Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Zumtobel's conference call on our Q4 and full year results for our 2022, 2023 financial year. With me on the call are Alfred Felder, our CEO, and Thomas Erath, our CFO. Alfred Felder will walk you through the highlights of our quarter and full year, while Thomas will discuss the financial performance. After the presentation, both gentlemen will be available to answer your questions. In case you have not a copy of the report and the presentation, you may find both documents for download on our webpage. After the call, a playback of this conference call will be available on our webpage as well. With this, I hand over to Alfred.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, thank you for joining us today for our year-end call. Looking back at our fiscal year 2022, 2023, we are very pleased that our company performed better than originally expected at the beginning of May 2022. The economic and political environment was more than challenging, again, mainly driven by most of the year of a continued shortage of components and a drastically increasing inflation. All in all, we are very proud that we have successfully navigated through this difficult situation.
Our revenue, as you can see, from the first page, rose by 5.3% year-over-year to EUR 1.2 billion. The EBIT increased by 38.7% to EUR 84.3 million, which is a margin of 7%. That reflects the upper end of the latest adjustment, what we did from between 5% and 7%, as well as our initial guidance. We also want the shareholders to participate in success. Therefore, the management board will make the recommendation to the next annual general meeting to distribute a dividend of EUR 0.40 per share for the 2022-2023 financial year. That represents a dividend increase of 14%.
I just would like to share, before I go into the financials, and then Thomas hand it over to the more details in a couple of projects on the next page. I don't go into all, but I would like to mention a couple of these. One is the Dubai Expo, what was a project driven with a customer of Tridonic together, where we also have been awarded by the by the award of the DALI over there in Dubai. The second one, in Macau, where we have been very happy to be part of the development of the island's district medical complex, a very large hospital, and become the second public hospital in Macau. This project goes over seven buildings, and here we are providing several lighting solutions from both brands, Thorn and from Zumtobel.
Last but not least, the Malinas Retail Park in Belgium is considered one of the most sustainable retail parks in Belgium. Here, we are very proud that we could illuminate this following the International Dark-Sky Association Fixture Seal of Approval. With our products, what are basically adjusting the light and the light temperature, the park, depending on the day and night requirements. Sustainability on page number four is and has been an integral part of the Zumtobel Group, as we have been telling you a couple of times already. Especially during the last year, I think we can proudly say that we made substantial product progress here. The three main goals of our sustainability strategy, the climate neutrality by 2025, the circular economy, and becoming the partner of choice, remain unchanged.
The focus areas addressed within these goals are continuously expanding and intensifying. Our efforts to achieve climate neutrality include 50% reduction on Scope 1 and 2 emissions, with a systematic cutback in our upstream and downstream Scope 3 emissions. We are currently measuring the target reductions, all emissions, sorry, along the value chain for our net-zero goal, and developing a roadmap that will be validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, what we have joined last year. In that way, the Zumtobel Group goals to reach climate neutrality will become climate neutrality and net-zero. The other topic on implementing circular design rules in product development is another focus, and together with our customers, partners, and suppliers, we want to develop further approaches to close product cycles.
As a first tangible example, we just have launched a new product, the so-called freestanding luminaire platform, but follows strictly those circular design rules, and we are very curious now on the acceptance on the market. We have just done this in April. Finally, our goal to become the partner of choice for this stakeholder means, not least, the activity management of due diligence, responsibilities, and along the entire supply chain. We do not only support, but expect inclusion, diversity, equal opportunity in our own company, but also by our suppliers. That means our employee development program is designed to provide our colleagues with the best knowledge and tools. In this way, we are not only the direct contact with our customer and suppliers, but through partners in all methods and sustainability.
