engcon AB (publ) (ENGCONB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and a warm welcome to engcon's presentation for the second quarter of 2025. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Krister Blomgren. I'm the CEO at engcon. And with me today is our CFO, Marcus Asplund. We are eager to share some highlights and key numbers from our Q2 report. And after that, we will go into the Q&A where you can shoot your questions. Let's start with the positive highlights. We have had a really strong second quarter. Both net sales and order intake were at Q2 record levels. In fact, to find similar figures, we have to go back to our standout year 2022. A big driver behind this growth has been the strong return of the Nordic region during the current digging season. We saw high activity and strong demand, especially because many contractors needed to replace aging excavators and dealers had relative low inventory levels coming into the season. It also was a solid tiltrotator volume growth in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, a high number of tiltrotator units were delivered to the market. It's a clear sign that we are changing the world of digging and doing it faster than ever. Of course, there were a few challenges, too. The Swedish krona has strengthened sharply, which has put pressure on our margins. And while pushing a large volume out to the market this quarter was part of our strategy, it did reduce our gross margin. We're also laying the foundation for long-term success within engcon. During the quarter, we kicked off an important initiative to develop our shared core values. These will guide how we lead and work together, and they will help us build a strong, unified and inclusive culture we need to reach our global ambitions. In the past, engcon have mostly been seen as a premium solution, the full package with all the latest tech. That helped us win over early adopters and build a strong brand. But if we want to grow faster and increase market penetration, especially outside the Nordics, we need to reach a broader audience. That's why we are now expanding our offer, creating an engcon for everyone, because let's be honest, you can't take somebody straight from a horse and a wagon to a Ferrari. But if you start with a Fiat, something simple and familiar, it's much easier to take that first step. And once they see the value, the full engcon system becomes the natural next move. [Audio Gap] Sorry, something happened there. I start all over then from this slide. Our vision is to change the world of digging. How can we do that? Now with an engcon for everyone, we can easier and faster reach our vision to change the world of digging. But to truly make that change happen, we need to start by making the customer feel familiar because real transformation doesn't begin with complexity, it begins with comfort. We have learned a lot from our success in markets like Netherlands and Germany. And one of the most important insight is this. It's hard to sell the full package right away when you have moved past the innovators and the early adopters. These groups are always looking for the latest and the greatest. But once you try to reach the broader market, the early majority, the approach needs to shift. To climb that product adoption curve faster, we need to start with something the customer already knows and trusts like a coupler that fits the local standards. That familiarity builds confidence. It lowers the barrier and it helps them take the first step. As I said earlier, because you can't take somebody straight from a horse and a wagon to a Ferrari. But if we offer them a Fiat first, something simple, beginner friendly and useful, and they will start driving. Once they begin to see the benefits, then we can introduce the full power of the engcon ecosystem. That's exactly how we did it in the Nordics back in the early days, and it worked. As you can see in the picture, we have designed an ecosystem that appeals to more than just innovators and early adopters. We now offer a more basic configuration with a mechanical coupler, a great way for customers to start learning how to tilt and rotate. It's simple, it's affordable, and it competes well with tilting couplers and other entry-level solutions. Then we have a mid-tier setup, a tiltrotator with a local coupler standard, where customers can get their first experience with tilt and rotate functionality. And finally, we offer the full engcon system with all the performance, flexibility and automation benefits we are known for. It's about guiding the customer on a journey, one step at a time, and we have seen that journey work lately in the Netherlands and earlier in the Nordics. What really transformed the excavator industry is volume, getting more tiltrotators into the hands of more users. That's what drives change in behavior, methods and expectations. And this strategy helps us get there faster. We're already seeing strong signs of this in the Netherlands, where the penetration is growing rapidly, especially in the smaller excavator segment. In the DACH region, we're following a partnership model where we sell only the tiltrotator and our partners handle the rest of the solution. That means revenue doesn't grow as quickly as unit volume, but that's by design because penetration is the key and it's growing faster than revenue. And that's exactly how we change the world of digging with units. We are seeing a strong growth in net sales, up 23% organically, which is great, but our growth in units is even greater, as I said on the earlier slide. A big part of this comes from high delivery volumes tied to orders placed back in Q4 and Q1. This fits the seasonal pattern we have seen in the past in the Nordics. We have also had a particularly strong growth in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, where demand remains high. The big increase in Germany really shows that Bauma was a sign of that tiltrotators are taking off in Germany. And the Netherlands have taken the step above the tipping point with a lot of smaller tiltrotators this year. That momentum clearly reflects the strength and the trust we are building in the market. Now the stronger Swedish krona has held back our reported growth a bit. But even with that, the organic numbers show we are on the right path. Order intake continues to grow compared to the same period last year, and we are pleased with the underlying trend. That said, we had hoped to be even further ahead by now. The uncertainty around tariffs and pricing in the U.S. has created some hesitation in the market and slowed things down a bit this quarter. Still, the overall trend is positive, and we remain confident in demand going forward as the situation stabilizes. Gross margin came in at 41% for the quarter, and there are a few things driving that. Some of the margin pressure comes from the strategic decision we have made about large orders from rental fleets in the Nordics, but the strong Swedish krona was the biggest single factor this time. We have also moved a high number of units into the market, both through the Nordic recovery and through the strong momentum in Central Europe. And yes, this volume push has affected margins in the short term, but this is fully in line with our long-term strategy because it's the tiltrotator volumes that will drive real transformation in the industry. Marcus will also guide more about the gross margin and the reasons behind the drop compared to last year. EBIT margin came in at 18% for the quarter. Even though we had a strong sales and benefit from a scalable business model, the currency headwinds made it tough to hit our 20% financial target this time. And return on capital employed is moving in the