Fagerhult Group AB

Fagerhult Group AB

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Q1 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptMay 5, 2026

Bodil Sonesson

Good morning everyone. Before we start this webcast, I would like to take a moment to address Q1 directly because I believe it is important that we are transparent with you what happened and where we stand.

The quarter came in weaker than we expected, and we take that very seriously. The period was affected by a combination of factors.

Geopolitical uncertainty impacted both directly and indirectly with, for example, extended decision-making timelines in several markets. Also, the stronger Swedish krona negatively impacted net sales, and the sales mix between our business areas weighed on gross margin.

What does give us confidence is that our order backlog has increased compared with the same period last year. Underlying demand for our products and solutions remains stable, reflecting continued customer need and activity across our key markets.

At the same time, we see significant differences between segment and geographies. We have also an ongoing strategic update for the period of 2026 to 2029, which predated this quarter and was initiated as part of our longer-term work to strengthen profitability and stability.

We will communicate the direction of this strategic work no later than in connection with the Q2 report. In the meantime, we are taking action, but we want to provide a complete and coherent picture once the process is finalized.

We will also at the end of this section leave a little bit more time than normally so that you are able to ask any questions that you might have.

Niklas Willstrand

Thank you very much, Bodil, and thank you all for joining us today. I'm Niklas Willstrand and I'm Head of Communications here at Fagerhult Group, and it's my pleasure to welcome you to our Q1 2026 results presentation.

With us today we have, as you already know, our President and CEO, Bodil Sonesson, and our CFO, Oscar Wallstén. Bodil will begin with a brief overview of the first quarter results, followed by a short highlight focusing on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the EPBD.

Oscar will then provide a deeper dive into the group's financial performance. To conclude, Bodil will summarize the key takeaways before we open up the floor for questions.

We will first take questions from the conference call participants, followed by questions from the webcast. You can submit your questions via the chat window on your screen, and I will read them aloud for Bodil and Oscar.

If you want to ask telephone questions, please press pound key 5. Please note that today's session is being recorded and will be available on our website later today.

With that, I will hand over to you, Bodil.

Bodil Sonesson

Thank you very much, Niklas, and welcome again. As I mentioned in my introduction, the performance in the first quarter was below our expectations.

Results were impacted by a continued weak construction markets that you all know about and that we have been reporting consequently on. Far, we haven't seen any changes in that.

In addition, we had an unfavorable sales mix. We had currency headwinds and a challenging operating environment with the geopolitical situation.

In response, the strategic overview has been accelerated with focus on address underlying issues, strengthen the stability, tightening cost control further, and supporting sales growth also very importantly. At the same time, new market drivers are emerging.

Therefore, also we see the need for a little bit of a change strategic direction. Some of those are including segments like defense, infrastructure, data centers, and I will speak a little bit more about the legal side today being European Performance of Building Directives.

To position the group accordingly, a more unified market strategy is being implemented to reduce complexity and improve efficiency. By reducing complexity and sharpening our geographic focus, we can improve efficiency, strengthen profitability, and reinforce our position as one of Europe's leading player.

If we then look at the concrete numbers for Q1, order intake in the first quarter totaled 1,969 million Swedish crowns, corresponding to an organic decline of 14.6% or 11.6% before adjustments. The decline was mainly related to Collection, where last year's figures were boosted by one-off order linked to the King Salman project in Saudi Arabia.

Premium also had a particular strong order intake last year driven by the Västlänken project. Net sales in the first quarter was, as I said already, impacted by a less favorable sales mix with lower volumes in higher-margin segments such as Collection and Premium.

Importantly, gross margins within both Collection and Premium remained stable. However, lower sales volumes in these higher-margin businesses had a negative effect on the group's overall margin.

As a result, net sales declined by 6.1% to 1,821 million Swedish crown or 8.8% adjusted for currency effects and acquisitions. Overall, the group's EBITDA before IACs was 44 million Swedish crowns, and we had no IACs in the quarter.

That's a decrease of 72.9% with an EBITDA margin before IAC of 2.4%. Earnings per share before IAC was a negative 0.16.

