Dometic Group AB (publ)

Dometic Group AB (publ)

DTCGF
Dometic Group AB (publ)US flagOther OTC
2.89
USD
- -
- -
923.35MMarket Cap

Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 14, 2026

APIChatGPT

Operator

Welcome to Dometic Q2 report 2026. Today I am pleased to present CEO Juan Vargues, CFO Per Carlsson, and Head of Investor Relations, Tobias Norrby.

For the first part of the call, all participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by pressing pound key five on their telephone keypad.

I will hand the conference over to the speakers. Please go ahead.

Operator

Juan Vargues

Hello. Good morning, everybody, welcome to the presentation of the interim report for the second quarter of 2026.

Let's move into the highlights. As most of you are aware of, the market conditions are still tough.

Uncertainty is still there. We have seen as a consequence of the situation in Middle East, higher raw material prices that might be leading to inflation in the coming months.

The tariff volatility is still there. On one side, the American administration took away a number of tariffs, but implemented some new tariffs as well, the so-called 232 tariffs.

We see consumers still being cautious in the same way as our customers in the value chain, meaning OEMs and dealers and wholesalers. We have seen as well, as a consequence of what I commented before, a situation where industry production, especially in the U.S., is coming down, but also, in Australia as a consequence of higher interest rates implemented during Q2.

We see also starting to see a kind of a slowdown in Europe as well. Looking at our performance, we delivered a negative organic growth of 1% with a positive single-digit growth in service and aftermarket according to our strategy.

We are happy to see as well that distribution is coming in part with last year, and we see a decline in OEM for the reasons commented before. EBITA margin coming in at 12.4% versus 14% last year, and the margin reduction is primarily driven by the increased raw material and freight cost.

We see also increased SG&A, partly due to a bad debt provision for the Chapter 11 filed by West Marine in the U.S., affecting primarily Marine, but also our Mobile Cooling Solutions segments. We continue to invest in product development and marketing following obviously all the product launches that we have done and the ones that we have on the pipeline.

We also have had a tariff refund, which is offsetting a part of the additional tariff cost that we have in the quarter. Free cash flow, over SEK 800 million in comparison to SEK 1.3 billion last year, leading to a leverage of 3.3, which is in par with previous year, but also Q4 2025.

Considering the market situation, especially in the U.S., where we see the RV industry coming down additionally, just when looking at the last three months that we have information from the American Association, manufacturing is down 16%. We will see how the numbers look in June, but we don't expect any improvement in comparison to what we have seen so far.

We also decided to extend the global restructuring program. As you all know, we were expecting growth in 2026.

The growth is going to be tough to achieve, and that means as well that we continue to adapt our cost to the new circumstances. In this case, we have done in the main program, we have done a lot, which is impacting our gross margins, meaning consolidating factories, consolidating distribution centers, some SG&A.

In this extension of the program, we will focus more on the SG&A part of the business, especially again in the Land Vehicles segment where we see the delay in the recovery of the market. The expected savings are going to achieve SEK 150 million when we are totally done by mid-2027.

We are booking restructuring cost of SEK 100 million, which is recorded as items affecting comparability. Of course, depending a little bit on the market situation and how the market evolves over time, we will continue to consider additional measures.

Looking more at the hard numbers, sales close to SEK 6 billion with 1% organic decline. We also had 1% due to discontinued businesses.

EBITA, SEK 739 million, reaching a 12.4% EBITA margin in comparison to 14% that we achieved last year. Adjusted EPS of SEK 1.27 and a free cash flow of a little bit over SEK 800 million in comparison to SEK 1.3 billion.

Two main reasons for that. The main reason is really high inventories in the quarter as a continuation of the high inventories that we had also in Q1.

In this case, on top of the inventories that we built up on the expectation of having a much better year 2026, and remember that we are in Q2, which is the strongest quarter, then we have Q3, which is also a strong quarter. On top of that, we are also moving a couple of factories.

We are shutting down a couple of factories as a consequence of the restructuring program that we are running. In order to prevent delivery problems during the move, we are also building extra inventories just to be on the safe side.

Again, leverage ending up at 3.3. Looking at the first half of the year, SEK 11.2 billion in total revenue or the same organic decline of 1%, the same also, 1% in negative portfolio changes.

EBITA close to SEK 1.3 billion or 11.6% as EBITA margin in comparison to 12.3%. Adjusted EPS of SEK 2.14, slightly below last year's numbers.

A free cash flow of SEK 650 million, reaching the same leverage as we had one year ago. Looking at the breakdown of sales, again, 1% down with Land Vehicles 4% affecting primarily Americas -16%, for the reasons that we already commented.

APAC is also down 12%. We saw a much better Q1.

We saw a deterioration in Q2 rapidly after the interest rate increases. The industry really pulled the brake again.

