Garo AB

STO:GARO

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q2

[Operator]

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the GARO Interim Report January to June 2021. My name is Brika, and I'll be the event specialist running today's call. [Operator Instructions]And I would now like to hand over to our host, Patrik Andersson, CEO, to begin. So Patrik. Please go ahead.

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

Thank you. Welcome, everyone, to the presentation of GARO's second quarter 2021. My name is Patrik Andersson, and I'm the CEO of GARO. With me today, I have Helena Claesson, our CFO, to present the financial performance.Next slide, please. I will start with an introduction of the GARO Group. GARO was founded in 1939, which means that we have been over 80 years in business. We develop and produce innovative products and turnkey solutions for the electrical installation markets. We divide our business into 2 business areas: Sweden, which consists of our Swedish operations; and GARO International, which cover our business in Norway, Ireland, Finland, Poland and in the U.K. We have production on 4 sites: 2 in Gnosjö in Sweden, where we also have our head office; 1 in Värnamo in Sweden, and the fourth site in Szczecin in Poland, and we are approximately 450 employees in the group.Next slide, please. GARO's business consists of 4 product areas. And on this slide, you can see the shares of the total sales in the first 6 months 2021 compared to the same period last year. The largest product area, Electrical distribution products consists of approximately 3,500 products and turnkey solutions for the electrical installation market and contributes to 42% of the revenues.Our fastest-growing product area, E-mobility, which develop and markets all type of charges for rechargeable vehicles, accounted for 33% of total sales, up from 25% in the year earlier. Our product area, Project, which provides complete and customized solutions for all types of power supply, accounted for 18% of the total sales. And the fourth product area, Temporary power with a product portfolio consisting of temporary electricity, lightning, heating and charging products used on construction sites and events. This area accounted for 7% of the sales, up 1 percentage point to last year.Next slide, please. Operational highlights. And we start with growth and high profitability. We saw a strong trend in sales growth across the board in the second quarter. Group net sales increased by 43%, equally driven by GARO Sweden and GARO International and in all 4 product areas. The good sales development also contributed to a strong improvement in profitability. Helena will talk more about this later in the presentation.The market for construction-related product has been good with high activity for new buildings and renovation which benefits product area electrical distribution products, where we estimate that we have taken market shares. We can also see the rental companies have increased their investment in equipment following a positive outlook for the underlying markets. In our international markets, we have seen a strong rebound in all product areas and markets.We go further on with strategy and challenges. The pandemic and the following consequences in uncertainty concerning access to component prevails. However, I'm very pleased that our organization has had full focus solving our customers' needs in a successful way during the quarter and the first 6 months.Two other areas that we are focused on is to continue to invest in our product development to be the leading supplier in our 4 product areas. We always also invest in more production capacity and the capacity to deliver to our customers.Furthermore, we are seeing -- see more and more benefits of our broad product offering. There are clear synergies between the various product areas, both when it comes to sales, but also in product developments. An example of this is when the customer need a charging solution with different charges, they also need power supply, safety and installation products. And this GARO offer as a complete solution, which is unique.We go further on with E-mobility. Our sales of E-mobility products in Sweden increased by 114%, with a good demand across the whole product range but also increased sales to the European markets. GARO International increased by 30% with a positive development in Finland, Ireland and U.K., while weaker in Norway due to less deliveries of DC charges. We have launched a new product, Atle, a wall-mounted 24-kilowatt fast charger to broaden our DC offer to the markets.Finally, on E-mobility, I'm very pleased to announce that we have recruited a new CEO for the E-mobility business, Niklas Rönnäng, which will take charge of the Global E-mobility Operation starting 1st of January 2022.The market condition. We have seen a recovery from all markets compared to the same quarter last year. Overall, we have a positive view of the market condition, and we see a continued strong trend with the expansion of the charging infrastructure in all markets.And now over to Helena for the financial performance. Next slide, please.

[Helena Claesson, Chief Financial Officer]

