Investor AB (publ) (INVEA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the Investor AB Q1 Report 2021. [Operator Instructions] I'll now hand the call over to Viveka Hirdman-Ryrberg, Head of Corporate Communications. Please begin your meeting.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to our Q1 report. We will ask you to start out with CEO, Johan Forssell, presenting results, followed by our CFO, Helena Saxon. And then we will have a Q&A session. So please, Johan.

Thank you, Viveka, and welcome, everybody, to this call about our first quarter results. I think we had a strong first quarter. The listed companies had a total shareholder return of 19%, somewhat above the Swedish stock market that was up 14%. In Patricia, overall good operational performance, even though it still differs between the company somewhat, but I will come back to that. Yesterday, we announced that we are divesting the Grand Group and the Grand Hotel property, and we'll come back to that, too. The investments in EQT continue to develop well, up 30% in the quarter. And the combination with Exeter Property Group was closed in the beginning of this quarter. We have a strong financial position. And last year, we made significant progress towards our 3 sustainability targets. If we then -- all in all, this meant that we had a strong development in our adjusted net asset value and the total shareholder return was up 16% in the quarter. And then moving over to the listed companies. As mentioned, strong performance in TSR. I think the companies have managed the COVID-19 situation well. They have adapted the cost structure, and they have continued to invest in prioritized areas, and the companies also keep strong financials. Top priorities going forward is to capture the opportunities that we see in a number of long-term trends such as demographics, automation, electrification and also for EQT, the strong development in alternative investments. Also highly important, of course, is to make sure that the companies keep as much as possible of the efficiency improvements that have been gained during this pandemic. Moving then to Patricia. The organic growth was up 1% in the quarter. And I will say more details about that later on. The profit growth was up 26%. Adjusted for acquisition costs in the previous year, the adjusted profit growth was 14%. And then the divestment of Grand, total consideration SEK 3.9 billion. After debt amortization in Vectura, we will release about SEK 1.5 billion in proceeds. And the reason for the divestment is that we have concluded that the hotel segment does not fit with our investment priorities. And also, the divestment further sharpens our portfolio. Also important to note is that we have found a good new long-term owner, and we received a good price that reflects the value pre-COVID. Moving to the next page. The organic growth was lower than in the previous quarter, but the profit growth was strong. From the chart, you can also see that the second quarter last year was the low point with an organic growth of down almost 20%. Therefore, looking forward, we will, of course, pay extra attention to not only growth but also the absolute levels when we analyze the figures. And of course, most importantly, that could lead to actions in the company. Moving to the next. We have 4 companies. Mölnlycke, Advanced Instruments, Laborie and Piab that represents about 2 -- sorry, 60% of total sales in the subsidiaries. But these companies, due to the high margin in the companies, represent close to 80% of the value of all subsidiaries. And as you can see, for these 4 companies, the development was very strong during the quarter with organic growth between 9% and 14%. And you can also see that the margins increase from already very high levels in these companies. So very strong development in the quarter. Moving to the next. Sarnova, Permobil and BraunAbility, these companies represent about 40% of sales and about 15% to 20% of the value. And the reason for the lower value is, of course, that these are the companies with relatively lower margin compared to the others. I have split the picture here in two, 1 for Sarnova and 1 for Braun and Permobil. And the reason is that when it comes to Sarnova, the negative growth in the quarter is primarily explained by strong first quarter last year due to the surge in demand and stopgaps when COVID-19 started. In addition to that, there was also a negative impact in this first quarter due to the mild flu season. But overall, the conclusion when it comes to Sarnova is that the company is developing well. When it comes to Permobil and BraunAbility, demand remained negatively affected by COVID-19, but we did see an improvement gradually during the quarter. And for Permobil, we actually saw a slight positive growth in March. You can see that for Permobil, good profit development despite falling sales. And BraunAbility, I think, also held up the margins well, given the large drop on the top line. Then moving over to Mölnlycke. Organic sales growth was 14%, driven by good growth in Wound Care and PPE related sales within Surgical. All geographic regions grew. The emerging markets grew in line with growth for the whole group, but there is no PPE business in that, the underlying business is stronger. Wound Care, as I said, up 5%. Surgical grew 24%, supported by PPE contracts, but importantly also that there was a strong growth in Surgical in Q1 last year, especially in March, due to the outbreak of COVID-19. So in the previous year, we saw very strong growth in margin gloves, antiseptics and staff clothing. So it was also, from that perspective, a tough comparison. So there are positives, and there are also negatives when you look on the growth. When it comes to the customer agreements on PPE, we expect additional sales in the second quarter, but we expect it to be significantly less than in the first quarter, but rather similar to the second quarter last year. So in the second quarter, we don't see any big impact on PPE on Mölnlycke. The profit margin was very strong, up 5 percentage points in the quarter. And the company stepping up investments even more in the commercial organization in emerging markets and especially here in China. Permobil, organic growth minus 7%, and demand, as I mentioned, was better in the latter part of the quarter. EBITDA margin was increased slightly and they launched a new brand promise innovating for individuals, which reflects their ambition to combine software, design hardware to give a very good user experience for the users. Laborie then, I'm glad to see that Urology and GI, finally, we saw an improvement with an organic growth of 11%. And the reason is the gradual resumption of elective procedures. On the other hand, in this quarter, growth in the maternal and child health business, which is the Clinical Innovation acquisition, was actually negative, affected by customer stopgaps in the previous quarter. Profit margin was strong. And the profit margin was 27%. If we adjust for the cost last year of -- related to Clinical Innovation, the margin last year was 17%. Sarnova I have already talked, the key reasons, so I will not repeat it. Very tough comparison last year with the surge of COVID-19 in March. And you can see that also in the bars in the figure. But despite falling sales, the profit margin increased. Moving to Piab, strong development, organic growth of 9%. All regions grew. APAC had the highest growth. And here, there was a very strong growth in China for Piab. EBITDA margin improved. Some things are structural, moving in the right way. For example, synergies are being realized related to the TAWI acquisition. Then some savings here are more short term, for example, reduced travel and marketing expenses, and some of these costs will, of course, gradually come back going forward. Moving then to Advanced Instruments. I'm glad to say that it's the second quarter that we report since we acquired this company, and it has started really well, as you can see, in this quarter, the organic growth was 11%, and the profit margin expanded to 49%. We will accelerate investment in this business because, of course, with the high profitability and the strong position and the strong growth markets they operate in, key is to grow this business. So we will expand both on the commercial side, also on the innovation side. And we will build also, call it, the administrative functions around it to support that stronger growth. In the quarter, we saw growth in all 3 customer segments, but the strongest growth we saw in the biopharma segments. BraunAbility, as mentioned, was down quite a lot in the quarter, minus 16%. We did see here a gradual improvement in the consumer segment, while the commercial part is still depressed by low activity among buses and taxis. Moving over to Three. Subscription base grew, but the service revenue was down 2% in the quarter. And there are 2 main reasons for it. First, the deterioration of the Danish krona compared to the Swedish krona. And second, the decreased international roaming due to COVID-19. Also when you look on these graphs and the profitability, you should remember that following the divestment of the passive network infrastructure, earnings will be lower as we have now established a service contract to utilize the divested network asset. And adjusted for that, EBITDA increased somewhat in the quarter. We -- in the quarter, we received another SEK 400 million related to the divestment of the towers. And in total, this means that we now have received SEK 1.5 billion. The remaining SEK 3.5 billion or SEK 3.6 billion will come later in the year after closing in Italy and the U.K. Moving then to EQT, strong development, total return up 30%. In this quarter, we had a negative cash flow, minus SEK 1 billion. And the reason for that is major drawdowns in EQT IX. Then leaving the quarter and looking forward, our focus for strategic priorities are to sharpen our role as an engaged owner; and secondly, to ensure that we have an attractive portfolio. So let me say a few words about this. Starting with our ownership. I wrote in my CEO letter a comment related to sustainable governance. We all know that there are a number of climate, social and economic challenges in the world. And to handle that, of course, strong business is -- strong corporation and strong business environment is essential to reach where we all want to reach. And our view is that sustainability and long-term share of the value really go hand-in-hand. To maximize the value of a company, you must deliver customer value, invest in your employees, respect human rights, act ethically, and take, of course, decisive actions to combat climate change. So this is important for us. We know it's important for our companies to succeed, gain market share and create long-term value. Unfortunately, the suggestion from EU when it comes to sustainable corporate governance, while they might have a good intention, it actually risks counteract its purpose. And the reason is that they have -- they are proposing detailed regulation on governance, broadening the purpose of the corporation as an institution. And we fear that this will lead to unfortunate consequences. One thing is that they assume that dividends is showing that the company is short-term oriented, which we totally disagree with. Dividends are an essential part to reallocate capital from companies that do not need it to new companies and other companies that needed to invest in new technologies, not the least, to fight climate change. And secondly, we need to have clear roles and responsibilities. And the suggestion is actually about weakening the ownership rights. And we believe that is dangerous because the owners must be able to hold the Board accountable if they do not do what they are there to do. And finally, with this ambiguous and unclear governance model that is being proposed, this year also that there will be less risk capital going into the companies in Europe. And we have already, for many years, seen that the U.S. companies and companies in Asia are moving faster when it comes to technology and certain areas. So I think that this is something that we need to work hard. And we have worked hard versus the commission to try to change what we believe is a very dangerous way forward. Our governance model is based on clear roles and responsibilities with accountability. We always drive what we believe is best for each company. And we have Board representation, owners decide on dividends is a central part of Swedish governance model, and each Board should decide and prioritize when it comes to strategic priorities, including sustainability targets. And the reason is, of course, that the Board of a particular company, they should know the details of that company in that particular industry. And I think that is very important not to forget. In Europe, we need more investments, more innovation, not more regulation. So all in all, we believe that sustainability, some corporate governance and shareholder value go hand-in-hand. Moving then over to look on the performance on sustainability. We have 3 focus areas: business ethics, climate, and diversity and inclusion. And I will not go through all, but you can see in the middle chart here that we have had a strong development. And these -- this graph here shows the scope 1 and scope 2 CO2 emission from all our companies in the portfolio. And you can see it has been reduced by 40% since 2016. We should, of course, be aware that COVID-19 has most likely affected the 2020 figure. But you can see from the graph that the trend is very clear. So there is a lot of good things going on in our companies. And then the other part, diversity, you can see that we have many nationalities. We believe in different mindsets, different backgrounds and we can also see an improvement on the gender side even if there is more to do. Moving then finally over to the other topic to ensure an attractive portfolio. We must, of course, divest companies when we come to the conclusion that they are not in line with our strategy. 2 years ago, we divested Aleris. And yesterday, we announced the divestment of Grand Hotel. And over the same -- or over the last years, we have also invested in 2 new companies. Piab, that drives on the automation trend, and Advanced Instruments with measuring equipment to biopharma, clinical and food industry. These are 2 companies where we believe that they can grow really strong in the years ahead, and they're also highly profitable with good cash generation. So this is about changing. Sometimes you need to change even if you are long term. But I really want to stress the bubble in the middle, because it is the most important part, of course, is that we, as a long-term owner, make sure that our companies also develop and change versus the trends that we see in the global arena. And I will not go through all of them, of course. But if I take one example on the public side and one on the private side, Atlas Copco, a number of years ago expanded into vacuum that is now growing fast due to the sharp demand for CMS. We have also steered the tooling business versus the need for lighter material and electric drive today with products within adhesives and riveting. These are examples how you continuously must change to where the future growth is. Permobil, another example, when we bought the company, they only had electric wheelchairs. Now we have manual, we have seating and positioning, and we are also moving more and more into digital to get the better user experience. These are 2 examples on changing the mix in the portfolio also when it comes to developing the companies. So with that, I hand over to Helena.

