Bilia reported a solid first quarter result with net turnover increasing organically by 1% due to higher deliveries of new and used cars, as well as growth in the service business. The company recorded a result of 344 million SEK with a margin of 3.5%. Bilia saw improved earnings in the service business with a higher margin, but lower profitability for new cars, especially in Sweden and Norway.
The service business continued to deliver strong performance, contributing 81% of the group's operating profits. Bilia reported a service business profitability of 310 million SEK, with the margin improving from 11.9% to 12.2% year-over-year. Good booking times, efficiency gains, and solid improvements in Norwegian workshops were cited as driving factors behind the higher result.
In the car business, Bilia reported a result of 57 million SEK, down from 76 million euro in the same period last year. Lower gross profit margins and reduced bonus from manufacturers impacted the profitability of new car sales in Sweden and Norway. The used car profitability stood at 55 million euro, a historically good level according to the company.
Bilia generated an operating cash flow of around 450 million SEK during the quarter, in line with the previous year's level. The company decreased its inventory of used cars to good levels across all countries. Bilia issued a new 800 million SEK bond to refinance an existing loan and support future growth and acquisitions.
Looking ahead, Bilia remains focused on improving profitability and efficiency across its operations, with a particular emphasis on the service business. The company expects stable demand for used cars, except for electric vehicles, and an improved order intake for new cars. Bilia also anticipates continued interest from manufacturers in adapting and developing the traditional wholesale model.
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Go ahead. Thank you for the introduction and welcome to Bilia's first quarter result presentation with CEO Paravander, CFO Christina Francian and I Kar. We also have our deputy CEO Stefan Nordstrom with us today. We're happy to present another solid result and a strong cash flow in the quarter and agenda. You recognize. Per will start to go through the current situation in the car industry for followed by Q1 numbers. Then Christina will go through the financial situation and I will conclude with an outlook. So let's start and I'll leave the word to Paharavander. Thank you. Kolfridrik and next slide. Yes, there is good demand in the service business in Norway and Western Europe with good booking times. In Sweden we have seen a little bit weaker demand, especially in both the and paint shops. But now we are in the middle of the important tire season and we have much better booking times. The fleet business has still a stable demand for new cars in Sweden with the market share around 60%, many brands started in the end of last year. Strong campaigns, big discounts and attractive private leasing offers. In quarter one, the demand and the order intake from private consumers has been much better. In Norway we see and feel signs of a better business climate. The consumer index. You can say the household's confidence is on a better level. But in April it drops again. The demand for new cars is growing. Good booking times in workshops and our brands have more for the moment strong campaigns in the Norwegian market. The demand for used cars are on a good level in Sweden and Norway and we see stable prices for all cars except fully electrical vehicles. In the same time we see lower prices of fully electric used cars and it takes longer times to sell them. The stock of used cars is on a good level in all our countries. There has been lots of discussion of different business models. Four or five years ago it was really popular to test subscription car sharing agency model. One example is Lynk and Co. They only sold the cars through a subscription model. Now they are going over to traditional wholesale model. We have now an agreement for the Lynk and Co in five of our locations and start to sell them in quarter two. Still we see agency models from some manufacturers. But the feeling is more that we are going back to what we had in the past. Some manufacturers hesitating and pushing introduction of agency model into the future. Next slide please. Net turnover increased organically by 1% explained by higher deliveries on new use cars and growth in the service business. We reported result of 344 million with a margin of 3.5%. We had better earnings in the service business with a higher margin. We had lower profitability for new cars, especially in Sweden and Norway. Next please. On this waterfall chart you can see the different business areas. All the earnings improvement is coming from the service business and less result both new and used cars. Next slide. On this slide you can see the quarter one profitability from 2019 to 2025 in each country. And in the middle we have Norway. And there you can see some improvements. On the right hand side you can see Western Europe delivering at a really strong level. Sweden deliver lower earnings due to the core business. Next please. We are moving over to the important service business. As I mentioned, there is still stable demand in the service business in all countries except body and paint shops. In Sweden we have an organic growth for the group of 5% in the quarter. In Norway as much as 16%. We report a profitability of 310 million. It is 81% of the group earnings. We improved the margin from 11.9% last year to 12.2% this year. As you can see on the right hand side, it's 29 million better than last year. There are several reasons why we report a higher result. One is good booking times especially in Norway and Western Europe. Another, much better efficiency and solid improvements in the Norwegian workshops. And this higher result comes despite one working day less in Sweden and Western Europe for the quarter. Next please. Deliveries on new and used cars adjusted for acquired operations were 2% higher for new cars and 8% higher for used cars compared to quarter one last year. For the car business we reported the result of 57 million compared to 76 million last year. And the profitability for new cars in Sweden and Norway were on a low and negative level. The main explanation for that is lower gross profit margin and less bonus from the different manufacturers. For used cars we report the profitability of 55 million compared to 69 million last year. In a historical