Securitas AB (publ)

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q3 report. We continue to develop on a good path, execute on our strategic focus areas, and are glad to report a solid set of results for the third quarter. The organic growth in the quarter was 3%, and North America and Iberia America both contributed with solid growth. And now to a highlight. The operating margin was 8.1% in the quarter. We had solid improvements across all segments, as well as in the services and technology and solutions business lines. And as announced last quarter, we are closing down the government business within critical infrastructure services. And adjusted for this business, the organic sales growth was 4%, and the operating margin was 8.3%. EPS real change was strong at 19%. And the operating cash flow is above 100% in the quarter, and we continued to improve the leverage, and the net debt to EBITDA ratio is now at 2.2. The business optimization program that we initiated at the beginning of this year is contributing, and the vast majority of the cost savings have now been executed. So shifting then to the performance, just for an overview in the business lines and the segments. And as stated, we are recording significant margin improvements in both business lines. Continued strong technology and solutions, margin development with 50 basis points to 11.7. And the real sales growth in technology and solutions was 4% in the quarter. This is below our target, but we have a strong offering, and we have taken actions to increase the focus on client engagement and commercial development, and I expect these actions to generate stronger momentum in the coming quarters. The margin in security services improved 30 basis points to 6.9%, and this was supported by high margin on new sales, portfolio management, and strong development of the aviation business while the SEAS business hampered. Growth in security services was 1% in the quarter, and the growth rate in services is negatively impacted by active portfolio management and the SCIS business. But important, we expect to finalize the active portfolio management work in Europe and Iberia America during the first half of 2026, and that work is progressing according to our plans. So with that, let's move then to the segments, and as always, we start with North America, where we are pleased to report solid organic sales growth at 6% and a record Q3 operating margin. Healthy portfolio volume development and price increases in the Guardian business were key drivers of the growth, and continued double-digit growth in the Pinkton business contributed, and the performance in the technology business also supported. Technology and solutions growth was 2% in the quarter, and similar to the previous quarter, growth in technology was decent, but we had lower solutions growth. And we are fine-tuning our go-to-market approach with solutions in North America, where we leverage our in-house technology capabilities in a much better way than before. And with these changes now being in place, I expect improved growth in the coming quarters. We improved the operating margin in the guarding and technology business units to 9.5%, and this was supported by good cost control and leverage. So all in all, very strong performance and a record Q3 operating margin in North America. And moving then to Europe, where the operating margin improvement stands out as the highlight of the quarter. The organic growth was 2%, price increases, impact from Turkey and aviation supported, while active portfolio management had a clear negative impact on the growth in the quarter. Sales growth in technology and solutions was 4% and slightly below our expectations. The operating margin improved with 70 basis points to 8.4, and this is a significant improvement and is the result of strong execution on all strategic priorities involved. by our European teams. And as commented, we continue to address and renegotiate the low-performing contracts in the services business in Europe. This has a clear negative impact on the growth in the short term, but it's fully in line with our strategy and the plans that we set a couple of years ago. And we expect the work where we are addressing the low margin contracts to be completed during the first half of 2026. So all in all, very good development by European teams and also here an operating margin at a record level. We then shift to Red America, where we're also pleased to report good organic growth and solid margin improvement. The organic growth was 5%. This was driven by high single-digit growth in technology and solutions and price increases in the services business. And similar to Europe, there is a negative impact on the growth from active portfolio management, but we're making good progress and driving conversions to technology and solutions. The operating modern improvement was solid in the quarter, and the majority of the improvement is related to improvement in the services business, but some temporary one-offs also contributed. So all in all, very good quarter also in Ibero-America. And looking then at the performance across the group, we are driving disciplined execution of the strategy, and I'm really pleased to see strong execution across all segments and from all the teams. Our customer offer is stronger than ever before, and we're also glad to report improving client retention. So with that overview, turn to the finance update, and handing over to you, Andreas.

