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Earnings Call Transcript

Earnings Call Transcript
2024-Q1

from 0
Operator

Hello, and welcome to today's webcast presentation, where we have Nolato presenting the Q1 report for 2024. With us presenting, we have the CEO, Christer Wahlquist; and CFO, Per-Ola Holmstrom. [Operator Instructions] And with that said, please go ahead with your presentation.

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

This is Christer Wahlquist, and I welcome you all to the presentation of Nolato's first quarter of 2024. Starting on Page 2 in the presentation. It's a summary of the first quarter. And we have, of course, working as a global solution provider and established on the 3 important continents for the type of business we are in.

During the quarter, our sales totaled SEK 2.442 million, which is a decrease of 2% adjusted for currency acquisitions compared to the corresponding quarter 2023. We saw growth within the Medical Solutions business area, while the Engineered Solutions saw lower sales.

The EBITA ended up at SEK 238 million in comparison to SEK 193 million. So that is, of course, a margin increase to 9.7% compared to 7.8%. We saw the main effect of the improved margins within the business area, Engineered Solutions. We have a strong financial position, enabling us to further possibilities, both organic growth and inorganic growth. If we turn to Page 3 in the presentation, showing the new group structure with 2 business areas. I will come back to that a little bit later.

So Nolato has 2 business areas: Medical Solution, which is the larger of the 2, which is focused on the med tech and pharmaceutical market, working as a solution provider for large global pharma and med tech industry. The Engineered Solutions business area is working as a design development in industrialization and manufacturing partner to global companies within different sets of industries.

If we then jump into the Medical Solutions on Page 4. We saw sales during the quarter close to SEK 1.4 billion in sales, so it's continued growth. This business area is then corresponding to 55% of group sales in the first quarter. The EBITA ended up at SEK 140 million during the quarter, giving a margin of 10.3%.

So you can see also the graph of our continuous growth within our Medical Solutions business area over the last 20 years. On Page 5, there's a split up of the important product areas for us. Those product areas have been selected from different drivers. But overall, we see growth potential across some different dynamics.

If we start with the in vitro diagnostic. Of course, diagnostic is more and more used within the health care system in order to get your feedback from blood analysis and so on. So it's a very high-volume business with long-term growth potential.

Cardiology, it's more related to heart things and of course, a high quality, very high demands on the products since they are implantable into your body. Pharma packaging is drug containers for liquid and solid drugs. Continence Care, the high-volume market with growth potential. More and more people are getting treatments for the continence difficulties and so on.

Endoscopy and general surgery, it's related to, of course, different kind of surgical procedures. We see in this market more and more robotics coming into the picture and creating opportunities for continuous growth. Then drug delivery systems, it's different systems to get large molecule of drugs into your body. It could be auto injectors. It could be pump therapy and pen systems.

If we then focus on the first quarter for Medical Solutions. We saw stable volume situation across most markets, but we saw IVD grow compared with the weak comparison quarter last year. We saw in -- within our other category, lower volumes, and we had in that sense a customer that were performed to do a recall of products. It's not related to us, but the effect is affecting us in that sense.

We saw within the drug delivery in Surgical, a little bit lower volumes, and it was supply chain adjustments at our customer sites. And as previously announced, we have signed a very interesting long-term cooperation with a significant existing customer. The potential for this within maybe a 5-year period is approximately SEK 700 million in yearly sales.

On this picture, you will also see the sales per customer -- the sales split up in the different categories. And if we take some of the highlights there, we can saw the growth within in vitro diagnostic going from 14% to 18% of the total. And of course, the other sector then decreasing from 17% down to 15%. So the quarter sales was SEK 1.355 million in sales, and creating then the EBITA of SEK 140 million.

Switching over to Engineered Solutions, where we are working with advanced technology and high productivity manufacturing. The sales was a little bit shy of SEK 1.1 billion during the quarter, corresponding to 45% of group sales. We created an EBITA result of SEK 103 million during the quarter.

If we then jump to Page 8. You will see the major areas, the most important product areas for us, starting on the left top corner materials that was previously named EMC/Thermal Management. But since we are adding more solutions within that, we are talking about materials instead.

Then we have Consumer Electronics on the top, where we see products like connected WiFi systems, security system and small handheld electronic devices. Then we have the Automotive sector, mainly working with the Scandinavian manufacturers of large vehicles and personal vehicles. Hygiene sector, and then another sector within this business area.

