Azelis Group NV (AZE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, and welcome to the Azelis Full Year 2023 Results Presentation. My name is Pam, Investor Relations, and I'm joined today by our new CEO, formerly our EMEA President, Anna Bertona, who will give an operational update and as well as a review of our industry and business fundamentals. We're also joined by our group CFO, Thijs Bakker, who will walk us through the 2023 numbers. As a reminder, today's presentation may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risk. We will make a recording of this webcast available on our website. We will take questions after the presentation. But until then, you will be on listen-only mode. With that, I will now hand you over to Anna.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. We understand this is the busiest day for results this earning season. So thanks for tuning in. I'm Anna, and I'm the group CEO since January 1. For most of you, this is the first time you are seeing me. So a little introduction about myself. I've been with Azelis for more than 10 years, of which 7 in my previous role as the Regional CEO of EMEA, and that's a larger region of Azelis. And that prepared me well for my new role. I'm pleased to be here and look forward to meeting you in person in the coming months. I will be going through the highlights of our results, after which Thijs will take over to give you some more details. And you can also find a lot of interesting facts about Azelis in our first integrated report that we just published. Now let's dive into the presentation. There are 3 points that are important to mention. First, I'm happy to report a strong performance in a challenging year. Second, yes, markets have been tight last year, but we believe the challenging markets are not changing the fundamentals of our industry. And based on more than 10 years of experience at Azelis, I can say the distribution market is very attractive and Azelis is well positioned to capture the opportunities. And last, we outperformed our midterm guidance, which proves that our direction [indiscernible] right now. Now let's start with the key updates from 2023 on the next slide. In '23, we achieved a revenue of EUR 4.2 billion and an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 466 million. In constant currency, they represent a year-on-year increase of 5.3% and 6.6%, respectively. The growth that we delivered during the year is a testament to our diversified business, allowing us to offset the ongoing challenges we face in some of our markets, which have pushed our organic revenue growth down by 5.9%. Our industry remains under pressure, but it's also worth noting that in the previous year, we delivered an organic growth over 20%. The resilience of our business is reflected in our conversion margin remaining stable at 47.4%, and that's the record level of 2022. Thijs will discuss our financial performance in detail, but I want to point out the excellent cash generation in '23. We achieved 127% cash conversion ratio, and that speaks to the asset-light, cash-generative nature of our business. We also continued our M&A strategy to expand our footprint, and we acquired 7 companies across 3 regions. These companies had a combined annual revenue of EUR 400 million in the prior year. Here are some more details about our different growth drivers. On the organic side, the impact of the pressures in the industry vary across our regions and segments. And it's exactly this diversified footprint and the general defensiveness of our business model that allows us to mitigate the impact of the current volatility. Demand is actually generally holding up better in Life Sciences, and we benefited from stable trends in Food & Nutrition, which is our largest segment in Life Sciences. Our Pharma business also delivered a strong performance across geographies. On F&F, we saw a stabilization and Southeast Asia and Middle East also performed well. The performance in Life Sciences cushioned the impact of the weak results in industrial chemicals and especially in CASE. Buckets of positive trends, such as those we see in Lubricants & Metal Working Fluids helped to mitigate the demand pressure in the Industrial Chemicals segments. Now in terms of industry consolidation, we completed 7 acquisitions. In EMEA, we had Smoky Light and Sirius that were done in the Benelux. Lidorr gives us a stronger foothold in the very attractive agricultural and environmental service markets. And BLH was an acquisition in France and a very strong complement to our global F&F platform. In the Americas, we did 2 acquisitions. Vogler was an important expansion in Latin America, where we are building our footprint and Gillco gives us entry to the U.S. Food & Nutrition market, filling a large gap that we had in that segment in the U.S. And then finally, in APAC, we acquired Chemiplas and that significantly strengthened our footprint in Australia and New Zealand. We still see many excellent opportunities, and we have a strong pipeline of potential acquisitions for this year as well. Now let's take a closer look at the developments in our industry. Our performance against the debt backdrop, our strategic focus and what it means for us in the long term. In '23, the market was challenging for all the industry players. We saw events like overstocking, weak China and high inflation. Azelis dealt with these challenges in an appropriate way, doubling down on our commercial efforts and managing our cost. We had several programs in delays to be close to our customers and capture the business when it would rebound. This led to a strong performance with a modest top line growth, a resilient high margin and a very strong cash generation. Having been part of shaping the strategy of Azelis, I can say the actions we took in '23 are also supportive of our long-term strategy. They reflect our agility and commitment to this strategy. And following this strategy, we're constantly investing in expanding our footprint through M&A where we have gaps, as I just explained before. And we also proceeded to make progress on our 3 growth drivers; innovation, digital and sustainability. On innovation, we continue to focus on technical and innovation capabilities, which both benefit our customers and principles. And our efforts were once again recognized with 3 industry awards in '23. In digital, we want to remain the leader we are today. Our portals and e-Labs support our services and business development, increasing customer stickiness, wallet and market share. And last but not least, we remained committed to sustainability. As mentioned, we have just published our first integrated report. And there you can also see more about our progress on sustainability. And all our efforts resulted in the top ranking in the industry on ESG amongst our peers by Sustainalytics. 2023 might have been a difficult market, but this is temporary. Structurally, nothing has changed. The fundamental drivers of the industry remain very much in place. Sustainability and tightening regulation will push the need for innovation and principles are constantly looking for growth into areas that they can't address themselves. So we are in an attractive market, and Azelis is well positioned to be benefit from it. Now the strength of our business is very well reflected in the results that we have delivered in the past 3 years. In the last 3 years, we achieved 23% average revenue growth, of which 10% was organic, 35% annual EBITDA growth. We delivered an annual average EBITDA margin expansion of 90 bps. And on average, we have converted 97% of our EBITDA to free cash flows. And these achievements include the industry downturn in '23. That means we have outperformed the midterm guidance that we set at the time of the IPO. We then committed to an 8% to 10% revenue growth, half organic, half through M&A and a 10 to 15 bps EBITDA margin expense. We are building a strong company in an attractive industry. The results that we delivered in what many say is the most challenging period in recent history speaks to the resilience of the business. The fundamentals of the industry remain positive and therefore, as a bigger and stronger company, we have every opportunity to accomplish more and create more value going forward. Now let me hand over to Thijs to talk more about our financial performance over the year.

