Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Alimak Group interim report for October to December 2020. For the first part of this call, all participants will be in a listen-only mode, and afterwards, there will be a question and answer session. Today, I'm pleased to present Ole Kristian Jødahl, CEO. Please begin. Thank you, and welcome to this quarter four call for Alimak Group. With me today I have our Interim CFO, Bernt Ingman. If we turn to page two, the agenda. We will go through then the quarter four results and also look at the full year 2020 before we move into a status update of the New Heights programme and in the end, a Q&A session. If we turn to page three, quarterly highlights. To sum up the fourth quarter of 2020. After an improved start to the quarter, the second wave of lockdowns and restrictions, combined with the U.S. elections and negative currency translation effect, we saw significant impacts on our order intake and revenue in the quarter. The cost-saving part of the New Heights programme is on track, and in the quarter, we took the last SEK 26 million as planned and announced, as well as an additional SEK 16 million in non-recurring costs related to reservations and provisions. These are things that should have been taken earlier, not something that we are too happy with. However, I'm glad to see that already now the improved underlying margin continues, and we ended up at 13.7% adjusted EBITDA in the quarter. As of January 1st, the new organization is in place together with our group strategy, vision, and values, and we have now entered the second phase of the New Heights programme. If we turn to next page four, Group quarterly summary. Order intake decreased 21% in the quarter, of which 14% was organically and 7% coming from negative currency translation effect. I'm pleased to see that both construction and after-sales reported organic growth in the quarter. Rental had a little softer quarter, while the full year saw a strong organic growth. Industrial Equipment reported a weaker quarter, driven by continued delayed investment decisions in the uncertain market conditions. Revenue decreased 11% organically, the result of lower order intake in previous quarters and some delays in project execution. We have had some shipments delayed in ports and also some delays out of our own factories due to increased sick leave. This is then people staying at home as soon as they feel any signs of being sick to be cautious and not to get any outbreak of COVID-19 in our factories. Of course, we also are at a very lean phase now. The underlying profitability improved with adjusted EBITDA margin at 13.7%, up from previous quarters in 2020, as well as an improvement year-over-year by 0.5 percentage points following our cost reductions. Next page, please. Page five, f ull year 2020. 2020 was a challenging year for the group, with the impact from the pandemic with lockdowns and delayed investment decisions, and also then the negative currency translation effect that we have seen in the last two quarters. All business units were down on order intake except rental, which reported a strong organic growth of 9% for the full year. This is also driven by what we have said, that we have seen a preference of renting versus buying throughout the year during the pandemic. Wind also showed resilience with a long, stable investment cycle, but we have stepped away from more tower internal business when it has not brought the right profit level. Construction was weak already at the beginning of the year, moving into the pandemic, and have been further affected by the market uncertainty brought on by the pandemic. General Industry and BMU have been the businesses hardest hit by the pandemic, where the oil and gas business has been very weak, and also investment decisions in BMU has been and continue to be pushed forward. From a geographical perspective, U.S.A. has been a very weak market for us throughout the year and driven down both by the pandemic and also the election. All business units reported lower revenues, driven at first down by lockdowns and travel restrictions, and later by a lower order backlog. Something we will continue to see the effect from in the coming quarters. Full year adjusted EBITDA ended on 10.6%, down from 13.7% last year for the full year, driven down by lower volumes. Temporary and permanent measures have been implemented, and we have reduced number of employees with 237 during the year and seen an improving underlying profitability quarter-by-quarter, making us well positioned for 2021. Dividend: F or the financial year 2020, the Board of Directors proposed an ordinary dividend of SEK 2 per share. In addition, the Board proposes an extra dividend of SEK 1 per share. This total level takes into consideration the current market conditions and also prioritization for the continued strong balance sheet to support our growth ambitions. Next page. Then Construction Equipment, Q4, page six. As already mentioned, a highlight of the quarter was that the order intake for construction was organically up with 8% year-on-year. Also up 19% on quarter three. Positive, also, of course, contributing was the order in U.S. from Morrow Equipment of 36 units. The revenue decreased as a result of the lower backlog, but the SEK 126 million revenue represented a sequential improvement from quarter three. This resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.8%, driven down by the lower volume as well as less deliveries to America, which usually has a higher profitability, being the best quarter this year and a solid improvement from quarter three. Another notable item for Construction Equipment was the launch of our new product in China, a construction shaft hoist, which is done for the Chinese