While EMEA shows positive growth of 3%. Happy to see that Marine continues to show organic growth 3% as a continuation of the 2% that we saw in Q1.

Mobile Cooling came in at +5% in comparison to the +1% that we were showing in Q1. While Global Ventures -16% in comparison to -7% in Q1.

I will come back to those numbers later. Looking at the breakdown of sales by channel, no major changes in reality.

Service and aftermarket becoming 31% of the total group, while distribution is coming down to 31% for 33% that we were showing last year. This will change as depending on the quarters.

We have service and aftermarket and distribution being very, very strong in Q2 and Q3, then coming down in Q4 and Q1. While the OEM business is a little bit more stable during the year.

Looking at the different channels, again, happy to see the second quarter of growth in service and aftermarket, distribution coming at the same level. We have seen also in the last two quarters quite a bit of stability.

The OEM, a further deterioration driven very much by North America and Australia. Just as a comparison, looking at some of the market indicators, we see the RV manufacturing in the U.S.

coming down and see an acceleration in Q2 in comparison to Q1. We see registrations in Europe being very, very strong during the first half, partly driven, especially in February, by the new model series, but then coming down in April, May, a little bit better in June.

So it's going to be super interesting to see what happens now in Q3, whether we see stability in Europe. I can say meeting customers across Europe during the last couple of weeks, that you have a mixed bag.

We see some of the customers being optimistic about the second half, while some of the OEM customers especially being more cautious about the second half. We also see that the U.S.

registrations are down in the U.S. We don't have, unfortunately, the same quality data for Europe.

In Europe, we see that we are still growing quite nicely in the European side, while the OEM in the U.S. is still negative.

Looking at the EBITA evolution over time, 12.4%, as I commented before, versus 14%. Gross margins continue to improve, 30.1% versus 29.7% one year ago.

We have, obviously, a positive channel mix with service and aftermarket growing while OEM is coming down. But we also have the savings performed or delivered by the restructuring program.

At the same time, moving in the opposite direction, we have raw material cost and freight kicking in, and on the least driven very much by the new oil prices. But we also see metals, aluminum coming up quite significantly.

We see steel starting to point upwards as well. Then we also have tariffs refund in the quarter, which is having a positive impact.

All in all, still, we see positive impact very much driven by the channel and the restructuring program. SG&A, on the contrary, was negative, came in with a 10% increase versus last year.

Half of that is about the provision for West Marine, that as most of you are aware of, filed for Chapter 11 two months ago. In that case, we are taking obviously a cautious approach.

We are booking the entire risk, while obviously we are still negotiating and expecting to get some of that money back. At the same time as we continue to invest in product development and marketing.

Moving to the segments, Land Vehicles, down 4%. Europe positive, while both Americas and APAC is negative.

We see a slight decline in service and aftermarket, and a continued decline in the RV OEM side. Looking at EBITA, at SEK 246 million or 10.3%, reduced profitability very much due to the lower sales.

We see also raw material costs kicking in, higher raw material costs kicking in. We have a flat development on SG&A, despite the fact that we are still investing in product development and marketing.

Marine, positive. We are happy to see continuous growth with very positive service and aftermarket driving margins for the Marine business, while a slight decline in OEM driven by North America, while again, Europe is pretty positive still today.

I have commented a couple of times that the boating market in the U.S. and Marine are slightly different.

In Europe, you have more sailing boats, but you also have the yachts. On the yachts, we have a lot of equipment and normally order books are much, much longer than the one we see in North America.

Good evolution, in other words. EBITA margin coming in at 18.8% versus 19.6% last year, despite the bad debt provision for West Marine.

We have higher SG&A. We continue to invest in product development, not the least on the gyro program that we are expanding, at the same time as we are launching new products and therefore continue to invest in marketing as well.

EBITA, as I commented, improved underlying if we exclude for bad debt provision. Mobile Cooling, organic growth 5%.

We see a very solid growth in North America. We see as well a good order intake.

The season is developing in a positive way, which we are very happy about. EBITA margin, though, down to 11.5% as a consequence of significantly higher pressing prices that came just after the breakout of the war in the Middle East.

Of course, we are increasing prices, but it takes a while before we see an effect. We started to see the effect in June, our expectation is obviously that we will see these margins coming up again during Q3 and Q4.

We also see in this case that we continue to invest in product development, even the filing of Chapter 11 for West Marine did have also a negative impact on our margins in the SG&A line. Global Ventures, 16% down, driven partly by Mobile Power Solutions, which is very much connected to the RV industry, but also by residential in the U.S., where we have seen also our public competitors coming in with pretty negative numbers.

We had a pretty strong 2025. We are comparing with pretty strong numbers one year ago, but now it's turning negative instead.

EBITA margin 9.3%. Of course, in this case, we are talking about the smaller organizations, it's a little bit more difficult to adapt cost.

