Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. My name is Razia. I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Savaria Corporation's Q1 2023 conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during this time, simply press star one and one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. This call may contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to the disclosure statement contained in Savaria's most recent press release issued on May 10, 2023, with respect to its Q1 2023 results. Thank you. Mr. Sébastien Bourassa, you may begin your conference.
Well, thank you, Raz. Basically, this morning, I have the honor to lead the call 'cause Mr. Marcel is absent for a personal reason. He wants to know that he's always available by call or email if you have any questions, and he's doing very good. He was proud of this Q1, that's why he thought to let his team lead the call we would. It was a very good first quarter historically, which is our slowest quarter for Savaria. We would like to thank all our employees for their hard work, and we think it was a solid execution 'cause we have a very good organic growth in the Accessibility and the Patient Care.
Positively, our backlog remain at a historic level, which is a very good news because it show again that we're in a fantastic industry and that will be good for the remaining of the year. Very happy about that. As Marcel said in his press release, we continue to build on our plan for the CAD 1 billion. The CAD 1 billion is a target that we want to achieve by 2025. We continue to elaborate on this plan to make sure we'll be able to execute. Some key highlights in the Accessibility. Mexico ramp-up continue to happen. Right now we have 45 employees. We have four different assembly line, and we are doing some shipment of some units straight to the U.S. state. This is very important.
Supply chain, I hope we don't have too many questions on that today because for us we consider it is relatively stable. Is it perfect? Once in a while there's a little issue, but overall it is good and give us the opportunity to achieve our plans. Maybe Nicolas should have keep this segment for me this morning, but he want to highlight a bit the Patient Care.
Yeah, thanks, Seb. For sure, our Patient Care segment delivered record results in Q1, including an EBITDA margin that topped 20% for the quarter. Again, that was a first for the segment. As you might imagine, the team is very proud of their performance as they should be. While we don't wanna get ahead of ourselves, and it is just one quarter, it goes to show what's possible. What we're seeing, and this is really a continuation of what we saw last year, is evidence of the tremendous synergies being unlocked through the integration of Span-America and Handicare. In particular, as it relates to Q1, sales were especially strong, up 13% organically versus last year. This was driven by a number of factors, including continued strength in new build activities, cross-selling initiatives, and good spending by certain strategic partners.
In turn, the higher sales volume allowed for a better fixed cost absorption, which contributed to the record margins experienced in Q1. In addition, we benefited from a good product mix and the realization of some higher margin projects. Finally, the pricing initiatives that were put in place last year are having a meaningful impact on profitability. To conclude, it's always nice to start the year with a solid Q1, and we feel good about the backlog exiting the quarter. There's a certain level of optimism for the remainder of the year as well. With that, I'll pass it over to Steve for the financial review.
Thanks, Nick, and good morning, everyone. I'm gonna begin with some remarks regarding our Q1 2023 consolidated financial metrics. For the quarter, the corporation generated revenue of CAD 211.6 million, up CAD 28.1 million or 15.3% compared to Q1 2022. The increase was driven by strong organic growth of 13.5% originating from all segments. In addition, the corporation experienced foreign exchange tailwinds of 1.8% in the quarter, combining for 15.3% growth overall. Gross profit and gross margins stood at CAD 72 million and 34% respectively, compared to CAD 58.5 million and 31.9% in Q1 2022.
The increase in gross profit of CAD 13.5 million was mainly driven by higher revenues and increased gross margins, to a lesser extent, favorable foreign exchange rates used in the conversion of the result of subsidiaries. The increase in gross margin versus last year was mainly attributable to greater profitability coming from the Patient Care segment due to better cost absorption and a favorable product mix, excuse me, partially offset by continued inflationary pressures resulting in material and labor cost increases, especially in Europe. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin finished at CAD 31.2 million and 14.7% respectively, compared to CAD 24.4 million and 13.3% in Q1 2022. The improvement in profitability is mainly explained by the gross margin increase as well as a decrease in selling and admin expenses as a percentage of revenue.
