, acting in the commercial vehicle industry with niche traffic safety products. In the middle, you have a Mobile Thermal Solutions, supplies the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems to the bus and off-road segments, mainly in the North American market. Ringfeder Power Transmission to the right, delivers industrial components in the mechanical power transmission and mechanical damping industry in a wide variety of industrial applications. Q3 highlights, Fredrik will give you all the necessary details, but let me summarize the quarter. We saw softening market conditions during quarter three. Sales dropped by 12% in the quarter. The underlying drop, excluding currencies and acquired volume, was 11%.
The currency, the strengthening of the Swedish krona, comparable to Quarter three, 2023 had almost a 3% impact. For division Truck & Trailer Equipment, revenues dropped by 11%, currency adjusted 8%. The reduction of sales was all related to the slow sales in the semi-trailer industry in Europe. The coupling business, which is the major part of the division sales, continues in a good pace. For division Mobile Thermal Solutions, revenues dropped by 16%, currency adjusted 12%. The main drop came in the off-road consumer segment, where adjustments of inventory is done in the distribution channels. There was also a drop in the bus segment in the U.S.
Division Ringfeder Power Transmission saw a drop in sales, mainly in the project-oriented mining industry in Brazil and Eastern Europe, but was compensated by the acquired volumes of our latest acquisition in India. So all in all, a small increase of 2%. I'm happy to see that all divisions strengthen its gross margins with lower volumes. We show resilience in softer market conditions. This comes from efficiency improvements leading to headcount reductions. We show a stable operating cash flow in the quarter of SEK 153 million , which also shows that our return on operating capital is at almost 40% rolling 12 months. In July 2024, the board of directors decided to consolidate the three Mobile Thermal Solutions production facilities in Toronto into one new shared production facility. Significant gains in efficiency can be achieved by consolidating these three production facilities.
This is a strategically important investment to both consolidate and further develop the already strong market position on Mobile Climate Control brand in the off-road segment. By that, Fredrik, you can go into the details.
Thank you, Anders. The strong demand in North America and within MTS that we have experienced the last six quarters slowed down during the third quarter and decreased. We can now see that the demand and the order intake are decreasing, and at the same time, we are meeting high and strong comparable growth numbers for the third quarter in 2023 . The group's turnover, like Anders said, decreased by 11.6% in third quarter, and the organic growth, adjusted for FX and acquisitions, was negative and amounted to 11.5%. In North America and within MTS, we would like to point out that the decrease split was also affecting the bus business. It was almost fifty-fifty split between the, those two legs.
The EBITDA result decreased by almost 24% compared to the third quarter 2023, and we would like to point out some factors that affect the EBITDA margin during third quarter or affects the comparable quarter in 2023. One, Truck & Trailer Equipment experienced still a sales decline in third quarter, which is totally related to the trailer segment in Europe. The trailer segment is experiencing a steep slowdown compared to numbers in 2023 still. Comments to the EBITDA margin. During third quarter in 2023, we had an FX revaluation of balance sheet items that if. It had a positive effect, almost SEK 13 million, SEK 13 million in the comparable quarter. During this quarter in 2024, we have seen that the SEK are strengthening.
TTE also received electricity support from the government of approximately SEK 4 million in the third quarter of 2023. Strong comparable numbers in 2023. Secondly, it is still high volumes in North America, despite the sales decrease in third quarter. Increased profitability in bus segment. It is due to efficiency improvements in production and price increases that we made during the last two quarters in 2023. We also experienced a lower warranty reserves during the third quarter 2024, which affects the EBITDA margin positively. Ringfeder Power Transmission is growing with the recent acquisition of Rathi Transpower, which is developing according to expectation, with a good EBITDA contribution to the division. In third quarter, we experienced a steep slowdown in the mining industry in both Poland and Brazil. And we also have a product mix variations between the quarter.
During the third quarter in 2023, Ringfeder Power Transmission had a positive reversal of pension liabilities of SEK 3 million which is affecting the EBITDA margin positive in the comparable quarter. Earnings per share decreased by almost 29% and amounts to 4.49 SEK per share in the quarter. Looking at the graphs, we can see the recent development in third quarter and the decrease of sales is reflecting in a lower rolling twelve months sales graph. Looking at the year to date, the group's turnover had increased by 0.3% after the first nine months. This was driven by the good volumes in North America and Ringfeder Power Transmission during the first and second quarter. Third quarter has contributed negatively.
