Thank you so much, operator, and welcome to this call, the interim report of Q3 2021, 19th of October, a beautiful autumn day here in Gothenburg. With me today, I also have Kristina Ekeblad, who's the Investor Relations Manager here at Semcon. Unfortunately, Björn Strömberg has a really bad cold, so he's not with us today, but we hope for a speedy recovery. Going to the next slide, please, operator. We have a strong growth in the quarter and high profitability. As you can see here on the slide, we have a total sales growth of double digits of 11%, organic growth of 6% in the quarter, and an operating margin of 9%. It's the second consecutive quarter with total sales growth above 10%. The organic growth driven by, for example, growth in life science and the public sector. Also, as you know, we have the acquisition of Squeed, which is consolidated in these numbers from May this year. We have a continued positive margin trend, so rolling 12 months EBIT margin still on a historically high 10.2%, which is above the financial target for the group. Going to the next slide, please. If you look at the net sales distribution accumulated this year, we see that we are continuing our diversification regarding industry and transferring our knowhow between the different sectors, which is really the unique selling point of Semcon. Having a good presence in various industries is really a key to our success. As you can see, we now have the mobility sector and manufacturing industry on the same levels, just about, and life science continues to increase as well as telecom and IT. The energy sector is still on the 7% of the total share of the industries, and the public sector and other is growing by a 1 percentage unit. Going to the next slide, please. We do see that we have a strong net cash position. As you can see, we do have a cash flow in 2020 that was positively impacted by COVID-19 volume effects, and the cash conversion is above 100%, which would stable cash flow in Q3. We also see that the net cash is close to SEK 200 million, also after we have paid the dividend, which we did earlier this year, and we also have a holding of own shares of 623,000 shares. We do have significant firepower to grow further with strategic acquisitions going forward. This is a really, really strong position and really nice to see. It also, of course, increases the focus on moving on with acquisitions going forward, which we see very positively upon. Going to the next slide, please. Just reminding you about the financial objectives of the group. We have the objectives of a total annual revenue growth of at least 10% and operating margin, EBITDA, of at least 10%. The dividend policy should be approximately 50% of profit after tax at the time should be paid as dividends to our shareholders, and net debt EBITDA ratio should not exceed approximately 1.5x. I just remind you about the financial objectives due to the fact that the board of directors adopted the financial objectives earlier this year in the first quarter. Going to the next slide, please. We are well-positioned for growth. You see the trend chart here going back to 2018. We do see the impact there on the revenue from COVID-19, where we have a bit of a dip and now going back to growth again and having good growth in this quarter for the group. As you can see, we have been really doing our homework when it comes to taking out a bit of cost during the pandemic, and also now as the demand increases, and we do see an increased demand for our services, we also have a possibility to increase our operating margin going forward, which is really, really great. We have a good cash generation and strong financial position as well as I just mentioned. You can see the historical chart going back to 2015 here on the right-hand side up to 2021. You see where we're coming from when it comes to our financial position with quite large net debt in 2015, 2016, and now really strengthened the balance sheet and have a fantastic financial position going forward with the great firepower that I just mentioned. This is also supported further by macro trends in digitalization and when it comes to sustainability, which really plays in our favor. Going to the next slide, please. Sustainability and focus, you all see this every day. This is something that is really good for us that we have all our customers and potential customers focusing so much on sustainability. For our own sake, Semcon signed the We Mean Business Coalition letter urging G20 leaders to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. We are also committed to science-based targets and to set those to align our business strategy with the 1.5-degree ambition. We also have new climate targets set by our customers, of course, and we support them with innovation and digital services. This is really going to be one of the main growth drivers for Semcon, I foresee, going forward. Because now with all the targets set by our customers with regard to science-based targets, which is also urged from investors to be implemented by all companies now, the roadmap of getting there to reach those targets is really where Semcon can play a difference and really make a difference for our customers in various industries. Going to the next slide, please. You know the Engineering & Digital Services business area. This is well-known for you by now. We provide strategic design and innovation, advanced engineering, production optimization, and digital services. We provide advisory services related to this and project and quality management. Having as our core and being within digital and physical product development and production development, of course, we are in the middle of all the discussions with regard to sustainability and to reach the targets when it comes to products and services and production facilities. Putting also the extra layer of digital services on top of this makes us a really good supplier for our customers within these services. Going to the next slide, please. If we look at the financial development for Engineering & Digital Services for Q3, we have a total sales growth of 11.5% and an operating margin of 8%. We do see, as I mentioned before, a strong growth in Life Science, which also creates quite a bit of resilience, increased resilience for the group, if we would see a downturn going forward. This is part of our industry diversification journey that we are on. We also see the great growth in the Public sector. 28% accumulated for Life Science and 58% accumulated growth for Public, which is, on the other hand, still a fairly small part of the group, while Life Science is now growing to get bigger and bigger and growing the share of the total revenue for the business area and for Semcon in total. Digital services is a priority area for us, and it has been for quite a while now, and the acquisition of Squeed adds digital excellence and new customers and industries. This has really been an important add-on for us, and we continue to grow within this segment. They are adding both the retail business for us, and they're also adding the financial sector for Semcon, where we have not been present that much in the past. We do see the positive margin trend continued, and this is really great to see. A fantastic job done within this business area during this quarter and also now after the pandemic that had an impact on this business area predominantly. You can also see the industry diversification also happening in this business area, moving more towards other industries when you look at the share of the total revenue. Mobility sector now on 35% and the manufacturing industry 28%. You see Life Science is taking a bit of a jump, going from 14%- 19%. Exactly the strategic direction where we want to go. This means that we are also within the mobility sector, moving towards more digital applications, electrification, all those areas which are really important for the mobility sector going forward, and this is a strong trend that we see within our company. Going to the next slide, please. As I mentioned, we are uniting physical and digital worlds. That's our strength. This is where we want to be. We have a heritage of being really strong in physical product development and production development, and we're also adding the digital edge to this. We combine the digital excellence and advanced engineering skills. That's what we do. Many can do this separately, but only a few companies can improve these two together. Going to the next slide, please. The other business area, Product Information, provides services within digitalization and tools, user information, service information, parts and accessories, and learning solutions. We provide strategic support and operational excellence within these areas. Really fantastic solutions for the after-sales markets. This area has grown in importance over the last few years, and the focus on this area going forward, also from a sustainability perspective, is quite large. Going to the next slide. If we look at the Q3 financial development for this business area, we do see that we have a total sales growth of 10.4%, of which the organic growth is 9.7%. Operating margin for the business area is still on very high levels, 14.2%, which is great to see. We do see a continued high demand for digital aftermarket solutions. We also see a continued high level of profitability and successful multi-site operations, and that's a real strength in the business area to make sure that we allocate the work where it can be performed in the best manner, but also at the right cost level. We have functional sourcing and solution-based deliveries, which accounts for more than 75% of the sales, which we can also foresee the coming sales quite in a good manner. We are able to book the orders and continue to provide services with a long-term focus in this business area. Also here you see industry diversification being on really good levels, and this business area accounts for 37% of the total Group revenue. We're growing with high profitability and continuing to do that within Product Information, which is great to see. A fantastic job well done by all our colleagues in this business area. Just deep diving a bit into the Semcon Learning segment, where Semcon is actually today the largest digital training provider in Scandinavia, and that is duly part to the acquisition that we made a time ago with Xtractor, which is now part of the Semcon Group. It is evident that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the urge and the need for these kind of solutions at our customers. It also grows our share within the public segment. There are a lot of municipalities and state-owned companies that are entering into contracts with us to provide digital training to their employees. Of course, we hope to go back a bit more to normal, but I do think that the trend of digital training and digital learning is here to stay, and it's very nice to be well-positioned within this segment. Going to the next slide, please. Earlier in this year, actually in the beginning of September, the board of directors announced that we have an internal separation initiated and a potential public listing of Product Information, and that's why it's so good for you to know also a bit more about the Product Information business area and what we do there and what our position is. Going to the next slide. The