Operator
Welcome to the Green Landscaping Group Q1 presentation 2026. For the first part of the presentation participants will be in listen-only mode.
During the questions-and-answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key 5 on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to the CEO Johan Nordström and CFO Marcus Holmström.
Please begin your meeting.
Johan Nordström
Thank you. Welcome to today's earnings call.
As mentioned, my name is Johan Nordström, and I'm also joined by our CFO, Marcus Holmström, who will manage the financial section of this presentation in a few minutes. As always, let me tell you about the most recent performance and put that into context.
Now, the first quarter of 2026 showed a strong organic growth of 11%, and we also saw an improved underlying EBITA compared to prior year with adjusted for capital gains, and we also had a stable cash flow in the quarter. Now, if we adjusted for items for comparability, the EBITA amounted to 27 million, and that is an increase of 29% compared to previous year.
Then the performance across the group is a little bit of a mixed bag. We saw in Sweden there we delivered clear earnings improvement, and that is driven by the actions we have implemented.
Other Europe reported a seasonable stable profitability, and in Norway we continue to see a weak performance in a challenging market. Of course, we are not satisfied with that overall outcome for the company, but we do remain fully focused on improving the profitability in particular in Norway.
Also during the quarter, we have invested in one strong company through the acquisition of Finke Landschaft und Strasse in Germany. I think that's the perspective that it's a mixed bag.
Sweden and Other Europe was performing and we had some challenges in in Norway, while we overall saw an organic growth of 11% in the first quarter. Let's move into the presentation.
Just a brief overview of the Green Landscaping Group, and we are a leading company in the ground maintenance and landscaping industry in Europe. We operate in a very large and attractive market with structural growth in the marketplace.
Also we do have an entrepreneurial culture inside our company, and that is supported by a decentralized structure that works pretty well for us as we have local customers and we are active locally, close to the customers on the ground. Then to to to to top it off, we do see a value creation through a proven M&A strategy, that we chose to invest in the best companies in the industry.
Moving on to the long-term performance. I think it's wise to zoom out a little bit and look upon the performance of the company for the last few years.
We can clearly see that we have had a steady growth over time, while the year 2025 was, to some extent, a challenging year for us in terms of growth and also in terms of profitability. Given the first quarter where we are back to 11% growth, I think that's a pretty strong sign we are sending that if we are back on track.
In terms of profitability, again, 2025 was a challenge year challenging year for us. Right now we have been focusing heavily for the last 1.5, 2 years on improving the situation in Sweden.
We do see an improved performance in Sweden, and we do see a stable performance in the segment we refer to as as Europe, while we do have some challenging market conditions in Norway, and that's what we're focusing on on going forward. Next slide.
To sum up the first quarter, if we look upon the net sales, there there we saw total growth of 14% amounting to 1. close to 1.4 billion SEK.
Also, as I did mention, we have an organic growth of 11% in the quarter. Profitability-wise, or EBITA, there we saw a decrease of 25%.
We landed at 30 million versus 40 million a year ago. As I did mention, we see a stable improvement of margins in Sweden and Other Europe, while we do have some challenges in Norway.
Also putting that in perspective, prior year's EBITA included a 19 million capital gain on a property divestment we made in Lithuania. Really when I'm comparing the underlying performance, I am reducing the 40 million by 19 million, and that's where we see the improvement in the profitability.
Now cash flow was okay. We do have a heavy cash flow because we are not that We see some room for improvement in terms of cash flow, the cash flow for the first quarter was stable, but slightly below our own expectations.
That also means that for from the financial leverage perspective, we are at 3.1. That is from our perspective on the high side, and we will focus on that one going forward, we can get it down to a more, from our perspective, acceptable level.
Then as I did mention, we are continuing our successful expansion in Germany, and we completed one investment in Finke in the beginning of the year. Then of course, the last bullet there, the divestment of Svensk Jordelit.