Now I'm going to move on to our segment results. Revenue from our Accessibility segment was CAD 151.4 million in Q1 2023, an increase of CAD 21 million or 16.1% compared to the same period in 2022. The increase in revenue is mainly attributable to organic growth of 14.4%. Foreign currency had a further positive impact of 1.7% for the quarter as the U.S. dollar and euro both strengthened versus the Canadian dollar. Our revenue growth was fueled by both the residential and commercial sectors as well as price and volume increases. We continue to build our backlog. At March 31st, 2023, our Accessibility backlog was approximately 8% higher than Q4 2022 last quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin stood at CAD 23.4 million and 15.5% respectively compared to CAD 20.5 million and 15.7% for Q1 2022. The increase in adjusted EBITDA was mainly driven by higher sales volumes, while the slight decrease in adjusted EBITDA margin was mainly due to continued inflationary pressures causing higher material and labor costs, especially in Europe, partially offset by better cost absorption from the increased revenues. Revenue from our Patient Care segment was CAD 48.8 million for the quarter, an increase of CAD 7.2 million or 17.2% when compared to Q1 2022. Revenue growth includes organic growth of 13.2%, which was driven in large part by new contracts signed with healthcare facilities, cross-selling synergies with AmbuCare, and pricing optimization, as Nick alluded to earlier.
For the quarter, foreign currency provided a 4% tailwind. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin stood at CAD 9.8 million and 20.1% respectively, compared to CAD 5.3 million and 12.8% for the same period in 2022. The increase in both metrics was primarily due to the increase in revenues and improvements in gross margins, mainly explained by better cost absorption, product mix, pricing initiatives, and synergies with AmbuCare. Revenue generated from the Adapted Vehicles segment was CAD 11.4 million, a decrease of CAD 0.1 million or 0.8% when compared to Q1 2022. The slight decrease in revenue is mainly related to a negative foreign exchange impact of 4.5%, which was partially offset by positive organic growth of 3.7%.
Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin, both before add office costs, finished at CAD 0.6 million and 5.4% respectively, compared to CAD 0.6 million and 4.9% for Q1 2022. For the quarter, net finance costs were CAD 7 million compared to CAD 1.4 million in Q1 2022. Interest on long-term debt increased by CAD 3 million when compared to Q1 2022 due to higher market interest rates. Net finance costs were also impacted by a net foreign currency loss of CAD 1.3 million compared to a net gain of CAD 0.7 million in 2022, most of which was unrealized in nature.
The corporation incurred a gain on the ineffective portion of changes in fair value of net investment hedges of CAD 0.8 million in 2022, which was not repeated in Q1 2023. Net earnings were CAD 6 million or CAD 0.09 per diluted share for the quarter, compared to CAD 5.3 million or CAD 0.08 per diluted share, excuse me, in Q1 2022. Adjusted net earnings was CAD 8.4 million or CAD 0.13 per diluted share compared to CAD 6.8 million or CAD 0.10 per diluted share in Q1 2022. This reflects an increase of 24% or CAD 0.03 on a diluted share basis. Turning now to capital resources and liquidity. Savaria generated cash flows from operating activities of CAD 16 million for the quarter compared to CAD 13 million in Q1 2022.
The increase is mainly due to the higher profit generated by the corporation in the quarter, partially offset by higher income taxes paid versus Q1 2022. In the quarter, the company made a net investment of CAD 2.1 million in working capital versus CAD 2.7 million in Q1 2022. Cash generated from investing activities was CAD 7.7 million for Q1 2023 compared to cash used of CAD 4.8 million in Q1 2022. In 2023, net cash received from the Norway divestment totaled CAD 12.4 million, while the corporation dispersed CAD 1.4 million for the acquisition of Ultron in 2022. Conversely, disbursements of CAD 4.5 million for fixed intangible assets were made in Q1 2023 compared to CAD 3.6 million in Q1 2022.
