Hello, and welcome to the Haldex Q1 2022 report. Throughout the call, all participants will be in listen-only mode, and afterwards there will be a question and answer session. Today, I'm pleased to present the CEO, Jean-Luc Dezert, and the CFO, Lottie Saks. I'll now hand over to Jean-Luc. Please go ahead with your meeting. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm pleased with Lottie to present the Q1 results. Let's go directly to the slide number 2, and with the agenda. I will present the sales overview, and then Lottie will present the financial situation of our business. I would then continue with the business update and our position versus our strategy. With that, we will go to a Q&A session. I would suggest we go directly to the slide number 4, where we present our sales performance -over-, so Q1 2022 versus Q1 2021. The key item is a 90% organic growth versus last year. We have to say that this growth is mainly driven by price increases, not so much by volumes, but by price increases. In terms of product lines, we can see that the trailer segment has been the fastest-growing with a 90% year-over-year value, followed by the aftermarket at 7% year-over-year value. Truck, more or less flat with a -1%. In terms of region, America is leading the pack with a +16% year-over-year evolution, followed by EMEA +7% and APAC -20%. All those values need to be put in perspective with the market evolutions, especially for APAC, and I will come back to that in a second. On this slide as well, I'd like to highlight as well that aftermarket is above 50% of our revenues, and this is something that we want to keep as a KPI, and we're happy about that. Let's go now to the slide number 5, with the focus on the Americas region. I will start with the bottom right graph, showing the market evolution year-over-year. We see in terms of volume, the market has been going down by 7%. On this market going down by 7% in volumes, we've been growing by 30% in terms of revenues. Having said that, first, when we put aside the effects, in fact, it's a 16% year-over-year evolution. According to the comments I made before, a significant part of this 16% year-over-year increase for the Americas is driven by price increases. If we go back to the product evolution, trailer has been enjoying a nice year-over-year growth with 38%, followed by truck, 17%, and then aftermarket. In the Americas, we see a continuous positive outlook with the order books being pretty full for 2022. With that, I will go to the slide number 6 and talk about the EMEA region. Bottom right, evolution of the market for trailer and truck, -11% for Q1 2021 to Q1 2022, again, in terms of volumes. In that context, we have a +10%, value evolution from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022. Again, mainly driven by price increases and surcharges. In terms of product line, we have trailer going up by 15%, followed by aftermarket +5%, and the truck product line going down by 17%. The outlook for 2022 is good in terms of order books. However, we need to say that there is some disruption that we can see at some of our customers related to the Ukrainian situation, and we need to be, mindful of that. With that, I will go to the APAC region on slide number seven. Graph on the bottom right, showing that the market is going down by 39%, so the combination volumes for truck and trailer, so -44% for the truck market and -14% in the trailer. This trend is likely to continue in Q2 with the COVID situation that everybody is aware of in China. In that context, our revenue's been dropping only by 11%. In terms of product line, for us, it's -16% on the truck side, -8% on aftermarket, and -31% on the trailer. The outlook, I've already talked about the short-term impact on the one linked to COVID, but it's still a positive outlook for trailer beyond the short-term issue. With this sales overview, I will now hand over to Lottie to give the financial highlights. Lottie, please. Thank you, Jean-Luc. Moving to slide nine. The results of the first show that our implemented price increases led to sales growth and an improved gross margin compared to the previous quarter. The organic growth of 9% was, as Jean-Luc said, largely driven by the price increases introduced during the previous year to mitigate the increased cost within supply chain. Gross margin reached 27.7%, which is a decrease of 3.4 percentage points compared to Q1 2021. Like our industry peers, it's evident that on a year-to-year basis, we are negatively impacted by increased raw material prices and higher freight costs. Even though we cover majority of the increases, the financial profile is impacted negatively by some 2 percentage points. However, compared to previous quarter, our gross margin increased by 2.9 percentage points. This shows that our actions taken have been successful and we are starting to see results. The adjusted operating margin of 6.3% in the quarter is below prior year. Keep in mind that Q1 2021 was our strongest quarter historically, with 10.6%. Compared with previous quarter, the adjusted operating margin increased by 1.3 percentage points. The reported operating margin amounted to 5.9% in the quarter, compared to 10.4% in previous year. The increased sales and constrained supply chain tied up working capital, which led