That's a part of the program we set out 1.5 year ago in order to improve the situation in Sweden. Now Svensk Jordelit is a profitable company that we choose to divest because of the way the company has the way we have developed and the way that that Jordelit have developed, we came to the conclusion that that company will probably be more successful outside the Green Landscaping Group.
That's why we chose to divest that company in the first quarter of this year. Now looking into the Swedish market.
Then we saw for the rolling 12 months, we see a decrease of 3% to 2.5 billion SEK, where we have an organic growth of a negative 1%, while profitability-wise we increase to 1% to 115 million SEK, and there we have a margin of 4.6%. Now the first-quarter performance, there we actually saw an increase of revenue of 5% to 609 million, and also we saw an increase in EBITA of 9% to 31 39 million.
That gives us a margin of 6.4% in the first quarter. I think we should keep in mind that the first quarter is typically a low season for what we are doing, and having a 6.4% in the Swedish market from a historic perspective, that is actually quite a nice number.
Then moving on into Norway. As we clearly can see there, that the net sales have been decreasing by 6% to 2.3 billion SEK, where organically we are a negative 5%.
Then of course profitability-wise, we do see a significant decrease in profitability in Norway, which leaves us with a margin of 3.4%, and there the decrease is 60%. We have an 80 million EBITA margin in Norway, and that is clearly below our expectations.
Then for the first quarter, we actually saw an increase in revenue in Norway of 5%, while we saw decrease on on EBITA with a negative margin of 3.2%. What's really going on in Norway is that we are having a difficult market situation, and we have two companies who are not performing.
We are working on improving the situation in Norway quite significantly. Then looking upon Other Europe, for the rolling 12 months, we can see that we have a net sales increase by close to 40%, and right now that means they are up to 1.5 billion SEK.
It's becoming substantial to us. We have an organic growth of 2%.
Then of course we saw an increase on EBITA by 26% to 280 million, and that gives us with a very strong margin of 18.2% in the Other Europe segment. Then for the first quarter, equal to Sweden and Norway, that's a low season we have in in the first quarter, but still we see a significant increase in net sales by 60% in the quarter, while we saw a decrease of profitability to 15 million, and that gives us a margin of 4.9%.
I think here we should keep in mind that the prior year EBITA for the segment Other Europe included a sales of a capital a property capital gain of 19 million, one should bear bear that in mind when you compare the numbers. Then of course we completed, as I did say, one investment in the first quarter.
That's pretty much for the Other Europe segment. Then just a short introduction to Finke that we we closed in the beginning of the year.
It's a company that was founded back in 2010. It's based in Borken in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
They do provide classic ground work, sewer construction, and landscaping services to a broad array of customers. Size-wise they are, I would say, a sweet-spot company for us with about €12 million in annual revenue, we do welcome Finke into the group of companies we already have.
By that, I think that concluded my part of it, and then I hand over to Marcus who will walk you through the financials. Marcus.
Marcus Holmström
Perfect. Thank you, Johan.
I will cover the main financials. First quarter showed net sales growth of 14%, totaling at 1.4 billion and bringing our rolling 12 months sales to 6.4.
For the quarter, organic growth was, as Johan said, 11%, structural effects contributed with 4%, and the impact from exchange rates was negatively 2%. As Johan also mentioned, all segments delivered organic growth in the quarter, largely driven by higher demand of winter services in Sweden and Norway, while colder weather had negative impact on demand for landscaping services.
Also reflecting on structural growth in the quarter, as we for the first time have divested a company and it's not a strategic shift we have, but looking at structural growth 4%, putting it down to we had 7% contribution from acquired entities and the sales of Jordelit impacted negatively 3% in the quarter. Reported EBITA was 30 million, a decrease primarily due to the comparison period included a capital gain of 19 million.
Adjusting for this one, we had underlying organic improvement in our EBITA numbers of 29%. EBITA margin came in at 2.2% and rolling 12 months 6.8%.
We are, of course, not satisfied with this number, and we are strongly focused on executing on the actions we have implemented in Norway and continuing to deliver the positive trend we have in Sweden. I will go into more details on cash flow in next slide, but operating activities amounted to positively 137, broadly in line with last year, and financial leverage sequentially increased to 3.1.
Here we also heavily focused on delivering the cash home in order to be able to deleverage in the coming quarters. The order backlog amounted to 7.7 billion, which is higher than last year, and the increase is actually noted in all regions.
It's important to know that the order book fluctuate between quarters and should not be viewed as a short-term leading indicators. Earnings per share in Q1 declined to -0.36 compared to -0.33 last year, mainly due to lower EBITA in the period, while lower cost of funding had a positive effect.
Looking at cash flow, in line with seasonality, operating cash flow contributed heavily positively in the quarter at 137 million. Following the negative development in 2025, we're not fully satisfied with this outcome and have a high focus on delivering on our action to tie less working capital.
Progress have been made in the forecast, but it remain a focus area for us. Rolling 12 months cash flow from operating activities amounted to 100 340 million.
Looking at the cash flow bridge for total free cash flow in the quarter, operating activities contributes with 137. Then we completed acquisition totaling of cash consideration 112 million in the investment of Finke Landschaft und Strasse in Germany, which Johan also presented earlier, and then we also had a small portion of earnout payment in the quarter included in that number.
We also divested Svensk Jordelit, which was divested, and it had an annual revenue of 117 million, and the divestment strengthens the group's focus on our core operations within maintenance and landscaping for public customers. That brought in +37 in our total cash flow.
The net from acquisition and divestments was negatively 75 million. Then we had a CapEx totaling including lease amortization at -18, and we did not repurchase any shares in the period, totaling the free cash flow from the period at negative -15.
As I mentioned earlier, working capital development and cash flow generation continue, as always, to be a focus area for us, and we're committed to deliver on our actions. Financial leverage increased sequentially in light of our net debt being at 2.5 billion and leverage at 3.1, which is out above our financial target, and our ambition remains to return to the target driven by improved operational cash flow and, of course, improved earnings.
However, I would like also to underline that we maintain good headroom to meet our financial covenants in the funding. Our maturity profile for our financing, we did a lot of activities in this area during last year.
We broadened our financing base with issuing a bond, and we also refinanced the bank debt to much more favorable terms and conditions compared to previous ones, which helps us lowering funding cost going forward. We're very pleased with how we were received in the capital market of the bond issue, and it signals the strong confidence the credit market has in us.
Concluding my part of the presentation, looking at our financial target, leaving 2025 at negative growth numbers, we're pleased to see that we're turning a shift here and having rolling 12 months now +3%. On the EBITA margin side, very positive with the development we've seen over the past quarters in Sweden and the stability in earnings in Other Europe, and we're focused and committed to turn the trend in Norway.
Rolling 12 months EBITA margin ended up at 6.8%, and finally the deleverage at 3.1. We also have a fourth financial target, which is dividends.
In conjunction with the Q4 report, the board proposes to the annual meeting that no dividend should be distributed for the physical year of 2025, which is in line with the recommendation and decisions from previous years. Our AGM will be held at 7th of May in next week.
With that, I will hand back to you, Johan, for a few closing remarks before we open up for questions.
Johan Nordström
Yes. Thank you very much, Marcus.
As I said, it was a mixed bag in terms of that performance. We are back on growth.
That is very good to see. In terms of the local markets, look upon the performance of Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Germany.
I'm quite happy with the performance and the activities we had done there. We do have some challenges in Norway, and we are addressing those in a diligent way, I would say, where we actually have a new management, new country structure in place.
We have some new players there and made some significant changes to the structure in Norway and in order to improve going forward in the Norwegian market. By that, I think we open up for the Q&A.
Marcus Holmström
Yes.
Operator
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key 6 on your telephone keypad.
The next question comes from Jonny Jin from SEB. Please go ahead.
Jonny Jin
Yes. Good afternoon, Johan and Marcus.
I have a couple of questions. I think I will start with Norway profitability where, yeah, EBITA is even more negative this year despite you had this record low snow level last year, and organic growth is 7% this year.
