Qleanair AB

STO:QAIR

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Welcome to the QleanAir Q4 Presentation for 2023. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to CEO, Sebastian Lindstrom; and CFO, Henrik Resmark. Please go ahead.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Hi, and welcome to the QleanAir investor presentation for Q4 and full year 2023. I'm Sebastian Lindstrom, CEO of QleanAir. And joining me in today's call is Henrik Resmark, our CFO. We will run through the presentation and then open up for questions towards the end.

So let's start off with the numbers. We delivered sales of SEK 124 million in the quarter, which means a small growth of 3% over last year. And as mentioned already in Q3 report we're hit by the 36-month anniversary of the pandemic in Japan and thereby lower base of contracts up for renewals within Cabin Solutions.

For the full year, it means a growth of 11% and that we managed to break the SEK 500 million mark for the year. That's a real milestone for us as a company.

Recurring revenues grew by 11% in the quarter, a clear testament to that our business model selling clean air as a service is very strong. Going into 2024, we carry a record high SEK 306 million of recurring revenue. Breaking the SEK 300 million mark in recurring revenue is another milestone achieved.

The gross margin in the quarter, although a slight decrease versus last year due to increased marketing activities in Q4, the 3% deviation for the full year is fully explained by deviation in the U.S. I will come back to that later in the presentation.

I want to highlight when it comes to the gross margin that Air Cleaners and Cabin Solutions, which account for 90% of our total business delivered the same or better margins for the full year. This shows that we're able to grow without sacrificing profitability. The deviation on EBIT translates directly from the gross margin and thereby due to our deviation in the U.S.

Our operating cash flow was very strong, SEK 14 million versus SEK 10 million last year and for the full year, a doubling. Henrik will cover that more in depth under the financial section.

Our EPS or earnings per share as well greatly improved over last year, amounting for full year 2023 to SEK 2.92 compared to SEK 0.89 last year. Order intake is a little weaker, but the main difference is within the cleanroom business. And as I've shared in earlier calls, the winning of these contracts swings easily between the quarters. And we will be reviewing this measure, the relevance of this measure in 2024.

From that, moving over to some quick comments by market. 2023 has really been the year where EMEA moved to new level. We have, despite geopolitical uncertainty and high interest rate environment increased our business in EMEA by 7% for the full year and 29% in Q4. Our direct sales model on Air Cleaners, allowing us really to dig into the challenges of our customers and designed solutions is a success.

APAC continues to deliver. And after doubling Air Cleaners in 2023, it's really starting to make a difference in our numbers for Japan. Revenues were down 5% overall because of lower renewal base of contracts within Cabin Solutions on the 36-month anniversary on the pandemic. We have now passed the low point of this delayed pandemic effect. And for the full year 2023, they still delivered 8% growth.

Americas, today, fully focused on cleanrooms, that overall has delivered a significant growth of the year close to 50%, met a very strong quarter in 2022 in Q4. Overall, the demand is strong. Our contracted backlog and weighted pipeline going into 2024 is stronger than last year.

And then to better bring to life what we do as a company and what problems we solve, I want to continue to share some customer cases. This time around, I've chosen 2 cases from Europe in tribute to the tremendous improvement achieved by the European team in '23.

We'll start in Germany, The Dennree Group, a leading organic food retailer, where they wanted to secure the processing of cheese product. It's a very challenging task to manage this when processing various fine molding cheeses. The initial study and proof-of-concept was done under the supervision of an accredited laboratory and levels comparable to cleanroom standards were achieved. After this successful proof-of-concept, we have, together with Dennree Group moved forward and implemented clean air solutions to other areas of their business.

I also picked a smaller case in Sweden to highlight that QleanAir can make a difference in many various locations. Moumo is a holistic wellness studio, including climbing, yoga, restaurant, and shop. In the climbing activity, a lot of chalk is used, which, of course, becomes airborne and creates difficult health conditions for both staff and clients. We have deployed a solution involving FS 70 that have greatly improved the situation. I must say that the flexibility of our products, allowing us to deploy them as tools in a variety of solutions is truly amazing.

From that, back to the day-to-day running of the company, we're sticking to our short-term plan of stepping up in relation to the 3 prioritized areas to get back on track: customer focus, sales efficiency, and cost control.

