6/5/2025

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you very much and good morning all and very welcome to the presentation of our fourth quarter report concluding our financial year 2024-25 which is also our 50th business year. We will start off with a rather short presentation and then we will open up for questions at the end. The presentation you will find on our start page on the investor relation website if you scroll down a little bit. By that I hand over to Roland to start with the presentation.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you and good morning everyone. Roland Casper, CEO and welcome to our quarter four presentation. I'll jump directly into it and go to the agenda. So what we want to cover in this short presentation would here be Systemair of course in brief then the fourth quarter summary and then the fourth quarter financials presented by Anders. I'll then share some sustainability highlights, projects and product launches and then we open up for the Q&A. By that switching then and going to Systemair in brief. So Systemair we're operating based on our core values of simplicity and reliability. Our business concept is to develop, manufacture and market energy efficient high quality ventilation products and with our customers in focus we are determined to meet their expectations on delivery reliability, availability, sustainability and quality. Our company as you know was established in Queen's Gatherberry in 1974 by our chairman and founder Mr. Jarl Engström and in our last fiscal year we achieved a total annual turnover of round about 1.1 billion euros. Systemair was listed at the Nasdaq Nordic Stock Exchange Market in October 2007. Today we proudly operate our own sales companies in 51 countries together with 26 factories in 19 countries and with our about 6,700 employees we in Systemair are present and sell to more than 135 countries all around the world. Switching to next slide. A short strategic update on our fourth quarter. So we had a strong organic growth in all European regions. We also celebrated the inauguration of our new 19,000 square meter state of the art manufacturing facility in Hyderabad in India in the quarter and finally Systemair's emission target were approved by the Science Based Target Initiative. This is a significant milestone in our sustainability work. Then on the right side here you see the highlights within public affairs in March. We as Systemair participated on the ISH Fair in Frankfurt in Germany which is one of the biggest ventilation or HVAC fairs in the world. This year's exhibition in March Systemair proudly hosted some of the technical and legislative discussions forums. Also for us a successful fair as it at the end also counted more than 166,000 visitors which is a new record. As always we also presented some exciting new and technical cutting edge products especially to mention here our new hand unit versions from Topfax and G-Nut with integrated heat pumps but also our new and smart efficient air conditioning solutions. Finally I think worth to mention the all technical totally redesigned and equipped with newest possible technical solutions Menager Compass unit with CO2 as refrigerant and I'll come back to that later in the presentation. Switching then sorry short to markets in the next slide slide number five. Just a short look in the markets. As you know we are a global and diversified customer based and which provides us with a solid foundation for profitable growth. Looking at the different regions this quarter starting with the Nordic region which represents 17 percent of our total turnover. Western Europe has 44 percent share and Eastern Europe stable at 12 percent share and North America at the same 12 percent. Other markets which as you know incorporates North Africa, Turkey, Middle East and Asia is stable at 15 percent of our total sales in the quarter. This is actually the first time all regions are unchanged in their share of the total sales versus the same quarter the year before. And by that we continue with a closer look at the financial outcomes in the quarter and I hand over to Anders.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you Roland. So first of all our net sales amounted to 3.002 billion compared to 3.069 billion last year. This corresponds to a decline in sales of minus 2.2 percent. This decline however mainly relates to currency effects. The organic growth as mentioned by Roland was positive by 0.5 percent. We can conclude that for the third quarter in a row we are reporting an organic growth in a relatively slow market. Slide number seven. To give a bit more details behind the net sales development we saw organic growth in all European regions while North America, Middle East, Asia, Australia and Africa had negative development in this quarter. Acquisition of FEM in Malaysia had a minor effect on sales and contributed by 0.3 percent. And then finally currency effect. The strengthened Swedish Krona resulted in a negative effect on sales by 3.0 percent. Our main currency exposure is toward Euros, US and Canadian dollars and Norwegian Kronor. Going to slide number eight. We come to the geographic breakdown and I will talk about the organic growth rates for each region starting off with the Nordics where we saw a decent growth for the quarter in Sweden, Denmark and Finland while the Norwegian sales