Tomra Systems ASA

OSE:TOM

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q2

[Stefan Ranstrand, President & CEO]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the second quarter results announcement 2021 for TOMRA. My name is Stefan Ranstrand, I am the CEO TOMRA. With me today, I have Espen Gundersen, our CFO; and Georgiana Radulescu, our Head of IR. So it would be a pleasure for me to take it through the second quarter results of today. Espen will later go through the financial details a little bit deeper. Next page, please, Georgiana. So it was a good quarter, something really to be proud of. Revenues increasing with 27%; strong development in Collection Solutions; strong development in Recycling/Mining, so 43% and 33%, respectively, growth there in revenues; and growth in TOMRA Food, 6% after adjustment for currencies. Now when we talk about these strong growth numbers, we should, of course, not forget that last year, second quarter was our worst quarter when it comes to the pandemic. So here, we are measuring ourselves against the weak quarter, but nevertheless, these are the numbers, and they are strong. Gross margin was moving up. Good contribution from Collection Solutions, predominantly product mix issues. And operating expenses, good control. They were increased by 5%. So we are still lower on a running level since a lot of measures were taken during the pandemic. And we have still not yet come back to the same activity levels when it comes to being able to travel out and meet customers, taking part of trade shows and so on. So operating expenses are lower but increasing with 5% quarter-on-quarter. Strong development in earnings, EBITDA, up 60%, ending at NOK 465 million. Strong cash flow, resulting of strong earnings and good working capital management. And all-time high order intake growth of 38% for Recycling/Mining and Food, combined. We have positive momentum in all divisions, all segments and basically also in all geographies, which also now results in an all-time high order backlog of just north of NOK 2 billion, which is up 25% compared to last year. So COVID is still affecting our business, not dramatically and much better, of course, compared to last year. We have some small hiccups or lockdowns in parts of the world, especially right now, maybe in Australia, a little bit more than anywhere else, but nothing dramatic. What more is challenging is, of course, our inability to travel, to meet customers, to service customers and also delay in customer execution. We see that also on the revenue side. We could have delivered more. TOMRA was capable of delivering more, but the customers were not ready, especially when you have bigger complex installations, you need many suppliers to come in, you need more teams for installation, for commissioning, for starting up of the operations, and that is not running as smooth as we have experienced it in the past. Beyond that, we also have some challenges in terms of logistics, so hiring of containers, hiring of transport. Both access to it and cost of it is increasing. And there are areas of components that are challenged as well. So far, our team has been doing a great job in securing deliveries. So right now and what we can anticipate, we are not affected negatively by access to components. But of course, prices are going up for them and remains an area of cautiousness. So most likely, if it continues, situation will stabilize. But of course, we know there are new virus variants out there, and we just need to remain cautious and vigilant to the situation. But all in all, a strong quarter, as you can see. And yes, with that, I go to the next element. Yes, that was 2, but that's perfect. So Collection Solutions. All in all, very solid growth for the quarter. For the first half year, we have seen a tremendous development, much driven, of course, by the new market, Holland, here, which went live with a new deposit system or extended deposit system, we must say, July 1 this year. And that illustration you have on the top left corner is actually quite interesting. A little bit about the TOMRA story, which is, I would say, unique. So let me take you through that storyline. Remember, TOMRA was founded in 1972. And 1983 already, we thought Holland could be -- or the Netherlands could be an important market for us. So we established an entity there, 1983. Then, it took almost 20 years until something happened. 2001, the legislators, the Minister of Environment decided that deposit on large bottles, bigger than 0.8 liters would be introduced. And that then went live in 2005. So again, 20 years after -- a little bit more than 20 years after 1983. And that was only for large bottles, remember. Then, in 2012, the system was really under attack. The industry -- different industry players try to abolish it, try to prove that it was possible to do a good result without. And the government allowed and to test out alternative solutions, but they failed. They did not deliver on these assumptions, on these promises. And now, we have a completely new situation as of July 1 this year, also small PET bottles are included. And in 2022, we will then have aluminum cans also. And then, the system will be what we call a complete system. So this is really telling you a little bit about the long time it takes, the tenacity it takes from a