Earnings call transcript: Lindab Q2 2025 sees stable profit amid market challenges

Lindab International AB reported its second-quarter 2025 earnings with an operating profit of approximately SEK 297 million and an operating margin of 8.6%. Despite facing a challenging market environment, particularly in Germany and Sweden, the company maintained a stable financial performance. The stock saw a modest increase of 0.59% in pre-market trading, reflecting investor confidence in the company’s strategic initiatives and cost-reduction measures. According to InvestingPro analysis, the company currently trades at a P/E ratio of 42.8x, suggesting a premium valuation relative to peers. The company has demonstrated strong dividend consistency, maintaining payments for 11 consecutive years.

Key Takeaways

• Lindab achieved an operating profit of SEK 297 million with a margin of 8.6%.
• Currency effects negatively impacted sales by 4%.
• The company has implemented a cost-reduction program, closing 10 sites and reducing 180 full-time positions.
• Lindab’s stock price increased by 0.59% in pre-market trading.
• The company anticipates market stabilization in the second half of 2025.

Company Performance

Lindab International AB demonstrated resilience in Q2 2025 despite ongoing challenges in the European construction sector. The company’s strategic focus on cost efficiency and sustainability, alongside its expansion in the Polish and UK markets, has positioned it well for future growth. The acquisition of Ventia in Poland and Husvent in the UK are expected to enhance Lindab’s market presence and drive synergies.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: Not specified in the earnings call summary.
• Operating Profit: SEK 297 million.
• Operating Margin: 8.6%.
• Cash Flow from Operating Activities: SEK 331 million.
• Net Debt: SEK 4,456 million.
• Net Debt to EBITDA: 2.7x.

Outlook & Guidance

Lindab expects market stabilization in the latter half of 2025 and potential demand recovery in 2026. The company continues to focus on efficiency measures and accelerating synergies from recent acquisitions. With a strong market position in Scandinavian ventilation systems and an expanding presence in Poland, Lindab is well-positioned for profitable growth as market conditions improve.

Executive Commentary

Ola Ringdahl, CEO of Lindab, emphasized the company’s readiness for future growth, stating, "When the market picks up again, Lindab is very well positioned for profitable growth." He also highlighted the importance of sustainability, noting, "Sustainability is a prioritized area for Lindab."

Risks and Challenges

• Continued low construction activity in Europe could impact future sales.
• Currency fluctuations remain a concern, having already impacted sales negatively by 4%.
• Economic conditions in key markets like Germany and Sweden remain challenging.
• Execution risks related to the integration of recent acquisitions.
• Potential delays in market stabilization could affect growth projections.

Lindab’s strategic initiatives and focus on sustainability and cost management have positioned the company to navigate current challenges while preparing for future opportunities. The anticipated market stabilization and demand recovery in 2026 are expected to support Lindab’s growth trajectory.

Full transcript - Lindab International AB (LIAB) Q2 2025:

Conference Operator: Welcome to the Lindab Q2 Presentation for 2025. Telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to the president and CEO, Ola Ringdahl and CFO, Lars Inner. Please go ahead.

Ola Ringdahl, President and CEO, Lindab Group: Good morning, and welcome to this presentation of Lindab’s q two report. My name is Ola Ringgald, president and CEO of Lindab Group. And with me today, I have our CFO, Lars Inno. We will begin by presenting the results for the quarter. And after that, we will take a closer look at our key focus areas.

Following the presentation, there will be a q and a session. Let’s start with some highlights. Despite a continued challenging market environment, ventilation systems showed strength in the quarter achieving an operating margin of 9.9%. This performance was driven by an improved gross margin and also from the effects of the previously announced cost reductions that are now implemented and showing effects. For Profile Systems, sales and profitability were impacted by continued low volumes in the project business.

During the quarter, currency effects were higher than normal, affecting sales negatively by 4%. Let’s take a closer look at our sales development. Ventilation systems were affected by continued low market activity, and also currency effects were significant in the quarter at minus 4%. These factors resulted in lower net sales for the quarter. What is encouraging, however, is that many markets are moving in the right direction, in terms of sales and profitability.

Examples include The UK, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, and also The US. However, in Germany and Sweden, two important markets for Linde, market conditions remain challenging, influencing sales negatively for the group. For Profile Systems, we can see that major projects in the important Swedish markets have not yet gained momentum. And in the table, you can see that organic growth was minus 12% in the quarter. I would like to mention that two percentage points are related to the closure of businesses in three countries in Eastern Europe and another three percentage points are related to the move of the factory for sandwich panels in Sweden.

For smaller projects and sales through builders merchants, we are seeing increased sales both in the quarter and year to date. And this is a positive sign for the future. Let’s now have a look at operating profit. Ventilation Systems demonstrated resilience in the current challenging market and delivered a strong result with an adjusted operating margin of 9.9%. Actions to reduce our cost base have contributed to the strong result.

The full effect of the savings will be reached now in July. Together with price adjustments, this has also improved our gross margin. In Profile Systems, the operating margin was negatively influenced by low volumes and low capacity utilization. We have partly compensated this through lower costs. Group operating profit for the second quarter was million.

