© 2024 Alpha Spread Limited. All Rights Reserved.
www.alphaspread.com is not operated by a broker, a dealer, or a registered investment adviser. Under no circumstances does any information posted on www.alphaspread.com represent a recommendation to buy or sell a security. The information on this site, and in its related newsletters, is not intended to be, nor does it constitute, investment advice or recommendations. The information on this site is in no way guaranteed for completeness, accuracy or in any other way. In no event shall Alpha Spread Limited be liable to any member, guest or third party for any damages of any kind arising out of the use of any content or other material published or available on www.alphaspread.com, or relating to the use of, or inability to use, www.alphaspread.com or any content, including, without limitation, any investment losses, lost profits, lost opportunity, special, incidental, indirect, consequential or punitive damages. Past performance is a poor indicator of future performance.
You don't have any saved screeners yet
Intrinsic Value is all-important and is the only logical way to evaluate the relative attractiveness of investments and businesses.
Good afternoon or good morning to everyone, and welcome to EL.En. First Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Quarter. Today's call will be recorded. [Operator Instructions] With me on the call are Andrea Cangioli, EL.En. CEO and Enrico Romagnoli, EL.En's the Chief Financial Officer and Investor Relations.
Before we begin, please note that the remarks management makes on the conference call about future expectations, plans and prospects and forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this call, including those addressing the company's beliefs, plans, objectives, estimates or expectation of a possible future results or events are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve known or unknown risks, including general economic and business conditions and the condition in the industry we operate and may be affected should our assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Consequently, no forward-looking statements can be guaranteed and after future results performance or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
The company undertakes no obligation about the content or not to update the forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances that maybe arise after the date of hereof. [Operator Instructions] At this time, I want to give the floor to Andrea Cangioli. Please go ahead, Andrea.
Thank you, [indiscernible] , and thank you, everybody, for attending this call after the first quarter financial results of 2023. On the call myself, Enrico Romagnoli, and you see us on the same screen today. So our consolidated financial results for the first quarter of 2023 were perfectly in line with our guidance for the full year of 2023. Revenues were up slightly more than 10%. EBIT was more or less the same as in the first quarter of 2022. This is what the external envelope of their results looks like, going down to a different level of analysis, the business dynamics were quite different, depending upon the market segment. And also, in certain cases, we were slightly different from the expected trend for the full year. Let's start with a comment on the [indiscernible] business trend. Growth was over 11%, an excellent result on top of a record year as 2022 has been. Gross margin marked an increase compared to the first quarter of 2022. And those staff expenses and sales and marketing expenses did mark an increase. EBIT margin was basically in line with Q1 2023.
We enjoyed good sales traction in the skin treatment, both in their additive [indiscernible] with Tier 2 [indiscernible] systems for rejuvenation and in the over short [indiscernible] people and nanosecond laser systems for the removal and skin toning. Sales and order bookings were softer in the hair removal segment where growth has been outstanding in 2022. As I was saying, marginal sales improved in 2023 for several reasons. The lower share of high-volume hair removal devices, which bear a lower sales margin, the increased sales volume in certain higher margin system. The slight price increase, which helps offset the significant cost of group increase we are bearing. The dynamics of foreign exchange, especially with the U.S. dollar, which is today weaker than at the end of 2022, but still stronger than in the first quarter of 2022. Expenses experienced an increase in sales and marketing, business travel and trade shares are back at pre-COVID levels and activities were quite intensive in the quarter with several annual events falling within the end of March.
Looking to the next quarter, expense will stay higher than in 2022 due to more events coming up like the work congress of dermatology, which basically is each 4 years. The last 1 was in Milan, Italy in 2019. And the 2023 addition will be held in the very expensive value of Singapore. Expected sales and marketing activities are needed in this phase where demand is still very satisfactory, but is not as buoyant as it was 1 year ago.
Order bookings and deliveries in the latest months have been good, but the impact of increasing interest rates and our services in the strength of the world economy is projecting for the next month a more moderate sales volume growth. Business results were excellent for [indiscernible] in delivery capping business on the Western market with sales volume increasing sharply in Q1 2022 as the progressive effect of the continued growth achieved in 2022.