player like TOMRA to be there, to support, to influence, demonstrate results. And so I never, never give up. And I must say, our Dutch team here, together with our governmental affairs team, have been working tremendously on this case over the years. A lot of innovation, a lot of passion, many battles that we don't see in this illustration. So I'm quite proud of it. And again, if you follow TOMRA, this illustrates a little bit how we work and what makes us unique. And of course, our industry as such is unique in a set. No one other industry has this deposit system, but they might have similar regulations. So good quarter, very solid quarter, really. Espen will take you through the numbers. The story on Holland, which went live now on July 1, I think, was worth talking about. Now if you look at the right side, we have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 new markets coming up. If you look in the period of time, about 12 -- a little bit north of 12 months, starting January 2022, we are now expecting more new markets or market extensions than we have ever had in the history. So Slovakia, Latvia, which is, by the way, we were awarded the contract, as you remember, and the contract was now signed yesterday. So again, a great achievement there. Scotland, potential delay there, but hopefully not; then, we have the Netherlands, the second leg, as I talked about, the cans; Victoria and Australia, and a modernization of the Connecticut system, which is very well appreciated by us. Connecticut has had a deposit system since many, many years. Now they're actually increasing the deposit value from $0.05 to $0.10, which we anticipate will lead to much higher Collection volumes and a modernization and a more robust system. So that was a challenged system in the past. I think this decision will hopefully bring it to a good, hopefully, world-class system over time. So Collection, they will actually be up for a little bit of a slower period now for a couple of quarters. Espen will talk about that. But there's a lot of potential in the future and a very strong first half year here. With that, I would like to move on to talk about Recycling/Mining. So Recycling, as you know, we are in the sorting of many waste fractions. So everything from plastics, metals, household waste or municipal solid waste, we call that, industrial waste. We're talking about construction, demolition waste, so in many sectors. TOMRA has a leading position here with a global market share of estimated 55%. We were through a little bit slower period, 3 quarters last year. We had a lower order intake. But now we have seen a robust rebound. And the growth here in this year of order intake of 30 -- let me see now, 38%, I think. So strong -- 48%, sorry, strong comeback here in order intake and also good revenues growth in the quarter. We have seen good drive through higher commodity prices. You can see on the top right figure there, the PET, that is both for recycled PET, rPET, and for virgin PET. So the commodity prices are higher, that's important for the industry. That's also an indication of higher demand. But we also had a good catch-up now in metals. Metals has been weak during the year and commodity prices demand is increasing. We see global demand improvement here. So again, this business is in a solid stage, and we anticipate it will be attractive also going forward. Some of the drivers here, there is a lot of potential to get much more plastic out of the household waste than we do today, so more than double the amount. And that's important because in order to transform the world to circular economy, we need that feedstock of material. So we need to learn how to extract the material out of municipal solid waste, and TOMRA is having the technologies to do that. So that's something we're going to work on, focusing on going forward. Then, of course, the increased quality demand. In order to use plastics in new products, we need to raise the quality level, create standards. Here, again, the high-precision sorting of TOMRA is critical. I will talk a little bit about it polystyrene shortly, and there, I will give you an example of that. But that's critical. And this is a sector where we see strong demand. So we actually -- we talk about plastics upgrading. So in recycling facilities, we now take it to a new level, making it really top-quality products or material. Then, we have the regulations and financial incentives. We think the European plastics tax is very interesting and very important. You might recall that the European Union imposed a tax of EUR 800 per ton, which is not far away from the tradable values of plastic. You can see that in the graph up there, so a significant amount. So if you use virgin plastics, you have to pay such a fee. If not, if you use recycled, you can avoid that one. So it's a stimulation for circular economy. You can say United Kingdom is having their tax GBP 200 per ton. Italy and Spain are -- go with a tax of EUR 450 per ton. So things are happening here. But this initiative still has to shape up and be implemented fully. But it's a good signal and it's a strong signal to the industry that things are happening and plastic cannot be wasted. It needs to be recycled. And that's all good for TOMRA. With that, I'd like to go over and talk a little bit about the food business we have. So as you might recall, food was really challenged, especially the processed side over the last 2 years. 