Year-end report 2023, January-December - Seite 2

The quarter’s turnover amounted to SEK 760 million (764), which corresponds to an organic decline of 3% compared to the corresponding period last year.

The order book amounted to SEK 778 million, which is a decrease of SEK 328 million compared to the previous quarter.

PROFITABILITY IN LINE WITH FINANCIAL TARGETS
Our gross margin remains at almost the same level as previous quarter, 65.3% (63.6) and we are pleased to see that we have managed to navigate through the last years with growing gross margins, with a full year margin in 2023 of 65%.

Our operating expenses increased to SEK 335 million (294) and is burdened with restructuring costs of SEK 7 million primarily from realizing efficiency improvement with the integration of the sales organization from our previous acquisition, Procentec. The quarter is also impacted by transaction costs of SEK 17 million, relating to the acquisition of Red Lion Controls. Organic increase of operating costs excluding restructuring and transaction costs were 3%.

The adjusted operating profit in the quarter reached SEK 193 million (192), corresponding to an operating margin of 25.3% (25.1). The quarter’s cash flow from operations amounts to SEK 119 million (177), which is impacted by continued increased working capital, primarily related to our inventory.

MARKET SLOW-DOWN IN EUROPE AND JAPAN BUT POSITIVE SIGNALS FROM AMERICAS
The order normalization has continued with a similar pace as in Q3 for both Europe and Japan where many of our large customers still are placing few or small orders. This is due to a combination of previous large orders, but also an increased uncertainty for the market’s underlying demand.

In the Americas, we see a trend break where order intake is now increasing compared to the last two quarters and we assess that the customers’ inventory adjustments have essentially been completed, which is a promising indication for 2024.

ACQUISITION OF RED LION CONTROLS
On December 11th we entered into a binding agreement with Spectris Group Holdings Limited to acquire the Red Lion Controls business, a well-established US-based provider of industrial communications & automation solutions. The acquisition will significantly strengthen our presence in the North American market and enable several cross-selling opportunities and expand our product offer.