Profitability was pleasing as well, benefiting of a more favorable sales mix as demand and sales were stronger than in the past in the higher-margin export business. This trend should consolidate over the year as an effect of the intense reparatory work performing in creating or consolidating the export distribution network and also due to the relatively softer demand expected in Italy where the tax granted and the [indiscernible] industry 4.0 provisions are reduced in 2023.
The other smaller businesses within the industrial sector performed quite well in the quarter and [indiscernible] of the marketing business with laser and [indiscernible] and the laser sources business announced by EL.En. Financial results in this segment were in line with expectations in terms of profitability, slightly better in terms of sales volume. The business area that underperformed in the quarter was the Chinese lag of delivery cutting where after a slow fourth quarter of 2022, we reported an even slower quarter in this beginning of 2023.
The impact of the expanded lockdown policy was heavily detrimental to the Chinese economy and to the market for this application. Demand and order booking was very slow, and the market became progressively more competitive throughout 2022.
After the long-waited end of December release -- end of December release of the lockdown policy, the Chinese economy and our markets as well have experienced a recovery. And the outlook is now more positive than the results of the last 6 months demonstrated. The first quarter could not rely on a strong order book at its beginning and start and seeing some real traction only once the Chinese New Year [indiscernible] was over at the mid of the month of February. Order intake has been satisfactory, and we will see the benefit in the next quarter. Margin compression due to the increased competition has been taking place in the progressively declining market of 2022.
And this evidence in the comparison of the same margins of early '22 with the 1 of early 2023. Our 2023 guidance for the cutting business is relying on a strong [indiscernible] of the Chinese market, which did not take place at all in the first quarter, but only 3 counts for the coming quarters. As we disclosed in our report and during our meeting, the [indiscernible] cutting division is undergoing the activities aimed to prepare for an IPO filing on a Mainland China financial market. The compliance to CSRC, the Chinese concept or SEC is not a simple tax for an issuer with a strong international presence and a foreign controller, and it slowed down our preparation.
What is currently holding us back from the set of the 4-months filing process is not the compliance, but the soundness of the financial results that need to be stronger in order to support a successful first action. Another thing that deserves a few comments beyond the report and Enrico will in a few minutes give to you on the changes in the net cash position of the group is the net working capital trend and, of course, its effect on the net financial position.
At the end of March, consolidated net working capital was up roughly [ 25 million ] in the quarter, totaling up EUR 235 million, which is 32% of the last 12 months revenue, up from 30% at the end of December 2022 and 25% as of December 2021. We managed to reduce net working capital in the fourth quarter, and we plan to control [indiscernible] over the year. This first quarter trend was of a significant expansion at the figures say beyond the revenue growth, the production cycle of our activity stretched due to the need of anticipating purchases in order to prevent delivery delays from jeopardizing our production schedules and [indiscernible].
This effect of the supply chain strains and problems is still there. We are not confident including that from the expenses purchasing yet. Our [indiscernible] In plan are based on yearly forecast, and we tend to be more heavily weighted in the first quarter of the year in order not to prevent or manufacturing to meet its goal, which unless sales volume materially exceeds the client volume leads to the increase in inventory, which is the main contributor to the working capital increase. Days of sales of spending in receivables actually improved in the quarter.
While we also continue to improve the payment terms to our vendors and we improve for them, which is part of the burden that is following on us in trying to prevent the supply chain problem. And though I believe the 11-and-change percent revenue resulted in excellent results for the period as we as I will shortly elaborate our growth plan for 2023 where more ambitious at the end of '22 than they are today. Therefore, EL.En. sales did not exceed projected sales, which had an effect on final goods inventory as well. But this is of no concern and will be absorbed on managing in the next months or quarters.
Another increase item affecting our cash position is the finding deposits from customers and deposits to lenders. The customer deposit balance typically increases when the order book increases and vice versa. In the quarter, the balance decreased by almost EUR 4 million, mainly due to the decrease of a specific segment of the order book. The 1 related to the 4.0 tax cuts, which required an advanced payment to be paid before the end of the last year in order for the beneficiary to take advantage of the cards. Deposits to vendors increased by roughly EUR 4 million in the quarter and this is another way to ensure ourselves in order to have timely supply as we discuss. I'll be back for general trend comments after the detailed financial reporting that Enrico is going to provide you.