I introduced in my last call, the QleanAir wheel, our systematic approach to both operational improvement and strategic acceleration into the future. Looking at our short-term goals, cost control and sales efficiency, they fit into the category of operational improvement. We look at this as the inside of our wheel that we need to keep spinning.

Customer focus, that's what paves our way for our strategic acceleration. By staying very close to our customers, we can identify new areas where we can solve issues with our solutions. We picture this as the outside the spikes of the wheel that provide traction and allow us to accelerate.

So what did we achieve from this point in the last quarter? Well, in the area of operational improvement, our focus is quite naturally been on the U.S. During Q3, it was evident that we needed to quickly deal with our costs in the U.S.

And we have approached this from the 3 perspectives of volume. We invested in senior sales resources and now have coverage from east to west with 4 salespeople versus maybe 1.5 last in 2022. Product costs, a combination of value engineering of our solution and renegotiations with our suppliers, which will reduce our product cost by 16% to 18% in the medium term.

And price, where we have updated our contracts to better hedge against cost inflation and disruptions in project delivery. All-in-all, we expect these actions take -- already taken to bring significant improvement for 2024 in the U.S.

Moving over to sales efficiency. In Q4, in preparation for 2024, we've geared up our commercial team. We do not do a little here and there, but have rather focused our investment to really make a difference in a few key markets.

Going into 2024, we will have doubled both the U.S. and the French team and pulled in stronger technical support across EMEA. Moving over to customer focus. We're now confident to start shifting resources and investments more into strategic acceleration and have 3 key exploration areas where we are working our way through that we picked up from the workshops in '23. And by the end of this month, we start that process all over again, meeting customers across our geographies and product applications in our journey to add further solutions to our portfolio today.

Summoning up the quarter and as well the full year, it's been a very busy year for us. We have, during the year, addressed all aspects of our business: reduction of cost, sales drive, and systematically begun our strategic acceleration forward through annual workshops, and it has paid off. We are back in profitable growth. The numbers speak for themselves, revenues are up 11% and profitability up over 30%.

And we have 3 areas that we are exploring based on last year's workshops that could render acceleration of our business going forward. And we've done this achievement with 10% less people on board. I'm really proud of this amazing team.

We have as well during the year, had a change in ownership. Qevirp left and the role as biggest shareholder has been taken over by Swedia Capital. This the together with 3 new Board members has really been exciting. It marks a bit of a new beginning of creating something extraordinary for the future with QleanAir.

In this conclusion, on my first year as CEO of QleanAir, I must say that we have a much stronger momentum in our business today, and I'm truly amazed at what can be done through QleanAir.

And just to highlight the strength of our company. Our circular business model is really strong. If we start on the geographical mix, we have a very balanced geographical mix, EMEA, APAC, and Americas and our single most important countries, all rank in the top 4 based on GDP in the world.

On the product side, we're improving the product mix, which are all in growth, Air Cleaners and cleanrooms are growing double digit, but remember, Cabin Solutions continue to grow as well. We have low individual customer dependency with over 3,500 customers worldwide. And in times like this, it is a strength that we supply these markets with regional supply chains.

And in addition, last but not least, we sell our solution as a service and thereby have a recurring revenue of about 60% of total revenues. And given all this and our EPS as it has gone from SEK 0.89 to close to SEK 3, our Board is proposing to the Annual Shareholders Meeting that we again start providing dividend SEK 0.6 per share.

With that, I hand it over to Henrik to take you through the financial update.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Thank you. We are present in 3 geographies with 3 different product categories. In QleanAir Group, both EMEA and APAC are strong contributors to sales, profitability, cash flow, and order intake.

EMEA has stepped forward and grew double digit in all 3 product categories. EMEA is a strong Cabin Solution market for the QleanAir Group.

Air Cleaners in Europe is growing by 42% in the fourth quarter. More countries are contributing with revenues to a higher extent. Cabin Solutions is a success in the Tokyo area, and we believe that will continue. And we're gaining more and more traction with Air Cleaners through focused work on chosen customer segments.