Thank you, Johan. Let's have a look at the net asset value development in the quarter. Let's go to the next slide. Our adjusted net asset value grew in the quarter by almost SEK 90 billion and landed at SEK 636 billion at the end of March. Going over to listed companies, which constitutes 2/3 of our portfolio, it amounted to SEK 430 billion at the end of the quarter. And the total shareholder return, as I already mentioned, was 19% compared to 14%. Looking at the growth on the right-hand side, you can see that the performance in the portfolio was mixed with the strongest performer being Epiroc, SEB and Electrolux, while the Saab, Electrolux Professional, and in particular, Sobi had a tougher quarter from a share price perspective. Next slide shows Patricia Industries, where performance was relatively weaker with a total return of 4%, excluding cash in the quarter. And looking at the sequential change in estimated market values, we can see that Laborie and Mölnlycke increased the market values most at SEK 2.7 billion and SEK 2.6 billion, respectively, while Piab and others a little more than SEK 1 billion. Net proceeds from financial investments amounted to SEK 776 million, and there was an additional SEK 405 million distributed from Three related to the divestment of the passive network infrastructure. Permobil estimated market value decreased in the quarter due to lower earnings and multiple contractions. And looking at the next slide at the major drivers and the development of the estimated market values, you can see that Laborie, SEK 2.7 billion increase was due to strong earnings, currency and multiples, which all impacted the value positively. Mölnlycke increase of SEK 2.6 billion was due to earnings and currency, which both impacted positively while multiples impacted negatively. And please also note that the multiple is adjusted to reflect the PPE-related profits during the last 12 months. For Piab, both multiples and earnings impacted the value positively, while for Permobil, it was the opposite and both earnings and the multiples impacted the value negatively resulting in a value decrease of EUR 1.4 billion. Going over to our financial position. It remains very strong. We have a gross cash position of SEK 22.7 billion and a net debt of SEK 19.6 billion. Leverage at the end of the quarter was below our target range at 3.4%. And then finally, my last slide shows investors average annual total shareholder return as per March 31, and it shows a year-to-date performance, the 1-, 5-, 10- and 20-year performance. And the growth shows clearly that we have outperformed our return target of 8% to 9% in all periods, and this then SIXRX in all but 1 period. And we will, of course, as Johan has already said, continue to work hard to create shareholder value or increase value for shareholders also in the future. That is all from me. And I will now hand over to Viveka for a Q&A session.