On Page 9, we can see the split up of the sales for these different areas. And specifically, we could see the Consumer Electronics going from 21% of the business area sales down to 6%. That is, of course, the large customer, important customer that have -- we have been ramping down during some period, and that is affecting the other sectors, where then, of course, correspondent growth.

We saw continued healthy growth within Automotive, and we saw within the Hygiene strong growth compared to a weak comparison quarter. The sales, as I mentioned, ended up at just shy of SEK 1.1 billion and SEK 103 million in operating profit, creating then a margin of 9.5 percentage points.

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Good afternoon. Per-Ola Holmstrom commenting on key performance indicators on Page 10. Net sales totaled SEK 2.442 billion, which is a decrease of 2% adjusted for currency and acquisitions. Growth for Medical Solutions, while sales were lower for Engineered Solutions. Operating profit EBITA increased 23% to SEK 232 million -- SEK 238 million compared to SEK 193 million. The EBITA margin increased to 9.7%. The tax rate was 22.5%, which we consider to be in line with the full year rate for 2025.

Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 136 million compared to SEK 75 million, improved by higher profit and lower working capital requirements. Net investments of SEK 230 million includes the payment of SEK 141 million for acquiring an operating property within Medical Solutions. We have mentioned this to come for quite some time. And during the first quarter, we did acquire the property.

For the full year, we expect around SEK 750 million in CapEx, including the operating property and this year's CapEx for the newly announced medical project. Earnings per share increased to SEK 0.60 compared to SEK 0.50. The net financial liabilities amounted to just above SEK 1 billion, and the adjusted debt ratio was 0.8x.

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

We then jump to Page 11, where we're trying to explain a little bit of change of the group structure that was announced earlier. So what we're doing is we are merging our former business area, Integrated Solutions, together with Industrial Solutions, and then form the new Engineered Solutions. The driving force behind this is to create a global offering for large customer as well as -- for new large customers as well as current customer base. Within the 2 different former business area, we have somewhat different offering. But in the combination, we can offer all our customers the total solution with global operations and possibilities on the 3 important continents.

We are also establishing a global technical design center for the full group with the expanding offering, including electronics expertise, virtual design and a lot of aid for the customer in the early stage development. And this is effective from January 1 of this year.

On Page 12, we are summarizing up the current situation per business area, starting with the Medical Solutions. We have a maintained growth strategy for this business area. A lot of focus on margin, cost adjustments, pricing and efficiency. Of course, overall, based on innovation and sustainability, we have a very broad customer base with long-standing and deep relations with customers. We have also, with the new major customer agreement, we feel that we've got a confirmation of our overall strategy within the Medical Solutions business area.

On the Engineered Solutions, we have advanced our market position. We have established position in new product areas. We focus a lot on innovation and sustainable solutions. We see success in the auto area, very positive for materials, the former EMC. But within the EMC, we see lower volumes in the telecom area. We see a continued lower demand in the Consumer Electronics within this business area. We will now open up for questions.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we'll take the first person calling in ending with 2817.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

Hello. It's Carl here from Nordea. Can you hear me?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

Yes.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

Okay. Very good. A couple of questions for me here. You mentioned in the report that IVD started to grow again, which is obviously nice to see. Could you give us any insight into what pace you're growing currently in the quarter?

And also secondly, on IVD here. I mean, would you say that the vast majority of the growth in IVD is driven by new customer contracts ramping up? Or do you also see growth excluding new customer contracts within that sort of vertical?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

Yes. The growth rate, you can sort of calculate backwards by seeing the split in our numbers. But of course, there are some sluggishness into these deliveries.

On your second part of the question relating to the new contracts versus the former ones, we have explained previously that there is some sort of shift in this market when formerly tier solution provider, we're supplying some of the volumes in that. And that we explained that to change a little bit, and we will work with the OEM directly more. So in that sense, it's -- the growth is then related a little bit to new contracts, but maybe the same volumes behind it, it's more a shift between who's ordering.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

Okay. That's very clear. And also, I mean, you've talked before that your ambition to implement price increases, I think it was mid to high-single digits throughout Medical, I guess, especially focused on the U.S. Could you update us a bit on how much of that is implemented during now Q1? And I mean what organic margin impact it had, and then perhaps also the materialization of the ramp during the remaining quarters of '24?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Yes. The pricing especially was in the U.S. part of Medical, and most of that has been part of this quarter. There is still slightly portion coming full effect in Q2. But then on the other side of this, the volume drop appeared pretty much within these entities doing that. Yes, we did get the benefit from the pricing, of course. But on the other hand, we lost contribution from less sales.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