market. Next page, Rental. Despite the strong development in France, Rental reported lower order intake compared to the same quarter last year, down 5% organically. This was a result of a soft quarter in Germany and Benelux, as well as also Australia, though Australia market is showing improvement. For the full year, order intake development was strong with a 9% organic increase, as mentioned. Revenues decreased by 11% organically in the quarter, mainly driven down by the Australian market, though notably, again, France showed good development, which has led us to increase investment into this fleet during the quarter. The margin of 11.5% is lower than the previous two quarters, and the result of lower volumes as well as increased costs, and these are primarily then driven by the need to put in temporary staffing due to quarantines and extended sick leave in some markets. Next page, Industrial Equipment. Order intake for Industrial Equipment was down 31% organically and down for all business units. For BMU and General Industry, this came from customers continuing to delay investment decisions, especially towards the end of the quarter. We see the oil and gas business has been very hard hit in the quarter, but also throughout the year. Also bigger projects in general that are being pushed forward. For Wind, this softer quarter came from us continuing to step out of low- profit tower internal business in line with our profit before growth topic and what we have announced. Revenues decreased by 10% organically, the result of a lower backlog and some delayed shipments within General Industry. We also continue to see delayed project starts for BMU as customers push back completion dates and the signing of approval drawings. Despite the lower volumes, we managed to improve profitability both compared to the same quarter period last year as well as significantly above previous quarters in 2020, and ending with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.7%. The improved profitability was seen in all business units as we see effects from our cost-saving program. Next page, After Sales. Very pleased to see that also after sales, the order intake improved, and we had 6% organic growth in the quarter. Europe showed strong development, and I'm pleased to see the increase in services booked for BMU customers compared to the same period previous year. This is according to what we tried to achieve. Revenue was flat organically. Remaining restrictions from COVID-19 continues to affect our business, but to a lesser extent than what we have seen earlier in the year as we have better and more safety measures now in place that let us perform daily services. We saw an increase in refurbishment revenue as well as online training, which is also part of our strategy. EBITDA margin adjusted ended up at 25.6%, slightly better than last year. Then we turn to the next page 10, and I leave it for Bernt. Thank you, Ole. I will start to run through the main impacts of the profit and loss in the quarter. Compared to quarter four 2019, the biggest negative impact came from the lower operating result, as well as the non-recurring costs taken. A djusted EBITDA was down SEK 24 million, primarily due to the lower volumes and despite lower operating expenses. Another impact of SEK 42 million came from the non-recurring cost taken in the quarter, SEK 24 million higher than quarter four 2019. From the SEK 26 million was stemming from the New Heights programme, of which SEK 23 million are related to COGS and SEK 3 million to OpEx. For the additional SEK 16 million, SEK 3 million are related to COGS and SEK 13 million to OpEx. Adjusted for the non-recurring items, the unadjusted EBITDA was SEK 86 million. We have less amortization than last year, SEK 9 million versus SEK 11 million the year before. The financial net had a positive impact of SEK 11 million compared to Q4 2019. Finally, the tax expense for the quarter was SEK 21 million, and SEK 17 million the year before, corresponding to a tax rate of 29% compared to 60% in the year before. All of these are taking us to a result for the quarter of SEK 50 million compared to SEK 88 million last year. Next page, please. The results for the period and EPS. The lower net profit was the result of lower operating profit despite cost reductions, as well as higher non-recurring expenses. This led to a decrease in earnings per share to SEK 0.92 compared to SEK 1.62 corresponding quarter before. SEK 3.37 for the full year compared to SEK 7.28 the full year 2019. Next page, please. Cash flow. Despite the lower revenue and the operating result, we maintained a strong cash flow of SEK 164 million in the quarter, following a strong focus on receivables and other working capital, was reduced by SEK 51 million in the fourth quarter. For the full year, cash flow from operation improved to SEK 505 million compared to SEK 502 million in 2019. Next page, please. Net debt: Our strong operating cash flow, together with limited investment, helped take our net down to SEK 680 million by the end of the year. Despite the lower EBITDA results, the lower net debt made our leverage end up at 1.5 x by end of December, below our target of 2 x, and we maintained our strong financial position. In addition, the group has SEK 1.8 billion in unutilized credit facilities, which gives us financial flexibility in the future. Thank you. Now I return the word to Ole for a final summary. Next page, please. Thank you, Bernt. We are at page 14, the New Heights programme. That's for Phase Two. Now as we then have put 2020 behind us, we also have put the first phase of the New Heights programme behind us after the launch in October 2020. We have, of course, been doing a lot of work behind the scenes since to get the new organization