2019, we had the trade war between European -- between U.S. and China, which is still ongoing, affecting about $11 billion of food exports out of U.S. to China. So that was a major disruption for the U.S. food suppliers, and still affecting them. And then, of course, the pandemic, which hit the food service sector, which is about 50% of the U.S. food consumption and 40% of the European food consumption. And when all these restaurants and catering food services closed down due to the regulations, pandemic-related, they -- that part of the business really died out. People continue to consume food, of course, so more through retail consumption and home consumption, but the industry was affected badly. Now we see much more positive momentum. So processed food is really coming back. We saw strong growth in potatoes, in nuts, which are critical categories for us, and dried fruit. So that is coming back but it's still not up to full momentum, but it's growing and the market sentiment is improving as we go on here. Fresh food was really never an issue. It's been hot demand. It's been strong market momentum throughout the pandemic and still continues to be so. So for us, we see strong demand, particularly in cherries and kiwi fruit right now. Also, blueberries continues to be strong. And as you know, TOMRA is also a world #1 in food sorting and grading, with an estimated market share of some 30% globally in this big, vast industry. So something really to watch out for the year. And it's good to see that the market is strengthening again. Some few highlights on the potato side here. We sort about 30% to 40% of all potatoes being grown in the world. So that's a big category, as you know, or a big, yes, breed of products. And we peel some 70% to 80% of all the potatoes being processed into, say, french fries. And here, of course, now working with the data, which we are investing in is increasingly important to maximize the yield, improve performance, and help the operators to reduce their burden to run it. So quarter-on-quarter, potato was up 38%. So it's a good sign of what's happened in the food business. Yes. With that, I'm happy to go to the next page, and that will be about circular economy. And this is a busy slide. So I hope I will be able to take you through it. As you know, we started our circular economy division, 2019. So we recognize there would be a big movement, big demand for closed-loop solutions, where you not only recycle, but you really take the material back into new products. And we wanted to be a leader in that segment and took a really strong drive and focus, put our best people into leading that business and building that business. And it's been shaping up tremendously. Today, I want to talk about a specific success, and that's the material called polystyrene, which stands for about 6% of the plastics. So it's not the biggest traction, but it's an important fraction. Polystyrene is very similar to PET. It has some unique properties. It has some barriers so that the contamination from outside do not enter into the plastics. So that makes that plastic better for food grade. So PET and PS are good for food grade. But polystyrene has been under attack. It's been seen as a problem. And therefore, in 2018, the styrenics industry formed Styrenics Circular Solutions, very much formed through the chemical industry in order to tackle the problem. And of course, initially, they were looking for chemical recycling of the material. And we then came in contact with SCS in 2019. And in 2020, we joined them. We then started making some test, with the aim to show them that it's possible to deliver food-grade polystyrene out of mechanical recycling, which is where we really have our long experience. And we started doing some manual works. And then we implemented our new facility in Germany, together -- which we do with Borealis, as we have talked about before. And there, we have now been able to process 40 tons for them and been able to prove that we can deliver 99.9% pure material out of normal household wastes coming out of Germany and Norway. So really, the source you want to address it from, so the municipal solid waste getting -- collected from the consumers, then extracting the polystyrene out of that, predominantly yogurt cans, treating that through sorting, washing, flaking and making that into new products. Now we are at the stage that we are -- have submitted our application to the European authorities and to Swiss food authorities to approve this product for food grade. And if that happens, we have really made, I would call, revolution in the industry. And this is exactly what TOMRA is about. This is exactly what we want to achieve with circular economy, so this is something to watch out for. And if we succeed with this, we should get a medal because this is really a big showcase for transforming how we can use waste and make new products food grade out of that. And again, it's an important sector. So sorry if we're talking long, but I'm very excited about this whole initiative. And let's keep our fingers crossed, actually, that we go all the way and get it food-grade approved. With that, I will hand over to Espen and let him take you through the financials. Thank you.