perspective, it's a good level. As I mentioned in the beginning, the stock of used car is on a good level in all our countries. We started in the beginning of this year some campaigns. So we have reduced the stock of used cars in the quarter, especially in Sweden and Norway. In historical perspective, we are now in the strong period for used cars. Our customers are more active and often change used car. In the spring. The order intake of new cars adjusted for acquired and divested operations were 31% higher compared to last year. As I mentioned, we have seen a little bit better activities in all our countries. We have in the Quarter increased the backlog of new cars with 3,000 units since the end of quarter four. Now we have a more normalized level with a little bit over 14,000 new cars. And it's the same level as quarter one last year. Go over to Christina. Thank you, Per. So some words about our financial position. During the quarter we had continued to have a high focus on cash flow and we generated an operating cash flow of around 450 million krona, which is equal to some 1.6 billion krona on a 12 month rolling basis, which means that we are basically in line with last year's generated cash flow. PI has mentioned that we as of December 2024 consider the inventory of used cars to be on a high level. So during the first quarter we have decreased our inventory of used cars and we do now consider the inventory to be on good levels in all our countries. So that we are very pleased with. During this quarter we have also made the fourth and final payment of last year's dividend of 660 krona per share. That means that we have made a payment of 165krona per share or some 150 million krona. We have also acquired a new BMW operation in Warbae in Sweden for a payment of some 60 million kroners. Our net debt, excluding IFRS 16 debts are at the end of the quarter amounting to just below 2.8 billion krona, which was some 120 million krona below our net debt. As per December 2024. Our ratio of net debt in relation to EBITDA excluding IFRS 16 was 1.4 times, which is unchanged compared to December 2024. And therefore we are also in line with our financial targets to have a ratio below 2.0 times. During this quarter, we did issue a new bond amounting to 800 million kroner with a maturity term of 5 years. This bond was raised to refinance our bond loan of 500 million krona, which is maturing in October this year. But we will also use it for general corporate purposes, which includes day to day business, but also acquisition and investments for continued growth for the future. After the new bond issue, we did utilize some 860 million kroner of our total credit facilities, with the banks amounting to 2.5 billion. And then finally this afternoon we will arrange our annual general meeting and one of the agenda points for that meeting is to decide about the proposed dividend for 2024amounting to 5.60 krona per share, to be paid in four installments so I think that was some words about our financial position and with that I will leave the word to you Kaufrike thank you very much and let's look into the outlook for the next quarter. The internal work to improve profitability and efficiency in our operations is very much ongoing. This means extra effort making sure newly acquired businesses as well as existing businesses perform according to BIGA standards. Furthermore, capital allocation balanced and sufficient inventories levels are high priority across our organization. Looking at the service business, the recurring and improved result in our service business we think proves resilience in this business. We see demand continue in the coming quarter across our business in Q1. Like per said, the business represented 81% of our operating profits. As I said earlier, our primary focus is to work with efficiency and profitability and above all in our service operation where we see most opportunities for continued improvements. Used Cars Like Per said earlier, the demand in the quarter for used cars was divided. Stable demand for hybrid and traditional cars but lower demand for electrical cars. Except Norway of course. We see that continuing Q2 but do expect more campaigns to increase demand for electrical cars. The activity level in our used car business we think will remain on good level. Our inventory is now back to satisfactory levels and we always work to strengthen our offering within used cars and we'll continue to do so also in the coming quarter. It is difficult to assess the impact on demand for new cars in the coming quarters given the uncertain environment. Having said that, we are experiencing an improved order intake for new cars. We see Campaigns continue during 2025 which we think will support private consumption. This in combination with a rather big pent up demand. We see order intake from fleet customers continue at a stable level. So no trend shift here. Like Per said earlier, and maybe most important, we believe that our customers will continue to service and repair their cars in the coming quarter. Per touched upon the models we see an increased interest in adapting and developing the traditional wholesale model again across brands. The dealer and aftermarket network has yet again proven to be a competitive advantage for most car manufacturers across our 177 facilities. We will continue to work hard to make sure our customers are treated well and are happy and we believe over time this will create higher value for our shareholders. This finalizes our first quarter presentation and we can now open up for Question Please to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Andreas Lundberg from SEB Please go ahead. Good morning everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. If I start with a new car operation you talked about, these are the orders in the first quarter. Have you been able to deliver on that already or is that in the backlog? We increased the backlog, as you can see. So we haven't yet delivered the cars. So we will deliver them now in quarter two. Okay. Given the uncertainty you talk about in the United World, turmoil out there, can you perhaps share some light on consumer behavior? You know, March, April. Thank you. Yeah. You talk order intake or you're talking about that? Yes. And the customer behavior? Yeah, still stable. Demand from the fleet business, little bit lower in April for private consumers we can see, but there is not yet problem for us. If you look into the April this year and April last year, we are not finished yet with April, but