Thank you, Andrea. As already mentioned by Andrea, the sales increase of 12% in the first quarter 2023. And in the same time, the gross margin increased to EUR 61.1 million, up 11%, more or less in line with the increase in fees. The impact on sales recorded a slight decrease going from 38.1% in the first quarter of 2022 to 37.9% of Q1 2023. The sales margin recorded a slight improvement in the medical sector, where the mix of products sold was more favorable and the price increase had the effect of mitigation of the increase in material cost. On the other hand, the margin on sales in the industrial sector stopped the decline above all due to the difficulties on the China market. In terms of operating expenses, we had an increase in total value and impact on sales that increased from 8.2% to 8.7%. And the main reason are the shifting market expenses for trade share and congress being covered by both medical and industrial companies. The staff costs are also increasing with the price increase that impact on sales too. On March 31, there were over 2,200 group employees. The most part and units derived from the personnel, the new acquired [indiscernible] where the other new hires mainly concerned of plague in the Germany, a company that we did growth rate of 15% in the quarter and consultation with growth rate of 21%. In EBITDA, it was equal to EUR 21 million, up 4.3% on the EUR 20.1 million of the first quarter of last year. And the EBITDA margin was equal to 13%, slightly down from the EBITDA of the Q1 of last year, that was 13.9%. Depreciation and other accruals increased for the investments we did in the past and to increase in net debt reserves, even though the overall impact on sales is more or less stable. EBIT showed a positive balance of EUR 17 million in the quarter, slightly down from the EUR 17.1 million of March 2022. The 10.6% EBIT margin is as well as largely decreasing from the '22's 11.8%. The pretax income affected by negative ForEx showed a positive balance for roughly EUR 16.6 million, marking a 5.3% decrease on the EUR 17.5 million of Q1 2022. The group net financial position at the end of the quarter was positive by around EUR 56.7 million compared to the EUR 88.5 million at the end of the last year, down by around EUR 32 million. In terms of the cash flow. The expense -- the expansion of net working capital functional to guarantee stability reduction process also in view of a further increase in volume produced, there is an portion of cash of approximately EUR 26 million in addition to over EUR 60 million due to the changes in our payable and receivable, including an increase in advance paid to suppliers and a decrease in advances received from customers and an increase in [indiscernible] credit. It should also be noted that the investment in fixed [indiscernible] will exceed EUR 4 million. I remind you that on May 31, EL.En will pay a dividend of EUR 22 for total payments of EUR 17.5 million. The medical sector. Looking at -- the medical sector recorded growth of more than 11% to the positive contribution of all segments. Revenues and quarterly order acquisitions confirm the excellent state of health of the market in all the applications, aesthetics, surgery and therapy. In line with forecast for the full year 2023, growth was more marked in the sector, but it also recorded an interesting result in aesthetic application, the main medical segment with a 57% share of on medical fees, close to 10% and in the therapy sector. And industrial sector, revenue growth was close to 13%. The laser cutting segment represents about 80% of the sector, a share obtained through the constant and rapid growth in the recent year and expected in the current year as well. In Italy, Cutlite Penta registered an excellent result with a 70% growth which compensated the decline in turnover of the China business. Revenue growth in laser marking was very interesting, exceeding 52%, thanks to the excellent performance of both Lasit in marking for identification and Ot-las for decoration and special processes. At the geographical level, the same trend in the medical sector is positive in all geographical areas and the best results were obtained in sales in non-European markets. The sales in the industrial sector, highlighting the very rapid growth in Sonova in Italy and in Europe, a setback on the Chinese market, which lifted to a 26% drop off in non-European sector. That is all I had.