Okay. Thank you, Anna. Happy that you joined us on the call today, everybody. We have published this morning our integrated report with all kinds of interesting material and information points, both non-financial and financial comments. Anna has given you a high-level overview of the business development as well as a review of our business drivers. Now let me talk you through the financials of the group and walk you through that, and let's start with the growth breakdown of our headline results on the next slide. Overall, we are satisfied with the performance of the group following a record year in 2022. We executed well on the elements, which are all under our control, mainly margin management, benefits of controlling our costs and our working capital improvement programs. Just as a reminder, back in 2022, we reported revenue growth of 45%, gross profit growth of 48% and EBITDA growth of 71%. These are, of course, tough comps to beat and obviously, 2023 is a different year where a normalization towards more historical trends took place. But overall, we're quite okay where we landed. Now let me zoom in on the table here, where we have broken down our reported growth in revenue, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA into organic growth, M&A growth contribution and FX impact. Let me give you some voice over on the revenue developments specifically. Following a record year in 2022, where organic revenue increased 20%, for the full year of 2023, the organic revenue decreased 5.9%, as you can see to the right of the slide. The rate of decline slowed to 6.6% in the final quarter from minus 7.5% in Q3 and minus 8.1% in Q2. The organic revenue decline during the year was driven largely by lower revenue in the Americas, where the group has a higher mix exposure towards industrial chemicals, predominantly the CASE industry, which saw lower demand but also slower-than-anticipated recovery in the F&F segment and also pressure from general macroeconomic weakness in South America. The organic revenue decline of 2.7% in EMEA was largely driven by slower demand in industrial chemicals in Europe, mitigated by excellent growth in Middle East and Africa. Please note that in the fourth quarter, our performance in EMEA includes also a negative impact of over EUR 8 million from portfolio optimization programs, which we mentioned earlier in Q3. If you put this aside and back out this effect, the organic revenue decline will be around 2%. In Asia-Pacific, organic revenue was stable as growth in Southeast Asia offset the continued softness in China. The 11.2% revenue growth contribution from the first-time inclusion of acquisitions offset the weaker organic revenue development as well as the 4.2% net negative impact from FX translation. Our strong performance, together with the execution of our cost initiatives means that we are able to mitigate the impact on our adjusted EBITDA and report a modest growth of 2%. This demonstrates the resilience of our business and also our ability to leverage scale and cost initiatives across all environments we operate in, while continuing to invest for the future, where Anna alluded to. Now let's zoom in on our regional performance on the next page. Let's start with EMEA here on the left, which makes up 43% of the group's revenue. Revenue was stable at EUR 1.8 million. On a reported basis, this is 1% decline. On a constant currency, this represents a 3.9% year-on-year growth. On an organic basis, revenue was 2.7% lower as softer industrial chemicals demand outweighed the good performance in Pharma and growth in the Middle East and Africa. As mentioned in the previous slides, EMEA's result include a negative impact from our portfolio optimization program, which was for EMEA, a net effect of [ EUR 3 million ], which roughly EUR 8 million was in Q4. A bit more on that in a second. EMEA's gross profit increased by 8.1%, out of which 4.5% was organic due mainly to the shift towards Life Sciences and execution of commercial excellence programs. The region executed very well in operational efficiencies and cost control actions, which commenced in April and May, which led to 101 basis points expansion in conversion margin from 49.8% to 50.8%. So some context here, this achievement is on top of a 700 basis points conversion margin expansion in EMEA in the prior year. So this is an excellent performance. A bit more color on the Q4 development as the combined impact of our portfolio optimization program, to be clear, this is related to gas related and product lines and hyperinflation accounting in Turkey impacted Q4. In the fourth quarter alone, these 2 effects had a negative 230 basis points impact in the region conversion market. If we take out the these, if we back out these 2 elements, EMEA's conversion margin in Q4 would have been 44.3% or 35 basis points expansion versus the prior year on a like-for-like basis, explaining the drop in Q4 specifically. Now let's turn to Americas, which makes up 35% of the group revenue. Revenue decreased by 6.2% to EUR 1.5 billion, with organic revenue declining by 12.4%. Although we see trends gradually improving, the fourth quarter showed modest sequential improvement, although demand, especially in Industrial Chemicals remains softer compared to the previous year. Throughout 2023, our business in the Americas was impacted by its higher mix of industrial chemicals as well as slower-than-anticipated F&F performance and macro weakness in South America, in particular, Mexico and Colombia. The adjusted EBITDA margin for the year came in at 12.7%, a decrease of 98 bps, driving conversion margin down 139 basis points to 53.6%. Now let's move on to Asia Pacific, which makes up 22% of the group's revenue versus 18% in 2022 as it remains one of the key areas for growing our food rate. Overall, it was a solid year, where a lot of activities took place to integrate acquisitions from 2022. Revenue increased by almost 21% to EUR 904 million, with organic revenue moving up as sustained growth in Southeast Asia offset the continued weakness in China, particularly driven by the construction end markets. The growth during the year was entirely from M&A revenue, though, and the growth from M&A diluted by FX headwinds, 5.9%. Faster growth in adjusted EBITDA resulted in a 90 bps adjusted EBITA margin uplift translating