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

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Investment AB Latour's Year-end Report for 2021. [Operator Instructions] Today, I am pleased to present Johan Hjertonsson, President and CEO; and Anders Morck, CFO. Speakers, please begin.

Thank you so much, sir. Johan Hjertonsson here speaking. Very welcome to our presentation of the year-end report. Normally, we have strong competition when it comes to business and selling products and so on. But today, we have very strong competition on -- to get attention because right now, when we start the call, Nils van der Poel is going for 10,000 meters in speed skating in the Olympics. So let's think about him and that we get another Olympic Gold model for Sweden. Hopefully, we could announce that gold medal, hopefully, at the end of our call. So let's see. So with that said, once again, very welcome, and we can start on the first slide here, where we focus on the long-term sustainable value creation and our group structure. And the structure is unchanged from last quarter. But during last year, we had another business area with Bemsiq, which we announced at quarter 3. So this is the first quarter we report for Bemsiq. And we added 1/10 listed holding with CTEK. So congratulations to Bemsiq and very welcome once again CTEK to the Latour Group. We have also, in the partly old businesses, we have divested our Neuffer Holding. And today, we only have [indiscernible] left in the part of owned holdings. Then we can change slide. And then if we look at the total return for the portfolio, as I said, there's no change in the quarter. And as I said earlier in the year, we added CTEK, where we stepped in as the largest shareholder. We hold 31% in CTEK. We were the anchor investors and they did their introduction earlier on in the year. Value development, 44.6% during the year; the SIXRX, 39.3%. I would like to say that all holdings are marked by the supply chain disruptions in various ways but the underlying development is, in general, very good. Very high activity with the acquisitions and there are 2 that I would like to point out especially. One in Assa Abloy with the acquisition of -- which is on the process of HHI in North America, which is ASSA ABLOY's largest acquisition so far. And also in Securitas with the acquisition of Standard Black & Decker Security, where Latour has committed its pro rata share of the new issues that Securitas will issue to finance that acquisition. And we also committed a further USD 120 million as a guarantee for new share issued in that acquisition. Two very large acquisitions in our portfolio announced during Q3 and Q4. And until yesterday, the portfolio value decreased SEK 81.8 billion, and total return amounts to minus 16.9% so far this year. And the SIXRX has been down 9.5%. So as you all know, the start of the year has been fairly shaky in the financial markets. Okay. And then we go on and we come to our wholly owned operations. Strong growth and a record year, I would like to announce. And we're very proud of the development in our wholly owned operations. So very strong ending to the year. Actually, the best fourth quarter so far in the history of the company. Continued good development with strong underlying demand. And we have a very strong order intake with 17% organic growth in the quarter. Also, in our wholly owned operations, we have, of course, in the supply chain disruptions that has affected all operations in various degrees. Therefore, sales is not developing in the same pace as the order intake. Nevertheless, we had an organic growth of sales of 13% in the quarter. Since the order intake for some time now has been considerably larger than the sales, we have a record high order stock or orders on hand at the beginning of the year going into 2022. I'm very proud that we have been able to maintain a high service levels to our customers. We have prioritized to serve our customers. We believe that's very, very important. But we have done that to a higher cost which is in the short term will affect our margins going forward. But we believe that it's more important to serve our customers and that will pay in the long run. And operating profit, a total growth of 22% in the quarter to SEK 723 million and with an EBIT margin of 13.8%. And if I comment on the full year, of course, it's marked by the pandemic and all the associated effect with that, higher raw material prices, supply chain issues, et cetera, as we mentioned. I think all challenges have been handled very well by our management teams and all of our NPEs and staff. And we've done that with a focus and priority on employer safety first. If you look at the full year, the total growth of orders is 35% and net sales is 24%. And the total operating profit has grown 26% to SEK 2.663 billion. Last year, we were at SEK 2.117 billion with an EBIT margin for the full year of 14.6% compared to 14.3% in 2020. We continue to invest in our holdings to drive sustainable growth and gain market shares. As we've said in Q3, in Q2 and also Q1 last year, we continue our very strong focus on sustainability and digitalization where we've done quite large inroads going forward. I'm very happy to say that we have very well-positioned businesses with very high-quality operations and the full year result and the quarter result is a great result. And we are very happy, and I think we, all team members in that too, we should be very proud of these figures. And then we go into acquisitions during 2021 in the wholly owned operations. So that's the next slide. There we go. We've had -- on top of the strong organic growth in both net sales, orders and EBITDA, as I just mentioned, we have also had a record-high activity when it comes to M&A during last year. All in all, we finalized 10 acquisitions, 10 transactions in the wholly owned operations, of which one in the last quarter with Scangrip to Hultafors Group. Scangrip is a Danish leading manufacturer of innovative LED working lights with net sales of about -- of DKK 220 million with a profitability well above the Hultafors average margins. Latour Future Solutions have made 2 investments during the year, of which one in the last quarter in Swedish Hydro Solutions, a Swedish company offering sustainable solutions for water treatment, for instance, at building sites. And it uses nature's own value chemistry instead of aggressive chemicals to purify large amounts of wastewater. So very happy to be minority investors into that business and help to support Swedish Hydro Solutions to grow further on to make also the world a little bit better place. And as I said before, we have divested Neuffer. We signed that in December. Finalized that early in the new year in January. And also after the end of the quarter, Hultafors Group acquired Telesteps, which is a Swedish leading manufacturer of telescopic ladders based in Tranås with a global distribution. Net sales of about SEK 87 million with a profitability well in line with that of the Hultafors Group. Bemsiq acquired Consens through the subsidiary S+S Regeltechnik. And Consens is a German developer of devices, sensors, components and testing technology and systems for humidity temperature and air quality. Net sales of about EUR 3 million and profit levels well above the Latour financial targets. And yesterday, Latour Industries acquired Esse-Ti, an Italian manufacturer of alarm systems for elevators with a net sales of about EUR 10 million and with a quite large export share in their business of about 40%. So having said that, I would like to hand over to our esteemed Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Anders Morck, who is -- the slides here. So over to you, Anders.