Despite lower order intake, the order backlog increased to 1,803 million Swedish crowns, mainly driven by higher orders in the business area Professional. Once again, we are not satisfied with the outcome and the level of performance delivered, and we will come back to you with more information.

Oscar will provide that to you, as always, in the financial section. As I said, I'll give you a little bit more update of the EPBD, or the European Performance of Building Directives, and that I've chosen to do that today is because this comes into mandate in national legislation from this month.

I think most of you are familiar with EPBD, but I think we'll take a moment to reflect upon what it means in practice. As building accounts for a significant share of Europe's energy consumption and around 40% of its CO2 emissions.

Yet for decades, improvements in this area have largely relied on voluntary measures. The European Commission adopted the EPBD two years ago with national implementation required by May 2026 at the latest, so that's where we're coming to.

EPBD changes the game by introducing binding targets, fixed deadlines, and legal consequences for non-compliance. This shift from voluntary to mandatory action is what makes this particularly relevant for us, as it is expected to accelerate renovation demand.

I don't know if we've talked about before that we are renovating approximately 1% of the buildings in Europe, and in order to be able to achieve our targets, we need to renovate at least 3%. For us, the renovation market is very important.

When we look into the deadlines and the structural market expansion, Europe faces a 149 billion annual funding gap to meet these targets. That gap creates urgent structural demand for high-efficiency technology.

That demand is non-discretionary. Regulatory frameworks have made energy efficiency a legal necessity for asset survival, not a voluntary upgrade.

That transition is already underway, but many European buildings have yet to complete the shift to LED, and the phase-out of fluorescent lighting creates for us a predictable, multi-year replacement pipeline across the continent. The deadlines are fixed, and these deadlines are related to energy efficiency, but also more details of what they need to entail.

This is in public buildings by 2028 and private new buildings by 2030. That gives us more of a long-term visibility.

This is a structural market shift, and I think we are very well positioned to benefit from it. Why is this?

First, we have wireless solutions, and that makes the installation much easier. By simplifying design and eliminating wiring, we can deliver faster installations at lower costs.

That means more projects for our installers and less interruption time for the tenants, which suits the retrofit market. Second, lighting is becoming digital infrastructure.

Sensors and real-time data turn our luminaires into connected data points within the building management system. That opens the door to recurring revenues beyond the hardware sale and support premium positioning.

Third, is system integration. When we connect to central building systems, we shift from being a product supplier to system partner.

That means higher contract values per project and stronger, longer-term customer relationship, and also a much higher value for the building and lower costs for the tenant. Organic Response is where it comes together.

Sensors in every luminaire, as you know is our goal, automatic compliance reporting, and open API for integration with other building system and customized reporting. The Renovation Wave creates real and predictable demand across Europe.

What matter is that our portfolio is built exactly for this moment. Wireless installations, connected luminaires, system integrators.

This is not something which is part of our future road map. They are products and capabilities we have today in a market that now requires them.

That was my short update on the EPBD, and with that, I will hand over to Oscar for more information on the financial numbers.

Oscar Wallstén

Thank you, Bodil. I would also like to welcome everyone to the call.

Good morning. This has indeed been a challenging quarter.

The business area Collection and Premium are the main drivers behind the gross margin decline. In Collection, we did not win any large order that could match last year's large high-margin order from VF in Saudi Arabia.

At the same time, sales developed slower than expected in business area Premium. Premium won Västlänken as a large order last year, as Bodil mentioned before, and the same type of favorable business opportunity did not appear in the first quarter of this year.

For the group as a total, this development had a negative effect on both volume and business mix. We saw an improved margin in Professional, partly thanks to Trato-TLV, but this was not enough to compensate for the overall situation.

As Bodil mentioned, the organic order intake declined by 14.6% compared to last year. Q1 last year is a tough comparison period.

This year, we did not win any large projects like King Salman Park and Västlänken, and that is clearly visible in the numbers. In the quarter, the order intake is negatively impacted by FX.