into a 490 basis point improvement in conversion margin to 45.7%. Again, reiterating the point that we see no reason why Asia will be able to catch up to similar margin levels as EMEA and Americas for the time. Now let's wrap this all up into our full P&L by business segment on the next slide. Group revenue for the year was around EUR 4.2 billion, representing a year-on-year growth or at constant a year-on-year growth of 1% or at constant FX rate, 5.3%. This growth reflects the performance of our resilient Life Science business, which grew 3.7% or at a constant of 7.7%, offsetting the weaker trends in our Industrial Chemicals business, which contracted by 2.9% year-on-year. At constant currency, Industrial Chemicals actually grew by 1.6%. In the fourth quarter of the year, revenue ended at EUR 972 million, representing a 2.9% year-on-year decrease, with organic revenue declining by 6.6% as demand was soft compared to Q4 2022. Notably, in EMEA and Asia Pacific where organic growth was still in double-digit levels, please note that. This performance is not only in the context of a more challenging environment, but also against a very tough comparable. Gross profit for the year came in at EUR 984 million, representing a year-on-year growth of 2.4% or at constant FX rate, 6.5%. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue was 23.7%, representing a 32 basis points margin expansion, but this is mainly supported by a favorable mix shift towards Life Sciences, which has a higher gross profit margin, driven by more formulation requirements for the customer. In 2022, we expanded gross profit margin by 39 bps. So we're quite happy to hold ground despite less favorable market conditions and dilution from new acquisitions, which typically come at lower gross profit percentage levels. To illustrate this, gross profit margin for the organic business improved from 23.4% in '22 to 23.9% in 2023, implying a step-up of 51 basis points, again, all predominantly mix-driven. For 2023, conversion margins held up well, remaining broadly stable at 47.4%, supported by these positive mix effects, excellent cost management, which, by the way, also included a shift from CapEx to OpEx as our IT investments in digital came more to an execution point. This excellent performance and our sustained margin reflects our ability to manage all the elements in our business that are under our control and a testament to the resilience of our asset-light business model. Net profit for the year ended up at EUR 189.3 million, which for which the drivers are on the next slide. Net profit after tax, as I said, came in at EUR 189.3 million, a decrease of 13.5% on a reported basis or 10.9% in constant FX. This is driven predominantly by a significant increase in interest expense, which was roughly 2.7 times the amount of the previous year. This is due to higher gross debt levels and the full impact of higher interest rates. In 2023, our weighted average interest rate rose from 2.7% in 2022 to 5.6% despite the base rate on a large part of our debt at 3%. Secondly, the group incurred a negative non-cash impact from hyperinflation accounting in Turkey. Both balance sheet items and P&L are adjusted for inflation as well as some negative impacts from the fair value adjustment on our interest rate and FX hedging instruments. Details can be found about that in our year-end. Now let's look at the cash flow performance of the group during the year, on the next slide, page 15. For the year, Azelis delivered an excellent free cash flow of EUR 601.2 million, an increase of 37% compared to 2022. We achieved a record cash conversion ratio of 127% as we focus on cash preservation and cash generation, while we face some uncertainty in the industry, as Anna already alluded. As you can see in the bridge, working capital was obviously one of the key levers for cash generation. So let's take a look at our working capital performance in the next slide. Net working capital to revenue normalized for acquisitions ended at 13.4% at the end of 2023 versus 15.4% at the end of June and 13.8% at the end of 2022. On an organic basis, working capital was reduced to 12.5% by improvement mainly around operational efficiency of our working capital programs via our state-of-the-art ERP and planning systems. The overall reduction in working capital intensity was wider, obviously, in the M&A scope is where the main improvement is coming from, as communicated earlier and down from 34% in the prior year to 23% in 2023. This demonstrates the working capital improvements we have delivered and demonstrated our integration capability as the improvement is mainly driven in the area of the [indiscernible] stayed mainly flat, improved slightly to the last year is still on the higher end compared to historical trends, which you can see on this chart. And we took on board more inventory towards the end of the fourth quarter to support 2024 ramp-up, but it also reflects more work required here to unlock the opportunity of course. In summary, this is an excellent performance during uncertain top line development as our cash flow also helps us to manage our net debt levels, which we show on the next slide. The change in net debt during 2023 reflects strong operating cash flow of EUR 618 million. The EUR 200 million capital increase completed in May and an M&A spent approximately EUR 585 million, which includes deferred payments to acquisitions from prior years to approximately EUR 54 million. We ended the year with a leverage of 2.5 times at the lower end of the stated leverage policy between 2.5 times and 3 times. At the end of 2023, we have a strong liquidity position of EUR 835 million of [ opening ] cash and unused credit facilities. Our balance sheet, both in terms of leverage and liquidity provides an excellent runway to continue to execute our strategy. So in summary, we continue to make good progress on our strategic and financial objectives in 2023 with all the elements that are under our control. This is obviously a more difficult operating environment than we have seen in recent years, but we believe Azelis is stronger than ever and is ready to perform for our principles, our customers and shareholders through the rest of 2024 and beyond. Now let me give it back to Anna here for some closing remarks and outlook before we go into Q&A.

