Munters Group AB (publ)

Warm welcome to today's presentation of Muntas Q4 and full year 2024. My name is Lina Duvan and I'm head of investor relations and I am joined here by CEO Claes Forsström and CFO Katarina Fischer. We will begin as always with the presentation and then move over to Q&A at the end. Claes, please go ahead.

Thank you, Lina, and welcome to the studio. I know this is your premiere in this position.

Thank you.

So once again a very very warm welcome to this Q4 and full year report. Let me start with a little bit broader picture before we go into the details. It is an overall record performance achieved for the year by Munters. I talk about turnover, order backlog, profitability, and even more pleasing, cash flow and operating working capital moving in the right direction. This in parallel, we continue to invest for the future. If I go into the quarter, it's a quarter with two business areas performing very well. Data center, strong invoicing, high profitability, and increased order backlog. Food tech, I repeat the story, strong invoicing, high profitability, increased order backlog, and very important, ARR, our software business, continues to improve step by step. Both business areas, I predict, with a solid market demand in the coming quarters and beyond that for some areas. Airtek, a flat net sales, weak profitability, a decreased order backlog. We are taking measurements that will start to pay off fully the second half of next year. So a weaker start of 2025 with a gradual improvement and a stronger H2 versus H1. Moving back then to the quarter. Water intake came in 23% below. With that said, we had two large orders within the data center technology. Excluding those, we did generate a growth in data center of 60%. For me, this is a sign of a very, very strong underlying market. AirTech declined, driven by a weaker battery market in all regions. Foodtech increased. Strong growth in digital solutions, specifically in the two regions, Americas and EMEA. And order backlog increased with a few percentage. Mainly orders in DCT to be delivered 25 and 26 when it comes to the order backlog. Moving down over to the net sales increase with 19%, very pleasing. The best net sales quarter in our history. Airtek Flat. Weaker batteries, as I talked about, offset by some growth in EMEA. Data center increased. Very pleased to see the strong drop through from orders into net sales. Foodtech continued to grow strongly. Strong contribution from both sides, digital solutions and equipment, and all in all, we generated a book to bill in the quarter close to one. It was a stable profitability. Very often we have a weaker quarter four. It was an adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.6. Data center and food tech, as I said earlier, driven by a strong net sales growth, generating a good drop through. All business areas generated good, positive impact from lean practices and other operation and efficiency initiatives. In Airtek, under absorption due to lower demand from battery. All in all, the year ended up on a 15% margin. The different regions, as you can see, step by step, we have continued to be more and more US-American driven. And Americas is the main driver for growth also this quarter. Order intake, full year, 56%. Order intake in the quarter, 62% of the total order intake steam from Americas. EMEA, about 30%. And APEC, around 10, in between 10 to 15, depending on if we talk about net sales or order intake. The shift moving more and more towards America, I think that will remain. Airtek across all the different regions. It is the same story. It is very much battery driven. DCT, a strong underlying demand. Very pleasing to see. Something that I've talked about over the last couple of quarters. We are coming closer and closer also to direct business with hyperscalers. We increased the hyperscalers orders. our solutions are becoming accepted into hyperscalers as well. DCT and EMEA. It is not us, I would say it's EMEA, a somewhat slower development, but very pleasing. The first combined order of CROs, CRO units and geoclima chillers. It is a proof point that our strategic choice to acquire geoclima is really starting to pay off already in the first quarter we have them in our books. APEC, a couple of years ago, APEC stood for close to 25% our turnover. I cannot say that I see any change there. It is still at the low level. It is not really declining, but it's not picking up either. Airtek then. I think the most important thing that is to take a look upon the arrows on the right side. Most subsegments are stable to improving in market demands the coming six months. One segment definitely continue to be weak. I said something like this, that I expect battery to be in between 10 to 20% of total order intake for the coming quarters when we talk about air tech. With that said, there are things still happening in the battery. So if we can play our cards well, if we can generate some of the orders that are boiling out there and the customer will close those orders, it could be a quarter also when we are about 30% of the total order intake coming from batteries. But if I generalize, I predict continued slow battery market through the full year. Investments and lower volumes affecting margins. All in all, and you will hear Katarina talk a little bit more about this, I mean, the net sales is flat. We are investing for the future. We have underutilization in a few factories, primarily driven by batteries. Our estimate is that this effect from battery is about 3% units drop in margin. We take actions and activities to mitigate this, everything from moving production from one factory to another, shortening the FDs, decreasing those and other cost mitigations. Our belief in the battery market remains strong. This is a temporary slowdown. So it's not about doing too drastic activities in this area. It is about adjusting to a slower market. All in all, the full year order intake flat, net sales decreased, adjusted EBITDA margin declined to some extent. If I zoom out on this, and those of you that have followed us, you know this is how we divide our order intake patterns. The light yellow, the large orders. The brownish, battery segments, smaller orders. And as you can see, battery is continuing to deliver. And this, now I come back to what I said earlier, 10 to 20%. It could be a quarter where we have even 30% plus, but it's very unpredictable. But the other observation is, The rest of the markets are either flat or slightly up ticking. So it is the battery challenge at current. And what about the segments outside battery? Food processing, spray drying. I don't know how many of you have reflected on how much of our food is dried powder. It's baby milk powder, chocolate powder, and in this case then vegetarian driven or vegetable driven type of powder. a very large industry, and here we are delivering system-critical installations. It is either the dehumifying part, the pure system, in