Thank you so much, Johan. And I will try to take us through all of the 6 of our business areas, and we start with the first one, that is Bemsiq. Welcome Bemsiq and first time reported as a separate business area from fourth quarter 2021. You had an impressive 54% growth in the quarter, explained partly by Greystone acquisition, but also strong organic growth. The order intake grew by 13% organically. And the growth in net sales was slightly lower than order intake, mainly due to lack of components. And as you heard Johan say before, that is a problem that we will talk about in all business areas. Bemsiq had a very strong profitability during the year, a bit lower though in the fourth quarter due to some one-offs that will not be repeated going forward. Greystone, the acquisition made in end of September, is included from the fourth quarter and contributes very positively to the figures. A good start from [ Mikel ] and his team. So very well done and once again, very much welcome. And we know that's your systematic work for continued profitable growth will not stop here. So please feel free to continue that work. We turn page to Caljan. And yes, the picture is, as you can see -- sorry, Caljan continues to see a very strong underlying demand for their products. And you are showing really amazing figures. Order intake in the fourth quarter grew by 50% and by amazing 129% for the full year. And in this case, it's all organic growth, remember that. And as you can understand, then the order book is on a record level. And also here, the main challenge is supply chain. I don't have to say too much about that because you all understand it. But even though with the high growth and this problem, Caljan maintained a very high service level to the customers. And even though that the net sales growth, of course, is not at the same level as the growth of the order intake. It was an excellent profit in quarter, SEK 11.7 million with a margin of 21.4%, as you can see in the chart. And we continue to support Caljan with large investments to support their expansion. For example, a new building in Germany now will be put up during the year to meet the required expansion. And there is also a lot of work done with the many recruitment needed for Caljan. All in all, a fantastic year. So many thanks also to Henrik and his team in Denmark and all over the world. We go to the next business area, which is Hultafors Group. They showed a very good sales development actually on all the main markets during the year. Impressive growth, 2020. They had a turnover of SEK 3.6 billion and it grew to 5.5% this year. Truly a nice thing also here. During the quarter, the growth was only 58%. Yes, you understand, I guess. And the organic growth was 14%. The achievements during the year are remarkable, a year with many challenges. But also here, we kept the highest service level to the customers, and we could -- through doing that, we can say that we have gained market shares and very impressive during such circumstances. The supply chain challenges, we also had here, of course, and that had negatively affected margins short term. Anyway, the profit of SEK 241 million in the fourth quarter is truly impressive. We can say that we acquired Scangrip in October, and Scangrip is very well, of course, and included in the figures from November. So Martin and team, I'm very glad for your achievements and very well done. Let's go for Latour Industries. And here, we should start to congratulate Johan and his team for delivering a new business area. And that was, of course, Bemsiq that we talked about before. And if you look on the figures now, then Bemsiq is, of course, carved out from the figures going back in the history. And I think we should focus on the 5-year development here for Latour Industries. Even though we took out Bemsiq, there is an impressive both growth in top line and especially in profits. There have been and are still many good initiatives for future growth. And to grow both top line and profitability structurally. And we can see a major improvement in the underlying operations of the remaining businesses here. And as you know, investments in the future is always taking a form of lower profits in the beginning. And we see major improvement step by step as it has been now for many years for Latour Industries. And we expect that to continue, which is very promising. And on top of that, you will continue to do your acquisition agenda, that means that you will do both add-on. One of them, Johan just told about and also find new platforms for new business areas, for Latour. So very, very well done Johan and your team for this systematic work and for the long-term sustainable growth and value creation. Let's go for the next business area, which should be Nord-Lock. Here, it's important to say, I think, that Nord-Lock made a remarkable comeback during 2021. Compared to many listed peers with similar customer segments and geographic exposure, Nord-Lock actually outgrow them all and that is very interesting, both in the fourth quarter and for the full year. And that was actually made despite the major setback in China, where activities have been very low during the year. In the fourth quarter, the organic growth was 19% in sales and 15% in orders, driven by Europe and Americas. And also here, the order book is on a record level. The operating result is excellent, SEK 74 million, with very strong operating margin of close to 21%. So also here, I would like to say thanks to Fredrik and his team for the progress made in 2021 and the foundation of work that you have laid for 2022. So let's move on to Swegon on the last business area. High activity here on orders. Orders grew by -- sorry, 17%, and order back is once again on a record level. And as you can understand, due to supply chain problems, net sales grew a little bit less than order intake, but still with a good figure of 9% organically in Q4. Very positive that the net sales growth is spread evenly over many markets. And in product groups, it's mainly explained by the good development in air handling units. We can see that supply chain disruptions somewhat stabilized during the quarter, but it's not over yet, remember that. And in combination with that, there are many delays building projects. Sales is lower than what could be possible. So without these issues, the sales would have been even higher. The operating side grew by -- sorry, grew to SEK 177 million during the quarter, a very nice level with a good margin of 11.6%, however, affected by lower gross margins due to the mentioned problems. And of course, necessary price adjustments have been implemented. So we see this as a short-term issue that will be better coming on going forward. So finally, thanks to also Andreas and his team for the strong performance during 2021 and -- that you have laid such a good foundation for 2022. So you can feel good inside and you deserve it. Let's go for the NAV, that increased by the high amount of 43% during the year to SEK 216. You know that the share price at the end of December was SEK 369. So we had actually premium to the way we look at the net asset value or prudent valuation. But then the premium was 71%. Yesterday, the net asset value decreased to SEK 190 per share due to the stock exchange development in the beginning of 2022. And our share price had decreased to SEK 287, which still gives a premium to our reported net asset value of 51%. We still have a good low net debt in Latour. It decreased from last quarter's SEK 8.5 billion, actually to SEK 8.4 billion. And that is even though we made acquisitions during the quarter. So we had a really good cash flow in the last quarter this year. Our net debt corresponds now to 6% of the total market value of our investments. And then, I think that's all for me, and I leave for Johan to take us on the financial targets.

