7/18/2025

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Hello and warm welcome to ENCOM's presentation for the second quarter of 2025. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Christer Blomgren. I'm the CEO at ENCOM and with me today is our CFO, Markus Asplund. We are eager to share some highlights and key numbers from our Q2 report. And after that, we will go into the Q&A where you can shoot your questions. Let's start with the positive highlights. We have had a really strong second quarter. Both net sales and order intake were at Q2 record levels. In fact, to find similar figures, we have to go back to our standout year, 2022. A big drive behind this growth has been the strong return of the Nordic region during the current digging season. We saw high activity and strong demand, especially because many contractors needed to replace aging excavators. and dealers had relatively low inventory levels coming into the season. It also was a solid tilt-rotator volume growth in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands, a high number of tilt-rotator units were delivered to the market. It's a clear sign that we are changing the world of digging and doing it faster than ever. Of course, there were a few challenges too. The Swedish corona has strengthened sharply, which has put a pressure on our margins. And while pushing a large volume out to the market this quarter was part of our strategy, it did reduce our gross margin. We're also laying the foundation for long-term success within Engton. During the quarter, we kicked off an important initiative to develop our shared core values. These will guide how we lead and work together, and they'll help us build the strong, unified, and inclusive culture we need to reach our global ambitions. In the past, Encon have mostly been seen as a premium solution, the full package with all the latest tech. That helped us win over early adopters and build a strong brand. But if we want to grow faster and increase market penetration, especially outside the Nordics, we need to reach a broader audience. That's why we are now expanding our offer. creating an income for everyone. Because let's be honest, you can take someone straight from a horse and a wagon to a Ferrari. But if you start with a Fiat, something simple and familiar, it's much easier to take that first step. And once they see the value, the full income system becomes the natural next move. Sorry, something happened there. I started all over then from this slide. Our vision is to change the world of digging. How can we do that? Now with an income for everyone, we can easier and faster reach our vision to change the world of digging. But to truly make that change happen, we need to start by making the customer feel familiar because real transformation doesn't begin with complexity. It begins with comfort. We have learned a lot from our success in the markets like the Netherlands and Germany. And one of the most important insights is this. It's hard to sell the full package right away when you have moved past the innovators and the early adopters. These groups are always looking for the latest and the greatest. But once you try to reach the broader market, the early majority, the approach needs to shift. To climb that product adoption curve faster, we need to start with something the customer already knows and trusts, like a coupler that fits the local standards. That familiarity builds confidence, it lowers the barrier, and it helps them take the first step. As I said earlier, because you can't take someone straight from a horse and a wagon to a Ferrari. But if we offer them a Fiat first, something simple, beginner friendly and useful, and they will start driving. Once they begin to see the benefits, then we can introduce the full power of the Encon ecosystem. That's exactly how we did it in the Nordics back in the early days. And it worked. As you can see in the picture, we have designed an ecosystem that appeals to more than just innovators and early adopters. We now offer a more basic configuration with a mechanical coupler, a great way for customers to start learning how to tilt and rotate. It's simple, it's affordable, and it competes well with tilting couplers and other entry-level solutions. Then we have a mid-tier setup, a tilt rotator with a local coupler standard where customers can get their first experience with tilt and rotate functionality. And finally, we offer the full Encon system with all the performance, flexibility, and automation benefits we are known for. It's about guiding the customer on a journey, one step at a time. And we have seen that journey work lately in the Netherlands and earlier in the Nordics. What really transformed the excavator industry is volume, getting more tilt-rotators into the hands of more users. That's what drives change in behavior, methods and expectations. And this strategy helped us get there faster. We're already seeing strong signs of this in the Netherlands where the penetration is growing rapidly, especially in the smaller excavator segment. In the DACH region, we're following a partnership model where we sell only the tilt rotator and our partners handle the rest of the solution. That means revenue doesn't grow as quickly as unit volume, but that's by design because penetration is the key and it's growing faster than revenue. And that's exactly how we changed the world of digging with units. We are seeing a strong growth in net sales, up 23% organically, which is great, but our growth in units is even greater, as I said on the earlier slide. A big part of this comes from high delivery volumes, tight orders placed back in Q4 and Q1. This fits the seasonal pattern we have seen in the past in the Nordics. We have also had a particularly strong growth in Europe, especially in Germany and the Netherlands where demand remains high. The big increase in Germany really shows that Bama was a sign of that tilt-rotators are taking off in Germany. And Netherlands have taken the step above the tipping point with a lot of smaller tilt-rotators this year. That momentum clearly reflects the strength and the trust we are building in the market. Now, the strongest Swedish Crown has held back our reported growth a bit, but even with that, the organic numbers show we are on the right path. Order intake continues to grow compared to the same period last year, and we are pleased with the underlying trend. That said, we had hoped to be even further ahead by now. The uncertainty around tariffs and pricing in the US has created some hesitation in the market and slowed things down a bit this quarter. Still, the overall trend is positive and we remain confident in demand going forward as the situation stabilizes. Gross margin came in at 41% for the quarter, and there are a few things driving that. Some of the margin pressure comes from the strategic decision we have made about large orders from rental fleets in the Nordics, but the strong Swedish krona was the biggest single factor this time. We have also moved a high number of units into the market, both through the Nordic recovery and through the strong momentum in Central Europe. And yes, this volume push has affected margins in the short term, but this is fully in line with our long-term strategy because it's the tilt-rotated volumes that will drive real transformation in the industry. Marcus will also guide more about the gross margin and the reasons behind the drop compared to last year. EBIT margin came in at 18% for the quarter, even though we had a strong sales and benefit from a scalable business model, the currency headwinds made it tough to hit our 20% financial target this time. And return on capital employed is moving