to weakened cash flow. The cash flow from operating activities in the Q1 amounted to -SEK 60 million, compared to -SEK 30 million in the previous year. Items affecting comparability amounted to -SEK 5 million, compared to -SEK 3 million in previous year. Earnings per share amounted to SEK 1.04 in the quarter, compared to SEK 1.44 in Q1 last year. Moving to slide 10. The sales increase contributed to an EBIT increase of SEK 92 million. Again, the majority of this increase is related to price increases to customers in order to mitigate raw material and price cost increases. We had a slight negative impact of segment mix. However, we did achieve our ambition to keep aftermarket shares above 60%. The aftermarket accounted for 50% in sales both in Q1 2021 and in Q1 2022. Supply chain constraints led to increased cost of goods or manufacturing costs, of which the majority relates to direct material and freight. The margin impact amounts to SEK 105 million, and this is net of direct material savings initiative that we have achieved through ongoing negotiations with suppliers. If you recall from the Capital Markets Day, we announced that a step change in direct material price level is a focus area for us going forward from a strategic point of view. It is clear that a large part of the increased cost of material and freight has been mitigated through the price increases implemented during last year as well as during the quarter. This shows that we have been successful in raising the prices to mitigate our increased cost levels. However, again, it comes with a dilutive effect on the margin. While we have taken steps in the right direction, ongoing management of pricing towards customers compared to the changes in supplier costs will remain a focus going forward. Price increases during the later part of 2021 largely were targeting the aftermarket segment. We are now issuing price increases also to the OEM segment. For EMEA, we will raise prices from first of May in targeted areas, and for Americas, we will see higher prices from first of July. Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK 5 million, which relate to minor restructuring. Moving to slide 11. Looking at the quarter financials in perspective, we are pleased to see that the revenue continues to be above pre-pandemic levels. This recovery has been stable and is partly driven by outperformance in the OEM market, but also strong aftermarket growth and thanks to implemented price increases. When it comes to profitability level, as we have shown before, it's evident that our structural savings initiatives during 2020 and 2021 have proven effective, and that we can deliver a profitability that is on a very good level put into historical perspective. It's also evident that like most companies in the industry, we do experience temporary challenges within supply chain with raw material situation and increased freight costs, which naturally puts pressure on our gross profit and EBIT. This was gradually seen during the quarters in the later parts of 2021. As said before, we have raised prices not only for raw materials, but also related to increased freight costs. We're very pleased to see the positive impact and a sequential improvement in both gross profit margin and EBIT as a result of measures taken. As you can see, it's a step up from 24.8% to 27.7% from Q4 to Q1. We will continue to balance the cost levels between suppliers and end customers. In addition, we will drive margin expansion by focusing on reducing costs for direct material through this strategic focus initiative for 2022. Moving to slide 13. Working capital increased both compared to previous year and previous quarter, driven by increased accounts receivables and inventory. Accounts receivables are naturally increasing as a result of increased sales, but the majority of the increase is related to continued inventory increase. Partly, this is driven by the general supply chain disruption. In addition, the increased raw material and site costs lead to higher inventory value. We also do have a specific situation in Monterrey, and parts of our group management is currently jointly focusing on a program improving the operations in Mexico. The inventory days amounted to 92, which is an improvement compared to previous year, but an increase compared to previous quarter. Cash conversion cycle was 83 days compared to 77 in previous year. With our size, we have an advantage of being flexible, which allows us to react quickly to change. We want to maximize this potential and are reviewing what changes to implement to become even more agile. We aim to continue to optimize our business and we see further opportunities within our operations. Through several initiatives, for example, infrastructure simplification and improved inventory management processes, we are taking steps to improve our operations efficiency. It's evident that we still have work to do when it comes to our operations. Moving to slide 14. As I previously mentioned, the supply chain challenges impacted our cash flow during the quarter. From historical perspective, Q1 typically is a quarter with low cash flow. Cash flow is negatively impacted by increased working capital, driven by increased accounts receivable and inventory. Total investments amounted to SEK 63 million