To elaborate even more, what is really happening in Norway, what is driving this, and how we should think about the Norwegian margin going forward ahead?
Johan Nordström
Yeah. Thank you.
Johan here. In terms of the revenue, it's quite simple, because we had not a perfect winter, but we did have a decent winter this year, we can't complain about that one.
However, that mean that it's one of the companies who is one of the big players we have in Norway taking care of the winter services in the Oslo region. We did have the revenue, but they weren't able to turn that into profitability.
That's kind of the simple answer on it. We had the revenue, we had the winter, but they failed in terms of making money out of that revenue that came.
That goes back to management change we had in that company. We had fairly new management who weren't capable of turning the revenue into profit margins that we are expecting and should be expecting them to do.
Jonny Jin
Is it a execution problem then from your side, or is it more of a market pricing pressure, or what is driving that?
Johan Nordström
Good question. Those are long-term contracts we have with the municipality of Oslo, the prices are determined in the contract, there's nothing wrong with the contracts.
It's this is down to execution, on how you execute on the contract per se and turn the revenue into profit, and that's where we failed.
Jonny Jin
Okay. Were there any extra costs in this quarter reflecting those restructuring or such charge in the quarter here?
Johan Nordström
Not really, no. We had the revenue in Norway, but these companies specifically, because it was more or less one company we are referring to, who typically should have had a good first quarter, and unfortunately they did not turn that revenue into profitability, and that affected the whole segment of Norway.
Okay.
Jonny Jin
Looking forward then, on a rolling 12 months basis, you earn around 3.4% EBITA margin here in Norway. My question is where are you heading now?
Is it fair to assume that you could maybe reach a mid-single-digit EBITA margin in Norway? If so, how fast can they take before they are showing in numbers?
Johan Nordström
The first quarter is always a bit tricky for us, because to begin with, it's a low season. In Norway we do have some winter services.
If you look upon Sweden, for instance, and the profit margins we're having there, there we have been working actively in order to minimize the impact of the winter. If you look upon last year where we didn't have any great winter in Sweden, we were still able to I don't remember the numbers exact.
I think it was around 6% or something, and this year we have 6.4%. That means we have been successful in minimizing the dependency on winter.
Of course Norway is a different animal in terms of the winter services. Again, when the high season second quarter begins, then you have all the landscaping companies.
It's different type of services we are providing, I would be careful on comparing the first-quarter activities to what we do for the remainder three quarters of the year, because there you have different type of services done by the companies who are doing winter services. Then of course, all the landscaping companies who have a low season in Q1 are fully up and running in the following three quarters.
Jonny Jin
Okay.
Johan Nordström
It's hard to compare the activities we are doing in a low season in Norway versus what we are doing in the second, third, and fourth quarter in Norway. It's a little bit like comparing apples and pears.
Jonny Jin
Yeah. I understand.
On a rolling basis, I think you should have all of those quarters in it. So 3.4% EBITA margin now, where are you heading?
Can we assume that these actions are implementing now and you are improving margin from Q2 and onwards, or where are you heading? Is a mid-single-digit margin fair to assume in Norway for the full year, or?
Marcus Holmström
Jonny, we looking at how those rolling 12 months look leaving Q1 now, basically is that we started to have challenges in Norway to significant extent during Q3 last year when we had one company delivering project writedowns and so on. Then the market has also turned negative during that time.
On a rolling 12 months, we still have quite tough comparables looking at Q2 last year, but then of course we're committed to bottom out in the next few quarters and delivering the result of the actions we're actually driving out in the business. Then we don't guide for the future, tough to stay
Johan Nordström
It's kind of tough to answer your question as we typically don't guide into the future.
Jonny Jin
Okay. We'll see.
Marcus Holmström
Then
Jonny Jin
on a cash flow here a little bit Yeah, sorry. Please
Johan Nordström
go ahead.
Jonny Jin
Moving on to cash flow here. While free cash flow is positive here in the quarter, I think working capital tie-up is still negative on a rolling basis.
I think it's -170 million on a rolling 12 months basis here, how should we think about this going forward? Can we expect a further working capital release ahead coming quarters, or what is fair?