in the right direction and ended up above our 40% target this quarter. And as I said, Marcus will guide more regarding our financial numbers later on. We are taking a look at the order intake and net sales development this quarter, and we are trying to put Q2 into perspective also. As mentioned earlier, this has been a strong quarter. Both net sales and order intake reached high levels. In fact, the strongest Q2 figures we have seen since our record year in 2022, even though we had some pressure from the currency movements. One trend we have tracked for some time is a strong order intake in Q4 and Q1, followed by a spike in deliveries during Q2 as the Nordic digging season gets underway. Seeing this pattern return is a clear sign of renewed strength in the Nordic region. In Europe, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands, volumes have increased significantly. Much of that growth is in entry-level products or the bad tilt-rotator frames we sell to our partners. We also see an increase to smaller excavators. That means the impact on net sales is more modest for now, but the volume growth itself is a strong signal of market traction and future potential. Outside Europe, the situation has been more turbulent. Around Liberation Day, the US announced strict new tariffs. While the direct impact was pronounced in the American market, It also created ripples of uncertainty in other regions. For a few weeks, conversations around interest rates, inflation, and economic outlook made customers more cautious. Unfortunately, we couldn't fully recover the drop in order intake that was three weeks after Liberation Day. But the level was back to a good order intake level in the end of the quarter. So still the broader picture remains clear. Q2 delivers strong results with positive trends in both volume and market activity, even if certain headwinds held us back from realizing the full potential. Taking a closer look at the Nordic region, Q2 marked a clear comeback for the Nordics, which stood out as the single largest contributor to our year-over-year growth. It's encouraging to see the region returning to strength. This upswing reflects a combination of strategic wins, market recovery and macroeconomic improvements. Toward the end of last year, we secured several larger deals, particularly with rental companies. And many of those deliveries were fulfilled in Q2. These volumes had a clear impact on our top line. At the same time, we are seeing the effects of the catch-up investments after a few slower years. Many contractors are now replacing older fleets, and that replacement cycle is finally gaining traction. Retailers have also normalized their inventory levels, which has helped drive more consistent order flow. And on a broader level, there are signs that interest rates might have peaked or even starting to ease, which is a positive signal for construction and investment appetite. While we are seeing a return to the typical cycle, high order intake in Q4 and Q1, followed by strong deliveries in Q2, the most important takeaway is this. Growth in the Nordics is being driven by real demand from the end customer. After the first half of the year, the Nordics are once again our largest region in terms of revenue. The outlook is positive, though of course we remain attentive to how the broader economic situation evolves heading into the autumn. We're moving over to Europe. While the Nordics are once again our largest region in revenue, Europe's upward trend continues steadily, and they are the largest region in units. One reason to that that they are the largest region in units is that we have learned that we need to take the early majority to entry-level tilt rotator first to make this shift faster. We are seeing a strong development across most of our key markets. One clear sign of progress is the growing penetration rate. Just look at Bauma in April. Tilt rotators were on display in almost every booth. That kind of visibility reflects the shift that's happening. Smaller tilt rotators are gaining ground in the region and our collaboration in the DACH region continues to stand out. We have achieved high volumes there largely thanks to the local couplers together with our tilt rotators. It's worth noting that many of these products are entry level with local assembly of the coupler to meet regional standards. That means a lower average revenue per unit and some pressure on gross margin during the quarter. However, these products come with very limited additional sales costs, which makes them solid contributors to our bottom line. And again, let's not forget, it's the tilt state units that are changing the world of digging. Through this strong push, we have quickly increased both awareness and market penetration in Europe, something we see as a major success. Let's talk a bit about how things are going in the Americas. We see a good increase on net sales, 12% up, but that was mainly orders from Q4 and Q1 that was delivered out. So to be honest, Q2 was more or less a lost quarter in terms of sales. Since liberation days, there's been a lot of noise and uncertainty around tariffs. No one really knows where things are going, and that's made both us and our customers a bit cautious, especially when it comes to pricing and planning. That said, we are not standing still. We are keeping close track of developments and staying ready to act as soon as things clear up. At the same time, we are doing the groundwork, meeting customers face-to-face, talking about how our products can improve their business and making sure we stay top of mind. That day-to-day contact really, really matters. And while we are at it, we are also building up the organization. We are investing in the team, strengthening the structure, laying the foundation for long-term growth in the region. It's not fancy work, but it's the kind of stuff that sets us up to win when the momentum returns. So yes, Q2 was tough, but we are playing the long game here. Let's take a look at Asia Oceania, where we're seeing some solid commercial traction. For example, net sales is up 53%. And our new sales company in Japan continues to move in the right direction. Volumes are still relatively low, but the trend is clearly positive. Orders are starting to come in more regularly, especially through the dealer network we have established. That's in addition to the OM sales we already have in place, so the base is growing. The construction industry in Japan is under strong pressure to improve productivity. And here's where it gets really interesting. The government is actively supporting this shift through two different incentive programs. Program one targets SME companies, where you can get 30% to 50% of your investment back from the government when you invest in efficiency-increasing technology, like our tilt rotators, for example. Program 2 applies if you are working on government-funded construction sites. On these sites, you get a higher pay rate for using productivity-boosting solutions, like our Tilt-Rotator stand. This creates a strong business case for customers to invest in our products, and we are positioning ourselves right in the middle of that opportunity. Australia paused a bit during the elections, but we are now seeing order intake bounce back. It's clearly heading in the right direction again. Korea is also moving positively. We are seeing more engagement, more deals, and good signals from the market. So overall, we are not just gaining traction, we are building real momentum in the region, with Japan looking especially promising from a sales perspective. With that, I will hand it over to Marcus that will guide you through the financial development. So go ahead, Marcus.

