AQ Group AB (publ), interim report January - June, 2023
Second quarter, April-June 2023 in brief
- Strong growth with good profitability
- Net sales increased by 36% to SEK 2,345 million (1,721)
- Operating profit (EBIT) increased by 90% to SEK 203 million (107)
- Profit before tax (EBT) increased by 80% to SEK 195 million (108)
- Profit margin before tax (EBT %) was 8.3% (6.3)
- Profit after tax increased by 98% to SEK 172 million (87)
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 177 million (22)
- Earnings per share before dilution amounted to SEK 9.30 (4.71)
Six months, January-June 2023 in brief
- Net sales increased by 37% to SEK 4,598 million (3,367)
- Operating profit (EBIT) increased by 81% to SEK 398 million (220)
- Profit before tax (EBT) increased by 69% to SEK 380 million (225)
- Profit margin before tax (EBT %) was 8.3% (6.7)
- Profit after tax increased by 84% to SEK 330 million (180)
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 403 million (65)
- Earnings per share before dilution amounted to SEK 17.91 (9.75)
- Equity ratio was 58% (55)
A word from the CEO
High rate of change in all its simplicity
The first half of the year is going as planned. We have strong organic growth and improved profitability compared to 2022. Our net sales increase by 36% compared to the second quarter of previous year. We are increasing above all in electrification, defense industry, railways and commercial vehicles. But demand remains strong in all markets to which we are exposed. During the quarter, we have won several new customer orders for both existing and new customers in railways in Europe, India and USA as well as new projects and customer orders in commercial electric vehicles. At the same time, our customer Nova Bus has announced the closure of its factory in USA in a little less than two years. This means a potential reduced turnover for us in USA by SEK 100 million. However, the demand for wiring systems is high so we believe that we can replace this lost volume with other new customers.
Our delivery precision to customer was 90% in the quarter, which is not good. We have several factories with ongoing improvement projects to increase capacity and productivity.
Implemented changes during the quarter
Our rate of change is high thanks to our decentralized leadership model. During the second quarter, we have taken the decision to shut down our manufacturing unit in Falköping and have also moved the customer projects that were manufactured there to other AQ factories. Our new factories in Bulgaria and Lithuania are now fully completed and delivering as we intended. Our project to reduce working capital starts to take effect and our inventory is decreasing slightly despite a strong increase in turnover. The expansion of our wiring systems factory in Lodz, Poland is going according to plan and will be completed in the third quarter of this year. During the quarter, we have installed new energy-efficient punching machines in Finland, Estonia, Bulgaria, and put into use welding robot cells for large products in Estonia and Sweden. We have also decided on investments in four new injection molding machines to produce components for the automotive industry in Anderstorp, Sweden. These measures aim to increase our competitiveness, improving our delivery precision and our inventory turnover rate.
We are doing everything we can to work smarter, automate, increase the number of employees and acquire additional production capacity. It's great to see that our fantastic customers are so strong in their markets. We see many opportunities to continue growing organically and through acquisitions.
Cash flow and balance sheet
During the quarter, we continued our work on increasing our inventory turnover rate. Several of our companies are showing improvements, which results in a better cash flow from operating activities, which was SEK 177 million during the quarter. We continue to have a low net debt, which enables continued investments in expanded production capacity.
The power of AQ
AQ's employees are doing a fantastic job of delivering components and systems to demanding industrial customers. Our customers deliver world-leading products that are critical for our transition towards a more sustainable society. We are proud that we can contribute with our excellence in how to manufacture these components and systems in the most resource-efficient way possible. It is our fantastic employees who help our world-leading customers to succeed and that we through entrepreneurship, toil and forward thinking manage to create more value with each passing year. It makes me full of confidence that we will continue to grow, make a profit and have fun!
James Ahrgren
CEO
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This disclosure contains information that AQ Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014) and the Swedish Securities Markets Act (2007:528). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 14-07-2023 08:00 CEST.
For further information, please contact:
CEO and IR, James Ahrgren, telephone +46 76 052 58 88 or
CFO, Christina Hegg, telephone +46 70-318 92 48
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AQ in brief
AQ is a global manufacturer of components and systems to demanding industrial customers and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm’s main market.
The Group consists mainly of operating companies each of which develop their special skills and in cooperation with other companies, striving to provide cost effective solutions in close cooperation with the customer.
The Group headquarter is in Västerås, Sweden. AQ has, on December 31, 2022, in total 7,200 employees in Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, China, Estonia, Hungary, Mexico, Finland, India, Canada, USA, Germany, Italy and Brazil.
In 2022 AQ had net sales of SEK 7 billion, and the Group has since its start in 1994 shown profit every quarter.