Thank you, Thijs. The market has been difficult, and there's currently too much uncertainty to provide a detailed short-term outlook. Based on my current insight and conversations I had with customers, principles and our own organization, it seems we are through the toughest bars. We have some indications that we are at the end of destocking and supply chains have mostly normalized and with it eventually, volumes and pricing should follow. Now the weaknesses we are seeing in some of our markets like China and Latin America, that's driven by macroeconomic cycle. What we can say at this point is that we expect to return to organic growth in '24 and that we will continue to manage our costs while demand outlook remains uncertain. We have proven in the past our ability to execute efficiency programs, and we will continue to do so in order to show a profit growth. I believe the current advanced market circumstances are temporary, and the market in which we bring remains an attractive one. In the medium and long term, there's still a lot of value to luck, both in our markets, but also internally. We have been growing rapidly in the last few years, developing new competencies and new opportunities in which we can further build. And having been part of building the Azelis story, I can confirm we have the right strategy in place with some finding to be done. I will be working with my team on sharpening this plan, and I look forward to presenting an update of Azelis, at our next investor event in September. Now we are happy to take questions regarding results. So operator, if you can open the line for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] We will take our first question from Laurent Favre of BNP.

Anna, you've talked about focusing on controllable as an ability to show, I guess, profit growth. I was wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on this? And in particular, as you talk about a return to organic growth in 2024. I mean does it mean that you think that for the overall year, it may be a struggle to show organic growth? And that's my first question. And then the second one on the demand side. You started to hear producers talk about signs of restocking in particular with impact from the Red Sea situation. I was wondering if this is something that you can also confirm.

So I think that we still have a lot of pockets to continue to improve our profits. There's, for example, the acceleration of the use of digital, where we are already quite ahead, but there is plenty of opportunity by further using AI from also monetizing on the investments that we already did, where we think we can continue the improvements. But it's also true that, yes, we are a global company. I've been running EMEA. And there, we actually did quite some improvement that I think we can also use in the other regions. And so we can use these best practices to increase the performance in these regions as well. I've been traveling quite a lot around the other regions as well in the last months. And there are also some quite some good practices that can be leveraged across the block. So I'm very optimistic that we can continue our optimization programs. Now on the organic growth, yes, I really think it's a very volatile market. It's difficult to say when the organic growth will come back. But I am convinced that within 2024, we will see it back. At 2023, had some difficult market circumstances that will come to an end. We had, for example, the F&F business that was depressed. We saw it already picking up in Q4, and we see that continuing. So that will definitely give an upside. The [ A&S ] segment was also depressed in last year. We believe that will pick up again. And yes, back to the last point, that's maybe a good bridge to the third question you had on demand and destocking, we see destocking coming to an end. We see though that customers are still very, I would say, a bit prudent. So they order in last minute in smaller quantities. On the Red Sea, it has been pushed up the, I would say, the rates, the transportation rates. For us, today, we didn't really have a big impact on it, and we don't think that it's in our results already visible.