As you see it on the right side, we continue to receive the awards. Especially proud I am that our technology brand, Tridonic, received the first ever EcoVadis rating in 2022, scored the silver medal. This places our components business in the top 25% of over 100,000 companies rated by EcoVadis worldwide. The Zumtobel Group, again, was awarded by the gold medal in 2023, which ranks our company among the best 1% in the branch comparison. In addition, we renewed our AA rating from MSCI, and are again part of Austrian Sustainability Index VÖNIX. Just as an example, where we believe that with this will compensate well, to a certain extent, the slowdown in the new construction is really the energy savings we like.
The current situation of energy and energy prices gives us the opportunity to enter this, into this business, and I think we, as a group, with our boats or our three brands, are perfectly suited to drive here, this business. It's based also in part, that the EU will ban fluorescent lamps with integrated ballast definitely in September 2023. Obviously, in combination with the high energy prices, this is helping, really, customers to save energy and to become more clean, climate neutral. You just see here on this chart, a couple of examples, how much energy can be saved. It's somewhere between 46% and 70%. That means refurbishment is a key pillar of our strategy moving forward, next to, of course, new installations. Obviously, I guess we are coming to that in the questions.
We are seeing definitely a downturn in the construction industry, especially when it comes to new build. Slide seven. Let me just turn on the results for 2022, 2023. As mentioned the beginning, we recorded a 5.3% increase to EUR 1.2 billion. The selling price increases, and especially also the positive effects, have more than offset the higher material costs, which were intensified by the U.S. dollar appreciation and our higher energy costs. Especially the lighting segment, showed more momentum with a plus of 6.9%, and the campaign components only at 1.2%. Thomas will highlight this in more detail, especially second half of the fiscal year, we really see a downturn.
The EBIT significantly increased from EUR 68 million to EUR 84 million, and the net profit improved to EUR 60 million. How the results are in relation to the previous years, you can see on the next page. As you can see here, we have been able to make a steady progress after restructuring the business, despite the COVID, what impacted us, of course, more than two years. The supply chain challenges as well, the war in the Ukraine, we are consistently improving profitability. We are proposing a dividend of EUR 0.40 per share. This represents a payout ratio of slightly below 30%, and a dividend increase of 14% compared to the previous year. I would like to draw your attention to the agenda of the invitation to the annual general meeting at the end of July.
We, as a management board, are proposing to the annual shareholder meeting to authorize the board to buy back shares with a limit of 10% of the issued share capital. This result show that the management board and the entire company have steadily and significantly improved operating performance in recent years, and we want our shareholders to participate in the company's success and journey. With this, let me now hand over to Thomas, he will give you a very closer look to the development of Q3 and Q4, and then also the full year general results.
Thank you, Alfred. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome from my side. Let me start with the lighting segment on slide nine. Revenues in the lighting segment rose in Q4 by 2.5% to EUR 225.8 million, and here, mainly driven by price increases. Q4, EBIT in the lighting segment, more than doubled from EUR 6.3 million to EUR 16.2 million. Revenue increases and lower warranty costs, more than offset, in particular, higher personnel expenses. As a result, our EBIT improved significantly from 2.9% to 7.2%. Looking at EBIT development for the full year, even in the lighting segment, rose substantially from EUR 45.2 million to EUR 72.9 million, and led to an increase in the EBIT margin from 5.3%-8.1%.
Moving to the Components Segment. Revenues in the Components Segment, unfortunately, declined by 9.9%, with sales of EUR 87.4 million in Q4. Higher selling prices were unable to offset the loss in volumes and unfavorable FX environment. In addition, Q4 revenues also declined due the customer's high inventory levels. This was a result of the overstocking in the times where semiconductors were not available. Nevertheless, we were able to beat the result of Q3. The decline in revenues, on the one hand, and higher material expenses on the other hand, had a negative effect on EBIT development. Although EBIT fell to EUR 7.6 million, the EBIT margin is still at 8.7%. Looking at the full year comparison, EBIT in the Components Segment dropped from EUR 36.4 million to EUR 29.1 million.
EBIT margin declined from 10% to 7.9%. Slide 13, 11. No, which one is it? Slide 11 shows the overall results for the group. Sales, after eight consecutive quarters of growth, declined slightly by 1.6% to EUR 297 million. In the fourth quarter, mainly due to a decrease in volumes. The increase in selling prices and lower warranty costs more than offset the lower sales volumes, as well as the high material and personnel expenses. EBIT nearly doubled to EUR 16.3 million. EBIT margin was at 5.5%. Slide 12. Let me explain the main building blocks of our EBIT for the full year in more detail. Let's start with last year's EBIT, with EUR 60.8 million.
The above mentioned increase in prices and favorable effects led to a positive effect of EUR 66.7 million. This positive effect was, however, partially offset by higher material costs, the U.S. dollar appreciation, as well as an increase in energy costs, obsolescence provisions, and higher personnel expenses. Based on these factors, our EBIT increased to EUR 84.3 million. Slide 13 provides you with the information on our income statement. EBIT of EUR 84.3 million, I already mentioned. Our financial result was negative EUR 18.2 million. Our net financing cost increased to EUR 6.8 million. Other financial income expenses amounted to EUR 7.2 million, and the results from associated companies was a loss of EUR 4.3 million. This last amount includes the impairment loss from one of our shareholdings in Inventron again.
After the deduction of the income taxes, our net profit for 2022, 2023 increased by 31% to EUR 60 million. As a consequence, earnings per share rose to EUR 1.39. Now, let's move to the cash flow statement. Cash flow from operating results increased year-over-year from EUR 122 million to EUR 140 million, mainly driven by higher profitability. The negative trend from change in working capital is significantly lower than last year. Cash flow from investing activities totaled EUR 54 million compared to EUR 41 million in the previous year. In addition to the investments in property, plant, and equipment, this position also includes cash outflows of EUR 9.4 million for capitalized development costs. As a result, free cash flow more than tripled, from EUR 16 million to EUR 52.3 million.
Let me finish with slide 17. Our already strong balance sheets further improved since the last year. The equity ratio increased to 42.1%. Net debt decreased to EUR 87 million. Debt coverage ratio is at a very healthy level of 0.62. Hereby I hand over to Alfred again. Thank you.
Let's look, let's have a look at our page 16. You know this curve already, where we proudly showed that, for eight consecutive quarters, we have been able to grow versus the previous year. Unfortunately, you saw it from Thomas' explanation. We see some headwinds in the Components Segment, mainly due to the high stock level at the customer base, who get all the parts in the second half of the year. This resulted in a slightly negative growth, despite the fact that the lighting brands are still in a growth mode. Slide number 17 shows where the different regions where we are operating have been. Again, DACH has been an ultra strong region led by Switzerland.
Obviously, here we are benefiting, that Switzerland was having over the period, a relatively slow inflation rate, which means the construction industry is in a very healthy shape. Germany and Austria have been performing, so that you see here, both in Q4, as well as in the entire 50 year, we have been showing a substantial growth. Generally, we have also good development in Northern and Western Europe, only negatively influenced again by quite a significant drop in Great Britain due to a weaker market environment, and some postponements of the project. The largest increase here were recorded in business, especially proud here in Nordic, where the restructuring over the last years finally pays off. From Southern and Eastern Europe, region, the results were mixed.
When we talk about Italy, some of the Eastern Europeans countries in France, they have been able to offset the results in other markets. Asia and Pacific witnesses declines covered to the entire market. Mainly, as you know, we had been suffering quite for a long time in China with the very strict COVID policy, and that was only lifted, and that we are hoping and seeing a progress within this year. Last but not least, the previous year, previous year, weaker regions, Americas and MEA recorded a very nice growth. The strongest growth was recorded in MEA, with especially a couple of really highlight projects in Saudi Arabia, and that generated the increase after two below average periods. With that, I'm coming to slide 18 on our outlook.
All positive developments and achievement we considered, we continue to see the current geopolitical economic situation quite tense, and it, again, makes it difficult to predict developments in 2023, 2024. In the full course of the war in Ukraine, the energy and raw material prices, and especially in Austria and in Central Europe, substantially higher personal costs, as well as inflation interest rates trends, will have a significant influence on the economy, and therefore on the success of our group.
Against this backdrop, and with the reference of all these, above mentioned uncertainties, we do expect moderate growth, from 1%-4% in 2023-2024, and the EBIT margin in the range between 3% and 6%, simply because we believe that in the second half of this fiscal year, or the calendar year, we will see again a certain price pressure. We are not able anymore to hand over most of these cost increases to the market. CapEx spending is estimated to be around EUR 60 million in 2023, 2024, and that brings me to the end of our presentation. Thank you so much for listening. Now Thomas and myself will be open for your questions. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on the touchdown telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star followed by two. If you are using speaker equipment today, please lift the handset before making your selections. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. We have the first question from Markus Remis from Raiffeisen Bank International. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, gents. Congrats on the figures. First of all, related to the buyback authorization that you're seeking, can you share some thoughts, what would be the conditions needed to actually start a buyback program?
Markus, can you repeat the question? You're referring to the share buyback.
On the share buyback that you have put on the AGM agenda. I would be interested if you could maybe share your thoughts on when you would actually start buying back shares. Is that contingent to certain conditions? I don't know, be the share price or your balance sheet specifically.
Well-
When you might become active.
As you can see, you know, we have a strong balance sheet. Cash is not an issue in our group. We would ask, we can do this only with the approval of the supervisory board, and we would get, guess, that we ask the supervisory board for a part of this 10% to be affected, late autumn, beginning of winter.
As it is
On the supervisory board.
Okay, but it's more than just a, what do you say, a forward special. There is the intention to.
No, no, there is a real intention to, that our shareholders can also participate on our, economic success.
Okay.
As Thomas said, we are having a cash flow healthy situation. We believe that will also continue, despite the fact that we might face some challenges in the market. Obviously, shareholder meeting is on end of July, and the earliest possible timing would be late autumn to start with. Yeah.
Okay. Very clear. Maybe coming to the operational part of the business. I mean, what have you baked in in the top line guidance? I mean, volume versus price assumptions, and maybe you can also break it down a bit on the segment level.
Yeah. Basically, Markus, as you have seen, let me start with the challenging situation on the Tridonic. Tridonic had a fantastic first half year. The reason was that in the first half year, slowly and constantly, we were able to get the necessary components, and we're able to satisfy the volume needs of the customers. The second half year, we saw then that we went out of allocation, and obviously with this policies, what our suppliers and components affected to us, and we gave to our customers, the customer had to take the volume. Obviously, that was the start when their warehouses were getting full, because most of the customers ordered much more than they could get, and in a location, that's a typical phenomenon.
Therefore, we see that warehouses needs to be depleted, and it takes, looks like a little bit longer. We are seeing some slight improvement right now. When it comes to volume, obviously, in the second, let me say, after the second quarter of our fiscal year, we believe that that will increase again. We also do currently not see a deterioration on prices downwards. Material costs, high inflation, high wage increases are stabilizing this, and the same applies now for the lighting segment. The lighting segment is in a better shape. As you know from our business, Markus, we are now benefiting that our, let me say, day-to-day business comes back.
With more short lead times, customers are going back to the old routine, ordering parts today and want to get it in 48 hours. That was not possible in the strict allocation system, and therefore, we are seeing a certain momentum here. To answer your questions, we believe that the volume increase will be very moderate. The prices, we still believe that we can keep in the market simply because all the material costs for all the suppliers are high, and therefore it's a slight and very moderate volume increase, and the rest will be, again, keeping the prices high.
Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you.
Okay.
Okay, will you elaborate then on the cost pressure that you're seeing, as we all know, yet this, like, 10% increase of the, in the wake of the collective bargaining in Austria? I mean, are there other cost positions that have, like, a countering effect? I mean, what's your kind of perception of the U.S. dollar? Maybe you can share some, yeah, information here on where you hedged, how much you've hedged. Yeah, any cost items where you currently perceive some declines, or are you modeling any multiple cost-cutting measures?
First, on the U.S. dollar, we have hedged a third of the volume at 1.09. You know, also Swiss francs have a huge impact on us, here we have a very favorable rate of 0.97, also half of the volume hedged for the whole year. Also the British pound with 0.87 to the euro. Here, we will benefit. This is better rates than last year. On the material costs, you know, we see that aluminum is going down. Copper is stable. Here, we have to see what is happening. Of course, energy is much less than last year. Here we have hedged until Q4.
Of course, we will need to see how we fight with this cost increase. We have contract workers here in Dornbirn, around 100 people, and those positions will be shifted to lower-cost countries.
In general, Markus, you may add to that, what Thomas already said, we will of course, use this year now to again, look into our footprint. We have, on one side, the advantage that in Dornbirn, we are now mainly already manufacturing highly automated products with large volume. I'm talking here now about the lighting situation. On the other hand, we have niche, who is basically perfect fit for doing the small manual work.
We most likely will accelerate this, that we are having a better balance between the automated lines in high-cost countries and the manual lines in lower-cost countries. Obviously, you mentioned it's not easy, and the challenge that in Austria, we do have a 10% wage increase, and obviously, you know the rules, how this applies. We are also expecting with the inflation being as they are in Austria, it's clear that also May 2024 will be another substantial wage increase, and we want to prepare for that and adjust our footprint.
Okay, that's very clear. Final question from my side, on the M&A side, I mean, a topic that has been accompanying, you now for some time. Any update on the status quo you can give us?
We are constantly monitoring that. We have, let me say, a couple of targets in the pipeline that are currently under evaluation, but it's too early now to share where we are. But that's, you know, also, over the last year, the market environment has changed quite significantly, and we need to reevaluate how we move forward. We will let you know as soon it's bench enough.
All right. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Markus.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. Our next question is from the line of Michael Marschallinger from Erste Group. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, and thanks for taking my questions. I have two. First one will be on the refurbishment we already talked about. Could you give us more color how the demands developed throughout last year through the quarters? Did you see already the momentum really picking up through the quarters and what you're currently seeing and expecting to further develop?
Thank you for your question. Very good question. It was a very interesting development where we have been on a very steep learning curve. When it comes to refurbishment, the trend right now goes more in a direction where customers are more interested, also for cost reasons, obviously, more interested not to replace the complete old fixture with a new LED fixture, but basically are seeking for refurbishment kits. This refurbishment consists basically of an LED module, plus the necessary sensor technology, plus the driver. We have been starting with that more or less as CPD products, and now we are having a couple of those standard refurbishment kits that are fitting into our luminaires and potentially also in competitors' luminaires, where it's basically within a click, easy to replace.
That is running very well. It is very strong out the demand out of the dark region. The second one is when it comes to refurbishment, obviously, the people do not want to have a lot of construction in their buildings. Here if they want to have not only switch on, switch off the light, which is done with LEDs, they are seeking for wireless solutions what basically enables this technology. That's again, in combination with refurbishment kits and luminaires with our connected solutions, are perfect fit. Also, mainly currently, not mainly, but to a strong extent, driven out of the dark region.
We will see now what happens after the summer break, when it's not anymore possible to bring fluorescent tubes into the market, because we will expect that then this replacement will even intensify. We see already now that this refurbishment is helping us to compensate, to a large extent, the drop in new construction and new buildings across the European countries. It's gaining momentum, in a nutshell.
Interesting. Okay, thank you for this. Second question, once again, on the EBIT margin guidance. I have to say, give me your comments. I don't see any deterioration pricing, dollar hedged, material prices coming down, energy prices down. This 3%-4%, the lower bound of the guidance, 3%-4% seems overly pessimistic. Do you really see any plausible scenario for that to happen?
Well, you know, as you can see, we need to restart the engine of Tridonic. You see that the revenues declined heavily. The big momentum they had in the first two quarters was reversed in the second two quarters. We don't know exactly how long it takes until the inventory with the customers of Tridonic is used up. We need, of course, to counteract on the inflation, on the personnel expense increase. This will also take some time, you know, to shift labor from one point to the other. That's why we have this quite big bandwidth.
The faster we are, the better our EBIT margin will be, and the sooner the demand with Tridonic will pick up again, the better the EBIT margin will be. This is cannot be calculated when this will happen. We need to give a quite big bandwidth for our EBIT margin guidance.
Maybe, Michael...
Sorry, you assume that the pick up after the second quarter, if I understood you correctly?
Yeah. I wanted to comment. Let me just elaborate a little bit. Our original assumption was back in April timeframe, that by April onwards, this high inventory level at the customer base is depleted. That is not the case. We are still seeing that is increasing, but we expect another two to three months until we are back up. Obviously then we are already full in our quarter two, and that gives exactly the uncertainty, when is it exactly the case? Obviously we do not know the inventory level, we just know from the interfaces with our customers, where roughly what they tell us they spend. That's, I think, the biggest uncertainty is currently on the, on the luminaire side, it's more on the component side.
Despite you see, what Thomas was showing you on the Components Segment, the EBIT has dropped significantly in the second half for Tridonic and stabilized at a high single-digit level, but not anymore as at a double-digit. That gives the uncertainty, and that's why we thought that we are giving this large benefit.
Okay. No, I understand. Thank you.
The next question is the line of Laurent Stöckli from Quaero Capital SA. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Just a quick question to understand your guidance. You've explained that personnel costs will be higher this year, and that we understand that the Tridonic is gonna have probably a continuing tough environment in the first half of the year. Your guidance, on the one side, you say you're cautiously optimistic, and on the other side, you're talking about a margin, or EBIT margin of 3%-6%, which suggests a fall of EBIT of between 15% and 50%. Can you just explain that sort of fairly strong indication for a fall of EBIT this year?
Yeah, I think Thomas explained it. Thank you, Lawrence, for this question. One is, if obviously this bounce back of the component business with the volumes comes earlier, let me say, if now within July, we are seeing a normal order intake because the stock with our customers is depleted, I think we are back on track, we are going more into on the higher end. That's one. The second one is, we are not sure, I don't know how familiar you are with Austria, with one-third of our people, we have a wage increase of 10%. We are not sure whether all these fixed costs increase, we can again hand over to the market, how it was possible in the past.
We see as all our competitors and us are able to deliver and construction shrinking, we are having an oversupply. Despite high inflation, we believe that we are seeing, again, at least in the second half of the year, a price pressure. Obviously, if on one side, the volume comes back quickly and the inflation stays and we are able to hand over the price to the market, then automatically we will end up with a higher level. If not, then it might even get worse. That's exactly the uncertainty where we are in.
Okay, thank you.
We have a follow-up question from Markus Remis. Your question, please.
Yeah, thank you. Getting a bit granular now, if I may. Looking at the Components Segment and the development of the earnings over the course of the quarter. I'm looking now at Q4, EUR 87 million and EUR 11 million of EBITDA. The same EBITDA figure was basically achieved in the first half on revenues of EUR 103 million and EUR 94 million. Can you put that into perspective, how you've managed to maintain the earnings level despite the revenue pressure?
You're mainly talking about the Components Segment, right?
Components Segment specifically.
Yeah.
The, I mean, Q1 was strong in terms of top line, as you rightly pointed out, but still, I mean, on revenues of, I don't know, EUR 15 million or EUR 7 million less, Q4, EBITDA was pretty comparable at EUR 11 million, or actually fully comparable.