Currency effects were unusually large in the quarter. At previous year’s currency rates, the operating profit would have been approximately $297,000,000. The operating margin was 8.6% for the group. Now I hand over to Lars Unner, our CFO, for a look at our cash flow and financial position.

Lars Inner, CFO, Lindab Group: Thank you, Ola. Lindab had a strong cash flow in the second quarter as cash flow from operating activities amounted to SEK331 million. Cash flow from operating activities for the nine quarters shown in the left graph amounts to SEK3.3 billion, which can be compared to an adjusted operating profit of SEK 2,500,000,000.0 during the same period. Our net debt remained on a stable level and amounted to SEK 4,456,000,000.000, which is lower compared to a year ago. Lindab’s target for net debt to EBITDA is that it should be below 3x.

In Q2, net debt to EBITDA increased to 2.7x. Financial debt to EBITDA is at 2.1x June, which is unchanged versus the previous quarter. Ola, now back to you and a look at our focus areas for the year.

Ola Ringdahl, President and CEO, Lindab Group: Thank you, Lars. Our focus areas for this year, have mentioned before, they are to fully implement our cost reduction programs, to divest the profile businesses in Eastern Europe, and to continue to make value enhancing acquisitions within ventilation systems. We are working hard to make this happen, and we are clearly on the right track. Let’s take a closer look at each of these areas. We start with our actions in ventilation systems.

At the time of weak market demand, we have taken structural measures and implemented cost reductions to improve the profitability for the business area. This was announced in the fourth quarter of last year. The actions included the closure of 10 sites and the reduction of 180 full time positions, of which 160 are in the ventilation systems segment. I can now conclude that these measures have been successfully implemented with full effect from July. Let’s now take a look at our actions within profile systems.

As we communicated in the fourth quarter last year, Profile Systems is making an exit from Eastern Europe due to core profitability development. The strategic focus for the business area will be on the home markets in Scandinavia, where Lindab’s market position is strong and where there are significant synergies with the ventilation business. So to date, we have closed three businesses. We have divested Slovakia that was done in April. And for the remaining two units, Hungary, the profile business in Hungary and for Romania, we are in constructive negotiations and expect to sign agreements within the near future.

Now let’s move to our third focus area, acquisitions. Acquisitions form a key part of Lindab’s strategy. Lindab has acquired Ventia, a leading ventilation specialist in Poland with 60 employees and annual sales of 240,000,000 SEK. The acquisition was finalized on the July 7 after clearance from the Polish competition authorities. Ventia brings additional competencies in sales of technical products, including air handling units.

Together with Lindab’s existing business in Poland, we now have a very interesting platform in one of Europe’s largest ventilation markets. Ventia will be included in our reporting from the third quarter. And let me also update you on the acquisition of Husvent in The UK. Lindab acquired Husvent in October 2023, and we have since then consolidated Hussvent into our quarterly reports. But after the acquisition was made, the British Competition Authority CMA opened an investigation.

And this thorough investigation that has been ongoing now for more than one point five year was completed in June 2025. And after minor remedies, the acquisition was finally approved on the July 1. We welcome the completion of the acquisition of Husswent. Linde WK and Huswent together have a strong presence across The UK with over 30 branches. And we look forward to developing our sales in one of Europe’s most important ventilation markets.

I would also like to add a comment about sustainability. Sustainability is a prioritized area for Lindab and an increasing number of customers are asking for sustainable solutions. For example, like our air ducts made out of recycled steel. Our initiatives are receiving considerable positive attention. In April, the Financial Times named Lindab one of Europe’s climate leaders.

In the construction and building materials category, Lindab secured a strong second place across Europe. We are very proud of that achievement. Now let’s have a look at our outlook comments. So, of course, predicting the future is always hard. At Lindab, we have a positive market outlook, in the medium and long term.

Our ventilation systems bring energy savings for buildings and a healthy indoor climate for people. In the near term, we face a challenging market where demand is on a low level and construction activity in Europe has not started to pick up yet. For ventilation systems, it is especially Germany and Sweden where the market volumes are low and seem to remain low for a couple of more quarters. That said, we have many markets where demand is on healthy levels and where we can increase both sales and profitability going forward. We also see some positive signs on the horizon, such as an increasing number of requests and forecasts of increasing building permit applications.

Most likely, we will see a stabilization of sales during the second half of twenty five, and there are good chances that demand will start to pick up in 2026. For Profile Systems, larger projects remain at a low level, especially in the Swedish market. However, since the beginning of the year, we see increased sales to small projects and in the sales that goes through builders merchants. And this is a positive sign. Lindab has implemented strong efficiency measures over the past two years to counteract the market decline and to protect profitability.

We will continue to implement further actions to strengthen profitability in the second half of the year. These actions include an acceleration of synergies from the many acquisitions we have made over the past years. When the market picks up again, Lindab is very well positioned for profitable growth. Thanks to all the efficiency measures we have implemented and continue to implement. And also thanks to the investment program that we have finalized and that ensures that we have enough capacity and a highly automated production to benefit from future positive volume development.

And with that, we are ready for your questions.

Conference Operator: As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial 5 on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Ola Ringdahl, President and CEO, Lindab Group: Then from Lindab’s side, we want to thank you for today, and we would like to wish you all a nice and sunny summer. Thank you.

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