Balco Group AB

Balco Group AB

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Q1 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptApril 27, 2026

Moderator

Hello, and welcome to today's presentation with Balco Group, where CEO Camilla Ekdahl and CFO Viktor Arvidsson will present the report for the first quarter of 2026. After the presentation, there will be a Q&A.

If you're calling in and want to ask a question, please press *9 to raise your hand and then *6 to unmute yourself when handed the word. You can also submit in questions via the form to the right.

With that said, I hand over the floor to you guys.

Camilla Ekdahl

Thank you. Welcome to our Q1 report.

For our new listeners, we start with a very short snapshot of Balco Group. Balco Group consists of balcony and facade companies.

The head office is in Växjö, and we have about 500 employees. We operate in two main segments: Renovation and New Build.

Our core expertise is to supply glazed balconies and balcony solutions primarily on the renovation market and to tenant-owned associations. Balco Group is a market leader in the Nordics, with the key markets being Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland.

We also have a strong challenger position on other European markets. Let us go over to the Q1 highlights.

The order intake in the quarter was in line with the corresponding period last year and amounted to 270 million SEK versus 275. Here I want to point out that the order intake for Balco Group must be seen over a longer period than just a quarter, since larger projects can affect heavily in a specific quarter when we get it in.

During the first quarter, we didn't book any big projects, but we have some up for discussions. The order backlog increased with 21% by the end of Q1 2026 versus 2025.

We had a solid operating cash flow amounted to 32 million SEK. The net sale decreased by 5%, and here we have a currency effect of -2%, and the net sale amounted to 299 million SEK.

The profitability is below our target, and here especially we can see that the New Build segment had a negative result in the quarter, but also the Renovation segment was affected by lower volumes in some companies and also downward revisions of contribution margins in individual projects. Here it's also important to highlight that the projects can still be profitable, but when you have late revisions in a project and you're using the percentage of completion as we are doing, there is a hit on the result in the actual period.

We have taken extensive actions during 2025 on cost savings, but even though we have done so, the result is not good enough. We are of course not satisfied with the existing profit level that we now show in this quarter, and therefore we also continue with our cost savings measures and also the structural measures onwards here.

We worked with it during the first quarter, and we continue to work with it also onwards. Let's go over to the market update.

We start with the Nordic markets, and here we can see that the trend of increased activity in the Renovation segment in Sweden and Norway remains, but we are concerned that the investment decisions might be affected by increased macro uncertainty. However, we know that the underlying demand for renovation still remains.

We can't see a clear market recovery for the Finnish market, and that's mainly linked to that the New Build segment remains on a low level in Finland. The total order intake increased actually for Balco Group for the Renovation segment if you look on the first quarter 2026 versus 2025.

The Danish market remains challenging for us. We can't see a clear market change in the market, even though actually also here the order intake increased, but we can't see a clear change on the market yet.

If we look outside the Nordic market, we see that the potential in the UK New Build market remains substantial. We have strong competition on especially bigger projects in the London area, where we can see some price pressure following it.

Here we actually focus on other projects and also focus now outside the London area. The renovation market in Germany continues to show good underlying demand, and we have a good result here that we implemented the reco-glazing into the market as for expanding our offering for the premium brand Balco.

We have taken new orders with the reco-glazing during the first quarter, and there are more projects under discussion. Our view of the maritime segment remains positive.

The current order backlog at the shipyard indicates potential for additional orders to Balco ahead. If we look on the New Build segment, and especially here in Sweden, we have seen some smaller positive signals, but that is from very low level.

I hand over to you, Viktor, for the figures.

Viktor Arvidsson

Thank you, Camilla. If we look at the Q1 and start with the net sales, it amounted to 299 million SEK versus 316 last year.

Organic growth was -3% and currency effect was -2%. Adjusted operating result amounted to 0 million SEK versus -3 last year.

The year's figure corresponds to an adjusted EBITA margin of 0.1% versus -0.9% last year. Order intake amounted to 270 million SEK versus 275 last year.

The order backlog increased by 21% to 1 billion 493 million SEK versus 1 billion 238 last year. Adjusted earnings per share amounted to 0.01 SEK versus -0.24 last year.

Earnings per share amounted to -0.03 SEK versus -1.31 last year. The operating cash flow amounted to 32 million SEK versus 1 million last year.

If we turn to the operating segments and start with the Renovation segment, the net sales in the quarter amounted to 229 million SEK versus 236 last year, corresponding to 77% of the total net sales versus 75% last year. Order intake in the quarter amounted to 211 million SEK versus 208 last year, corresponding to 78% versus 76% last year of the total order intake.

Adjusted operating result in the quarter amounted to 3 million SEK versus -5 last year. That corresponds to an adjusted operating margin of 1.2% versus -1.9% last year.

The order backlog amounted to 1 billion 48 million SEK versus 991 last year, corresponding to 70% of the total order backlog versus 80% last year. Turning to the New Build segment, the net sales in the quarter amounted to 70 million SEK versus 79 last year, corresponding to 23% versus 25% of total net sales last year.

Order intake in the quarter amounted to 60 million SEK versus 67, corresponding to 22% versus 24% last year. Adjusted operating result in the quarter amounted to -2 million SEK versus 2 million last year, corresponding to an adjusted operating margin of -3% this year versus 2.8% last year.

The order backlog amounted to 445 million SEK versus 247 last year, corresponding to 30% of total order backlog versus 20% last year. Look at some more financial figures.

At the end of the quarter, the group's equity amounted to 738 million SEK versus 757 last year. The equity-asset ratio was 44% versus 47% last year.

Interest-bearing net debt including leasing debt in relation to adjusted EBITDA amounted to 5.5 times, down from 6.0 times in the end of last year. A reminder: in December 2025, a waiver was obtained together with an amendment to the existing credit agreement, and the covenants are within this agreement.

Then I hand back to you, Camilla.

Camilla Ekdahl

Thank you, Viktor. Then some concluding remarks and also the outlook for the coming year.

We estimate the continued improvements in the renovation activities in Sweden and Norway, and we continue to be cautiously optimistic about these markets here ahead. We believe in a gradual recovery in the Finnish Renovation segment, and we have also seen some signals of that during the first quarter this year.

At the same time, we estimate the Danish market to remains challenging during the year, even though that we had a higher order intake in the start of this year versus last year. In overall, in the Renovation segment, we will say that the geopolitical uncertainty is creating a more cautious and uncertain outlook.

As we said several times before, the underlying demand remains within the Renovation segment. In the Nordic New Build segment, we expect a slower recovery, and this is actually particularly for the balcony companies.

For the facade companies, we have seen a better improvement than for the balcony companies. We see also potential for further growth both in Germany and the UK.

We also have a positive outlook for the maritime segment. Here it's supported by the strong shipyard order intake and also that we have a broader product portfolio now, where we have also the sliding doors to offer to the shipyards.

The profitability is much below our targets, even though we're taking all the actions during 2025. Therefore, we continue to focus on profitability improvements measures, and we also continue to work with our capital structure.

That was all from us.

Moderator

Thank you so much for the presentation here. We will now carry on with the Q&A.

If you're calling in and want to ask a question, please press *9 to raise your hand and then *6 to unmute yourself here. We have a first question here, and it's Sophia Sörling from Carnegie.

You have the word.

Camilla Ekdahl

Hi, this is Sophia.

Moderator

You can press *6 to unmute yourself.

Sophia Sörling

Yes. Hi, Camilla and Viktor.

Do you hear me now?

Camilla Ekdahl

Yes, we do. Hello.

Sophia Sörling

Great. Hi.

My first question is related to the New Build segment. I was curious if you could give some more color on the losses in the New Build segment during the quarter, because I can see that in terms of revenue levels, you have similar as in Q3 last year, but still you had a profit.

What's the reason for losses in this quarter? Is it something that we should take into account ahead due to perhaps higher costs or perhaps cost related to the marine orders or, yeah?

Camilla Ekdahl

Just as you point out, Sophia, in the New Build segment, we have two different kind of orders. We have the balcony and facade orders, and we also have the maritime orders.

In the first quarter here, the maritime business was performing as it should, but we have some challenges within the balcony companies on the profitability level in the New Build segment during the first quarter. It's mainly [crosstalk] That is mainly to specific projects and volumes.

