Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this presentation on discussing the results in the Q2 2024. In the name of the Board of Directors , the presenters are Dariusz Mańko, the Chairman of the Management Board, Roman Przybylski, Vice President, and Rafał Warpechowski, the Board Member and the CFO. Let's start with the introduction from the Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the next conference of Grupa Kęty. Today, we are going to discuss the results in the Q2. Let me start by saying that, in fact, nothing much has happened, and we can also say that it is a little bit boring. It is mainly due to the fact that the markets are poor.
The Polish market is poor, but also European markets do not demonstrate their willingness to increase. Sometimes it is a side movement, and some indicators of manufacturing ratios are negative, particularly in Germany. If Germany is not in good condition, also the Europe, Europe part suffers, including the Polish market. What we concentrate on is executing, doing our job, and taking some attempts at any price to use our equipment to achieve the volumes and to maintain employment of our people. Sometimes it is at the expense of margin, and the CFO is going to discuss this, particularly in extrusion products. These are the times, and this is what the market looks like, and we of course cannot complain, as in terms of volumes, it has been a good time for all three segments.
This is the most satisfactory, and we believe this is the biggest success in the Q4, too, that in difficult condition, our usage of the machines and equipment was high. We also improved the results as a group, as a capital group. So EBITDA is on the level of PLN 256 million. That's the, and so PLN 166 million of net profit. So this is 10% year-to-year increase, and I believe that for a lot of shareholders who are used to stability and also some solid results of Grupa Kęty, it is good news that in these difficult times, we are not letting you down, and we are maintaining or even increasing the value of the corporation you are shareholders with.
Out of the stars, worldwide stars we have, which also give us a lot of satisfaction in terms of the work we do and the management and development. So it is the agreements to purchase Selt, one of the main players in the sun visors market. And, it is a great thing and a great history as we have purchased from the current owner or the owners of Selt, we have purchased Aluprof at some point in time. And, 10 years ago, it gave us a good, a nice drive to merge Aluprof with Metalplast Bielsko and to maintain this Aluprof name, and the marketing costs were distributed to much bigger entity, and we could do more in terms of promotion and being aggressive in the market and marketing expenditures.
Needless to say that it was a success, and now we're our one of our segments is, I mean, Aluprof, you know very well. It all started with a purchase of Aluprof and also from the same owners. Now we are in a moment in time where the owners of Selt want to sell the other part of their business, I mean, Selt itself, which greatly over the last year was developed, and they have a strong position in the market, in the domestic markets with some interesting export directions and with the products which are very close to what we offer. We believe that this is also some kinds of fate that we are on the same path.
But for Grupa Kęty, again, it is an important pivot point. That's what we believe, and I can also say that that I also have believed this for many, many years. And as the CEO, and this is a point in time when that company, together with other segments, will allow us strongly take a leap to European markets to export. And this is a foundation for Grupa Kęty to start thinking about its position in Europe in a way, in a well-considered, a well way, and also efficient way.
This is how this investment should be perceived, as this is something what we are going to remember many years in the future, that that was the moment when Kęty knocked on the European doors very strongly, and they are an important player also in this segment, which seems to be new in our group. I mean the sun visors... as the Vice President, Mr. Przybylski is responsible within the group for the mergers, and he's going to be responsible for integration of that company with our group. Let me pass the floor to himself, and he will make a presentation as this is also his input in this investment. And honestly, this is also going to be a great challenge.
And so one plus one, we need to generate at least five. Let me pass the floor to my colleague. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As the CEO has mentioned, the company, it is something what we know very well, and a large part of the history is common. The most important is that the market is perceived as a very perspectivic, as the trends or the mega trends, in the longer perspective are very supportive for us. I mean, the climate warming trends for thermal modernization, all this makes the sun visor segment is attractive and is going to grow in the next years. Also it is a segment which is close to us.
We have some synergies with our existing business in the market, marketing with Aluprof, but also in value chain. It is very clearly, we have clearly done some synergies with SWW and so, so many advantages. Many advantages of this takeover of this merger. And the condition for now is that in June, we signed a preliminary agreement to purchase 100% of shares at the price of PLN 420 million minus net debt. So it will be like 10 to EBITDA, what the company achieves. And so we are planning to make the closing at the latest in October or sooner. It is conditioned by obtaining of antitrust and agreement.