In the fourth quarter, Air Cleaners grew by 73% in Japan. And we see a clear growth potential in QleanAir U.S. The order intake in the U.S. was low in the fourth quarter, the order intake in the U.S. is more volatile quarters-to-quarters as the orders are not always on a weekly basis, and there can be some time between the orders and the order values are relatively higher.

We have a growth of 3% in the fourth quarter and currency adjusted, the growth was 4%. EMEA is up by 29% in the quarter, and we continue to see positive signs from the focus on sales efficiency and sales follow-up. APAC is down by 5% in the quarter. And in the fourth quarter, there were fewer Cabin Solutions contracts that were up for renewals than we normally have. That is why we have a weaker quarter in APAC.

Americas is down by 52%. Americas is the main reason why we have slower growth and weaker profitability than planned for in the fourth quarter and full year 2023. Gross margin was lower in the quarter due to cleanrooms in the U.S., and this was due to a couple of low-margin projects through higher costs for material and installation for those projects. The recurring revenues grew by 11% in the fourth quarter and is on an increasing trend.

As the recurring revenues are approximately 60% of the total revenues, the recurring revenues are a strong growth contributor and the rental model is appreciated by our customers. To be clear, our Cabin Solutions business is delivering high and stable gross margins. And Air Cleaners is delivering gross margins at increasing and expected levels.

Both Cabin Solutions and Air Cleaners are developing according to plan when it comes to profitability. It is within cleanrooms that we have to improve, and full focus is on that. We are solid within the rental business model. We have improvement to make within project-based cleanrooms. The EBIT margin was 7.8% in the quarter. Accumulated the EBIT margin is 13.2%. The EBIT margin is hurt by the deviation in the U.S.

This slide illustrates the relation between the book values of units in QleanAir balance sheet and the revenues stemming from such units, including service, that is the recurring revenues. The recurring revenues increased to SEK 79 million in the quarter and full year, the recurring revenues were SEK 308 million, (sic) [ SEK 306 million ] up by 11%. And our solid base of revenues that a larger extent are predictable in the future.

The book value is relatively low, SEK 50 million compared to recurring revenues, and this is a contributor to our gross margins. To break these recurring revenues down per unit on an average, the revenue is approximately SEK 58,000 with a book value of approximately SEK 10,000, high profitability on renting out the units over time.

Quarter-by-quarter, we continue to increase the installed base. We see growth in Air Cleaners in both EMEA and APAC and within Cabin Solutions in APAC. And the Cabin Solutions in EMEA is a mature market for us.

We have 3 different revenue streams: the mix of recurring revenues, sales to finance companies, and product sales to end customers. It is a strength to increase the recurring revenues by 11%. And the agreement with the German finance company was terminated during 2023. And hence, will such sale be reduced in favor for recurring revenues going forward.

Improved cash flow in the fourth quarter, up to SEK 14 million versus SEK 10 million and accumulated up to SEK 63 million versus SEK 30 million. We continue to amortize according to plan every quarter, and the net debt equity ratio also improved, down to 0.7. And the part of the improved cash flow is proposed to be paid out as a dividend SEK 0.60 per share. And I would like to say that the 2023 year represents QleanAir's ability to deliver cash.

Having said that, I hand over to Sebastian for a summary.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So thank you, Henrik. And to close off the session in front of the Q&A, what we do at QleanAir is really important. We dedicate our work to improve the health of people, the quality of products, and the performance of processes. And we do so throughout our 3 product categories: Cabin Solutions, Air Cleaners, and Cleanrooms. And it's amazing what can be done with QleanAir.

Looking at the amount of clean air that is delivered through our solutions, we estimate that we cleaned over 7.2 billion cubic meters of indoor air per month by end of 2023. It matters as air pollution is a key challenge for human health. People die prematurely from exposure to polluted air. And we spend an important part of our life in indoor environments. An indoor air can often be more polluted than outdoor area.

With that, I would like to open up for questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Oskar Vilhelmsson from Redeye AB.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

The first one is on the EMEA region here. You mentioned that several regions starts to contribute. So besides the obvious Sweden and Germany here, what countries do you see contributing the most?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Well, I think the most dramatic improvement of the year is really from France, where we have -- I think, in total for the year, we have increased by 81%, which is also one of the reasons, as I mentioned, on our investment commercially for the future. We're doubling that French team.