this case representing a pure system called 4000, Or it can also be how we generate and take out the humidity by reusing heat. So all in all, I mean, a combination of a pure system and a Verimax, 90% of the heat is reused. An extremely energy efficient process. Coming back to data center. Super pleased with their performance. Super pleased that they have proven that they are now winning orders related to geoclima. And I will come back to what I mean with that. Also very pleased when I see that now we have shifted to some extent the order pattern direct from hyperscalers and through co-locators. And he has to take that question directly. This is not at all an indication that co-location is slowing down. Keep in mind, we talked about the 2 billion order intake based upon smaller to mid-sized order. So co-location continue to be a very, very strong source. I don't see, we don't see any indications that investments into this area will slow down. Then of course, as always, water patterns are unpredictable. But I mean, now we talk about filling up 2026, 2027. So we are always one step ahead. When it comes to profitability, a continued strong profitability. Driven, of course, with volumes, a good drop through. We need to remember that even if we always closed down during the winter season and holiday season, we did that as well. So compared to last year, not really changed compared to the quarter before, of course, a change to some extent. What I think is the most important number to remember here, that is 19.8. I see now that our data center community, the strong drivers there, they have now established themselves in the range of 19 to 20 percent, something that I'm really, really proud of on their behalf. The strong larger order backlog, if I gather all this together, it is an indication that we have on large orders for this year on and about 4 billion SEC plus in large orders to be delivered during the year. And then, of course, beside that, also smaller orders. One reflection when it comes to order pattern. We see that customers, independent if they're co-locators or hyperscalers, they are now so confident when it comes to us delivering. So they are putting orders somewhat closer to when they need to have them. They're also not pre-booking, if I call it like that, or the capacity a year and a half ahead. So I think the most important thing now is to follow the total order intake. Sometimes large order will appear because as soon as I say the pattern has changed, who knows, then we have a large order. But in general terms, it is more towards a more spread out medium sized order pattern that I foresee. Geoclima. and Manters products. You may remember the strategic rationale why acquiring GeoKlima. It is very much towards, among other segments, liquid cooling, but also towards air-cooled. GeoKlima chillers and our already existing products, if you combine those two then we are doubling the segment that we serve. And here, super excited to see that already the first quarter of the geoclima in our books, we are taking the first small orders here. Here we talk about, let's say, on the range of 100 million. So it's not a large, but it's a proof point that what we set ahead is also delivered on. Moving over to Foodtech. The future for Foodtech is a focused digital offer. It is software and controllers. also here very pleasing to see yet another quarter where we are growing well about 20 percent this quarter 46. you've heard me say first we aim for 400 and then we are intending to double that i mean we are closing in on the 400 million error number here 46 percent in software growth during this The future ahead here, that is to develop existing segments, penetrate those more, replicate what we have into closely attached new segments, and then in certain areas also create a new market by taking the data we have and offering new solutions to our customers. So it is building the base, expanding the base and inventing the base. The review on equipment business that was initiated continues. I'm very confident that we will deliver on that. I'm the first one to admit it has taken longer than what I believed. As soon as we have an update, then it will come. I promise you that. Coming back to the different segments here. If I summarize, it is very much Americas and EMEA that are the driving forces Asia continued to be sluggish. Equipment, 47%, but digital solution, and I think this is important, represents now 53% of the order intake in this quarter. Step by step, we are improving that. The margins. 14.6% adjusted margin in the quarter. Always. We have a seasonal effect when it comes to equipment. To some extent, you can say a small seasonal effect also when it comes to the digital. But once again, we have really established a good underlying EBITDA margin here. I also want to reiterate, we are not moving forward interested in maximizing the software profitability. We will continue to generate growth and thereby invest in R&D, sales force and expansion. It's easy to generate profitability in a digital segment. You just close the tap on investments. I talked about Geoclima earlier and the strategic intent when it came to data center. Here is another one that I'm so pleased to see. We had, in the past, controllers within Manters. We added Innobram in Brazil, an American small company, and Hotraco in Europe. And jointly, we are working across those three continents and utilizing the knowledge, the product assortment, the purchasing power, and driving synergies on profitability, but also driving synergies when it comes to how we work with customers and how we expand our customer base. The future of the new FUTEC is growth in software, ARR, growth and synergies and profit improvements when it comes to our controllers. We have a very strong platform to build on here. Innovation. we have over the last couple of years invested a lot in innovation. It is both, I mean, our own products. You have heard the new SiteCool and so on. But it's also smaller investments in partners like Capsule, Suracore, AgriWeb, one per each business area here. Why is innovation so important and what is the most important measurement in my book when it comes to innovation? That is, innovation sets the door to the future. If you are not constantly driving new products into the marketplace, I mean, then you're not relevant. And the most important measure in my book, that is how much of your sales is newly developed product, because then it is not only about an invention. It is also about commercial success. Montes Vitality Index, i.e. the sales of products developed the last five years, has reached 40% now. This is something that pleases me very much. I can tell you that in data center, it is well above 70%. For me, that is just sending the signal that we are extremely agile when it comes to adjusting to different trends in the data center arena. With that, I'm happy to hand over to you, Katarina, for digging deeper into the numbers.