speaker
Markus Asplund
CFO

Thanks, Krister. Let's take a closer look at our EBIT development for the quarter. We are pleased to report that EBIT increased from 82 million SEC in Q2 last year to 94 million this year. This is a solid increase of 15%. Now, naturally, higher sales volume brings higher EBIT. However, we did experience some headwinds this quarter that prevented us from fully translating that revenue increase to the bottom line. Our EBIT margin stands just under 18%, a slight decrease from last year. While the stronger volume did introduce some mixed effects that diluted our gross margin, the primary factor preventing us from reaching our long-term EBIT target was the headwind from the stronger Swedish krona. Now, let's dive deeper into the income statement. For the quarter, our net sales reached 530 million SEC. This is a strong increase of 80 million compared to last year. The currency effects we first observed in our balance sheet in Q1 have now clearly impacted our top line this quarter. Specifically, net sales were negatively affected by approximately 25 million SEC due to currency fluctuations. However, if we exclude this currency effect, we see a strong organic sales increase of 23%. Moving on to the gross profit. Our gross margin stands at 40.7%. This is about four percentage points lower than last year and below the high levels we've seen in recent quarters. Roughly half of this decline can be attributed to the strengthening Swedish krona, which began in Q1. This currency effect is also the primary factor impacting our bottom line. In connection with our strong volume increase, we also experienced a less favorable product and market mix, which I want to briefly highlight. The significant volume growth in the DAC region came from more entry-level products, or to quote Krister, more fiats. While these dilute our overall margin, this volume is incremental business that doesn't add to selling expenses. So its contribution to the EBIT margin remains high. As we quickly recover in the Nordics, our stable, typically higher margin of the market business has decreased in relation to total sales. Finally, we saw a market mix shift with more volume moving towards the Nordic and less to, for example, the Americas. This increased volume in the Nordic also led to slightly lower margins due to higher discounts on bigger deals to, for example, bigger rental fleets, as Christian just mentioned. Despite these factors and the significant increase in revenues, we successfully maintained our selling and administrative expenses at the same level, albeit with some help from the incremental business through our partners in the DACH region, as I mentioned. This achievement underscores the strength and scalability of our business model. All these factors combined bring us to an EBIT of 94 million SEK or 17.8%. While we achieved strong sales and maintained effective cost controls, these efforts weren't enough to fully offset the impact of a stronger Swedish krona. In the recent quarter, cash flow from operation was 20 million SEK, down from 32 million in the same period last year. For the full period, it improved to 33 million SEK compared to minus 12 million previously. This increase was primarily driven by higher operating profit and lower tax payments, though partly offset by increased capital tied up in inventories and accounts receivable. Large shipments from factory late in the quarter, which meant a lot of finished goods in transit by end of the quarter, led to higher inventory levels. As to the increase in accounts receivable, it is in line with the increase in sales. Cash flow from investing activities was minus 11 million for the quarter compared to minus 10 million. These investments primarily went towards tangible fixed assets and the continuing development of our third generation tilt rotators. Cashflow from financing activities was minus 64 million SEC in the quarter and minus 78 million for the period. Acquisition of minority interest in subsidiaries and acquisition of own shares had an impact of minus 63 million SEC for both the quarter and period. Additionally, 77 million SEC was paid out in shareholder dividends. Overall, total cash flow for the quarter was minus 55 million SEC, and for the full period, it stood at minus 63 million. As expected, the return on capital employed continued its journey upwards for the sixth consecutive quarter to a level where we feel more at home and expect it to be. Summarizing by looking at our financial targets, we are pleased to report that we have exceeded three out of our four financial targets, which is a strong position to be in. However, due to currency headwinds, we did not meet our long term EBIT margin target in this particular quarter. And with that, I'll hand it back to Krister to sum things up and provide us with an update on what's ahead.