Thank you, Magnus. And we start with the income statement, where we had organic sales growth of 3% and improved the operating margin with 60 basis points, leading to a currency-adjusted operating profit growth of 11% in the quarter. As we communicated in Q2, we have introduced two new KPIs, which are adjusting our organic growth and our operating margin for the government business to be closed down within SEIS. In the third quarter, the adjusted organic growth was 4% and the adjusted operating margin was 8.3%. And this is higher than our target to have an adjusted operating margin of 8% the second half year of 2025 and puts us in a good position to achieve the target as we are closing the year in the fourth quarter. The close down of the government business itself is progressing according to the plan that we laid out in the second quarter and had limited impact on the operating result in Q3. Looking then below operating result, there are no material developments in amortization of acquisition related intangibles, nor in the acquisition related costs. Items affecting comparability was 1.5 billion, where we in the third quarter have made a provision of 154 million US dollars for the government business close down, in line with what we communicated in Q2. The remaining 65 million Swedish krona of IEC is related to the ongoing transformation and business optimization programs, Both programs are running according to plan, and the full year forecast of 375 million for both programs combined remains unchanged to our previous guidance. And as Magnus mentioned earlier, we have executed the business optimization program well, and the vast majority of the target 200 million run rate cost savings by the end of 2025 has been executed in the third quarter. And as we are looking into 2026, we are planning to continue to reduce the investments under IEC in comparison to the 375 million this year. I will come back with more details to you in Q4. Our finance net came in at 419 million, which is a reduction of 158 million compared to last year. And we continue the positive trend of reduced financing costs as interest rates and our debt levels are going down. For the full year, we expect the finance net to land in the range of 1.8 to 1.9 billion, which is a material decrease compared to the 2.3 billion we had in 2024. Moving to tax, here our full year forecasted tax rate is 29.2%. The increase compared to our full-year 26.7% estimate in the second quarter is mainly due to the $154 million close-down cost where we expect around 60% of the total cost to be tax deductible over time. Adjusted then for the close-down impact, the full-year forecasted tax rate is 26.8% in line with our previous communication in Q2. All in all, a strong quarter where our currency adjusted EPS growth excluding IC was 19% in Q3 and 18% for the first nine months of 2025. We then moved to cash flow where our operating cash flow was solid at 3.3 billion or 106% of the operating income. This despite some negative timing impacts from Q2 as I mentioned in the previous quarter. Both our DSO and our general working capital position continue to improve and support the good outcome in the quarter. The free cash flow landed at $2.7 billion, supported by solid operating cash flow, the reduced interest payments due to the lower interest rates and debt levels, and temporary positive tax timing impacts in the U.S., and we expect a majority of the positive timing impacts to reverse in the fourth quarter. For the first nine months of the year, we have strengthened our operating cash generation, having an operating cash flow of 74% of our operating income compared to 58% last year. We are in a good position to meet our full-year target of an operating cash flow of 70-80% of operating income, where we always target to be at the upper end of that interval. This despite that we have one additional payroll in our U.S. guarding business in Q4, which will impact the fourth quarter cash flow negatively approximately 40 million U.S. dollars. This is a negative timing impact that we have every fifth or every sixth year in the U.S., and this timing impact is relevant for Q4 as well as for the full year 2025. In 2026, we will then be back to the normal payroll pattern with one less payroll compared to this year. We then have a look at our net debt, which was 33.4 billion at the end of the quarter. This is a reduction of 2.6 billion compared to Q2, mainly supported by the strong free cash flow generation. In the quarter, we also had 308 million of total IC payments, where 175 million of this was the second payment related to the US government and Paragon Settlement. The residual is mainly related to the ongoing transformation and business optimization program and the government business close-down, which was $43 million in the second quarter. And as a reminder, the total Paragon settlement amount is $53 million, which we pay in three approximately equal installments. We have now made two payments, and the third and final payment has been made in the fourth quarter. Moving then to the right hand side, where the net depth to EBITDA was 2.2 times. This is half a turn improvement compared to Q3 last year, where the positive EBITDA development, good cash generation and the strength in Swedish krona all supported positively. And we are well below our target net depth to EBITDA of less than three times and expect to continue to leverage our balance sheet in the short term. Moving on to have a look at our financing and financial position, where we continue to have a strong balance sheet, strong liquidity, and we remain without any financial covenants in our debt facilities. And after a period of important refinancing focus, our main focus the second half of 2025 is to use the strong cash generation from the business to amortize debt. In the quarter, we have repaid 1.4 billion of debt, and in the fourth quarter, we plan to amortize approximately 2 billion on the term loan maturing next year. This will continue to support our cost of financing going forward, and we will have very limited refinancing needs throughout 2026. And as always, we remain committed to our investment grade rating. So with that, I hand over back to you, Magnus.