Yes, thank you Claes. So turning into the financial highlights. So we enter 2025 with a continued stable order backlog that is to be delivered then during the coming two years. In the fourth quarter, the net sales increased with 19%, which is a combination of organic and M&A driven growth. And this is in line with our growth ambition, over 14%. 2024 was a year where we made several M&A transactions, and we also strengthened the market position of food tech digital solutions, clean tech in air tech, and also data center technologies. I'm very pleased with the traction in this area and how we have been able to close these transactions during 2024. As Karls mentioned, the EBITDA margin was stable in the quarter. We had both Data Center and Foodtech delivering very good margins, offset by a weaker margin in Airtek. Despite the flat margin, we were able to increase our net income significantly with 205%. And we also generated a very good cash flow in the quarter. And the cash flow was the delivered then by our continued good work in managing operating working capital. And right now we are at the level of 10.2% of net sales, which is well in line with our target then of 13 to 10%. our net debt increase as a result of the acquisitions made in the quarter. So all in all, 2024 was a very strong year. We achieved good growth and strong profitability and we increased our cash management capabilities and we delivered on our strategic agenda. The margin then was flat in the quarter. If we look at the individual components, volume contributed positively, both in data center and food tech, whereas air tech then was impacted by the battery subsegment. Also pleasing to see that we had good net price increases in data center and food tech, whereas we in data center had some negative effects from shifting product mix, where we came from concluding on orders with high recurring volumes, and then we have now started up new orders that we are ramping up. Operational efficiency or excellence was then negatively impacted by the underabsorption in air tech that Claes talked about. Although we also want to stress that all business areas are continuing to deliver on their lean initiatives, of course. As in prior quarters, we are continuing to invest in our strategic initiatives for scalability of the business, and this means continued investments in digital competences and also system support, of course. And then, of course, for the full year, a margin of 15.1%, which is very strong. In the quarter we recorded items affecting comparability of 117 million SEK. The majority of this 66 million is related to Airtek and the weakness we have in the battery market there. And as we talked about before, the underabsorption in Airtek was more evident in Q4, and this in combination with that we see that the market for battery continues to be weak in 2025, has led us then to revise the organization. and identify actions and start to implement those actions in the quarter. And those measurements include workforce reduction, but also manufacturing optimization globally. In addition, we have also strategic portfolio alignment activities. So this is related to M&As that we have concluded during the year and also to the potential divestment of the equipment offering that we have started to separate out from November this year. Since I joined, I have been very impressed by the way the organization initiates and drives activities across handling the working capital. And this quarter, we see the fruits of that. We had a very strong positive contribution from changes in operating working capital. Also in the quarter, we closed and paid the acquisition of GeoKlima for data center and Hotrako for food tech. And then we also increased our capital expenditures. And as we have said in prior quarters, we have ramped up our investments. And in the quarter, it was 9.4% of net sales, which is up from the third quarter, which was 7%. So this is, of course, an extremely, extraordinarily high level driven by two significant investments, one in the new factory in Cork Island for data center and the other one for the new major factory in Airtek then in U.S. Going forward, we see the level to come down from the existing level, so to say, but we do want to stress that the level going forward will still be higher than the historical level that you have seen. Also on capital allocation priorities, we have allocated capital to the investment areas that we identified a few years ago and that we continue to do. If we look at leverage, leverage increased then to 2.3 at the end of December, and this is mainly driven by the higher debt as a result of the acquisitions made during the year. For the first half of 2025, I would like to point out that the minority owners of Emtech, our software company, they have exercised the put option with the fair value of 1.1 billion SEK at the end of December. And we expect to pay 80% of the transaction price in the first half of 2025 and the remaining 20% in the first half of 2026. Do note also that the lease for the new major factory in Eimsbury will come on our balance sheet from January this year and hence impact leverage going forward. The service business is very important for us to increase the efficiency in our installed base and also, of course, reduce our scope three emissions. We define service as aftermarket services in each of the business areas. And to that, we add the Foodtech Digital Solutions annual recurring revenue software as a service. We also follow up on components, of course, and the components have two parts and it's reported in Airtek. It is the dehumidification wheels and the evaporative pads. And the ambition we have set is for service and components to be one third of the group's net sales. And in the quarter, we reached 22%, and for the full year, we reached 24%. So even though the increase in the percent of net sales was not significant, we did increase the organic growth with 10%. So going forward, we will, of course, focus then in Airtek on the aftermarket services then and the components. And then Datacenter, I want to point out, have during the past years increased their service share. So they are now at 8% of net sales if you compare to Datacenter's turnover. And then for Foodtech, here we have our shining star, which is the software company Emtek. that are delivering very well on their ARR. So in the quarter now, we report 330 million, which is up 46%, so quite impressive. Then I want to turn to our strategic sustainability targets and report the progress on those. We have set targets for 2030 to reduce our scope one and two emissions to net zero and also reduce scope three. And as you can see here, we have renewable electricity in our factories at 79% in the quarter, slightly down from prior year when we had 80%. If we exclude acquisitions from this, it will increase slightly to 81%. On the social side, we want to strengthen the diversity as we see that as a driver for innovation and inclusive culture and also for employee engagement. And the target we have set here is for women in workforce to be 30% and also 30% women leaders. And our performance in the quarter was 22% for both, so flat on the women in workforce and slightly improved on the women leaders. If we exclude acquisitions here, the numbers will turn to 25 and 24. So we continue to drive activities to strengthen this across the company, of course, and we also have some targeted initiatives with certain leadership programs, and we also have inclusive recruitment practices to support our ambition to increase the female share. On the governance side, we have chosen to focus on code of conduct. And we have a code of conduct for employees, suppliers, and we are also developing one for our customers. And on the supplier side, we have a 99% achievement in the quarter. And of course, the target is 100, but you will always have a few suppliers in and out, so to say. So a small deviation can be accepted here. And with that, I would like to hand it back to you, Claes.

