GNGBF - Getinge AB's (GNGBF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
2024-02-01 10:04:05 ET
Getinge AB (publ) (GNGBF)
Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call
February 1, 2024 4:00 am ET
Company Participants
Mattias Perjos - President and CEO
Lars Sandstrom - CFO
Conference Call Participants
Erik Cassel - Danske Bank
Oliver Reinberg - Kepler Cheuvreux
Mattias Vadsten - SEB
Kristofer Liljeberg - Carnegie
David Adlington - JPMorgan
Sten Gustafsson - ABG Sundal Collier
Rickard Anderkrans - Handelsbanken
Presentation
Operator
Welcome to the Getinge Q4 2023 Report. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. [Operator Instructions]. Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers CEO, Mattias Perjos; and CFO, Lars Sandstrom. Please go ahead.
Mattias Perjos
Thank you very much, and welcome everyone to today's conference. I have Lars Sandstrom with me here today, and he will do the deep dive into the financials and also help with the Q&A a bit later. So we can move directly into Page number 2 to look at the key takeaways for the fourth quarter of last year. In terms of sales, Getinge net sales increased by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, and this is following growth in all business areas and regions.
Organic growth accounted for 10.1% of this, acquisitions for 5%, and currency for 1.5%. Our order intake increased by 4.1% in the quarter, driven by acquisitions and currency. Organically, it decreased by 2.4%, which is mainly due to the challenging comparative figures from 2022 in connection with China, lifting its COVID-19 restrictions back then. Despite the increased sales, the adjusted EBITA margin was lower than last year, mainly due to the quality costs for the improvement work in Acute Care Therapies that we've had since the second quarter of 2023.
In the fourth quarter, these additional costs amounted to just over 400 -- sorry, SEK 200 million corresponding to minus two percentage points on the margins. These costs are expected to continue to affect us a bit into 2024 until we have resolved the current deficiencies in accordance with the timetable that we have previously communicated. In addition, the margin was negatively impacted by a generally unfavorable geographic and product-related mix and also higher costs for input goods and for employees.
Free cash flow increased in Q4, and our robust financial position stands firm, providing us with a solid ground for continued investments in our growth. The Board of Directors has also decided to propose a dividend of SEK 4.40 per share compared to SEK 4.25 last year....
Getinge AB's (GNGBF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript