IMCD N.V. (IMCD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the IMCD Q1 2025 Analyst Call. Please note, this conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand you over to your host, Marcus Jordan, CEO, to begin today's conference. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Adip. Good morning to you all, and a warm welcome to our Q1 2025 analyst call. I'm Marcus Jordan, and I'm very pleased to be here today with our CFO, Hans Kooijmans, for the Q1 2025 trading update, which we published in a press release earlier this morning and our Head of Investor Relations, Tosca Holtland, who will help us from a time management perspective as we have a hard stop at 10:00 a.m. Dutch time as we have our AGM later this morning. As you saw this week, we announced that IMCD and Valerie Diele-Braun have agreed that Valerie will step down as CEO and a member of the Management Board for personal reasons. I would like to thank Valerie for her contribution to the company and for our time working together, both in her role as a member of the Supervisory Board and member of the Management Board. I and everybody at IMCD wish her all the very success for the future. On a personal note, I'm very excited that as of yesterday, I took over the role of CEO. As many of you know, I've been with the company for over 26 years in a variety of roles, most recently leading the development of the Americas region for almost 7 years and then a COO and member of the Management Board for the last 3 years. I very much look forward to continuing the successful growth story of IMCD and driving forward the successful growth strategy, which we have created together. Now over to Q1, a quarter generally characterized by global economic uncertainty and tariff discussions. Despite this global economic uncertainty, we have had a good start to the year, with gross profit up 10% to EUR 325 million and EBITA up by 12% to EUR 142 million. Our free cash flow was EUR 102 million, leading to a cash earnings per share of EUR 1.55, an increase of 10%. As already mentioned, the introduction and implementation of tariffs was a big topic in Q1 and has continued in the first month of Q2. What we see is that there is a lot of uncertainty around tariffs, both on -- in terms of timing and impact. A big benefit that we at IMCD have when dealing with these tariffs is our fully integrated global IT or ERP system, which allows us to quickly identify all the products which are impacted by these tariffs and where needed adjust prices immediately and accordingly. We are also in an advantageous position through our asset-light business model, ability to adapt quickly where needed, combined with our wide geographical spread and diverse product portfolio, which is manufactured throughout the world. We, therefore, do not expect tariffs to have a significant impact on our business at this time. Tariffs could, however, have an indirect impact by increasing inflation and affecting final consumer demand. The impact on demand is something that is impossible to predict at this time, especially as things can change at very short notice. If we look at the U.S. specifically, most of our U.S. sales is local for local and only a small percentage comes from imported products and some products are excluded from tariffs. In terms of general market development, we continue to see volatility across all regions and business lines with limited forward visibility and more than normal movements of orders and volumes from month to month. We can also say that we have not seen significant prebuying. Whilst geographical and macroeconomic conditions continue to often be challenging, we are confident that our diversified business, advanced digital and asset-light supply chain model provides strong and resilient foundation for the future. If I can now hand over to our CFO, Hans Kooijmans, who will give you an update on the numbers.

