Alfa Laval AB (publ)

Alfa Laval AB (publ)

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 21, 2026

APIChatGPT

Tom Erixon

Good morning, and welcome to Alfa Laval's Earnings Call for the Second Quarter 2026. Fredrik and I will give you a rundown on the quarter.

And then as always, we open up for Q&As. Let me start with a few introductory comments.

First, obviously, it was a quarter with solid demand across almost all of the part of the business with a new all-time high of just above SEK 22 billion. It was another step forward in our SEK 100 billion growth plan for 2030.

In addition, we had some very important project wins in all 3 divisions, strengthening the growth plan further. I will come back to those wins shortly.

Finally, the investments into our product offering and our capacity increases continued and will continue for the coming quarters as our main challenge remains to scale together with our leading customers. And with that, let me go to the -- sorry, to the key figures.

As indicated, a very strong order intake quarter with solid growth across almost all of the businesses, Service included. Note that despite the large SEK 1 billion biofuel order, large orders were as a whole on a normal level and was not the main growth driver in the quarter.

Sales grew on a steady pace and a record order book of SEK 53.5 billion and good momentum in the transactional business indicates a healthy outlook for continued invoicing growth. The profit margin was overall stable at 17%, but some headwinds in the Energy division impacting the quarter somewhat.

So let's go to the Energy division. The 70% growth was, I have to say, even a bit above our own expectations.

All parts of the division grew with data centers leading the way. The growth contribution from Cryo this quarter recorded as inorganic growth was substantial with a total order at about SEK 1.5 billion totally in the second quarter.

Of special importance was a large cryo order for LNG in the U.S., a breakthrough order for large-scale coal boxes in this market where we previously have been relatively small. The demands on Alfa Laval to scale in the data center market are high.

Current CapEx levels within Alfa Laval will be kept in place in the medium term to support customer agreements past 2027. Currently, for your information, the 12-month order pace in data centers in the Energy division is approximately at around SEK 5 billion.

The margin was negatively affected by a slight negative mix and uneven load in some manufacturing units. The low utilization in parts of welded and cryo was impacting the results somewhat.

The situation with cryo, however, is quickly resolved with the order book from the second quarter. Moving on to the Food & Pharma division.

It was another all-time high quarter with solid growth across almost all of the businesses in the division. We have indicated several times that the biofuel project pipeline was getting stronger and the large Brazilian project amounting to SEK 1.1 billion was booked in the second quarter.

It is an exciting project with a clear path towards a competitive pricing versus fossil-based fuels. We are honored and excited to be selected for this milestone project.

Earnings were stable at just below 15% as we continue to invest in the future growth and positioning on the division. Then on to the Ocean division.

It was another strong quarter with demand growth driven by ship contracting, including the Tanker segment. Cargo pumping again had a strong quarter with orders now being booked well into 2028.

It was also a breakthrough quarter with orders for the LR-Tanker segment, a segment of similar size to MR where we typically are strong. Although the competitive dynamics are very different for the 2 applications, it is a very meaningful step towards a larger addressable market long term.

The conditions for a strong CapEx cycle in the offshore business are in place. And while the project pipeline is getting stronger, it is not yet visible in the order book in the second quarter.

The margin developed well in the quarter, just below 25%. It was a clean quarter with some tailwinds and a positive mix driven by -- partly by service.

The order stock remains strong for the second half of 2026. On to Service.

After a period of slowing demand, the growth returned with a solid 10% organic growth in the quarter. With a growing installed base and a stronger service capability, we expect to continue on a stable growth path in all 3 divisions.

And I'd just like to highlight to you that with the exceptional growth of capital sales, especially in the Energy division, the share of service in the mix gets smaller, while staying very healthy at 40% plus in the Ocean division. A few comments on our key markets.

U.S. and China continue to make up for 40% plus of total orders on a 12-month rolling basis.

In addition, in top 10 markets, some important Asian and European regions account for the rest. Specifically in the regions, North America is the clear growth driver in the quarter and the main growth clearly in the U.S.

supported by the data center growth. Northeast Asia and especially China had a solid growth quarter as well with the Marine applications as the main contributor.