right direction and ended up above our 40% target this quarter. And as I said, Marcus will guide more regarding our financial numbers later on. We are taking a look at the order intake and net sales development this quarter, and we are trying to putting Q2 into a perspective also. As mentioned earlier, this has been a strong quarter. Both net sales and order intake reached high levels. In fact, the strongest Q2 figures we have seen since our record year in 2022, even though we had some pressure from the currency movements. One trend we have tracked for some time is a strong order intake in Q4 and Q1, followed by a spike in deliveries during Q2 as the Nordic digging season gets underway. Seeing this pattern return is a clear sign of our renewed strength in the Nordic region. In Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands, volumes have increased significantly. Much of that growth is in entry-level products or the bad tiltrotator frames we sell to our partners. We also see an increase to smaller excavators. That means the impact on net sales is more modest for now, but the volume growth itself is a strong signal of market traction and future potential. Outside Europe, the situation has been more turbulent. Around Liberation Day, the U.S. announced strict new tariffs. While the direct impact was pronounced in the American market, it also created ripples of uncertainty in other regions. For a few weeks, conversations around interest rates, inflation and economic outlook made customers more cautious. Unfortunately, we couldn't fully recover the drop in order intake that was 3 weeks after Liberation Day. But the level was back to a good order intake level in the end of the quarter. So still the broader picture remains clear. Q2 delivered strong results with positive trends in both volume and market activity, even if certain headwinds held us back from realizing the full potential. Taking a closer look at the Nordic region, Q2 marked a clear comeback for the Nordics, which stood out as the single largest contributor to our year-over-year growth. It's encouraging to see the region returning to strength. This upswing reflects a combination of strategic wins, market recovery and macroeconomic improvements. Toward the end of last year, we secured several larger deals, particularly with rental companies. And many of those deliveries were fulfilled in Q2. These volumes had a clear impact on our top line. At the same time, we are seeing the effects of the catch-up investments after a few slower years. Many contractors are now replacing older fleets and that replacement cycle is finally gaining traction. Retailers have also normalized their inventory levels, which has helped drive more consistent order flow. And on a broader level, there are signs that interest rates might have peaked or even started to ease, which is a positive signal for construction and investment appetite. While we are seeing a return to the typical cycle, high order intake in Q4 and Q1, followed by strong deliveries in Q2, the most important takeaway is this. Growth in the Nordics is being driven by real demand from the end customer. After the first half of the year, the Nordics are once again our largest region in terms of revenue. The outlook is positive, though, of course, we remain attentive to how the broader economic situation evolves heading into the autumn. We're moving over to Europe. While the Nordics are once again our largest region in revenue, Europe's upward trend continues to steadily -- continue steadily, and they are the largest region in units. One reason to that, that they are the largest region in units is that we have learned that we need to take the early majority to entry-level tiltrotator first to make this shift faster. We are seeing a strong development across most of our key markets. One clear sign of progress is the growing penetration rate. Just look at Bauma in April, tiltrotators were on display in almost every booth. That kind of visibility reflects the shift that's happening. Smaller tiltrotators are gaining ground in the region, and our collaboration in the DACH region continues to stand out. We have achieved high volumes there, largely thanks to the local couplers together with our tiltrotators. It's worth noting that many of these products are entry-level with local assembly of the coupler to meet regional standards. That means a lower average revenue per unit and some pressure on gross margin during the quarter. However, these products come with very limited additional sales costs, which makes them solid contributors to our bottom line. And again, let's not forget, it's the tiltrotator units that are changing the world of digging. Through this strong push, we have quickly increased both awareness and market penetration in Europe, something we see as a major success. Let's talk a bit about how things are going in the Americas. We see a good increase in our net sales, 12% up, but that was mainly orders from Q4 and Q1 that were delivered out. So to be honest, Q2 was more or less a lost quarter in terms of sales. Since Liberation Day, there's been a lot of noise and uncertainty around tariffs. No one really knows where things are going, and that's made both us and our customers a bit cautious, especially when it comes to pricing and planning. That said, we are not standing still. We are keeping close track of developments and staying ready to act as soon as things clear up. At the same time, we are doing the groundwork, meeting customers face-to-face, talking about how our products can improve their business and making sure we stay top of mind. That day-to-day contact really, really matters. And while we are at it, we are also building up the organization. We are investing in the team, strengthening the structure, laying the foundation for long-term growth in the region. It's not fancy work, but it's the kind of stuff that sets us up to win when the momentum returns. So yes, Q2 was tough, but we are playing the long game here. Let's take a look at Asia-Oceania, where we're seeing some solid commercial traction. For example, net sales is up 53%, and our new sales company in Japan continues to move in the right direction. Volumes are still relatively low, but the trend is clearly positive. Orders are starting to come in more regularly, especially through the dealer network we have established. That's in addition to the OEM sales we already have in place, so the base is growing. The construction industry in Japan is under strong pressure to improve productivity. And here's where it gets really interesting. The government is actively supporting this shift through 2 different incentive programs. Program 1 targets SME companies, where we can get 30% to 50% of the year investment back from the government when you invest in efficiency-increasing technology like our tiltrotators, for example. Program 2 applies if you are working on the government-funded construction sites. On these sites, you get a higher pay rate for using productivity boosting solutions like our tiltrotator system. This creates a strong business case for customers to invest in our products, and we are positioning ourselves right in the middle of that opportunity. Australia paused a bit during the elections, but we are now seeing order intake bounce back. It's clearly heading in the right direction again. Korea is also moving positively. We are seeing more engagement, more deals and good signals from the market. So overall, we are not just gaining traction. We are building real momentum in the region with Japan looking especially promising from a sales perspective. And with that, I will hand it over to Marcus that will guide you through the financial development. So go ahead, Marcus.

