RTX A/S

RTX A/S

13.80
EUR
-0.15
(-1.08%)
0.19EPS
66.73P/E
99.71MMarket Cap
Nov 25Next Earn

Q4 FY2025 · Earnings Call TranscriptNovember 28, 2025

Paul Jason

Good morning. We are unmuted.

My name is Paul Jason, analyst at Danske Bank. We are here together today with Henrik Mørck from CEO, RTX, and Mille Tram Lux from CFO, RTX.

We will go through the Q4 numbers which were out yesterday, and Henrik?

Henrik Mørck

Yeah. Thank you very much, Paul, and welcome, everybody.

I hope that you're all fresh and ready. Just let me know if you have any questions, we can definitely dive into those.

Just prepared a short agenda. Just short introduction to RTX.

One of the elements that we have been working very diligently with after my onboarding, is really to get a deeper understanding of the markets and the opportunities that we're in, enabling us to set some targets on a longer term. Also give you a walkthrough of our 5-year ambition, including some selected insights on what we've been able to achieve with our healthcare businesses and what we're looking ahead for, and the same for retail, two of our growth opportunities.

Then Mille will walk through the financial and business highlights, finishing off with outlook. Of course, there's room for Q&A, as well.

Very quickly, RTX on a page. More than 30 years of experience in working with short-range wireless technology, deploying it typically where standardized infrastructures, such as cellular, Wi-Fi, either isn't there or doesn't meet the quality standards, that's where our technology fits in.

That's what we're framing for as challenging environments. We deploy that technology in three major market segments as we've defined them, the enterprise, ProAudio, and healthcare, where we innovate, design, manufacture solutions.

For example, in enterprise, that's where we do headsets, handsets, base stations for office and retail communication. Typically as you'll see a push-to-talk headset, which if you go into Netto, you'll see one of those, and that's RTX technology there.

Healthcare, where we do secure, highly reliable wireless infrastructure for monitoring of critical patients, where our main market is in the US, and enabling basically a positive business case for hospitals in utilizing the clinical staff even more efficient because you can monitor patients centrally as well as catering for patient safety. Then we have ProAudio, where we deploy our technology not as full products, but as a module that allows our customers to build that into their solutions, where one of the focus areas for us is defense and first responders.

For example, firefighting teams that have the technology built into their helmets so they can have hands-free, ease-of-use, reliable communication between teams in tactical environments. That's what we do.

The kind of the business model is that we really focus on the design and the development and production. Then we have partnerships with global brands that brings our product in their name to the global market.

These are brands that has been our partners for more than a decade. It is really long-term partnerships.

That's really what's allowing us to deploy our technology globally. That was a quick RTX flyby.

The 5-year business and ambition, and we've really scrutinized our existing business, understanding our position, the market trends, really giving us a solid foundation for setting our ambition and what we strive for during the next 5 years. Looking at the market trends.

Definitely, we're seeing a positive trend for our business in the increased need for mobility, under the headline of anytime, anywhere. The number of wireless devices is significantly increasing.

Specifically for our opportunity in healthcare, we're seeing aging population. Our technology is used for monitoring cardiac patients at hospitals, and in the US, according to the American Heart Association, the number of cardiac patient is going to rise with more than 30% during the next 5 years.

That's definitely driving a need for continuous monitoring while requiring more efficient use of clinical staff. Then geopolitical tension, there's a good side and there's a bad side.

There's a bad side is definitely it's a challenging environment to do business in on exchange rate, on trade barriers, and so on that something that we need to cater for in the way we do business. On the other hand, it also drives investments in defense and emergency communication, both in first-responder-type applications, but also in tactical teams.

We are seeing some positive developments in that again. Then continuous digitalization.

The integration of voice communication, not only to carry voice, but also to capture data, to gain insights on operational efficiency, for example, on the shop floor, that is definitely also a trend driving deeper integration of our solutions into cloud-based solutions. That was just a subset of the market players and market trends.

For many reasons, but also for really catering for the geopolitical stability and the effect on the business environment, we really value our asset-light set up, where we utilize EMS production partners with major partnerships that allows us also agility in terms of moving production in and out of, for example, China, which is definitely a trend, and has been for the last 5 years, and also utilizing the partnerships that we have with major B2B customers, bringing our products globally, and giving us a sales reach that can be hard really really hard to reach, having 300 people working for RTX. They really provide us some reach, where we have a core on the market insight and the technology leadership.