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Thank you, Marcus, for guiding us through the financial We're closing the second quarter with a strong net sales and a solid order intake, as I mentioned earlier. And in fact, we haven't seen these Q2 numbers at this level since 2022. That was a record year for us. In the Nordics, we see the return of the typical season pattern we knew pre-pandemic with Q2 delivering high volumes as expected. Also in the Nordics, we see the effects of the catch-up investments after a few slower years. Many contractors are now starting to replace older machines and that replacement cycle is finally picking up momentum. At the same time, retailers have adjusted their inventory levels, which is helping to create a more stable and consistent order flow. And looking at the bigger picture, we're starting to see signs that interest rates may have peaked or could even begin to ease. And that's a positive signal for the construction activity and overall investment appetite in the region. One of the biggest highlights this quarter is the strong progress we are seeing in the DACH region, especially in Germany, Europe's largest excavator market. What's real in driving that growth is our focus on the entry-level products. By offering simpler configurations, we are lowering the barriers for customers to get started with ENCON. It's a practical, effective way to build trust and show the value early on. We have seen this strategy work before in the Netherlands and in the Nordics. We are starting with something familiar, help speed up the adoption. It gives customers a clear first step, and from there it becomes much easier to introduce the full ENKON solution over time. This approach is helping us penetrate in key markets faster, and it's an important step in our vision to change the world of digging. We are also seeing a solid commercial traction in Asia-Oceania, where our efforts are starting to pay off, especially in Japan. The construction industry in Japan is under real pressure to increase productivity, and the Japanese government is actively encouraging this adoption of smart, efficient technologies like tilt-rotators. As I mentioned earlier, there are two separate incentive programs in place. These programs are creating a strong business case for contractors to modernize and our products are perfect fit. It's still early days, but the interest is growing and we are well positioned to support that shift. We have also sold significantly more units, especially within the smaller machine segment. This has led to rapidly increasing market penetration, which is exactly what we are aiming for. However, since we are primarily selling tilt rotators to our partners in Germany then, and starting with a simpler offering, this unit growth hasn't yet fully translated into full revenue growth. At the same time, higher volumes this quarter came with slightly lower margins, mainly due to currency headwinds from our strong Swedish krona, which had the biggest impact on the bottom line. but also larger share of simple products, configurations, and increased discounts in the Nordics linked to the volume, and following that, the less favorable market mix. Still, the strong organic growth, continued order intake proved that our strategy is working. We are growing in the right way in the right places. A key focus would be in reinforcing our core values and principles. Our people are central to everything we do and building a strong unified culture will be an important foundation as we continue to scale. And when we are looking ahead, I feel optimistic about the rest of the year. Compared to last year, I expect continued growth driven by the ongoing recovery in the Nordics and the clear progress we are making in market penetration across both Europe and Asia Oceania. There's a strong energy in the business right now. Contractors are investing again. Our simpler product strategy is opening new doors and awareness of our solution is growing steadily in new regions. That said, the strong Swedish krona did have a noticeable impact on our result in the second quarter. And while we're managing that headwind, we can't rule out that it may continue to affect us in the coming quarters. Still the underlying momentum is solid, and we are in a good position to keep building from here. So with a proven concept, growing demand, and a strong team in place, I'm excited for what's ahead. Together we'll keep changing the world of digging, one machine at a time. Okay, that's everything we had for today's presentation. And now we're happy to open up for your questions. So feel free to jump in through the telephone conference. So operator, whenever you're ready, please bring in the first question.