It is a delay, you mean?

It is a delay, yes.

Sorry, I didn't mean the risk in terms of transportation costs for you. I was more thinking in terms of your customers, perhaps, I guess, feeling a little bit more than urgency or need to order now rather than later, if the situation gets worse and therefore, a bit of restocking, but it sounds like you're not seeing that as well so far in Q1.

No, that's not something that we have seen in talking to customers. It doesn't seem that, that is driving the rebound of volumes.

We have obviously, especially in Middle East, we have some containers log-on that basically are delayed at port. So there's a delay in the supply chain, but it is not that there is a panic reaction in the supply chain like maybe we had in the COVID period.

We will take our next question from Stijn Demeester of ING.

Two, if I may. First one, how should we think of gross margins and conversion margin 2024, assuming there is a recovery in the Industrial Chemicals segment and Life Sciences becomes less dominant in the mix. On a related note, do you see more potential to rein in costs after the strong year of cost control in '23? And what is your view on wage inflation, et cetera, in this time? Second question is on M&A. It seems your pace of M&A has somewhat decelerated in the second half. Is there a particular reason for this, such as reluctance from sellers or unattractive multiples or is it mostly due to the timing of acquisitions? And how should we think of 24% in terms of M&A?

I'll take the M&A question, and maybe Thijs you can go for more deep into the conversion margins. So on M&A, yes, the pace is actually not decreasing. We had a couple of them that we were expecting to close already in '23. But yes, these are smaller companies, sometimes things take a little bit longer than expected. And we still have a very good pipeline for '24 as well. So I'm not concerned there. What we've seen is that the owners, they had, of course, a very good 2022 and not a great 2023. So their expectations are yes, based on the 2022 results. We don't want to overpay. We are patient. So sometimes we are already in discussion. But again, we are patient to make sure that we pay the right amount for the businesses that we acquire. So I don't see a structural trend in deceleration, a full pipeline over the 3 regions. Thijs, maybe you can take the second question.

Yes. So Stijn, on the Industrial Chemicals and the mix effect, yes, that will have some effect on us. But as Anna already explained as well, we also had certain components in 2023, which basically were having a lower-than-anticipated recovery like [indiscernible] we call that and also the F&F side. These are at a much higher margin even than the personnel than basically the Life Science area. So we do think that, that is an offsetting element into that. Also within the Industrial Chemicals segment, we have quite some areas where the margins are quite low, especially in Asia. We see that recovery and where basically this will also have an uplift for us. If we talk about also, you need to take into account saying that our conversion margin increased in 2022 with 635 basis points. Let me also take into account if we take our performance overall, we kept basically the conversion margin stable. Q4 was a little bit lower due to seasonality, and there was this hyperinflation effect, mainly in EMEA, take this out also on EMEA still actually a very good performance. And in North America, it's obviously a bit more challenging program. On the cost control and cost containment programs, please note, they started at different timings. In America, we started early. And basically, because Q4 2022, we saw already a revenue decline from an organic point of view. And EMEA actually had a very strong performance in Q1. We also have to take that into account when we're talking about accounts. So we saw basically there turning the market in April, May. So we took action since then. And Asia was performing actually really well, and we've basically started with the programs in June, July. We also mentioned that. So the full run rate of those programs are being executed as we speak. And then obviously, we bring some programs, especially in the operational excellence in the M&A side, we brought that forward. So I'm quite confident that also in 2024 that will give us enough question to basically show conversion margin at reasonable levels, okay. It helps?

Yes. Understood. If I may squeeze in one more. Should we account for an additional impact of portfolio optimization initiatives in 2024?

Next question, operator.

Our next question comes from the line of Chetan Udeshi of JPMorgan.

Things are clearly uncertain from what you are saying, but typically in your business, you and also as a broader sort of chemical industry seasonality is that Q1 usually tends to see a decent pickup versus Q4, both in terms of activity and also earnings. Is that something you are able to confirm that we should see a decent pickup in earnings in Q1 versus Q4, even if it's lower than last year just because of comps? And secondly, can you talk about what sort of pricing dynamics you see in your business right now? And when I say pricing, I mean more for you in terms of more on a gross profit per basis rather than just passing on some of the declines that it might be seen from your suppliers. So if you can just update us on how do you see the pricing dynamic as far as your gross profit management growth?

I'll maybe take the pricing question, Thijs, the seasonality. Yes, on pricing, actually pricing to our customers, it's something that's just ingrained in our commercial approach. It's part of our normal way of working. We adjust and adapt to the circumstances. And we have a very large portfolio, and it's really dependent on the product range, the customer group, what we do. And obviously, it's now finding the right balance between capturing the volume and also protecting our margins. But that's a normal way of working, I would say. I don't see anything specific there to mention.