The ambition. Putting it into numbers.

Definitely, our ambition is an ambition not only on growth. We're definitely targeting double-digit growth throughout the next 5 years, but also acknowledging that we are at a point, even though what Mille will cover, we have again crossed into being a profitable business, and we're really really happy about that.

We want to set our targets higher. We are targeting an EBITDA margin above 15% in 2030, which that I believe is quite ambitious for a company like ours.

It's a journey not only on growth, but also on profitable growth. That's built on we have a core business.

Our enterprise business constitutes today 75% of our business, a core market for us, also a relatively stable market, but a market we have a really really strong position in. We are investing in that also to keep that way.

We are investing in what we call our next-generation platform that will enable higher degree of reuse across customers and businesses, but also shortening time to market for onboarding new customers. That's a major investments, and we're looking for that to start making impact within this frame of 2030.

Then we have two growth verticals. One is retail.

I shortly spoke about the push-to-talk headsets that you can see in Netto, or Bauhaus, or Jysk. That is it's actually a testament of a transformation happening, not only in Europe, but also in US, where the retail store changes not only from a point of sales, but actually to an omni-channel setup, where it's also basically a warehouse for the online channel.

That requires different communication, different logistics at the shop floor. There where we see really a strong push for mobility solutions for frontline workers.

We're seeing a lot of growth on that in Europe, and we are seeing a potential market on that in the US, as well. In healthcare, we already have deployed our technology, the wireless infrastructure for critical patient monitoring.

It's deployed in more than 1,500 hospitals in the US, holding a 40% market share. We see clear opportunities for expanding that application for critical patient monitoring from the specialty wards, but also broader to the hospitals.

On a longer term, we also are looking for additional growth markets. That's definitely a growth engine for us.

Also, healthcare is a high-value market, which also will help drive the EBITDA margin over time. Then, of course, we also looking into, that's the trick of RTX, we have technology that can be deployed in many markets.

We are definitely be continued looking for that. Defense is one where we've seen positive traction.

We will keep doing business development to cultivate new applications of our solutions doing this time frame, as well. That's the foundation for our ambition going to 2030.

Just some insights on the two growth opportunities. Where are we today?

On healthcare, we are executing according to our plan, to our ambition. We've seen this year solid growth, both in revenue, and also expanding growth markets.

Really happy about that. It's a testament that we are tracking on the right route to a long-term sustainable business in healthcare.

We've spent a fair amount of time understanding, interviewing decision-makers, understanding technology trends in the US market, and also understanding the size of US market. Really, for us, it's a strong sign that we've been able to validate our assumptions, but also identify key adjacencies on how can we help with our customers expand the footprint of our technology.

We've I think earlier spoke about the USB dongle as a way to expand our footprint, and we've seen some strong indications of adjacencies that we can shoot there. Then working closely with our partner, Philips, on that, and re-strengthen that.

That's basically where we are. What we will do really to put the pedal to the metal on this, we are going to invest into the organization.

We are bringing on a new SVP for Healthcare to provide even more focus on both execution, but also bringing in experience from having lived 10 years in the US working in medtech, detailed insight and knowledge on how to commercialize in the US market. Looking really to strengthen our leadership, and in general, investing into our organization, building the capabilities not only to deliver on the opportunities at hand, but also really to build a long-term pipeline of opportunities within healthcare.

Right now, US is definitely the priority, and will be the main priority for this horizon, for the next 3 to 5 years. We are definitely looking also for growth adjacencies and markets in healthcare.

That's where we are on healthcare. On retail, the second growth vertical that we've touched on and off during these calls, we have seen this year and year over year solid growth in revenue, really a testament that this transition is happening very much in EU.

We are helping transforming the frontline operations with better customer experience through advanced wireless technology. We have partnerships with the market leaders, really much focusing on EU.

We've also invested in understanding both the EU market, but predominantly the US market because it's a major market, and the technology transition is starting up there. We definitely want to understand how can we better grab that, how can we build with both existing, but potentially also new partners, grasping that opportunity.