It's very much driven by the lower volumes and higher SG&A as percentage of sales. We continue to put a lot of emphasis on sustainability and innovation as part of the sustainability as well.

Injuries still kept at a very good level and well below our target of one. We see share female managers at the same level as we have on the target.

Renewable energy, we continue to invest. We are up to 44%.

We were 43% at the end of Q1. As you may remember, we have set target 25%, and we will work hard to achieve that also at the end of this year.

We have also the share of high extent assessments on suppliers on 63%. We are coming from 53% in Q1.

Even there we see improvements in comparison to where we are coming from. Looking at some of the exciting products that we are launching.

Before that, we have been commenting, this is the second quarter in a row, commenting that we are investing in our product launches. We run a major campaign building up with the target of building up even more the brand awareness for Dometic, especially on the outdoor industry in Americas.

We have got a lot of good feedback after that, and we will continue to invest in the same manner moving forward as well. Looking at innovation, again, we continue to invest in our portable products, in this case, the grill program.

We are seeing good growth with this program, and we see also very nice margins. Again, coming back to the outdoor industry, we have the introduction of a new bed slide to facilitate how to use our mobile cooling and packaging solutions.

Moving into more of the RV industry, where we are launching a new electric water heater, which is delivering a number of benefits in comparison to the models that we are replacing at this point, and this is specifically for North American markets. A lot of good new product launches in the pipeline.

Moving from products to the restructuring program. Again, we extended with SEK 150 million in savings.

We will generate totally SEK 900 million at the end of sorry, mid-2027 and SEK 750 million by the end of this year. So far, we have closed one manufacturing site, and we have a couple of them in the pipeline to be closed before year-end, and six distribution centers.

About 400 employees have been impacted so far. We ended up Q1 with savings running rates of SEK 400 million.

We extended that to SEK 490 million at the end of this quarter. Progressing according to our expectations.

We had cash out in the quarter of SEK 84 million, which brings the total amount to SEK 339 million since the program started in Q1 2025. As I commented already, 1% in discontinued businesses was affected in both Q2 as well as year to date.

With that said, I would like to hand it over to Per.

Juan Vargues

Per Carlsson

Thank you, Juan. Hello, everybody.

I will walk you through the financials then. P&L wise, top line close to flat versus last year, where we had the sales in the service and aftermarket offsetting the decline in OEM, which is also helping us on the gross margin as it is a positive margin mix for us.

Gross margin up 0.4%, which is burdened by some couple of significant headwinds, including the raw material prices on the resin side and also on the metals hitting the Mobile Cooling and to some extent, also the Marine segment. We also have significant tariff cost introduced in Q2 last year, which did not fully impact us last year, but it is in full effect this year, obviously.

Offsetting that is the positive savings that we have from the restructuring program together with the price increases and also the tariff refund that we booked in Q2, which is to a large extent for the quarter offsetting the tariff cost. Coming down to the operating expenses, as Juan talked about, we have the bad debt provision related to West Marine filing for Chapter 11 of some SEK 50+ million.

We also have an increase in product development, increasing the SG&A compared to last year. EBITA before IAC, SEK 739 million versus last year in running currency of SEK 877 million, and a decline on the operating margin of 1.6%.

Of course, we are not happy with the decline in the result, at the same time, solid result, I would say, considering the environment with headwinds both in the market demand and on the cost side. We recorded SEK 100 million in items affecting comparability for the extension of the 2024 restructuring program.

Looking at the finance net, it is down favorably. We have a lower debt, lower interest expenses, and also a positive effect on FX on our financial assets compared to last year.

Cash flow. SEK 1.083 billion in operating cash flow, negatively impacted by the lower release of inventory or cash from inventory.

We have a favorable impact on the inventory side in the quarter, but not to the same extent as last year. This is due to a build-up related to the restructuring program where we have moves on the manufacturing, primarily within the U.S., of some $20+ million.

We also have had a lower sales than an increase or flat sales versus an expectation on the increase in the quarter, which have resulted in a little bit of an inventory build-up. I think it is also worth mentioning that last year in Q2, we had a significant inventory reduction in Mobile Cooling due to production issues.

Free cash flow is favorably impacted by lower interest paid, partly due to a lower interest cost, but also due to timing of the interest payments, actually. Looking at the financing, we repaid a EUR 2 million bond in Q2.

In April, actually, to reduce our debt. AR program is running, has no real significant impact net on the AR in the quarter.

As we ended the quarter, we started quite strong sales, increasing our receivables. Okay, move to next.

A little bit of the trend chart here on the free cash flow. As you see, and as you're probably aware of, Q2 and also Q3 are important cash flow quarters for us.

We have a negative kind of trend here, which I would say is partly impacted by the lower sales than over the period, tying up less working capital. We are leveling out on the sales development, which is of course positive, but we continue to focus now on being efficient on our working capital.