Well, we need those from the Polish, Czech, and Austrian market, and the Polish regulator has already submitted their permission. And now we understand that we do not need a Czech clearance, and now we are waiting for the clearance from Austria. And as Mr. CEO said, let me just reiterate this, as the company is the leader in the market of visors in Poland, but also they are selling to Hungary, Germany, Scandinavia, and Austria, and the potential for further growth is big. The market is huge, and so we believe that this is going to be EUR 7.5 billion of the market, and these are 14 largest countries in Europe. And clear extrapolation shows that throughout the European Union, it is going to be like more than EUR 10 billion.
Other players in the market are present, large international, international groups, many local players, and the potential for development of the segment within the group and building based on sales and further development abroad is huge. So we are very enthusiastic, and we are waiting for the clearance, we are waiting for the closing, and we are happy to take more steps to build European leader in this segment.
Thank you. Thank you for presenting this deal, this opportunity. Now let's move on to discuss financial results and operational activity. The Financial Director , the floor is yours. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The results of the Q2 are according to our assumptions, after six months of completion is EBITDA is about 51%. So we can say that all goes according to what we have planned.
Very important good information is what was also mentioned, that each of the segments in the Q2 significantly increased the volumes, which shows how the group is developing and what strength it's building for further development, and we are also building customer base and sales income in. And we also have the prices, prices of raw materials and exchange rates, so this is why we have this negative results. So the EBITDA is increased by 7%, PLN 16-17 million compared to the last year. And nothing has been happening in terms of the financial cost, quite stable, exchange rates and no exchange rates differences. So this is like 15 million of rates, and last year we had a couple of millions, like 4 million of negative exchange effect.
So that's why we have an improvement in this Q, this quarter. And another quarter where we have this deferred tax on activity carried out with some tax releases. And as you know, the major investments, as we have been informing, are about to finish, so this influence in the next quarters should not be expected. And now the composition of the good results over the individual segments, SWW, so extrusion products, this is our measure of the market, our measure of the world as we are supplying products to many industries.
We have a diversified sales, and this weakness of the market is clearly visible, as we have already mentioned, as despite 14% increase in volumes, which is very good and shows the strength of the segments and how efficiently, even in a difficult market, we are able to generate manufacturing capacity, but it shows that EBITDA compared to the last year in terms of the value, due to those macro changes, is lower. And what is also good, it is that trend as in the Q1, EBITDA in the segment was about PLN 50 million, now it is PLN 70 million. So we are observing an improvement, and I hope that this improvement, expected improvement is going to come true.
As for the structure, actually, the decrease in sales for the automotive industry in this segment, this decrease makes the new volumes to go mainly to the construction industry and also the home appliance. So we have some changes in the structure and also some percentage points decrease of export as the markets, international foreign markets, where we are selling almost 50%, almost half of our volumes. Those markets were a little bit worse than the domestic market. And another segment, these are aluminum systems segments. So this is an example of how our integration and extending of the value chain is bringing benefits.
With 1,000 or so lower EBITDA in that SWW and higher EBITDA in SSA, it is also compensating the difficulties we have experienced in SWW and a very good operational market. There's also 8% increase in volume. Despite incomes increase is lower, as in the Q3 last year, we have been informing about the decreases, but now the price lists quarter to quarter are difficult to compare. No changes in the product structure or share of international sales. So this situation is very stable, but also in terms of the results, it is a very good quarter, and we are very happy. The same as with flexible packaging, last year was very demanding, very difficult.
Many activities were undertaking in marketing and in the manufacturing allowed or helped us now to show the results. As the situation with the supply is not very comfortable, but it is quite stable prices of raw materials and the large scale as the usage is 90% of the capacity. This helped us to increase the margin. It's significant increase at about PLN 15-16 million higher EBITDA, with 7% of increase in volume. So in each areas, in commercially, new customers, adjustment to the requirements of the market, and very efficient adjustment to unified, simple packaging, also other products which have not been included in our offerings before. Also a stable activity, stable operation, very high quality, efficiency, very high efficiency, and the largest corporations, worldwide corporations, compared with the Q2 last year.
So these are two-digit increases, and they also drive this exports, export sales, which is now 54%. Very good, stable result in that segment. And now a bit about investments. We have completed almost two-thirds of the annual plan, 62%, and this is what we expected as the majority of the investment included in the strategy. So SWW complex of two presses and SSA, a new plant in Złotkowo, which is a copy of the plant in Bielsko. So that's this is Aluprof products. And these projects have been completed in the H1 of this year, and we started selling products from our new plants. So all this happened according to our expectations and our schedules, time schedules.
For SOG, we are about to start investment planning for the year 2024, 2025. These are 2 plans for packaging. This is the printing lines with shears and lamination machines. These are the projects to be finished in 2025, and the value is about PLN 30 million. Importantly, it is also possible to get 50% of subsidy, like tax reliefs and those recognitions according to the new regulations. That's going to happen after the investment is complete. The ratio, the financial ratio within the group, as last year, good results, good EBITDA, allowing us to finance investments and also to decrease our debt PLN 132 million, 0.8.
Then this is net debt to EBITDA, so we are ready to pay the dividend as declared in September and November, PLN 540 million. And so the ratios are good, correct? And operating capital, this is the opposite trend to the last year, but not significantly, PLN 10 million increase over the quarter. So it has not affected the situation. Stable long-term financing, also extended lines in H1 this year. Euro is has a little bit share, but for finance, it is quite natural hedging of our exposure, and it also due to strong zloty and weak euro. This affects our operational values and. But we are catching up this pressure.
One non-financial slide, I want to mention that a couple of days ago, we have called an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders with just one item, one thing which is requested from the shareholders. This is approval of the motion to issue a series of warrants to entitle us to purchase Series L shares. It is due to the resolution of December last year, made by the Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders, and it is related with the original option program from 2020. So we are very close to the first tranche of this project. In September 2023, the regulations were changed, and the program, which originally was to be started in October, was not able to be started due to inability to use bonds as vehicle allowing to purchase shares.
We used bonds, but regulations from October on do not allow us to do that, and this is why we changed the bonds to warrants. General meeting in December approved this motion and also accepted the first tranche of the program. But that was required that as the October deadline already passed, but the tranche 2 and tranche 3 were not approved, and that was the case also in the May general meeting. After contacting the shareholders and after some discussions, we understood the thoughts, and we prepared a very extensive explanation on why this need is in place, and this resolution will allow us, is needed for us, to, for us to execute the resolution of shareholders from December 2023.
And also those materials for the general meeting is available for you to use, and we believe that in this Extraordinary General Meeting , this, those approvals, those conditional approvals, and this increase in equity, approval for this will be achieved. And now some words about the perspectives. We cannot see those very clear signs of improvement, and we are not expecting any significant changes in the raw material market, but we are also expecting a pressure on the margin. And also, as a factor, significant usage of capacity and volumes are some kind of counterbalance to this, and this is what we keep, keep in hands, and this is our operational effort. And as my colleagues mentioned, the Q3, it is preparation to close, at the latest in October, the deal of purchase of Selt.
And we are also intensively working on the new strategy. As according to the declaration, by the end of this year, it needs to be presented, published. And as for the finals, the situation is safe and secure, and we are now preparing money to pay the dividends, and we are also arranging finance to buy, to buy Selt. And within the next couple of weeks, we will be able to have the final negotiated offering, and we will be informing you, I hope, about how we are going to start this financing. Thank you.
Thank you very much. And now let's move on to the Q&A session. Ladies and gentlemen, I can see that there are many questions on Selt.
Unfortunately, we will not answer these questions now, as you will have to be patient, and wait until closure of this deal, as formally the company is not our property, and the board is not going to discuss the situation, the current situation or the future. Whatever we were able to reveal is included in the communication, is included in the presentation you have seen. Unfortunately, we need to stop here as for answering the questions on Selt. So, other questions are not so many of them. The first question is about SWW volumes and the situation with SWW. Do you assume a further increase in volume and H2 versus the Q2?