Thank you, Marcus, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm happy to give you a short summary of the first quarter trading update that we issued earlier this morning. I will start on Page 6 of the analyst call presentation. As Marcus mentioned already, we are happy to report a solid start of the year. As you can see, ForEx adjusted revenue increased 9% and gross profit increased 10% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of last year. This gross profit increase was a combination of 6% organic growth and 5% as a result of the first-time inclusion of companies acquired in 2024. Gross profit in percentage of revenue improved by 0.4 percent points to 25.8%. And this increase in percentage was a combination of, as usual, of product mix and acquisition effects, changes in local market circumstances and internal gross margin improvement initiatives. Then ForEx adjusted operating EBITA increased 12% to EUR 142 million, and the organic EBITA growth in this first quarter was 7%. The operating EBITA margin increased by 0.4 percent points to 11.3%. The conversion margin calculated as operating EBITA in percentage of gross profit was 43.7%, which is 0.8% points above the first quarter of last year. And the net result also increased 14% to EUR 69 million. Then free cash flow. Compared to Q1 last year, free cash flow was healthy, although slightly lower than last year. And this small decrease was a combination of, on the one hand, increased operating EBITA being offset by higher investments in net working capital. If you translate net working capital in days of revenue, then the outcome in the first quarter was 65 days. And that 65 was well below the 69 that we reported end of December last year. Cash conversion margin at the 70% that we report is reasonable for our first quarter. Year-to-date cash earnings per share were EUR 1.55, an increase of 10% compared to the same period of last year. And on the last line of this page, you could see a 4% increase in our number of employees. And this increase is a combination of the first-time inclusion of acquisitions, and these acquisitions added 430 -- around about 450 people, which is about 9%. And this 9% acquisition growth means that the number of people end of March when comparing like-for-like with last year, indicates an organic decrease of 5%, which is about 240 people compared to March last year. Then I move to the next slide, Slide 7. You will find the gross profit, EBITA conversion margin per operating segment. On this slide, you will find, again, rounded percentages for organic and acquisition growth. But as promised last year, we added to the press release with the same percentages with one number behind the dot. Then looking at the numbers. EMEA reported 2% ForEx adjusted gross profit growth. This was unfortunately not enough to compensate for inflation-driven on cost growth. As a consequence, operating EBITA and EBITA related ratios all slightly decreased compared to the same period of last year. In the Americas, we saw the opposite. We had a very strong start of the year. We report double-digit organic growth, both on gross profit and on operating EBITA. It's nice to see that we saw operating result increase both in North and South America and in more or less all countries where we are active in. As a consequence of this EBITA growth, we report a substantial improvement of the EBITA margin and the conversion ratio. Asia Pacific, the third column there, we report 14% gross profit growth and 16% operating EBITA growth on a constant currency basis. And for both lines, about 7% of this growth is organic and the remainder relates to acquisitions done in 2024. Strict cost management in the region, combined with healthy organic margin growth resulted in increased EBITA margin and slightly higher conversion ratio. And then in the last column, the cost of holding companies, which were more or less stable. And as you know, this includes all nonoperating companies, including the head office in Rotterdam and our regional support offices in Singapore and Miami. On Page 8, a short summary of IMCD's free cash flow. As mentioned before, the free cash flow in Q1 this year of EUR 102 million was rather close to the outcome of last year. The adjusted operating EBITDA increased with EUR 15 million, which is in line with the reported operating EBITDA growth. CapEx, about EUR 2 million lower, followed by a EUR 21 million higher working capital investment. And all in all, it results in a 70% cash conversion ratio. This is a reasonable outcome for first quarter when looking at top line growth and the typical working capital cycle during the year. Page 9, a short update on net debt and leverage. Reported leverage ratios and leverage based on definitions in the loan documentation were more or less similar compared to 2024 year-end numbers. We came out at 2.1x and 2x last 12 months EBITDA. And as mentioned in our 2024 integrated report in March this year, we redeemed one of the EUR 300 million bond loans that we had on the balance sheet. And then before I go back to the operator, last but not least, on Page 11, you will find our outlook for 2025, in which we mentioned our confidence that our strong commercial teams, digital and logistic infrastructure and the resilience of our business model will continue to contribute value to our stakeholders and sustain our growth trajectory. So far, this short summary of our financials, and Marcus and myself are happy to answer your questions. So I go back to the operator, Adip.

[Operator Instructions] We will take our first question from Annelies Vermeulen from Morgan Stanley.

I have 2 questions, please. At the full year results, I think you noted that order patterns weren't quite back to normal, but you were seeing some larger orders starting to come through. I'm just wondering how that's developed over the last couple of months given all the uncertainty around tariffs and macro, as you pointed out. Your peer yesterday commented that they are seeing more smaller and more frequent orders. So I'm just wondering if you're seeing that as well from your customers. And then secondly, I think in the release, you think you've done one deal year-to-date, but correct me if that's wrong. Do you expect to continue the same pace of acquisitions as was the case through 2024? We've heard companies in other sectors comment recently that elevated uncertainty is making sellers more reluctant to sell and deals are taking longer to complete. Is that something that you see as you look at your pipeline for 2025?