As I was mentioning before, our expectations on 2023 were stronger than today at the end of 2022. Today, we are still confident in our ability to deliver another very strong performance in this year, but our projections need to be more cautious in order to take into account a worldwide economic environment that is currently proofing to be older than expected. The factors underlying the expected growth for our main businesses are solidly in place and rest both on the general consumption trends in the medical aesthetics sector and in the surgical sector, and on our ability to deliver to the market innovative technological solutions that satisfy the market's needs and are also accretive to the expected market growth by introducing new applications, both in the medical and in the industrial sector that expands the market potential. The general economic trend has an impact on our market trends and our performance that we pride ourselves to be able to minimize based on the attractiveness on continuous innovation of our product range, but it nevertheless, has an impact. We sell capital views and we count on our customers' confidence for them to commit to investments which can be quite significant for their pocket. Inflation and interest rate hikes, both have a direct impact on the customer facing a more expensive purchase, which will also bear higher media market installment. This, together with the general economic expectations, they have not been looking partly in the last month, especially in the United States. It's creating a general climate, which makes it more complex to approve markets than in 2022 when apart from China and from the general impact of the Ukrainian war that was, by the way, quite well absorbed, everything has been looking right and with great confidence in the future development of the economic environment. Everything said, we confirm the 2023 guidance has delivered last March. Revenues will grow in 2023, both in the medical and in industrial sector. Due to several factors ranging from lower gross margins to increase sales and marketing expense into the general increase in expense from operation that we reduce the operating leverage in the expected revenue range, the EBIT target for 2023 is to replicate the results of 2022. We are done with our prepared remarks, and we are now ready to answer the questions.
Andrea, we have no question on the list. We can ask if an investors have some questions for you.
A very complete, a very complete report, with no other questions.
No, I didn't see you have to book the question to answering the questions. Sorry about that. The first one is about the expectations for the Chinese business, if you can comment on the current trading. And if you can go back to the comments you provided about the project of an IPO in the region because I missed some of what you said -- so this is the first question.
Okay. The business was extremely slow in the first quarter in China. Sales volume was definitely lower than in Q4 -- Q1 2022, and that is lower than the expectation, even though the reason underlying this underperformance are to be looked into the poor performance of the last year and the poor order books that were left at heritage by 2022 to 2023. The Chinese situation started to improve once the lockdown policies was lifted at the end of 2022 and probably and life went back to normal both in day-to-day life and in business life. The first 3 months of the year are usually affected by the New Year's grace, which took place in the first days of February this year. And therefore, we started working again and looking for our production really starting from February. We see, I mean, the current trading is positive. There is a good in order invoke in the first month, which is promising for the second quarter and for the following quarter. The situation though after 1 year of deep downturn terms is today more competitive than it was at the beginning of 2022. And this is quite evident in the reduced margins on sales that we had to access in order to increase the sales volume. We are working in order to improve, as usual, by inspecting our product range to a higher standard than the average of the market. But in this moment, we are facing a very competitive margin. Concerning the IPO, I made an elaborate comment. On 1 side, I said that we have been working in order to make our businesses compliance on an IPO of Mainland China, which is quite complex because we are operating for almost 50% of the business outside of China. And we have a foreign controller for a Chinese company seeking listing on our Mainland China market, which is not ordinary at all. But apart from the compliance issues the poor results of Q1 2023 suggest that we see the development of the business, and we wait for a founder financial results before we approach the listing with a formal IPO application.
The second question is about the component, EUR 16 million component of cash absorption related to better payment terms you granted to clients and suppliers. I mean, can you give us an idea of what are the segments where you are according this kind of favorable conditions is the static segment, for instance, also a just to understand where you are granting these federal conditions.
Actually, I believe the EUR 16 million are not fully made of advance to suppliers. The EUR 16 million are actually have actually 3 components. EUR 16 million is the cash absorption, EUR 4 million, reduction of down payments from customers, which is mainly in industrial and mainly in Italy. It depends on the 4.0 effect because everybody pays down payment at the end of the last year in order to be able to grab the 4.0 tax cap in 2022. And now we are delivering against those deals. Then EUR 4 million is advanced to vendors, and this is quite widespread. I would say that more than -- it's mainly supporting the medical business. It's mainly supporting the medical business and only marginally supporting the industrial business. And then for what concerns purchases, actually medical aesthetics and medical surgery has typically a unique purchasing system. We don't have separate systems because they insist in the same manufacturing activities. So there's no differentiated purchase procedure for surgical and for aesthetics. There's 1 purchasing for medical only.
And the other EUR 8 million stem from the change in tax debit and tax credits and mainly the increase is related to the increase in VAT credit in the period.
Thank you again, and probably for asking some of you already comments, but I missed the reconciliation that you have now -- you have now provided.
I have more information. So if your question was useful.
We have another question from Carlo Maritano from Intermonte.
