Foreign serial acquirers

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

@Ituhippinen

Overall good performance regarding growth, but profitability slightly missed expectations. Still a quite decent quarter! I’ll have to read the report carefully once I get off work.

Quite decent, albeit mixed.

The technical side, which has traditionally been the weakest link of the whole, continued strong earnings improvement thanks to efficiency measures and a more favorable sales mix. EBITA improved from 3.8% to 7%, even though revenue decreased slightly.

On the other hand, the group’s mainstay, Energy and Environment, halved its profitability. Revenue grew almost 20% to over 130 million kronor, especially thanks to acquisitions, which finally made it the larger segment in the Q1 figures. But at the same time, EBITA plummeted from 18 MSEK to 11 MSEK and the margin from 16.5% to 8.5%. Well, those margins were quite plump before.

Acquisitions made in the energy sector increased costs, but their sales don’t hit the first quarter that significantly yet. Additionally, the “organization” is being strengthened, which I understand is management’s code for saying they bought a squeezed lemon and now they have to pump more liquid into it themselves.

But, orders are on the rise…

Another exciting acquisition during the quarter is a smaller asset acquisition to Autofric in early March in the form of Jernbro Water Technologies. Together with a couple of key recruitments, it further strengthens the commercial organization of Autofric and also broadens the offering within sludge management. During the quarter in isolation, the two acquisitions mainly meant increased costs for Energy & Environment as well as the Group. We can already see that order intake is starting to pick up and we look forward with excitement to see the operations also being able to strengthen the Group’s organic development.

All in all, a good cooling-off period for now; the stock is at -13% at the time of writing. P/E based on realized earnings is 21x.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

Swedish software serial acquirer Addnode is currently tanking 15% on the stock market. The Q1’26 materials show some fine figures, but organic growth is actually a 6% decline.

I’ll try to find time to listen to the audiocast to see if anyone asks whether we’re seeing disruption or just a basic hiccup. The market definitely thinks something is wrong…

Apparently, the economy is struggling, “business always has its risks”, “firms with a couple of devs don’t compete for our customers”…

Addnode Group, Audiocast, Q1'26 - Inderes

[lazyway]

@Verneri_Pulkkinen

Acquisitions made in the energy sector increased expenses, but their sales don’t hit the first quarter that significantly yet. In addition, the “organization” is being strengthened, which I understand is management’s code for saying that they bought a squeezed lemon and now they have to pump more liquid into it themselves.

I was wondering why the new acquisitions don’t generate much sales in the first quarter. I wonder if their business is such that projects end at the end of the year and then new projects are sought / started in the beginning of the year… It’s not quite clear to me what that’s about.

E&E’s EBITA decreased by 7 MSEK or about €0.65M from the previous year. I wonder what kind of measures strengthening the organization involves if it consumes over half a million in a quarter? If a few new people are hired, it’s unlikely to be for salaries alone.

The CEO’s comments also mention:
Energy & Environment show a somewhat mixed picture, where temporarily higher costs, partly due to acquisitions and growth investments in the new acquisition Autofric, resulted in a temporarily lower margin despite good growth.

So, the weaker margin is signaled to be only temporary and the higher costs should then be mainly one-off. Apparently, the investments are largely something other than recruitment (which would result in recurring costs).

Edit:
In the end, it was a very promising quarter if it turns out to be true that the decline in E&E profitability was temporary. We got good revenue growth, organic at that, and order books were above forecasts.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

@lazyway

I was left wondering why the new acquisitions don’t really accumulate much sales in the first quarter. I wonder if their business is the type where projects end at the turn of the year and then new projects are sought / started in the early part of the year… It’s not quite clear to me what that’s about.

E&E’s EBITA decreased by 7 MSEK or about €0.65 million from the previous year. I wonder what kind of measures “strengthening the organization” entails if it burns through over half a million a quarter? If a few new people are hired, it’s unlikely to go toward salaries alone.

I came back to this late in the evening, even though hanging out with stocks too late backfired yesterday in terms of sleep.

