MB Elettronica s.r.l. (SCANFL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. Welcome to Scanfil's Press Conference. This is about yesterday's closing of MB deal in Italy. And together here with me is our CEO, Christophe Sut; and our CFO, Mr. Kai Valo. And as usually, there will be a Q&A part and the questions will be posted on via chat, and I will be reading those out loud. So now heading to the presentation and handing over to Christophe. So please, Christophe.

Thank you, Pasi, and thanks to all of you for joining us today. Very happy to be able to comment on the opening of yesterday. Moving to the next slide and starting maybe with a reminder on our strategy. I mean, we have expressed the willingness to return to a more acquisitive agenda. It materialized last year with the acquisition of SRX. We closed during December the acquisition of 80% -- acquisition of 80% of Ecosystem. And we were happy to close yesterday the acquisition of MB Elettronica that we announced a little bit earlier last year. And today, I will try to give you a little bit of a glance of how MB has developed since we decided to acquire them and where we stand based on that. Moving to the next slide. And going back first to what is MB providing to Scanfil. And as you know, we have expressed the willingness to buy companies that are a company in a good shape that will either provide complementary footprint in terms of localization or complementary customer base. And I think that obviously, MB is a very nice asset that is now joining Scanfil in the sense that it's bringing all 3 elements on the table, a very healthy performance, coverage in Southern Europe, where we have today a very limited or if no footprint and also a very strong customer base, bringing in particular 2 customer segments, Aerospace and Defense and Medtech, highlighting the fact that MB Elettronica has 30% of its revenue coming out of Aerospace and Defense, which is a segment with a high level of growth. If we move to the next slide, obviously, as I mentioned before, we have today acquired company that exactly 37% during '25 of revenue in Aerospace and Defense as one of the biggest, I will say, single customer group. Then Medtech and Life Science weigh for 7%. And then the remaining part is around industrial customers, which fits very well the way Scanfil operate. In terms of customer mix and dependency, I mean the top 5 customers are averaging about 59% of the revenue of MB. In a way, MB is transformational to Scanfil in the sense that it will modify our customer profile and the way we operate with customers since we will now have a customer group Aerospace and Defense that is more than 10% of our revenue, that is 12% of our revenue. And obviously, MB is bringing an important contribution to that as ADCO did a few months ago and also the organic growth we are having with those customers is developing our customer mix. So I think it is very pleasing to have this new picture where we can clearly see that Scanfil has increased significantly its exposure to a segment that is showing strong growth. Moving to the next slide. We also get not only customer but exposure to Southern Europe -- you will see later that has 4 sites that have different specialization, but offer a very strong platform when it comes to having manufacturing capability in Southern Europe. It also gives a very strong platform in accessing South European customers. So we also know that we are with having the chance to collaborate with customers that will, I am sure, appreciate also our capabilities in the rest of the country. So here, it's a very positive development. And the major site, if you go to the next slide, that is currently located out of Cortona. Cortona is the place where it all started from MB Elettronica and it's obviously a strong platform for the customer segment, Aerospace and Defense. Also reminding you what happened in Germany, I mean, it's the site that was affected in October by a fire, which actually caused a little bit of delay in our closing just that we wanted to make sure that we had the situation under control and things were back up and running, which they are and have been now for some time. So that's very positive. Then the other side, 3 other sites, EBS Elettronica, MB Elettronica and Hi-Tech Elettronica. We have here a mix of sites, 1 -- 2 of them are sites that are very specialized in niche market, which could be related to either space or niche automotive technology and then another side that is more dedicated to industrial type of customers. So here, we have a complementary of certification, competence and capability to serve different customer segments. Moving to the next slide. Then getting back maybe to what we believe makes sense for this acquisition. We have a certain number of growth attributes. We are getting new customer groups with Aerospace and Defense. At least we have a significant growth there. We are gaining new customers that are not overlapping our portfolio and that we will be hopefully able to develop also our [indiscernible] . It gives us access to a market in Southern Europe where we are not very present today. It is complementary in the competence. It's PCBA, box-build, strong knowledge in electronic. I must say it's a very, very modern factory and very competent organization that is characterizing MB. On the value creation side, obviously, customers and the geographical reach and offering will be beneficial to Scanfil. We see opportunity to improve on the supply chain side since we are becoming a bigger and bigger group and are obviously benefiting from that and will allow them to benefit from that. On the employee side, it's both going to offer opportunities to our new acquired company, but also to our existing employees to develop themselves. And finally, on the service side. I mean, and they has a certain number of competence specialized in certification, for example, in Medtech and Life Science that are going to be beneficial to Scanfil, but also to the offering we can provide to our existing customers. So quite a few synergies and strategic fit for MB joining Scanfil. Last but not least, we can also look at the performance. If we move to the next slide. And as I said, we were looking for a company that is a healthy company that we can support the good trajectory. And we believe that the development of MB during 2025 is a proof of that and I would say, [ comfort ] us in our choice with revenue of EUR 120 million, which is a growth level above 20%, comparable EBIT in the range of 10.3%, which is in the high end joining Scanfil Group with 8.6% MB in a way, demonstrated this capability to grow and that is a positive element for us. We also believe that MB is going to continue to grow, and that's why the deal structure was built out of 2 components payment company valuation of EUR 123 million with an upfront payment of EUR 91 million and an earn-out mechanism that will actually be based on the continuous positive development of the company during '26 and '27. That was in a few words, a summary of, I would say, the situation and what we move forward. With that, I will hand over to you, Pasi, and potential questions.