Thank you, Anders, for an excellent presentation and describing the development in our business areas. Fantastic. Thanks a lot, Anders. Okay. Coming to our financial targets. A summary of the targets. We say we should grow annually more than 10%. We should have an operating margin of more than 10%, and the return on operating capital somewhere 15% to 20%. And during the last 12 months, which in this case is last year, we had a growth of 23.7%, an EBIT margin of 14.6% and a return on operating capital of 16.4%. So I'd like to say, we'll deliver on all of those by far. And it's a very strong performance. And we are very proud as a team, having done this as a team within Latour. Next slide, it's about the return to our shareholders, which I think is very, very important. And the good development and the strong financial position with that as a backdrop, the Board of Directors in Latour proposes to the AGM an increase of the dividend to SEK 330 per share, which is an increase of 10% compared to last year. And this is fully in line with our dividend policy within Latour. And I would like to point out the strong historic trend of increased dividends, as you can see on this slide. So we're very happy to announce another increase and huge -- further development on that trend. And then next slide, we have the international growth. And as you know, it was a strong overall for the Latour Group. Our holdings are very well positioned on the respective notice, and we have very good and strong management teams in place. And with Latour's long-term view and ambition to grow, and we are delivering on the growth targets, we could say where we stand to that. Just look at this world map, and you will see there is lots of potential left for future growth in internationalizing our businesses going forward. So having said that, great year in last year, fantastic development, and the future is bright. There are lots of opportunities going forward. So having said that, I'd like to thank you all for listening so far, and we open up the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of [ Aurora Tigershaw ] from DNB.

