January-March 2022
- Net sales were 496.6 MSEK (428.1), an increase of 16.0% compared to the equivalent period in 2021. Organic growth was 6.5% for the period.
- EBITA was 94.3 MSEK (80.8), an EBITA margin of 19.0% (18.9). The previous year there were one-off costs of 4.1 MSEK during the period in relation to the acquisition of Aqualla Brassware Ltd.
- The acquired business Aqualla Brassware Ltd contributed 44.9 MSEK (10.5) to net sales and 9.3 MSEK (3.9) to EBITA.
- Earnings per share were 4.67 SEK (3.98).
- Cash flow after investments was -32.6 MSEK (-37.8).
Significant events during and after the quarter
- The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 affects the global economy and thereby the group. FM Mattsson Mora Group has no direct customer and/or supplier relations in Ukraine or Russia.
- The Board of Directors has proposed that the Annual General Meeting resolves on a 3:1 share split with the aim of encouraging trading of the company's listed shares.
STATEMENT FROM THE CEO
A really good start to the year with strong growth and exciting new products
Once again, we can summarise an excellent quarter with strong growth of 16%. Sales were 497 MSEK. EBITA continues to follow an excellent growth trend, increasing by 17% to 94 MSEK, an EBITA margin of 19%.
Like every other company, we are affected by the global uncertainty. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a concern for us during the start of the year and our thoughts go out to the people of Ukraine. We have no direct exposure to Russia and Ukraine in our business. The situation affects us in that we are experiencing increased uncertainty in the global economy which, among other things, can affect the start date for larger projects.
The pandemic has also continued to affect us. It has entailed continued challenges with deliveries from suppliers. Despite that, we have succeeded in building up inventory during the quarter with the aim of ensuring that we can deliver to our customers reliably and on time. In line with the easing of restrictions, we are also perceiving that the strong “staycation” trend is decreasing, with fewer private refurbishments as a consequence. We are also experiencing continuing high costs for input materials and freight, which has led to our decision to adjust prices in several markets. We have a close dialogue with our customers to resolve these challenges in the best possible way.
We can look back at a successful quarter where all employees did their utmost to put our customers first, in line with our values. Our international markets are continuing to develop well. However, we have had somewhat lower invoicing in the Nordic market where several customers built up inventory at the end of last year, as we stated in the final interim report for 2021.
Now that the world has opened up after the pandemic, we have been able to meet our customers physically again and we have recently participated in two important trade fairs. In March, we were at the major trade fair, KBB, in Birmingham with the Aqualla and Adamsez brands. We also presented Hotbath to the British market for the first time. We received a fantastic response to our participation and to the new collections of Adamsez baths and shower trays that we were able to present at the exhibition. In Sweden, Nordbygg, the important construction sector trade fair, was held in April. We participated with our brands Mora Armatur, FM Mattsson and Damixa. We launched three exciting new products in connection with Nordbygg: baths, mirrors and wash basins – a new bathroom concept under the Mora Armatur brand.
All in all, yet another very strong quarter in a turbulent world, but where we are hopeful regarding all the opportunities we have to continue to develop our products and services in order to be as strong a partner as possible for our customers. We received a satisfying acknowledgement of this at the end of April when we were awarded Manufacturer of the Year 2021 by Comfort, Sweden’s largest plumbing installation chain.