Thank you very much, Katarina. So, let me summarize. We have three targets when it comes to financials. It is currency adjusted growth in total above 14% over a business cycle. It is an adjusted EBITDA margin of above 14%. And it's an operating capital on 10 to 13%. We are delivering, I was close to say, as always, on two of those, and those are varying in between the quarters, an adjusted growth of 12%, an EBITDA margin of 15.1% on the year, and then operating working capital of an impressive, I have to say, 10.2%. The other story I would like to reiterate that is When I and parts of the management team came in 2019, we didn't have any dividends at all. Step by step, we have improved the payout of dividends and the board is now proposing a dividend increase with 23%, of course, to be formalized during the AGM later on during the year. But for me, this is another evidence of a continuous improving company. Always aim to increase the dividend, either by increasing the share, now 30%, or the result that you base your share on. Full year highlights. We continue to strengthen the foundation for future growth. Yes, battery is a downtick at current. But if I look ahead a couple of years, this in my book is an unstoppable trend. It is not only EVs. It is also about energy storage. It is about energy balancing. So battery will also come back. That's the reason why we are doing adjustments. But we are maintaining the course for the future. Overall record performance achieved in the year. I'm so pleased to all our employees what they have delivered. Yet another record year. As I said earlier, we invest continuously to stay ahead of the curve. That is an innovation. Repeating what I said, 40% vitality index. I think that is a proof point of a company being very forward leaning. And then our belief is in line with our purpose for customer success and a healthy planet. Thereby, we invest in our operations when it comes to sustainability commitment, but we're also investing in innovation in order to help our customers to become more sustainable. So with that, I think we open up for Q&A and we welcome Line once again here.