speaker
Operator

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Zeno Engdahl and Rick Chudy from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead.

speaker
Zeno Engdahl / Rick Chudy
Analyst, Handelsbanken

Yes, good day and thanks for taking our questions. Starting off on the margin side, which of course you explained a lot within the presentation, given the broader offering or the simpler offering, so to say, How do you view your goal of delivering the above 20% margin given where currencies are at currently?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

We haven't changed anything regarding our long-term financial goals. regarding the the airbit margin and we believe we will be able to adjust to that it's everything is when it's going fast it's hard to to adapt directly to it but long term we still have a strong belief in in that we'll reach our financial targets and be above that 20 percent very clear and on the product mix side

speaker
Zeno Engdahl / Rick Chudy
Analyst, Handelsbanken

Can you give some insight on how your backlog looks right now? Should we expect the mix in the upcoming quarters to be similar to this then?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Yes, normally the Nordic is stronger the first six months and Europe is a little bit stronger the last six months than compared to the Nordics. So we still think it will be a battle regarding the revenue also, who will be the largest one. So it depends a little bit. The European market is not all the same. As I mentioned, it's more Germany and Netherlands that are the simpler products. If France, they are much better on selling the more advanced products and so on. So it depends a little bit on which market that having...

speaker
Zeno Engdahl / Rick Chudy
Analyst, Handelsbanken

good momentum then right now Germany are really strong and we expect it to continue though so that that's the guiding and can do regarding that yeah and on on all day I think you mentioned that there were roughly three weeks around liberation days which were slower and there was not a catch-up effect primarily maybe related to Europe, do you feel that the order intake level is a fair representation of where the market is currently at?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Yeah, I think with the liberation days there and they've got a lot of talk about that could increase the interest rate, the economic outlook was not positive. And then Germany came out with a really strong budget proposal there. And that, I think, shifted a lot. And especially that also been what we see with Germany now, that it's a really positive trend there. They feel confident that they will have jobs for 25, 26, 27 and going further. Not for that these jobs have started yet, but they just believe in it. And I think also with what they said about NATO and what the EU have said that they're going to target the 5% goal, that will mean there will be a lot of infrastructure work only. There will not only be weapons and stuff like that. There needs to be infrastructure also as part of that 5% goal. And that means there will be a lot of digging and a lot of house building and so on. So I think that will create a good momentum for this industry. And that's also a little bit what you see if you're looking on the Volvos report yesterday, where they have a big increase on the order intake from low numbers though, but it's a big increase of order intake on machines that will come out now in six to eight months or something like that. So I think the future looks promising in that way for us.

speaker
Zeno Engdahl / Rick Chudy
Analyst, Handelsbanken

Very good. And last question from me. You mentioned of course that due to the smaller tilt rotators that units were higher. Is it possible to get some insight into how the volume in terms of units changed year over year?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

