Embellence Group AB (publ)

Thank you. Welcome, everyone, to the Q1 2024 report of Ambulance Group. My name is Olle Svensk, and together with me today is Karin Lede, CFO of the group. So essentially, Q1 highlight is that we had a very strong start of the year. Our net sales amounted to 240 million, which is a growth of 8.5% versus previous year. it's actually our strongest quarter ever and especially us is the driver behind this edita amounted to 33.6 million which is 24 percent more than last year and this is also our strongest quarter ever reported edita margin reached 15.7 percent and it was leveraged in the business and economies of scale and also with a good product mix All this while we continue to invest in product development and not the least in marketing and sales efforts in the quarter. Operating cash flow reached 14.4 million, which is much better than last year and mainly driven by an improved operating result. And I really want to share some highlights from the quarter, and it's been a very exciting start of the year with strong sales and marketing focus. As I mentioned, the Q1 this year was our strongest quarter ever, and we grew 8.5%. But first quarter is also an important fair period in this industry, in the interior decoration industry. Among many fairs, we have Maison Objet in Paris, Dekhoff in Paris, and Ambiente in Frankfurt. And at these fairs, our brands launched several new collections like Colin Sands' selection of hummingbirds, which is a celebration to one of Colin Sands' really design icons. At Wall & Deco, Laurence Decodura at Maison Objet in Paris, which is actually the world's first fossil-free vinyl wallpaper. And Papelina presented the elements collection with updated colors on some of the bestsellers. And of course, I also want to share some pictures of the high activity level we have with our brands during the quarter. So, Maison Nobier Wall & Deco used to showcase the 2024 indoor wallpaper collection, as you can see on the picture here. And more importantly, we launched Decodura, which, as we say, is a new paradigm in wallpaper. It has all the characteristics kept like on the previous material, but we have like the same fire rating, the durability, but it also boasts a reduction of carbon footprint with 50%. So it's really a perfect solution for hospitality where sustainability matters. Colin Sun launched the selection of hummingbirds at DECOF in Paris. It's actually a design that originates from 1780s, and it's a collection with both textile and wallpaper. But we also delivered a number of our own initiatives to continue to build our brand portfolio and to drive sales growth. Among many initiatives, we had the first Jubilee Place Day Salon held at Colin Sun's flagship gallery in London, where design talks with industry leaders in interior decoration. In Stockholm, Colin Sun hosted an event to celebrate almost 150 years of its craftsmanship, all the way from hand-blocked printing to hand-painted designs. And for our largest brand, Borosta Peter, it has been, and it is a very successful launch of Orangerie, a botanical, beautiful collection with several contemporary wallpaper designs. And last but not least, I really have to mention that again, we've won several projects in hospitality in the US, in Germany, in Italy, but also in Algeria and Morocco. And here are a few pictures that I really want to share with you. The first salon Col & Son had here during the quarter, and it's the first one of several. And you know, the ambition is to showcase that Col & Son is the center of gravity when it comes to luxury interior decoration. There was a lively panel discussion with leaders in the design world, discussing space in interior design. And it all happened in our Kohl's flagship gallery in London, in Chelsea, London. In Stockholm, we had the celebration of almost 150 years of Kohl & Son craftsmanship. And as you can see, also well attended event. It was held at Hotel at Hem in Stockholm. And for Borås Tapete, here is a picture of Orangeri Collection and more importantly this Citrus Garden design. And I'm personally not surprised if this is a future design icon, as it has been really well received everywhere, I would say, but not the least internationally, especially in the US. And Wall & Deco won several projects during the quarter, and this is one that has been installed in Germany, where we actually were able to both win, produce, and it got installed during the quarter. So also a very important growth channel for us is the hospitality and project business. But now, Karin, now over to you to tell everyone a little bit about our financial performance.

Thank you, Ulle. Looking at the financial, as Ulle said, we're proud to report 214 million in sales and almost 34 million in EBITDA. The sales growth of 8.5% was primarily organic. It's 7.8% organic growth and 0.7% currency impact. The gross margin 58.3% was stable compared to 2023 full year, but a step up compared to the same quarter one year ago. The EBITDA margin of 15.7% is a sign of the economy of scale potential when sales grows. Operating cash flow was 14.4 million, which is a clear improvement compared to prior year when it was 2.2 million. The improvement in cash flow from operations is the main reason. The operating capital increased since accounts receivable grew in the quarter. If you look at the trends, Rolling 12 net sales increased from 740 million to almost 760 million for the last rolling 12 period. The EBITDA margin increased to 15.7%. And finally, from finance, we look at the sales development by region. We saw a continuous cautious demand in the Nordic region and we had a decline of 5.5% or a sales of 78 million. The market is still cautious and we had a slow start of the year but also an effect of the early Easter in the Nordic region. Europe was more stable year on year with 65 million of sales We see especially good sales in the hospitality segment and also some positive signs in Italy and UK. The demand in Germany and France was a bit weaker. And as Olle already mentioned, we had a record in the rest of the world reporting a sales of almost 72 million, a growth of 41%. The sales in U.S. was particularly good. Brostapeter, Volandecco and Artscape all contributed. But of course, the launch of the new assortment in Artscape contributed well. And back to Olle again, looking a bit ahead.

Thank you, Karin. So as I hope really comes across, we have a positive vibe and momentum across all our brands in the company. Yes, there are still some markets that are a little bit uncertain, but we will continue to drive strong product launches at key events as we did in the first quarter, but this is also happening here in the second quarter. Contained input costs and really good work at Borås Tapetafabrik when it comes to production efficiency helped the performance there as well. There are some There is still an uncertain consumer market, especially in the UK and Sweden, but we have many initiatives underway to perform better than the overall market. And I'm really excited to share with you our updated strategy at the upcoming Capital Markets Day on May 21st in Stockholm. To sum all this up then, so again, strongest quarter ever and with the US as the best performing market. net sales amounted to 240 million which is up 8.5 percent and this is the third consecutive quarter with strong organic growth the beta margin reached 15.7 percent the economies of scale and improved product mix helped that and we continued in the quarter to focus on product development and marketing efforts to drive sales strong operating cash flow improvement compared to last year and exactly what we said also when we had this course last year. And the focus ahead then. We are prioritizing organic growth. We are prioritizing an improved cash flow and good profitability. And we have a laser focus on executing successfully key product launches ahead. So I invite you all to register for the Capital Markets Day on May 21st in Stockholm, where we will share more of our updated strategies. Thank you. Now over to see if there are any questions.