Thank you, Claes and Katarina. Yes, we are now ready for the Q&A session. So those of you listening to the webcast, you can post your questions and we will address them here. And for those of you dialing into the telephone conference, I ask you to please limit yourself to two questions at a time. And then you're welcome to join the queue again if you have more questions. So we'll hand over to the telephone conference, please.

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 Adela Dashian from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Good morning. My first question relates to the data center segment. It would be great if you could provide some color or initial thoughts on the recent news flow. Obviously, the market has had a big reaction to that. Is there anything you can say about how your market position could potentially be impacted in either direction? And then maybe also as it relates to co-location, which many have been viewing your minimal exposure to hyperscalers versus co-location as a negative but do you now see let's say that there is a reduced confusing uh powers demand uh do you see your co-location exposure as a positive or yeah any any color there would be great thank you

Thank you for the questions and if I start a little bit in zooming out and if I talk about the two matters then DeepSeek and Substantial announced financial support in US as an example. In our view, both are positives. DeepSeq, of course, that is how you drive efficiency in your search engine and how you generate the data and massage it, so to speak. With that said, that drives the artificial intelligence forward. Our products, independent if it is Liquid cooling, combination of liquid cooling, air cooled, etc. The demand for those products will continue to be strong. We don't see any indication that short term this is a slowdown. On the positive side, definitely. That is, of course, that both our customers and initiatives announced in the US, there is a continued capital inflow into the build-up of data centers. So in short, I view them as, first of all, data center market is rapidly changing, and we are rapidly changing. And then capital will continue to flow into data center. On the other question, I view this as a positive, and I think when it comes to the shift in between, it is just reiterating the story we have said many times. At the end, the driving force for most of our data center sales It is the hyperscalers. And I've said many times, sometimes it is direct sales. And historically, we have had a smaller portion of that. And then it is through co-locators. The lower percentage of co-locators is then calculated on a higher number. So in reality, it is a strong co-location, smaller to medium-sized order intake as well. So all in all, I'm super excited for the future of data center as such.