strategic rationale, as we also informed you in that phone conference when we had that press release, is of course that we do see between the business area separate and really attractive offerings. We do have already today implemented a decentralized organization working quite separately, but also of course generating synergies between the business areas that can still be there after a separation. We have a stronger focus on each operation when doing this, and we do think that each operation and each business area really deserves that focus and attention that can generate. We also see the increased flexibility with more empowered teams and a simplified structure, and we are on good profitability levels in both business areas, and the financial position is really good compared to what we have seen historically and also when we compare and benchmark with our peers. We do have a positive outlook for our growth, so that also makes the timing really good as well. We intend to provide you with more information regarding how the separation project is going and also our thoughts around the public listing process as well. We will do that when we release the year-end report for 2021, and that will be in February 2022. This, in summary, it really aims to maximize growth and value creation for employees, for customers, and not the least for our shareholders, of course. Going to the next slide, please. If we look at Q3 in summary, and going to the next slide again, the Q3 highlights that I would like you to really take with you from this telephone conference is that it is the second quarter in a row with total sales growth of above 10%, so double digits, increasing demand for sustainability and digitalization, and Semcon is very well positioned within these two mega trends. We have a continued positive margin trend, which is historically high for Semcon, and our cash position remained really strong. The separation and potential listing of Product Information is ongoing, and we will give you an update in the beginning of next year. We are ready to further develop our offerings, employees, and shareholder value. Going to the next slide, please. Just looking into Semcon's financial calendar really quick. The date that you need to keep in mind where we have the year-end report for 2021 is on February 9th, 2022, at 8:00 CET. By that, we go to the next slide, and operator, let's see if we have some questions. Thank you. If you would like to ask a question via the phone lines, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing zero two to cancel. You can ask as many questions as you wish, but please ask them one at a time. There will now be a brief pause while questions are being registered. We have a question from Stefan Knutsson from ABG. Please go ahead. Your line is open Hi, Markus. Thank you for the presentation. My first question is regarding the personnel turnover that we saw an increase in Q3 here, especially in the EDS segment. I just want to hear your view on that development contrast to the positive outlook that you see for Q4. Yeah. Thank you, Stefan. We do see an increased movement in the labor market in general. I think that this has to do with the opening up now of society after the COVID-19. I think that this is something that we also get that confirmed from industry associations that we do see a general movement in the labor market and Semcon is of course impacted by this. That also means that we have a great opportunity when this movement happens in the labor market to really get new colleagues on board as well. I do think that it is a quite natural movement that is happening. People have been maybe working from a distance, working from home, and this might be a trigger point for some to look at some new adventures in their life and move on. At the same time, we do see a fantastic interest for Semcon, not the least by the fact that we are positioned within the sustainability segment in helping our companies and helping society getting on track with all the sustainability topics. I do see that we have an increase in turnover and especially in the Engineering & Digital Services business area. I do see that it's quite natural now when a lot of our customers might be holding back budget-wise, not taking the investments during the COVID-19, and now they are really employing competencies that are crucial for them and of course, Semcon can be one of the targets. What we don't see is that we don't see a movement towards our competitors, but rather towards our customers. We do need to keep an eye on this, but I see it as a fantastic opportunity as well to grow the business going forward and to really win the battle of the competencies that we do see in the movement in the labor market at the moment. Just to follow up on longevity of this period, do you see it as short-term transitory and expect to come back to net recruitment to positive in the fourth quarter or do you have any targets for that? Yeah. I think we do have a peak right now as we do see that restrictions are lifted with regard to COVID-19. I do foresee that we have a positive development going forward when it comes to our growth, as we're indicating in the report and our outlook is that we do see a positive trend for our sales growth going forward. Just lastly from me, you continue to impress profitability-wise with strong margins maybe especially in the EDS business area this quarter. How do you view the balance between cost savings and now the reopening of the society that we have witnessed now in the quarter and will continue to see in Q4? I'm really impressed by the people within Semcon that have really handled the COVID-19 situation in a fantastic manner. That means