We see no reason why France shouldn't be a copy of Germany. They have the same type of industries. And so our product fit and market fit is really great. But I think overall, apart from countries where we really don't have people focusing on, they are all growing across EMEA.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

All right. Good. And the next one is here on profitability. And you mentioned that it's the U.S. that mainly deviates here. So should we interpret it like -- the other regions are in line with your profitability targets and it's mainly the U.S. that represents the deviation from your sort of financial targets?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Well, of course, I mentioned since the Q3 report, right, that also in Japan, the base of renewal contract stock or renewal base on the Cabin Solutions due to the 36-month anniversary of the pandemic, kept Japan down a little bit. But the main reason is really on the U.S.

And just to give some flesh on that, in the U.S., as it passed quite long time between signing contracts and actually going to implementation, for 2023, out of those 13 implementations we did, only one was also signed and won in 2023. Which means that most of the contracts we delivered in 2023 on the cleanroom side in the U.S. were actually won in 2022, 2021, and so forth, which means that they were won in the different cost inflationary environment. And I think that was our main challenge in that.

Is that an answer to the question?

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

Yes, yes, that makes sense. And looking on the cleanroom side in a sort of longer perspective, should one assume that, that segment isolated could reach your financial profitability targets?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Yes. I think gradually, we've done -- of course, we acted promptly when we saw this clearly during Q3 on it. But since a lot of these projects were already running for the year, we couldn't really make much of the same for 2023. But gradually in the next 6 months, we will start to have full effect of those actions already taken in September this year. So yes, I think we have a fantastic product fit. There is great demand in that market, and there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to pull our profit margin significantly up.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

All right. And then on the Cabin Solutions during Q3, we saw some churn due to contract renewals. Was quite a big chunk there. Do you see any quarters going forward here where you have a large chunk of contracts that should be renewed?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

No. I think that's pretty -- I don't know. Maybe I'll hand over to Henrik on that one.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

As we stated, I think, in the third quarter report, there will be some school orders that are terminated end of March this year.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

But that's not on Cabin.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

No. But yeah, exactly. And besides that, we don't see any big chunk of terminations.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Right. And I think one should also remember, right, as Henrik mentioned in his part, we're moving more in Europe from selling to financial companies to recur more the traditional recurring revenue, which means that I think that growing 11% this year is pretty strong, given that we've also made that shift primarily in Germany.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

Yes. Yes. And what's the reason there for not continuing to sell to finance companies?

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

The reason for not doing that in Germany is that overall, I mean, the interest cost has gone up. So the cost to do that is somewhat higher. But then, it's mutually agreed also that we shall do that in Germany, because the money laundering law and all that work around it will be -- has on, it's more difficult on the German market. So that is also a strategic view that we could actually reduce that sale in Germany.

And also that we have a much larger base of contracts today so we can still generate enough sales and cash flow without doing the finance company deals in Germany. That is the main reason.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

And I think, just to point to the money laundering part. It's just that in Germany, people are less willing to share the passport, copy of passport, it's those kind of small things that -- and we don't need to work against that. I think recurring revenue without finance company is very strong for us in the future.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

Yes. And just for you to clarify on that, you don't see that your sort of opportunity to grow will be limited by that change in any sense?

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

No. I think we showed it in the fourth quarter that we are growing 11% with recurring revenues and also full year, 11%. So our rental model is very, very solid. And I think we are proving quarter-by-quarter that we are also with the recurring revenues delivering a growth in line with our financial targets.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

And Japan is continuing to be strong on the sales to finance companies. And of course, in Japan, there's a different interest rate level than we have across Europe for the moment.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

So to continue with that in Japan, we will not likely do that. So that's a give then so far.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Yes.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

And then moving on a little bit on capital allocation here. You amortized your debt quite significantly here. And I guess your debt -- net debt now is around 1.5x EBITDA. Will you continue to amortize now? Or is it -- do you have some sort of on target or at a level where you think you are on balance with that?

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Good question. Two parts. We have a tariffs agreement with our banks or bank, the facility agreement. And we will, for sure, continue to amortize according to that agreement. However, that contract is up for negotiation coming up later. So that is one thing.