The stronger Swedish krona is affecting our euro business in a negative way. On the other hand, the order intake is impacted positively by acquisitions.

By this time last year, our brand company Trato was not yet acquired. Sales is decreasing organically by 8.8% in the quarter.

FX have a negative impact by 110 million SEK, whereas acquisitions improve the numbers by 162 million, totaling net effect of positive 52 million SEK. We're not satisfied at all with the first quarter's EBITDA margin, which landed on 2.4%, a drop by 6% compared to last year.

The margin drop is mainly related to lower business volumes in our two largest business areas, Collection and Premium. The decline in sales has a negative impact on our profitability.

In the quarter, we experience a negative operating cash flow by 160 million SEK. The poor cash flow is mainly explained by weak sales and changes in working capital.

I will come back to that later in the presentation. The rolling 12-month net sales shows a decrease in the quarter.

We've had some stronger quarters behind us, but the weak first quarter is visible also on a 12-months basis. The margin development weakened in the first quarter as a consequence of the business mix and decline in volume.

Collection. The fourth-quarter order intake of 774 million SEK entail organic decline of 19.5%—sorry, 19.1%.

Like mentioned earlier, the first quarter of last year is a tough quarter to compare with. Net sales in the quarter total 772 million SEK, corresponding to organic decline of 7.3%.

The EBITDA before IAC decreased to 26 million SEK, and the EBITDA margin is 3.3% compared to 8.8% last year. Collection is one of our businesses that was most affected by the unstable situation in the Middle East.

Looking at Premium, order intake for the quarter of 596 million SEK entail an organic decline of 15.2%. Net sales for the quarter total 557 million SEK, and EBITDA landed on 47 million SEK.

As you can see in the graph, both numbers represent large declines compared to last year. The EBITDA margin was 8.5%, and that is large decline compared to quarter one last year when it was 15.1%.

Just like business area Collection, Premium encountered a tough comparison quarter. The lower volume has a negative impact in the business area's P&L.

Looking forward, business area Premium sees potentials related to the retail sector and also related cross-selling and collaboration activities with Fagerhult Group that can provide us with larger total shares of projects in the future. Then business area Professional, their order intake for the quarter increased to 410 million SEK, mainly thanks to the acquisitions of Trato.

Net sales for the quarter total 360 million SEK, with an organic growth of 15.8%. There has been a positive development in the UK market, which is beneficial for Whitecroft.

This is indeed one of the bright spots in this report. Except for the organic growth in net sales, Professional also gets a positive effect of 151 million SEK in net sales from Trato.

The operating profit before IAC amounted to 15 million SEK, and that resulted in an EBITDA margin of 4.2%. Business area Professional has continued to focus on cross-sales and group collaboration, which we consider a success factor going forward.

In Q1, this has been made concrete through the launch of a data center offering, a collaboration between Whitecroft, iGuzzini, and WE-EF for the UK and Australian markets. Infrastructure order intake for the quarter total 178 million SEK, corresponding to an organic decrease of 6.2%.

Net sales for the quarter total 168 million SEK, with an organic decline of 13.8%. The EBITDA margin is down to zero.

The P&L of Infrastructure is suffering from the group gross profit margin, which is a result of lower sales volume but same amount of fixed costs. Then looking at cash flow, the operating cash flow in the quarter was negative by 160 million SEK.

The same period last year, the cash flow was positive by 26 million SEK. The main driver behind negative cash flow is the operating results to start with.

The working capital has developed in an unfavorable way. Both inventory and customer receivables have grown during the quarter and hence affected cash flow in the wrong direction.

Inventory has to some extent been built up to mitigate price increases in certain components and raw material. Quarter one is by seasonal fluctuation usually the weakest quarter cash flow-wise.

The recent investments in Trato and Seneco has increased our net debt to current levels, which is higher than before. Now in the first quarter, our net debt to EBITDA ratio has increased because of the development in profitability.

Then finally, earnings per share decreased during the first quarter and it landed on negative 0.16 SEK per share. Thank you for your attention, and now back to Bodil.