in the Q1 compared to SEK 64 million, of which 8 are related to capitalized development expenditures. Total research and development expenditures, including capitalized development, amounted to SEK 51 million during the quarter, corresponding to 4% of sales. In the first quarter of 2021, total research and development expenditures amounted to SEK 51 million or approximately 4.5% of sales. As we now enter into commercial production, the capitalized development expenditure for the fourth generation EBS will be depreciated starting next quarter. The positive trend in reducing our net debt continued during the quarter. Net debt was positively affected by our earnings, but negatively by the cash flow. A remeasurement of pension liabilities enlarged due to higher interest reduced net debt by approximately SEK 200 million. While lease commitment to IFRS 16 increased net debt by SEK 17 million compared to the end of 2021. At the quarter end, we have refinanced our debt, which now including possible extensions matures in April 2024. As we have mentioned during the Capital Markets Day, we are planning to diversify our long-term financing through a bond issue during 2022. In summary, the Q1 of 2022 was a step in the right direction with several milestones reached, despite the continued impact of the challenges in supply chain and geopolitical situation. We want to extend our thanks to all employees who have contributed with a dedication to the company. With that, I hand back to Jean-Luc. Thank you, Lottie. Let's move to slide 16 and let's step back a bit on our strategy. I mean, what we presented during the Capital Markets Day is a growth of the top line based on the following pillars: aftermarket growth, the shift to disc brake, in the industry, and the launch of our new EBS generation four. We're pleased to see that, our top line, is moving faster than the market. What I would like to highlight for today for Q1 is the win of the Krone contracts. You know, we had a press release a couple of weeks ago related to that. This is a sign given by our customers that our strategy is in the right direction, and I expect some further good news in the quarters to come related to those levers, to those pillars. On top of this, on top of those growth initiatives, we want to streamline our operation by the simplification of the infrastructure and to continue to have a dynamic pricing strategy. With that, let's move to the slide 17. As a summary, how do we see this quarter? As Lottie mentioned before, it's a step in the right direction. We are gaining, margin expansion from Q4 last year to be here. By doing that, we have been able to maintain our volumes in the current market. We want to continue in this direction for the quarters to come. In terms of outlook for the rest of the year, we want to continue to grow faster than the market and to gain market share in the different markets we are playing in. We want to be as dynamic as possible to adapt to the different supply chain disruption that we now face with COVID in APAC, the Ukrainian war and the inflation in the market. That's what we want to achieve in the quarters to come. With that, I would open the Q&A session. Please, moderator. Thank you. If you do wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypads. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing zero two to cancel. Our first question comes from the line of Kenneth Toll Johansson of Carnegie. Please go ahead. Yeah, thank you. First, I was a bit curious. There are a lot of lockdowns in China right now, and there are some troubles with logistics in imports and so on. I was curious to see how your operations and your customers have been impacted in China by the lockdowns, if anything. Yes. Indeed, you know, the lockdown is, has been there for a couple of weeks now in the Shanghai area. We have a manufacturing facility in Suzhou, so not that far from Shanghai. We've been able to continue our operations ourselves. We have not shut down our plant. I have to say that because of some supply chain disruption coming from our suppliers and at our customers, yes, indeed, the level of activities in April will be reduced compared to a normal run rate. That's indeed a fact. Great. This deal with KRONE on the EB+ 4.0, do you start deliveries of those already in Q2 or how much sales versus the older model do you add there? Are margins better or lower than the product it replaced? Can you talk a little bit around that, please? Okay. The EB+ 4.0 is the new generation of the EBS platform. KRONE is our first customer, and we have actually started the deliveries of the first parts to these customers in Q1, so not only in Q2. We already started in Q1. Kenneth, your last question was related to the margin, right? For this product line. Yes. Also, how much sales per product it adds compared to the one it replaces. Is there 20% more or 10% more just to get a feel? Yeah. Okay. For the time being, the EB+ 4.0, its additional volumes compared to EB+ Gen 3 because, KRONE is a new customer, so it's not a replacement. For the time being, we will keep on producing the EB+ Gen 3. You might know that the limiting factor of the production of the EB+ Gen 3 today is not really the demand of the market, it's more the supply of chips coming out of Asia. We don't foresee any