Very good. Thanks a lot, Andreas. And before we open up the Q&A, I'd just like to share a few reflections regarding the longer-term development and also a little bit looking ahead. So back in 2022, when we did the Stanley acquisition, we accelerated the work to change the profile of Securitas, to create a company with the strongest technology and digital offering to our clients in combination with high-quality guarding services. We also shared the ambition to improve the operating margin, from the prior decade where we have been around 5% to achieve around 8% by the end of 2025. And we outlined the main focus areas to drive this improvement to 8%, and I think those of you who are following us, you're familiar with the bridge here. We exceeded 8% operating margin in Q3, and Q4 is a somewhat lower margin, but we're on a good track to deliver on this ambition in the second half of this year. And while the impact from M&A activity has been limited in recent years, we have made considerable progress in the other areas. And we are about to finalize the heavy lifting work with active portfolio management and strategic assessments. But this work has been very important to create a sharper and more focused company where all the business that we are running is fully aligned with our strategy. And when you're looking at SCIS, and this is more related to a question we received a couple of times, the close down here and the result doesn't really represent a significant part of our overall business. It is only around 1% of the operating result. So a large volume, very limited in terms of the operating result impact from that close down. And when I look at the strategic assessments, the remaining assessments that we have under consideration now represent approximately 1% of group sales. So we are nearing the completion of an important phase with important work. It has been rigorous and hard work, but it's been important to shape a stronger and a more focused company. And just to repeat the message also from the second quarter, we have received a question on a number of occasions on what basis we consider reaching the 8%. And as communicated earlier, if we reach the 8% operating model in the second half of this year, excluding the SCIS business that we're closing down, we will have achieved the ambition. And delivering on this ambition is an important milestone since it represents a historical shift in the profitability profile of Securitas. But having said that, it's just a milestone on a longer journey. And talking about that journey, we have come a long way in shaping the new Securitas to be a sharper and a much stronger company. And when you take a little bit of a longer-term perspective, we are operating in a market with good growth, which is spurred by increasing threat levels, increased demand for digital and technology solutions, and where we are uniquely positioned with the investments we have done in the last five to six years. And we have intentionally transformed and repositioned our portfolio to the parts of the market where there is good underlying growth and the real security needs are more important than the price per hour. And we partner with our clients for the long term, investing into the relationship, and we are building the best security solutions based on the client needs, leveraging technology, digital people, and more and more real-time insights. And all of this has also led to much more profitable securities today compared to the 5% company we were for many years. Today, we're executing on our plan to get to 8%, as stated in the second half of this year. And we've also been able to lift the margin for 19 consecutive quarters and at the same time deliver strong EPS growth to our shareholders. And in the increasingly complex and volatile macro environment, we're also a resilient business where the majority of our revenue is recurring and with an excellent client retention of 90%. And all of this has also been elevated or translated into higher cash flows, where we are now delivering cash flow above our financial targets. And this has also contributed to an accelerated deleveraging after the Stanley acquisition. So we're now in a position That is much, much stronger, and we can continue to invest into the growth of our business. So as we finalize in this strategic phase, we're a much stronger company, very well positioned in an attractive market to increase our focus on profitable growth. And as more and more units reach the required profitability levels, so that means for good sustainable business, they also gain the right to shift focus on driving profitable growth. And looking at the longer term, we will continue to improve the margin as we are building scalable solutions to our clients. So we stay focused, confident, and also very excited about our longer-term opportunities, and we're looking forward to sharing more in the capital markets day in June. So with those perspectives, we can conclude this Q3 presentation. We're executing according to our plans, deliver strong margin with 8.1% in the quarter, EPS improvement of 19%. So with that, let us open up the Q&A session.

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key 6 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Raymond Koo from Nordia. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Magnus and Andreas. A couple of questions from me. First one on technology and solutions, or T&S. You had 4% in real estate growth this quarter. And on paper, the target the board staked out for security to achieve a growth within T&S of 8% to 10%. Sounds like it's congruent with its target of achieving 8% in EBITDA margin, you know, with T&S having higher margins. But the outcome since your CMD... seems to show that you've been forced to prioritize portfolio management at the expense of growth within T&S, at least short term. Is that a fair description, would you say? And your position now at sort of 8%, would that allow you to shift your focus more towards T&S growth?