Thank you for your questions. I think with regards to the order patterns, I think that there's a tremendous amount of uncertainty in the market at present. And this continued kind of path of just-in-time delivery, I would say, generally smaller orders more frequently is definitely the case. I think what you see is that as a distributor such as IMCD, that's actually an advantage and brings us closer to the customer because they rely upon us more and more as maybe the visibility that they've got is also shorter. So I think to confirm what you say that the visibility is, if anything, even shorter and this just-in-time delivery with more frequent orders also, by the way, being pushed forwards and backwards throughout the different months, that's definitely the case. On the M&A side, I think in general, mergers and acquisitions, it's very difficult to predict the timing. As you know, we've got a very successful track record of acquiring, I would say, leaders within the industry. And those kind of connections that we have with those companies, those relationships have been built up over many years. So it's not ad hoc M&A, which comes on stream within a particular period. I think all that we can say there is that the M&A pipeline that we've got at the moment is very healthy. We're pleased with the health of the pipeline, and there's a lot of positive discussions that are taking place.

We will take our next question from Matthew Yates from Bank of America.

I was looking back at the annual report yesterday that stated the CEO transition was successfully completed and now succession planning efforts have shifted towards the development of the next generation of leadership and succession planning for key positions. I guess in light of Valerie's departure only 18 months into a 4-year contract, that therefore, seems very abrupt, compounded by the fact she's not on the call this morning. And with respect to Marcus, who I'm well aware knows the business inside out, I'm sure you can appreciate the uncertainty this creates for shareholders about succession planning at the company. So to the extent you can elaborate on the reasons for the change, that would be most welcome. Otherwise, Hans, in particular, can you give us an update on your own plans as I think your contract is set to expire at the AGM next year?

Matthew, I think you saw within the press release and also in my commentary that basically the company and Valerie have agreed that she'll step down as the CEO for personal reasons. And we're not in a position and can't go into more detail with regards to that point. Hans, the second question...

You're technically right. My contract will expire at the next AGM. I think, Marcus, the same is applicable for you. I don't want to create more uncertainty, but that is typically the way it works in the Netherlands that as a Board member, you always get a 4-year contract and then it's up for renewal and then there is a proposal from the Supervisory Board to the AGM if and what will happen then. So that is a discussion that will take place, I think, somewhere next year, and then we will bring it to the AGM and see what comes out. So for the upcoming calls, you still need to talk to me, and I hope you like that.

I think that's okay. If I can ask a follow-up just for both of you conceptually, how are you thinking about the cost side of the business in this environment, uncertainty? How you sort of think about adding headcount, investing in IT, even the extent to which you maybe put capital to work in inventory? Are you still investing on the basis of growth this year? Or do you run an even tighter ship to protect the bottom line?

Yes. If you look at the -- we have gone through a lot of cycles over the years. And we are in a situation that in a downturn or in uncertainty on the commercial side, we often face a situation that suppliers react by reducing their fixed cost base and outsourcing to people like us. And so typically, a more uncertain environment creates a lot of commercial opportunities, and you need to be prepared for that to capture these opportunities. At the same time, what you might have seen the cost increase that we report in the first quarter is just below 5% organic on cost growth, and that's mainly compensated for inflation. We work with a slightly lower number of own people compared to the same period of last year. So we are very careful in filling vacancies. At the same time, we keep investing in the digital infrastructure because this is the absolute license to operate and to get that second sales channel to the market. And we have -- as what we presented in the Investor Day in Milan, we made big steps there and perhaps Marcus could say something about it a bit where we are there. But what you see that we are a people organization. We are careful filling vacancies. We are always cautious with respect to the cost level that we run on. But we don't want to stop investing in digital, which is the easiest way to save cost because we feel this is the future and we need to be prepared for the future, and we need to be in a position to capture the growth that will come to us.

We are taking our next question from Suhasini Varanasi from Goldman Sachs.

Welcome, Marcus. It's nice to speak to you. I think the one main question I had was on the Americas region where you've seen very, very strong growth. Is it possible to provide some color by vertical? Because I think we are seeing kind of mixed signals, especially in the U.S. region about whether orders are getting canceled, industrial versus life sciences. So if you could share some color there, I think that would be really helpful. And how does the order book look today, generally speaking, across the board into the next 6 weeks?