I hope that counted as just one question, because I actually have another that I want to be respectful of everyone else listening in. On Airtek margins, you've previously guided for, or I should say, you've given us a range of roughly 13 to 16%. EBITDA margin is where you feel comfortable. But now, obviously, with the weakness in battery, we probably shouldn't expect that. And Q4 also reflects it too. You also say that you don't expect an improvement until the second half of the year. Like, can you give us some, you know, when can we expect you to get back to historical, if you will, or more recent, better margins in Air Texas?

But it's a very fair question, and I can say I'm disappointed on the margin that we deliver in Airtek. There are many different reasons behind that. And I mean, it is better that the reason is that it's a lower market than it's internal misbehavior, so to speak. So what we are doing now, that is we're taking mitigating actions because this accelerated during the fourth quarter. And we see that the battery market will be weak, but it's still coming in orders. And step by step during the quarters, then a weaker first half and a stronger second half. And I aim to be pleased during the second part of the year. I need to be back there. But that is not the forecast. That is just saying that is what I expect our data center team to deliver on.

Airtek.

Airtek, sorry.

Maybe to build a little bit on that, Claes, I would also like to say that you also remember that in the first quarter we will run double factories and move into the new big factory in Airtek.

It's good to have that on top of the mind as well.

Yes, so likely down further in the first half or at least in Q1 versus Q4 then.

The second half, I look forward to meet the second half of next year.

Thank you.

Thank you. We'll take another question from the telephone conference.

The next question comes from Joan Sundmark from SEB. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Klas and Katarina. If we continue on the topic Airtek, it looks like sales is up a bit here, yet you mentioned lower capacity utilization, rates affecting margins negatively. So do you expect this to be the only reason for the negative margin development, or could pricing and sort of negative mix also affect it going forward, or how do you see that?

I can start and Katarina can add if she thinks that I miss the main points then. I mean the major driver of what we then summarized to a 3% effect in this quarter, that is volumes and then underutilization. But then, of course, we have also started to implement more capacity meeting the market when that returns. So that has also had an effect. But the main portion is, of course, the underutilization in the factories. But Katarina, any?

I think we can add that we in prior quarters also have talked about the increased competitive pressure also in battery.

Absolutely.

Okay, that's very clear. Thank you. And then moving on to data centers, sort of looking beyond the mega orders that you showed last year, you still show a quite solid growth now in data centers. Would you say that you are taking market share here or what's sort of your view on this?

What I'm very confident on, that is that we have, if not the best, because here I'm biased, definitely medal podium product performance. We are leading the innovation game in data center cooling. I reiterate, More than 70% of our sales in data center are driven by products with an age of less than five years. So technology share definitely we're taking. In my book, we are also taking share. in Europe because we have increased a little bit in Europe and then we are defending or slightly taking share also in North America. I think the most important measure here is not to look upon the order intake there. It is to look upon our net sales increase because that is actually what is delivered to the market in each and every quarter. I'm super confident, I said in the interview, and don't see this as next year, but our ambition is step by step to double the sales.

Okay, thank you very much for that. And just to follow up there, if I may, you have your facility in Cork now, being up and running, sort of thinking about the normal lead times in data centers and And the market in Europe, is it geoclima now that's sort of showing numbers increasing there? Or how do you look at the market in Europe and ordering take?

If I compare US to Europe, the European market is growing at a slower pace. I mean, the data center market is growing at a slower pace. That is due to, among other things, regulations and stuff like that. America, US are the driver of innovation and investments, etc. When it comes to quark, we will step by step now implement and fill up that factory. So that is not full at current, but that is the normal plan as we do it. Then what is pleasing with Eoclima, that is, as I mentioned earlier, we have taken the first combination order. Eoclima, chillers, and our air walled solutions. That jointly then generates double water intake in that specific project.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you, Johan. We'll take one more question from the telephone conference.