Thanks, Raymond. Well, just to put some context on the technology solutions growth, this is obviously a long-term target. I believe that we are very well positioned. We've spent a couple of years doing very diligent and robust work in terms of integration. When you're looking forward, we feel confident that we're going to be able to drive the growth here at a really healthy pace. Where are we right now in that? Well, we're mostly, as we've communicated before, done with integration work. What we're doing now based on the strength and the offering is that we're investing more in commercial capability based on the strong offering that we have. And we're also fine-tuning in a number of parts of the organization. And some of that fine-tuning is related to how we become better at cross-selling, how we start to become better at actually leveraging the combined client base. We're also aligning incentives. I should also say that it's a little bit of a mixed picture when I look at the growth rate in technology, if you look at the growth rate in solutions. Solutions, we've had really strong traction in North America, or in Iberia, America, Good traction in Europe, but in North America, as I've explained in the last couple of quarters, we also under new leadership did a little bit of a... reboot in terms of the organization set up. And it was the right time to do that because historically, when we didn't have strong technology capability, we were also working with other companies to help us with the technology part of a solution. Today, our own technology team is the main partner and provider, and that enables us to build a much more efficient and also much more scalable solution. for the longer term, and their growth has been flat now in the last couple of quarters in North America. I expect that now based on the actions that we've initiated to really improve in terms of the growth. So I believe that we are in a good phase and also in really, really good shape to drive this one, but also some fine-tuning and optimization is needed and also some of the commercial investments.

In relation to the 8% target, we should say that in 2023 and 2024, we had stronger technology and solutions growth that have supported us on our journey to 8%. And although it is 4% now in the quarter, we still have a positive mix effect compared to the guarding business and how that is growing as well. But one final lens on it, when we said 8% to 10%, that also included one part of M&A activities where we have said that we have done less as well. So that is one of the reasons then why we are not coming all the way up to the 8% to 10% target, because it's mainly within technology and solutions which our M&A activities would be geared against.

Right. That's very helpful. And then maybe sort of a follow-up, if you could maybe provide a bit more color with regards to how you intend to accelerate TNS growth, mainly to help us analysts better understand the pace of growth acceleration that we should be expecting across your segments going forward.

Yeah, so if you look at that, it is very much related to what I mentioned. So strengthening and investing a bit more in the commercial capability, we have really strong offering. I've recently also been with a number of our clients in the U.S. a couple of weeks ago. feedback is strong, partnerships are strong, and our clients and also new clients are also looking at Securitas as the main partner. So we are well positioned, and I think that is the key point. So our offering is strong, but I think that we will benefit from also investing a little bit more in the commercial resources and capability as we go forward. And then, as I mentioned, We're also working in a much more diligent and intentional way now in terms of how we are leveraging existing client base for cross-selling. These are things that, you know, also relate a little bit to the work that we've done in the last couple of years to also have the right types of tools and digital platforms to enable that together with incentives as well to be able to drive it at scale. So I feel that we are in a good position here to drive this at the healthy clip going forward.

Thank you. Just one final, maybe sort of a detail almost, but could you elaborate on, you mentioned the positive one-off that boosted the margins in the Ibero-America. Maybe I missed that, but how big were they and how should we think about them going forward?

This is related to some reduced provisions related to legal cases. So there was a positive impact to the operating margin in the Ibero division. Normally we mention something when it impacts at least 0.1 margin-wise in Ibero, in the segment Ibero. In this case it was a bit more than 0.1. But just to help out there. But then important to say as well that the majority of the modern improvement in Ibero-America was driven by operational improvements, not these one-off related items. And on the total group level, it doesn't have any material impact whatsoever.

Okay, perfect. Thanks a lot. I'll get back in line.

The next question comes from Dan Johansen from SEB. Please go ahead.

Good morning. My name is Andreas. Thanks for taking my questions. I'll limit myself to two questions here, I think. Maybe starting a bit on the cash flow. We had another quarter here with very strong cash flow and you're in a very good position from a balance sheet perspective. And all that's equal, you'll probably be leveraging further here going into Q4. So I'm wondering a little bit on how you think about capital allocation here for the coming quarters and year. I mean, you have a target of three times that at DVTA. There's a wide margin to that target already. You're through a quite heavy investment period. You're planning to amortize debt. So do you have enough interesting M&A in the pipeline that you would like to pursue? Or is there an opportunity for a higher shareholder remuneration through extra dividends or share buybacks? Yeah, if you can help me a little bit to understand on how you think about the balance sheet from here. Thank you.