Which takes us to the next slide, where we see the overview of the working capital. We are down in inventory days versus last year.

You see a little bit of an uptick there in Q2, which I just explained. However, partly offset by the increase in payables related to the higher purchases.

We are at 25%, that's a decline versus last year, an improvement versus last year and flat versus Q1. Inventory is obviously a focus for us, which is the largest part of our working capital with a SEK 5.1 billion.

That is a significant number, and the number of days, 125, would also hopefully indicate that there is some potential for coming down going forward. Again, the accounts receivable slightly down versus last year, but close to flat.

Related to cash flow obviously is the CapEx level. We are flat, I would say, slight decline in terms of investments into fixed assets.

We are running a relatively low CapEx, I would say, in the company due to our asset light supply chain. It's not a big burden for us cash flow wise.

R&D, as we talked about, is slightly up. Actually significantly higher than our investments into fixed assets.

Moving over to the debt side of the balance sheet. Leverage is a little bit down versus Q1, down to 3.3 versus 3.4, and on par with Q2 in 2025.

We have actually a reduction of debt or net debt, if you compare it to last year of SEK 1.2 billion. We continue to work hard on our balance sheet, and this is obviously a focus area together with the working capital.

Versus 2024, we are down SEK 2.8 billion in net debt. That's a good improvement for us, but we don't fully see that obviously in the leverage ratio.

Next. Looking at the detail of our outstanding debt, we have a good maturity profile, I would say.

The net debt of SEK 9.3 billion. We are sitting on a cash at the end of June of SEK 3.6 billion, we do plan to use some of that to pay back a SEK 750 million bond, the SEK bond, here in Q3.

We did pay back, as I mentioned, the EUR 200 million bond in Q4. Average maturity 2.7 years.

On top of this, we have obviously done the RCF of EUR 300 million. I think that was the conclusion of the finance side, I leave it back to you, Juan.

Per Carlsson

Juan Vargues

Thank you, Per. Summarizing Q2.

We delivered a solid quarter considering obviously the very challenging market conditions where we see lower volumes in a major part of the business considering the American market, considering APAC as well. We see as well raw material prices starting to kick in and having a major effect, especially Mobile Cooling, but also on the other segments.

We see consumer confidence is still at pretty low levels and unfortunately discussions about higher interest rates instead for decreasing interest rates. We delivered, as I said, an organic decline of 1%, which we believe is good if you consider what we see around us.

We are happy to see that we have a positive mix with service and aftermarket, which are a critical part of our strategy growing and even distribution looking better during the last two quarters. We see growth in Marine and Mobile Cooling for two quarters in a row.

We see even when looking at the Land Vehicles, Europe growing while the other two are down. Backlog at the same level as last year.

The starting point for the quarter is in line with last year, which is positive as well. Leverage, still under control, high, but under control, and we keep working to improve cash flow and to keep fighting our debts, our existing debts, considering as well that we have reduced about one third during the last four years, the net debt that we had after the pandemic.

It's clear that we are a little bit more cautious, especially looking at American markets, and that we put all attention to what we can influence, meaning growth and the servicing of the market, meaning the full implementation of the restructuring program, adapting pricing obviously to the new situation with raw material prices and freight costs kicking in. At the same time as we continue to invest in product innovation and marketing, supporting, again our future growth.

Strategically, as a consequence, innovation index at 24%. We are working hard to reach our target of 25% by the end of the year.

We added another SEK 150 million in savings to the existing restructuring program, adding up to SEK 900 million as total savings by the mid of 2027. By the end of this year, we will be at SEK 750 million.

With that said, I would like to open for the Q&A session.

Juan Vargues

Operator

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad.

Please mute your line when you have asked your question, and please limit yourself to only two questions. You can also write your questions on the webcast page.

The next question comes from Daniel Schmidt from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.

Operator

Daniel Schmidt

Yes, good morning, Juan and Per. A couple of questions from me then.

Just trying to reconcile your top-line statements, I clearly hear you in terms of consumer confidence and high interest rates and all that. Still, you're only at minus one organically for the first half this year.

You did say the growth will be hard to achieve in 2026. At the same time, you do write that price adjustments have started to take effect and that order intake improved in June and that the order book is on par with last year.

Are you seeing a very volatile market during the summer? Is it harder to judge than it has been historically, or is this a rather safe than sorry statement, or is the order intake back down again in July?

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

No, I think it's uncertain. There's a combination of the different things.

We saw April okay-ish, May was weak, and June came in pretty strongly. It's difficult to judge.

As I said, I see some kind of stability in Europe. I see kind of stability on the Marine side, but I see a deterioration in the U.S.

RV industry, and I see a deterioration on the Australian RV industry as well. Keep in mind that Australia just increased interest rates twice during the second quarter.