India and Middle East recovered well in the second quarter, but still the year-to-date is affected by a weak start in 2026. Southeast Asia is clearly affected by the fuel shortage and energy crisis.

So the first half '26 is flat and larger projects are barely compensated for by the growing transactional business. Europe remains rather stable with a good growth in Eastern Europe.

Lat Am is good, obviously, partly driven by the large biofuel order. And with that, I hand over for some further details to Fredrik.

Tom Erixon

Fredrik Ekstrom

And thank you for that, Tom, and good morning, everyone. Adding some additional dimensions to a record high quarter of order bookings with a total growth of 35.2%, of which 28.5% is organic, 8.6% through structure, mainly from BU Cryogenics and an adverse currency effect of almost 2%.

In the quarter, beyond the already highlighted growth in data centers and biofuels, we also have some good growth in fossil gas applications and conventional power, dairy and prepared foods and marine digital solutions. Order intake for the first half of the year amounted to SEK 39.8 billion, a growth of 16.4%, where 17.1% is generated from existing businesses where data center and all fuels, fossil, sustainable and biofuels outpace other end markets.

5.5% positive impact from acquired businesses and a negative currency impact of 6.2%. The record high order intake in the quarter yields a book-to-bill for the quarter of 1.23, which increases the backlog to a record SEK 53.5 billion, of which SEK 29.1 billion is currently planned to be delivered in 2026.

The current order book supports a continued good invoicing level and the order book is assessed to be in line with current input cost levels. SEK 24.5 billion is already booked and planned for deliveries in 2027.

Sales development in the quarter and year-to-date are far more linear in growth than order intake as it mirrors the manufacturing capacity planning and delivery. SEK 18.1 billion in products and services were delivered to our customers in quarter 2, representing a growth of 7.7%, of which 5.9% organic, almost 4% from acquired businesses and a negative currency impact of 2.1%, ending the first half of the year with a growth of 2.3%, indicating an increased trend of delivery in the quarter that we expect to sustain into quarter 3 and quarter 4 and supported by the order book.

Organic and structural growth both contributed with 3.8% growth, respectively, and currently impacted by a negative 5.4% from currency. And now to some commentary on the results.

Quarter 2 gross profit is well supported by a continued good -- manufacturing utilization rate by cautionary provisions and guideline reserve. R&D costs increased with almost 19% in the quarter, which is in line with the continued high innovation pace of our products.

Operating income improves to yield SEK 2.9 billion in the quarter with an EPS of SEK 4.91, which also represents a marginal improvement. Year-to-date operating income is impacted by the lower invoicing we carried from quarter 1 and accumulates to SEK 5.6 billion with an EPS of SEK 9.5.

The adjusted EBITA margin, which in the quarter is equivalent to the EBITA margin of 17% is in line with the target level of the group and communicated external targets. Some negative impacts in the quarter could not be offset by the good transactional and service business development.

Currency impacted positively with SEK 209 million, one of the costs, one-off costs of SEK 75 million related to the change of organizational structure implemented in quarter 1 and the structural impact cost of acquired businesses. In total terms, SEK 3.1 billion in adjusted EBITA in quarter 2 ranks as the third highest quarter.

Debt compared to quarter 2 2025 has increased and it did not include the financing of the cryogenics acquisition at that time. However, when compared to the closing level of 2025, SEK 17.2 billion, the increase is marginal and to a substantial part driven by currency.

Cash and cash equivalents have decreased and the cash flow analysis on the next slide provides further detail. Lease liabilities remain on a similar level, yielding a net debt, including leases to EBITDA of the last 12 months ratio of 1.1 to be compared to a level of 0.92.

The average funding rate remains competitive and headroom remains to allow for continued inorganic growth ambitions. On to cash flow.

