Kalmar Oyj B

Kalmar published its Q1 report in the morning, and this morning I have a challenge from the CEO of the company, Sami Nirona. Hello, Sami. Hello, hello. If we go through the past quarter in a traditional way, how would you sum it up?

I would say that a stable start to the year as a whole and perhaps a little split. There was a lot of good things that we did during Q1. The turnover grew from the previous year. The orders were on a very good level. There weren't any bigger shipping orders. There were a few orders, of course, but not much. in the previous year or in the previous four years, and in that respect, the 451 million is satisfied with it. Then the cash flow was strong, and of course the investment in the daily income, accordingly, improved as well. So there were a lot of good things in this way. The so-called driving excellence program is doing really well. There are now these savings, increased driving efficiency, in front of €40 million. Of course, not everything has been materialized yet, but it really supports our operation and gives us the opportunity to invest in our strategic areas now and in the future. So, the positive side that remains to be improved is the profitability of the maintenance and service business, perhaps the overall volume as well. In terms of orders, it fell slightly below 150 million. If you think about the previous four years, it fell below that. In terms of profitability, it fell by 16%. That's a big drop compared to last year, but overall, it fell by 17.6% for the entire last year. I'm not satisfied with that. We got a 10% drop in full electric vehicles. That's 9% in the last 12 months. We haven't gone any further, so we have to improve that as well. That's where the duality in the quarter comes in. Yes.

Let's talk about the service industry. You had challenges there. What were the main reasons behind the report?

I would say that the materialization or spirit was found in the North American market, the US market, which is a very large share market for us. Of course, we have a lot of retailers there who take care of the maintenance and maintenance, but the share sales are very significant there. The market has been at the bottom for a long time, it has been rising since 2024 and so on, and it hasn't really recovered much from it. There are conflicts in the middle of all uncertainties, plus the tariff picture is constantly changing, as it is now, for example, during Q1. This causes uncertainty in the teams of our end customers, so the market has not started to grow. Despite the fact that 1-2% of the equipment can work, compared to the previous year, it doesn't change the big picture. So, it was a quiet market. Of course, with our own activities, we can also help. So, it can always be more proactive. But the North American market tariffs were what diluted our profitability. Not in the same scale as last year. We have improved. We have been able to bring tariff impacts and prices, but not in full. It was the opposite. It also happened in the equipment sector, not just in the care sector. I would say that this is where the weaker profitability comes in. You have to remember that it is one quarter and it is Q1. In the big picture, nothing has changed and has changed in our care growth strategy, i.e. fully forward. I am confident that the procedures we have been following from last year and from June 1st, starting with customer orientation and focus, and looking at the cost side as well, will bring our profit back in the coming quarter.

As you mentioned, the market has been larger and longer. Q1 has been quite different. Compared to last year, were sales mixes still in progress? What is the background?

It remains to be said that when the share of sales is weaker, perhaps compared to some period last year, for example, 10-20%, it affects the why, i.e. the product portfolio or the supply. In a way, there will be more emphasis on other maintenance service business products, which are extremely important and significant for us, but it still affects profitability, and that is exactly what has happened here. And then the volume. It is important for us as a team, but also for the maintenance service business. So every million on the top line brings profitability, and it affects the bottom line percentage as well.

Yes, yes. Maybe to the effect of the fires. It seems that the problem has been solved better on the hardware side than on the service side.

What difference does that make? It has been the same on both sides, including last year. It may have looked a bit better on the other side as well, but as of June 1st, it has been the same on both sides. the impact of this tariff on both the equipment and the maintenance side. If we think about the future, this tariff situation has changed. There will be a different interpretation of these steel fires, which will also affect the equipment side. If we think about our haarukka trucks, which are brought from Puola, they will have a bigger fire. compared to last year, when the stock price may be slightly lower, since the interpretation of the iron ore has changed. It is a continuous struggle and understanding of where to go, but we are trying, even if there are bigger fires coming in, we are trying to mitigate them as much as we can. But there is a gap somewhere, and the key question is that we are really close to our customers and retailers, and we are discussing these issues.