Thank you, Patrik. Let us start by looking at some financial highlights for the second quarter. As Patrik just mentioned, GARO has had a strong quarter with a sales increase of 43% compared to the same quarter last year. And this was done almost entirely through organic growth and equally driven by our 2 business areas: GARO Sweden and GARO International. The strongest growth was seen within our product area E-mobility, but we also saw good growth in all of our other product areas during the quarter.Net sales amounted to SEK 341 million compared to SEK 238 million in the same quarter last year. However, when comparing the 2 quarters, one should keep in mind that our second quarter in 2020 was relatively weak, mainly in GARO International, where we experienced restrictions of various degrees due to the ongoing pandemic at that time.We had a positive currency effect in the quarter on operating profit of SEK 2.7 million to be compared with SEK 5.9 million in the same period last year. Operating margins in the quarter came in at 16.1%, giving us an EBIT of SEK 55 million. And the main reason for our strong EBIT was positive scale effects from higher sales volume and a favorable product mix. Net income for the quarter amounted to SEK 42.6 million.Also in May, according to the approval from the AGM, a share split of 5:1 has been carried out in the quarter. And all share-related data has been recalculated based on the new number of shares.Next slide, please. Now looking into the 2 business areas separately, we start with GARO Sweden. Net sales amounted to SEK 238 million in the quarter, which is an increase of 43% compared to the same quarter last year. And as earlier said, this was almost entirely done through organic growth. Our largest product area, Electrical distribution products increased by 17%, where new construction of houses and the renovation sector continue to be strong and drove sales in all of the underlying product groups.Project business was slightly down in the quarter and Temporary power was up with 142%, where sales was driven by 1 large customer investing in new equipment.EBIT increased to almost SEK 37 million, and margins improved to 15.3% from a weaker quarter last year. This is again explained by higher sales volumes and a favorable product mix.Next slide, please. And then looking into GARO International. Sales amounted to SEK 105 million, which was an increase of 44% compared to the same quarter last year. And we saw good growth in all of the product areas, a result of a strong rebound on the market compared to the same quarter last year. When I said before, the markets were affected by restrictions of various degrees due to the COVID-19 at that time.Sales within Electrical distribution products increased by 43% and sales within Project business increased by 96%, where we have seen some interesting customer projects, mainly in the U.K. and in Ireland.Several of GARO's wholesalers in the U.K., Ireland and Finland have chosen to offer GARO's products in their standard range, which gives GARO a good access to the market and also enable fast deliveries.EBIT amounted to SEK 18.6 million and operating margins in the quarter came in at 17.7%, which is giving us the result higher than ever for this business area.And now looking a little bit -- next slide, please. And now looking a little bit into our product area, E-mobility, separately. Sales within E-mobility amounted to SEK 120 million, which is an increase of 88% for the group, where GARO Sweden was growing with 114% and GARO International growing with 30%, where we have seen a good development in Finland, U.K. and in Ireland.Sales to international contract customers reporting under GARO Sweden, such as energy companies and automotive companies established in Europe, continue to perform well during the quarter. The number of chargeable vehicles in Sweden increased by 89% in the quarter. And as we can see, the market for charges is mainly driven by the need from households and offices. Also on the international markets, the number of EV vehicles are increasing strongly, and we can see a good trend in Ireland, U.K. and in Finland.Furthermore, the strong growth in E-Mobility has a beneficial effect on sales of standard components within the product area, Electrical distribution products, and also on sales of cabinets within the product area, Project business, a synergy effect perhaps unique for GARO.Next slide, please. Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 5.5 million compared to SEK 10.6 million in the same quarter last year. A higher EBITDA was offset by higher working capital requirements, which was seen in the inventory and receivables. This was mainly due to strategic purchases of materials as well as higher sales in the quarter.In the quarter, we have had investments of about SEK 15 million, of which SEK 6 million were related to product developments. We have also in the quarter done a dividend to our shareholders of SEK 47.5 million. The dividend for 2019 was recalled in 2020 as a precaution due to the ongoing COVID-19 at that time.We have a strong balance sheet with a net debt for June amounting to SEK 66.8 million. We have an equity asset ratio of SEK 57.7 million and available liquidity, including overdraft facilities, of almost SEK 107 million.And now back to you, Patrik. Next slide, please.