Yes. Normally, there is seasonality in our business. Where you normally see Q4 is basically the lowest quarter of our year, so the effect on the group is roughly about EUR 70 million on top line. Yes. This year was not different, this is a very stable business with that respect because basically, the peak quarter is Q3. So normally, Q1 always picks up versus Q4. And there's one element which you also have to take into account is, of course, the Chinese New Year. And that's quite different in phasing. So you need to look at January and February together a bit. But last year, it was in January. So there was basically order pickup in December, which, by the way, now we see that a bit more in January. I hope that answers your question.

I think that helps. But you still think Q1 should be better than Q4. Just so at least we are seeing that seasonality in your business in Q1?

Yes, the seasonality didn't change. No.

We'll take our next question from David Kerstens of Jefferies.

I've got 2, please. First of all, Anna, nice to meet you. I understand you will give a strategy update later this year. Does it mean that there will be new medium-term objective set and that the previous ones that you said at the time of the IPO are now currently no longer valid since you have already achieved those targets. And then secondly, maybe on the acquisitions, you made 7 acquisitions last year. I think total spend of EUR 585 million in the cash flow statement. That seems a relatively higher number compared to your competitor in the Netherlands. I think it's roughly 1.5 times sales. It seems up a little bit from 1 times last year. And clearly, you made some larger strategic acquisitions this year, Vogler and Gillco. What is your view on that development going forward? Will you start focusing more on bolt-on M&A or will you have the same mix of bolt-on for strategic M&A leading to the relatively higher multiple than compared to IMCD, for example.

The strategy update, yes, as I was already alluding, I think we have a good strategy in place, but it's also the time a new CEO coming in to relook at it. We grew enormously since the last strategy. So it's also time to look again. Our ambition is to be a growth company. And so we will continue to deliver growth. We see also a lot of opportunities and the market remains a very attractive one. It's the GDP+. There's plenty of opportunity both internally and externally to capture more value. So it's something that we will continue to have ambitions to grow the business further and how much and how big these ambitions are. That's exactly what we are working on in the next months and that we will present in September. Part of that strategy is M&A. M&A is a big value driver, and we will continue also in our strategy with that and it will continue also to be both platform acquisitions and bolt-on acquisitions. They are both important for us. So we have still quite some platforms to fill, but also a lot of opportunities from little bolt-on acquisitions that are just, yes, smaller but very valuable for that country and that segment and enhancing our natural value chain in that segment. So it's a continuation. There's no change there foreseen in the strategy. And I also don't see any change in the market dynamics that will make us change our route there.

And maybe a bit of comment on metrics that you've made out here. Yes, M&A is a people's business, and there is a timing in it and there's a portfolio element in it. If there is a platform acquisition, we've been quite open about that, like where we see Vogler or Gillco, we have a limited presence in the U.S. and in Brazil, Vogler is basically the #1 platform in that region. Obviously, the price we pay is a little bit higher than we normally do versus a tuck-in, small one. In general, our M&A strategy is focused on these smaller tuck-in M&As. On the other hand, if you have a larger one like a platform acquisition, what Anna says, there is obviously also much more synergy, yes? So Vogler friends in Brazil, we're obviously going to complement the platform there. There are many in food. So we're going to put inference in pharma, personal care, all those kind of segments. We're going to add that in there. And overall, then you have a very synergistic case, especially on the commercial side, where we serve basically the needs that our principles, our customers basically expect from us. Not only 2023 was a bit of a -- yes, I would say a little bit different in shape when it came to the M&A because M&A was [Technical Difficulty] and it's also a little bit larger, yes. So Vogler, Gillco, but also Lidorr and Chemiplas, they were a little bit larger acquisitions that we basically did throughout the year compared to the normal tuck-ins. At the end of the year, there were also some M&As that we have seen 3 basically that were announced. And yes, there is a timing element in that. They could have well been in Q4. But this is people's business, and it is a very emotional journey that also a person on the other side the acquirer goes through and that's basically, you cannot time that completely.

Yes. Understood. So you would say that 2023 was a bit atypical and '24, you would see more tuck-ins?

Our strategy has always been focused more on the tuck-ins. But of course, if there's an opportunity like Vogler, which is quite unique, when that shows up, yes, obviously, we go for it.

[Operator Instructions] We'll take our next question from Eric Wilmer of Kempen.

First is, can you talk a bit about the pricing dynamics in the CASE segment in North America in Q4 and perhaps in the first months of this year? Is there a need to give away some pricing to obtain volumes? And then secondly, on Turkey, can you talk a little bit about your ability to continue to pass on inflation to your Turkish customers? And does the track record of Turkish Lira make you somewhat cautious regarding future M&A in the country?

So on pricing, as I said, we constantly adapt our project. It's part of our commercial approach to customers. Pricing in Q4 is, in CASE U.S., as you are specifically asking, it's actually not really changing. We see the volumes coming to a stabilization, but the pricing remains more or less the same. And I see for the first couple of months this year, also they are not really a change in that.