Just like that. Or do you expect the tariff to remain the same as before?

Yes, dilution and inflation will certainly happen. Time will tell how the new interpretation will affect. The situation is a bit better. The forecast may be a bit better compared to Q1. in the next two or three months. It has improved all the time.

We have achieved price improvements. Let's move on to the market situation. Let's look at how the market has developed in the context of uncertainty. Let's say that it's stable.

What we're giving out is the next six-month market situation forecast. We still say that it's at a fairly stable level compared to previous quarters. If we look at the previous four quarters, June 1, 2026, our orders have been around 450 million or so. There are a lot of changes in the portfolio, but there is a good understanding of it. If I talk about the issue now, it will not directly correlate to orders, but Q1 has shown that we are there. We expect the next six months to be at the same stable level, but taking into account the conflict and the close eastern Iran situation with the USA, it may affect, if it starts to affect, for example, Asian markets. or the US price levels, and so on. We need to follow the situation closely. But if we look back at June 1st, there was good performance on both sides. Europe was down by a percentage in June 1st, 2025, but due to the strong cash register orders, we couldn't take the lead. On the contrary, I think we had good performance in all customer segments. jakelupuoli nyt näki hieman valoa tunnelin päästä Q1 aikana, mikä linkittyy sitten meidän terminaalitraktorin bisnekseen tuolla USA. Elikkä sielläkin oli pientä parantumista, mutta liian aikaista vetää johtopäätöksiä, että jatkuuko se nyt ja miten pitkään ja mille tasolle se sitten menee. Mutta kokonaisuutena olen aika tyytyväinen kyllä. The port traffic and the port terminals are still very active.

Yes, so there are no significant changes in the field, either in the territorial area or in the activity of customer services?

Not really. The interesting thing about the US market as a whole is the demand. There was a drop in demand, and the terminal tractors on the other side performed better in the survey, so there was a change. But the Asian market is also interesting. which will lead to the conflict in the Middle East. But nothing big at the moment. We are wiser in June when we report on Q2.

Yes. If we go to the US markets, outside the US as well, do you see that the employees will start to adapt better to the tariff environment? On the other hand, has there been a decline in demand in the markets over the past year?

We have to hope so, but the market is probably part of it, and that's what we think. We don't base our business on the fact that the tariffs are now and will remain after the next election. We have to adapt to that. but there are no question marks. If there is a small improvement in the Terminal Tractor business, it is still too early to make bigger decisions. What is this, and what is really important to us and our customers, is that we can adapt to a situation like this, which always changes, and to take into account new tariffs and changing tariffs, and to provide added value to our customers all the time. That is our main focus here. In a way, tariffs are an external factor that is very important to take into account, but our main focus is on our customers and our own operations.

Exactly. If we go back to the near-life situation, have there been any effects? Have you noticed any changes in Kalmar's business? On the other hand, how big a part of Kalmar's business is, for example?

Not a huge part. A few percent. We have 15 employees, and then we have more and more customers. Our main focus has been to keep our employees safe. In our locations, we also consider our retailers to be capable of working closely with them. We also consider our customers to be as capable as possible. These are the three main pillars that we have implemented so far. Kustannuspuolella negatiivisia yllätyksiä Q1 aikana ei merkittävästi, että ollaan pystytty hyvin kyllä toimimaan tämän Lähi-idän tilanteen kanssa. Mitä tulee sitten jatkoon, niin sen tietysti aika näyttää, miten pitkälle mahdollisesti menee, mutta kyllähän siellä hinnankorotuksia, polttoainehinnat ynnä muut, logistiikkaa, kuljetushinnat, niin on nousussa ja näin edespäin. Meillä on kyllä hyvät sopimukset sitten eri suuntiin, material operators as well as the rest of the customers. We try to reduce the risk for them. But the situation is still going on. On the positive side, as we saw at the end of Q1, maybe at the turn of the quarter, there have been a few orders. When the geopolitical situation is what it is, and there are tight areas where material cannot be taken, the flow of material will change. quite often, and new, not entirely new, harbours are found there, but we take into account the existing locations there. We have also sold our solutions to places like that at the moment. The situation is not just negative. Yes, yes.