Bodil Sonesson

I will do a short conclusion before we open up the questions. What we've heard during this call is that the first quarter came in weaker than expected, reflecting a challenging and uncertain market environment.

We continue to see subdued construction activities, specifically in new build, and together with an internal unfavorable sales mix and currency effects, which weighed on net sales, and then had a very strong effect on overall performance during the quarter. At the same time, underlying demand for our products and solutions remains solid, and which is evidenced by the strengthened order backlog compared to the same period last year.

This supports our view that customer activity and long-term demand drivers are intact, albeit with clear differences between segments and geographies. Against this backdrop, as I said, a strategic overview is ongoing and has been accelerated with clear focus on addressing underlying issues through concrete actions.

The objective is to strengthen stability, improve performance, and position the group well to navigate the current environment while capturing future opportunities. Thank you for that, and with that, I will hand over to Niklas so we will open up for questions.

Niklas Willstrand

Thank you very much, Bodil, and thank you very much, Oscar. I will hand over to Einar to see if we have any questions on the telephone.

Operator

Thanks, Niklas. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press pound key 5 on your telephone keypad.

The first question is from Lara Mohtadi from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead, Lara.

Lara Mohtadi

Hi, Lara here from ABG. Just a couple of questions from my side.

Firstly, is it possible for you to give some information on which subsidiaries specifically that saw the largest volume declines, and what's driving the weakness in those companies?

Bodil Sonesson

I think what you heard us saying before is that we saw a decline in our bigger business areas, which meaning Collection and Premium. Because we have high-margin businesses there, a lower sales has an impact.

Also we also said when you look into it that if you compare to earlier years, we didn't have any of those very big projects, and that makes the difference for us. Then if you look at the overall sales, you know that I've said before that we need to be over 2 billion to support the structure we have.

We were not, so that's why you see the difference. Then it falls down negatively on the bottom line.

Does that give you a little bit more information?

Lara Mohtadi

Thank you.

Bodil Sonesson

I can also give you a little bit more. As I said, there is difference in geographies and in segments.

You heard Oscar saying that UK had a better quarter. We saw positive in Whitecroft, but we also have Designplan, who is very present in markets like prisons, which is also a positive segment with positive growth.

You see those markets. Then of course, we also mentioned when we sent out the first report that we also see direct and indirect consequences of what's happening in the Middle East.

Direct in the business is in Collection because we have a local presence there, and indirectly because we see longer decision-making parts. I think it's when you have uncertainty in geopolitical parts, then I think very often companies push their capex decisions forward.

We see that. We see longer cycles.

Lara Mohtadi

Thank you. I guess still on the same topic then, on geographies, how much of the weakness would you say was specifically Middle East-related versus maybe the underlying weakness you mentioned in the report in the DACH or the Nordic regions?

Bodil Sonesson

I think if you look in general, if you look into what we did last year, last year revenue in the Middle East was 400 million Swedish crowns, which is approximately 5% of our revenue. Then the conflict arose in end of February, but we saw some immediate effects.

We closed down the office we had in the Middle East. Then it's difficult to say when you look into the indirect consequences, how much does it really affect in numbers, but I think it's a mixture, as I said.

It has effect on the decision-making side of things.

Oscar Wallstén

Just to clarify there, the 400 million SEK is the annual

Bodil Sonesson

number and

Oscar Wallstén

not the quarter number.

Lara Mohtadi

Thank you. Given that the comps stay easy a bit in Q2, but you mentioned Middle East and new construction is still weak, do you sort of see Q1 as a trough?

I'm just trying to get sort of sense of the earnings trajectory for the rest of the year. Should we sort of see this as a one-off quarter, or how should we think going forward?

Bodil Sonesson

We don't give any predictions going forward, I can't comment on that in that sense. I think you heard me saying that we don't see a fundamental difference in the underlying demand.

Also when you look into the order backlog, we haven't seen things worsening as we speak. I think that's as much as I can give you.

Lara Mohtadi

Thank you. Just a last question.