declined slightly but overall the market has been holding up quite well. All in all a positive organic growth in this region also in the current quarter of plus 4.5 percent. Going to Western Europe we saw a growth of 5.5 percent for the quarter which we think is quite strong. The region has experienced positive development in Netherlands, France and Italy while the German market is still not back on track along with countries such as Austria and Spain. We although are happy to see yet another quarter with positive organic growth in Western Europe. Going into West Eastern Europe we had a solid organic growth of 11.2 percent. Sales increased in Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia while Poland, Lithuania and Romania declined. The sales in this region tend to be quite volatile from quarter to quarter due to a high share of project-driven sales. And then over to North America where the organic growth rate was negative by minus 8.8 percent. We saw a good growth in Canada while US sales contracted. The Canadian growth relates mainly to our residential products. Certainly the ongoing tariff discussion is creating a volatile market situation in the US. As described in the report we have a regional production strategy with factories both in the US and in Canada. So if needed for economic reasons there are possibilities to transfer production volumes and competence from Canada to US to mitigate these effects. We also saw boosted sales figures in the last quarter due to a change in the legislation for refrigerants implemented from January. This had a negative impact on our fourth quarter in North America as well. And then Middle East, Asia, Australia and Africa we had an organic sales decline of minus 16.8 percent. This decline was mainly driven by the markets in Turkey and India. In India we had delivery constraints while moving the production as Ronald mentioned in Hyderabad to a completely new factory. We are now back to normal delivery capacity and in Turkey last year's Q4 was boosted due to a large project delivery resulting in tough comparable figures. Most of the other countries in this region showed continued good growth. All in all organic growth in total amounted then to plus 0.5 percent. Then heading into slide number nine. Our gross margin in the quarter was again strong and amounted to 36.5 percent compared to 35.1 in the previous year. We are happy to see this continued positive development. This is due to a high utilization in several of our more important factories. A favorable product mix but also the contribution from implemented cost reductions and efficiency measures made. Our adjusted operating profit amounted to 260 million or an operating profit margin of 8.7 percent compared to 6.8 percent in Q4 last year. The adjustments for the quarter relates to bad debt losses of 13.9 million. The acquisition of the two last agents for Menerga in Germany at the price of 27.1 million and we have also adjusted for the capital gain of 27.8 million from the investment of Menerga's factory in Mühlheim in Germany. Selling and admin expenses in comparable units increased by 50 million. Going to slide number 10. Profit after tax amounted to 218 million compared to 167 last year. The main difference here relates to negative currency effects of minus 82.3 million on receivables and bank balances. Our interest expenses amounted to minus 21.4 million compared to minus 22.9 million last year in Q4 and the tax rate for the period amounted to 28.7 percent corresponding to 42.3 million in tax. And then slide number 11. My last slide. A positive cash flow development for the quarter. Our working capital decreased by 89.2 million leading to an increase in the free cash flow. This was mainly due to decreased trade receivables. Our net investments in the quarter amounted to 140.6 million relating to finalizing investments in Canada and in Sweden. And this leads to a free cash flow of 240.3 million compared to 76 million last year. Our net debt is lower than last year and amounts to 901 million compared to 1070 million one year ago. The net debt to EBTA amounts to the very low 0.56 and we have plenty of headroom for strategic M&A and further investments. And finally, as you might have noticed, the board of directors suggests to a dividend of 1.35 Swedish kronor per share compared to 120 last year. The suggested dividend amounts to 41.3 percent of the net profit which is above our financial target at 40 percent. And by that I hand back to you again Roland.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you very much Anders. Now let's have a look at some of the highlights in the quarter in our strategic M&A. We have a few priorities going directly to slide number 13. So, Sister Mare, we are to be an attractive workplace with an inclusive culture that promotes employee development and entrepreneurship. We build strong relationships internally and externally based on our expertise and trust. We really want to improve our profitability by taking advantage of economies of scale and with a strong local presence with decentralized decision making, we want to be close to our customers. A global and truly diversified customer base gives us a stable and resilient foundation for profitable growth through organic investments and active acquisition agenda. And a wide range of quality products based on standardized technical platforms