So my question is on net working capital. You already partially answered my question, Andrea. But I was wondering what we are expecting the next part of the year. So if the demand will be [indiscernible] compared to the first quarter, do you expect some headwind arriving from net working capital? Or if the supply situation remains uncertain story, we will keep a cautious approach [indiscernible].
Typically, the more we go towards the end of the year, the more we and I say, make sure the balances are matching for the end of the year. Now we are still, I mean, looking at a 1-year plan. We are still working with production phase, there are sets in order to meet certain production volumes, which are needed to meet certain sales volume. As I mentioned in my comments, sale of volume in Q1 was a little bit lower than initially expected at the beginning of the year. Now we assume production volume and to a certain extent, we tuned also purchasing for the second quarter. It's early to say because we are at 1/2 of the second quarter. And they actually -- actual ability to deliver goods in the remaining 6 weeks of the second quarter with a better mind if we will be able to reduce the net working capital significantly. I am under the impression, and we are working in order to reduce it to a make the Q1 2023 net working capital achieve amount for 2023. And according to what we see today, we should be able to achieve this. Again, this depends also on our ability to deliver, which depends on our ability also of our customers to finally meet their payment schedules. Everything was easier in 2022. In this 2023, we are back to a more normal situation, still very positive, but we are in 2022, our only commitment was to prepare the goods for delivery. Now we need to make sure that also our customers are ready to receive the delivery. So it's a little bit more complex. It's still very positive, but a little bit more complex, but in order. And to answer your question, we are confident that at the end of the second quarter of 2023, the impact of net working capital on the revenues for the last 12 months will be lower than it was at the end of March.
Andrea, we have no more question. I just want to ask you from investors, there are some questions. Any other questions.
So I mean how long does the Chinese business to be a normalized earnings for it to be able to be IPOs. I mean obviously Q1 was weak or we are going to see an improvement throughout the rest of the year. Does the Chinese business need to be on stable footing for at least 12 months or maybe 2 years before it can be IPO. How long do you see that normalized period to be required in for it to be able to be IPO.
We need to see 2 things: positive results, stable results, and positive outlook. In this moment, in this Q1, we have negative results, decent outlook, but not -- and so we -- I believe we will need a few quarters. We will need a few quarters. I don't think we are in a position -- we will be in the position to file for an IPO referenced at the beginning of 2022. And so this means we have probably to wait at least to file with reference to the yearly results. Nothing is said, nothing is sure yet, but as we couldn't file with the underlying numbers of 2022, we hope to be able to do it with a number of June 2023. We had initially an expectation and hope to be able to file with the numbers of June 2023. But after the very, very slow Q1, we believe that this chance is very, very small.
Yes. Another question I had. Are you going to be launching something on the medical side in Singapore and a new innovation, something exciting or is that [indiscernible].
Yes, Yes, we will have an enhanced high-power removal device, which is much expected and will help to revitalize, I mean -- or I mean, to reduce a market which after an exciting 2022 is now, let's say, not register -- not registered a growth in 2023. We will present the improved version of RedTouch, which is our dermatology device, a listing in the red, 635-nanometer which is a great on-invasive rejuvenation device and also able to treat this chronic diseases. And on this RedTouch device, I would like also to add that not only we are introducing it in its enhanced red touch performance, but also, we are launching a clinical study aimed to the release by the FDA clearance for sale of the device in the United States. We have not been selling the device in the United States yet because we didn't have an FDA clearance. We plan to get the clearance in the coming 12 months. So it won't be a 2023 event. It will be a 2024 event, but we believe that, that device could be extremely significant in the sales mix of 2024. These are the main points. Then we have concerning new products, we are developing a new [indiscernible] device for the U.S. market based on a new technology compared to the one we have -- we currently have. We will submit for FDA clearance, and hopefully, we'll able to term for revenue already in Q4 2023 or in later Q1 2024.
Okay. And last question. Obviously, you don't report this, but if you think about the book-to-bill, right, the order intake versus the revenues. In other words, whether the order book is growing or shrinking. What are you seeing at the moment in the industrial and the medical science. Are you seeing as many orders come in as you are products are -- and -- revenues and products are shipping out or how are the trends at the moment.