I would like to be much more clear than I am today, but it's simply too uncertain to say we are going to grow. I believe, obviously, that you have a difference between volume and top line in Krona and earning.

I believe, obviously, that volume-wise, with the feeling I have just now, volume-wise, we are not going to achieve the targets that we have for the year. At the same time, we have also price increases that will help organic growth from that perspective.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Are you realizing those price increases fully now, or is there still more to come during Q3?

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

No. We saw the first improvement we saw in June.

Keep in mind that, first of all, it's difficult to increase our prices when the prices are so volatile. You need to wait for a couple of weeks to see, are the prices stable or not?

One of the most difficult to stop is really resin prices. Resin prices are immediately impacted by oil prices.

It takes one month. We get monthly updates on prices from our suppliers, and we are talking about major suppliers.

Of course, we increase prices, but it takes a while before you send the price list because you want to see some stability. Then, of course, your customers are pushing back.

We started to see a clear improvement on the margins in June. We will see improvements in the coming months, clearly.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

You have a timeline between cost increases and price increases.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay. The second question on Marine, where you did take the bad debt provision, most of it was my sort of understanding, at least maybe some of it ended up in Mobile Cooling as well.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

Yeah.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Given what you write in the report, that's around SEK 52 million. If you add that back, it looks like the Marine margin is 23% for the quarter.

That's up 3.4 percentage points compared to last year. Is there a positive impact of tariff refunds in Marine as well, or this is such a big jump?

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

Yeah, there is, but there is also a negative impact on additional tariffs. You have tariff refund and you have new tariffs.

You have the Section 232 that was implemented in April as well, kicking on the other side. What you have a positive effect is that you have a very positive service now of the market.

Of course, we continue to work on reducing our cost.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

How big was the tariff refund for the group in Q2?

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

I will not tell you. We are negotiating with customers and suppliers.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

That would not be super positive if we were commenting how much, as you may understand.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay. Just maybe just last one.

You clearly state that you needed safety stock, when it came to restructuring that you were doing in Q2, around $20 million was probably the impact on inventory. Is that going to be released again in the second half of this year, or is that going to follow us into 2027?

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

I think we'll see some improvement in Q3, but the major improvement should be coming in Q4, because we intend to close a couple of sites during the fall.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay. Thank you.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

You are welcome.

Juan Vargues

Operator

The next question comes from Agnieszka Vilela from Nordea. Please go ahead.

Operator

Agnieszka Vilela

Yes, good morning, Juan and Per. A couple of questions from me.

Maybe a follow-up on Daniel's question on the bad debt provision. Could you please help us and quantify the split between those in Marine and Mobile Cooling?

How much did you include it in the results there?

Agnieszka Vilela

Juan Vargues

It is about 90%, about 85%-90% is Marine, 10%-15% is Mobile Cooling.

Juan Vargues

Agnieszka Vilela

All right, great. Just looking at the profitability at Marine then, approaching 23% or at about 22%.

How confident are you that you can kind of stick at above 20% level in the coming quarters, if we see, say, single digit organic growth that you achieved in the quarter?

Agnieszka Vilela

Juan Vargues

I feel confident. Provided that we have, again, we continue to run at +2, +3, +4, we are going to see margins over 20%.

Juan Vargues

Agnieszka Vilela

Perfect. Thank you.

Juan, maybe if you

Agnieszka Vilela

Juan Vargues

Just one more comment.

Juan Vargues

Agnieszka Vilela

Yeah

Agnieszka Vilela

Juan Vargues

which is also following Daniel's question. Keep in mind that these tariffs are killing when they are moving back and forth.

It is not easy to get back to customers. Some of the margin iteration you have been in Marine is not just lower volumes.

It takes a while before you get the clarity on how much is it impacting every single product, calculating how much of the increased price is. It's not just about, customers will raise questions.

"Please explain to me." Then you need to break down how it's just now we have steel and aluminum from Canada, obviously impacted by the new tariffs.

It takes a while before you get the price increases, simply because it takes time to calculate. I feel pretty confident that we will be above 20% provided that we have positive organic growth.

Some positive organic growth.

Juan Vargues

Agnieszka Vilela

Yep. Understood.

Maybe, I understand you don't want to disclose how much tariff refunds did you get, but can you just tell us how does it work, really? Do you provision for that, for your receivables?

Have you received those money for the tariffs back already, or how does it work, really? What should we expect for the gross and net tariffs, so to say, in the coming quarters?

Agnieszka Vilela

Per Carlsson

We apply for it. There is a phase I, II, and III.

We have applied phase I and II because they are open. Phase III is not yet open.

For the ones we have applied, we have received already a significant part of what we applied for. It's coming in.

Per Carlsson

Agnieszka Vilela

Tariffs on a gross level going forward, the levels, compared to what you paid already in the previous quarters?