And also within the Board, we have started to discuss whether we shall have such a target. So we have to come back on that. But for the time being, we continue to get the net debt as low as possible to also have the freedom to operate later on when it comes to investments in certain areas.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

All right. Yes, yes. And just a last question for me here, where it might be a bit more for the Board, but I try it with you anyway, because the dividend here which you announced, a dividend of 20% of your net results. I guess it's -- is a bit lower than your target being 30% to 50%. Is there any sort of reason that you know behind placing yourself a little bit lower than your own target?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So I think number one key message is that we're getting back to paying out dividends, right? We paid that out nothing for the previous year. And we -- as I mentioned, we're starting -- we've done tremendous continued operational improvement this year, and we're now starting to shift our focus to investment in the strategic acceleration of our business. And I would say it's a combination of those, right, that we are getting back to dividend. We're taking one step this year, and then we are ourselves putting more investments into the future, right?

So when I talk about investments, I'm speaking about new product applications and so forth. So we want to have the room to really make a difference for the medium to long term as well.

[Oskar Vilhelmsson, analyst]

Yes. Yes. Makes sense. All right. That was it for me.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Anders Roslund from Pareto Securities.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

I'll start off with a question regarding your outlook statement. You're relatively bullish about Europe and Japan for this year, and we mentioned specifically Air Cleaners, but also for the growth initiatives in the Cabin Solutions area. But regarding Americas, you only mentioned that you are expecting the taken measures to the results. So my question is simply, given the weak order intake, the weak sales, how should we look upon the growth for cleanrooms in the U.S.? Or is the growth sort of hampered by the sort of initiated measures? Or how should we look upon the measures -- are they pushing growth? Or are they sort of slowing growth?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So if you start with the measures, I think that's just good housekeeping, right? And clearly, there's been a strong cost inflationary environment over the last 2 years, right? And we need to bring that down again. So that's how simple that is. But when we look at the U.S., that the demand, as I mentioned in earlier quarters is very strong.

Given the USP 797/800 and all those things, I've covered in earlier calls. But we have had a pretty limited commercial reach in the U.S. We had about 1.5 person in 2022, and we're now by end of 2024, making an investment to drive, to capitalize on the demand out there. So we're going to be -- or we are coming into '24, we are 4 people on the sales side.

So we have one strategically covering California based in California, a new 1 joined us 1st of December in Texas, which is a huge health area within the U.S., and we have 1 in the Columbus area and then 1 on the East Coast.

So I would say -- and I tried to put color on that in the presentation saying that our contracted backlog and our weighted pipeline going into 2024 is even stronger than what it was in 2023. So as I think, where demand is there, our product fit is tremendous, and we just need to get out there a bit more. And of course, volume will also leverage us from a profitability point of view.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Is that a...

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So thanks for the question. I think it's a very important point.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Yes. Okay. Looking a little bit on the Cabin Solution, it seems that Europe was very strong in the Cabin Solutions, while Japan was down. Was that just a large contract for renewal? Or is it some strategic moves here? I mean, Japan, we know about, but why is Europe coming up in Cabin Solutions?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So I think as we -- I think we alluded to it in a way in the beginning of this year that maybe we had moved a little bit in our focus away from Cabins into Air Cleaners and so forth. And at the start of this year, we really started to look at the different application areas where we put our Cabins, and we started to push that more focused also in other geographies within Europe. And I think that is the effect. There is still business -- new business to be won within Cabins. And the European team have sort of done a restart on all that. And it has paid off.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

I mean that's something very positive, given that Europe has been on a sort of sloping downward trends for many years now that you seem to sort of offsetting that?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Yes. And just to add to that, if I go through the European countries, except for the ones where we don't at all have really presence, all of them are growing in Cabins.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

So you're relatively optimistic that you may continue growing in the Cabin Solutions area in...