[Espen Gundersen, Deputy CEO & CFO]

Thank you, Stefan. Yes. As always, we took our currencies. We experienced the first quarter last year, a significant depreciation of Norwegian krone. So the cold figures we have for second quarter this year is very influenced by currencies. And consequently, please look at currency investment figures as we have some headwind on currency, particularly against the dollar but also against the euro. Moving to next page on the P&L. As Stefan said, it really is a strong month. We have 16% currency adjusted growth in the quarter. All divisions are contributing, but in particular, the Collection and Recycling divisions are 43 and 33 percentage points currency adjusted up. So in addition, we have improved gross margins. It's partly about somewhat low margin in Collection last year, COVID-related, but also very strong mix effects on the market side in Collection this year. Cost is, overall, under good control. We have 12% up currency adjusted, but please also keep in mind the investments we are giving. In certain economy, we are now on NOK 50 million, round figures, of more quarterly cost on circular economy initiatives from same quarter last year reported as part of the CRM division's OpEx and also all the ramp-up cost in Collections which, round figures, was NOK 20 million last year, now NOK 30 million. It's what we spend, over and above, was a normal for preparing for new markets because of all those opportunities that we see out there, which we need to position ourselves for. So even with those increases, we see the quarter end at NOK 465 million. And it's 104% up from last year. It's 17.3% EBITDA margin. So actually, very close to our long-term financial target of 18%. Of course, as I said, we have low configure. We say configures because of second quarter last year was really the COVID quarter. But if you go back and also compare ourselves with second quarter '19, meaning going 2 years back, the figures are very strong. You see the graphs on the bottom left and bottom right and see that, yes, the second quarter '20 stood out in a negative way. But second quarter this year is also standing out significantly in a positive way, regardless of what quarter you're comparing against. Moving to the divisions. Collection has a lot of recurring revenues. Almost 50% of revenues is service-related, which is kind of, by definition, recurring. And the other part coming from sales, that's also recurring, [ up to 10 years ] in new machine. So the bottom, the Collection business is very stable, usually don't fluctuate very much between quarters and years. But then you have [ events ]. So in understanding TOMRA's performance, it's important to understand when you have these events. And the events we have been benefiting from the last 2 quarters is, in particular, driven in Netherlands, which Stefan mentioned, introduction on the deposit of small bottles with commencement 1st of July this year; and also Germany, which has built during September, get new requirements of security market leaders, which increased the price of the products. So we see additional orders coming in have been delivered at the front of that. So the increase in revenues, '21 versus '20, beginning in Europe [ex Northern ], it's mainly stemming from Eastern markets and is an event that we currently are benefiting from.On margin side, up, as I mentioned, because of good mix and comp figures. And OpEx is increasing due to ramp-up costs, in particular. So bottom line, 20% EBITDA margin and one of the absolutely best margins we have ever reported in Collection history. Moving on to Recycling/Mining, starting on the bottom left. The order intake was hit by the COVID situation for the 3 last quarters last year, but we have seen a good uptick starting first quarter, and it continued this quarter. So we have an all-time high order backlog -- order intake. Also, the order backlog has increased. There are probably some projects that have been somewhat delayed, not from our side, but it's more customers that are not prepared to take delivery because of the vendors, and so that has been on has been delayed. So there are some challenges in that area. But in a more normal world, we probably could have delivered somewhat more out of the order backlog. But it gives us a good position going into third and fourth quarter with this high order backlog and [ the depth ] of good momentum that Stefan talked about. On the P&L, we reported NOK 439 million in revenues. That's spot on 60% conversion ratio we indicated last quarter. We have some OpEx increase, but remember, investments are due in circular economy and bottom line, NOK 94 million, 21% came in as a decent quarter. Moving on to food. Again, looking at the order situation, food was at a very good trajectory before COVID hit us, looking at intake development throughout '19. But then, we got 3 low quarter -- lower quarter, particularly the processed segment continue to go down. Now we have increased order intake and it's the third consecutive quarter with higher order intake. And we also have built a strong backlog and also it showed we have an all-time high order backlog by the end of this quarter. On the P&L side, we indicated 75% conversion ratio, ended at 72.5%. So slightly below the indication, but we managed 43% on the margin side. Very good OpEx control in food. So we are flattish in fixed currencies, brings the EBITDA margin up to 14%. On the balance sheet, we -- remember, there are seasonalities. The material recovery business in U.S. is tying up working capital during the summer months because it mirrors the building construction, and we have higher activity and higher working capital during those months and quarters. So it's usually more meaningful to compare yourself with the balance sheet 12 months ago and not 6 months ago. And doing that, there's not really many items standing out if you adjust for currencies. The working capital has improved compared to 1 year ago, and that also is reflected in the cash flow from operations, as you see on the graph on the top right side. So both second quarter and year-to-date, we are doing better on cash flow from operations than we did the same quarters