Agnieszka Vilela

Per Carlsson

It's very difficult to predict, I would say currently we see a constant level versus our imports, as a percentage of imports, where it fluctuates with the quarters then.

Per Carlsson

Agnieszka Vilela

The last one from me, really, to Juan. You say in your comment in the report that you did see some encouraging signs late in the quarter.

Just tell us what they were and in what markets, and also maybe refer to what you're doing yourselves.

Agnieszka Vilela

Juan Vargues

It's very much about order intake and the order stocks. As I commented earlier, we saw April being okay-ish.

Not in line with last year, but not far away. May was pretty weak.

Of course, you had two working days less in May this year than last year. June came very strongly, both sales-wise and order intake-wise.

It was a little bit all over. We see, again, the RV industry in the U.S., tough.

We see the RV industry in Australia specifically, tough. We see Europe still holding up pretty well, even if registrations in Europe have been negative in the second quarter.

When meeting customers, and I have been meeting lots of customers myself during Q2, both in the U.S. and in Europe, Europeans is a mixed bag.

I would say that some of the customers I'm meeting are still positive, optimistic about the second half, while some of the other customers, I would say perhaps be more specific, the German customers are a little bit more cautious about the second half.

Juan Vargues

Agnieszka Vilela

Thank you.

Agnieszka Vilela

Juan Vargues

You are welcome.

Juan Vargues

Operator

The next question comes from Fredrik Ivarsson from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.

Operator

Fredrik Ivarsson

Thank you. Morning, gents.

First, sorry to come back to the raw mats, but when we think about the split or the bridge for Q3, what kind of headwind do you envision as you look into this quarter? Do you expect it to be worse than what you saw in Q2?

Do you think you can offset the full piece through price increases, or will we have a sort of net negative impact?

Fredrik Ivarsson

Per Carlsson

Well, I think on the raw material side, we will continue to see headwind going into Q3. Everyone can follow the index, we see some positive indications in terms of index.

Of course, then you have the whole inventory impact where we have made purchases in Q2 that we roll into Q3. We have implemented price increases, which have started to take effect.

However, giving a number here on whether it will offset or not, it's hard to do. I think we will actually have a bit more headwind in Q3 than in Q2 when it comes to the raw material P&L impact.

Per Carlsson

Fredrik Ivarsson

Yeah. Makes sense.

On the price increases, is it having impact on demand or are customers sort of absorbing the full increase?

Fredrik Ivarsson

Juan Vargues

Customers, nobody gets happy when you get price increases. Customers react.

At the same time, where is the alternative? Of course, the concern is what will be the impact on the consumer, not on the OEMs or the dealers.

I think the major question here is, again, the consumer.

Juan Vargues

Fredrik Ivarsson

On Mobile Cooling, some price adjustments here as well, of course. You said you saw some positive impact from those in June, and my understanding is that you expect the margin to expand in H2.

First, can you confirm that my assessment is correct?

Fredrik Ivarsson

Juan Vargues

That's right. We are talking about resin prices.

Resin is the prime raw material that we have in the Mobile Cooling business. Resin prices, you have a number of major suppliers, and they are adapting the prices on monthly basis.

Basically, when the war broke out at the end of February, at the end of March, we got massive price increases. They continued in April and May, and of course, it takes a while, and I mean a while, before you can send first the price list to your customers, because you need to have some kind of stability.

You cannot have negotiations every week with the major customers. Then it takes a while before they implement it.

They also have a notice period. That's why we started to see the price kicking in in June, and those price increases will continue during the second half.

We expect to see a better position in the rest of the year than we have seen in Q2.

Juan Vargues

Fredrik Ivarsson

Good.

Fredrik Ivarsson

Juan Vargues

In comparison to last year, of course.

Juan Vargues

Fredrik Ivarsson

Maybe if I could sneak in one last on the inventory buildup related to the factory consolidation. You said more than $200 million.

When do you expect this excess inventory to-

Fredrik Ivarsson

Per Carlsson

When-

Per Carlsson

Fredrik Ivarsson

sort of be cleaned out?

Fredrik Ivarsson

Per Carlsson

No, we said $20 million.

Per Carlsson

Juan Vargues

$20 million.

Juan Vargues

Per Carlsson

$20 million.

Per Carlsson

Fredrik Ivarsson

Oh, sorry. Yeah, of course.

Sorry. My bad.

$20 million. When do you expect those to be sort of cleaned out of the system?

Fredrik Ivarsson

Juan Vargues

We will start to see something at the end of Q4, meaning that Q4, Q1, we should see that happening.

Juan Vargues

Fredrik Ivarsson

Okay, good. Thank you.

Fredrik Ivarsson

Juan Vargues

You're welcome.

Juan Vargues

Operator

The next question comes from Igor Tubic from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Operator

Igor Tubic

Hello. Thank you.