Thank you. When it comes to capital allocation priorities, number one, as you say, as well as the below three, which we are, we have a good headroom as well when it comes to our leverage points. Priority number two, invest to drive the growth in our solutions business. We have a CapEx guidance of around 2.5% of sales, and that we will continue to do. Priority number three for us is the dividend to our shareholders, 50% to 60% of net income to be paid out on an annual basis. And then priority thereafter is related to Bolton M&A activities. And here, as you rightfully say, there has not been so much activity. We have opened up for it, but we have also been focused really on driving the organic improvements in the business. We've also been focused on the strategic assessment program. So that is something that we will work on accelerating, although, like you say as well, there is not a big, huge pipeline right now today. But that will, over time, start to increase. And then after that, I mean, if we don't find enough acquisitions, so to say, then we will continue to deleverage our balance sheet here. And over time, we can consider any other shareholder returns, but it's not a topic today and in the short term. And then we will have to come back to you on a more longer-term view in our capital market stay here in June.

Understood. And then maybe a smaller question on the other segment here. If I understand it correctly, SCIS still hampering you on a year-to-year basis. But when I look at the other segment, the loss is only 56 million, so quite in line with last year. Is that due to continued good performance in AMIA and low group costs, or anything more of a one-off nature in there? Or, yeah, what explains that you don't have a bigger loss given SCIS is still negative, it seems?

No big one-offs. You're right. Our business in AMEA, Africa, Middle East, and Asia, and the Pacific are performing well, which is supporting other. Group cost is under control, so there's no major changes there. And then we have the residualistic performance in the SEIS business.

Okay. Thank you for that. I'll jump back at the line. Thank you so much.

The next question comes from Alan Wells from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Hi, Magnus, Andreas. A couple from me, please. Just mindful of the kind of portfolio management comments, you said that they will continue in Europe, even America into the first half. So is it right to assume that that kind of very low single-digit growth kind of profile that we've seen for this year in those regions, but at least continues in the first half next year? I'm just keen to understand how you see the potential timing and shape of growth recovery there. That's the first question. Secondly, just a quantification question on the tax timing comment that you made in terms of the unwind in the fourth quarter. Exactly what does that mean in terms of the impact on cash flow? And as I just think about the 3% organic growth number that you post in Q3. What is the pricing component of that versus volume, just at an average group level, just so you can understand where pricing is? Thank you.

Thanks, Alan. So on the active portfolio management, if you're looking at the current trading, it's a several percent type of impact that we're seeing on the numbers that we're reporting in the last couple of quarters. That's the reason we highlight that there is a significant impact. We don't provide guidance, but we continue to work as we've done before. It's always to take care of our clients in a good way, do this in an orderly fashion. But I also call it out because it is important that we also complete that work and get that work behind us because the sooner that we do that, we can also start to focus more on profitable growth again. So that's really the perspective. We don't provide any guidance, but I think going back a number of years, a lot of people were wondering, okay, does this mean that you're going to shrink significantly in business, et cetera? Well, as you know, over many, many years, that hasn't happened because we also have had a healthy intake in terms of new business. So we're on the right path, but we also need to finish that job. Very important in Europe and in America. Then if you compare a little bit to North America, you also see the benefit there. We were done with this work earlier in North America, and they're obviously also back to much healthier growth levels, and that really contributes. So this is all part of the plan, but the good thing now is that we're now kind of nearing completion of that work in the next couple of quarters.

When it comes to the 3% growth, the majority of that is price. And where we do have volume increases is in our North American business where we have seen a good portfolio development. And it's also a very good place to have good growth given the margin profile that we are having in our North American business. We've been through the APM program, as Magnus just talked about, and now we are turning that business more and more into growth-focused, so it's really good to see the growth numbers and the volume development in the North American business. But all in all, on the group level, most of the 3% is price. When it comes to the cash market, question related to tax we have had some positive timing impacts both in Q2 and Q3 in the US and we expect that to reverse in Q4 and we were talking about 30-40 million US dollar of negative impact in Q4 on the cash flow related to that.

Great thank you can I maybe just one quick additional follow-up I'm just mindful of US government shutdown at the moment is there any impact in your business there? I guess most of it might be in SCIS, which is closing down, but I'm just wondering if there's any impact over the last month or so in terms of Securitas there. Thank you.

No, there is no significant impact. Thank you.

The next question comes from Victor Lindeberg from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Morning. Only one question from my side. Looking at the business you've reshaped now quite impressively the past three years, in my book at least, and looking now forward in the market, if you could help us pin down the, let's say, thundering activity that you see. How is the market in light of all the uncertainty we see with the headlines every now and then and tweets and so forth. So curious to understand the overall market tendering activity and where you see yourself in light of your profitability journey now when it comes to maybe win ratios that you have seen or foresee going forward to not only defend the 8% margin, but in light of being able to propel further upwards. Thanks.