We haven't really talked about a number of units in that way, but we have said earlier that we have lost like 50% in the Nordics compared to 2019. And we can say that the increase is significantly higher than what we're showing in revenue. There are a lot more units going out in the percentage increase are much higher than what we show in revenue. We need to look into how we're going to deal with that in the future then, but right now we don't report numbers.

speaker
Zeno Engdahl / Rick Chudy
Analyst, Handelsbanken

Okay, very clear. I'll get back in line. Thank you. Thank you.

speaker
Operator

The next question comes from Agnieszka Valela from Nordia. Please go ahead.

speaker
Agnieszka Valela
Analyst, Nordea

hi thank you for taking my questions i think the first one may be to marcus i think you mentioned the negative impact from fx on the ebit line the quarter can you just repeat what was that including both translation impact and a transaction impact related to your exports thanks

speaker
Markus Asplund
CFO

Yeah, I mean, the major impact, of course, is coming already at gross profit level. And we were not, even though we kept our costs very much in line with previous cost level, held back the cost, even though we increased the revenues. we weren't able to really compensate for that. So the major impact on the EBIT, I would say, for missing our long-term target is currency at this point in this quarter.

speaker
Agnieszka Valela
Analyst, Nordea

And did I catch it correct when you said that about 50% of the gross margin decrease was related to FX? yeah yeah just about 50 years okay perfect thank you um and maybe just if you could share with us what's your uh kind of production planning now uh for the coming quarters uh if you look at your order backlog and what kind of sales should we expect for q3 q4 and indications there the indication is as you know we don't have that long lead time on on um

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

everything or a big order book. But our expectation is that we will be growing compared to last year, have a good growth compared to last year, both in Q3 and Q4. Then, unfortunately, we are not like Volvo having six months ahead of us and so on. It is a few weeks ahead that we can guide on what we're having in the order book. We don't have that much more. But also, like Marcus said, it was a lot of goods in transit on the end of the quarter that will then come in to Q3. So we'll hopefully get an extra push from that then in that case. I don't know what else we can say, Marcus.

speaker
Markus Asplund
CFO

No, I mean, as we expected growth anyway, and that's what we're planning for also in factory and so forth to beat last year, second half of last year, of course. And yeah, but as you said, Unfortunately, our horizon is not that clear with the shorter arc. It's a positive thing that we have shorter lead times, of course, and so forth. But it also, of course, is challenging to guide on the long term. But as you said also, Krister, regarding all the indications and then the sentiments in the market, big bills that's coming out and budgets and so forth. There is a lot more energy in this industry than we've seen in the last couple of years.

speaker
Agnieszka Valela
Analyst, Nordea

Understood. Thank you. And then my last question is about Japan. Quite interesting actions from the government there in the construction segments and also you establishing more presence there. Christopher, could you maybe quantify the potential that you see for Japan specifically over the next, say, three, five years in terms of sales value that you could reach there?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

That was like the billion-dollar question. It is really, really big potential. Everything is about how we can, a little bit what we talked about also, adapt to make it a smaller step for them. Maybe not need to go all the way to the full configuration and with the setup with everything on it. But it's coming out a normal year, 55,000 excavators in Japan every year. Now this year, they say it's down 10% to say it's around 50,000 excavators coming out. And if you're looking on, they did the same type of program for machine guidance, Trimble, Topcon, Leica, and so on. And they pretty fast, that was like seven, eight years ago. And they pretty fast came up to like a 20% level, And that penetration level and that for them, I don't know if they can go much higher than 30%. So it's impossible to guess. But I think it's a big potential for us to grow and grow fast. They know they're having a huge problem with the aging population. and the decreasing of people working in the construction. The government have made research that showing sometime during the 2030s, they will not have enough people to do the maintenance work within the construction industry. So they definitely need to get this change happening. And that's why they are subsidizing and trying to push this change then to reduce the need of manpower and make the work faster. It is worth mentioning also in Japan is doing everything really in order for everything. We need to get every tilt rotator approved together with each brand of excavator. So we have done Kobelco, we have done partly Volvo. We are working on getting the other ones on it too then. But it's a process that will take some time before we get all the machines. So to see the big things just on these programs will take a little bit longer time, but it's also showing the the legislation or or rules regarding having a tilt rotating open ups it shows that it's allowed to have it because that had been also not clear earlier so that that's one of the biggest change and that's why there are a lot of interest i i was at the cspi the exhibition there and there are a big interest for tilt rotators no doubt about it and and we were on We had that exhibition and we had to get with Kobelco then also and private show where we invited customers and so to come and try it then just outside the exhibition area. And so there were big interest for it and we got a lot of leads to follow up. But now it sounds like a politician. I think I didn't answer your question, but there are huge potential there.