You mentioned the war started in, well, end of February, could you just maybe give some color on how, well, January and February were, because I'm assuming March was weak as you closed down in Middle East? How were those months in the beginning of Q1?

Also, how has April been so far?

Bodil Sonesson

I I also if you look I think what you also need to look at when you when you follow us is I would also look at the order intake when you go back. If you look into I think we already had some hint when we look into Q4 when we looked into the order intake that that was weaker.

That is also what you need to see, which had an impact on the start of the year. Then, when you look into April, as I said just, we don't see any further deterioration.

I would say that the month of April has rather started more positively than what we saw at the beginning of the year.

Lara Mohtadi

That was very clear. That was all from my end.

Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question is from Mats Liss from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead, Mats.

Mats Liss

Hi, thank you. Coming back to the earnings performance here, there seems to be a short- and long-term issue here.

Short-term we have weakness in the markets, and longer-term you mentioned the European Property Building directive, and how do you play this? It seems that currently to reach higher earning levels, you need to make some cost measures or efficiency measures, but longer-term, it seems that things are, well, looking interesting for you as a supplier of LED lighting solutions and so on.

I guess that's what you are aiming to present in the strategic review, maybe you keep that for [laughter] Yeah.

Bodil Sonesson

Yes, I think you are spot on there, Mats. As I said, we will do the strategic overview and what we've said is that we will do it not later than in the Q2 report.

I don't want to pre-empt that process. We didn't start that because of the result in Q1, it was something we were already working up on.

We have accelerated it when we're seeing that we need to secure both short-term and long-term profitability and stability. What we're working on there is of course on both sides.

We're working on both the cost efficiency side of things, and we also working on growth opportunities. As you heard me saying, I think, and I've said it before, is that when you look at markets, we were very strong in the office market, and we haven't really seen the office market coming back, but there are new segments, like I said, all the funding goes into defense and data centers today.

Of course, then we also need to make sure we're sharpening our offer in those segments. That's what we're doing by working stronger together.

I also think that the changing world we have around us also makes us focusing more on markets where we see high stability. There will be a few different measures, and we will come back to you, as I said, as the latest in the Q2.

It's looking into the picture you're describing.

Mats Liss

Yeah. Things seem to be Well, you mentioned that demand haven't sort of become worse, but then again, we see a lot of cost increases as I can imagine, not only of raw materials different kinds, and you have freight and, well, how do the market respond to potential price increases from your side to balance the costs?

Bodil Sonesson

I think there is a double part of that. I think we are more aggressive from a volume perspective side of things in pricing when we need to.

Then on the other hand, when it comes to direct consequences of, as you mentioned, whether it's material cost or it's transportation, then of course, we will pass that on as price increases. I think in those cases, the market is prepared to it.

At the other hand, when you look upon it, a new inflationary period is not something which is positive for capex investments. We will try to adapt to the world around us as much as we can.

Mats Liss

Looking at your

Bodil Sonesson

Yes, please. Please, Mats.

Mats Liss

Looking at the backlog there, there are some projects with, well, lead times are a bit longer. Do you have the, well, raw material clauses or whatever price clauses in place to balance higher costs?

Bodil Sonesson

Yes, and we are very project-oriented, and I think we learned a lot from the last inflation period in that sense. Also, as you saw, partly impacting our cash flow negatively, we've also made some projections in terms of being able to serve that demand while still having lower prices on the raw material side.

Mats Liss

Great. Then we have these structure changes that you mentioned ahead of the European property building, etc.

Do you expect to see more competition in those segments from others, or are you sort of in place with the usual ones?

Bodil Sonesson

I think in general

Mats Liss

To be a bit more clear, China has been a, well, competitor maybe more in the lower end of the market, and are they sort of upgrading their offering now and starting to become a tougher competitor in the areas where you have been, maybe not alone, but you have been market position better?

Bodil Sonesson

I think we've never been alone, unfortunately. If you look into the Chinese competitors, they are there.

Of course, they are there. Also we've seen some negative impact.