that we've kept a very close eye on the cost base of the group and made sure that we've lowered the cost as we did see a downturn in the revenue trend during COVID-19. Now when we see a growth, we are also keeping a close eye to the cost level as well to make sure that we can boost the profitability going forward as well and keep high levels on the profitability. Of course, when society opens up and we want to meet more, we will have a bit of a higher cost level in some areas of course, but we don't foresee that we will come back to the cost levels that we've had for example, in 2019. This has been a positive situation in that regard to really make a transition that we've made both strategically when it comes to industry diversification, but also when it comes to our cost base to remain in good profitability and take the right investments going forward. We're not on the defense side now, but rather on the offensive side to make sure that we go ahead and grow the business and take the right investments. Perfect. Thank you for those answers. Thank you. The next question comes from Peter Thafvelin from Private Investor. Please go ahead. Your line is open. Yes. Thank you. First of all did you have any questions or sorry, did you take any costs related to that you are looking into a separation in Q3? Hi, Peter. No. We have taken very little cost related to the separation project at this time. We will then also make sure that we provide to the market as well how large those costs are so you can see the underlying operations clearly also going forward. Of course we will have some costs related to that project. Great. Thank you. Going over to EDS. Do I understand you right when you are indicating that there should be potential for better organic growth near-term versus what we have seen in Q3? Yes. We foresee that we do see a growth going forward. As was indicated by Stefan Knutsson just a minute ago, we have seen a bit of a peak in the employee turnover short- term, but we do see a large interest for Semcon in the market. I foresee that we will be able to recruit and grow organically going forward. To continue on that growth path, I hear what you are saying, but at the same time, when you look at the numbers, you still get the sense that you are extremely margin focused. You are delivering on that. Now when your margins are up at a very solid level, growth starts to become the more important growth driver for you. Are you simply spending any money or are you taking any really, let's say, much clearer initiatives versus what you have done historically when you have been so margin focused? Absolutely. We've been in the phase of strengthening the margins for a few years. We've been successful in doing that. We have now turned over to a growth focus and to try to remain on high levels with the margins. We are taking, in my opinion, the right investments now to continue to grow, and we are going to have that focus to grow both organically and through strategic acquisitions. Yes, we are very happy to have been able to make this journey in profitability, and the focus in the whole organization now is growth, growth, both organically and through acquisition. I have no doubt that we are putting the money where it really makes an impact in order for us to grow. The simple reason for that is that we want to make an even bigger impact in society, and in order to do that, we need to grow. That's why we are really active in the labor market to also catch this trend of an increased movement. I expect this to pay off going forward, and that's why we indicate that we do see indication of good, healthy growth numbers also in Q4. Okay, great. I have a final question. Looking at the Product Information, very healthy development in Sweden, but at the same time, both U.K., Germany, it's a bit of a standstill. What's missing? One thing is that we do see as a large difference when it comes to our operations in those different countries is related to, in my opinion, COVID-19, where we have seen larger restrictions in the U.K. and in Germany. This has had an impact on our business when it comes to generating new business going forward. Now as restrictions are lifted, I expect also the growth to come in those countries as well. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just a reminder that if you would like to ask any questions via the phone line, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. We have no further questions from the phone lines, I will pass back to the speakers. Okay. Thank you so much. We have one question coming in by email, and you have already elaborated a bit on that, Markus. But can you please comment on the decline in number of employees in Engineering & Digital Services in the quarter and the prospects for net recruitment going forward? Is there anything that you would like to add to this? We discussed that in a previous question. Yeah, I think I have elaborated on that, but I could also add that we are focusing quite a bit on being an even more attractive employer, and we're putting a lot of things in place there to do that. I know that we have very high numbers with regard to the eNPS in the group, looking at the satisfaction of employees that are already in Semcon. We need to even be clear in that message to the market that we want more colleagues, more people to join our company, and also send out the clear message that this is a really good place to be. If you want to have an impact on society, Semcon is a really good employer to join. Great. Thank you very much. By that, I think we say thank you for participating. Operator, please go ahead and conclude the call.
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