Cash flow from operating activities trended sequentially up in the quarter to SEK 2.4 billion with a year-to-date SEK 3.6 billion, impacted by lower invoicing in quarter 1. Investment programs continued on a planned pace, however, with a phasing uptick in quarter 2, reaching SEK 1 billion.

No acquisitions in the quarter and year-to-date, reflecting the acquisition of a heat exchanger company in China. Financing activities in the quarter reflect the net of newly issued commercial papers and a record high dividend to shareholders of SEK 3.7 billion.

For the first half of this year, the net finance activities shows the net position of debt close to 0 after repayment and refinancing, the paid dividend and higher financing costs. We expect to be cash flow positive for the year.

And finally, some customary financial guidance. In quarter 3, CapEx up to SEK 1 billion, amortizations of SEK 170 million and a tax range of 24% to 26%.

For the whole year, CapEx within the range of SEK 2.5 billion to SEK 3 billion, amortizations of SEK 680 million and a tax rate between 24% and 26%. And with that, I hand over back to Tom for an outlook on quarter 3.

Fredrik Ekstrom

Tom Erixon

Thank you, Fredrik. And then -- to sum up how we look at the business situation and context right now.

Overall, we believe we are in a time of strong growth across several of Alfa Laval's end markets. We do expect quarterly variations on order intake, as always, but business conditions are expected to remain positive in the short to medium term.

Specifically, the third quarter in '26 is expected to be somewhat lower sequentially compared to the strong second quarter this year. And specifically on the divisional level, Ocean is expected to remain on about the same level, whereas the Energy division and Food & Pharma division are expected to be lower.

Finally then, please note that we are comparing ourselves to a record second quarter, which came in significantly stronger than we expected. So all in all, the outlook is not reflecting deteriorating market conditions.

And with that, we open for Q&A.

Tom Erixon

Operator

The first question comes from Meihan Yang from GS.

Operator

Meihan Yang

I have 2 questions. First of all, can you give us a bit more color on data center orders margin?

Are these dilutive to your Energy division? And second of all, what's the level of fixed cost headwinds you're expecting from the investments into pharma into 2027?

Meihan Yang

Tom Erixon

We're not giving margin comments specifically on all parts of the business, but we don't believe that we will have a general margin deterioration per se in moving into the data center business. On the Pharma side, I'm not sure I picked your question exactly.

So complement to me if needed. But the investment into pharma is a long-term growth strategy.

My experience is it takes a couple of years to go through. So I think in terms of sales and revenue growth, other than what we're already doing, of course, in the pharma business, which should be somewhere close to maybe SEK 500 million or something like that.

I think the turbo or additional growth that we may get out of that segment going forward, I think we have to expect it's going to take some time and possibly beyond '27.

Tom Erixon

Operator

And the next question comes from Magnus Kruber from Nordea.

Operator

Magnus Kruber

Johan Magnus here from Nordea. A couple of questions from me.

Can I first start where you left off around the guidance level. Obviously, very reasonable to expect Q3 to be slightly lower, marginally lower compared to the very solid Q2 number.

But I mean, we have a very broad-based activity level across end market, it seems to me. And is it fair to say that the underlying activity in the market is now perhaps a bit higher than you anticipated before over the coming quarters and years.

Magnus Kruber

Tom Erixon

Yes, I confirm that.

Tom Erixon

Magnus Kruber

Perfect. That's great.

Then a couple of questions on the margin side. On the Energy business first, could you please help us unpack a little bit the margin dynamics that we saw in the quarter and what we should expect going forward there on those headwinds that we saw you alluded to, for example, cryo potentially easing a little bit of those headwinds in the coming quarters.

A little bit more color on that would be very helpful.

Magnus Kruber

Fredrik Ekstrom

Yes. And there's a couple of things that happen.

It's, of course, a lot of variables moving at the same time. It's not a singular item that's creating the margin levels that we see in quarter 2.

But some -- to give you a few of them, of course, we have a bit of a shift in mix. There's a little bit of less service content, a lot more capital sales content in the invoicing that we saw in quarter 2.