The organic growth has turned negatively and amounts to, say, -1.8%. EBITDA has increased to SEK 648 million, and EBITDA margin strengthened slightly to 15.1%, which is above the target for the group on EBITDA margin. The ratio between the divisions are fairly unchanged. MTS still accounts for 50% plus on both EBITDA share and sales. Even the global presence slides here, we can see it's fairly unchanged. We still have the larger portion of our business in North America, 34% in Europe, and 11% of the rest of the world. You who have followed us for a while before the, well, acquisition of MTS, we were mostly a European business.
The favorable market that we have seen in North America have now softened, and we can see the decrease. Despite the lower sales, we are very glad to see that our internal activities has been successful, which shows in an increased gross margin and a stable cash flow. In the first nine months of 2024 we have strengthened gross margins, and a good underlying result, and but also the best part is in control over the working capital tied up. After third quarter, we have a net cash position. If we adjust for pension liabilities and leasing commitments of, we have a net cash position of SEK 304 million. Therefore, VBG Group still has a strong financial position that can be used to develop the group going forward. ROC is stable at almost 40%, slightly down from second quarter in 2024. Over to you, Anders.
Thank you, Fredrik. Just to have a look at the rolling twelve months, year to date, September, and comparable figures for the full year 2023. We are in line with sales, a little bit above last year in sales. Operating profit at SEK 866, relating to 15.1% EBITDA margin, and an increase of earnings per share by 6%, and as you have seen in the previous slides, it's pretty much the same ratio when it comes to sales and share of EBITA between the divisions. We also work intensively with our sustainability agenda, we focus on seven areas when it comes to the UN Agenda 2030. Our main focus is the reduction of greenhouse gases.
We have worked quite a lot with our energy consumption, and during the quarter, and installing now solar panel in many of our production facilities. We also spend quite a few resources in order to meet the European regulation CSRD, where we have come far a bit, and we are on the train to be compliant for next year's first official reporting. Future focus. As Fredrik has mentioned, we have a strong financial position. We are ready for challenges in this uncertain macroeconomic and geo-political environment. We have shown during the quarter that we are a resilient organization. We have a strong balance sheet that we want to utilize to grow the company with sustainable profitability. We will really work on our price resilience in the market, and that's our intention.
We will never be an acquisition machine, but we work intensively in this area at the moment. We are continuously expanding our product offering and customer base to meet the organic growth targets. After a few quarters with increased sales, we are entering a period of uncertainty about the macroeconomic development, especially in the U.S. consumer market. Order intake has decreased with 3% year to date, September, and was somewhat lower in the quarter. With our visibility of three to four months, we don't see that the market conditions will change drastically from quarter three. That was our presentation for the quarter three, and now we are open 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 Gustav Berneblad from Nordea. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you very much. It's Gustav here from Nordea.
Welcome.
To start off here in truck and trailer, I mean, obviously, it feels like the semi-trailer market is still impacting you negatively, of course, and correct me if I'm wrong, but, is it now we have seen almost seven quarters with a decline? I would assume somewhere in that range, but are you seeing the decline sort of continuing downwards from here or accelerating, or are you seeing it actually bottom out? I think you commented on it bottoming out, previously here.
Hello, Gustav. Yes, you are correct. We saw a decline, or a flattening out in the end of the second quarter, but all the manufacturers, I would say, increased their vacation period and slowed down even a little bit during quarter three. I would say, quarter four will continue on this level. We don't see any improvements in that it will ramp up from these levels, but rather flatten out in quarter four.
Yeah, okay, that's helpful. And then on the truck side, I mean, I'm still impressed that it's holding up for you. Is that the picture you're seeing, or can you elaborate a little bit on what you're seeing there?
Yes, we can see that we have a stable order intake on the coupling side. It's also we have during the year seen a slowdown on the OEM side, the truck manufacturers, but we have picked up on the bodybuilder side, which is our main segment, so to say, and the aftermarket side with spare and wear parts. So, going forward, we see we are confident that the coupling business will continue in this pace.
Yeah, okay, perfect. And then if we go to Mobile Thermal Solutions here, can you give a little bit more color on the weakness in off-road? I mean, you comment on the destocking among distributors and weaker consumer demand. Can you just elaborate a little bit about your exposure there and what you're seeing more specifically?
Yeah, I mean, the off-road side has a lot of segments. And I mean, you can mix it between the utility side and the more recreational side. We see a good demand in many segments, like the fire truck business and so on, but our main drop has been on what we call the consumer side, and that is the side-by-side volumes, which is a volume segment within Mobile Thermal Solutions. And this is created by a destocking in the dealer area, so to say. Based on the uncertainty of the especially the US consumer market.