Thanks, Victor. I think this is a part that we are very excited about, and I appreciate your comment. It's been quite heavy lifting within the business over the last four or five years in terms of shaping the company into the profile that we now start to become. Very intentional work. We followed by the book most of the things that we set out to do internally five, six years ago and executed on those. So I think that we are, as a company, we're in a much stronger position. And when I look at the markets, we're operating in large, growing, attractive markets. So we're in a very good position also to tap into that and to leverage that with the strength of the offering that we have. The kind of uncertainty that we're seeing around the world, and this is obviously... Related to geopolitical uncertainty, it's also related to increasing crime and risk levels. My clear takeaway from a number of the client discussions, and we're serving many of the most reputable companies in the world, they are looking in light of that for a strong partner, a really, really trustworthy and reliable partner that has strong capabilities. And those capabilities to us are very much focused on technology, digital, and our services capabilities that we have in our portfolio. So I think that we are... really well placed in that, and there is also a healthy market. An important shift that we have been able to achieve in the last five, six years is that we have been much more granular and also much firmer in terms of what are the profitability levels that we need for the business to be sustainable. And I think that has been, as the market leader in our industry, that has been really, really important work for us to carry out. But then when you're looking at the market, because that's obviously more on a macro level, we also then have a strong position. We know the market is growing, but we're also, in the last four or five years, also focusing in on the segments where we see that there is a very clear security need. There is a focus on quality. and and some of those that we're also enjoying very very good growth today examples are in technology segments it's in the data center segments pharmaceuticals defense just to mention a few and and what i'm seeing here is that the positions that we have built a few years ago we just continue to expand and grow those ones and and and that gives me a lot of confidence that we're really in a much better position today much more intentional and in a good position as well to now, after we get a lot of the heavy kind of lifting work behind us, to also optimize a little bit more in terms of continuous margin improvements, but also then really doubling down on more profitable growth because we have a strong offering and we want to grow. But we need to get some of that work done. But the good thing now is that now it's not four or five years out. It's a couple of quarters out. And I think that is the exciting position that we are in right now. So I believe we're in a good position, Victor, and also good markets.

Thank you. And by your comment, it does not really sound that clients are waiting to make decisions. It seems the market is progressing as it usually does. No incremental hesitation seen. Is that a fair assumption?

I think so. This is a fairly slow-moving and fairly conservative industry from my perspective. But it's also based on security, so important that most of our clients... They are also very deliberate in terms of, okay, what are the things that we need in our security solutions and who is the partner going to be? And for that reason, some of the selling cycles are a bit longer, but the way that we build our business is very much focused on long-term value creation. So once we are... In a relationship with a client, we usually develop that continuously and over time. And that is a real position of strength for us. But I wouldn't say that there is a hesitancy in that sense. It's rather the question... How can you help us and really leverage technology and digital capabilities that we have and that are also out there in the market to be able to run a more effective and more efficient security program? And there I feel that the kind of the increasing complexity from that perspective it's clearly in our favor because then most customers also realize that it doesn't make any sense for them to invest in all that capability. It requires real deep know-how that we have in our technology business that we're building digital capabilities and also much stronger guarding capabilities. So it's matching in a really good way. And that's the reason I'm saying I think we're in a really good position when I look at the next five to ten years after a period of really reshaping the company.

All right. Super. Best of luck out there. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Simon Johnson from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead. Simon Johnson, ABG, Sundell Collier, your line is now unmuted. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good morning all. I just have a follow-up question on the M&A in technology and solutions specifically, of course. Just wondering where you think or where you see that the market is currently in terms of multiples paid? of the kind of assets that you are looking for. Ballpark figures would be fine. Thanks.

Thank you. Given that we have not been so active in the market, I would not really comment upon that today, to be honest, as well. That's something I need to come back to. But the things that we have done have been more or less on the same levels as we have done bolt-ons before. I think we should take out the Stanley transaction. That was one big transaction. Generally speaking, where we have said that we paid premium to get that down, so the multiples in the technology market is lower than that for sure. But I haven't seen any trend of reduced multiples lately or over the last years. So normally in the technology space, you would pay double-digit multiples, low double-digit multiples, and then it all depends on what kind of cost synergies that we have and, of course, revenue synergies as well. So those are the comments I would like to give at this point in time, Simon.

Yes, I understand. Thanks for that. That's all for me.

There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the President and CEO, Magnus Alkvist, for any closing comments.

Very good. Thanks a lot, everyone, for joining us today. We continue on a good path, as stated, and excited about the next phase in our journey. Thank you.