Okay. Very good. And it's also good to see the margin recovery here in Engineered Solutions. I mean maybe I'm a bit stuck in the old thinking of all the segment structure. But could you perhaps help us with the margin bridge -- sorry, with all segment thinking here. I mean seemingly, it is the former integrates the big margin delta, right, especially China, but could you help us with there?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Yes, I think 1 way of thinking here is that in comparison to the Q1 last year, we have lost volumes within the VHP business. That is the customer we are referring to. And then we have switched the mix, and we do see the materials or former EMC growing, which contributes to the margin as we have premium margins in that area.

In addition to that, we have taken out additional cost in China, as you mentioned, that is also supporting the margin. And then we have some of the entities within former Industrial improving their margins, improving volumes, which also contributed to the margin improvement. So it's a mix of, let's say, 3 different good things going in the right direction.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

Very clear. You also mentioned the Hygiene subsegment in Engineered Solutions here, which was fairly strong, I think you mentioned. Is it new product wins? Or how should we look at it?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

It's a mix of some new products, but also stronger volumes on existing products.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

So sustainable growth, you could say?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

Yes, I would say that. Of course, the correspondent comparison quarter was, of course, a little bit on the weak side.

C
Carl Ragnerstam
analyst

But it's not any one-off-ish things that is worth mentioning?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

No.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next person is 8692.

A
Adrian Gilani Göransson
analyst

It's Adrian here at ABG. I'd just like to start off with a question, not on Q1 itself, but on the diabetes and obesity contract that you signed or announced recently and the communicated sales of SEK 700 million per annum. You've talked before about not wanting to be too reliant on 1 individual customer. But on the other hand, this is a very exciting growth area. So with that in mind, do you see room to sort of scale up that contract beyond the SEK 700 million in the long run as well?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

I think if you look on that part of the market, there are definitely potentials for further possibilities within that. We believe that it's not too dependent on this customer, but we would like to continue to grow that area.

A
Adrian Gilani Göransson
analyst

Okay. That's clear. And then looking at Q1 more specifically. First of all, regarding the lower costs in the Chinese business. Is that effect completely taken now as of Q1? Or will costs come down sequentially into Q2 as well?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

No, we have seen most of that coming in Q1. So these effects are included in the Q1.

A
Adrian Gilani Göransson
analyst

Perfect. And then the other aspect you mentioned is the favorable product mix. I'm assuming that's mainly IVD. But are there other aspects of that, that we should be aware of that drove the positive mix effect?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

The mix effects is a combination, of course, of the different movements that we show within the different business areas. So yes, it's different mix in different areas.

A
Adrian Gilani Göransson
analyst

But nothing that clearly stood out sort of year-on-year as the IVD business did? Was that the main driver, you can say? Or is it too complicated to just point to 1 part?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

It's a bit different within the different areas as well. But that is 1 effect affecting positively.

A
Adrian Gilani Göransson
analyst

Okay. I understand. And then a final 1 for me. Despite the margin increase, you still mentioned that there are some destocking effects in certain end markets in Medical that's sort of holding you back still. What's your outlook for how long you expect that effect to persist?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

It's a little bit difficult to have all the full visibility of the different layers of the Medical, some of the medical supply chains. But I think it will gradually decrease over the next quarter, I would say, probably.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The next person is 8721.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

It's Mikael Laséen, Carnegie. A couple of follow-ups. And it's, first of all, on Engineered Solutions. Just curious here, usually, you have quite a stable earnings trend and the margin trend. But now it, I mean, EBIT margins improved significantly when EBIT increased 1% almost from Q4. Is it possible, I mean, to specify a bit more in detail what happened here between Q4 and Q1? You mentioned it a bit, but how much was the cost effect in China, for example, of this? And how much is maybe positive mix effects and so on?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

I would say that the main driver behind the positive effects came from the mix effects, and then there are some of this coming from the cost savings in China. But the main effect is, let's say, 2/3 of this is coming from mix effects in different areas, especially the improvement from materials or former EMC and some good trends within the former Industrial.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. Got it. And just curious how much was the EMC side growing this quarter?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