Also I think you see the Chinese focusing more on Europe today when they have more tariffs in the US, of course it's driving more Chinese competition. I think if you look into the European Performance of Buildings Directive, what I was trying to point out with that is that we are very well positioned with the combination of our lighting solutions and smart lighting solutions.

I think if you are a property owner also and you want to put smart into your building, you have many other factors included in that like cybersecurity, and also you have benefits in terms of that we take care of measuring the data for you. I think in such a context, it is a big advantage to be a European supplier.

Then when you look into the directive and the consequences you will get, there will be no ketchup effect of it. I see also from our side that one of the major challenges is that we need to inform more about it.

I think there's still a knowledge gap in this that we need to work on. That's also why I speak to it.

The legislation will help, and the legislation is quite clear.

Oscar Wallstén

The other part of renovation where we see a big advantage is by being local, as we are, we can also make renovation solutions much easier than if you buy a standard solution from the other side of the world, because we go in and renovate as well. That you can only do if you have local production.

Bodil Sonesson

I think there is a few very clear advantages, I would say, from our side. Did that give you

Mats Liss

a picture? Very good.

Finally, just to address these opportunities, do you need to make any sort of investment or capex,

Bodil Sonesson

or

Mats Liss

are you sort of prepared with the current setup? From our side, no,

Bodil Sonesson

from our side, we have everything what it takes.

Mats Liss

Great. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Operator

The next question is from Linus Alentun. Please go ahead, Linus.

Hi, and

Linus Alentun

good morning, Bodil and Oscar. Just a few quick questions here from me.

I was just wondering just to get a better sense of this roughly 6 percentage points margin drop here, if you could try to just give some indication of how much here is from volume deleverage and mix?

Oscar Wallstén

Thank you, Linus. That's a very good question.

I would say that it's actually approximately 50-50 between the volume drop and the mix. Some of the businesses that we had last year was very profitable, and of course, when that volume has gone down, it has a very negative impact on the profitability.

Then, in general, if we lose volume, it comes of course with lower profitability bottom line as well.

Linus Alentun

I would say it's approximately

Oscar Wallstén

50-50.

Linus Alentun

All right. Another question here sort of on the fixed cost base here.

I saw that SG&A expenses stayed roughly flat while sales fell 6%. I'm just wondering here what is your cost flexibility here, and when can we expect a meaningful reduction in the cost base to line with the current market conditions and the revenue levels?

Oscar Wallstén

I think that and that's also a very good question. SG&A is not a variable cost.

It's typically mainly payroll-related, and that is something you're not adjusting from quarter to quarter, but we're basing that investment or the spend on the future volumes to come and to ensure successful in the sales processes going forward. I think looking backwards, yes, it looks like it has gone up in relation to top line, but to your point, it's very much the same amount as last year.

I not commenting on the future development on it, but I think it's a good reflection you're doing, and then we will base, of course, investments or spend in sales and other functions on our strategic review and the conclusions we're making in that process.

Linus Alentun

All right, all right. Just guessing since, as you've stated, demand is still or visibility is still very low, you don't see any change, and that's why I asked.

Thanks for the answer. Another question, you said that the strategic review here is underway, and that the office segment here is pretty slow, weak.

Are divestments here on the table then? I think we [laughter]

Bodil Sonesson

It's good that you're asking questions. I think we need to come back to you again.

We can't say more about what we're doing today, we will come back to you as soon as we are ready to present.

Linus Alentun

Okay. All right, all right.

That was all for me. Thanks for taking my questions here.

Operator

Thanks. The next question is from Albin Nordmark from SB1 Markets.

Please go ahead, Albin.

Albin Nordmark

Yes, thanks for that. Albin here.

Just a follow-up there. I think okay, just the answer on Linus' question, was that on gross margin that lower volumes versus sales mix was just 50% each or so, correct?

Bodil Sonesson

It's difficult to hear you, Albin. Can you repeat your question?

Albin Nordmark

Can you hear me now, better?

Bodil Sonesson

Yeah.

Albin Nordmark

Yeah. Just follow up on Linus' question, just to verify, was the gross margin decline 50% volume and 50% sales mix?