Therefore, the mix effect, we have an impact of provisions and reserves that we do according to guidelines and according to how we see projects develop, and those come out a little bit heavier in quarter 2 than what we had expected. And then finally, of course, there is an element of costs that have to do with the reorganization.

Those are marginal, but there's still some small effect of that. We should also add that there's some inflationary impact.

And then -- and last but not least, there is also an impact of currency.

Fredrik Ekstrom

Magnus Kruber

Got it. That's helpful.

And then just finally, on the group costs, I think we had SEK 250 million negative from the 2 of the underperforming businesses that we have there at the moment. How should we think about those businesses in the coming quarters and maybe strategically down the line, how are you treating those businesses going forward.

Magnus Kruber

Fredrik Ekstrom

Well, those businesses are in the other category because we are looking at them to see if we develop them further or if they should have an exit. But that's a conclusion that we haven't reached yet.

First, we want to see where these businesses operate on a stand-alone basis. Yes, they are part of the SEK 250 million.

They are not really the full impact that you see on the SEK 250 million. There's other things that are cropping up those SEK 250 million.

Fredrik Ekstrom

Tom Erixon

Whilst during the previous peak cycle, we had a fairly strong investment cycle into biofuels in general and the blending directives and so internationally didn't quite meet the expectations. And so there was an oversupply and the supply side just sort of cut a number of projects out of the CapEx plans that were quite advanced at the time that happened in several markets.

And the only biofuel market that held up reasonably over the last 2 years was the ethanol market where both the U.S. and India particularly maintained on blending directives, and there were further capacity investments there, and that's a segment that matters to us, but not to the same degree as vegetable oil-based processes.

So as markets -- underlying markets were continuing to grow and the CapEx didn't go into full-blown projects for a period of time, the pipeline was sort of building. And we believe there are quite a number of companies that were sitting on the side line and to a degree, still are waiting for the right moment.

And so that's why we've been talking for at least 6 months of the fact that a number of projects are starting to move again. And this -- let me say that, I don't expect a lot of SEK 1 billion orders from our point of view going forward, but there are sizeable projects that are still under discussion, under quotation.

And I believe we are moving into a cycle that's going to be certainly stronger than the last 2 years. How far and how long it will go remains to be seen, but there are ample opportunities for projects over the next couple of years in several parts of the world.

So I think that's sort of a general reading. I think the Middle East crisis and the energy crisis as such is probably going to be a co-driver of the energy transition together with the climate impacts.

So I find that energy security and what will be required in terms of electrification, biofuels and fossil independence will play part of the future energy agenda somewhat stronger than in the past. I don't want to overestimate the impacts from the Middle East crisis per se.

But obviously, the belief of -- in terms of the energy prices as a result of these problems and the security issues are likely favoring a somewhat more accelerated energy transition than what we were looking at a year or 2 ago.

Tom Erixon

Magnus Kruber

Very helpful. Second question is on shipping, especially the shipyard ramping speed.

Clarksons always says, okay, volumes going up to 12% to 15% this year and also above 10% in the next years. So value has to go up even faster.

Are these numbers that you can confirm when you look into the shipyard activity in China, can they ramp as fast as Clarksons implies? And what would that mean for growth of 10% to 20% in order intake outside of the pumping business.

Magnus Kruber

Tom Erixon

I would say right now that if we look at the current speed and what we're experiencing at the moment, of course, there is a quite big share of contracted vessels at the yards where we still have not booked orders in businesses outside of cargo pumping. As you know, the cargo pumping tends to go very, very early, sometimes ahead of Clarksons data, whereas the other parts of the marine business normally is coming into play somewhat later.

So I think we have, as is a reasonable pipeline on that level. If we look at the ramping on the yard side, we have been a little bit surprised about the agility in China, and we see that specifically with yards that previously have not built complicated and advanced vessels who are now entering into that market.

And we have commented on that earlier also from the point of view that when it comes to commissioning, we have significantly ramped our commissioning capabilities in order to support yards with less experience of our equipment than some of the well-established known yards in Korea, Japan and China. So we do see this development.