The next question comes from Gustav Berneblad from Nordia. Please go ahead.

It's Gustav here from Nordia. Maybe just to build a little bit more on Airtek there, and sort of you announced several cost savings here. Can you just elaborate a bit more on how much these cost savings are, and then also when we will see this take effect?

Katarina, will you like to start?

Yes. So, I mean, the measures we are taking include workforce reduction across the three regions and then the optimization then of the manufacturing globally. And those impacts will start to take effect in the first quarter and then ramp up during the year.

Can we say anything about the magnitude, though?

I mean, I put it like this. That is, you saw that the EIC was 66 million. A good estimate, full run rate, that is 100 million plus.

Okay, perfect. Thanks. And then, I mean, looking at sort of your graph there on slide number four, I mean, you present a 12%. uh or battery as a percentage of the order intake 12 i mean that implies that the battery orders are up some 186 percent quarter of a quarter if we compare q4 to q3 i mean is this just driven by one project as you're still very sort of cautious to the market or are you actually seeing something here

Let me view the battery market from two perspectives. The first perspective, and that is really what we are saying, that is there is a slowdown, generally speaking, in the battery projects across the globe. We don't see a pickup in China, really. Yes, there are orders, but we are not seeing a pickup. It definitely has been a slowdown in North America. As I said earlier, perhaps the boiling market still is medium-sized orders within Europe. I look forward. My belief is we will, in general terms, have a 10 to 20% order spread, i.e. driven by batteries. With that said, there are some interesting semi-large projects that we are working on. But it's very, very unpredictable if they will come to an order, if they will come to close. But if so, I would not be surprised that one quarter may have even 30% of the total order intake in Airtek. But the main message is, it is a year with a slower order intake or a market. But our belief moving forward, that is, this is an unstoppable force. It is EVs, it is energy quality balancing, and it's also energy storage.

Okay, perfect. It does sound like we should draw any major conclusions from this then. That was my two questions. Thanks. Thank you.

Thank you, Gustav. We'll take another caller from the telephone conference.

The next question comes from Carl Dagenberg from Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. So I just wanted to come back to Airtek again then and if you could explain a little bit of the sales development here sequentially because I recall that the second large battery order that you took in 2022 was finalized in Q3 and now you're reporting let's say it's almost being up 10% here sequentially. you know, while orders have still been trailing below what you have been reporting, so can you, or on the net, say, so can you talk a little bit of what's driving the sequential development in AirTag Q4 versus Q3? That would be helpful. Thank you.

You're absolutely right. I mean, the announced larger orders were closed in Q3. I think you can look upon this from two perspectives here as well. I mean, first of all, battery is not everything. It is also different segments that are delivering. And then on top of that, we had smaller battery orders that came during the year. So it's a combination of a good strength in general in the non-battery markets and then what we have to add also of course we have also brought in non-organic portion I mean while adding companies so a combination of those three I would say.

Okay very well that's helpful and secondly I also wanted to ask You elaborated to it a little bit previously that on the DCT margins, you have been talking about cycle margins being accreted for the division versus the cross, for example. Now you're going into 2025 with a mix, which is obviously a little bit different versus what you have been delivering on here in 2024. I just wanted to ask a little bit, you know, the margin that you're reporting here in Q4, is that, let's say, reflecting the mix that you're set to deliver on here going into the new year, or is there anything else we should take into account for the 2025?

But you're absolutely right. I mean, the highest margin we have on the well-established cycle, we have one large cycle order continue to deliver through the year. If I recollect my memory, it's about 137 million US dollar that is to be delivered during the first part of the year. Then we brought in other products, and some of those products have a lower margin, so we will have a mixed effect. With that said, you remember when we started to introduce SciCool? After that, we step by step were improving the margins. But the short answer, yes, over the year we will have a mix effect. But on that lower mix, we will continue to improve how we operate, etc.

Okay. Very well. Thanks very much.