For that reason, we've also focused our leadership to really drive both the execution of this, but also the business development within this area. Looking ahead, our clear focus is going to be EU, or Europe, and the US continuously, of course, understanding future growth markets, as well.

That was the relatively quick flyover of both the 5-year ambition, also the healthcare and retail. I will hand over to Mille to walk us through the annual results.

Mille Tram Lux

Some of you might have read the report already, I'm going to do it relatively short, and then we can take questions. The main headlines for the year is that we have regained profitable growth, which you can see in an increase in revenue of about 10%.

We can see that we've got strong performance in our core segments, our focus segments, enterprise and healthcare revenue, which both of them grew significantly compared to last year. We have been very focused on our product profitability and gross margin, and what we can see is that we have driven up our gross margin by 3.3 percentage points over the year.

Another focus points that we've had was our inventory reduction, where we have reduced that to 37 million, reaching a level which is a more right level for RTX. Then we have, as a result of both inventory reduction and better operational result, we have strengthened our liquidity position, reaching just above 150 million by the end of the financial year.

It has also been a year where we have worked on our Scope 3 emission. When the year started, the regulations on this point were one, and now it's another.

We remain committed to sustainability and responsible business conduct. With the new legislation, it will allow us to focus our efforts on actions more than reporting.

Of course, we have made a foundation in the reporting in order to understand where are our main focus areas. Another big change in the year, of course, is the leadership transition with Henrik Mørck in the position joining 1st of March, and we have also already seen quite a few changes as a result of that.

If we dive into the three segments, enterprise, as we have seen, has obtained quite a strong growth during the year. We have a good, solid order book.

We can also see that the distribution of revenue between quarters have been much more stable this year, which indicates a more stable planning from our customers. It allows us to have higher operational efficiency, as it allows us to plan better our production.

ProAudio reached a level below our expectations, and some of it is due to lower volume and longer onboarding time for some of our newer customers, module customers. We have focused on driving the profitable products in ProAudio, and therefore, this year has also been influenced by closing down of a full product together in good cooperation with our customer, because keeping this alive is not sustainable for them or for us.

We do see growth potential in ProAudio, particularly in applications like defense, and as everybody know that this is a market with big potential, but also longer-term decision points. We are working committed here to gain good foothold with key partners in this segment.

Healthcare, we have revenue from these key infrastructure products that we are supplying to our partner for patient monitoring devicing. We are investing in execution of our product portfolio together with our partner and building up the order book, and we are progressing together with our customer in the transition to full product ownership, and therefore, also a different price point and a different commitment level to product sustainment.

Yeah. All of this sums up to a revenue for the year reaching sort of 550 compared to 500 last year.

Here, you can also see the distribution across quarters. Of course, as every other company working in the US dollar area, we have been impacted quite significantly by the decreasing dollar in the last half year, and that's also has had an impact on the full year result.

First half year, positive development. Last half year, negative.

If we look to our gross margin, we have maintained over the year gross margin at around 50%, 51%, and that is primarily driven by the facts that I stated earlier on focusing on profitable products. In the last quarter, it is impacted by a write-down of inventory, as I mentioned before, in ProAudio segment.

This is, of course, reflected in our EBITDA, where we have lifted that to 36 million compared to 3 last year, and it is a clear focus for us to remain and increase our profitability. Other key financial highlights is, as I mentioned, our inventory, where we have reduced that, our free cash flow, which is in this year impacted both by, of course, operational results, but also significantly by this inventory reduction, resulting in a net liquidity position as mentioned before.

Outlook, I will leave you to say a few words to that, Henrik.

Henrik Mørck

Yeah. The outlook, it's up here.

Outlook is 570 to 625. Top line it's reflecting basically an underlying stable return to normal in enterprise with opportunities for growth very much in healthcare and in retail as part of enterprise, but also a comeback for ProAudio will drive top-line growth.

Of course, this is also impacted by negative exchange rate and headwinds on foreign exchange rates reflecting that. EBITDA from 35 to 65, and EBIT from 0 to 30 million, really also showing a positive indication on development on profitability.

I think this is a financial year where again we take a step up both in terms of top line, but also profitability while are also investing into future opportunities specifically in healthcare, but also in our next-generation platform for enterprise, both in terms of product investments, but also in our organization, bringing on board new key positions to drive future growth. Yeah.