I'm stepping in for my colleague, Joachim Gunell. So with a few quarters since the acquisition of the Fristads brands and Hultafors, can you provide some more details on how the integration of the acquired brands are going and if you see a potential to close the gap to the Hultafors total? And what action still needs to be taken?

Okay. Good. I can give a first shot at that question and please add, Anders, if you want. We acquired and started to integrate Fristads as of March of last year. And we are very happy. So far, we had high expectations of Fristads and -- but we're very happy that they have been overshot during the year. So the margin development is even better than expected as a company part of the Hultafors Group. It's not yet up to the same level as the overall Hultafors margin levels, but it's getting there. I also would like to point out that the fit with Hultafors from our company culture point of view is very, very strong. It's a very nice team and a very strong culture in Fristads that we have into the group. And what we're doing with in Hultafors Group, we're creating a division within Hultafors Group that is called PPE, personal protection equipment, where you have the Fristads brand, you have the Snickers brand, and you have the Hellberg brand. And long term, we're looking to add also more brands that kind of protect the whole body. We have our [ shoe ] brands also in there. So it's everything around protecting feet, body, head and face going forward. Do you want to add to that, Anders or...

No, but well put, Johan, I think.

Yes. And then I had another question about, well, throughout your presentation, you spoke about the macroeconomic world in which your different portfolio companies are operating. And so I was wondering if you could maybe give an insight as to what magnitude you have implemented price increases to compensate for higher raw materials and price cost inflation that we see?

Yes, good question. I would like to start with a summary, and then I'll explain a bit, but I think we have strong pricing power. And we do get higher prices implemented in the market. And this is extremely important to do and we're working a lot with. And our management teams are working with this task. Quite a lot of price hikes are implemented. And then in some of our businesses, we have also very long -- longer contracts where those contracts will have to run out before we -- because we always on our contracts and agreements within Latour before the new prices kicks in. But overall, I'm happy with how we managed to get our cost inflation -- our incoming cost inflation out in higher prices. So we're both raising the bridge and lowering the water and having a higher margin. More headroom to sail under.