Cash used in financing activities was CAD 6.3 million for the quarter compared to CAD 27.2 million in 2022. In Q1 2023, the revolver balance increased by CAD 8.5 million, which we can largely see reflected in the quarter ending cash balance. As at March 31, 2023, Savaria had a net debt position of CAD 358.9 million, it was in compliance with all of its covenants. On a trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA basis, Savaria's net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was approximately 2.8 x. This represents approximately a 0.24 decrease versus Q4 2022, this reduction helps us to achieve our 2023 reduction leverage target of 0.5 turns. Savaria has funds available of approximately CAD 135 million to support working capital investments and growth opportunities.
Looking forward, for 2023, Savaria expects to generate revenue which will be approximately 8%-10% higher than 2022 when normalizing for the impact of the Norwegian vehicle adaptation business divestment, with adjusted EBITDA margins of approximately 16%. In addition, as previously noted, for 2023, we are targeting a reduction in our leverage ratio of 0.5 x. This outlook is based primarily on continued strong organic growth coming from the Accessibility and Patient Care segments, supported by high backlog levels, cross-selling synergies and strong demand. As well as continued successful integration of Handicare and progress towards achieving the next strategic phase of synergies in line with management's plan. With that, this completes my prepared remarks, and I'll turn the call over to you, Razia, to open it up for questions, please.
Thank you, sir. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, it's star one and one if you have any question at this time. Thank you. We're now going to proceed with our first question. The questions come from the line of Derek Lessard from TD Securities. Please ask your question.
Good morning, everybody, and congratulations on a really good quarter. Maybe I just wanted to, Nick, start with you and really dig down into that 20% Patient Care margin performance and some of the drivers behind that and how you guys are thinking about the sustainability of that margin. You know, I guess, how does that all tie into your 16% consolidated margin guidance for the year?
Hi, Derek. Again, as I mentioned in the opening remarks, we're very happy with the results, right? I think 20% was a new level for that segment. At the same time, we do realize that it was just one quarter, right? We wanna kind of be cautious about moving forward, but it does show what's possible, right? You know, bringing the teams together, and they've been doing a fantastic job. In terms of the margins in particular, what we're seeing is, you know, anytime you get above CAD 40 million in the quarter in terms of sales, and then especially when you get above CAD 45 million in sales, then that fixed cost absorption really kicks in. There's a lot of leverage in that business as the sales increase.
That's probably one of the biggest contributing factors there to the margin that you saw there in the first quarter. The second, I would say big impact, is the pricing initiatives, right? Something that we talked about a lot last year. You know, there is a little bit of a delay sometimes in terms of when those kick in. What you're seeing here in Q1 is really kind of the full impact, the meaningful impact of those price initiatives that we had been talking about for the past several quarters. I would say that's kind of, you know, the big drivers of the margin improvement, one, just the strong sales performance, and the pricing initiatives.
Okay. That's so very, very helpful. Just maybe, on the Handicare synergies, can you help us understand where they're coming from, both on the revenue margin side and where you think maybe that there's even more opportunity to extract more?
Well, there's some big synergies that we're seeing and this is where I think there's more to come, is gonna be on the cross-selling, right? Really from the commercial perspective, you know, the team's really coming together. You know, the sales force integration is something that is a key project for us, I guess, as we ended last year than going into this year. It's something that, you know, we're looking at within Canada, also in the U.S. Realigning the sales forces so they're, you know, working efficiently, working together, and we're also, you know, bidding on the whole room. That's something that's a little bit different than what we saw before, is that now, you know, we go into some of these bids and, you know, we're bidding on the entirety of it, right?
Whether it's the bed frame, the mattress, the ceiling lift, the sling power portion of it, the case goods. That's actually what we're quite excited about is, you know, as we're looking forward to various tenders that are coming up and it's gonna kind of propel sales over the next several quarters, if not years, is that we're really one of the few one-stop shop players, similar to what we say in Accessibility, being the one-stop shop for our dealers. It's a similar concept playing out there within Patient Care, and that we're one of the few players that can provide the entire room. That's, I would say, one of the biggest synergies that you're seeing within, you know, I guess between Span-America and Handicare. It's something that we're just starting to tap into that.
It's something to look forward to over the next several quarters, over years. That's what I would say is one of the biggest synergies that we're seeing is on the commercial side.