with energy efficiency and improved indirect quality as guiding principles. We meet the demands of tomorrow by looking at the whole life cycle of the product to improve resource efficiency and the climate footprint. Our service business can optimize the product and operations and promote long-term sustainability. Switching to the next slide. Slide number 14. This to me summarizes what we do. We create better air every day and worldwide. To show you some of the applications that we actually serve with our products, I just want to mention those that you see here on the screen. It's mainly the commercial applications, which is the biggest for us, followed by industrial and then the residential ventilation. Infrastructure and transport, including applications like tunnel ventilation, metro roads and tunnels. Healthcare is growing strong, especially after the increased awareness and latest update of the EPBD, the European Performance and Billing Directive. It is to be expected this will continue. Education, like schools and classroom ventilation and hospitality and entertainment, which is covering everything from cinemas to shopping malls. And of course, as everyone, we also cover data center applications. Next slide. Slide number 15. Ladies and gentlemen, switching over to our sustainability highlights. This has been overall a successful year for our sustainability performance. Our mission and work-related injuries with sickness absence continue to have a positive trend. We're exceeding the targets that we set for 24 and 55. As a result, we will achieve two out of three prioritized sustainability targets for the year. On the right side, you see the targets we set. The first one is the decrease in our scope one and two emissions intensity target, which was set to 32% and we actually decreased 36%. On the work-related injuries with sickness absence, the target was set to 15 and we achieved 19% decrease. And sadly, our target for the amount of female leaders, our target was .7% due to a structure in Turkey, managers and functions have left the company and the outcome is impacted negatively here. So female leaders achieved 23.6%. Next slide. Slide number 16. As already announced initially in the beginning of this presentation, we're proud now to finally say that SystemR, our science-based emission targets are approved. So SystemR now has the science-based emission targets approved by the Science-based Targets Initiative. This to us is a significant milestone in our sustainability work. The science-based targets have been set for near and long-term covering emissions in scope one and two and three for net zero greenhouse gas emissions. And for us, the target is the fiscal year 2050 and 51. Then going to the next slide, slide number 17. Just to present one of the projects here that we supplied in the quarter. I want to show you the first one here is the project where SystemR is supplying to the event district and here a carpark installation in Diriya, Saudi Arabia. This is actually the fifth carpark that has been awarded to SystemR in this new region of Diriya called City of Earth, which is the area of the King's ancestors. This carpark consists of four levels totaling 160,000 square meters and a capacity of 4,500 cars. The project includes supply of fans and jet fans, testing and commissioning, and will be the first complete delivery under the label of Made in Saudi Arabia with an approximate value of 960,000 euros. This label Made in Saudi Arabia means that these are products that we are producing and installing coming out of our own facilities in Riyadh. Switching to the next slide, slide number 18. Now switching over to look at some of the product launches. At the ISH in March this year, the visitors got an exclusive first look at our products, one of them being the top fix with integrated heat pump. This unit today is a compact -in-one unit designed for streamlined installation operations featuring an integrated rotor heat exchanger that delivers up to 90% efficiency and combined with a reversible heat pump. It maximizes energy recovery and climate efficiency, reducing the total energy consumption by up to 65% compared to traditional systems. The top fix heat pump unit is a top connected air unit and it achieves very high COP, coefficients of power, and EER values. It is also suitable for both renovation and new builds. In our basic design, which is a nice feature, it always fits through a 900-millimeter door. Very nice for renovation purposes. The next slide to conclude the product information here. This is a other product that we also presented on the ISH. The next here is actually a cutting-edge development based on the new Menager platform that we implemented in Maribor after the move of Menager manufacturing from Germany to Slovenia. We launched this Menager Compass units on the ISH. The unit reduces the carbon footprint by delivering top performance and represents a really big step forward using natural refrigerant R744 or in other expression CO2. This refrigerant sets the benchmark for minimal global warm potential as it has the GVP of 1, which means it's completely free from per and polyfluorinated substances for cleaner, safer future. It's all now on our new platform, the Menager NX from Maribor. By that, I switch over to the last slide and open up for Q&A. Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