Obviously, yes, of course, as the Q3 has historically always been the best quarter for extruded products, and the situation I have been talking about at the beginning of this presentation is not very good in terms of demands in the market. So this is why we have been using strong efforts of our commercial people to acquire some orders at the expense of our competitors to use our capacity as much as possible. Naturally, as the CFO also said, this is a natural counterbalance to the margins, to lower margins, which unfortunately are here. In this area, in the extruded products, the margins, as for the margins, not much can be done, but in terms of volumes, of course, we always can do something, and we will undertake this activity.
Thank you. And the next question is about the extruded products also. In the Q1, we observed a regular increase of the billets premium from about $300 per ton to six hundred dollars. And what was the reason for that increase? Is it because of the limited supply of billets in Europe? On the other hand, higher transport costs from outside of Europe, or are there any other reasons?
Let me answer this question as for aluminum prices. It is very difficult to guess what are the lows or what are the rules to set the price of aluminum in the London and also the billets. Obviously, we are trying to understand those natural the natural situations like closure of some mines or some closures of billets manufacturers. But it is there is no correlation.
For so many years, I have been working in this industry. I can tell you that I don't want to speak about some conspiracy theories, but some products can be hatched, and financial institutions do this, and they are able to make money on that. So this is as good as any other in the market, and depending on what financial forces flow through the industry, like aluminum, the situation may change. And as for the factors we have observed, and what I can tell you is that definitely, yeah, this premium is not low, it's not high enough, and this affects manufacturers of billets.
And the manufacturer of billets have not much field of activity, and there's a significant premium can make them to become not profitable, and they start thinking about limiting their manufacturing and to survive when the premiums are very low. So this risk makes that some of them do this. They decrease the manufacturing volume of billets. Some only threaten us to do that. And, sometime, as with the magic wand, those premiums can go up or down. So it is difficult to find any fact which would confirm the theory why this premium is high or low.
Thank you. And next question on aluminum systems. From the beginning of the year, did the segment change the price list for systems and rollers, and what are the signals from the competition?
Has our competition changed their prices in the H1?
As I said, for incomes of SSA, they are not so much changing. That change was about 5-6% in the Q3, 2023, and since that time, our prices have not been changed. Like, one or two months ago, when aluminum significantly was growing, the level was $2,700. We considered this need, and there were some voices in the market. Now, aluminum again the price is lower. So, I think that the matter of the changing of prices is also now pushed forward in the future. About other players, it might be...
Let me add on top of that, the prices are prices, but it is not always that this is correct in stone, that we all use price list. It is not a product available on the shelf. Our customers have some history of cooperation. There are also some relationships, there are also some discounts for volumes and other reasons. So, it is movable. So for our competitors, it is also changeable. Our competitors also decrease their prices, but there are some activities or tasks when the market is weak. The competition, that's their right, they have their different goals. So we are in the market where we are, we are the leader. This is our home market, and we also need to keep some levels.
Some competitors, they may feel that this is a little bit exotic market. Polish is the exotic market, and they can offer very low, very low prices, and there are many multiple players in the market. So in fact, answering this question directly, I can say that over that time of the weak market, some prices are changed, and there are also some promotions in the market available, which may make some players to be more better visible in the market. But this is something what we need to face, all of us need to face. So in all the industries, this happens, so this is very natural, and we can handle this quite efficiently.
Thank you. The question about the inflow of products from Turkey, Turkey, I think I'm, it's mainly SWW.
Do we still observe significant competition, or is that going down? Can you comment on that, gentleman?
Indeed, this strength decreased, this it, particularly when the billets price premium was lower as the discount was lower. Late last year, early this year, this situation was decreased, and we were thinking about requesting some duties. And now we are expecting this situation, the import from Turkey may increase, and it has always been quite high. So we believe that this is a significant share in Europe, but for quite a long time, we have been efficiently tackling this problem.
Thank you. And the question on aluminum systems, particularly one of the products, it is hardened glass, and EBITDA achieved in the H1 was positive?