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Absolutely.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Something positive -- Yeah. Sorry.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Given the lower renewal base in Japan that we had during the second half, right, we still grew our Cabin business 5% globally, right? So that's how EMEA really has played a part in this. And I don't see a reason why this change of this.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Okay. Something positive is definitely Air Cleaners, where you seem to grow both in Europe and Japan. And you have previously talked about that the recession like met in Europe has been sort of negative part for your growth expectations in Air Cleaners, simply that clients are not so interested. So how can that Europe is going, do you find really new market potential despite the tough economic climate to you regarding Air Cleaners.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So I think, of course, everyone going into 2023, we were all a bit hesitant on all the things that were happening geopolitically, the hike of interest rates, and so forth. But I think it's really the direct sales model that we apply, right? We get really in there with the -- we're not a box mover, we really get in there with the client. And when we really can show that we make a difference, whether it comes to the product quality, the health of the people working there or the critical processes they're in, it's evident that the geopolitical and interest environment hasn't been as important as we feared it to be. It's still so that it takes longer for decisions to be made, an investment decision to be made.

But let's remember, while we have cut down on cost on our head office, I think we're 30% less people at the head office. We've also channeled some of that savings into commercial resources. So we've also increased our reach in EMEA.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Yes. And this coming to the end about the margin development. Yes, as you said gross margins are down, but sequentially, it's down from 67% to 66.7%. It's not a very big difference, but the overall cost, it's now almost 59% of revenue. So this cost increase, also other external costs, et cetera, is that part of pushing sales more? Or how should we see that?

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Yes. We had some higher costs in the fourth quarter. That is correct if you compare sequence. And exactly the reason is that there are certain costs that are allocated for marketing and sales in certain areas. So that was partly planned for sure. And we had some higher costs in Japan in the fourth quarter that were 100% related to sales activities and marketing activities.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Is it sort of bonus payments, et cetera, for sales activities? Or how should we...

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

That is a combination of commission costs and also external costs for driving sales.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Exhibition.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Marketing, exhibition. Exhibition, we have a lot of exhibitions for Air Cleaners in Japan, for instance, the combination of that.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Yes, because you only mentioned sort of the cleanroom business, but yes, that's part of the gross profit that is short and such. So the increased cost level, should we see that as the bullish outlook for the growth in this year or that cost level should pay off?

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Yes, it will definitely pay off. That is our view, and we're trying to move from certain costs and increase certain costs locally to drive sales. So that we will continue. But overall, of course, one priority for us is the total cost control, and we will, for sure, try to keep that down to keep our margins totally. But you're totally correct in your question, and that is what happened in the fourth quarter.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

And it's a little bit of first 6 months to 9 months, we're sort of making sure this engine is running. And we -- that Europe can turn into growth. It shows that, for sure, coming out of the second quarter. And then we are ready to put more fuel in the tank, right? So I think your view on it is match as well the way we see it.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Yes, nothing very serious, but your cash flow -- working capital was, in fact, negative. And normally, the fourth quarter used to be a little bit better.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Correct. And always, when I get those questions I answered, and each quarter can vary up or down for sure. We look more on the cash flow full year and that development. And I would say that full year '23 is really representative when it comes to QleanAir's ability to deliver cash flow. And again, some quarters can vary. But we are, of course, focusing on the cash receivables and all that to get that constantly down.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Yes, I think I've got good question -- good answers on my questions. Just on the final one is, and that is, I would like to understand this in saying you have a better backlog for the cleanroom business in the U.S. in the beginning of this year than last year, how should I...

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

No. So it's purely just to tell that we had a quarter where it looked like the orders were down in the -- well, they were down in the U.S. in actual fact. But really, if I compare where we were end of December last year going into '23 compared to this year, our -- both are sign backlog. Because it passes some time between signing a contract and implementing the contract. And that, together with the weighted backlog or the weighted pipeline is stronger than it was last year. So it's just to give some flavor to that this is not a trend shift in the U.S. The demand is still strong as it was before, then we are now with 4 people rather than 1.5 more ready to capture on that.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

So the pipeline is how you perceive the market that's you expect to turn that in the order intake, hopefully.

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Yes. Yes.

[Anders Roslund, analyst]

Excellent. Okay.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Thanks, Anders. And we have got some written questions from the audience, and I will read the question and then we will answer to it.

