2024-02-02 12:45:06 ET
Husqvarna AB (publ) (HUSQF)
Q4 2023 Earnings Conference Call
February 2, 2024 04:00 ET
Company Participants
Johan Andersson - Investor Relations
Pavel Hajman - Chief Executive Officer
Terry Burke - Chief Financial Officer
Conference Call Participants
Fredrik Ivarsson - ABG
Gustav Hageus - SEB
Johan Eliason - Kepler Cheuvreux
Adela Dashian - Jefferies
Adela Dashian - Jefferies
Karri Rinta - SHB
Björn Enarson - Danske Bank
Presentation
Johan Andersson
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of Husqvarna Group’s report for the Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023. My name is Johan Andersson. I am heading up the Investor Relations department here in Husqvarna Group. And here in Stockholm today, we will present the report by our CEO, Pavel Hajman; and our CFO, Terry Burke. After the presentation of the report, we will open up for a Q&A session. [Operator Instructions]
So with that, I would like to hand over to Pavel to start today’s presentation. Please, Pavel?
Pavel Hajman
Thank you, Johan and welcome everyone, of course, also from my side. And before we go into the quarter, I am very glad that we can conclude that we are closing the year where we actually continue to deliver on our strategy in a very challenging market environment. And we have improved our operating margin for the group and also in all three divisions and cash flow is up just above SEK7 billion improvement for the year. And we have advanced in our key areas for value creation and really reinforced our position in segments such as robotics, battery products and smart watering.
But let’s turn into the quarter then and some of the comments there. During quarter 4, we experienced that the challenging market conditions continued just as they were in quarter 3. Our customers are generally more cautious and awaiting the start of the gardening season and this affected of course our volumes. But on the other hand, we have a number of segments that actually delivered growth such as Husqvarna Professional Robotics, our watering business in Europe and also our professional battery powered products. And to mitigate this more challenging situation, we have since earlier implemented efficiency measures and cost savings, which are now really delivering good results. We clearly see that in both Gardena and Husqvarna Construction divisions, which both then achieved an improved operating income as well as an operating margin for the quarter.
Another aspect to point out for the quarter is our continuous focus on cash flow that continued to generate good results. Our working capital levels are now coming down year-on-year and we have a positive cash flow of around SEK500 million in the fourth quarter. Also, it’s encouraging, of course, to see that we execute on our Sustainovate program and deliver in the terms of CO2 reduction as well as a reduced climate footprint. I will come back to these milestones further in the presentation....
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Husqvarna AB (publ) (HUSQF) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript