Second quarter, April-June 2025 in brief
- Net sales increased by 4% to SEK 2,344 m (2,254)
- Operating profit (EBIT) decreased by 2% to SEK 218 m (222)
- Profit before tax (EBT) increased by 5% to SEK 228 m (218)
- Profit margin before tax (EBT %) was 9.7% (9.7)
- Profit after tax amounted to SEK 189 m (181)
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 232 m (301)
- Earnings per share before dilution amounted to SEK 2.06 (1.97)
Six months, January-June 2025 in brief
- Net sales increased by 3% to SEK 4,634 m (4,479)
- Operating profit (EBIT) decreased by 3% to SEK 433 m (445)
- Profit before tax (EBT) decreased by 1% to SEK 432 m (439)
- Profit margin before tax (EBT %) was 9.3% (9.8)
- Profit after tax amounted to SEK 355 m (366)
- Cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK 476 m (545)
- Earnings per share before dilution amounted to SEK 3.87 (3.98)
- Equity ratio was 65% (64)
A word from the CEO
Cost control and productivity
AQ has core values that guide our operations. Cost efficiency is one of the five cornerstones of our core values. Our customers expect us to produce systems and components at the lowest possible cost. This means that we must have high productivity in our factories and offices while purchasing the best quality inputs at the lowest possible price. We firmly believe that decentralized leadership with local responsibility for all costs is the best way to solve this. It is like a competition for us to save on all costs. Our focus on costs, large and small, also naturally increases our competitiveness. It is extra fun for our new companies, who quickly learn that every penny saved is celebrated as much as a new customer order.
Acquisitions
Our growth through acquisitions during the quarter was 8%. Our acquired companies have the main part of sales in defense technology, electrification and railway. The work to integrate mdexx is progressing a little bit slower than our ambitious goals. During the second quarter, we focused on lowering purchase prices, improving material planning, reducing financing costs and increasing productivity in the factories and offices. There is great potential to reduce costs in these companies, and it may take some time before the activities we carry out are reflected in the income statement. Riedel and mdexx have a negative impact on AQ's profit margin by 1 percentage point in the quarter. We expect a continued sequential improvement quarter by quarter until we reach AQ's goal.
Market and investments
In the quarter, our sales increased organically by 0.3% compared to the same quarter last year. This is less than our goal. Our sales increased to trucks, construction equipment, electrification and defense in Europe. Sales decreased to buses in the United States and Mexico. However, we will increase sales of buses in North America to a new customer during the third quarter. Demand for inductors and transformers remains strong globally. During the quarter, we completed the acquisition of our production property in Whyteville, USA for SEK 38 m in order to continue to grow in inductive components in the US. During the quarter, we won new projects for electrical cabinets for trains, wiring systems for satellites and defense vehicles, and transformers for off-shore cranes. This is positive, but we want to sell more. Therefore, I and our leaders at AQ have intensified our sales work towards both existing and new customers during the quarter. In my opinion, it is the CEO's most important task to bring in more profitable customers and orders.
Cash flow, balance sheet and margin
Our cash flow from operating activities was SEK 232 m in the quarter. We have a net cash position of SEK 219 m, which means that we have plenty of capital to use for continued growth with our customers and to carry out value-creating acquisitions. Our profit margin before tax for the quarter was 9.7%. During the quarter, we divested a property in Gävle for SEK 26 m, which resulted in a capital gain of SEK 22 m, which had a positive impact on the profit margin before tax by one percentage point.
Cost focus is fun
We will stubbornly continue the work to increase our competitiveness. As always, we must deliver customer value in the form of world-class technical excellence, purchasing and productivity. The products that we deliver must be of good quality and arrive on time. This is achieved through our decentralized leadership where we work closely with our customers and suppliers to jointly increase our productivity and competitiveness. This, combined with our strong financial position, makes me feel confident that AQ will continue to deliver customer value through our insistent focus on costs. We think this is fun and is central to AQ being able to continue to grow and be profitable.
James Ahrgren
CEO
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This disclosure contains information that AQ Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014) and the Swedish Securities Markets Act (2007:528). The information was released for publication by James Ahrgren on 15-07-2025 08:00 CEST.
For further information, please contact:
James Ahrgren, CEO and IR, telephone +46 76 052 58 88 or
CFO, Christina Hegg, telephone +46 70 318 92 48
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AQ is a global manufacturer of components and systems to demanding industrial customers and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm's main market. The Group consists mainly of operating companies each of which develop their special skills and in cooperation with other companies, striving to provide cost effective solutions in close cooperation with the customer.
The Group headquarter is in Västerås, Sweden. AQ has 8,000 employees in Bulgaria, Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, China, Estonia, Hungary, Mexico, Finland, India, Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Great Britain and Czech Republic. In 2024 AQ had net sales of SEK 9 billion, and the Group has since its start in 1994 shown profit every quarter.
www.aqgroup.com