and half years last year. Still a solid balance sheet, close to 50% equity. No gearing. And this is also after the dividend of NOK 3 per share that was paid out back in May. Next slide. We have NOK 876 million of unused available funding sources, 2.5 years with average debt maturity. So we are in a good position. Access to cheap financing is easy. So it's actually an easy job to be a CFO of this company when it comes to financing. So I'm privileged. Moving on to the outlook statement. We are, no doubt, very much influenced by, in a positive way, by all the macro drivers. That's -- that helps us. There's a lot of focus on green tech companies, but we are really in the middle of this. And then are very concrete demands out there, and we have very concrete solutions for many of these sensor-based sorting solutions. It's a real and something the world needs in all trade innovations. And finding solutions on the plastic challenges, finding surplus solutions and so on is really what the world is looking for. So I'm very optimistic and confident on the opportunities that we have and ahead of those. At the start of the session, one of our Board members said that through his 30 years in business, he had never seen a company with so many opportunities that TOMRA has today. And I think management also can confirm that. So the overall picture is,no doubt, looking very good. We also have to accept that to delivering upon these opportunities, to capture those opportunities, we need to invest. So going forward, we also will need to increase cost compared to the cost base we have today. It goes for all divisions. And some quarters, you will probably see that OpEx increased higher than revenues for execution, enabling us to execute on this. We also have to remember that we have built through a period of low or negative OpEx increase during the COVID period, no or very limited traveling, limited use of consultants, some initiatives put on hold to be on the cautious side. And how the things normalize and the markets opening up again, we also will, for that reason, see some higher cost in some quarters, which will happen because, of course, we have been more digital and we will not travel as much as we've done previously, but there will be more traveling for instance. And this will also be reflected in the accounts in the quarters to come here. So this is also things you have to take with you and you look at the total picture and the opportunities. If you go into the divisions. In Collection, they are currently very high activity related to preparations for new markets. Stefan pointed out the 6, 7 markets that have closed in time. There are also several others, which are in a pipeline. The government of [ Latvia ] haven't set a firm date yet, but that is also likely that will materialize. So this will be some volatility around the quarterly performance in Collection. We have had Netherlands and Germany the last quarters. Germany continued into third quarter. Netherlands will go down now, with the commencements on the first part of the race, it's going to be started. Then we get Slovakia, which we will compensate a lot for this. Timing, a little uncertain how big our opportunity will be, and still a bit uncertain, but it's definitely a good opportunity on [indiscernible] and it's a lot of this revenue that will disappear. Then we're going into next year, getting Latvia, which is a throughput market. So consequently, the revenue will come over time. We get some start-up costs. So this will also influence the performance. And then moving into second half of next year, you have many new markets that might materialize, that will both cost, in respect of the investment but also represent great revenue opportunities. So all in, we think that there have been or could be quarters where OpEx increasing more in revenues, and in particular, the period between fourth quarter this year and second quarter next year will be very dependent upon the outcome of decisions and also the timing of costs that we need to absorb to position ourselves for the coming quarters. Recycling/Mining, good momentum. We expect the conversion ratio of 60%, meaning revenues, upcoming quarter, will be 60% of the current order backlog. Again, this is not guiding, just an indication for those of you that want to model us on a quarterly basis. So in the longer run, we think we are really set up for good growth. Short term, still, COVID could influence negatively. But both in the plastic side and also the commodity price increases, you see in metals are helping this segment, increasing the momentum. And with the commercial rate indicated you also see, it's a good quarter coming up in recycling. In food, we estimate the conversion ratio of 70%, 7-0 percent, also that indicating a good quarter coming up. Also, the segment recorded still potentially have some negative challenges, but we are also confident in the meantime or long term that we are in the right industry, with the right products and good years are to come. At the end, I just want to mention currencies. Remember, always adjust for that since it fluctuates. Stefan mentioned also component shortage, transportation challenges. We are almost a global company. We are -- have long value chains. We are exposed to many of the other risks that other companies are. I think, in general, we have the situation under control. I don't think, at least to my knowledge, that we have needed to delay any deliveries to customers so far because of component shortages or of these challenges, at least, not in a material way. But it has been hectic. We have managed to reengineer and find ways around. And going forward, we still maintain a risk. We think the risk is under control, but we also want to point out that it also can negative influences because of -- this is partly out of control. It's not about us, it's our about our suppliers, and our sub-suppliers' ability to deliver their obligation towards us. So with that, I think we can turn the page. And since this is Stefan's last presentation with us, maybe it's a good time to look a little back and reflect a little bit on what's been done the last 10 to 12 years under your leadership, Stefan.