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.

speaker
Unknown Analyst
Analyst

Yes, good morning and thank you Roland and Anders. So if we start by going back to the development in North America, obviously it feels a bit uncertain with the tariff situation and everything. As we saw, growth slowed down a fair bit in the quarter. Then perhaps on the volume side, do you expect this weaker number in North America to be more temporary and if you could talk about that shift throughout the quarter, comparing February to March and then April.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

As mentioned during the presentation, there were various reasons behind the dip we had in North America. One of them being that Q3 was boosted a bit due to change in legislation for refrigerants and so on. But of course, we are coming back more to a situation of seasonality, especially on the classroom units that we're selling out from Canada right now. So that's another reason. And of course, there's a turbulence, especially on the US market right now due to these tariffs and I guess now ongoing discussions about steel and aluminum and so on. So a bit more cautious market, I would say. And the reason behind this seasonality, I would say, is also, you know, the reduced COVID incentives in the market that we had previously that boosted sales as well. So, but we are quite optimistic and we believe that volumes are there still to come.

speaker
Unknown Analyst
Analyst

I see that that's clear and sort of you mentioned that tariffs and that uncertainty is easing a bit. So did you see that towards the end of the quarter or was it quite similar comparing the start and the end?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

I think, Roland, I think at the end of the quarter we saw an ease on, let's say, the uncertainty on the market behavior. Absolutely,

speaker
Unknown Analyst
Analyst

yes. Okay, very clear. Then second question on the M&A side. You're talking about your strong balance sheet and sort of now that we enter a new fiscal year, if you could talk about the pipeline and how your discussions are going around that.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, of course, for us, very important, very attractive topic. We are having a quite positive pipeline, a lot of projects that we are running. But as you know, some of them might end in agreement, others that you have to postpone a little bit, depending on the different discussions. But we are quite optimistic and see a very positive pipeline with some close buy decisions. So very good for us.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, we believe it was quite strong report, especially, I mean, the growth rates we have announced for Europe here and like a trend, you could say. And what we have seen, I mean, on the other markets in North America, we see as more as temporary bumps on the road here.

speaker
Unknown Analyst
Analyst

Okay, I see. Then speaking about the German market, it seems to continue to slow down as well. Do you see any signs of improvement there or what's your expectations there as well?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

The feedback we get from our local companies in Germany is more a clear sign of stabilization. There has been a lot of ups and downs driven by political discussions and of course, also the influence of activities due to the European situation around the wars. So, but now it's more stable and I think that's a good point to start with, at least.

speaker
Unknown Analyst
Analyst

Okay, thank you very much. That's all for me.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from Adela Dashian from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

speaker
Adela Dashian
Analyst, Jefferies

Thank you and gentlemen, I'm going to continue on the topic of the US and I appreciate the commentary around the uncertainty of the market improving somewhat towards the end of the quarter. Just on tariffs specifically, are you able to quantify how much of your sales today in the US that you actually import from Canada and are there any other countries that you have imports from other than Canada to the US market? And that's both for components but also equipment, please.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah, that's a good question. Thank you for that, Adel. So, we are quite local for local, I would say. So, they're both American, they're both Canadian factories are mainly producing for Canada, especially the residential unit manufacturing entity. The one doing the classroom units that we have in Canada also, of course, has volumes down to US, but that is in a quite limited way and it is the importer that has to pay the tariffs, which is the distributor companies in the US. There are not too many of them. So, we see limited impacts and we also have the possibility if this should be in the final stage on a higher tariff levels than it is today for taxes at all, we could and we are prepared to move the manufacturing to our American factory if that should be the case. At the time being, we don't see a bigger issue. It is all handled by the market in a good way today. And

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

the products are exempted as it is today, just to clarify.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

And we have no other components that we actually are exporting in. As I said, we are local for local also with most of the components that we need for manufacturing. So, there is none or very little impact only.

speaker
Adela Dashian
Analyst, Jefferies

Okay, that's very good to hear. And then just on the seasonality aspect that you mentioned also in your comments here, you know, maybe this has changed versus historically, but what would you consider to be the strongest month for the US market specifically in the year now with increased focus on schools and hospitals and so on?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

I think the dimension of the seasonality is, I would say, mainly related to our manufacturing entity in Tilsonburg, outside Toronto, where we produce the classroom units. And now a little bit before pandemic and before component problems, it was quite clear that you deliver most of the projects when the schools are empty, we'll say that they're holidays. Then throughout the pandemic, and especially with the component shortage situation, it was more the situation of if you can deliver, please deliver. So, there was no seasonality anymore. And this is now coming back in a more normalized environment. There is no component shortage. And of course, the schools are operating as before. So, this seasonality is coming back to a more normal stage, which is around New Year's, somewhere in spring and then during summer are the main months for deliveries for the classroom units.

speaker
Adela Dashian
Analyst, Jefferies

Okay, so that's one of the reasons why you have confidence that Q1 will be, there will be a rebound already in the first quarter. Okay, and then on the Indian, the production relocation in India, is this now over and done with? We shouldn't expect any lower volumes to drag on to the coming quarters. That's affecting regional sales there?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Yes, that is over and done. This new factory was inaugurated in mid-March. And the stop that we had is that we had to move a factory, even though it was some few hundred meters, but we had to close down and move over a whole manufacturing entity, which makes around about 30% of the volume in India. So, we had a stop there for three and a half to four weeks that impacted us. But that is totally over. And just now we're even in a ramp up because we now have quadrupled the factory space and doubled the capacity. So, we're in a ramp up phase there. So, on a positive side.

speaker
Adela Dashian
Analyst, Jefferies

Got it. Yep. All right, perfect. That's all for me. Thank you.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you, Adele.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

The next question comes from Carl Ragnarstam from Nordia. Please go ahead.