Our hope has been that we are not ramping too aggressively the shipyard capacity. We have said during at least a year or 2 that if we look towards 2030, we see a pretty stable demand cycle, not least because the scrapping will need to go up, and we need a lot of replacement ships coming in over the next few years.

So we have estimated that the demand cycle could be relatively stable. But of course, that is also dependent that we are not seeing a race to extremely high delivery numbers in this year or next year based on ramping, but that we are rather containing global capacity somewhere north of 2,000 ships a year, but certainly not at the 3,000.

So I would hope that we see going forward, I'm leaving quarter aside right now, but my hope and expectation is that we will see some of a less cyclical business side is probably more than anything on the Energy division. And we have in parts of the group, not only in the Energy division, but maybe the effect is biggest there.

We did do some price adjustments as of 1st of July, and that was mainly driven by the cost inflation driven by energy costs and fossil fuel costs. And so we had some significant cost escalation in those supply chains, and we did a modest compensation for that in July 1.

So that's sort of on the pricing side, I would say, the one action that we have been taking during this year.

Tom Erixon

Operator

And the next question comes from Andreas Koski from BNP Paribas.

Operator

Andreas Koski

I want to come back to something you touched on earlier. Can you maybe share a bit more information about your expansion in the long-range tanker segment.

What have you done? What kind of products?

And how is the value opportunity increasing for you here?

Andreas Koski

Tom Erixon

Well, again, maybe we come back with a bit of a review on this when it comes to the Capital Markets Day. Just shortly, I would like to say that from a product point of view, an LR-Tanker is from an engineering standpoint and product standpoint, very similar.

So we are not developing a completely new system that is totally different from the MR side. But it's a large installation.

It has some implications for product design and engineering solutions and all of that. I think what is different partly, if you look at the tanker situation, the value of our offering in MR is a very speedy time in harbor in changing cargo.

And in MR specifically, with small tanks, there is a lot of variations of what products they are carrying. And consequently, our pumping solutions are providing a very clean tank and a very short time at harbor in order to pump out and pump in the new products.

And so the value proposition is very, very high in a hydraulic pumping solution to our customers compared to a lot of other applications compared to the electrical pump solutions, which will leave a lot of contamination in the tanks as they are evacuated. So the business model for MR is completely developed on our hydraulic pumping solution value proposition.

Now if you go to the other extreme and go to crude oil, obviously, the value of cleaning out the crude oil tanks is relatively limited because the contamination will be 0. There will always be a new crude oil coming in and the crude oil variations are not that important when it comes to the decimal.

So all in all, we don't expect that hydraulic pumping solutions will have any particular impact on large crude oil tankers now or in the future. And then you have the LR side, which, in my mind, comes somewhere in between.

It is larger tanks, larger ships, more continuity in the load they are carrying and the cargo that they have. And consequently, the value proposition there on our solution historically has been a bit less.

And for that reason, a lot of shipowners have stayed with the solutions they are used to. Now that we are in and we have provided a number of cargo pumping shipsets, I think our hope is that a number of shipowners will reconsider the technical solutions they have.

And although the value proposition and dynamics may be a little bit different in LR, the validity of the hydraulic pumping solution is certainly there. So we will see how the market dynamics plays out here.

But we're hopeful this is beginning to change in our market position long term for LR.

Tom Erixon

Andreas Koski

Understood. And then jumping to data centers.

You mentioned that your order run rate LTM is now SEK 5 billion or so. I think that must mean that you had an order intake of more than SEK 2 billion now in the second quarter.

Maybe if you want to confirm that? And does all of that sit in light industry and tech.

Andreas Koski

Tom Erixon

Well, it does essentially sit in light industry and tech, at least the orders that are coded as data center orders. There may be some product creeping in from other areas from channel partners and others, but the lion's share is certainly in -- so the light tech gives you a good feeling.

We are not at SEK 2 billion in the quarter. We are below that.