On the Turkey, very good question. Note, this hyperinflation is a very complicated accounting material where basically the P&L needs to be restated to consumer price index in Turkey. We need to translate it into our P&L based upon the spot rate, setup an average rate. So in a perfect world, you would expect this to -- the parity between the change in inflation and the change in FX, but that's not always the case. So this was one and quite some chemical companies and other companies have reported this. This was a bit of a nasty surprise towards the end of the year, especially in Q4 because in Q3, basically, it had an effect on Q2 to Q3, but it was a neutralizing effect. But in Q4, this one hit us with roughly an impact of more than EUR 2 million on the bottom line. So that also has, of course, an impact on the conversion margin there in EMEA in Q4. Now if I look at the underlying business and your question is coming from, hey, would that hold you back on inflation and what are you doing? Actually, Turkey, we are naturally hedged. So what we do there, we quote in euros, we quote in dollars. And basically on the day of payment, we switch it back basically. We received Turkish lira and we switch it back to U.S. and Euro. So actually, there is no transactional effect for us. In fact, Turkey is for us really a powerhouse organization with fantastic track record and one of our best teams in the comp. So yes, we actually want to do more M&A in that market because we see a lot of opportunities there, and we are a very established player in that market. So that is what you were after, Eric?

Yes. That was very helpful.

We'll take our next question from Thibault Leneeuw from KBC Securities.

I was wondering you were talking about Asia Pacific getting to the EBITDA margin through the group level margins. When do you think or what is the time frame you have in mind for Asia-Pacific to reach group levels?

This is our long-term ambition. It is about the drivers of this business. In Asia, we are relatively small, the smallest region between Europe and Americas. We are in building mode there. You can also see that on the amount of M&A, but also the infrastructural investments that you need to do. It takes a lot of upfront investment. You need to put an M&A team in place. You need to put a finance team in place, supply chain and operations. The system part is, of course, very important that we keep a finger on the pulse, especially in a emerging markets like Asia, you need to build organizations like India, China, where you have basically a stable and reputable teams towards your customers and your principles because, yes, you have a reputation to protect as well. And that takes time. So what you will see in Asia, it will go up every year a little bit because, obviously, you're growing and you have G&A dilution because those investments are all front-loaded. Yes. If we look at in the longer run, the growth opportunities in the market studies they showed as well that Asia is obviously an engine for growth for us. So the interim business model, we also have countries in Asia that are performing at fantastic EBITDA levels. And it all depends how many segments do we add basically into that country, how much G&A dilution we get and how our lateral value chains comprised in this country. So obviously, there are a lot of opportunities in this area. We're talking here and we're saying, and we see no reason why they cannot come to a group or the profit levels of the other regions. Yes, we take a strategic view. So that's basically 5 years, yes.

And maybe also good to mention is that we have shifted resources also from EMEA to Asia-Pacific. I think the most evident is Sertac Surur is leading our APAC business and was the Managing Director of Turkey before. And they are leveraging and building on the experience and the best practices that we had in EMEA and implementing that now in APAC. So yes, we are putting there also, I would say, the right resources and actions in place to get to our long-term objectives.

Okay. Clear. And coming back to the cost saving measure program that you earlier talked about. If I remember correctly, at the first half '23 results, you said that the cost measure programs had started. Now if we look at the conversion margin in the first half of the year, we saw a significant improvement, whereas in the second half, it was a little bit less. I think you also talked about the fact that the bonuses, et cetera, for employees could contribute to some better margins, while the inflation costs would offset. So I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more in detail about the improvements that you then expected in the first half of the year? And did they fully materialize in the second half of the year like you expected?

These programs are continuing. I gave you the timing already, but Americas started a little bit earlier and EMEA, basically mid-year. So we will see the effect of these programs at a coming to fruition in the coming year as well. We keep going on them. When you run a portfolio like I say, in so many countries and so many segments, it's very to pinpoint exactly. This is when what is going to happen and when. Q4, actually these programs were on track. There were some incidentals that like I mentioned, this hyperinflation that was not what I expected, but there were also smaller elements like Middle East, Africa had a very strong performance. So actually, we have to top-up our bonus accruals there as well towards the fourth quarter. But that didn't -- yes, that maybe masked a few that you might have in that area. And obviously, our product optimization program. We continue with this. We're in here for the long run. We're not running from quarter-to-quarter. So I think all the elements that we have in our control, M&A integration, executing on those cost control programs at various times in it. They are continuing. So we are on track when it comes to the execution of those, and that will continue in 2024, obviously, to offset the things that you just mentioned.

Okay, clear. And then a last question. With respect to future M&A, you talked about it before. Looking at the financing for future M&A, do you expect future one to be financed with free cash flow or do you think that it could still be depending on the opportunity and increase in debt levels?