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

Good morning, it's Carl here from Nordia. A couple of questions. Firstly, if we continue on the US, could you help us understand a bit the organic development by a product segment in the US between sort of school ventilations and residential? If we... And also on that note, you also mentioned some perhaps headwinds, I think you said, from refrigerant regulation. I guess you're referring to the A2L regulation. While we saw a pre-buying effect during, I guess, Q4, I guess it's reversed effect now. So, how long do you think that would last, if that is what you're referring to?

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

That effect is already over. This was new legislation from 1st of January, which boosted sales than before this legislation was enforced.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

And just to make that clear, the A2L... You think that... The A2L delivery... I'm sorry, please. Yes, the A2L deliveries that you're referring to, which you're totally right in, that boosted our sales in November, December last year in related to the heat pump applications that we deliver out of the Tilzenberg factory in Canada for classroom applications. And for genomes also. What we have to explain maybe is that the residential sales, Canada is developing really well. Classroom units we just discussed out of Toronto and in US, the manufacturing facility is totally designed and focused on fans. All different kinds of commercial fans, kitchen exhaust, the roof fans and radon fans. Some of those applications are going to residential, others to commercial, light commercial. It's a little bit of mix of that, but that's where it is. When the overall building or comfort ventilation is a little bit flattish or the market is a little sluggish and waiting for what is happening, then we feel that mostly in the US. The residential development in Canada has been much stronger than in US and the classroom units, as I said, only part of that is going to US, but the rest is going to Canada also.

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

Okay, and coming back to the A2L regulations. While you had the boost in November, December,

speaker
spk00

you

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

think it already normalized? Because listening to other companies, it will take a while, but for you, you think it's already done?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Again, for us, it is a mix a little bit because we supplied a lot of the unit that were pushed into November, December to the American part of the business. As I said before, the Canadian applications or Canadian projects, they have been a little bit more long-term and mid-term looking all the time, so there is more regular volumes come to that. On top of that, in that factory also, as discussed earlier with one of your colleagues here, we're coming back to more seasonality where now the school units are coming more into season. That is why it's the same factory, but other products that are coming now in.

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

Okay, that is clear. Coming back to other markets or rest of the world, the drop there, to what extent is it driven by India? What is the sales drop year over year related to the production move?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. For rest of the world, we had two impacts. One is the India, the move of the factory, which is around about 30% of the Indian turnover. Then the other part that was an impact in the quarter was also, as Anders mentioned, Turkey, where we had in the same quarter the year before, we had the bigger deliveries to electric car manufacturers. These are the two main impacts. Just to deliver this out of Turkey, if I remember right, one of the projects that we presented last year, the same quarter, for example, was a big car manufacturer where the volumes were going to one of the countries out of Turkey. These are the main impacts that we have. So if you

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

try to

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

remove

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

the production move in India from the negative 17% organic growth in Middle Eastern Asia, what was the underlying organic growth? That is my question. Secondly, I think on Turkey, we have heard rumors from the trade fair in Germany talking to competitors that Turkey is a weaker market. Is it solely the comparisons you think, or do you see a weakening in the market, or is it still as robust as before, or how do you see the Turkish market there?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Sorry. The Turkish market, you're totally right, the Turkish market for the time being is weak. I would say that also a lot of the, as you know earlier, quite beneficial export markets out of Turkey are weak at the moment. So midterm outlook Turkey is not a strengthening symbol, I would say. The situation is quite different in Middle East and India and Malaysia for us, where the market is really picking positive upwards. So it's only Turkey that is stable on a lower level today.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Okay, to clarify on the question regarding India, the drop we had there, I mean, I would say roughly it constitutes of like 25 million out of that. So main reason in that region would be Turkey.

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

Okay, that is very clear. Sorry for a final question, if I may. With the improvements,

speaker
spk00

do you

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

consider taking out costs in that market to adapt to potentially slower environment, or do you think that the market will bounce now already in Q1, hence you'll keep the cost base, or how do you manage these uncertainties in what you see in North America right now?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

We do a little bit part of, we see that the market is slowly coming back, at least in those applications. We have invested quite a lot in rearranging both to your estimates here to both the organization, but also in new products and product development for mid and long term. So we have adjusted already a little bit in the organization. We have also moved a little bit products to strengthen the footprint in the US. So there are a couple of different activities that have been done already to strengthen our future.

speaker
Carl Ragnarstam
Analyst, Nordea

Okay, that's very clear. Thank you.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Thank you,

