Investment AB Latour (publ) (LATOB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Investment AB Latour's Year-end Report 2019. Today, I am pleased to present Johan Hjertonsson, President and CEO; and Anders Mörck, CFO. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand you over to Johan Hjertonsson. Please begin.

Thank you very much. Welcome to this conference call, presenting the Fourth Quarter 2019 for Investment AB Latour. Our group structure is well known to most of you, but this time it looks slightly different from last quarters. We still have 2 major business lines, a wholly-owned industrial operation and a long-term investment portfolio consisting of 9 listed holdings, where we are the main shareholder or, in some cases, the main shareholder, together with a partner. After the acquisition of the Danish company, Caljan, which was finalized at the end of November, the wholly-owned operations now consists of 5 business areas. Caljan is an exciting addition to the group. It is by far the largest acquisition we have made to the wholly-owned operations and the first one to immediately form a new business area. We will be back to the whole -- we will get back to the wholly-owned operations later on in the presentation. In the Listed Investment portfolio, we also continue to increase our investment in AB Fagerhult with another SEK 221 million, raising our share to 26.6%. If we changed the slide, the stock market development was strong during the fourth quarter, which also reflected on our portfolio. The total value increased to SEK 65.6 billion at the end of December. During '19, the investment portfolio had a total return of 40%, which can be compared to the benchmark index, SIXRX, which increased by 35%. Some of the companies in our investment portfolio have now reported. And given the uncertainty in the overall business climate, we can conclude that we have solid and high-quality companies in our portfolio, so in a long-term perspective, deliver healthy and stable growth. The acquisition activities have been a bit slower in the second half of the year for the listed companies after quite busy first half. Until yesterday, the portfolio value had increased to almost SEK 67 billion, which means that the total return amounts to 2% so far this year compared to the SIXRX development of 6%. And we continue on the next slide. '19 has been a good -- has been a very good and busy year for our wholly-owned operations. Net sales during the year reached a record SEK 13.5 billion, which corresponds to a 17% increase compared to last year. The fourth quarter was affected by a market slowdown. We had 17% growth in orders in the quarter, of which 4% was organic. Net sales grew by 12% in total, but unchanged for comparable units. This is a mixed picture. Some of our operations had negative organic growth. The companies who are indirectly dependent on the automotive sector is mostly affected by the downturn, while the holdings who are exposed to the construction industry in general came out better. Our company is well managed, and we are well positioned in the markets that we operate in. This will be helpful if the business climate reaches a broader downturn going forward. The operating result increased in the quarter by 8% to SEK 434 million corresponding to an EBIT margin of 12.1%. In 2019, the operating results reached SEK 1.8 billion, which is a record profit in absolute terms. And our operating margin corresponded to 13.4%. We are very proud over the achievements in 2019. The message going forward is the same as before. We will invest with undiminished strength in product development, sales and marketing in our business areas to drive sustainable growth and further strengthen the position of our operations. And we change the slide again. As I mentioned before, it has been a busy year of our wholly-owned operations, especially in the second half of the year, where we made the major part of this year's acquisitions. In October, we acquired Caljan, a global supplier of automation technology for parcel handling in the logistics and e-commerce sectors, with headquarters just side Aarhus -- just outside Aarhus in Denmark. The acquisition was finalized on November 29, and is now a fifth business area within Latour's wholly-owned operations, as I said. We'll return to Caljan on the next slide. We signed an agreement to acquire the German company, S+S Regeltechnik on October 22, which was finalized this year on January 22. This was in addition to Produal within our Bemsiq operations. S+S is a leading pan-European sensor technology company. The company has net sales of about EUR 16 million and an excellent profitability. In early December, Aritco Group, within Latour Industries, acquired the U.K. companies Invalifts and Ability lifts. The companies distribute, install and service platform lifts in the U.K. and has an annual turnover about GBP 5 million with 18 employees. All in all, we acquired 6 companies in 2019 that together contributes almost SEK 1.9 billion in annual turnover, with the profitability in line with our financial targets. S+S is not included in the figures 2019. So however, due to the fact that the closing was made in January of this year. After the year-end, we have made another 2 acquisitions besides the completion of S+S. Hultafors Group acquired 80% of the shares in EMMA Safety Footwear in the Netherlands. EMMA is an industry-leading European safety footwear company with a strong presence in Central Europe and Benelux, in particular. Net sales amounted to EUR 23 million in '19, and the company employs around 140 employees. Also MS Group, former REAC, within Latour Industries, acquired the Spanish company, Batec Mobility located in Barcelona, a leading manufacturer of power assisted devices from manual wheelchairs. Batec mobility has an annual turnover of EUR 4.8 million and has 41 employees. And having said that, I will come back at the end of the presentation and -- but now, I hand over to our CFO, Mr. Anders Mörck.