Thank you for the question. If you look at the Americas in general, and Hans mentioned this, I think the pleasing thing for us is it was pretty much in every country in which we operate, we saw a positive result in the first quarter. So it was really nice to see that across-the-board performance. In terms of the verticals, again, nothing really spectacular to really state. I think if we look at prior calls, we have mentioned it in general on a global basis that last year, the pharmaceutical market was a little bit depressed. I think it's fair to say that we've seen that beginning to come back during the first quarter. Food & Nutrition continues to perform in a robust way. And in general, the industrial side, again, nothing really to comment either in a large positive or negative way. So I think across the Americas region and globally, those vertical comments count the same. Does that answer your question?

Yes, it does. I think because I think your portion is exposed to more Industrial. Is that right, versus Life Sciences?

Not necessarily, no. I would say that we've -- over the last 7 or 8 years with the acquisitions that we've made and quite significant additional supply, which we've been able to bring into the region. We've got a very healthy balance now between the life science and industrial markets. I didn't answer your second question, I'm sorry, in terms of the outlook that we saw. As you know, it's very difficult at this time to give a specific outlook, particularly with the shortened visibility that we have. But if we look at the order book that we've got at the moment, I would say, in general, it's not bad so far.

We will take our next question from Carl Raynsford from Berenberg.

Marcus, first and foremost, congratulations. It's great to see you in the CEO seat. But just 3 from me, if I may, just coming back to [indiscernible] there really. But the first is, can we maybe discuss the Americas and what drove growth there, please? Just by end market, maybe in a bit more depth, just because you appear yesterday, nowhere near that level of organic growth in gross profit. So I'm just wondering what the driver is, it's very different. The second question sort of tying that to EMEA. Could you maybe explain the decline in conversion margin? I know you mentioned inflation, but did you add more costs there for some sort of reason? I know an 8% cost increase in Europe, 10% in the Americas, so maybe not, but that seems overcompensating for inflation and possibly acquisitions, it would be good to understand. And then lastly, Hans, I labor this every call, so I do apologize, but I just wanted to ask on the deferred consideration point again. So could you give us any guidance on net interest for the first half, please, in particular, the interest income line?

Should I take the last 2 ones first before I go back on the first...

That would be great.

On the deferred considerations, no impact in the first quarter and no changes. And what I indicated already last year is that I don't expect big changes this year there. And that was the reason that I mentioned that you should normalize for that effect when analyzing the 2024 and 2023 figures. On your cost question, -- but we -- as a group, we report an overall own cost increase organically below 5%, just below 5%. A part of that is -- basically it's compensated for inflation. It is a slightly lower number of people. And -- but you need to fully compensate that cost is a bit more organic gross margin growth than what we reported in EMEA. Let's face it, the market is not that easy in EMEA. I'm happy that we still report organic growth in that part of the market on the margin side but not enough to fully compensate the inflationary cost increase that we saw there. And let's hope that the second and the third quarter will show a better outcome there, but I cannot influence the underlying demand.

And then, Carl, moving on to your question with regards to the Americas, excellent results. I mean, not to comment on what our competitors are doing. But if you look at IMCD, as I mentioned before, the pleasing thing for us was that the performance was very strong pretty much across the board on a country-by-country basis. The verticals also, again, pretty all performing. As you know, our strategy is to invest in the business for the long-term growth. And as you know, we've made quite some acquisitions within the region. And I think that this is now also some showing signs of the fact that we've been very successful on integrating those acquisitions successfully, growing the IMCD brand within the region. And then also very importantly, the -- our ability and success of cross-fertilizing the supplier relationships that we've got elsewhere within the world. So I think it's a combination basically of the IMCD model shining through.

I don't know if I lost you there.

Yes. Still there, Carl.

Sorry, I might have lost you there slightly. But yes, no that's helpful, Marcus and Hans. I just wanted a quick follow-up, Hans, maybe on the cost side. Sorry, Marcus, I don't know if I cut you off there. I lost you completely. But is there a certain level of organic GP growth that -- I don't know if this is the right question, but will compensate for that inflation in EMEA? Because obviously, it does appear that operating leverage has been pretty useful for both the Americas and APAC. So I just wonder if there is a level of growth that maybe you target to compensate for that cost?

Mathematically, it's -- I think we could do the math quite simple. So if my fixed cost during the year are EUR 500 million, if I grow 5% inflation, I need to grow my margin at least 25% to show organic bottom line growth.