Thanks for that, Nick. Maybe a few for some housekeeping for me for Steve. On the working capital, just wondering how you're thinking about it for the rest of 2023. I guess given the inflationary pressure in Europe, are you expecting those inventories to grow as you cycle through the higher costs and make some other, I guess, inventory plans as you expand the Mexican plant?
Derek, good to talk to you. We're actually not expecting to see inventory climb for the rest of the year. In the quarter, we had a net investment of working capital, in working capital of about CAD 2.7 million. To be frank, I'm a little bit disappointed in that. I was hoping to see a reduction versus Q4. We were planning on seeing a reduction. For the rest of the year, regardless of Mexico and everything happening in Europe, we are expecting to see working capital levels remain tight. We're not expecting any investment, to answer your question, no.
Okay, thanks. Maybe one final one for me before I recue, just on depreciation.
There was an increase of about $1 million on the amortization of intangibles. How should we be thinking about that?
Sure. It can be a little bit lumpy. I mean, obviously, we did see a large jump up in the intangible amortization after the Handicare deal. Also a big part of intangible amortization is a lot of the R&D spending that we have, which can be lumpy. We saw the increase in Q1 of about, as you said, CAD 1 million from Q4. If we look at Q3 last year or Q2 last year, the increase is much less. I think if you wanna think about that going forward, I would say there's gonna be some up and downs just with regards to timing of R&D project amortization, but nothing to imply a higher run rate there.
Okay. Thanks, everybody. I'll reach you, and congrats.
We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question's come from the line of Michael Glen from Raymond James. Please ask your question.
Hey. Just circling into the Accessibility segment, and you're talking about within Patient Care, you're talking about the benefits that you're starting to see from those pricing initiatives. I know that there's some pricing initiatives you've taken in Accessibility too. Like, when do you think we'll start to see those start to roll through in the margin? How should we think about the margin benefit as those pricing initiatives start to work through the backlog?
Thank you. For sure, the high backlog goes a bit within the price we set, the price increase that we do. We would expect from the second quarter to see a bit of better margins in terms of Accessibility. We're very lucky. The high backlog, as Steve reported, should have a good first quarter. I think we have been able also to fit some of the acquisition that we had in terms of labor, in factory or installation that has helped us to generate some more output. That's a bit the answer for this question.
Okay. Now for, so for accessibility, would you, do you think that Q1 would represent then the low point for the year and will work better from this point forward?
Good question. Thanks for that, Michael. I mean, we do have price increases coming into effect. The 2023 price increases that came into effect this year haven't quite worked their way through the backlog yet, as far as Q1 is concerned. We will see the impact coming through the remainder of the year. What we're seeing right now, in some of that organic growth is the price increase versus last year. Similar timing, last year's price increase came into effect the beginning of the year, takes a quarter to work its way through. We started to see that in Q2, but we're still seeing that now versus Q1 2022.
With regards to the remainder of the year, when we look at our price increases and how much we put into effect, we obviously are trying to improve margins, but we're also need to keep in mind cost increases that we're seeing across our business. It's, one, to improve margins, but also to make sure that we level off or negate any negative impacts from vendor cost increases or other cost increases across the business. Yes, our plan is that the margins will keep increasing from here, but we have to keep in mind that, you know, there are cost increases happening ongoing throughout the business, throughout the remaining quarters of the year as well.
Okay. Just in terms of... I know you guys have spoken in the past about, you know, targeting becoming a top three player in North America in that Stairlift business. Are you able to provide an indication or translate that into what that would mean from a revenue perspective for your top line?
I think right now we have delivered some guidance of 8%-10% of organic growth. If you look at the size of business that we are right now, I will consider that we are in the top three definitely worldwide in term of manufacture of all the different products. We are the only company in the world that can offer a Stairlift, a porch lift, an incline lift, a home elevator, and then also some Patient Care products. I think we are quite the best company in terms of product offering in terms of size also.
Maybe Michael there, if you think about, you know, Stairlifts in North America in particular, I think there is more room to grow. We think about that 8%-10%, you might think that maybe there'll be outsized growth within Stairlifts in North America because there's a lot more of a runway there for us. That's maybe how to, how to frame that.
Okay. one additional one. Any guidance on the interest expense for the year, where that would come in?
A lot of our debt is variable rate right now. I mean, it'd be nice to know exactly where the interest rate's gonna be in the next couple quarters, but for forecasting purposes, I would expect that for Q2, Q3, and Q4, that we're gonna see similar interest expense in line with Q1.
Got it. Okay. Thanks for taking the questions.
We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question's come from the line of Nick Agostino from Laurentian Bank Securities. Please ask your question.
Yes. Good morning, everybody. I guess my first question is just a comment that I saw in your press release where you guys talked about seeing growth beyond 2025. Can you just maybe give some color as to why that comment was added?
Well, I think Nick, good morning first. I think we just want to reiterate that the 1 billion plan is, that's our mission, let's call it this way. I think everybody in the company know that we're making steps or investments towards that. I think Marcel just want to reiterate it again. We're always focusing on that, try to improve. If something is not working per the plan, we fine-tune it. Yeah, 2025 is coming soon, but we did some investment for sure. We're thinking it will be good for the next five to 10 years. I think it's just a general comment to reiterate that we're in a nice industry, and we're thinking about the future, not just on the short term.
Okay. We shouldn't read too much into that comment then?
Yeah. It's more general comments.
Okay. My other question for Nick first. Just given the fact that you put 20% up on the Patient Care margin in the quarter, I recognize it's not necessarily gonna be a sticky number, but can you just remind us what you're looking for for Patient Care margins for the full year? Does this particular number in Q1 maybe push your thoughts a little bit higher for the full year?
Well, I think we're a little bit early to push our thoughts for the full year. I don't wanna stray too much from, you know, what we've talked about in terms of guidance. You know, we talk about 16% margins across the business. I don't think we give guidance by segment. We'll kind of stick to that. I mean, I think Patient Care delivered a very good Q1. Very happy, right? I mean, it's better to be above than below, right? We're not digging ourselves out of the hole as we go into the year. I wouldn't wanna read too much into it and think that, you know, it sets that bar for the rest of the quarters. I think we wanna be cautious about that.
Maybe after another quarter or two of good performance, maybe that will be more indicative of the trend. Right now, we're just very happy with the performance and, but again, we're sticking to our guidance, if you will, for remainder of the year. We're not looking to change that just yet.
Okay. Just on that same question, maybe Steve, you can weigh in on this. Obviously Q1 off to a strong start, so congrats on that. We know that it's seasonally the weakest quarter. Just given where Q1 has landed, given what you're seeing as of May, when you look at the full year guidance of 8%-10%, are you guys more comfortable towards the higher end of that range just given the quarter and where we are as of May?
Yeah. Yeah. Good morning. Thanks for the question. Regards to full year guidance, I mean, we're still staying at 8%-10% and growth and EBITDA margins. I mean, yes, Q1 was a great quarter, but we're just trying not to get too ahead of ourselves for the full year. We still have 3 quarters to go. It was a strong start, which we're happy about and really proud of the teams for delivering. Again, we're taking 1 quarter at a time. For now we're staying put.
Okay. That's it for me. Thank you.
We are now going to take our next question. That question's come from Zachary Evershed from National Bank Financial. Please ask your question.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
Morning, Zac.
You've stated I'm gonna try not to beat a dead horse here, but it is what it is. You stated previously that a big component of Patient Care at Handicare is project-based. With the material profitability improvement keying off fixed cost absorption, should we really be worrying about that falling off sharply in the coming quarters?
Hey, Zac. No, I don't think we're not worried about, you know, falling off a cliff in terms of margins. you know, we feel very good about the performance. As I mentioned, you know, when you get above that CAD 40-45 million, you really see that there's a leverage in that business. you know, there's still a lot that we're working on, you know, in terms of the tenders that we're looking at, you know, other projects that we'll look to deliver throughout the remainder of the year. so no, I don't think there's an expectation that it's gonna fall off a cliff in terms of margins. so no, I wouldn't model that in.