Thank you so much, Johan. And we go to the next picture and start with the new business area, Caljan. We bought Caljan in the fourth quarter, and it will be consolidated in our group figures from the 1st of December. But the figures that you see on these slides are rather the full-year pro forma figures for 2019. And the net sales, from a full-year, amounted to EUR 92 million, with an operating margin of 14.2%. Over the past years, the growth rate for Caljan has been above 20% per annum; but in 2019, it was a little bit more modest, 6%. And this was due to some larger orders that were delayed, and that now will be delivered in 2020. And having said that, we see a great potential for Caljan going forward. And we also feel -- we hope that even Caljan also feel that you have landed very well in our group and in our network of companies. The culture in Caljan is very similar to the rest of Latour. In 2020, we will do a lot of support to Caljan in multiple investing activities, amongst them, a major production capacity investment in Latvia. So welcome to Latour. We go to the next page, Hultafors Group. The growth for Hultafors continued this quarter with another 21%, mainly driven by acquisitions. Organic growth was quite flat during the quarter. Well-managed cost control combined with the growth gives a strong profit development for the company and the operating result increased to SEK 138 million , an increase with 16% compared with last year, and with an operating margin of 15.9%. For the full year, operating profit amounts to a record high SEK 412 million, with an operating margin of 14.2%. And the overall development of the business area still looks very promising. And the acquisition of CLC in the U.S. had a good start during its first 4 months with us. After the year-end, Hultafors made yet another acquisition, Emma Safety Footwear in the Netherlands, which will be a great addition to the personal product protection equipment area. And to support further growth, the management continued to put a lot of focus on development of the sales organization and marketing, on product development and on digitization as well as further integration of the new companies that we now have in the group. As you all know, if you go back to 2018 and 2019, we have made 4 quite large acquisitions to Hultafors. Let's go for the next page, which will be Latour Industries. And also here, the topline continues to grow, not in the same cost base as in the earlier quarters. The net sales grew by 8% and the organic growth was slightly negative. For the full year, the business area grew by 13%, and the organic growth was 4%. The profitability continues in the right direction, fully in line with our expectations, but a little bit slower, I must say, this quarter. The operating results increased in the fourth quarter by 9% to SEK 60 million, corresponding to an EBIT margin of 7.4%. And for the full year, the results increased by 35% to -- sorry, SEK 257 million, corresponding to an operating margin of 8.3%. And as a reminder, then we have communicated it before, we expect the profitability to improve significantly going forward in this business area. Latour Industries made 2 acquisitions during the quarter. It was just S+S Regeltechnik and that was an addition to Produal and also additions to Aritco, the company's Invalifts and Ability Lifts in U.K. After the year-end, Latour Industries also made the acquisition of the Spanish company, Batec Mobility, which will support the further growth of this business area going forward. We go for the next page. Then we come to Nord-Lock. That was effected in the quarter by the overall business decline in around us due to the fact that they are relatively early in the business cycle. And they are badly hit also when the customers are reducing inventory levels. Order intake grew by 2% in total, but that was helped by the currency effect. So the organic growth was slightly negative. Net sales compared to a very long -- very strong last year, amounted to SEK 330 million. And the operating result decreased to SEK 71 million, with an operating margin of 21.6%. From a full year's point of view, Nord-Lock grew by 11%, of which 4% was organic and the operating results for the full year increased to SEK 411 million, which is a record level with an operating margin of 28.4%. As you know, we own and develop our companies very long-term regardless of the short-term market conditions. This means in the short-term that it's natural that the profit margins will be hit temporarily. We go to the next page, where we signed Swegon, which has had a very strong year, with impressive top line growth and even more impressive profit development. However, as for the other business areas, a slowdown in the end of the quarter, mainly affected by a weaker Nordic market. The quarter's total growth in order intake amounted to 4%. Organic growth was slightly negative. Net sales grew by 11% to almost SEK 1.5 billion, of which 5% was organic growth -- sorry, high productivity and successful product launches contributed to a very good profitability. And the operating margin resulted to -- the operating result amounted to SEK 145 million and an operating margin of 9.9%. I'll stop losing my voice. So I have to drink some water. Sorry for that. Full year, for Swegon , the business area grew by 17%, of which 8% was organic. Operating results strong -- grew strong by 39% and then amounted for the full year to SEK 717 million, with an operating margin of 12%. Very well done. So we go to the next page, and we see if the voice will keep on going for this picture, but it's about the net asset value. And as I said before, then the stock markets had a strong development, and that is also reflected in the net asset value for Latour, and it has grown by 39% during the year to SEK 136 per share, which can be compared to SIXRX, that grew by 35%. Our share price at the end of December was SEK 153 million, which then means that we have premium to the net asset value of 13%. But when we come to yesterday, the net asset value grew to SEK 137 per share, and the share price had grown to SEK 165.8, which then gives a premium to our way of describing the net asset value of almost 72% . That's a big figure. Latour's consolidated net debt increased during the quarter from SEK 5.3 billion to SEK 7.5 billion mainly due to the acquisition of Caljan. This means that we now have a net debt that corresponds to about 8% of the market value of our total investments. Yes, please turn to the next page, which summarizes our financial targets, and you all recognize them. And we have all -- met all 3 criteria during the quarter and also now for a long stream of consecutive quarters. The growth was 16.7%, the EBIT margin 13.4%, and the return on operating capital of 17.8%. And Johan, finally I give the words back to you.