EBITA

The business area’s EBITA in the first quarter was SEK 11.2 (18.2)

million, down SEK 7.0 million. The gross margin in deliveries made

held a stable, good level. Including competitive figures with previous

year, earnings for the quarter were burdened by costs in building

up organizations, mainly in the acquired companies. Earnings

for the quarter were impacted by non-recurring costs of SEK 1.1

(1.0) million as a result of the acquisitions.

Gross margin remained stable, so no change in the pricing of products / services, yes.

@lazyway

@Verneri_Pulkkinen

The acquisitions made on the energy side increased costs, but their sales don’t hit the first quarter that significantly yet. In addition, the “organization” is being strengthened, which I understand is management’s code for saying that they bought a squeezed lemon and now they have to pump more liquid into it themselves.

I was left wondering why the new acquisitions don’t really accumulate much sales in the first quarter

This comment of mine wasn’t as spot-on as I thought during the day when I review the papers again. There has been a fair amount of sales, after all.

The E&E segment grew +20% to 110 → 131 MSEK in revenue, and 15 percentage points of that growth were inorganic, i.e., approx. 17 MSEK. Autofric’s full-year 2024 revenue according to the spring 2025 bulletin was approx. 60 MSEK. With simple math, that inorganic growth would roughly correspond to exactly one quarter of Autofric.

But of course, Typhonix has also been included, whose revenue was only 16 MNOK (roughly all of those are in the same 10:1 ratio to the euro) in 2024 and which, according to the bulletin at the time:

The company reported sales of NOK 16 million in 2024 with good profitability. Since 2022, the company has had an annual growth of more than 50% on average in both sales and earnings, and the trend has continued in 2025.

So that’s a real growth monster, but small. It could well be that Typhonix and perhaps also Autofric need more “firepower” to grow. It’s no wonder in itself that as a company grows, it also needs structures etc.

Which brings us back to this:

@Verneri_Pulkkinen

During the quarter in isolation, the two acquisitions mainly meant increased costs for Energy & Environment as well as the Group. We can already see that order intake is starting to pick up and we look forward with excitement to see the operations also being able to strengthen the Group’s organic development.

So Caroline is envisioning accelerating growth from those, which should also be reflected in the result.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

I almost missed it, but Indutrade, one of the giants among Swedish serial acquirers (approx. €3 billion in sales), released a rather poor result on Friday. The stock plummeted 20%!

Organically, revenue didn’t budge in Q1. Orders grew only slightly, 1% organically.

Interim report 1 January – 31 March 2026 - Inderes

Indutrade doesn’t seem to have grown much in a couple of years. At the same time, a slight erosion in profitability is visually noticeable.

A healthy reminder that being a serial acquirer doesn’t automatically mean rapid growth; even the best of them can master the art of stagnation from time to time.

Indutrade’s stock has already been stagnating for five years.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

Apologies for the spam, Lifco also released its numbers last Friday. It tells the same story of slower organic growth, although earnings still grew nicely.

Interim Report January–March 2026 - Inderes

Reporting period January–March

• Net sales increased 3.7 per cent to SEK 7,186 (6,933) million. Organically, net sales grew by
  1.2 per cent.
• EBITA increased 6.2 per cent to SEK 1,588 (1,495) million.
• The EBITA margin improved 0.5 percentage points to 22.1 (21.6) per cent.
• Profit before tax grew 7.7 per cent to SEK 1,220 (1,133) million.
• Net profit for the period grew 7.7 per cent to SEK 909 (844) million.
• Earnings per share increased 7.6 per cent till SEK 1.98 (1.84).
• Cash flow from operating activities decreased 3.3 per cent to SEK 747 (772) million.
• Two new businesses were consolidated during the period with total annual net sales of about SEK 180 million.
• Starting in the second quarter of 2026, Lifco will organise itself into five business areas instead of three. This means that the Environmental Technology and Transportation Products divisions, which are part of the Systems Solutions business area, will be reported as business areas as of the interim report for the second quarter of 2026.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

One more…

Sdiptech also reported results today:

Sdiptech AB (publ) Interim report January – March 2026 - Inderes

Quite healthy development for the businesses that weren’t divested.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

If the headline looks like a report from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, the results are unlikely to be good.

Momentum Group Q1 2026: Geopolitical concerns dominate in a cautious market

The stumbles of serial acquirers continue!