So are we saying most of that cost is probably fixed?

Yes. And of course, there is variable components in there like bonuses, like travel, like these type of things that you can play with or you can even argue that I stop investing in digital because you know we expense all these costs immediately. I don't want to put it on the balance sheet. But as I said earlier, this is something we really want to be the #1 in this industry, and it is the license to operate in the future.

We now move to our next question from Quirijn Mulder from ING.

A couple of questions from my side again on EMEA and the gross profit because normally, you don't see a 50 basis points decline in the quarter. So that must be something in the mix or whatsoever. So maybe you can explain that. And my second question is about the working capital. Last time you gave a breakdown between the working capital development with regard to debtors and inventories. Is there any -- can you elaborate on these numbers? It will be quite useful, I think. And by the way, thanks for all the details in the numbers now. It takes a lot of time.

Quirijn, perhaps I start with the last one. I don't want to do working capital data per quarter. I do that 2 times a year, a bit more specific. And I still see Q1 and Q3 more as a trading update. And I think we are pretty detailed in what we already disclosed. I think it's fair to say if we talk about working capital development, I spoke in my introductory remarks about the typical cycle that we see. And what you always see is that the lowest point in the cycle is December, and that has to do with always lower sales in December, driving -- leading to lower debtor days, lower debtor amount that typically drives more working capital position. And what you always see is that when you have the more normal sales model, so during the operational quarters in Q1 and Q2 that your working capital position picks up. And typically, we saw the normal pattern as we also saw a normal sales pattern during the quarter. Your other question about the drop in margin percentage, first of all, it was, to my opinion, limited, and it is the usual fluctuations in the mix. There's nothing special or nothing to worry about what happened in the first quarter there.

Okay. So coming back on the working capital. It's interesting, let me say, about the fourth quarter last year was that the inventories were increasing quite rapidly. And that was probably one of the basis that you were, I would say, relatively optimistic. So there's a reason for us to ask that question because I think it gives an indication about how it's developing because that is a question of payment and inventories gives an indication about what can happen in the next quarter. So are you understand my question then.

I fully understand the question. But you also might have seen that at year-end, also the creditor position as a consequence of the higher stock position was a bit higher than normal. I think what is more important is the reason that we carried a bit more stock at year-end was to cater for the strong order book in January, which materialized. I think we indicated that during this quarter, there was -- I think it was 3 normal months, nothing special in there. And then you typically finish the quarter with a normal working capital position linked to your normal cash conversion cycle during the year. And that is what we try to express.

I think maybe just to add one more point, which links to what we're speaking about at the beginning with this limited visibility and having to deliver to customers just in time. That typically means also that sometimes we need to hold additional inventory for those accounts. And again, as a distributor, that's our role. It builds the reputation of the company. And certainly, from a customer stickiness perspective, that's incredibly important.

Yes. And my final question is, let me say, normally, if I look at the numbers of Azelis against IMCD, there are some difference. But this time, it looks completely different. It's -- let me say, if you look at the geographics, your stagnation is in EMEA and they do better. Your growth is in Americas, they stagnate and Asia Pacific is even down and you are growing. Is there any explanation from your side on that sharp difference in these numbers between the 2 companies?

Quirijn, first to get the numbers right, that is, if you say there is stagnation in EMEA, we reported a minus 3% organic decrease. Azelis reports a minus 7% EBITA percentage decrease. So I think in all regions, we do better. It's for us difficult to comment on the figures of our peers because we have the same insight as you. And I think you might have raised the same questions yesterday to them that you now raised to us, but we can only answer for what we see on IMCD. Q1 was a solid quarter. And I think in all regions, given the market conditions, we performed pretty okay. America was fantastic. If you report 21% organic growth, I think that is a great outcome given the market conditions. Same for Asia Pacific. And in EMEA, we -- basically, we missed the organic margin growth. I was happy that we report organic margin growth, but it was not enough to compensate for inflation. So we need to do better there. And for questions about Azelis, I think there are 2 other people better equipped to answer those questions.

No, no, I know. And I was only referring to the gross profit, gross profit development. That's not on EBITDA. So fine.