Thanks, Krister. Let's take a closer look at our EBIT development for the quarter. We are pleased to report that EBIT increased from SEK 82 million in Q2 last year to SEK 94 million this year. This is a solid increase of 15%. Now, naturally, higher sales volume brings higher EBIT. However, we did experience some headwinds this quarter that prevented us from fully translating that revenue increase to the bottom line. Our EBIT margin stands just under 18%, a slight decrease from last year. While the stronger volume did introduce some mix effects that diluted our gross margin, the primary factor preventing us from reaching our long-term EBIT target was the headwind from the stronger Swedish krona. Now let's dive deeper into the income statement. For the quarter, our net sales reached SEK 530 million. This is a strong increase of SEK 80 million compared to last year. The currency effects we first observed in our balance sheet in Q1 have now clearly impacted our top line this quarter. Specifically, net sales were negatively affected by approximately SEK 25 million due to currency fluctuations. However, if we exclude this currency effect, we see a strong organic sales increase of 23%. Moving on to the gross profit. Our gross margin stands at 40.7%. This is about 4 percentage points lower than last year and below the high levels we've seen in recent quarters. Roughly half of this decline can be attributed to the strengthening Swedish krona, which began in Q1. This currency effect is also the primary factor impacting our bottom line. In connection with our strong volume increase, we also experienced a less favorable product and market mix, which I want to briefly highlight. The significant volume growth in the DACH region came from more entry-level products or to quote Krister, more Fiats. While these dilute our overall margin, this volume is incremental business that doesn't add to selling expenses. So its contribution to the EBIT margin remains high. As we quickly recover in the Nordics, our stable, typically higher-margin aftermarket business has decreased in relation to total sales. Finally, we saw a market mix shift with more volume moving towards the Nordic and less to, for example, the Americas. This increased volume in the Nordic also led to slightly lower margins due to higher discounts on bigger deals to, for example, bigger rental fleets, as Krister just mentioned. Despite these factors and the significant increase in revenues, we successfully maintained our selling and administrative expenses at the same level, albeit with some help from the incremental business through our partners in the DACH region, as I mentioned. This achievement underscores the strength and scalability of our business model. All these factors combined bring us to an EBIT of SEK 94 million or 17.8%. While we achieved strong sales and maintained effective cost controls, these efforts weren't enough to fully offset the impact of a stronger Swedish krona. In the recent quarter, cash flow from operation was SEK 20 million, down from SEK 32 million in the same period last year. For the full period, it improved to SEK 33 million compared to minus SEK 12 million previously. This increase was primarily driven by higher operating profit and lower tax payments, though partly offset by increased capital tied up in inventories and accounts receivable. Large shipments from the factory late in the quarter, which meant a lot of finished goods in transit by the end of the quarter led to higher inventory levels. As to the increase in accounts receivable, it is in line with the increase in sales. Cash flow from investing activities was minus SEK 11 million for the quarter, compared to minus SEK 10 million. These investments primarily went towards tangible fixed assets and the continuing development of our third-generation tiltrotators. Cash flow from financing activities was minus SEK 64 million in the quarter and minus SEK 78 million for the period. Acquisition of minority interest in subsidiaries and acquisition of own shares had an impact of minus SEK 63 million for both the quarter and the period. Additionally, SEK 77 million was paid out in shareholder dividends. Overall, total cash flow for the quarter was minus SEK 55 million and for the full period, it stood at minus SEK 63 million. As expected, the return on capital employed continued its journey upwards for the sixth consecutive quarter to a level where we feel more at home and expect it to be. Summarizing by looking at our financial targets. We are pleased to report that we have exceeded 3 out of our 4 financial targets, which is a strong position to be in. However, due to currency headwinds, we did not meet our long-term EBIT margin target in this particular quarter. And with that, I'll hand it back to Krister to sum things up and provide us with an update on what's ahead.