The revenues in America, are they full attributable to cleanroom projects? What is your view on the market for projects in the Americas going forward?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Yes. So we have a very focused market approach in the U.S., where we actually today only sell cleanrooms. So -- and our view on the market is that there is a regulation that drives really a lot of new cleanrooms being have to be purchased new ones and improve the old cleanrooms and so forth. And that's what's really driving the market. So our picture of the U.S. going forward is very positive from a demand perspective.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

The next one was what are some of the main points of change you have strived for QleanAir since stepping in as the CEO when it comes to strategy execution, resource management or organization structure?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So I think it's very much captured around the 3 sort of short-term objectives that we put up for profitable growth, right? We were actually in a declining situation and both from a volume perspective and from a profitability perspective, leaving 2022. So my primary objective was to turn together with this team into profitable growth, and that has been achieved.

But then the other part by current trading, so your ability to grow organically and so forth, you earned the right to invest. That's my really founding belief of myself. And we've also, in parallel, we're doing all that blood, sweat, and tears of getting this back on track from a profitability point of view as well started our journey on the strategic acceleration. And those were really my objectives when I stepped in. And I'm amazed that the way the team around me has delivered around this for this year.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

And the third question is, is each cleanroom project in Americas unique? That is, is there a possibility to present standardized cleanroom solutions to the customers in Americas?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So I think, there is a clear trend. So when you look at cleanrooms, you have something called stick build. That's when you brick by brick, sort of build in an already existing room and you add on to the existing wall certain materials to make it into a cleanroom. That's called the stick build. That's mainly done by general construction companies. But there is a clear trend to move over to more modular build. That's what we sell.

Our clean space is a modular cleanroom. And from the customer point of view, it's a much more -- when they buy that, they buy it a bit as a product. It's still going to be customized to a large extent, because dependent on what the existing stays, but we still build a room within the room. And for the customer, this is a more -- it's more comfortable to buy a room that's already been tested before.

When you look at our building blocks, it's really like a Lego, right? So there are predefined building blocks that we apply. So we can do it in a pretty efficient manner. And for the customer, it's a very clear delivery of the product as in room and cleanroom solution.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Then we're coming to the fourth question. What kind of an effect does the logistics challenge caused by the Red Sea crisis have on QleanAir? What is the proportion of sourcing effect did by it?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

Very limited. So we really haven't had any issues that we have had to brought -- bring up on the table and deal with because as I mentioned, when I tried to give the picture of how great this company is, we also are -- when we supply in APAC, we do it through an APAC-based supply chain. When we supply in Europe, it's based on the Europe-based supply chain. And for the U.S., the majority of what we do is supplied within the U.S. So we have very little effect of the current crisis.

[Henrik Resmark, executive]

Another question that just came in. Can you develop the gross margin the last 2 years? And what is your view, 2024 and longer term, what can we expect?

We are not guiding on that so specific, but we can really emphasize that we are really proud of the gross margins that we have in Cabin Solutions, and we really foresee that to continue. Another thing we are proud of is the gross margins within Air Cleaners that we see already now that is in line with expectations, and it is actually growing.

The third thing is the gross margins in -- with cleanrooms in Americas, and here, we have a huge improvement to make, and that work is ongoing. So there, we see an improvement for 2024, and that will, of course, contribute to the whole QleanAir Group. So we foresee a high and stable gross margin also going forward.

And then we have a last question. If the number of employees, if that will grow 2024 versus 2023, and if it does, will that be driven by more salespeople?

[Sebastian Lindstrom, executive]

So I think we made it very clear going into this year that we're shifting resources from central head office type resources where we've decreased probably in the neighborhood of 30%, and we're shifting that towards resources more close to the customer. So in 2023, concluding this year, we're 10% plus less people overall in the company versus 2022. We will make some investments going into 2024. And those investments will, for sure, be related -- more commercially related.

And -- but there is also, as I said, we're confident now after going through this operational improvement, we're also confident on our current trading in that sense that we're starting to shift resources towards the strategic acceleration. And that will also mean some central resources but very much focused on the product strategy.

We will not go back and have a global marketing team and so forth with. The investments we will make centrally will be really related to driving product development.

So I think if -- I hope those answers to those written questions. Really appreciate all the questions. It gives more light to the presentation. But if there are no more questions, I would like to thank you for your participation and interest in our company and wish you a great continuation of the day. Thank you.