Yes, not only potential. There is a question actually coming in. So about the turnover regarding Aerospace and Defense. [indiscernible] Is asking the presentation says 12% of the turnover from the first 9 months was 12%. And according to his calculations, MB and ADCO should bring another EUR 60 million in revenue. Does that mean that Aerospace and Defense on pro forma basis above EUR 150 million? I would guess that this is for the full year figures or no, actually for the first 9 months. Can you elaborate on the type and number of defense customers also in the Nordics, excluding INVISIO, who is our actually public reference customer in that segment?

Yes. I would say I think it's many questions. We'll try to comment a little bit on the defense segment here. I would say, in general, we have a customer base in defense that obviously is growing both with MB and ADCO. They have in Aerospace and Defense, several customers. So both of them bring not only one customer, but several customers that are sizable and that contribute to the growth. Then for the rest of Scanfil, as you mentioned, we have a customer that everyone knows about because we communicate together very often, which is INVISIO that we are [indiscernible] also customers that we have dealt with for a few years and some that we are starting to deal with obviously, a number, I'm not sure it will make sense, and I'm not sure I will even be able to give the exactly right number. But it's something that is growing both because of the customer we have had with us, but also because we are gaining new opportunities as we go.

Maybe still reminding about the ADCO part of -- in Aerospace and Defense, it was 40% as well. So there is a significant growth coming from these both acquisitions. Waiting for other questions. What kind of revenue level this is on -- what kind of revenue level MB could reach with the current capacity and floor space?

Yes. I think that 2 things. I mean the family has done significant investment over the past years. So you could say that we are definitely not in a situation of capacity being saturated, but it has been planned for growth. So I think that saying that probably 70% of the potential is currently exploded is probably a fair statement. I think there is definitely space for more.

Okay. Thank you. [indiscernible] is asking what is explaining the strong growth of MB despite the fire, do they still have capacity left? So it's a capacity question as well again. But what about the strong growth?

I can answer to the 2 things -- to the 2 questions. I mean the strong growth has been driven by mainly 2 customer segments, 2 customer groups. Obviously, Aerospace and Defense is the most material driver from the growth. The second one is Energy and Cleantech. And as I said, there is still space for growth because, I mean, it was investment made last year, first with the site that is close to Milano, where they transfer some of the manufacturing of industrial products to free up capacity in Cortona, but also with an extension of the Cortona site where there is a dedicated whole for Energy for Medtech, which brings also potential of growth. So those are the future driver for the growth of MB.

Okay. Thanks a lot. So typing questions, if you have questions, so now this is a perfect opportunity to ask them. So a question about the potential acquisition. So what are the targets for 2026 in acquisition-wise? Any thoughts on that?

I think that our agenda when it comes to M&A in a way has not changed in terms of what we are looking for. I mean we are still looking at complementary location. And we know that Asia was one of the areas we highlighted. Americas in general is also an area we highlighted. And then we are also looking for potential companies that have a portfolio either in Aerospace and Defense or in Medtech or Energy Cleantech. So this is things we are looking at. Saying that in the same time, I think it's also, of course, a moment now where we will have also a focus on growing the assets we have acquired. But for the future perspective on acquisition, I mean, I would say the criteria of choice remain the same. There is still work to do digging in that area.

Okay. Question regarding the MBs growth and the growth trend, did MB growth strongly whole year 2025? Or did you see accelerating trend towards the year-end?

Yes. I think that, as I mentioned before, they made a major investment to increase capacity in Cortona, both through this Medtech and also moving -- making some move in manufacturing. And as an impact of it, it drove a growth more on the second part of the year. I think we started to see strong momentum, I would say, from the summer, slightly before the start of the summer.

Okay. We still have some time for questions. So please type in if you have any questions. We can go maybe to key takeaways and if there will be questions in the meanwhile, so we might be addressing those until after that. So let's give them a chance. So now going back to key takeaways.

Good. Thanks, Pasi. So for us, the key takeaway is, obviously, MB is bringing a strong portfolio in Aerospace and Defense with more than 40% of their revenue and obviously, a positive drive at the moment where [indiscernible] countries are pushing up their spendings and budget. We also have a good customer base. When we look at outside of Aerospace and Defense, a lot of very interesting customers, both in industrial but also in Medtech and Life Science that we believe the Scanfil footprint will be of great interest. And then as a second element, we get access to the South European market and to a very, very good facility, both in terms of the performance, I would say, the level of the equipment and automation. So from that perspective, also very pleasing. And then last but not least, I mean, we get the pleasure to have a very talented team, very committed employees. And it's people that we have learned to know through the process and that we are very excited to finally be able to start to work and collaborate with. So I will thank obviously, the family that has been a strong driver and that we are happy to welcome within the Scanfil family, but also all the employees from MB and wish them welcome looking forward for the future.

Okay. Thank you. There was no further questions, but you can feel free to send me an e-mail or call me if you have any questions.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.