That's basically the framing about our financial outlook. I think let's open up for questions or comments.

Yeah.

Paul Jason

If there are any questions among the listeners, then just raise the hand. I think, could you just stop sharing because then they also get a larger picture of us?

There we go. I think.

Yep. Yeah.

First question from me is just focus on the strategy. You've been there 10 months, 9 months, 10 months now.

This is the first strategy plan which is your responsibility? Yeah.

Henrik Mørck

Could you elaborate or put some words on where has there been any adjustments of the strategy of when you entered? Or have you put your fingerprint on the way where you think here we shall invest, here you should cut down, add resources, or?

I think from a very very high-level perspective, the strategy is still the same. Our pursuit to really be driving platform investments so we can utilize our technology in many different applications.

I think what my input or drive into this has really been two key elements. One is, or three key elements.

One is getting a solid understanding of the markets and the market dynamics that we're in, because that's the back side of our business model. The good side is that we have a strong sales force with many of our customers and great partners.

It also puts us some distance between us and the market. Really getting a solid understanding of the market trends behind both enterprise, ProAudio, and definitely healthcare, make sure we have a solid plan or solid understanding.

Then the second is really about execution. It's about building the plan, but also making the right investments as we're doing with the organization in healthcare to really make sure that we also have the capabilities and the ability to execute on the opportunities that are out there.

Then I think that the last element that really I think that is more visible for us in this is really about focus. Also about being focused on where do we actually see the growth, where do we deploy our time and effort, but also investments to really to drive that growth.

I think from a very high perspective, no, it's actually the same strategy. When you get into the details, it's more basically about connecting the opportunities with our abilities and to make sure that we can actually also deliver on it and maybe for me, it's important that there's a good balance between opportunities and risks in what we pursue.

I like to have more opportunities than risks, because that puts us in a position also to manage a challenging world. I think that's my perspectives on that.

Paul Jason

If you take healthcare, because that's an important earning driver going forward, and you add competencies into execution here, and you'll be specify, I think you have one client more or less, yes, and you are not the ones selling to the hospitals, delivering what they sell. What do you have to add when it's in principle to be an account manager for a client?

Henrik Mørck

This is basically again, taking it back to what's our ambition in healthcare. Our long-term ambition in healthcare is to have a broad, diversified portfolio within healthcare.

We have a strong belief that the general healthcare market is an attractive market, and there's a technology fit for short-range wireless technologies. There's a lot of applications for that.

The pillars agreement that we have with Philips is one application of that. It's also quite significant, and it's definitely for us a strong way into that.

The reason for us building in and what we're bringing in is not only account manager. It's actually we have put in that we need to, of course, execute and deliver with Philips on that business, the agreement that we have, that will bring us to a certain level, but actually building a business development pipeline beside that, because over time, of course, we want to have more customers than just one customer.

We want to have more and a broader product portfolio. This is not just a 1 to 3-year, 5-year ambition.

This is actually for us a commitment to saying, we want to build a broader, sustainable business in healthcare. That's going to both take time and funds.

On the good side, we have actually a way in alongside with the product portfolio that we already have and the agreement we have with Philips. You have in your strategy plan two segments where you put special focus, retail and healthcare.

Retail, it's EU, I guess it's decided by the client because it's EU based for now,

Paul Jason

and Philips, it's US you're talking. Why is the healthcare Philips not also Europe or Asia, but only the US?

Then in retail, are you dependent on VoCoVo entering the US or other markets? Or can you go to the US and find a similar provider?

Henrik Mørck

There were two questions. If we take retail first, so that's also part of the work that we've been doing really understanding.

I think we have a fair understanding of the transition going on in EU, also with our partner in there that we've seen strong traction on. The research we've done is really actually understanding the US market, because we are seeing that in technology shift, it's actually a trailing market to the EU.

It is starting, and it's a attractive market in that respect that it's bigger chains. In EU, you have to do more sales because the chains, the franchise are significantly smaller.

In the US, it's larger. It's basically our understanding, who are the players?

What are the value propositions they have? What are the value fit with us?

That being said, to understand how can we best grab that opportunity? That being said, our current partner is also pursuing a US strategy and have entered and have some success in that market.