Thank you. We will take another caller from the telephone conference.

The next question comes from Matslis from Kepler. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi, thank you. A couple of questions. First, I mean, coming back to AirTech there, and you mentioned the acquisitions that you have made and contributed to SAFE. Could you say something there about the earnings contribution also? Maybe you touched upon that during the presentation, but I wasn't able to listen to that. Will it continue to be or will it affect margins going forward in any way?

I think what we can say is that for AirProtect that we acquired, that one had a quite good margin in the fourth quarter. But I also want to point out that in clean technologies, the margin can vary between quarters.

I have a little way of saying when I look upon our acquisitions, and I oversimplify now, but I think it's fair enough. The first year we invest and we deliver and we are a little bit behind what we have put forward as a business case. So far, in most of our cases, one year after that, we are ahead of our business case, both when it comes to sales and when it comes to the predicted margin.

Great, thank you. Then, well, looking at food tech, I mean, you have the intention to divest the equipment part of it that you had during...

Mats, we hear someone in the background very clearly.

It was about the divestment of food tax.

Yes. If you could repeat that, Mats. Maybe tune down.

Sorry about the sound. Yeah, I mean, you have the intention to divest the equipment part of food tech. And could you say something about how that process progress?

Absolutely. It is progressing. And I said a couple of times and I said it last quarter, I had expected it to close earlier. I'm still very positive. It is just a matter of that when we reach the position that we can announce it, we will announce it. But I remain very positive on that. So as soon as we have an update, then we will inform the market. And you can see now in the report, we have also split it out, the two businesses, to give you a better view of what is what.

Great. And also, I mean, a similar topic there. I mean, gearing is... but it's increasing somewhat, and especially if you include the EmTech option, which will also increase. Do you see it as sort of a, well, could you say something about the level there? Is it business as usual, or is it sort of hindering you to move into new projects and areas to some extent?

As I said, both the lease will, of course, impact the leverage a little bit going forward and also the option payout, of course. But as always, I mean, we are following this closely and evaluating our financing and so on.

Now, what Katarina said earlier and what I also highlighted We have taken strong, strong strides forward when it comes to operating working capital, cash flow generation, etc. But of course, I mean, we need to be targeting where to spend and where not to spend closely, as we always have done.

Thank you, Mats. We have to cut you off there. One more caller.

Just one final there. The tariffs were sort of postponed now in Mexico. Could you say something about the potential impact there for you?

Absolutely. First of all, I mean the general statement that is very valid for us. In general terms, we produce and we sell within a region. It is on and about max, let's say 10%, that moves in between the different regions. When it comes to Americas, about 3% of our sales in U.S. is affected from Mexico. And here our intention is to, in the majority of that, be able to, if the tariffs comes, because this is a flicky-flacky movement there, I mean, then to bring forward as much as possible to the customer. But it's a very low number that is affected from Mexico and nothing from Canada.

Good. Thank you, Mats. And we have one more caller on the line, so we'll let you ask one question and then we have to finish off.

The next question comes from Carl Bockvist from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.

Thank you for squeezing me in here towards the end. The one and only question then. Going back to what you said at the Q3 report class, that Q4 and Q1 are seasonally strong order quarters for data centers. We saw it now happen in Q4. Is the comment still valid when you now look into Q1 and maybe also Q2?

I mean, this is the silver bullet question. I remain very positive towards the underlying market. I cannot guide you because then I know that I will be wrong when it comes to large orders. I expect us to continue to deliver good and that goes for several quarters. Last year, I mean, we had extraordinary strong order intake in Q4. I mean, it could have dropped over to Q1. But the simple and fair answer is I see a very, very solid underlying market. Then I cannot predict when orders are coming, but I'm confident on the underlying market. Absolutely.

Understood. Thank you.

Thank you. With that, we are out of time. And so we thank Claes and Katarina for presenting today. Thank you. And thank you to everyone for listening in. If you have any further questions, we at Investor Relations are happy to help out. So just reach out to us. And we hope to see you or talk to you soon again. Have a good day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.