But maybe it's more correctly to say that in the pace we're at, look at this year in the SEK 5 billion sort of level. We don't see it going dramatically up from -- as you know, we've been guiding you a little bit the last couple of quarters on running rates of 2, 2.5.

I think this is kind of where we are right now. And what will determine the order intake numbers right now when we look at the data center is essentially how far out in the future we book the orders.

And right now, it's not in our interest to do a full order booking late into '27 and '28. So you could say we are managing the order intake level from our point of view quite closely.

And so what you will see in the coming quarter is a managed number from that point of view in that we are not necessarily extending the time period where we book orders right now. And that's why I think it's relevant for you to think about it a little bit in terms of running rate and not so much about the order intake.

So we try to give you a reasonable clarity on approximately the size of that business in terms of the underlying dynamics right now.

Tom Erixon

Andreas Koski

Yes. And this SEK 5 billion that you -- it sounds like you expect to stabilize at that level, that does not include the capacity expansion that you're working on?

Or does it include that? If it doesn't include it, where will it go.

Andreas Koski

Tom Erixon

No, it certainly does. There are a number of capacity increases that are coming online, not least in the beginning of 2027.

And so when we booked the orders now into 2027, we are already pretty much fully booking up the capacity increases that short term will come on stream, partly in this year and an important part in the beginning of '27. So the invoicing rate right now is not on that level, and we could not reach the full 5 at this point in time.

However, we will in 2027. Then we are making additional capacity investment decisions more or less as we speak.

And right now, those capacity investment decisions, they are looking at what we believe is the underlying demand situation in 2028 and going forward.

Tom Erixon

Andreas Koski

Understood. And then just quickly on your outlook, do you want to confirm that somewhat lower demand should still imply an order level above SEK 20 billion.

Andreas Koski

Tom Erixon

Well, you saw how exceptionally incorrect we were in the guidance last quarter. And so I will not give you a good indication of what it's actually going to be.

But the way we express ourselves in terms of somewhat lower would historically indicate that we would end up above 20%, yes.

Tom Erixon

Operator

And the next question comes from Anders Idborg from ABG Sundal Collier.

Operator

Anders Idborg

Just another one on data center and a bit on your market share and how you think about your position there. I get the sense that you have become gradually more confident about keeping a very high share, and I see that you have good growth not only in North America.

Do you think you are growing or outgrowing the market at this point or growing with the market? And do you feel more confident about basically technology evolving in the sense that you can keep this high share?

Anders Idborg

Tom Erixon

We are very confident that our market share has increased during this year. And it's not only about technology.

I think the industry struggles in many areas, including thermal to scale with the demand growth that we are looking at. And so it is a tough situation for the hyperscalers and the people who are working with systems installation in this area.

I think our ability to scale being the world leader in this area, sitting on an already very strong global footprint and ability to time-wise and balance sheet-wise go all in to support the CapEx plans required in order to deliver into this makes us somewhat unique. So I think it's fair to say that we are the go-to partner and the anchor partner for most of the data center expansion plans when it comes to the data center side.

And you may look at this as a fantastic thing and all of that. And of course, it is.

But it is also a place of huge responsibility that we carry in making sure that we are not the place where the bottleneck appears when it comes to the biggest industrial investment program that we have ever seen in history. And so we are very committed to go with this and play our role in the supply chain.

Tom Erixon

Anders Idborg

Okay. That's good to hear.

And as a follow-up, perhaps, I mean, do you see the opportunity to increase your scope here? I think -- I mean, you are working with products that would fit into more parts of the entire water loop, I suppose.

Could you do that organically and if not inorganically, perhaps?

Anders Idborg

Tom Erixon

Well, I don't think we will have very high on the agenda to do M&A work in order to increase our exposure into data centers. I think part of our -- the beauty of our business and our company is that we have many legs to stand on.

And we don't want to be -- we're not seeking a position where we become a one-legged animal. And so I think our growth opportunities in data centers is good enough in the product assortment that we have.

I indicated earlier that the data center is starting to creep into the flow side as well. So we do have a product assortment for clean water applications in flow that are relevant.