On gross profit, EMEA, we both do plus 2% organic.

We will take our next question from Eric Wilmer from Kempen.

I wanted to push a bit more on the Americas. If you had to split between North and South America, which of the 2 was leading the strong performance seen in Q1? And am I right to conclude that South America is comparably a bit more skewed towards Life Sciences versus North America? And then secondly, given that tariffs are still in place between the U.S. and China, could you talk a bit about your strategy towards Asian suppliers? And to what extent you've given this a stronger push in the current tariff environment? And then lastly, was there a certain degree of marketing cost phasing in EMEA in Q1, for example, following various larger trade shows, which seem to happen or activities seem to be a bit more this year with some bigger biannual ones taking place in Q1 this year.

Thank you for your questions, Eric. I think with regards to the split between North and South America, as I said at the beginning, the pleasing thing for us was that pretty much across the board, we saw a healthy growth. So I would say that there wasn't a very significant difference between the 2 regions there. And with regards to the question again on the Life Science versus Industrial, as I think I mentioned earlier in this call, we've consciously made a big effort with the acquisitions that we've made and the organic growth that we've achieved over the last few years to really balance that out. So again, I think that we're in a healthy position in both of the regions there. So again, I wouldn't say that there's a significant difference. With regards to the strategy for Asian suppliers, as you know, we're very much focused on partnering with leading supply partners in a contractual way for the long-term future and growth. Typically, that is not the business model of suppliers from China. So whilst we do, in some cases, strategically source some products, for us, it's a relatively small percentage. And in our experience, sourcing from China, you don't get that exclusivity, you don't get the partnership approach, and therefore, you don't get the long-term stability and growth, which I think we've proven is needed for the long-term future. So we keep an open mind. I think as a company, we're very entrepreneurial. We're always looking at what is best for the business. But again, the proven track record with this long-term supplier relationships, we believe, is key and will continue to be key for the future. I think with regards to the marketing costs, yes, you're completely right. I think that a few of us have spent some time in the first quarter visiting some of the bigger shows, European coating show, in cosmetics, et cetera. So yes, I think it's a fair point to say that we have incurred, I would say, an abnormal amount of marketing costs related to trade shows in that first quarter.

Although we saw you on in cosmetics, I think that was early April. So that is -- it feels like Q1. It feels like a while ago...

We will move to our next question from Chetan Udeshi from JPMorgan.

Marcus, congrats on the appointment. And apologies if these questions were raised before I was a bit late to join the call. But again, just going through the mechanics of CEO change announcement. I don't want to know anything specific to Valerie. But I was just curious -- I mean, typically, when we hear CEO change announcement a day before results, unexpected, people do worry that strategically something might have gone wrong. Are you able to at least reassure us that there is no strategic mishaps that might have happened in the model that we should be worried about? The second question was just going back to the Americas growth, fantastic 21%. As we sit today, I mean, of course, I think it's tough, but are you seeing as a group organic trends at least positive in the current month? Or the -- let's say, the trends have shifted very, very rapidly between Q1 and Q2? And the last question, Marcus, you mentioned it's difficult to time the M&A, but you do have some sort of a balance sheet flexibility now. So -- and the share price has come down a long way from, let's say, 6 months back. Is buyback something that you and Hans are willing to consider at this point?

Great. Thank you for the questions. I think on the first point, we can absolutely give you reassurance that there's been no strategic mishaps. So complete reassurance there. In terms of the Americas performance, we've seen no rapid shifts, I would say. So I think consistency and Hans on the...

On the share buybacks, that's not in the cards. We have a very healthy pipeline. I think we have a lot of opportunities to employ the capital that we raised. Now happy in hindsight that we did it last year in November and not in the current environment. But I'm happy that I have that strong balance sheet and that we can make use of the opportunities that we see in the market and all the pending discussions that we have with owners. So expect something to come out rather sooner than later.

It appears we have no more questions. I would like to turn the conference back to Marcus for any additional remarks. Please go ahead, sir.

Well, from my side, I'd just like to thank everybody very much for joining the call. As I mentioned earlier, extremely excited to have the position as CEO and really look forward to speaking to you more often. So wishing you all a fantastic weekend. Thank you.

Thank you for joining today's call. You may now disconnect.