It is quite difficult to answer. As for the industrial, we have a book-to-bill, which is bill -- actually book is higher than bill in this moment. In Q1, for sure, book has been higher than bill, I am positive, for the industrial. For the medical, the opposite is true, but we are in a different condition because orders are in many circumstances yearly orders. And so I mean it's obviously book-to-bill is obviously down because we pick our order book at the end of the year, and then we discharge them all over the year because they are blanket orders over 12 months.
What I can tell you, the trend was the same in 2022. They -- we peaked orders in December 2021, and then we went down and then we peaked again the order book in November 2022. If today, the reason of depletion of our order book is faster than it was last year also because we have increased capacity. And so again, this reflects in the fact that we are less confident in the actual value of the growth rate of 2023. We believe that we will not be able to match the growth of 2022 in 2023. But then I mean, the trend is not negative. The trend is simple. It is not as strong as it was last year.
I currently want to ask again to the floor if there are some other questions. Andrea Bonfa -- Michael, go on.
Andrea and Enrico, I have a question on the components situation. You mentioned that the situation in last [indiscernible]. And I remember last year, you mentioned -- or in the last call, you mentioned you were increasing pricing and managing around with substituting components. Can you elaborate a little bit on your situation? And are you considering raising prices maybe again.
We raised prices in our medical segment at the end of 2022. Then some of them of the price increases have been pulled back, some are still there. We have a cost inflation. We are cost of goods sold, I mean our laser systems that cost about 100 in 20 -- at the beginning of 2022 cost us at least [indiscernible] at the end of 2022. And so we -- it partially turned this cost increase into our prices. In the Industrial segment, the situation is a little bit different because we have been facing decrease in prices, and we are still thinking decreasing prices. So rather than increasing prices, we do not lower prices anymore at the speed we were doing before. So there's not an inflationary effect, but it's a slower deflationary effect in a market which is experiencing decrease in prices due to increasing productivity of production and decrease of cost of the main component. For what concerns the supply chain strains, as I mentioned in my report is still there. It means that in order to be able to secure deliveries, we have to purchase with several months in advance in order not to be too tight with our forecasting models compared to the actual production needs, we need to buy before. And therefore, this basically fractures the lines of the manufacturing cycle and increases the amount of cash trapped in the manufacturing cycle, typically into the inventory of materials, inventory of material. And at this point of view, in this moment, we're still seeing the fortuity of increase in volume of doing very well. Therefore, we continue -- we do not pull back the investment in inventory because we believe that it's a good investment in order to make sure that we are able to deliver the volumes that our customers are asking about.
Yes. Very clear. Thank you. I have another one on your investment in Accure. One of the -- or the most main competitor [indiscernible] in the U.S. seems to be a little bit like a turmoil. Do you think this may have a potential benefit for your investment in Accure?
We are now doing a little marketing launch program, targeting an early adoption plan. I talked in a few dermatologists exhibition. In order to set and to establish what we believe is the superior performance of the Accure system compared to our competitors' systems and the excellent performance that can be achieved by our Accure system. So this is the strategy in this moment to confirm by a set of top reputed dermatologists in positions, the superior performance of our system.
Andrea Bonfa from Banca Akros.
Can you please elaborate on the potential for the industrial leader in the U.S.A.
Yes, there is an interesting potential. We do not have yet a solid presence, but we currently selling are high-power lasers for major castings in the U.S. territory. We will attend to the CapEx, which should be [indiscernible] this year and we will attend with our tenders and with our distributors. Therefore, even though for this 2023, we expect the sales over a few units, and therefore, it will not be materially affecting the business. I believe we are planting the seeds and we will also trying with an appropriate technical service to support our installations in the United States. I believe that this market could be progressively interesting going forward in 2024.
Andrea, do you have another question? Any other question from the floor? Okay. If there are no more questions, we cease this conference. If you have some questions to investigate, please do not hesitate to contact Enrico Romagnoli. He will be happy to answer your questions. Thank you for attending this conference, and we hope to have you all again next time. Good afternoon to everybody. Bye.
Next time, we have our company visits on [indiscernible] coming up, and so we'll be delighted of hosting you to the business, which includes the visit to the EL.En. plant and to the [indiscernible] of laser cutting systems as well.
Thank you. Bye.
Thank you, everybody. Bye, bye.