You mean now, last year or the, this year?
In, in, in 2022, 2023.
Well, you know, there, raw material prices have to be taken into consideration. You know, raw material a year ago was much cheaper than a year later. The U.S. dollar rate is heavily impacting the results of Tridonic. There are a lot of variables in this equation.
I think, I guess if I understand you right, Markus, you were saying, looking at the second half with 6% EBIT and 8.7% EBIT, despite the lower volume, that's not so bad compared to the first half with the higher EBIT, right?
Exactly. That's my point. When I look at the profitability in Q4 2022, 2023, both in absolute terms and in.
Um.
As a margin, it's still quite healthy, despite really lower revenues than in the seasonally strong Q1 and Q2.
Well, as said, you know, it's not so bad, the result, but this was also influenced from transfer prices within the group. You know, the Tridonic increased transfer prices to the lighting segment in the second half of the year. There are shifts, you know, in government subsidies, depending on which quarter you record them. I agree, despite the lower volume, the result was not so bad.
Nevertheless, Tridonic is a high volume business, and, if you have the loads, then it's very profitable. If you lack of the load, it's going the other direction.
Okay. Okay, the 10% decline in components, to put it down, that was a volume effect in the final quarter?
Yeah.
Yeah, okay. All right. Thank you.
Markus, what you are saying, just obviously, you see that the Tridonic is able to manage this very well. That's why we believe also in the second half, you know, you see also a trend here. You see a trend.
Yeah.
that you have minus 8.3% in Q3.
Yeah.
Minus 9.9% in Q4. Without basically knowing exactly where we will end in Q1, but that is currently not improving. Obviously, simply because the customers have to take that volume, what they have ordered, and they are still having high warehouses.
Yeah.
Therefore, we believe Q1 will be challenging, and depending on how this market comes... The market is not unhealthy, but obviously the entire market of semiconductors, the entire market of components, and you see also in our inventory level, where we are extremely high, all-time high, I think at the end of the fiscal year. Our customers on the components are having the same effect.
Yeah, no, certainly. there will be quite a base effect then also...
Yeah
Q1 to be considered. Yeah. Okay. No, that's very clear. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next question is from the line of Roland Könen from Value-Holdings. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning from my side. Congrats to the figures. Two minor questions from my side. First one is on the impairment on the associates. I guess we talked about Q1 or Q2. It depends on the Inventron impairment. My feeling was that this was cleaning up this position. Now we see instead of EUR 2 million negative result in this line, minus EUR 4.X. Could you explain this? Furthermore, is this just cleaning the balance in the light of the very good earning situation of the last fiscal year? My second question would be on the personnel side. We saw minus 2% of the numbers of employees on average, but minus 5% when we compare the reporting dates.
Is this a result of the more productivity of you, or is this a sign of the lower work or the lower order intake, in the last month of the fiscal year? You explained, especially for the Tridonic side. Thanks a lot.
Okay. Well, Inventron, in the first half year, we wrote off half of the value of this shareholding. As you said, also in good times, you can also provide for or take a more conservative outlook on the development of your investments. We fully neutralized the value of Inventron in our balance sheet and P&L. With regards to employees, this is a very tricky question. Because, you know, we have a high labor intensive operations in China, and depending on how many people there are, you have a lot of employees more or a lot of heads, more or less. Depending on the load of the Chinese factory, this makes the swing of our employees.
You know, it's not the broad base through all countries, it's more China-related than related to Europe.
Okay, understood. Great. Thanks a lot for these explanations.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a final reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. So far, there are no further questions, and I hand back to Alfred Felder for closing comments.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for the questions. This brings us to the end of our call today. Again, we believe that after Q1, and I think we talk again at the beginning of September, we will have much better visibility on how much surprises this fiscal year will have for us and how we will tackle them. Thank you so much and have a great day.