That's great. And then I might as well continue with a third question, which is with Bemsiq becoming its own business area. In what way can that accelerate its strategy, would you say?

Sorry, I didn't get your last part there. You said Bemsiq...

Yes. Just how you think that it might be able to accelerate its strategy being its own business area?

Okay. No, it's -- we have, within Latour, when a business reaches a certain size then we also see strong development potential going forward. We do set them up as separate business areas. And a business area within Latour has a quite strong stand-alone type unit that really drives its own operations and it increases the focus and the transparency and the visibility of that business areas. And it also makes it easier to acquire even better managers around in the management teams in that business area. And it's -- you should read it as a sign from Latour that we believe there is strong potential going forward and that it can grow into a large business when we do separate into a separate business area. Would you like to add to that, Anders, as well or...

Yes. I just think, of course, the change in itself is a good mark, but the potential has not changed. It was the same before. So as you say, Johan, it's a good mark that we have created a substantial company here with great potential for the future. And now it's transparent.

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from the line of Rasmus Engberg from Handelsbanken.

I just wanted to ask you again about this margin pressure that you experienced. Where are you in getting that through the system? How -- did I understand correctly that you expect it to have an impact also in the coming quarters, but gradually less? Or can you sort of describe that -- where we are in that process?

Should you start on that one, Anders, and then I...

Yes. I would say then that the answer will be different for different business areas. Of course, price increases, I would say, have been implemented fully but it actually depends on the length of the order backlog because we do not change prices for already confirmed orders. So for instance, Swegon would have a bit longer time than Hultafors because Hultafors actually don't have any backlog and Swegon might have 2 or 3 months before orders are executed to deliveries. And -- but I think we will have a spillover on Q1 but it will gradually improve and be normal in Q2 next year. That's my best guess.

Is this, this year, you mean?

Yes, yes, yes. Of course, 2022 -- no, 2023.

On the other question, I guess, would be regarding the valuation multiples. We've had kind of a setback in the market now. Is that something that we should anticipate spillover into your valuations? Or how stable are they, your multiples?

That's a typical CFO question. So I ask Anders to start.

Yes. Well, my take on that is actually that I don't think that it will make any major negative impact on the multiples we have shown. And the reason for that is as we have tried to communicate that we have -- we don't have perfect peer groups for our -- in the business areas. We can have a peer group with a very high range when we look -- Swegon, for example, have some peers as low as 10 in multiple and others on almost 50. So we don't think we have a good basis for taking our business areas to the average of the peer groups. So we are substantially below when we choose the multiples in our net asset value. And we try rather to think that the market should look at the profits and the growth that we deliver, and that analysts then have the opportunity to make their own choice of multiples on our businesses. So -- but a long answer on your short questions. Next quarter, I don't foresee that it should be lower multiples just because we are already with a substantial headroom to the average of the peer groups that we have. Was that okay an answer, Rasmus? Or...

Yes. That's very clear, very clear. And the final question would be, of course, if you have an update on the skating?

Yes. I have an update on the skating. Nils van der Poel in the first hit, made it in 12 minutes, 30 seconds, which is a new world record. And now it remains 2 hits. And he's on the first place, well ahead of the second place. So it's a fantastic first hit from the Nils van der Poel. It looks really good, looks very promising.

No further questions then.

I'm very happy that we could report on our full year report and to report on the Olympics you've heard in here. That's very good. Any more questions from the audience?

Currently, we have no further questions registered.

Okay. Thank you so much for listening in. We wish Nils van der Poel the absolute best of luck in hit 2 and 3 now. It looks really good. So strong performance for Latour and strong performance for Nils van der Poel. I think, well, that's the summary on the end of this call. So thank you, everybody, for listening in and looking forward to talk to you to present quarter 1 later in the year. Thanks a lot. Bye.