First quarter 2026

• Revenue was in line with previous year and amounted to SEK 736 million (735). Sales for comparable units decreased by 6%.
• Operating profit decreased by 8% to SEK 56 million (61), corresponding to an operating margin of 7.6% (8.3), where the previous year was affected by non-recurring items of SEK –3 million.
• EBITA decreased by 8% to SEK 70 million (76), corresponding to an EBITA margin of 9.5% (10.3).
• Profit for the quarter amounted to SEK 38 million (44), corresponding to earnings per share of SEK 0.75 (0.85).
• The return on working capital (EBITA/WC) was 56% (58).
• The equity/assets ratio was 37% (33) at the end of the period.
• As of 31 March 2026, the number of repurchased shares of series B amounted to 1,044,259.
• Acquisition of Höglandets Kompressorservice, a specialist in compressor technology for industrial customers.

Revenue decreased organically by 6% and profitability weakened.

Stock -13%.

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

@Verneri_Pulkkinen

@Verneri_Pulkkinen

During the quarter in isolation, the two acquisitions mainly meant increased costs for Energy & Environment as well as the Group. We can already see that order intake is starting to pick up and we look forward with excitement to see the operations also being able to strengthen the Group’s organic development.

So Caroline envisions accelerating growth from those, which should also be reflected in the results moving forward.

Continuing on Berner, insiders are buying.

Board member Johan Lannebo bought 100,000 shares (for just under a million euros) and one management team member bought a measly 1,000 shares.

The CEO bought over 30,000 shares in December at around 90 crowns.

Search

[Zoltan]

I didn’t find the latest interim report for this Swedish compounder in the thread, they published it yesterday:

Reports and presentations

[Verneri_Pulkkinen]

Solid development from Lagercrantz in the final quarter of the 2026 fiscal year.

FOURTH QUARTER (1 January – 31 March 2026)
· Net revenue increased by 13% to MSEK 2,825 (2,503), where the organic growth amounted to 6%.
· Operating profit (EBITA) increased by 20% to MSEK 536 (446) and the EBITA margin amounted to 19.0% (17.8).
· Profit after financial items (EBT) increased by 19% to MSEK 438 (368).
· Cash flow from operating activities increased by 20% to MSEK 410 (342).
· Profit after taxes increased by 19% to MSEK 364 (307).

Lagercrantz Year-end Report 2025/26 - Inderes

The long-term development has been impressive.

And the valuation reflects that. EV/EBITA is hovering around the 30x range.

[Big_Lynx]

Swedish Teqnion AB continues its acquisitions in the UK (purchase price not disclosed): News | Teqnion

This time it’s T.E.S.T.'s turn. The company specializes in decontamination services and equipment, as well as their testing, validation, and maintenance services in healthcare environments. Over 80% of the revenue is recurring, which seems defensive, to say the least. The company employs 20 people.

According to my calculations, this is already the fifth consecutive acquisition in the UK. Teqnion Väst (the new segment division taking effect in 2026) has clearly been a strong focus lately.

An annual revenue level of approximately 2.0 million euros doesn’t significantly move the needle for Teqnion (2025 revenue approximately 165 million euros), but as they say: many small streams… According to the press release, the company’s margins are strong (leaving the assessment to the reader’s interpretation).

Here is a link to the acquired company’s introductory video, which is like a time travel 15 years back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbD8QNytZbk

The speculated reputational damage (Reward Catering Limited) from the failed acquisition and the related ugly legal dispute in the UK seems to have remained moderate, as there are still targets to be found in the island nation. The incoming CEO joining the group also appears enthusiastic in the press release.

All in all, an interesting industry opening from Teqnion

[Big_Lynx]

And there we have it, another acquisition from Teqnion right on the heels of the last one. This time, it’s their first foray into Finland!

News | Teqnion AB

The company, operating under the Nordic Wristbands brand, is focused on—surprise, surprise—selling wristbands. The customer base is globally diversified, and the company’s revenue has been around four million euros per annum in recent years.

Teqnion’s portfolio is starting to look a lot like Röko’s cluster of companies: they have everything from A to Z (or as we say, everything from a-hole to outboard motor). I guess there’s nothing wrong with that, as long as these businesses are making money