I think we're very confident about, you know, when we started the year, you know, as we exited 2022, we did mention that we felt that we'd got to a new level within Patient Care, and we're seeing that new level. It might fluctuate a little bit, but no, I wouldn't anticipate dropping back to that 10% margin that you saw historically. I think that business has changed dramatically over the past couple of years. And no, we're very confident going forward. So no, I, we're not anticipating any sort of huge drop off in margin there.
Just to add on that, maybe Nick. No, Zac, things are not always that driven by America, okay, because maybe we have work on something also. Just say that there are two factory also in St. Louis and Louisville, where they have improved their layout, they have, boost their production of sling. Okay. All this, okay, has given the right support also for the sales to be able to sell and to do some good cross-selling. I think there's a lot of effort that has been done in the background by the team, that should be good positive for the next few years, right?
That's helpful. Thanks. Touching on the timing of Accessibility price hikes again, with annual price increases, do you expect Q2 margins to represent a high watermark this year if cost inflation continues?
Good question, Zac. yeah, it's likely going to be similar timing to what we saw last year with regards to price increases coming into effect. we're obviously managing vendor cost increases at the same time. I mean, in theory, your point, yes, makes sense that Q2 could be higher margins than what we're seeing in Q1.
Given what you're seeing so far in terms of vendor cost increases versus what you've announced to your dealers, how do you feel about the comparison with the 19.1% last year in Q2?
We are still seeing vendor cost increases across the business. We're not seeing it to the impact of we saw last year. It's still something we are seeing across the business, both in Europe and in North America. Just not, again, as I said, not as strong as what we saw last year. We'll see how Q2 pans out. That's about the level of guidance that we'll provide.
Fair enough. Thanks. Just one last one, broader. With the 2023 budget, including a Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit, are you targeting any incremental demand there?
I'm assuming you're talking about Canada specifically. Tax credits do come and go. With Accessibility, some of our Accessibility projects, specifically on our legacy products, these are projects that take quite a bit of time to from initial specing of the job to actual sale. You know, we may see some uplift from tax credits such as this or tax policy changes that we might see in the future as well. Overall, we don't see that having a massive impact on our business, no.
That's clear. Thanks. I'll turn it over.
We are now going to proceed with our next question. The question's come from the line of Frederic Tremblay from Desjardins Capital Markets. Please ask your question.
Thank you. Good morning. Nick, on the Patient Care tenders, which you mentioned a few times, just wondering if you could provide some background on how your, I guess, current pipeline of opportunities compares in size versus what you've seen historically. Assuming that the pipeline is now larger than previously, would you attribute that to Patient Care's, you know, stronger focus on being a one-stop shop, or is it market growth driven or both? Just any thoughts on that would be helpful.
Hey, Fred, it seems like I'm popular today. On the Patient Care side, you know, the tender activity that we're seeing, a lot of it's new build activity, so that's been a big driver of that business. You know, we're seeing, especially if you think about here in Canada, there's a lack of beds. I think we talked about it, you know, on past calls or conferences that we've been a part of. No, there's definitely a lot of new build activity that's out there. That's driving a lot of that business. We've been successful bidding on that business.
The fact that, you know, now that we have the Span team, the Handicare team together, we're able to bid on the entirety of project. People are looking for the one, the one supplier, where possible, as long as the client can meet the various requirements of the bids. We are seeing, you know, a combination of strong, you know, just tendering out there, and at the same time, you know, our success rate has been very good. You know, you combine that together, and that's why we feel quite optimistic about that business. In the U.S. as well, we are seeing some new build activity. I think the V.A. is probably, you know, a good segment there for us.
At the same time, we've had some, as I mentioned on the opening comments, you know, some strategic partners of ours have, you know, increased their spend. That also is a boon for that business. No, I would say overall, you know, very confident about where we are. You know, the backlog is still quite healthy. No, it's overall things are quite positive there within Patient Care.
Great. Thanks for that. Moving to Accessibility and Stairlift more specifically, Werner, if you had any comments on, you know, the progression of your business in Stairlift in North America and maybe an update on intentions to add production of a new Stairlift model from Handicare in Brampton.