up and running, and are now entering Phase Two, where we then put profit before growth in 2021. Next page, please. We are at page 15, status of the New Heights programme. Since January 1st, we now have the new customer-centered organization in place with the four divisions: Construction, Industrial, Wind, and BMU. We have moved from a heavy matrix organization to one that emphasizes closeness to the customer, responsibility, accountability, and a mandate to act. We will drive the group forward based on our strategic pinion wheel with the elements of customer obsession, technology leadership, operational excellence, people development, digitalization, and sustainability. The group has not managed to build a solid fundament after the doubling of the group in 2017 with the two acquisitions of the top Facade Access Group and Avanti Wind Systems. That we do now. This means it's not a quick fix, but we know what to do, and we are already well on track. Starting from the next quarter, so quarter one results, which will be released in April, we will start reporting according to these new divisions. We're also switching away from adjusted EBITDA as the key measurement of profitability to just EBITDA. We are removing the adjusted element. Since announcing the New Heights programme, we have made further changes to the group leadership team, and I'm very happy to announce earlier this week that, on May 17th, Thomas Hendel, who has more than 30 years of controlling and CFO experience, will start as our new CFO. He spent a lot of years first within ABB and now the last eight years within Saab. He brings a vast industrial experience and also experience from a complex project-based business. As also announced, we have recruited Annika Haaker to the important role of Chief People and Culture Officer, to focus and help us drive the most important asset of the group, our people, and she will also then join us, or she will join in April. She also bring a lot of knowledge and experience with her, and she comes lastly from HL Display, where she has been the Group Director of Human Resources. The recruitment for a permanent Head of the Industrial Division is very soon to be ready. We are in the middle of developing the strategy for each of the divisions, and these will be presented at the Capital Market Day that we will hold in mid-June. More information around this will soon come. The cost-saving program is ongoing, and we have taken the non-recurring costs announced, as well as an additional SEK 60 million in quarter four. We are already starting to see the savings coming through and are on track to fully deliver on the targeted annual savings of SEK 16 million beginning of the second half of this year. I feel very good about all the changes that we do and are really looking forward to 2021 and the years to come to build a group that will deliver on its commitments in a sustainable way. Next page. Summary for quarter four, page 16. The fourth quarter's highlights was the improved underlying profitability of the group at 13.7% adjusted EBITDA margin. It was also that we saw organic growth both within Construction and After Sales. Currency and renewed lockdowns continued to put pressure on orders and revenue, though October was better than the following months. We have held up a solid cash conversion both in the quarter and also for the full year. The year 2020 was a challenging one for the group, but also one of repositioning as we launched the New Heights programme and are now in step two, securing margin improvements as we continue to invest our efforts into R&D and digitalization. Following this, the board proposes a dividend of SEK 2 + SEK 1 per share, in total SEK 3. The vaccine rollout is now ongoing, we expect to see an improved business climate in 2021, though the first half we expect to remain challenging with uncertainty of the speed in vaccinations and the spread of the more contagious mutated virus. As this sums up my first half year with Alimak Group, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all our employees, shareholders, analysts, and business partners for the warm welcome and also for the way we have been able to navigate this half year together. Thank you. We move to next page and the Q&A. Thank you. Our first question comes from the line of Mattias Holmberg from DNB. Please go ahead. Thank you. My first question is on the margin in Industrial Equipment, where we saw pretty impressive improvement. I read that you directed somewhat towards an improved gross margin in BMU. I'm just wondering if you could help us understand the dynamics behind this a bit more. Is it a project-related temporary boost, or is it more of a structural increase in the margin as a result of the work that you've done to improve the profitability in this business? Thank you. Yeah. It is a mix of it. Definitely it's our cost improvements that are affecting and helping the results quite significantly in the quarter, but it's also a mix effect. That's the nature of both that business, but also all our business. It's project-based, a lot of it, and both geographical and project mix. That also affects into it, of course, to some extent. Thank you. I know that you usually don't comment on the order book, but could you give us any comments at all to better understand the dynamics now for the first half? Say, roughly speaking, what your order book is at the end of the year compared to a year earlier? Yeah. I would like to actually comment also more around that. We are looking into whether we should bring this more in as we move forward with the new reporting in the new structure. That we have to come back to in quarter one. I think you can look back into the order intake during the last quarters, and that will give you a good