It starts to become a meaningful volume. And so I think it's fair to say that there is an opportunity of SEK 1 billion here or so in terms of long term, what we can do on complementary products other than the thermal control.

And in the thermal control, there may be some further expansion opportunities when it comes to thermal technologies that we are working with in parallel. So I think we haven't reached the plateau on Five.

We are where we are. There are some reasonable growth opportunities above and beyond going forward.

Of course, the big question is where is the underlying demand going to be not this year, next year, 2 years from now, but 5 years from now, where are we plateauing? How do we need to long-term strategically plan our capacity in the various areas.

And that's a little bit a challenge we will have in the coming years. But for now, we are all in with the key customers to make sure that we meet our commitment.

Tom Erixon

Operator

And the next question comes from Gustaf Schwerin from Handelsbanken.

Operator

Gustaf Schwerin

I have a follow-up on the long-range tanker comment, Tom. Can you help us on how much that drove pumping systems order growth in Q2?

And perhaps how much of that do you think is driven by a shift in contracting to more LRs and what is actual market share gains?

Gustaf Schwerin

Tom Erixon

I'm a bit cautious to go too much into details. We would have had a very good quarter without the LR side.

So let's not overdo it. We can follow up with you separately to give you an order of magnitude.

I'm not sure in percentage terms when it comes to the cargo pumping side exactly how it fell in there, but it's not -- it's certainly not the lion's share. It's obviously MR tankers that is driving our underlying demand growth overall.

But we can give you a comment on that. But I think the numbers that you should have in your head is that if you consider the LR Tanker segment in general being approximately the same size as MR and we are -- have historically been close to 0 in that area, and we've been on a very high number on the MR side, it gives you the order of magnitude of where is the market opportunity.

As I said, the dynamics, the margins, a whole host of things are different between the 2 segments. So I wouldn't equate them, but it gives you a sense of an order of magnitude opportunity for us.

And I think we'll take the last question here.

Tom Erixon

Operator

And today's last question comes from John Kim from Deutsche Bank.

Operator

John Kim

I was wondering if we could go to invoicing for a second. If we think about the Q2 results, would you argue that late invoicing featured at all?

Or is kind of the cadence of invoicing really more driven by the client side at this point or in this quarter?

John Kim

Fredrik Ekstrom

So I mean if we look at the invoicing, it is very much driven by a transactional business. There is, of course, an element of percentage of completion there for larger projects.

But since larger projects, of course, have been on a lower level now for about at least the last 12 months, of course, the incidence or the share of project invoicing decreases. We have it still a little bit in the food and pharma side, and we have it a little bit on the welded side.

But other than that, it is mainly transactional business. I mean, our ability to invoice is very much dictated by capacity.

And as you've heard, I mean, we have quite a few factories that are operating now on a very high level. That means, of course, that the invoicing that we have is on a higher level.

It probably has a little bit more space to go, but it will require the capacity investments that we're doing towards the end of the year or that are coming online towards the end of the year to see a step change in the invoicing pace.

Fredrik Ekstrom

John Kim

And any color on how that capacity add towards the end of the year expands volumes just in quantums or percentages?

John Kim

Fredrik Ekstrom

No. It depends a little bit how it comes online.

It doesn't ramp up from 0 to 100 either. So it is a little bit of a linear ramp-up over a period of time.

Fredrik Ekstrom

John Kim

Great. And one last question.

Can you just remind us on the payback period or how we should think about the restructuring costs versus OpEx savings on a go-forward basis?

John Kim

Fredrik Ekstrom

Well, we haven't really spoken about the reorganization costs as a form of savings or as a form of something that's going to yield a calculable savings space there. We have spoken about the reorganization as an enabler to scaling for growth.

So it's more about positioning ourselves where we can have a better drop-through from every euro of growth that we have on the top line.

Fredrik Ekstrom

Tom Erixon

Thank you very much. Thank you for the interest in taking your time.

And if we don't speak before, I think the Q3 earnings call in October will be the next time we meet. So thank you very much, and have a good day.