You know, good morning, Frederic. Thank you. Yeah, basically our, we are a sales team, okay, in North America between the legacy Handicare and Savaria. They have merged together. Now all our rep, okay, they can sell a Stairlift to vertical, to home elevator. I think our dealer are very happy that we're able to offer the Handicare product manufacture in North America to have better lead time. Right now, the single tube with Freecurve is already over a year that it is in production. Right now, lead time is better than ever. It's like eight days. That's very positive to generate some sales. The second model of Handicare, the Motu, this is something that we have started to install a machinery in Toronto.
By the end of the second quarter, we should start to see some output. That means that by the end of the second quarter, both curved Stairlift of Handicare will be manufactured in Toronto. That would be a good benefit to help us to generate some additional sales. Quite happy with the direction we're going in that.
Okay, great. Last one for me, maybe for Steve on head office cost, just for modeling purposes. I noticed that the CAD 2.6 million in the quarter there included some one-off professional fees. What would be your sort of normalized head office cost if we do exclude one-off fees moving forward?
Yeah. To answer the question, it's about half a million dollars that went through in the quarter that was one-off professional fees that we won't be seeing on an ongoing basis.
Perfect. Thank you.
We are now going to move to our next question. The question comes from the line of Julian Hung from Stifel. Please ask your question.
Hi, good morning. This is Julian, subbing in for Justin this morning. My first question is regarding the backlog. With backlog increasing, how does your backlog compare to peers, and are you still remaining ahead of the curve in terms of delivery times?
I think peers, again, we are in the Accessibility. We're the only company public, so it's a bit hard to measure with the other guys. Again, we're very lucky to have this backlog and that we're working hard. You know, it's not just by miracle. I think the sales team is working hard. The business is very good in North America for elevator and the vertical platform. I think that's looking in the right direction for the year.
Okay.
You want to pose a second question?
Yeah.
Does that answer the question, Justin?
Yes. Answered it, very helpful. My second question is, with global tensions on the rise, have you seen any impact on operations in China, and does it shift the business overall strategy moving forward?
Very good question, Justin. Basically, I was in China three weeks ago, okay? I had the chance to go visit our team. In Huizhou, I did not have the chance to visit the second factory in Xiamen. I would say we are lucky we have a very good team, okay, in China. It's the same people for the last five years. Even, not very nice, but I have asked them to come work on a Sunday, and all the people came, all the 120 people. We have a very good team dedicated. Yes, we have opened a new factory last year in Mexico to be able to balance over time our supply chain, make sure we can develop some additional capacity for North America. Right now, I think we're quite active.
We have 17 factory across the world. We're quite diversified. I think, it has been super awesome.
Okay, just one last question for me. I see that the EBIT has been going down over the last couple of quarters. Do you have maybe a medium target for where you want the number to go? What's your comfort level for a potential acquisition?
For taking that question.
To answer this question, I mean, you know, we're comfortable. Yes, we have been seeing a decrease. I mean, we're happy with the Q1 decrease. We need to keep in mind that part of that came from the Norway cash infused from the Norway divestment, but still happy with the decrease. We will deliver at least half a turn this year as well. That will allow us to finish the year at about 2.5 x. I mean, we're comfortable in that range, two to 2 .5 for sure. With regards to your question around at what level will we, you know, start looking at other acquisitions, I think that, you know, definitely tuck-in acquisitions are still, can be still on the go right now.
If something comes up, that's of the right size and it makes sense for us to execute, we will look at it now. We're not necessarily waiting for a certain net debt level. At the same time, to echo previous comments that we've made on previous calls, sound a bit like a broken record here, but we are confident in the opportunity that the Handicare synergies and the continuing integration with Handicare and the legacy Savaria business will provide to us. You know, we're not eager to bite off any large new acquisitions at this time. We think there's plenty of runway still in front of us.
Thank you so much for taking my question.
We have no further questions at this time. I would like now to hand back the call for closing remarks.
All right. Thank you very much. Again, thanks to all our analysts that follow up, Savaria. You're very important for the company. Very happy with the first quarter, I guess we will go back to work. Thank you very much, and we'll see you in August for the results of the Q2. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you.