Just on the cost savings, the additional SEK 150 million that you expect to reach on a run rate by mid-2027. Will this primarily come in 2027, or should we expect any additional cost savings also already in 2026?

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

The vast majority will be 2027. You might see some in Q4, but the vast majority we will see in 2027.

Juan Vargues

Igor Tubic

Okay. In terms of the restructuring costs of SEK 100 million in Q2 that you recorded, will the cash impact be later on, and how will that be split?

Igor Tubic

Per Carlsson

The cash impact will be during this year, during 2026, and it's almost all cash. There's hardly any write-down.

Very minimal inventory write-down related to it.

Per Carlsson

Igor Tubic

Okay.

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

This time we are addressing primarily SG&A. We have been investing, as you know, we have been communicating.

We are investing quite a bit in product development and in marketing. At the same time, as we see, obviously, that with the volume loss that we have seen in the last couple of years, we can adapt much more on the admin side and on the back office side.

We want to keep the resources on the field and invest in innovation, but we see opportunities again to adapt to the new capacity levels.

Juan Vargues

Igor Tubic

Okay. Just out of curiosity, you mentioned that you have received already refunds for the phase I.

Why can't you communicate how the amounts, let's say, and for how much you have applied for phase II as well?

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

You have, on the other side, you have also customer, right? You have time lags between when we got the tariffs and we could get price into our customers.

If we would communicate just now, I can tell you that we will have 200 calls in the coming couple of hours.

Juan Vargues

Igor Tubic

Okay. I see.

Thank you. That was all from me.

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

Unfortunately, again, you need to understand what is going on, right? That everybody is looking for exactly the same kind of data.

That data is used, obviously, to put pressure on the prices. Again, keep in mind that we always have had a time lag between the tariffs, raw material prices, and when we can get it back to our P&L.

We don't want to be naive and expose ourselves to give out more too early.

Juan Vargues

Per Carlsson

Again, I think it's worth mentioning again that the actual tariff cost is still higher than the refund that we have received in the quarter. The running tariff cost is clearly higher than the refund.

Also the number of different refunds that was implemented.

Per Carlsson

Igor Tubic

Can I just ask you then, because when I read the Q2 report last year, you mentioned that the impact isn't, or your exposure isn't that significant in the U.S. I'm just trying to understand.

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

In comparison to.

Juan Vargues

Igor Tubic

How much of an issue is this?

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

If you take the tariffs, everything is depending. If you compare with what we had the first time when we got the tariffs 2018/2019, this is relatively small.

Of course, we are talking about hundreds of million of Krona altogether.

Juan Vargues

Igor Tubic

Okay, great. Thank you.

Igor Tubic

Juan Vargues

You're welcome.

Juan Vargues

Operator

The next question comes from Johan Eliason from SB1 Markets. Please go ahead.

Operator

Johan Eliason

Yeah, hello, Juan, Per and Tobias. Thanks for taking my question here towards the end, I guess.

I was just curious about the comment you made about creating movement in the RV industry and there is a development towards increased consolidation that could generate strategic opportunities for Dometic. What are you referring to here?

Are you getting closer to divesting some of the businesses you have put up for sales, or are you seeing other opportunities?

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

There are always opportunities as you know. More specifically, it's clear that what happened through the merge, the potential merge, still they need to get, obviously, authority approvals, right?

We don't compete with Patrick whatsoever. Patrick competes with Lippert partly, right?

The combination Lippert and Patrick is powerful in comparison to the OEMs. The question is whether OEMs are super happy or not about that merge.

Normally, customers want to have options. Dometic might be an option, obviously.

What you get the feeling is that on American market just now, everything is moving, and that creates opportunities, clearly. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't see the same movements in Europe. I don't see the same movements in APAC.

I don't see the same movements in Marine. I read, not the least on Dagens Industri, that customers are buying the suppliers.

To my knowledge, the only customer that has acquired a supplier was Thor 2021 acquiring Airxcel. I don't see more movement from that perspective affecting our business.

I see that the Patrick Lippert is obviously a big one. If you consider the size of those two companies being 4 billion each in revenues is 8 billion.

That is a powerhouse. I simply believe that the customers always want to have options.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

At the same time, you have Thor finally trying to consolidate their different brands they've acquired over the years, which could be a potential negative for you, or have you seen any exposure to that so far?

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

No, not more than we have seen historically. If you look at the way the industry is running, especially the RV industry, marine industry is different.

The RV industry, it's clear that you have the brands that are driving the business. It's clear that Thor has been communicating this, but it's nothing new either.

It's still to be seen whether we have an impact or not. We look at our numbers in the quarter and even on the year to date, we are very much in parity with the market just now.

We don't see any effects yet, at least.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

What is your exposure to Thor? Is it the same as their market shares, or is it above or below, would you say?

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

Less.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

Less. Okay.

That's all I have. Thank you very much.