Thank you, Marcus, for guiding us through the financial. We're closing the second quarter with a strong net sales and a solid order intake, as I mentioned earlier. And in fact, we haven't seen these Q2 numbers at this level since 2022. That was a record year for us. In the Nordics, we see the return of the typical season pattern we knew pre-pandemic, with Q2 delivering high volumes as expected. Also in the Nordics, we see the effects of the catch-up investments after a few slower years. Many contractors are now starting to replace older machines and that replacement cycle is finally picking up momentum. At the same time, retailers have adjusted their inventory levels, which is helping to create a more stable and consistent order flow. And looking at the bigger picture, we're starting to see signs that interest rates may have peaked or could even begin to ease, and that's a positive signal for the construction activity and overall investment appetite in the region. One of the biggest highlights this quarter is the strong progress we are seeing in the DACH region, especially in Germany, Europe's largest excavator market. What's really driving that growth is our focus on the entry-level products. By offering simpler configurations, we are lowering the barriers for customers to get started with engcon. It's a practical, effective way to build trust and show the value early on. We have seen this strategy work before in the Netherlands and in the Nordics. We are starting with something familiar, help speed up the adoption. It gives customers a clear first step. And from there, it becomes much easier to introduce the full engcon solution over time. This approach is helping us penetrate in key markets faster and it's an important step in our vision to change the world of digging. We are also seeing solid commercial traction in Asia-Oceania, where our efforts are starting to pay off, especially in Japan. The construction industry in Japan is under real pressure to increase productivity and the Japanese government is actively encouraging the adoption of smart efficient technologies like tiltrotators. As I mentioned earlier, there are 2 separate incentive programs in place. These programs are creating a strong business case for contractors to modernize and our products are a perfect fit. It's still early days, but the interest is growing, and we are well-positioned to support that shift. We have also sold significantly more units, especially within the smaller machine segment. This has led to rapidly increasing market penetration, which is exactly what we are aiming for. However, since we are primarily selling tiltrotators to our partners in Germany then and starting with a simpler offering, this unit growth hasn't yet fully translated into full revenue growth. At the same time, higher volumes this quarter came with slightly lower margins, mainly due to currency headwinds from a strong Swedish krona, which had the biggest impact on the bottom line, but also larger share of simpler product configurations and increased discounts in the Nordics linked to the volume and following that, the less favorable market mix. Still, the strong organic growth, continued order intake proved that our strategy is working. We are growing in the right way in the right places. A key focus will be in reinforcing our core values and principles. Our people are central to everything we do and building a strong, unified culture will be an important foundation as we continue to scale. And when we are looking ahead, I feel optimistic about the rest of the year. Compared to last year, I expect continued growth, driven by the ongoing recovery in the Nordics and the clear progress we are making in market penetration across both Europe and Asia-Oceania. There is a strong energy in the business right now. Contractors are investing again. Our simpler product strategy is opening new doors and the awareness of our solution is growing steadily in new regions. That said, the stronger Swedish krona did have a noticeable impact on our result in the second quarter. And while we are managing that headwind, we can't rule out that it may continue to affect us in the coming quarters. Still, the underlying momentum is solid, and we are in a good position to keep building from here. So with a proven concept, growing demand and a strong team in place, I'm excited for what's ahead. Together, we'll keep changing the world of digging one machine at a time. Okay. That's everything we had for today's presentation. Now we are happy to open up for your questions. So feel free to jump in through the telephone conference. So operator, whenever you're ready, please bring in the first question.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Zino Engdalen Ricciuti from Handelsbanken.