Marcus Holmström
We have a clear seasonal pattern in our working capital buildup, and going into the high season then we traditionally tie more capital. What we faced during the last couple of quarters, we haven't released the amount of working capital that the business should have delivered, and therefore we addressed it with actions and are expecting us to have a catch-up effect during this year in light of the actions we have done.
Looking at our portfolio, we have in total 60 companies, and many of these are delivering solid cash flow. Then in a few entities not in a specific area, we are addressing those specifically and making sure that the cash flow comes.
It is down to traditional housekeeping on a company level, and that's where we are addressing it currently together with the local MDs. For the full year, we're driving action in order to release working capital on rolling 12 months basis.
Jonny Jin
Okay. Good.
Just a follow-up quick there to understand the cash flow better, because it looks like on a rolling 12-month basis at least, it looks like that the change in receivables is the main drag
Marcus Holmström
explained
Jonny Jin
in the most of the drag here in working capital. Can you maybe elaborate what is driving that and the dynamics going forward?
Marcus Holmström
We don't see that it should be represented that there's a shift in our model or market. Of course the tough market itself contributes that it takes a bit longer to get paid than in a good market conditions.
From a structural point of view, we are on top of those companies, and we see a bit of a timing difference effect during quarters. The actions we're now putting in place is to reduce those type of timing differences also going forward.
That's my short answer.
Jonny Jin
Okay. Just a final one from my side and that's on outlook.
Could you maybe say something about how we should think about the outlook here in Norway and Sweden? Also, can you say something about how April has started for you?
Johan Nordström
That's a tough question as we
Marcus Holmström
don't
Johan Nordström
typically give detailed forecast. As I did mention, given that we've talked about the improvements we've done in Sweden over the last it's almost two years now we have been working in improving the profit margins in Sweden, we are at a positive trend there.
I don't have any further information to say than that trend will continue. That's my expectations given what we have done during the course of 2026.
Finland were down, I think it was two years ago. We have made a significant improvement in profit margins in Finland over the last 24 months.
I do expect that one to remain solid. Then you look upon Germany, for instance.
I think on that level, there's a couple of companies who's outperforming, a couple of companies we are dealing with. Overall, the performance in Germany is kind of solid as well, and becoming a very important market to us.
Then we are back to Norway with the discussions we have had there, that now we are going into the landscaping services and the high season in Norway. As I did mention, we have had several actions in place in Norway in order to improve that situation.
When that will take into effect, I think that's a bit too early to say. We are working diligently, as I said, on improving the situation in Norway.
From my perspective, I think we are doing the right things in Norway, and eventually we're going to see the improvement in Norway. I can't guide actually at what pace and at what magnitude those improvements will come.
Of course we are at 3-4% EBITA margin in Norway, and that is significant below our expectations for the Norwegian market.
Jonny Jin
Understood. That was all for me.
Thank you.
Johan Nordström
Thank you.
Marcus Holmström
Thank you.
Operator
The next question comes from Thomas Blikstad from Pareto Securities. Please go ahead.
Thomas Blikstad
Yes. Hi.
Sorry to be asking about this again, but to clarify on Norway, you say that there are no contract-specific pricing issues and it's just on the execution. Could you please elaborate sort of what kind of execution challenges it is then, and what sort of immediate action you have taken to improve this considering the average snow level, average activity levels, forth, and 7% organic growth?
Thank you. Yeah.
Okay.
Johan Nordström
As I did mention, overall in Norway First of all, the market is a tough market at this point of time in Norway. They do have a high interest rate, they have a fairly high cost increases or inflation if you like, and that of course effects the situation while the supply for new work, to say, is actually down.
That means it's a heavy competition going on in Norway. That's kind of the basic we have in the Norwegian market.
Then we have two companies who are clearly not performing, we do have the volume or the revenue to work with, but they are not able to turn that into profitability. Those are basically two company-specific situations, if you like.