Oscar Wallstén

Exactly. It's

Albin Nordmark

Then I heard you right. That's the first question.

Then so the next question is, is how is the sales mix in the order backlog? Is in relationship to Q1 now?

Is the sales mix the same or is it better or worse?

Oscar Wallstén

That's a very good question. I actually need to get back to you on that.

I don't dare to say. I haven't made that analysis yet.

Albin Nordmark

All right, all right. Understood.

Bodil Sonesson

Did you get the answer on your first question, Albin,

Albin Nordmark

that the mix that

Bodil Sonesson

Yeah, okay, good.

Albin Nordmark

The mix was 50-50, yes,

Oscar Wallstén

yeah.

Albin Nordmark

Then maybe just how I didn't get the last question, but anyway, how much of the order backlog is delivered now in the second quarter?

Bodil Sonesson

We don't count in that way because we continue to fill up order backlog every day. It's a combination of different parts, you can't say that in that order backlog we having, parts will be delivered in Q2 and parts might be projects which have longer times.

Albin Nordmark

I think

Bodil Sonesson

what is important to remember with our order backlog, which has been holding through all the time through as long as I've been here, is that all our order backlog is always related to specific projects, it's not a generalized backlog, but it's always tagged to specific projects. That has been why it's a very stable order backlog.

Albin Nordmark

Good. I think that was all for me.

Thank you.

Bodil Sonesson

Okay. Thank you, Albin.

Operator

There are no more questions from the telcos, I hand the word back to you, Niklas, for written questions.

Niklas Willstrand

Thank you very much, Einar, and thank you to all of you who asked questions over the telephone. We have a question here.

'Cash flow has declined to MSEK 160. With lower sales and therefore a lower working capital, I would expect a lower cash requirement.

Does it really make sense to buy more components just to head off price increases?' There's an additional question to this one: 'Will you need to renegotiate your banking covenants?'

Oscar Wallstén

Yeah. Very good.

Thank you for that question. I think the price increases, as we've said, when it comes to certain raw material and components has gone up a little bit more than we expected in Q4, we made a decision early in Q1 to build up a little bit of a inventory to mitigate some of that margin impact going forward, which I think was very good decision.

One can question if it was the right decision, but we don't expect that inventory to stay on the balance sheet for more than one, 1.5 quarter, we will get that money back soon. I think what has impacted the working capital as well on top of inventory is the fact that we, actually from a invoicing point of view or sales point of view, we ended up being quite back-end heavy.

Instead of getting AR in January that was paid in February or March, we ended up with a little bit higher volume in March. I don't see any issue with this, and I expect it to come back to the same level as previous quarter in the next quarter.

On the question if we need to renegotiate our banking covenants, we did reach our interest coverage covenant in Q1. However, as also stated in the Q1 report, we subsequent to the balance sheet date, we reached an agreement with our external lenders that allows us the financing to continue under the agreed terms.

That's behind us.

Niklas Willstrand

Thank you very much, Oscar. Here's an additional question: 'The smart lighting provider Plejd is taking market share in smaller commercial buildings, both with luminaires and smart solutions.

How will you manage that competition?'

Bodil Sonesson

I think first when you look into it, If you look into the market for the Fagerhult Group, we are not in smaller commercial buildings. If we are, it's very, very limited.

We are in the high-end medium to enterprise market. That's where we're playing, I would say it's very, very rare that we meet Plejd.

I actually see a positive with it, and that is that what when you look into smart, and what I said before about EPBD, I think very often the ignorance is our biggest competitor. What Plejd is also doing is that they're helping to educate the market about the benefits of smart.

I think that is really important and will be good for the market for smart in general. Then I think if you compare smart to our system, it's like comparing a system for a private home or a very, very small office, for example, with us who are doing enterprise solutions.

You can't really compare the two offerings. It's not the same market or the same solutions that we are doing.

Niklas Willstrand

Thank you very much, Bodil. I would say that concludes today's webcast.

Thank you, everyone, who was joining us today, and we wish you all a continued good day. Goodbye.