Starting off on the margin side, which, of course, you explained a lot in the presentation. Given the broader offering or a simpler offering, so to say, how do you view your goal of delivering the above 20% margin given where currencies are at currently?

We haven't changed anything regarding our long-term financial goals regarding the EBIT margin. And we believe we will be able to adjust to that. If everything is -- when it's going fast, it's hard to adapt directly to it. But long term, we still have a strong belief in that we will reach our financial targets and be above that 20%.

Very clear. And on the product mix side, can you give some -- or give us some insight on how your backlog looks right now? Should we expect the mix to -- in the upcoming quarters to be similar to this, then?

Yes. Normally, the Nordic is stronger than the first 6 months, and Europe is a little bit stronger than the last 6 months than compared to the Nordics. So we still think it will be better regarding the revenue also, who will be the largest one. So it depends a little bit. The European market is not all the same. As I mentioned, it's more Germany and Netherlands that are the simpler products. France, they are much better on selling their more advanced products and so on. So it depends a little bit on which market that having a good momentum. Right now, Germany are really strong, and we expect it to continue though. So that's the guiding I can do regarding that.

Yes. And on order intake, I think you mentioned that there were roughly 3 weeks around Liberation Days, which were slower and that there was not a catch-up effect, primarily maybe related to Europe. Do you feel that the order intake level is a fair representation of where the market is currently at?

Yes. I think with the Liberation Days there, and they got a lot of talk about that could increase the interest rate, we could -- the economic outlook was not positive. And then Germany came out with a really strong budget proposal there. And that, I think, shifted a lot and especially that also been what we see with Germany now that it's a really positive trend there. They feel confident that they will have jobs for '25, '26, '27 and going further, not for that these jobs have started yet, but they just believe in it. And I think also with what they said about NATO and what the EU have said that they're going to target the 5% goal, that will mean there will be a lot of infrastructure work only. There will not only be weapons and stuff like that, there needs to be infrastructure also as part of that 5% goal. And that will means there will be a lot of digging and a lot of housebuilding and so on. So I think that will create a good momentum for this industry. And that's also a little bit what you see if you're looking on the Volvo's report yesterday, where they have a big increase on the order intake from low numbers, though, but it's a big increase of order intake on machines that will come out now in 6 to 8 months or something like that. So I think the future looks promising in that way for us.