That's definitely also a part of our ambition, really to have a footprint on that. We've done research, and we are right now building the plans on how best to attack that.

That's part of our ambition.

Paul Jason

When they go to the US, is that based on your products then, as well? Then

Henrik Mørck

you asked Philips and EU. The application for this is the business environment for these applications just simply better in the US.

It's about the financing model. Our application does critical monitoring of cardiac patients.

There's a reimbursement number for that in the US. There's a direct money flow on that.

That's the key focus of that. There are deployments, and there are applications of the technology, both in EU, but also in rest of world.

The economic incentives is just so much clearer in the US. That's where both our and Philips' focus is on that.

It's not cutting off the other opportunities, but that's where key focus is at the moment due to, yeah, the financial incentives of the US healthcare system.

Paul Jason

If you look at once a year, you give the top, those who have revenues for more than 10%. Not by name, but if you add the numbers, then I calculate that 60% of your enterprise revenue is on three clients.

On group level, 56% is on four clients. Are you happy with this concentration?

It also tells that if I look back to pre-corona, then because one has come in, then at least one has left the top 10%. How is the structure between the clients from pre, all the turmoil, and now?

Are you having the same relationships? Or are there clients who have during the last 4 years has scaled down or?

Henrik Mørck

There are always movements in our client portfolio. There are movement, but I think it has been relatively stable.

It's ups and downs. I think you're also alluding to the point that this is definitely also something that we're continuously pursuing is diversification in our customer portfolio.

Are we happy about the mix? We're really happy about our customers, and we value that partnership.

Of course, looking at it from a business side, from a resilience side, or risk side, of course, this is definitely something that we also pursuing in our ambition, really to get a broader footprint in the markets that we are, with also a more diversified partner portfolio.

Paul Jason

Now you have the entry into 2025, 2026. Are channel inventories at the start of this year, Q1, normalized so now it's business as usual or as in the old days?

Or are there still something that has to be solved in this year? That

Henrik Mørck

we are seeing normalized levels. You probably find one customer who has big stock, but you will always be able to do that.

I think we're actually seeing right now the flip side is that we are seeing our customers keeping very low inventory levels, which is definitely challenging our operations because that means low lead-time orders, pop-up orders. So More or less, we can take the Q4 performance in, for instance, enterprise and use that as a starting point as a annual run annualized run rate for for the business?

It's always difficult to predict the future with the past, but I think that Q4 is a normalized level for most customers, yeah. Yeah.

Okay.

Paul Jason

If we then move to the long-term ambitions, I'll just back in my notes for previous long-term ambition. Yeah.

Then it was 13% to 16%, then it was more than 10%, now it's more than 10%. If I do the math based on that, then you had an ambition of 1 billion.

You reiterated the 1 billion, I think in June in an interview, and that was something that you could see in the future, or you would not eliminate that one. If I do the math just on 10%, then you're at 900 in in 2030.

Then you also take margins down from 18% to 20%, then to more than 18%, then to more than 16%, and now to more than 15%. Are there any change And at the same time, you get a more profitable business unit in to to the equation on the group.

Are there any changes here? Or are you very putting much stress on the fact that it's a minimum?

Or because sitting from the outside, I can pick any number then. When it's open-ended on both, then I could say 20%, that's double digit on on the growth, and could you put a little more flavor on what should take it above the minimum?

What is a level where you say, this is out of question?

Henrik Mørck

I think, yeah, I think what you're alluding at. I think actually back to the point that what we actually try and really be diligent about is really to understand what are the market drivers, what are the market dynamics, and how can we best capture that and make sure that we basically have more opportunities than risks in the way we project and the way we execute, because that typically gives, I think that's my strong belief, it gives better long-term results.

That's what we've been doing. I think, maybe we're a bit reluctant to compare to earlier because I wasn't part of that.

I can just say what we're seeing is in the enterprise market, you could have had a concern going through COVID, going through supply chain chases, that there would be a major shift negatively in that market. We are seeing a really stable market in that.

Lower one digits, gross margins, or growth, it's kind of a flat, kind of a stable market. We are seeing growth verticals like retail that we've been able to capture.

We also see we have a strong position where we believe we can do an above-market growth in that due to our position, because we are within basically eight out of 10 major players in the market. There's still some to go.

That could be an upside, definitely. There are opportunities, of course, also if US retail really takes off, that could be an upside.

There are outsides into this. In the ProAudio, we've done a change.

We have strong belief that that's coming back into both in right level of revenue, but also a revenue level that will drive a profitable business because it's a low-overhead business, because it's a very standardized product that we're delivering in. That we also have a firm belief in, and we're seeing positive traction in building that pipeline.

Then there's healthcare. As you've alluded to, we have a business that is driving higher margins, but it's also, as you can understand, requiring a lot of investments, not only into products, but also building the capabilities of the organization.

With that, we need to build additional business development opportunities to drive that. Those additional business development opportunities, as well as outside with, for example, defense, is some of the elements that can move the double digit from 10 to higher than that, right?

It's about for me also aligning the expectations. I think there's a strong growth case in RTX, and I think we are in a position where we have even better more focus and better capabilities to actually execute on it.

That's what's been so important for us to do. I think that's, yeah.

Should I also read that you also believe that you have to put more cost in or do more operational investments to grab those opportunities? I think, us being a technology company, we should always invest in building new technology.

Otherwise, we will become irrelevant, not tomorrow or the day after that, but over time, we will become irrelevant. I would still be insisting on we need to invest into building our technology to be relevant over time.

Paul Jason

Maybe compared to the strategy plan that were 2 years ago that you to deliver on it, sees that you should have more costs to get there? May I If the old plan had an ambition of 18% to 20% margin, or more than 16%, and now you say more than 15%, it can also because you're more cautious being the first year or first strategy plan.

It implies that at least that you see that there would be more costs to get to the higher revenue.

Henrik Mørck

I think it's also a reflection that this transition for to go from where we went from basically consultancies, NRE-type of revenue into product-based, that transition of transitioning the old products onto new platforms where we get the benefits of reuse that over time will allow us to do more with the same CapEx or same level of CapEx, which in time will raise the EBITDA, it takes time. Our products are in the market for 7 to 10 years, and that transition to drive that, that takes very strong execution, both commercially, but it also takes time.

It's also a question of having a fair valuation on how these benefits kicks in. I think that being said, maybe higher numbers have been said earlier, but I think actually for an OEM-type business, having this level of earnings is also ambitious, also seeing of where we are today, it's

Paul Jason

You said that you are investing in a new next-gen platform for the enterprise business. Can you put a little more color on what that should end up in, if it's different from today?

Henrik Mørck

One thing is making sure having a regular and a clear view that this market is going to be there for decades. It's something we need to keep it.

75% of our revenue today. Of course, we need to invest both in growth opportunities, but we also need to invest in our core to make sure that it's there because it's driving both revenue and profit for us.

On that note, this is also one of the major investments where we actually put our platform, the modular thinking, the modular investments, we can reuse our R&D investments in multiple markets with multiple customers, which over time will bring more operational efficiency both in R&D, but potentially also in operations, and shorten time to market because we can easier onboard new customers on this platform. Then it also entails a lot of differentiators in terms, specifically for our Chinese competitors, on security and cyber resilience, and compliance to both eco-standards and cybersecurity standards.

That's really an uplift. This is also where we are putting our latest innovations in, and making sure we have differentiators in the market.

The plan for that is, we want to onboard customers in early '27 and start the transition for that.

Paul Jason

In '27, financial year '27, '26, '27? '26, '27, yeah.

Okay. In the past, there was an ambition to have a split of 60-20-20 between the three segments.

I guess it's not valid anymore when you move from products to modules in ProAudio. Or how would you look at the business in 5-year if you end up delivering on the plans?

Of course, many things can change in the meantime, but what structure would you like? Yeah.

No, but,

Henrik Mørck

yeah, definitely, enterprise is still going to be our core, half of our business, maybe even more. Still a core foundation under our business, definitely.

Healthcare should be a significant part of our revenue, 20% to 30% in that order of magnitude. Also ProAudio, when we succeed with that, is also going to be in around the 20s or something like that.

Driving also, and I think ProAudio for us is also it has to be profitable. We have a strong plan for that and strong belief it's going to be.

It's actually also a way for us to do innovation with customers, because in ProAudio, we are exposed to many different markets. One we're exposed to right now is defense, because, and that gives us deeper insights.

ProAudio actually also holds that benefit to our business, even though it might be 20% or in that order of magnitude of our business.

Paul Jason

If you look at ProAudio today, is the transition to modules more or less completed by now?

Henrik Mørck

Yes. It is a module business now.

We have, I think, one, maybe even two customers that still have products, but it's something where definitely balancing, and, but all our future pipeline is on modules, and it's actually progressing quite as we hoped on so.

Paul Jason

Mille, you commented on your inventories, which is now down at 36 million. Is that sustainable level, or is that extraordinary low level?

Mille Tram Lux

I think that's a sustainable level. I think I've said before that we should be down to around 40, and I think that the right level is between 30 and 50.

Generally, we want our partners to do the component purchase. There can be incidents where in order to ensure production with short-term orders, or where we've got strong relations with the chip providers that we will purchase, also with the geopolitical situation where sometimes we're actually not able to purchase from the current supplier due to, yeah, political things.

We will sustain the level. I would assume that it'll be around this level going forward.

Paul Jason

Okay. Mikkel, you have a question?

Yes. I was just looking at the notes seeing that the full-time employees is up 10% during the past year.

Could you give some color on where these new hires has been, and how should we look at it a year from now? Is that 10% on top of this, or what is your expectations there?

Thanks.

Mille Tram Lux

Yes. The addition of employees during the year is basically an insourcing of external consultancies.

We have created a company in Romania where we've got mainly testers, but also software developers sitting. It is basically nearly the same people as we had from our outsourcing partner.

The increase in headcount is, can say, not a real increase, it's insourced. I hope that answers your first question.

The reason we have done that is because testing resources are an important part of our software development. We would like to have it insourced, and be in control of these resources.

Of course, we also see Romania as a location where they are strong software competencies, and can be a supplement to our current locations in Denmark and in Hong Kong. That's the reason that we have insourced that.

Going forward, I would expect that we will see a small increase in headcount on the things that Henrik mentioned before that we are investing in. We are trying to balance investment in additional resources with the need, and then also focusing some of the resources that we have today on, for example, ProAudio, that we are focusing them on the growth market, trying to keep the CapEx increase or the capacity cost increase at a lower level than the revenue increase.

Thanks for cleaning that up.

Paul Jason

Okay. I have a question.

We have a third participant here, the Chairman Henrik Schimmell.

Henrik Schimmell

If I look at the balance sheet, you have 150 million on the balance sheet now, no debt, apart from leasing. You reiterate the capital structure policy in the annual report of a cash position of 80 to 100 million.

The cash flow was 50 million last year if I adjust for the flow in taxes. Underlying strong cash flow, and you guide increasing margins.

My question is why should I not see a 50 million or something additional share buyback here or dividend?

Henrik Mørck

That's a good point, and something we are discussing. We are above our limits for sort of the capital policy as such.

You're right. As we do have a share buyback program going on right now, 20 million.

We expect that program to be completed probably around May of '26. Then it's time for us to then consider, what's next?

What would be a next round of, let's say, share buyback as an example? We definitely consider that so we get back to a level which is closer to or within our range.

As the year go by, we will also look at what does it take to run the business as we expect it and see if there are other needs. Rather than committing to a size or a complete program right now, we'll say that let's revisit that once we have completed the first and look where we stand roughly mid next year.

Henrik Schimmell

What is both the management team and the board on starting up an M&A track now that you have the resources? Could we see that the money is being spent in that direction instead?

You could imagine that there could be investments. We want to be very cautious in talking about that before we have something real on the table, we don't have anything to discuss with you on this.

It's definitely something we're considering, and I think you saw also in the ambition that was laid out and clearly aligned with the board that the business development portion plays a key role. That could be within sort of how can we sharpen the eye from the businesses we are in, and what other opportunities might exist.

Definitely something that is being considered. Okay.

Paul Jason

That was actually my questions. Are there anyone out there who has a final question?

Otherwise, we will round up here. Thank you, everybody, for participating, and have a good day.

Yeah. Thanks for listening.

Henrik Mørck

Thank you, all.

Paul Jason

Great day. Bye.