Second quarter 2023 (Q2 2022)

• Order intake increased year-on-year to SEK 154 million (4)
• Sales increased 3 per cent to SEK 167 million (163)
• Operating profit totalled SEK 17 million (45), corresponding to 10 per cent (28) of revenues
• Adjusted operating profit totalled SEK 17 million (45)
• Profit after tax totalled SEK 12 million (35)
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.21 (0.58)
• Cash flow from operating activities totalled SEK -40 million (58)

January–June 2023 (Q2 2022)

• Order intake decreased 5 per cent year-on-year to SEK 185 million (195)
• Sales decreased 8 per cent to SEK 279 million (303)
• Operating profit totalled SEK 25 million (76), corresponding to 9 per cent (25) of revenues
• Adjusted operating profit totalled SEK 25 million (76)
• Profit after tax totalled SEK 18 million (58)
• Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.31 (0.37)
• Cash flow from operating activities totalled SEK -77 million (80)

Events during the second quarter of 2023

• On 12 May, Permascand announced that the company was strengthening its presence in North America by signing a collaboration and supply agreement with Chemetry. Permascand is also investing in the company as a growth partner.

CEO comment

The second quarter of the year was characterised by continued changes to the revenue mix, with growth in the Electrification & Renewables and Industrial Solutions segments that successfully offset a decrease in sales in Water Treatment.

Sales for the quarter totalled SEK 167 million, up 3 per cent year-on-year. Sales were driven by robust growth in both Industrial Solutions and Electrification & Renewables. Successfully setting a new sales record for a single quarter, despite the changes to the revenue mix with a sharp decrease in sales in Water Treatment, is quite an achievement.

Order intake for the quarter totalled SEK 154 million, driven primarily by Electrification & Renewables, our future pillar, and Industrial Solutions, our stable industrial business. One of the highlights of the quarter was the order in Electrification & Renewables, under which the company will supply cells for the construction of a new lithium extraction facility, expected to be delivered in 2025. Customer activity levels continue to be high, but we are still experiencing cautiousness from customers in their orders caused by the uncertainty brought about by the situation in the global market.

Gross profit for the quarter totalled SEK 45 million. That corresponds to a gross margin of 27 per cent, which is lower than the 38 per cent achieved in the year-earlier period. We achieve a lower gross margin due to changed product mix where we in the quarter have a smaller series of manufacturing in Electrification & Renewables, and a price pressured water treatment business.

Permascand's three segments are in three different phases. Industrial Solutions is a very stable aftermarket business with good visibility and profitability. The Water Treatment business has during the period 2018-2022 gone through a strong growth phase with new installations. In total, we delivered around 5,500 cells before installations declined from the first quarter of 2023 and we expect the aftermarket business to reach significant levels after 2026 with the refurbishment of systems installed before 2018. Thus, after 2026, two out of three segments are expected to be in stable aftermarket phases. Permascand's next growth engine is Electrification & Renewables where we have an ambition to reach 5GW capacity for green hydrogen manufacturing in 2030.

Electrification & Renewables
The segment posted one of the strongest quarters in its history in terms of sales, while we experienced a high level of activity and increasingly intensive customer dialogues within all parts of the segment, electrowinning, power transmission and hydrogen. The electrowinning orders received in lithium extraction are a success in line with our strategic focus on winning business in new construction. The recoating cycle is estimated at between two and five years, which presents opportunities for attractive and recurring aftermarket business.

In green hydrogen, it is clear that our customers’ investment decisions are largely governed by the global market and financing opportunities. Owing to the investments in our production capacity over the last few years, we are ready to do our part – delivering on orders for components for production of green hydrogen on a commercial scale. We currently have over ten active customers with orders, sales and ongoing development and qualification processes. At the same time, we have another ten customers with ongoing dialog and exchange of information.

Industrial Solutions
The Industrial Solutions business area is driven by a stable and profitable aftermarket business and has potential for growth through new construction and capacity increases. The segment is our engine for the quarter. In May, we could announce that we had signed a collaboration and supply agreement with California-based Chemetry, which boosts the company’s presence in North America. The partnership pertains to commercialisation of a more efficient and sustainable process technologies for commodity chemicals. The development is proceeding in accordance with plans, with expectations that the demonstration facility at Braskem will be in full use in the first half of 2024.

Water Treatment
In water treatment, we are delivering on our existing order book. We believe that orders will not grow appreciably until after 2026, when it is expected that the segment’s aftermarket business will generate increased revenue. We are continuing to work on our offering in the area of water treatment in industry and public water supply. This is an area where we see continued potential for growth, and the possibility for our technology to be developed in a new area of application.

Outlook
Visibility in the short term remains low on how the market and customer orders will develop in the near future. It is clear that the situation in the global market is leading to restraint and caution among our customers – and their customers – in their investment decisions, which is expected to continue into the second half of the year. Given the patterns in customer orders and deliveries, we believe that sales for the full-year 2023 will be lower than that of 2022. Owing to the market environment we expect an unchanged level of our gross margin in the coming quarters.

However, the underlying long-term demand among our customers remains strong. For example, customers postponing investments in new and existing facilities result in increased operating costs, due to lower performance and higher energy consumption, which creates a pent-up need that must be met in the future. Further on, we expect that Electrification & Renewables and Industrial Solutions will continue to grow and even better offset the decrease in sales in Water Treatment. We see good chances that the first order for hydrogen on a commercial scale will be made before the end of the year. This is an area that is expected to gain in momentum in 2024 before a major breakthrough is expected in 2025.

Permascand has a strong position in the market, with our technology and solutions meeting customer expectations for quality and performance. All together, we feel positive about the long-term market outlook driven by the global green transition.

Peter Lundström, CEO Permascand

Report presentation
CEO Peter Lundström and CFO Linda Ekman will present the report in a conference call today at 10:30 CEST. The presentation will be held in English and will conclude with a Q&A session.

Webcast
https://ir.financialhearings.com/permascand-top-holding-q2-2023

Registration
To participate via teleconference, please register via the link below. After registration, you will be provided with telephone numbers and a conference ID to access the conference. You can ask questions verbally via the telephone conference.

https://conference.financialhearings.com/teleconference/?id=200910

After the presentation, a recording of the webcast will be available on the webcast link and on the company’s website www.permascand.com

Link to report
The report is attached to this announcement and can be found at: https://permascand.com/investors/financial-reports/