While we do have a good number of really good companies in Norway, I do expect Norway to start to perform, while the two other companies I'm referring to, there we do have a new management in place and we're working with those companies in order to improve the performance. To the best of our understanding when we look upon the contract per se, we are not sitting with long-term contracts who are unprofitable.
It's much more on the execution. It's the same contract as we had before, where we were capable to making money under the old management, and then while we have the new management, we're not making money under the said contracts.
Thomas Blikstad
Okay. Do you have any sort of sense on the execution timeline and when you can sort of see a lift-up due to initiatives taken by the new management?
Johan Nordström
I think that's a very hard question to answer. That also goes back to the discussion I had that in the Q1 we have winter-specific services, and that's one type of services we are providing, and that's where they fell short.
While now we are going into the high season and you have all the companies in Norway who will contribute to the performance of Norway. Those companies typically have a low season in the first quarter anyway.
In terms of the mix, if you like, means that now we're going into landscaping, and then we should be expecting a more solid performance from our Norwegian colleagues.
Thomas Blikstad
Okay. I understand.
Just lastly, fuel costs, was there any impact from this in this quarter, the lag between price clauses or similar? No,
Marcus Holmström
largely we get the the cost over to to customers, but of course we, as everyone, are impacted by by increased cost in in short term. Since our project business is so short in time in terms of the average project, this is three months, we we we manage to compensate that in the new projects that we're now winning for for the next coming quarter.
Short term, yes, but but we don't see a significant effect and explanation from the Q1 Q1 numbers from there.
Johan Nordström
Not like we had one or two years ago where we had a very sharp increase in inflation. That's not the situation, and we do have indexation in most of our contracts in Norway.
As Marcus said, we have a churn or a turnover of the product-based business. No, we do not consider us being locked down into unprofitable contracts.
That's not the case we are looking at in Norway.
Thomas Blikstad
That's very clear. Thank you.
That's all from me.
Johan Nordström
Thank you, Thomas.
Marcus Holmström
Thank you, Thomas.
Operator
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Karl-Johan Bonnevier from DNB Carnegie.
Please go ahead.
Karl-Johan Bonnevier
Yes. Good afternoon, Johan, Marcus.
Some follow-up from me as well, please, if possible. First, looking at snow removal in the quarter, how much of the 13% organic growth would you say was applicable to that normalizing, say, in the way looking and thinking about it as being an easy year-on-year comparison?
Johan Nordström
I think that that's that that's really a tough question, because what what what happened this this year, and I'm not making any excuses here, this is just the fact, and that is we had good good snowfalls in the month of month of January, and then we had a very cold season in February and onwards. We did have snow in January, and then it was cold.
We and when you're looking upon the specific companies, how they performed, we can clearly see that the landscaping companies were suffering, and that's pretty much by design, while the service company who does have snow removal, they had a good January, not so good February. That's kind of the situation.
Going deeper into that analysis, we we still have to dig into the to to the data, but it's hard to make those how much the contribution was. Clearly, there was a contribution from the winter if you compare to 2025 numbers where we basically didn't have any snow at all.
Of course we had an impact on the snow in in the first quarter of 2026. To what extent the organic growth was contributing to to that one, it's unfortunately it's hard to say.
Karl-Johan Bonnevier
Fully appreciate the challenges of Q1 when it comes to it. Looking at the order backlog, I know you don't want to have it as a predictor of the future, but I saw a nice move both Q-on-Q and year-on-year, and I know one of the things particularly for the Swedish operation was to improve and strengthen the order backlog or the tight that you had in the order backlog.
Could you give some sort of indication what is driving it for the moment and where the components come from?
Johan Nordström
Overall, you're absolutely right. One should be careful, because if you win one new big contract, then that will have a very big impact on the order book.
We have done an analysis on the order book per company level, and on the average we are I won't say happy, but we typically a company should have a minimum of 3 months, and then if they have a longer order book than 9 months, then they're probably filling it up too much. When we did the analysis based on a company level from the order book, and this includes Norway, then we were actually not seeing any alarming numbers.