Thank you, Anders. So next slide is about dividends. In light of the strong developments in the wholly-owned industrial operations as well as in our investment portfolio, we are very happy to announce that the Board proposes an increased dividend by 10% to SEK 275 per share. And I think this shows a really strong track record of increased dividend for many years now in Latour. And then I think we're on the last page. And 1 of the most important parts of our strategy is that the companies that we own shall have the potential for international growth with sustainable products. Our wholly-owned operations work systematically to increase the international presence, both through acquisitions and to gain market share in existing markets. All acquired companies during the year boost the industrial operations, international exposure, but considerable potential remains going forward. During the year, sales generated outside the Nordic region rose from 61% to 65%. We are slowly and steadily growing in the U.S. and in Asia. And at the end of the year, 81% of our total sales was in Europe and 19% in Asia and the Americas. And I would like to say that I've had very busy, but very enjoyable months since I started in September. I'm now even -- I'm now more than ever convinced that we have a portfolio of great companies, which are very well managed by their management teams and fill with motivated colleagues worldwide. And I'm looking forward to see what we can achieve during this year. Thank you very much. I think that concludes the presentation from Anders and myself, and we open up for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from the line of Joachim Gunell from DNB Markets.

Anders and Johan, hopefully your voice can handle this question on this. But I mean, the M&A machine continues to fire on all cylinders here. With, I think, it's 7% gearing now and having utilized the SEK 6 billion MTN program or the framework for that, can you perhaps elaborate a bit on your financial muscle to continue to pursue such an active M&A agenda going into 2020? And also just an update on what types of additions you're looking at the pipeline, et cetera?

I think that's a classic question for our CFO, Anders.

Okay. Thank you, Johan, I'm afraid my voice is not allowing me to answer the question, but I will do it by anyway. And of course, we have made a lot of acquisitions now from September until now and almost SEK 5 billion actually. So that said, we will have a lot of companies to take care of. And I think that is more of a constraint than the possibility. We can still add more acquisitions if you think from the debt side of the company. So we don't see any restrictions going forward. But I think, also Johan agrees to me, that some of our business areas might have a time of consolidation and ahead of them and try to find the synergies and welcome the new companies in the group and so on. And we have a lot to do inside the companies to continue and to continue the organic growth, Johan, so to say.

No, I would just want to add that we -- just to be very clear, I mean, we have the -- we have, by far, the financial capacity to continue to support all our 5 business areas for add-on investments should such matters arise that are very interesting. But to Anders' point, we also need to consolidate what we have.