Very good. And last question from me. You mentioned, of course, that due to the smaller volume -- smaller tiltrotators that units were higher. Is it possible to get some insight into how the volume in terms of units changed year-over-year?

We haven't really talked about a number of units in that way, but we have said earlier that we have lost like 50% in the Nordics compared to 2019. And we can say that the increase is significantly higher than what we are showing in revenue. There are a lot more units going out in the percentage increase are much higher than what we show in revenue. We need to look into how we're going to deal with that in the future then. But right now, we don't report numbers.

The next question comes from Agnieszka Vilela from Nordea.

I think the first one maybe to Marcus. I think you mentioned the negative impact from FX on the EBIT line in the quarter. Can you just repeat what was that, including both the translation impact and the transaction impact related to your exports?

Yes. I mean the major impact, of course, is coming already at the gross profit level. And we were not -- even though we kept our costs very much in line with the previous cost level, held back the cost, even though we increased the revenues, we weren't able to really compensate for that. So the major impact on the EBIT, I would say, for missing our long-term target is currency at this point in this quarter.

And did I cut it correct when -- or catch it correct when you said that about 50% of the gross margin decrease was related to FX?

Yes, yes, just above 50%, yes.

Okay. Perfect. And maybe just if you could share with us what's your kind of production planning now for the coming quarters. If you look at your order backlog, what kind of sales should we expect for Q3, Q4? Any indications there?

The indication is, as you know, we don't have that long lead time on everything or a big order book. So -- but our expectation is that we will be growing compared to last year, have a good growth compared to last year, both in Q3 and Q4. Then unfortunately, we are not like Volvo having 6 months ahead of us and so on. It is a few weeks ahead that we can guide on what we're having in the order book. We don't have that much more. But also, like Marcus said, we -- it was a lot of goods in transit from -- on the end of the quarter that will then come into Q3. So we will hopefully get an extra push from that in that case. I don't know what else can say, Marcus?

No. I mean, we do expect growth anyway, and that's what we're planning for also in the factory and so forth to beat last year, second half of last year, of course. And yes, but as you said, unfortunately, our horizon is not that clear with the shorter -- or it's a positive thing we have shorter lead times, of course, and so forth. But it also, of course, is challenging to guide on the long term. But as you said also, Krister, regarding all the indications and then the sentiment in the market and then the big deals that's coming out on budgets and so forth, there is a lot more energy in this industry than we've seen in the last couple of years.

Yes. Understood. And then my last question is about Japan. Quite interesting actions from the government there in the construction segments and also you are establishing more presence there. Krister, could you maybe quantify the potential that you see for Japan specifically over the next, say, 3, 5 years in terms of sales value that you could reach there?

That was like a billion dollar question. It is really, really big potential. Everything is about how we can a little bit of what we talked about also adapt to make it a smaller step for them, maybe not need to go all the way to the full configuration and with the setup with everything on it. But it's coming out, a normal year, 55,000 excavators in Japan every year. Now this year, they say it's down 10% to say it's around 50,000 excavators coming out. And if we're looking on, they did the same type of program for machine guidance, the Trimble, Topcon, Leica and so on. And they pretty fast -- that was like 7, 8 years ago. And they pretty fast came up to like a 20% level and that penetration level. And that for them, I don't know if they can go much higher than 30%. So it's impossible to guess, but I think it's a big potential for us to grow and grow fast. They know they're having a huge problem with the aging population and the decreasing of people working in the construction. The government have made a research that's showing sometime during the 2030s, they will not have enough people to do the maintenance work within the construction industry. So they definitely need to get this change happening, and that's why they are subsidizing and trying to push this change then to reduce the need of manpower and make the work faster. It is worth to mention also in -- Japan is doing everything really, really -- in order for everything, we need to get every tiltrotator approved together with each brand of excavators. So we have done Kobelco. We have done partly Volvo. We are working on getting the other ones on it too then. But it's a process that will take some time before we get all the machines. So to see the big things just on these programs will take a little bit longer time, but it's also showing the legislation or rules regarding having a tiltrotator open up. It shows that it's allowed to have it because that had been also not clear earlier. So that's one of the biggest change, and that's why there are a lot of interest. I was at the CSPI, the exhibition there. And there are a big interest for tiltrotator, there's no doubt about it. And we were on -- we had that exhibition, and we had together with Kobelco then also a private show where we invited customers and so to come and try it and just outside the exhibition area. And so there were big interest for it, and we got a lot of leads to follow up. But no, it sounds like a politician, I think I didn't answer your question, but there is a huge potential there.