No. In general, with the cash generation that we have, we have enough cash. We have EUR 835 million in unused credit facilities as well. So we have sufficient cash to basically generate or go into the M&A. There's no large-scale M&A in the pipeline, has already answered before. These are small tuck-ins, so they should be funded from our own cash flow. And please note, when we do M&A, they also come with an associated EBITDA, which then basically has an impact on our leverage as well. So no, that's not really a concern for us.

We'll take our next question from Stijn Demeester of ING.

2 follow-ups, as I believe you have missed my earlier question. First one is, should we account for an additional impact of portfolio optimization and initiatives in '24? And then the second one, in your integrated report, you mentioned pro forma EBITDA of EUR 476 million. If recent acquisitions were fully consolidated, can you confirm this number does not include the 3 acquisitions which closed after year-end? And if so, is that a material impact that we should [Technical Difficulty].

So Stijn, what was your question on the portfolio optimization. If we also will see these kind of things in 2024?

Yes. And if possible, probably should give us an idea on what is…

Okay. Now the last one is the easy one. Those 3 acquisitions are not included in the EUR 476 million. On portfolio optimization, obviously, when you run so many segments and you run across so many verticals and in so many countries, the level of combinations you can make are mind-boggling, yes? And obviously, the chemical industry and the sustainability drivers and the emphasis that we put on innovation around our labs, you guys have seen that yourselves. They are extremely a driver. Our portfolio is always in movement. So normally, if there's a product replacement or we basically -- our principles are coming up with a new formulation or a new product section opportunity for us because we can use our sustainability mechanism and the backbone of our labs. We can use them to basically get a foot in the door at customers and sell more products. It's actually a positive thing for us. That said, sometimes there are incidental items where we basically take out certain product lines. So this can be ESG driven. Like for instance, we have been quite vocal about vaping, for instance, in North America as part of the F&F segment. That's a segment we do not want to be in. That's an impact, and that is also included in the results in North America on an annualized basis of roughly EUR 12 million gross profit. Second one, the one that we mentioned here in the call is mainly related to gas-related end products. That's not a marketed, that's commoditized, that is not where we want to be in. It's a little bit of a difficult decision to make because you take basically a hit on your net sales and on your GP. But on the long run, it will serve the company, of course, better. So there is an element of continuing doing this as part of our normal portfolio. But these 2 items, they were a little bit exceptional.

Yes. It's also fair to say when we do acquisitions, they might have also some little parts of the portfolio that we are not interested in, but the acquisition by itself is very interesting. And over the years, we will also prune these kind of things and discontinue. So it's an ongoing activity.

We'll take our next question from Laurent Favre of BNP.

It's actually related to the question that was just asked. Can you perhaps give us a steer on the number in terms of GP or EBITDA that you know you won't have in '24 versus '23 because of that discontinuation of products. I think you talked about single medium for Q4 and should we assume that your single medium stands free for the rest of the year, Q1, Q2, Q3? And on the F&F side [indiscernible], was that impact already fully annualized in 2023.

I don't want to go into specific product lines. We can take that offline. The only message that I want to give is that these 2 elements, they were a bit more exceptional and larger by nature, Laurent. If you take a look at the total discontinued business there, this basically, we see still the effect up until March there, but it is, of course, it starts at a big pace, and then it slows down. Take for instance, the element in Europe, that was where the peak because gas related products and normally the demand is higher in the fourth quarter. That's where we saw basically an impact of around EUR 80 million. The vaping that already started much earlier, it has also been disclosed even at the IPO that we were doing that. And there, the effect versus the prior year is roughly EUR 8 million, but hold on, there is an GP effect of about EUR 4 million GP. So that effect will be fully gone in January.

For the U.S. side. And you think for the European side, it might be another EUR 12 million in the first quarter, net-net year-on-year.

Yes, something like that.

We'll take our final question from Luuk Van Beek of Degroof Petercam.

I have a question about your dividend because on the one hand, you have record cash flows in the very resilient model, yet you reduced your dividend quite significantly also slightly reducing the payout. Is that because you want to keep as much cash available for acquisitions or is it another reason why you didn't try to stabilize the dividend?

We have this policy, 25%, 35% of net profit. And obviously, the question you should ask, we are a growth compounder, but we also have to pay our dividend for certain shareholders. They have also requirements run there, but indeed, we want to keep enough firepower, obviously, for future M&A.

There appear to be no further questions on the conference line. We have come to an end of this conference. I will now hand over to Chief Executive Officer, Anna Bertona, for closing remarks.

Thank you. And thanks, everyone, once again, for your interest in Azelis. We ended 2023 with strong results in a difficult market, and I'm excited to continuing the growth journey of Azelis and capture the many improvement opportunities while building on our strong legacy. We look forward to seeing you, speaking to you in the coming weeks and months. And in the meantime, as always, if you have questions that have not been addressed in this call, don't hesitate to reach out to our Investor Relations teams. Wish you all a good day.