Yes, we achieved positive EBITDA, and it seems that the H2, as we expect, all those adjustments, the technological manufacturing adjustments will also help us to achieve the scales we have, the volume we have, we have assumed to have. Another question about aluminum systems and the perspectives for 2025. And so what the company is telling us in the context of the signals of light improvement in some segments of the market, can this be translated into a broader image of improvement in the market in 2025 in the construction industry, we are supplying to we are supplying our aluminum systems? The question is difficult, and I think how to answer it, what we can expect. Are we going to have improvement in the market?
It is not that bad now that only better can happen. And, if you look into our figures on budget and strategy, it will turn out what our perception of the future is. And can we say that in aluminum system segments, we are expecting some kind of fireworks? It is difficult to say as we more concentrate now, and we are focused on the fact that much can be done in Western Europe, much can be achieved, and these are very rich and interesting markets. And we believe that this is going to be the direction for us, even if there is no improvement in the market in Germany still, it is not going to prevent us as this is such a huge market that we can fight for it and other Europe, Western European markets.
So we should not concentrate on the situation in the market, as we are not that huge, and we do not need to drift. We are small enough that whatever the situation in the market is, we need to win more areas, more markets in Europe, and sell more and more products.
Thank you. Next difficult questions on aluminum systems and their products. Do you, gentlemen, or would you like to assess what share of the incomes of the segment come from thermal modernization projects?
I will not undertake this attempt to say or to give you a figure, a number, but definitely it is a big market in Western Europe. It all started much earlier and like shades.
For quite a long time in Western Europe, the market for shades in new buildings, new houses, is not growing, but still, there are large number of applications in buildings which are thermally modernized. This is how we also protect buildings from losses of heat and from excessive heating in the summer. So this is a significant element, and we need to remember that in Poland we have just started constructing new aluminum buildings, so this is the main driver of the Polish market. And the thermal modernization also affects blocks of houses, and so this is not our market. So we are unable to make the assessment here, but this is a significant share of the construction industry, particularly in Western Europe.
Thank you.
Another question, the problems presented in media of one of the important customers, in aluminum systems, do they affect do these problems affect, the cooperation this year?
I am not going to mention the name. Cooperation has been very good. We do not have any payment difficulties, and in fact, the assumptions have been, the assumptions are in progress, in terms of last year's sales. And we know what the company, name is, so most of us, for us, cooperation is very good. Thank you.
So I know the name, but I am not going to say it. Do or does the company maintain the investment plan, in 2024? And what expenditures can be expected in the Q3?
Yes, as for now, we maintain, uphold, two-thirds has already been completed, so the total level is more than PLN 300 million. As for now, we believe that this level may be a little bit lower, but after September, we will be able to give you the accurate annual forecast. And we still have about PLN 100 million to spend within one half of the year.
The last question we have not answered yet: How many companies are there currently running the process of due diligence or review due to the ideas of making some more acquisitions? Is this number growing or falling down? Is it similar to what we had last year?
I believe that this is another question we cannot answer, as we are opportunistic and active in the markets.
We analyze all these opportunities, and until the moment, is correct to speak about the details, we cannot speak about the details. And there is another question, which was added: What is the reason behind the four million difference in EBITDA versus to the assessments or forecast in presented in June? This results from this assessment and the judgments we did, is that this is not PLN 4 million. It is not big, taking into consideration the whole volume. And nothing extraordinary happened in that quarter, what would need to be mentioned. So these are just operational results are just different. And there is another question on flexible packaging, so like film, polypropylene film.
Is the current level of margin on this product similar to what was the case in the Q1 of this year, or due to increased freight costs, is it higher? We try not to specify detailed results in individual sections of the segment, but year-on-year improvement is due to packaging, but also BOPP film. And the using of capacity is good in both areas of the segment, so we can say that the improvement was for both packaging and film, and indirectly, so we have satisfactory margin in film. Logistics problems, purchase problems, have been affecting us as they affect all our market players, but we are well diversified, and that's why we were able to present good results over the quarter.
Thank you very much.
That was the last question we have been sent. Thank you very much, all the participants, for your time. Thank you, gentlemen, and I'd like to invite you now for the next presentation of the next quarter results. Those shareholders who are still in doubts on what the next general meeting is going to be devoted, please contact us, and we will do our best to clarify all the doubts you may have. Thank you.