reduction of the volumes of Gen 3, to be honest, in the foreseeable future. What's on the EB+ 4.0, it's a ramp-up to win new market share. We start with KRONE and to be honest, we have discussions with other potential customers. EB+ 4.0 for the time being is pure outperformance. Mm-hmm. Yeah. KRONE is important customer that give a lot of credibility to your product, I guess, as well. Absolutely. It's a strong sign given to the market that, one of the major key players of the trailer industry in many years selecting, Haldex as a supplier for the brain of the trailer. It's a strong sign, absolutely. Great. The final small little thing is the restructuring cost of some SEK 5 million taken in Q1. What was that for? Should we expect more restructuring costs in 2022? Lottie, please, could you answer this question? Yeah. I would say part of that is related to, as you know, we're not communicating around Fit for Future anymore as that is, to the vast majority, already implemented. There are some tail risks related to that and smaller amounts for the closure or movement of Russian office as well. There is no new major restructuring part of the Q1. At this point in time, we have no new program to be communicated or launched. As Jean-Luc said, we are continuously assessing the efficiency in our infrastructure and the footprint and so on. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Okay. That's all for me. Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mats Liss of Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi, thank you for taking my question. First, well, you mentioned the price increases you will be implementing on the OE side. I guess, my question is more like, is the price increases you have implemented on the aftermarket side sufficient or will there be another one later on this year or how do you. Well, if you could talk a little bit about that. Lottie, can you maybe take this question? Yeah. No, I mean, at this point in time, we did price increases, if you recall, we in both November and December for the respective big markets. During Q1, in fact, both freight and raw material has increased, continued to increase, which isn't fully hitting the PNL in Q1 because partially it's in inventory. As we said, we are monitoring this on a continuous basis, and I don't see it as unlikely that we will go up with additional price increases to the aftermarket as well. Good. A question about sales. I guess you mentioned 9% organic, but it was mainly price related. Should we see the same trend going forward that volumes will be about unchanged, and the potential increases are more price related? How should we see the production and deliveries in the Q2? Yeah. Just mainly. Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, you know, first about the past, what we can say is, yeah, the volumes that we've been enjoying are more or less stable or slight increase. Let's put it like that. Which, in comparison to the market evolution, is a better performance because the markets have been going down. That's about the past. About the future, there's two things we can say. The first one is that the order books we see at our customers are strong, and all our customers say that the order books are full on the trailer side, on the truck side, until, you know, 2022s or something like that. The order books are strong. We don't see any cancellation. Yeah, we don't see any cancellation. At the same time, what we do see, and in April even more than March, is that the supply chain disruption linked to COVID impact, the Ukrainian, you know, situation in Europe, is impacting the ability of the complete supply chain, not necessarily us, by the way, but our suppliers or our customers to be able to meet the market demand. In a nutshell, strong dynamic with order books being full, but volatility, which is pretty big with the, you know, shortage issue that we see. Yeah, great. On depreciation, you mentioned you start deliveries of the fourth generation of EBS, and I just wondered how much more will you depreciate going forward? Lottie Saks, could you please maybe answer this question? Sorry, could you please repeat the question? No, you mentioned the fourth generation of EBS will start. You will start to supply them- Yeah. During the Q2, and you mentioned the depreciations will increase. I just wanted to- Yeah. get a feel for how much. It would be around SEK 6-7 million per quarter. Okay, great. Finally on the financial net there, you mentioned you have refinanced debt portfolio and will it have any major impact on the financial net going forward? No. It's no real change in the structure. It's very much on the same levels as before. It's just that we have prolonged to ensure that we have a long-term financing in place. Then the next step for us is to look at the bond issue. There's no change really or expansion or reduction in the refinancing that we have done now. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Just to remind everyone, if you wish to ask a question, please press zero-one on your telephone keypads now. We have no further questions at this time. Please go ahead, speakers. Thank you very much for this meeting and for the questions which have been asked. With that, we wish everybody a good day.
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