indication, of course, of the order book that we have. Again, it also varies a lot. Some of our business is very instant, that we turn it into sales relatively quick after an order. While in other parts of the business, like BMU, it might be two, three years until we start or the project is delivered. It's also there a big mix between the different divisions. I can't give you much more flavor of it now, but we are looking into whether we should start to report more of an order book. That sounds great. Just the final question from me, on the tower and internals business, could you elaborate a bit on how much more you have to exit here, and if there will be a significant drag on orders and sales in the coming quarters? Yeah. It's a good question. It's been a drag for 2019. It was a heavy drag for Wind business. It's been a little bit of a drag for us this or in 2020. There is quite a bit of this business in that division. We also do believe, actually, that we can retain and do quite a bit of it. There is also heavy competition, and I expect that we will step out on some more in this year. Not enormous figures. There is something constantly that we are evaluating and making sure that we make the right profit on, else we don't do it. There is, when we have projects where we can combine the whole thing in a good way, and that value is clear to the customer, and it's something they are ready to pay for, then we do it. It's not so that we are moving out of it completely. Thank you so much. That's all for me. Thank you. Just as a final reminder, if you did wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad now. Our next question comes from the line of Kenneth Toll from Carnegie. Please go ahead. Thank you. Following up a bit on the Wind tower internals. In 2019, there were some problems in China with the price competition on the very low end of the products there. The problems you are seeing right now, is it also in China or is it in other markets? Is it for low-end products or more higher-end hoists? I think it's still, even though I wasn't here, so I can't know exactly. Then, back in 2019, I think it's still very much the same type of nature of it. Mostly it's driven by Chinese competitors, and this product is coming from China also for us. That's where we see the biggest impact, also on the business in China. They have also delivered the internal business in all parts of the world, and we also have the same competitive situation there, as the Chinese suppliers also try to reach out. The main issue is in China, but also some in the rest of the world. Okay. Another one on after-sales, from service, and so on. Do you believe that there are some pent-up demand of services and spare parts demand when the pandemic loosens its grip on traveling restrictions and visiting restrictions for plants and so on? It's also a very interesting question, which we find very difficult to answer ourselves. We know that in principle, a lost service hour is a lost service hour. Of course, you can work overtime to catch up and so forth. In some areas, some segments, products have been used just as before. In other segments, it's not used as before. That's also a very mixed picture. That there is a big pent-up demand, I don't expect. That we will see a steady and solid improvement, that I do expect. I also do expect that some pent- up and some catch- up it will be. Again, we are also part of many businesses or different segments; it's a mixed picture overall. Okay. Finally, now you are one month into the new organization that you set from January 1st. Yeah. Or a bit more. What are your initial reflections? Do people feel that it's a logical way to work going forward, or has there been some uncertainties on responsibilities and duties and so on? What's the feedback from the organization, if I put it that way? Yeah. First of all, I must say, from a central perspective, it's in many ways a dream scenario. Now to have four people that you talk with and discuss with on how you manage the business, versus before when it was around 25. From that perspective, it's an enormous change. I also do feel that now, when we sit down and have our review meetings and so forth, we know that what we discuss, we have the responsible person around, and we can put activities in place, we can agree, and it will be done. That was very different before. Of course, this is the transition. We have been working towards it towards the end of the year, but now it's in place, that this is all in place and it is all working like it should everywhere. Of course not. It is a transition. Overall, it's very well received. We had a People and Culture Day a couple of weeks ago to really launch this more and explain the core values, the way of working, and all these things, where they engaged every single employee, whether it was in the factory or in any office or wherever around the world, and received very positive feedback. Things like this, we have activities in place to help drive. Of course, it's walking the talk from central, and driving it the way it should. This is coming, but as you appreciate, this is not something you just switch on or off, either. It's a process. Okay. Great. Thanks. That's all from me. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. As there are no further questions, I'll hand it back to the speakers for closing remarks. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you all for listening in and for following us, as I said, this first half year, and the support, and the good questions, and engagement. It's inspiring and motivating. Thank you all, and until next time. Thank you. This now concludes our conference call. Thank you all for attending. You may now disconnect your lines.
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