Y eah, okay, great. And I think, then maybe lastly, if we go to Ringfeder Power Transmission, I mean, if we look at the Q2 report, I mean, you had almost 10% organic growth, positive, and now we're seeing the reverse. So can you just elaborate a little bit what has happened? Or is there something that has happened between Q2 and Q3 here, that is driving this shift?
We have to understand, if you look historically at Ringfeder Power Transmission, it can fluctuate between quarters because some quarters are really project-oriented. This is mainly in the mining business, when there are projects in certain mines, and there are deliveries in the quarter. This is really impacting quarter three, 2024, with slower demand when it comes to what we call first installations or projects in Ringfeder Power Transmission, mainly in Eastern Europe, but also in Brazil. That is the major part of the decline for Ringfeder Power Transmission in the quarter. That is project-based sales in these geographic areas.
Yeah, okay. That's perfect. And then maybe just, sorry, one last one. If we see sort of the lower volumes to continue, especially in truck and trailer and then now MTS and so forth, what, how much can you do on sort of the cost side? Is it possible to say anything there? I mean, you comment on having reduced headcount, but is there more to do?
Of course, there is a lot more to do. I can just mention, during the quarter now, we have reduced 4% of our headcount in the organization, and there are more opportunities to take steps when it comes to efficiency and adjust to adjust capacity to the demand. So there are quite a few activities already going on in the organization to take it down further. And I think this is why I commented we have a resilient organization, and we have a history that we can adjust to different business cycles.
I think, as Fredrik commented with our operational cash flow, that, I mean, from an EBIT level of 172, that we have an operational cash flow of 153. I think that shows also that we have processes in place in the company.
Oh, that's, that's perfect. Thank you very much. That was all for me.
Thank you. Thank you, Gustav.
The next question comes from Jonny Jin from SEB. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you, and good afternoon, Anders Erkén and Fredrik Järdler. Thank you for taking my question. I just want to follow up on the demand side. In Q2, I think you had a rather positive tone here on the off-road side in North America with the penetration story, et cetera, and I understand it's hard to know, given the uncertain cycle here, but this is clearly shifted right now. I'm just trying to understand this a little bit better. So can you elaborate a little bit more how the market conditions developed during the quarter, and if you saw a clear acceleration at the end of the quarter? Did it shift during the quarter, so to speak? That's my first question.
Jonny, thank you very much for the question. We saw already in the middle of July that orders were postponed. I mean, we are not losing market shares or anything. It's the sales channel that postpone orders, and it has been fairly the same rate during the quarter from mid-July and going forward.
Okay, that's helpful. And could you please also just remind us within the off-road segment, I understand that it's the consumer that you mentioned that is driving the weakness, but how large is the consumer segment if you compare it to the utility vehicles, for instance?
I would say that the consumer, within, the off-road side, the consumer side is, roughly 20-25%.
Okay, that's helpful. And how is the utility vehicles developing? I know, you mentioned fire trucks, and I understand the fire trucks are... They're having a longer order books. How are those vehicles developing?
I think it's clear that it's slowing down from a high level, but not in the ratio of the consumer side, generally.
Okay. All right. That's, that's clear. And just one final. I know you have a strong balance sheet, and maybe you could just give an update on the M&A climate and if you're seeing higher activity in M&A in the pipeline going forward, how that's developing.
It's clear that it's a higher activity when it comes to the M&A activities, and we are knocking a lot of doors, but we have, as we have mentioned earlier, we are really picky when it comes to these things. But, as I mentioned before in the summary, we are working actively in this area, and I just want to comment: It takes two to tango.
I understand that. That was all for me. Thank you so much for taking my questions.
Thank you, Johnny.
Okay, then we have two additional questions, written to us here. David asked, "How large was the effect mentioned, released, warranty reserved in Q3 2024, and which segment did it relates to?" We continuously reserve for warranty within MTS, and given a sales decline, of course, that we have seen, but also that we have made adjustment to certain product groups that have been on the market. We released SEK 7 million , and it's almost a 50-50 split between Off-Road and Bus. Then we have next question. "Did the reduced Off-Road demand accelerate during the quarter and into fourth quarter?" I think Anders answered that question. We could see it early in July that we had the orders pushed out.
I can see it was between August and September, I think it was almost the same pace. Yeah, I think we are done with questions there, if we do not have any other one?
No, then thank you very much for tuning in, and thank you very much for your attention. Bye-bye.
Thank you.