speaker
Agnieszka Valela
Analyst, Nordea

Understood. Thank you for the caller and thank you so much.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Yeah.

speaker
Operator

The next question comes from Anna Woodstrom from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Hello, Christa. Hello, Marcus. Thank you for taking my questions as well. So just a few additional ones from my side. You talked about on momentum in ordering during the quarter, which then seemed to have differed between the start and the end of the quarter, mainly in Europe and America. Could you give us some details on what order growth level you noted in these two regions in the start versus the end?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Yeah, roughly, I think The first three weeks thereafter, the liberation day, we were probably down to one third of what we've been on the rest of the weeks then in the quarter.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Something like that. In which region?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Sorry. What?

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

In both of the regions?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

In all regions and in total. I mean, in America, they were more or less zero because we didn't know what price we would put on the stuff and so on. But also the discussion that ended up here in Europe and so on was if it would affect the economic outlook and increase the interest rates, then everybody was waiting a little bit. That was so important then that European governments came out with this strong unified part of it and more looking to make Europe strong again. I think that was really important for us and for this industry.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay, yeah. And just to follow up on that and thinking about price effects in America. Have you started to raise prices already during the second quarter or is that something that we'll be implementing during the second half?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

We have changed prices at least two times already in the US because it's changing the setup all the time. And that's where it's getting everybody getting cautious because they don't know what price they're going to buy it. They might be interested. And then we're saying one price one day and then a new price the next day. Of course, people are getting confused regarding that. So I think if we just can, if he can make up his mind and decide this is the level, then we will get back and start selling better and better again. We're still selling. It's unbelievable that people are willing to risk and buy during these circumstances. But so that's, I still know that there is a demand for the product. They do want it. And they even going to need it more with this price increases and on everything that will happen then in the U.S. But we need to get some stabilized period of time where we can say this is the price.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

And so far, have you raised prices like mid to high single digits? Or how has the pricing point been changing in the US during the year?

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Yeah, first we raised it with 25% because that was what we only know. And then we understood that you need to make a calculation on the steel price and then the 10% on everything else that made it below double digits. And then when they increased the steel to 50% and you put also 10% on the added value on steel, that again made us have to go above the double digits.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay, so just thinking on like volumes in in America's in quarter, it has like a double digit price effect.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Yes, if you're looking on the order intake, then yes.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay, yeah.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Okay, because we were thinking about we were late, we didn't have enough stock. So as I mentioned, we had a lot of deliveries from q1 and q4. And we, we prefer to be the person that if you're making a deal with us, we stand with that. So the price that they have received in q4 and q1 we were delivering to them on that price. So it didn't increase on that. So in net sales, it is more the old price list, I would say.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

And just thinking on the sort of currency effect, is that something that you would sort of leave to be to whether it is or are you going to try to change prices to sort of compensate for how the stronger SEC is affecting in transaction and translation effects.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

We have said that we will do a little bit wait and see on it. We need to see where we're going to land with the currency effect. I mean, it's been pretty going. It was strengthening a lot from the beginning and now it's been weakened a little bit again. So we need to find again a little bit also like with the tariffs. We need to find what do we believe is the current level where we're going to be and then We're normally doing our informing about our price adjustment to our dealer network and customers then for next year's pricing in September or end of September there. So it will be in the consideration.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Thank you so much for taking my questions.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Thank you.

speaker
Operator

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

speaker
Christer Blomgren
CEO

Thank you so much, everyone, for all the good questions. And if anything else pops up, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're always happy to help. And thank you again for tuning in today. And we really look forward to seeing you all again soon. So take care and thank you and have a great summer vacation if you get any. Bye bye.

Disclaimer

This conference call transcript was computer generated and almost certianly contains errors. This transcript is provided for information purposes only.EarningsCall, LLC makes no representation about the accuracy of the aforementioned transcript, and you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the information provided by the transcript.

-

-