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

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

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Thank you. Just a follow up on India then. When you had the factory being closed down, have you built a backlog that is maybe going to show during Q1 or Q2, or should we sort of see that process being lost?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

No, we have a really nice backlog in India. It is actually that we were running at the edge of capacity, so we really had to move to bigger facilities and to enhance our capacity for future. So it was really, it is never come and welcome when you have a high need of deliveries, but we needed to move to be able to fulfill the capacity demands from our customers for future. We had two long delivery times, which we know can cope and bring down.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay, great. And then maybe if we can get some updates on the Minerga situation. Just given that we're going to probably see some additional cost savings from Q1 and such. How is everything going? How are your expectations and how are you working with this unit?

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

I think we mentioned two important parts here already. I mean that we have acquired these two German agents is one thing that will improve the margins going forward. I mean, we have also closed down the factory completely and sold off the factory in New Leim in Germany, which is for us a milestone. And also what also in a way indirectly affects our sales in Germany is that we have streamlined the product assortment of Minerga and cut off some of the more unique products here and one offs with lower margins. And that of course is affecting the gross margin overall for the group.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

And I want to add here maybe also to make it really clear, Anna, what you clearly see is that we have switched over from being so focused on the manufacturing issues. Now everything is in Maribor. Now we are switching over to new product development and optimizing the sales and the front to the customer. So we are now in the next phase and everything is according to plan. So we're quite happy with the development for this time.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay, great. So because you mentioned that the positive development in gross margin, some of that comes from positive product mix effects. Is that mainly related to Minerga or is there some other details that you can give us?

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

It's not only Minerga. Minerga is one piece of the puzzle really. And then there are of course, I mean, the mix how it is distributed between factories is also one reason. The number of bigger projects that we run in each quarter and so on. If you come for a big project, normally the margin tends to be a bit lower with bigger projects. So it's various reasons behind that statement. But of course Minerga is important. Okay,

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

perfect. So just a final question for me. Just given the whole global turmoil that we've seen, have you noted any effects on the European market or is that just going in a slow momentum?

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Come again, I don't think we got the question completely Anna.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Sorry, just given the global turmoil that we've seen on tariffs and everything happening in the US and such, have you noted any effects among customers in the European market or is it not affected in any way?

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

No, nothing yet to be really honest. Not in Europe, not for us.

speaker
Anna Woodstrom
Analyst, DNB Carnegie

Okay, thank you.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Thank you, Anna.

speaker
Operator
Conference Operator

There are no more phone questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

We got two other questions here. I think they are more or less indirectly already answered. But I can read it out for you here, Roland, and you can comment if you want in the further. It's from Henrik at Red Eye who is asking, I assume the factory relocation in India did not quite go according to plan given the impact on sales. Could you please elaborate, explain?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Yes, thank you for that question, Henrik. We actually, we see it on the difference. We got access to the factory in November and we redid, redesigned and developed everything inside and the movement of machinery equipment to the new facility with less than eight weeks in all in all. And the real impact on the manufacturing was for us a little bit over three weeks only. So we actually have highlighted the Indian team to have been done this really in record time. We are really happy about how fast they could conclude this to really high quality and very nice standards. So now we think it actually went really, really well. The impact is more that we really during the physical move could not deliver any products out of the Hyderabad facilities and they are quite important for the South Indian market for us.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah, second question then also from Henrik I believe was more or less here already responded to in previous question. But if you want to make any additional comment Roland, it's about cross margins then partly supported by sales mix. Is this related to seasonality or something else of more temporary nature or has your sales mix improved year on year and possibly on a more sustainable level?

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

I think it's partly as you say we've already discussed that and I think it's been clarified. So yes, first of all we think it's on a more sustainable level, absolutely and it's the fruit of all the different activities that were done internally and effectiveness to increase that. But also of course Menagerie and all these different things. So yes, it's a sustainable level and we'll continue with that like this. Okay, no more questions also not in the feed and not on the line. I think by we conclude this presentation.

speaker
Anders
Chief Financial Officer

Yeah and we can welcome you to visit our annual general meeting 28th of August in Skilskateberg where we also will present the next quarter report Q1 report also which will be very interesting to see.

speaker
Roland Casper
Chief Executive Officer

Exactly, so we're looking forward to that. We meanwhile thank you for participating today and as we then will not hear or see until August we want to take time and also wish you a wonderful summer hopefully. Thanks a lot and looking forward to August. Thank you. Thank you.

Disclaimer

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