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

Keep in mind, Johan, that they acquired Airxcel. Airxcel was one of our main competitors in the U.S.

till 2021. They have already that one.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

that's actually a good question. Would you say you have taken market shares from Airxcel since then, outside Thor?

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

I believe that Airxcel has been shrinking, but I believe that Liebherr has been taking the market share from Airxcel.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

Okay.

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

There's always a risk when you as an OEM acquire your own suppliers because they are not just supplying to you, they are supplying to your immediate competitors. As you know, American market is pretty consolidated, having three major players, Thor, Forest River, and Winnebago, representing 85% of the entire market.

They don't want to feed one another's P&Ls.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

Mm-hmm. Just on market shares in the U.S., you lost market shares in fridges when the Chinese arrived.

You lost some market shares in awnings when you moved to Mexico. Now obviously you have not been able to gain the lost market shares from Airxcel.

How would you see your competitive position in the U.S. market?

Are you slowly fading out there or what's happening?

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

That depends on products. We are still selling refrigeration.

We are still selling, we are pretty big on sanitation. I would say that we are market leaders on sanitation.

I would say that we are number three on air conditioning. We're still alive.

The market has moved, as you just said. When we are talking about Liebherr, you need to consider Liebherr is importing Chinese products from day one.

They acquired two Chinese distributors in the U.S. Airxcel has been losing to Liebherr as well.

Juan Vargues

Johan Eliason

Okay. Thank you very much.

Johan Eliason

Juan Vargues

You're welcome.

Juan Vargues

Operator

The next question comes from Daniel Schmidt from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.

Operator

Daniel Schmidt

Just two short follow-ups. The repayment that you're planning to do in September, SEK 750 million, how much interest rate is that currently running at?

Daniel Schmidt

Per Carlsson

I don't know, actually. I have to come back on that.

Per Carlsson

Juan Vargues

It should be quite a bit lower, obviously.

Juan Vargues

Per Carlsson

It's a private placement, actually.

Per Carlsson

Juan Vargues

I don't have the percentage on top of my mind, but what you will see is obviously that we are going to pay less, but we will pay in interest. We are going to pay less in Kronas, but we are going to have a slightly higher interest rate percentage-wise for the remaining part.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay. Just to repeat maybe, when you talked about Mobile Cooling and the price increases that you've been conducting, you started to see the results of that in the end of Q2, you did say that you believe that you will expand margins in the second half of this year-over-year, right?

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

Yeah, in comparison to what we have seen. We lost 1.5, 1.6 percentage points in Q2.

We are not going to see the same deterioration moving forward. You will see a recovery stepwise in Q3 and Q4.

Keep in mind.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Not only referring to Q2, also referring to H2 last year.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

I need to-

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Maybe I got you wrong.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

No, I was comparing to Q2.

Juan Vargues

Daniel Schmidt

Okay.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

That will depend a little bit what happen with oil prices, because as you know, oil prices went up dramatically, then they started to come down, and now they are coming up again. That will depend a little bit on how they behave.

Juan Vargues

Per Carlsson

Keep in mind that material prices will still hit us negatively in Q3.

Per Carlsson

Daniel Schmidt

That's all for me.

Daniel Schmidt

Juan Vargues

Thank you.

Juan Vargues

Tobias Norrby

We have one question from the webcast audience that we will take now. The question refers to our aftermarket business, which is performing well at the moment.

How are we seeing the competition evolving? Are we seeing OEMs entering into this part as well?

Are we seeing new online players?

Tobias Norrby

Juan Vargues

The only competition that we have seen behave in a different way is Trigano. Trigano started to acquire their own distributors, their own distribution, a few years ago.

They keep consolidating, especially in France. Obviously, those dealers that were OEM dealers were also our dealers.

There we have seen some movement in recent years. Nothing new.

Has been there now for four or five years. Other than that, private label, yes, private label, we have seen a massive inflow of private label into wholesalers across Europe.

One of the things that we have implemented is that we launched, as we communicated, I think in Q4 or Q1, a new brand called Waeco, which is fighting back and where we see a very positive development during the first two quarters of this year.

Juan Vargues

Tobias Norrby

Good. Well, back to the operator, please.

Tobias Norrby

Per Carlsson

Yeah, I can just confirm that what Juan said, that the repayment, the SEK 750 million, is a higher interest rate than our average, so it should improve our average interest rate.

Per Carlsson

Tobias Norrby

Good. Back to the operator, please.

Tobias Norrby

Operator

There are no more in line for questions, I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Operator

Juan Vargues

Thank you very much everybody for your attention and participation on this conference call. You can rest assured that we will keep working very hard to keep our margins, to protect our margins, to deliver cash flow.

By that, hopefully, we will see as well leverage coming down after a few years fighting against high leverage. Thank you very much for your attention, and goodbye.

Enjoy your summer.