The total EMC was in line with last year. So there are no, let's say, sales effects in that part. But we did see an earnings improvement from a positive mix effect within EMC coming from more material sales than others. And that improved, which was good for us. And then some of the areas took some more speed during this quarter, and that supported the former Industrial. And then again, smaller product coming from cost savings within China.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. And then following up on the U.S. side and the strategic price increases. You already discussed this a bit. But can you elaborate on the net effect of how the customers receive this and the feedback from it? Did you have any churn that maybe was positive for you from a margin perspective?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

The discussions with the customers, of course, always some difficulties and needs a lot of explanation. But we have agreed upon this with the customers, and I think now they think it's fair pricing. So it's been progressing in a good way. It takes a lot of time and explanation, of course, to get it completely understood. And the second part of the -- yes, go ahead.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. That explains it. Okay. But what remains in the U.S. for the margins to reach your targeted 12%, 13%, I guess, that you had before the GW acquisition. What do you need to do to get there?

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

We -- the first thing we need to have is a little bit more, I say, not so sluggish volume scenarios. It's been still a lot of supply chain difficulties with some quarters with high volumes and some were lower. And that, of course, is costing some efficiency and some margins. So that is, of course, 1 thing.

Then of course, we need to work with the customer in order to show them possibilities with taking out total cost in the value chain, addressing the business setup, and then in that process, create a situation where both them and ourselves can -- we can improve margins and they can get a more efficient delivery.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. So approximately, where are you now in the U.S. in terms of margins? You had 7% in GW company when you acquired it, and you got back to that year, though, I guess? And is this something approximately where you are now on that journey?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Yes. As I commented earlier today, we -- the combination of the price increases and the volume drop did that. We didn't get any margin improvement from GW Plastics from that part of the business. As you can see, volumes dropped within Surgery, volumes dropped for this recall situation at the customer that is deliveries coming from one of the GW Plastics entities. So the positive effect from the pricing was taken out by the volume effects on the negative side. So the improvement didn't come from that part.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. And just a follow-up on that one. So it's just a timing effect, right? Surgery and recall situation should normalize, I guess, and going back to more steady organic growth over time?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

The ambition is, of course, to come back to organic growth over time. The recall situation will affect a little bit longer since the customer has not sold the underlying problem with that product. And so it will take time until they get back, and then maybe the market will be affected. So that is a long-term thing. But the other -- the more sluggish volumes, we hope that, that will ease out a little bit.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. And the final one on this exciting new contract you got in April. You mentioned that it's for obesity and for diabetes. What is the target indication? Is it a diabetes product that works and supports obesity? Or is it the other way around? Is it an obesity product?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Yes. The product that we are delivering is, of course, a drug delivery system, a delivery device. And that can be loaded with different drugs. Of course, it's a variance of the same device. So for our deliveries, it's virtually the same product that we are delivering, then you just load it with different type of drugs.

M
Mikael Laséen
analyst

Okay. Got it. So you're basically saying that it's for drugs or to products from this customer potentially, right?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

It depends on what kind of drug you fill it with.

Operator

And we've got 1 written question here. So what was the impact of price adjustments versus volume changes within the Medical segment during Q1? And what are the anticipated pricing trends for the full year of 2024?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

As I mentioned earlier, the net effect of the pricing and the volume drop was sort of even it out. So that is, yes, a 0 thing, roughly. Going forward, as I mentioned, also the main part of the price increasing has been done already. Of course, we have to evaluate any new inflationary effects coming up. And just for those, if that will change during the year, of course, that is normal procedure that we do. But for the time being, most of the pricing effects have been done.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] The person calling in ends with the phone number 5594.

J
Johan Skoglund
analyst

It's Johan from DNB here. A couple of quick questions. So the first one is regarding Easter. Is there any effects from Easter in the results or either sales or receivables?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Very minor, I would say. We didn't see any major effects coming from Easter.

J
Johan Skoglund
analyst

Okay. And the last one is, how much would you say this VHP ramp down has left? And how large share of sales is it now? And are you able to specify?

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

It is a very small part of the group. Today, it's less than 5%, and it's even less than that during the quarter. So it's, yes, maybe 1% or something.

Operator

Okay. And that's a wrap of the Q&A section here. Thank you very much, Christer and Per-Ola, for presenting and also on answering all of our questions. And thank you very much to everyone who followed along for Nolato's Q1 presentation. And until next time, thank you very much, and goodbye.

P
Per-Ola Holmström
executive

Thank you. Bye-bye.

C
Christer Wahlquist
executive

Bye-bye.