[Stefan Ranstrand, President & CEO]

Yes. Thank you, Espen. Well, yes, it's not so much to -- I would actually like to talk more about the future, not the past, but let's just go through a little bit quickly. For me, I tell you, I think TOMRA is as close to what you can define as a perfect company. We have a very meaningful, purposeful business. We do good for the environment, for reducing food waste, for addressing greenhouse gas emissions, for reducing plastic waste in oceans, on land, by that, also reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So the purpose is really strong. And we have the technologies that can transform industries to deliver better results and new solutions on that. So transformation is really key here. We have a super strong culture in TOMRA. And we have seen that times over and over again, how the teams talked about Netherlands before, how they have fought that battle and delivered on a very viable good solution. Look at how we build up Australia. Look at how people are now creating circular economy out of nothing, basically, and how our team in Food is transforming their categories for both processed and the food grade. And not -- last, but not least, how Collection is just coming into new growth trajectory. We have also been very privileged by having such good shareholders, like your good self. Thank you. We have, very few times, had challenges. You have understood our need to invest. You have supported us in that, and you have supported us all in all. You are -- and you have been stable. And you have also been rewarded, I think so, so that's good. But that's part of our job to deliver shareholder value. But really, we would like to thank you for that. What we've done in the years, basically, when I started in 2009, it was 85% collection business. We have then, Recycling/Mining as a kind of start-up business. TOMRA was not growing. We have been able to grow it every year now since then. We have built the Food division. We are now #1 in the world in Collection Solutions. We're #1 in the world in Mining and Recycling and #1 in Food. So strong player with very meaningful technologies that has so much more potential. But because when we add data and the connectivity to it in the future with artificial intelligence, expecting data, I think there's even more value out of it than we deliver today. So a lot of opportunities. And as we know, the world is really going our way when it comes to the mega trends. When it comes to regulatory changes, it really calls for more of the TOMRA offering out there. Ultimately, we must never forget, we are here to deliver on values to our customers. So that's at the core of TOMRA every day, everybody in TOMRA. So premium value to our customers is really what we do with our technologies, with our service people, with our sales and consultants, and all the team behind. We're thinking about R&D, operations and administration. So we are all tuned in to serve our customers. We have expanded into food, as I mentioned. We have also expanded in many geographies so that we are reaching out more to almost every market. So we are in all continents now where we have business, maybe not in the Antarctic and Arctic, but beyond that, really, in all continents, and we are on a growth trajectory. I believe that TOMRA has much more potential in the future than we have delivered in the past. And that's more important to me than what we have delivered. So Tove Andersen will take over on August 16. I'm very happy for this choice of new leader, and I wish her all success in that role. It's a fantastic team she will be working with, and it's a fantastic business. I also would like to finalize with saying that we are now really playing in a different league. So if you think, traditionally, most companies, they are a supplier of a technology. But look how TOMRA is moving beyond that now, taking the Collection business, where we have a strategic partnership with Cleanaway in Australia. We're now looking for how we can do more with Viridor. We're taking a bigger role than just supplying reverse vending machines. We're really being an integral part of that system, adding more value to the market, adding more value to TOMRA and increasing the robustness. On top of that, which is already a strong development itself, we are stepping up and building this circular economy. And if you look into the future, think of the big e-commerce places like taking Amazon, Alibaba, I just use a few names, and there are many of them out there, they will -- those who deliver products, they will need to have sustainable packaging. Otherwise, their growth trajectory will be limited by regulations and by penalties. So they need to handle the waste they generate, they need to have sustainable packaging, that's something TOMRA can do. If they are on top of that, delivering food products like Jingdong or Alibaba are doing well, then they will also need a food supply. And they will need to guarantee the food quality. So the relevance and the way we tie this together now is actually very unique. And we have the sensor technology as core in everything we do. And here, we are continuing focusing, and going forward, continue to invest in new markets, continue to innovate, both when it comes to sensors, machines, and on the last, but not least, digital side. It makes me very excited. So I believe that closing the door now after 12 years, I'm very proud of what has been done. I express my gratitude, from the bottom of my heart, to all of the TOMRA employees that have been supporting me and supporting the leadership team in this development. To the shareholders, to the Board, and I can only wish you great success going forward. And I firmly believe TOMRA is going to be a greater success tomorrow than it was yesterday. So with that, I close, and thank you, and now we open up for questions and answers.