Sophia Sörling

Not related to the marine orders?

Camilla Ekdahl

No, not to the marine order. No.

Sophia Sörling

Okay. Is that something that you see will continue into Q2?

Camilla Ekdahl

That is why we are taking additional actions on the cost-saving structure, and this is mainly linked to the Finnish New Build segment. The volume in the New Build segment in Finland has been on a lower level than expected, and as I said, we don't see any recovery there, and we have taken actions and we have reduced people, manning, and we continue to do so during the next coming quarters.

Sophia Sörling

Okay. Yeah.

When we're talking about Finland, you mentioned that also Finland is a challenging market, both Renovation and New Build as I understood it, but you also mentioned that Denmark is a challenging market

Camilla Ekdahl

and

Sophia Sörling

you don't see a clear recovery soon. Why is that the case for Denmark compared to Sweden and Norway, for example?

Camilla Ekdahl

In Denmark, we are mainly working with putting on a balcony on a old building, but with buildings without balconies today. There is, to say, a new balcony.

You don't have a balcony today, and then you add on something you don't have. Therefore, the investment step is higher than if you already have a balcony and you want to replace it.

Therefore, it is a bigger challenge on, to say, the recovery for the Danish market depending on the kind of project we are working on on this market. Both the cost-wise it's a higher investment, but also it's easier to postpone something you don't have than to refurbish something you have.

Sophia Sörling

Yeah. Understand.

What do you expect needs to happen for the Danish market to recover?

Camilla Ekdahl

We see, to say, that it will not be worse, for sure, that we don't believe. It would be maybe a, to say, slight recover.

It's also like that on the Danish market, as I said, the order intake increased during the first quarter versus the first quarter last year, but it takes nearly between 6 months to 9 months before these projects can be a revenue on depending on the very long building permission time and things like that on the Danish market. That's why I say it takes some while before we can see a real recovery on the Danish market.

Sophia Sörling

Okay. Understand.

Given quite of a challenging market, how do you experience the competitive landscape at the moment, and what do you expect from competitors during 2026?

Camilla Ekdahl

In Denmark?

Sophia Sörling

In Denmark and in all the other Nordic countries.

Camilla Ekdahl

In the Nordic countries in general, okay. What we have seen in the Nordic countries in general, to say, that the competitors that are there are still there.

We have not seen, to say, lately that any of our competitors has left the market. The competitors are still there.

In the Swedish market, I can see that it starts to be a more healthy competition, I would say, even if it's still a hard competition, but a little bit more healthy competition. In the Danish market, it's still very high capacity versus the underlying demand right now.

Sophia Sörling

Okay. All right.

A question on the order backlog or the order intake also during the quarter. Have you experienced any canceled orders or lost orders during the quarter?

Camilla Ekdahl

No.

Sophia Sörling

Okay.

Camilla Ekdahl

The order backlog since end of last year, to say, it has gone down a little bit from the end of December to now, but that is linked to that we had a higher revenue than the order intake. Nothing else.

Sophia Sörling

Okay. Maybe my last question.

The profitability in the current order backlog, is that more in line with what you want to achieve, or is it in line with current profitability, or is it in line with the higher level that you expect?

Viktor Arvidsson

Hi, Sophia. Viktor.

What we see that there should be a healthy profitability in the order backlog we have. As Camilla mentioned here before, we have seen some deviations in the last quarter.

From what we can see now, the profitability in the order backlog is good. Yeah.

Sophia Sörling

Okay. All right.

That was all my questions.

Camilla Ekdahl

Thank you.

Viktor Arvidsson

Thank you.

Camilla Ekdahl

Thank you, Sophia.

Moderator

Thank you for those questions. We will now carry on with some questions that have been sent into us here.

What are the key growth drivers for Balco Group in Q1 2026?

Camilla Ekdahl

The key growth drivers, but we didn't have any growth, so that's why [laughter]. I'm not 100% sure I understand the question, because the key growth drivers is of course the Renovation, to say.

The Renovation segment if we look on a total general level, not Q1, but in general, I would say the key growth drivers is the Renovation and the underlying demand for renovation in the Nordic countries. That's a key growth driver.

