Welcome to our Q&A for the second quarter. Since we published our interim report this morning, we have got a number of questions.

Ulf and Niklas will now answer the most common ones. Let's begin with the first question.

Organic growth improved compared with Q1. What changed during the quarter?

This quarter was a more normal continuation of what we saw and expressed at the end of last year. The customers were gradually becoming more optimistic and with higher activity levels.

In Q1, however, we had several things that coincided with each other, making it a very weak quarter in terms of sales levels and activities from customers. In Q2, we also had much better capacity utilization in service compared to Q1.

How much of the improvement in organic growth compared with Q1 was driven by previously postponed maintenance and service work?

Thank you, Ann-Charlotte. We are continuously balancing the resources we have for maintenance work in relation to the customer demand, of course.

What we saw in Q2 was that we had a good capacity utilization in the services operations, foremost due to the planned maintenance during the quarter, but also helped by the postponed maintenance work from Q1. That helped to drive the margins in a good direction.

The ambition now is to have a good utilization level also in Q3, taking care of the backlog, but also make sure we have capacity for the planned stops.

You mentioned a somewhat more positive market environment. What are you actually seeing among customers?

Ulf.

As I mentioned, we saw that customers were gradually becoming more optimistic and had a higher activity toward us at the end of the quarter.

You describe significant differences between customer segments. Which segments are performing well today, and which remains more challenging?

From a country perspective, Sweden is the most positive right now. Norway is stable on good levels, and Finland is actually okay if we adjust for the larger project sales we had there in Q2 of last year to the power industry.

The country that is lagging is Denmark, where we see an effect from the decrease in project sales to pharma, green energy that started the second half of last year.

The Danish market has remained weak for several quarters. Do you see signs that the project market is bottoming out?

Project activity remains subdued in general, and in Denmark particularly within pharma and green energy, where we completed several large projects during 2025. Over time, we expect project demand in general to recover, but the timing and how this will affect individual markets or companies will depend on customers becoming more confident in their own demand outlook and their own investment plans.

Service revenues develop well during the quarter. What drove the improvement?

Service revenues overall developed well due to good capacity utilization in many of the companies. However, we also saw a continued subdued demand in some of the workshop-oriented businesses.

That is likely due to that some customers are still a bit hesitant and try to run their machinery as long as they can due to their own demand situation.

EBITA improved despite a still mixed market. What were the main drivers behind the margin improvement?

There were several contributing factors. For the comparable businesses, revenue was stable overall, while gross margins improved, and the cost base remained well controlled.

We also benefited from better capacity utilization in parts of our service operations compared with the first quarter. In addition, the acquisitions completed over the past year made a positive contribution to both earnings and margins.

Gross margins improved during the quarter. What are the main factors behind the improvement?

It is really the result of many small improvements rather than one single factor. Our companies work continuously with pricing, purchasing, the product mix, and customer selection, combined with strong local business acumen, disciplined execution, and an attractive customer offering.

This enables us to improve our gross margins despite a still somewhat cautious market. Acquisitions have also had a positive effect here.

Supplier price increases linked to the situation in the Middle East have started to affect purchasing costs. How do you view the impact going forward?

Far, the impact has been relatively limited. We have seen some moderate price increases from suppliers, but nothing dramatic.

Managing purchasing costs and pricing is part of our daily business, and our companies have a strong track record of adapting when costs change. We therefore expect to continue managing this in the same disciplined way going forward, although we will, of course, continue to monitor developments closely.

Business Area Industry delivered a very strong EBITA margin in the quarter. Can you explain what drove the improvement and how we should think about the margins going forward?

The improvement was mainly driven by Power Transmission, where we saw stable volumes, improved gross margins, and continued cost discipline. Specialists remained somewhat weaker, primarily due to the lower project activity in Denmark, as we mentioned before.

Looking at the business area as a whole, quarterly margins will always vary somewhat depending on business mix and project activity, but we continue to see good underlying profitability in both business units.

Operating cash flow remains strong. What are the main priorities for the cash you generate?

Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged. First and foremost, we continue to invest in acquisitions of successful, sustainable companies.

We also support our existing companies with investments that strengthen their long-term competitiveness and growth. At the same time, maintaining a strong balance sheet remains an important priority.

What leverage level are you comfortable operating with as acquisition activity continues?

We have a strong balance sheet and good financial flexibility. We don't have a target regarding leverage levels, but the level we are at now, which is around 1.5 times, we feel totally comfortable with.

Also a higher level would be totally fine. However, keep in mind that our ultimate source of liquidity for acquisitions is our own cash flow.

How does the acquisition pipeline look like today? Are you seeing any changes in the valuation multiples or competition for acquisitions?

The pipeline continues to be healthy. We have a good mix of bilateral discussions with entrepreneurs in our target markets, as well as a solid inflow of opportunities from advisors and brokers.

We have not seen any meaningful changes in valuation levels or competitiveness during the quarter. Overall, the acquisition market remains supportive for our strategy.

Now the last question for today. The UK is now part of your platform.

How is the business developing, and how do you see further expansion outside the Nordics?

We are pleased with the development so far. Actuated Solutions is performing well, and we have a lot of good discussions with management about the future M&A activities in the UK.

We are continuing to evaluate markets, including the UK, outside of the Nordics.

That concludes today's Q&A. Thank you for your questions and taking the time to listen.

Please contact us if you have any further questions. Thank you, and have a great day.