For the horizon we can foresee, that is 6 to 9 months from today, the order book is in a good condition on a company-specific level.
Karl-Johan Bonnevier
Sorry, my line is pretty poor here, you're breaking up a little, but I'll look into the transcript on that. Then continuing on the questions then, looking at Sweden, obviously you have talked about phasing out some operation that hasn't really delivered historically, and still seeing this kind of nice organic move in the Swedish operation in this quarter.
Is that a sign of strength in the remaining operation, or is it also more of a normalizing effect that is happening there?
Marcus Holmström
When it comes to Sweden, this dismantle of entities still impacts us negatively on the top-line perspective, but it improves our profitability. There it's moving according to plan.
Then of course, when we refer to the top line, as Johan said also on the organic growth in Sweden, then obviously the winter services year-over-year has a impact. It's tough to break it down.
Yes, the improvement actions are negatively impacting growth, but positively impacting profits.
Johan Nordström
Just to be clear that Sweden is a kind of I won't say special situation, but the company was founded back a long time ago in Sweden, and we had a totally different strategy from the beginning, and then we have incorporated and done a lot of stuff during the last 10 10 years in Sweden. That means it's kind of special situation.
We don't foresee us closing or shutting down businesses on a normal go-and-concern for us. It's something we did in Sweden because we were not happy with the performance in Sweden, and then we basically said that, okay, we have to do something, I won't say dramatically, but we have to do something in Sweden to achieve a higher profit margin.
That was the starting point for the program we launched almost 2 years ago, and that included the dismantling of three companies and the divestment of one company. We are getting towards the end of that program, and then of course we are looking upon improving the remaining companies, and they are improving in a very nice way.
I'm kind of positive to the development we have in Sweden. I don't see us shutting down companies left or right.
That's not part of our strategy. That's what we did in Sweden.
They do have a another historical background, we need to keep that in mind. Then we are improving performance in Sweden, and I'm kind of happy with that one.
Now as I said, we are working heavily on improve the situation in Norway. We're going forward, then of course we will see a return to higher profit margins in both Sweden and in Norway.
Karl-Johan Bonnevier
Excellent. One final from me, looking at the acquisition pipeline, is it still promising, a lot of potentials transactions out there, or during this period where you had been a little more, I'd say, relaxing of closing transactions, have you missed anything to any competition that has bridged the gap, to say, and nipped them from you?
Johan Nordström
Not really, no. I think we are working closely, and I'm spending quite a bit on the M&A activities as well, I'm deeply involved in that one.
I think we have a solid pipeline in terms of companies. I don't see us missing any companies that we really would like to have invested in to any competitors or such.
I think it's moving along in the way we want. Of course, we are looking upon our gearing or our debt level and the financial performance of the company and at what pace we can acquire companies.
Of course, given that we are at 3.1%, then we have to be prudent in terms of what we are doing in terms of investing in companies. You have to watch what's going on there in order to not making any bad decisions.
The pipeline is, from that perspective, we are in dialogue with great companies, and the pipeline looks as it's supposed to be looking. It looks okay from that perspective.
Then we just have to manage the cash flow and the profitability and the debt level, making sure that we can carry on with what we're doing. All fair and
Karl-Johan Bonnevier
logical and very wise. Yeah.
Johan Nordström
The goal, as we have communicated, that's to acquire 80 to 100 million EBITA, and then we just have to look upon the 3.1. Of course, that's an analysis we have to do, what type of free cash flow we have available for acquisitions for the remainder of the year.
Karl-Johan Bonnevier
Excellent. Thank you very much for all the extra color, and all the best out there.
Johan Nordström
Thank you.
Marcus Holmström
Thank you,
Johan Nordström
Karl-Johan.
Operator
There are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Johan Nordström
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you for listening in to this Q1 report for 2026. As I said, we are happy to be back on track in terms of organic growth.
The underlying performance EBITA performance of the company is actually improving. We do have some challenges in Norway, so that's pretty much where we are.
By that, I thank you for listening in.
Marcus Holmström
Thank you for listening in. Take care.
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