Yes. Thank you, Johan, and thank you, Helena. We will now move over to the Q&A session, and we will be guided by our facilitators.

[Operator Instructions] We currently have one question in the queue so far. That's from the line of Joachim Gunell of DNB Markets.

So 2 questions for me. To start off here with the recent Grand transaction, I mean, it's just another step post the Aleris divestment, it's prune the portfolio to be more aligned with your investment strategy. Totally makes sense. But where would you say you are now in relation to having only strategic assets in Patricia Industries?

I think that, as I mentioned in my presentation that if I start with the current portfolio, I think we have a continuous job to do. We need to continuously work through our companies, and they are gradually changing and steering to new growth areas. So that's a continuous work. But when it comes to the portfolio of existing ones, I do not want to comment on that. That is something that we always evaluate, and I've said that many times before. We are always looking at new opportunities, and we are always looking to really see if we are the right owner and the way to maximize long-term value. But I will, of course, not speculate on it.

Understood. And I mean I'm perhaps reading a bit too much into this, but both on your recent CMD and in your recent investor material here, it seems that you are portraying Patricia Industries more and more as, call it, I mean, an aggregate platform of subsidiaries with cash flow and M&A optionality, perhaps. So with that being said, do you think it would make sense to assess Patricia Industries more on a combined entity basis as opposed to assess the stand-alone businesses themselves?

Yes. I think that's a good question. Thank you. I think from our point of view, of course, each company is run independently with their own Boards, et cetera, and that's coming back to the governance that I discussed before. But, of course, as an owner, we are also supporting -- all companies supporting that they can learn from each other and support also from the parent side. And that, I think, is important when it comes to geographical expansion, handling sustainability issues. So we -- for sure, we look on the individual companies and their performance. But we also, of course, have ambitions for the total performance of the Patricia portfolio when it comes to top line profit, cash flow and total shareholder return. So the answer to your question, I think it's both.

[Operator Instructions] Okay. There seems to be no further questions coming through at this time. So I'll hand the floor back to our speakers.

Thank you. With that, we want to say thank you for today, and we will be back in Q2 then. Thank you all.