The next question comes from Anna Widstrom from DNB Carnegie.

So just a few additional ones from my side. You talked about momentum in ordering during the quarter, which then seemed to have differed between the start and the end of the quarter, mainly in Europe and Americas. Could you give us some details on what order growth levels you noted in these 2 regions in the start versus the end?

Yes, roughly, I think the first 3 weeks thereafter the Liberation Day, we were probably down to 1/3 of what we've been on the rest of the weeks then in the quarter. Something like that.

In which region, sorry?

What?

In both of the regions?

In all regions and in total. So I mean, in Americas, they were more or less favorable because we didn't know what price we would put on the stuff and so on. But also the discussion that ended up here in Europe and so on was if it would affect the economic outlook and increased interest rates, then everybody was waiting a little bit. So that was so important then that the European governments came out with this strong unified part of it and more looking to make Europe strong again. I think that was really important for us and for this industry.

Okay. Yes. And just a follow-up on that. And thinking about price effects in Americas, have you started to raise prices already during the second quarter? Or is that something that we'll be implementing during the second half?

We have changed prices at least 2 times already in the U.S. because it's changing the setup all the time. And that's where it's getting -- everybody getting cautious because they don't know what price they're going to buy it. They might be interested and then we're saying one price one day and then a new price the next day. Of course, people are getting confused regarding that. So I think if we just can make up this mind and decide this is the level, then we will get back and start selling better and better again. We're still selling. It's unbelievable that people are willing to risk and buy during these circumstances. But -- so that's -- I still know that there is a demand for the product. They want it and they're even going to need it more with these price increases on everything that will happen then in the U.S. But we need to get some stabilized period of time where we can say this is the price.

And so far, have you raised prices like mid- to high single digits? Or how have the pricing points been changing in the U.S. during the years?

Yes. First, we raised it with 25% because that was what we only know. And then we understood that you need to make a calculation on the steel price and then the 10% on everything else that have made it below double digits. And then when we increase steel to 50% and you put also 10% on every added -- on the added value on steel, that again made us have to go above double digits.

Okay. So just thinking on like volumes in Americas in the quarter, it has like a double-digit price effect.

Yes. If you're looking on the order intake then, yes. Because we were late -- we didn't have enough stock. So as I mentioned, we had a lot of deliveries from Q1 and Q4. And we prefer to be the person that if you're making a deal with us, we stand with that. So the price that they have received in Q4 and Q1, we were delivering to them on that price. So we didn't increase on that. So in net sales, it is more the old price list, I would say.

And just thinking on the sort of currency effect, is that something that you will sort of leave to be to what it is? Or are you going to try to change prices to sort of compensate for how the stronger SEK is affecting in transaction and translation effect?

We have said that we will do a little bit wait and see on it. We need to see where we're going to land with the currency effect. I mean, it's been pretty going -- it was strengthening a lot from the beginning, and now it's been weakened a little bit again. So we need to find, again, a little bit also like with the tariffs, we need to find what do we believe is the current level where we're going to be. And then we're normally doing our informing about our price adjustment to our dealer network and customers, then for next year's pricing in September or end of September there.

So it will be in the considerations.

Yes.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Thank you so much, everyone, for all the good questions. And if anything else pops up, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're always happy to help. And thank you again for tuning in today, and we really look forward to seeing you all again soon. So take care, and thank you, and have a great summer vacation if you get any. Bye-bye.