I think we will sell little bit more new cars in April this year compared with last year. But we are humble. What will happen in the future in May and June? Nobody can say what will happen in the car industry in the future. And could you also talk about. You mentioned the profitability with new cars. I think you said lower gross margin. Can you share more lights on the drivers for the new car? Profitability? Yeah, it's a little bit different for our countries. Some manufacturers, they go for. For lower margin from the beginning and more bonus. It's one explanation why we have lower gross margin for new cars and drop a little bit in the new car sales. But I think Andreas, I mean it was when it comes to the used car, we had a little bit lower gross margin. So when it comes to the new car, it's very much about the lower chann. Yeah, but. But what we can see it's a little bit different. If you look at the profitability for Western Europe, it's really strong still. But. But lower in. But if you take the. The Swedish market, Andreas Stefanher, you can say that the. The change in new cars is lower deliveries. So that is the majority of the change for the Swedish market. It's fewer deliveries of new cars. So it's more like that. And then if you talk about then the used car, then it's a margin thing. A little bit lower margin in the used car business. So I think that is the reason. Okay. So in Sweden it's more like a fixed cost effect from lower deliveries. If that power should be. Yeah, got you. Finally, before I. We can see a change from our manufacturers because they are under pressure. So they try to change the margin from the beginning to more bonus in the system and now you received less bonuses like understand it correctly, because of lower deliveries or. Yeah, due to lower deliveries. Then it's less bonus when you have lower deliveries. But I think the change Pat is talking about is over time. It's nothing. A quarter to quarter. It's more like they want to change into more bonus, a little bit less margin. But that is a journey over time. So it's nothing. Now I would say if you take the big drop, we say then in Sweden then it's fewer deliveries and manufacturers try when they launch a new fully electrical vehicle, often they give us a lower margin for them. But as Stefan said, it's over time. But we can see a change if you go back two, three years ago and lastly now you're prioritizing efficiency gains. You mentioned that several times within the service of. How is the MA market look like at the moment potentially. What are you looking for, Andrea? It's conferenc here. I think the M and A market is still quite active. It's an ongoing consolidation with focus towards the bigger players and I'm pretty sure it will continue to do so. As always we are prudent, we are cautious, but we of course look at what comes through. Okay, that's fine for now. Thank you so much. Thank you, Anderson. The next question comes from Matt's list from Kepler Shuvreu. Please go ahead. Yeah, hi. Thank you. Well, coming back to the power sales business there in Sweden, I mean earnings are quite limited there in this first quarter and I guess you have the improved order intake to deliver in this going forward. But have you sort of planned any efficiency measures, adjust capacity therefore, or is it more volumes to fill out the capacity going forward? We took off a lot of salesmen when we dropped in the sales for new cars. If you go back one and two years ago. So we have tried to hire people again, salesmen again in quarter four and quarter one. But now we are more a little bit in the wait and see mode and see what happens in the future. But we don't think we will close down a lot of showrooms in Sweden still we use every showroom we have. Good then in Western Europe you perform well. I guess you have integrated the Luxembourg business there and is this a trend or is it some one off included? Also to say something about that, it has been a really strong market for us and BMW. They are number one in market share in Belgium and often top three in luxury. So we have really strong brands with the BMW and MINI in Belgium and Luxembourg and we feel and see It's a good market still there. We sell a lot of expensive cars in Luxembourg BMW and we improve the service business, the workshop. If you see we had a profitability of 22 million in the quarter now when compared to last year. 21. But if you go back and see what we had in the past, now we have acquired company and they have a minus result. So we improve the business, existing business, what we have in value. Meluxim. Great, thank you. And well, good progress there in the service business and in Norway especially do expect to see some sort of Easter impact there. I mean it's the Easter change quarter year over year. Or is it as always a pretty good quarter to be expected here in the second quarter? I mean, ahead of the driving season and so on. Yeah, it's tough with the eastern in Norway, as you know. And the last year you had more of it in March and now we have it in April. But we can see the growth in the business quarter over quarter. The last year we have a lot of improvements because we have sort of a centralized business excellence team help the different workshop managers. We have a program ongoing now, so we see improvement from quarter to quarter in the Norwegian market. Good. And finally there, I mean, you mentioned the acquisition there of the BMW dealer in the first quarter, but is it still sort of a focus on integrating the existing acquisitions you have made in recent years or do you see opportunities now coming up given the somewhat soft car sales? Well, car markets, yeah, there is a lot what Colfrid mentioned, a lot of companies for sale, but we are a little bit careful for the moment now and we have made a lot of acquisition and we have started some new business areas. RIM repair and yes, dismantling business. We are quite new in the business there. So we can improve what we have more to find a lot of acquisition for the movement, but maybe it can happen in the future. But very much focus on. On making the ones we've acquired better. That's what we talk about. Internal efficiency, etc. Etc. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad. More questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments. All right, thank you for that, thank you for listening and please come back to us. Would you have further questions and wish you a good day. Thank you very much. Bye.
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