Then we also have a driver in the UK and Germany, and that is a New Build market. These are the headlines, I would say, in our growth ahead.

Moderator

Thank you. Which alternative does Balco evaluate regarding strengthening their financial situation?

Camilla Ekdahl

The capital structure and that is of course something that is discussed within the board. If there are options, and if there comes from any alternatives or that will end up, and then we will communicate that.

Moderator

Thank you. The geography Other Europe has showed good growth for a while.

Can you talk about longer-term potential here? How big share of the group revenue can it be in 3 to 5 years?

Also, how is the profitability level versus the rest of the group there?

Camilla Ekdahl

If we look on both UK and Germany, there is a big potential. As I said, it's a big potential in the New Build segment.

Right now in UK, we are more or less, I would say, 100% within the New Build segment. Here we are still as very small player compared to the competitors on these markets.

Here we have big potentials ahead. As I also said here in the presentation, we have seen that in the London area, it's a very high competition because there you have the big projects and everybody wants to have the big projects, and you have price pressures.

We want to grow, but we want to have a profitable growth. Therefore, we are actually focusing a little bit outside London area to make sure because there we can see that the profitability level are on the same level as we expect to have, between 5% to 10% on the last row, to say.

That's where we are going to focus in the UK. In Germany, we have a potential in the New Build.

Also there Germany is a very fragmented market. There's a lot of players, but the players are quite local on the market.

Here we can see also here on the big projects, there are also some price pressure and a lot of competitors coming into those. We are very selective also here which kind of projects we take because we want to be on the profitability level on the New Build in these markets that we can deliver between 5% to 10% on the, to say, profit level, the lowest level.

There is a big potential on this one, and we still can see a growth in this one. When we come to Renovation in Germany, that is very, very interesting actually, because we made a strategic change 3 and 1/2 years ago, where we said that we are going to focus now on Wohnungsbau.

We know that they have money, they are doing their renovation on a yearly basis. They take it, to say, houses per houses, and and there you can continuously have the same customer having a lot of different houses, and we can continue to work with them during a longer period.

There we have seen a good effect on this strategic decision as we took. Now we are mainly working in the Berlin area and around that one, and we are also increasing us actually our resources now in Germany to take also other regions in Germany on this one.

We see a good potential ahead.

Moderator

Thank you. Have you seen any positive development in project margins, both with respect to actual execution and prospective margins?

Viktor Arvidsson

As mentioned, we have had some lower deviations this quarter. Of course, it's a combination of different factors.

Here and now in this quarter, we cannot say that we have had any positive development regarding this, so.

Moderator

Thank you. Do you see any unusual or significant risk to your project margins based on the price fluctuations for steel, aluminum, glass, etc., or is the risk mitigated based on contractual clauses or the likes of it, to speak?

Viktor Arvidsson

We do have clauses in our contract with indices and so on. Of course, we do have some insurance in that part.

Of course, there are always some risks when it comes to material price fluctuations and so on, because these indices are not 100%. Of course, there are some risks, but we do have some mitigating clauses in there as well.

Moderator

Thank you. Could you tell us more about the cost cuts you are doing now?

Which companies are affected, and how many and what kind of employees?

Camilla Ekdahl

Yeah. What I can say is that I can take it on an overall level without too much details, but we are taking down the resources in Finland, and that's mainly within our balcony company there.

We have already reduced a lot with the number of employees there, and we continue to do so. We are also changing, to say, the location for some of the offices.

We do the same in Denmark. We are taking away some people, and we are also relocating our office to reduce costs.

Then we have also a general cost reduction made by some of the other companies also in Sweden. We have continuously some discussions ongoing which I can't tell you about right now.

Moderator

Thank you. That was all the questions we had for today.

Thank you all for calling in and sending us questions, and I will now hand over the word to you, Camilla, for some concluding remarks.

Camilla Ekdahl

As concluding remarks, I would say that, yeah, we remains cautiously optimistic, as I say. We are a little bit more cautious now depending on the uncertainty we can see in our environment.

By that, I would like to thank you so much for participating in our Q1 call.