[Georgiana Radulescu, Director of Investor Relations]

Thank you, Stefan. We have the first question is coming from [ Andre Vandreas ]. On collection, you talked about modernization of the system in Connecticut. Do you see orders on the short term? And how big is the opportunity compared to European countries, like the Netherlands or Slovakia?

[Espen Gundersen, Deputy CEO & CFO]

Yes. Connecticut has been a deposit market for many years, but the same way, as several of the older U.S. market has been $0.05 deposit market, and they are now increasing from a $0.05 to a $0.10 in deposit. And this will help the system in general because $0.05 was maybe an okay amount 20 years ago, but due to inflation and so on, it starts to become a little bit irrelevant. So if you don't adjust the deposit values, the return rates will decrease. We can actually plot the return rates versus the deposit value around the world and see a very high correlation in markets like Germany, where you have EUR 0.25, you have return rates around 98% in [ high percent ] markets, in the Northeast U.S., for instance, in the [ 60s ] at best. So just the fact that they are doubling deposit amount, it is positive for deposit system as such. There are also some more volume going through in all carbonated drinks will now be part of the system. And important also is to increase the handling fee, meaning that the retailers or redemption centers that are taking back the empties will now get paid for this. And this will make it more financially attractive to invest in technology and machines. I would assume, from the top of my head, there are a little more 1,000 machines in Connecticut today. And it will be possible to offer new and sell some new machines as this materialize. But it is not today. It's coming, in step wise, the next year, these initiatives. So it is not something that we enclose in reports material in the short term. But over the next years, it will have a positive impact and also, in particular, because we see that now the Northeast states in U.S., are working with something on the deposit systems, and I hope that all [ the world ] will come after in due time.

[Georgiana Radulescu, Director of Investor Relations]

Yes. The next question is from Daniel Haugland from ABG. You mentioned higher commodity prices will negatively influence production costs of own products. Could you give some more color on this? To what degree are you able to pass these costs on to the customers?

[Espen Gundersen, Deputy CEO & CFO]

There is, in general, a cost increase on almost all components and materials today. But there, I also think this is partly preliminary. [ Things started ] online and things are becoming a balance, so I think some of these prices will go down again. But we, like most of the companies, do experience increased costs and we have processes to pass this on to customers. I think customers, in general, are aware of this and also, to some extent, accepted. So that -- our cost, in general, has been 3%, 4% higher during the year due to this, I guess. But I do not think, in the long run, we will continue to see this. And hopefully, some of this will be revert back over time also. This is how precise I can on this for the time being.

[Georgiana Radulescu, Director of Investor Relations]

Thank you, Espen. I see we don't have other questions, going forward. So if anything comes later on, we can answer it by e-mail to the people who have sent out the question. So that was it from the Q&A side.

[Stefan Ranstrand, President & CEO]

Let me just say, Espen, Georgiana, thank you very much. It's been a privilege to be part of this team together with you. And thank you, all TOMRA employees. I'm really feeling privileged, which the support you have given me. Thank you.

[Espen Gundersen, Deputy CEO & CFO]

Thank you, Stefan.

[Georgiana Radulescu, Director of Investor Relations]

Thank you.