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

Thank you. Thank you, Helena, for the financial performance, and we'll go further on with sustainability, which is an important area for GARO and our stakeholders. We have chosen to focus on 6 on [ SM's ] global goals, where we believe GARO can make a difference. And you can see on this slide which goals that we have been chosen.Some example of our sustainable actions when we develop new products, GARO focus on the choice of material, with the aim of developing highly functional products with good cost efficiency while minimizing impact on the environment during both manufacturing and use. Together with other companies, GARO participate in local projects that work to have zero emission in the country's transportation system. As a part of our efforts, GARO has the goal that all of GARO's transport will be fossil-free according to the condition set by fossil-free Sweden.Strategical important suppliers are audited and monitored based on quality and sustainable factors. GARO has made a deliberate choice as far as possible to primarily use suppliers from Europe. This reduce transport needs and also the risk of human rights violations. It's also given for GARO to offer everyone the same opportunity for development and support for retaining their motivation, staying, work at the company and serving as good ambassadors.Next slide, please. Strong growth and development opportunities. And here, our strategy remains the same. The main driver of growth will be organic growth. A successful product development has been and will continue to be the key of this growth. On top of this, we are always looking for potential acquisitions, where we can add either new or additional products, product areas or companies with an edge. An example of this is the acquisition of EV Charge Partner last year to strengthen our offer in the E-mobility business. We are also looking at new geographical markets which are focused mainly on north part of Europe. And GARO's vision is to become the leading brand on the chosen markets.Next slide, please. COVID-19, the pandemic had relative limited impact on GARO Sweden during the second quarter. And for GARO International, we saw a strong recovery in all markets and product areas. At this moment, demand in the market is generally healthy, and GARO has not applied for or received any financial support from the Swedish agency for economic or regional growth as a result of COVID-19.Next slide, please. Outlook. We assess the core market condition have essential not changed aside from the pandemic, even though uncertainty prevails in society in regard to the pandemic's long-term consequences on the economy. The strong market recovery and growth has brought about certain challenges such as occasional component shortages. In the second quarter, GARO managed to successfully secure material supplies, but uncertainty remains concerning access to raw materials and components.The market for charging infrastructure is growing structurally with rising number of rechargeable vehicles, and we see a continuing strong trend with further expansion of the charging infrastructure in all markets.Demand for construction-related products in Sweden, combined with the important renovation sector, is expected to remain stable. The trend in international markets served by GARO, aside from the pandemic, is expected to be similar. So all in all, GARO has a positive view on the long-term market condition, mainly driven by the growth in charging infrastructure.Thank you for listening, and we are now ready for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We have the first question on the phone lines from Kenneth Toll of Carnegie.

[Kenneth Toll Johansson, Financial Analyst]

So first, some questions around the new fast charger you launched, the Atle. How similar is it to other products that you are offering to the market? And could you talk a little bit about what customers you are targeting? And what would be the market potential for this one?

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

This charger is, as I mentioned, a wall-mounted DC charger, 24 kilowatts, which is a bit lower effect than Atle, this is -- it's 50 kilowatts. But this is aimed for solutions that you can't dig in the ground, so to say, that you can mount it on a wall. It could be at shopping malls. It could be on where you're selling cars or industry or when you want to charge a bit faster an AC charger. So it's between the AC charger and the 50 kilowatts to follow this club, we have that. So a wall-mounted DC charger.

[Kenneth Toll Johansson, Financial Analyst]

Okay. And how similar is it to the DC charger? It's similar components and so on? Or is it very different?

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

It's some same components, of course, but not so many similar components. It's a bit different.

[Kenneth Toll Johansson, Financial Analyst]

Okay. And then you said also that with the international frame agreements you have, you are reporting that in the division Sweden. So can you talk a little bit about those large frame agreements if the trend of higher demand, it is relevant in those contracts as well?

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

Yes, we can see an increase in demand from the most of these frame agreements that we have signed for several years ago or some of them are quite new. They all are increasing for us, some of it from low volumes and some from higher. But we see a trend of all these frame agreements that the demand is increasing of all of them.

[Operator]

We now have another question from Ofelia Aspemyr from ABG.

[Ofelia Aspemyr, Lead Analyst]

Yes. And you reported a strong margin and mentioned that this was driven by higher volumes and a favorable product mix combined with also a good cost control. I wonder if you can comment on the product mix and if you expect this a similar pattern in the next quarters?

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

The product mix, as we said, has -- the margin is similar about the products. So -- of course, we have been working with the margin, as we have said, every quarter, to have a good development of the margin, and we have succeeded with that. So hopefully, of course, we can't say if it will increase or stabilize, but we think we are on a good margin, and we are working on that for increase that, of course. But we can see between the different products we have similar margin between the AC product or DC product, so, yes.

[Ofelia Aspemyr, Lead Analyst]

Okay. I also wonder how you are working with price increases in order to hedge against the upcoming increase in raw material and component prices?

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

That works, including the work, as I mentioned, to secure material. Of course, it will be higher prices when we supply and that is in the work to see that we can increase our prices to the market, of course. So supply prices is our focus area at the moment as many other companies also so, of course, a focus area to supply and handle the pricing.

[Ofelia Aspemyr, Lead Analyst]

Yes. And then I also wonder about the postponed deliveries in Norway. Do you expect this to be delivered in Q3 or...

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

Some of them in Q3. We can see the DC charge has been postponed the whole year and some of them last year also. But some of them we will see in quarter 3, but not all of them. But we see that the demand now is increasing in Norway. So we will see more DC charger in quarter 3 and quarter 4 than before. So it -- but it is from low volumes, so -- but we see a positive trend on the deliveries on DC chargers, yes.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] We have had no questions registered at this time. So we'll hand it back to Patrik.

[Patrik Andersson, President & CEO]

Thank you for listening, and have a good day.