Well, of course, the flow of operations changes with this situation as well. Has this had any significant effects on you? Has it caused any disturbances to any of the flow of operations?

Ei merkittävästi kuun ykkösen aikana. Nyt täytyy tietysti seurata, mitä tapahtuu sitten jatkossa. Mutta onhan siellä materiaali, tämmöset puutteet ynnä muut. Sitten jos tää kriisi jatkuu pidempään, niin silloinhan tietysti riski on olemassa eri puolille. Mutta me toimitaan, meidän hankintapuoli, Koko organisaatio kyllä on ajanhermolla siinä, että pyritään kyllä varmistamaan, että saadaan tuotteet meidän toimittajilta, kuin myöskin sitten saadaan vietyä meidän tuotteet meidän loppuasiakkaille niin hyvin kuin mahdollista. Mutta ehkä nyt kuljetusajoissa varmaankin on jonkunnäköistä viivästystä, kun niitä joutuu kiertämään sitten eri kautta.

Just näin. In the end, an even bigger theme is the use of electricity. The use of electricity in the processing of materials and how it has progressed. As I mentioned in the beginning, the development of full electricity has not been the goal of Q1 or the last 12 months. But has the use of electricity in the big picture progressed? in terms of what was expected of Päivämäenparkki and Päivälä aikoina?

It has progressed, and our interest in the world of our end customers is strong. I am satisfied that we are at 10% We have implemented devices. Customers are happy with our full power solutions. Our overall economy, so-called TCO, Total Cost of Ownership. We are bringing new types of devices to the market, which will bring more opportunities. Last year, we have launched new battery solutions, which bring cost competitiveness and efficiency to our devices. There is a strong interest in these, but decision-making from the customer's point of view. So, what we have noticed, maybe two or three years ago, or a couple of years ago, when it was the market day, we were able to think that it could be a decision-making process of one and a half to two years, when customers from all over the world think about their where they work, how much electricity is available, and how the infrastructure is designed. It depends on the size of the investment. There are pilot purchases, where you buy a device and test it. That's what happens here and there. But in the bigger scale, if we go all the way from full-electric to diesel, it takes time. But that's our key area at Kalmar where we can help our customers. And now, in the quarter, After that, in April, we reported one significant order from Brasilia, which had six empty containers. They were top-class devices, fully electric, for their markets. We have previously said that competition is tough in certain Asian markets, as well as in South America. This shows that we are now very competitive with these new battery solutions.

In the decision-making process, the timetable is longer, but does it affect the size of the equipment? Is it more about the customer's own operating environment, that the equipment is so important? Is it due to the fact that, for example, high-tech technologies are not as effective in large companies?

I would say that for customers in general, it is the infrastructure, then this change management. This is different when you have to change the layout, then the availability of care, pricing and so on. These are the barriers that have been encountered there. But in terms of the size of the equipment, it's important because if we think about the lighter equipment, i.e. under 15,000, what are we not included in? They are almost, I don't know, one hundred percent, but for quite a long time, electrified equipment that works indoors, especially somewhere in the storage environment and so on, the starting point is an electric device. When it comes to medium or heavy equipment, it is not necessarily there. 90% is still something hybrid or diesel, so it does affect it. But little by little, we are definitely moving forward with electricity on the heavier side as well. So the whole sentiment in the market is quite the opposite of what we have talked about starting from the first few years of the global market. The geopolitical situation of 2024-2025 has taken it a bit in a different direction. It's interesting to see how the price of gasoline and fuel prices will affect this.

Just like that. You also mentioned Asia. Asia has been the most competitive market for Kalmar. How good are you in terms of the electricity trend in the future? Is Kalmar competitive in all of those devices?

This is how we strive, and we are. We have a fantastic portfolio. We are now completing it with a few more solutions. This is an ongoing process. There will be new generation devices in the coming years and so on. The battery solutions that we launched last year bring our competitiveness around the world. One order from South America is now a proof of that. as well as Asia. It is definitely a growing area for us. We are fighting against the demand there as well.

Thank you, Sami, for the interview.