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Thank you very much, and good morning, everybody. My name is Joachim Kuhn, CEO and Founder of va-Q-tec. Today, I am with our CFO, Stefan Dohmen, who will guide you through the 9 months financials later in this presentation.It's my pleasure today to talk to you about an excellent 9 months '21 from an operational as well as a financial perspective. At the same time, we have set the foundation for continued high growth in the short and medium term with important strategic initiatives.We delivered another -- please go to Slide 1. We delivered another 9 months with very good financial and operational performance and results. All this is a proof to the agility and ingenuity of our architect team, which I would really like to thank once again for their incredible dedication and support.But let me start with some really great news on the Slide #3. Two days ago, the Financial Times awarded us as the Tech Champion 2021 winner in the category of manufacturing. We stood out for our special role in the fight against the corona pandemic as well as our forward thinking solutions for increasing thermal energy efficiency. We, the va-Q-tec team, are very proud about this prestigious award.I also have another significant piece of news for you, which you can see on Slide #4. In the context of a capital increase of roughly 2.5%, we have brought Lupus alpha asset management on board as a new investor. With the capital increase, va-Q-tec gained a further renewed long-term oriented investor in Lupus alpha Asset Management, which strengthens not only the shareholder base in light of the company's expected growth over the coming years, but also the balance sheet structure.A total of 325,498 new registered no par value shares were issued. At a price of EUR 26.1 per share, we have raised approximately EUR 8.5 million. With this, our equity increased significantly by approximately 20%. Over the past 20 years, we have established a position of leadership in thermal energy efficiency and high-performance thermal packaging for temp chain logistics. This year, we have our sights firmly set on the EUR 100 million revenue level. We also identified many opportunities to continue our success story in 2022 and the coming years. and we are pleased to have an owner managed as well as entrepreneurial partner on our site in Lupus alpha.Now let me please share with you the key highlights for the 9-month period 2021. We have summarized the most important messages on Slide #5 named va-Q-tec with outstanding 9-month figures.First, revenue. We delivered a very strong performance with revenue growth of 38% to EUR 73.4 million, coming from EUR 53.2 million in the previous year. This year's 9-month period marks the best 9 months in the history of the company in all 3 business lines so far, and there is more to come. Adding EUR 20 million revenue in only 9 months is a real achievement of the entire va-Q-tec team.Second, profitability. Our EBITDA grew significantly stronger than revenues. With a 51% growth, we had a record high EUR 13.5 million EBITDA. The EBITDA margin on revenues increased to 18.5% in 9 months 2021. Our EBIT turned out significantly better than 9 months 2020 and jumped to a positive EUR 3.7 million. Our CFO, Stefan Dohmen, will provide you with all the details in a couple of minutes. Also, our net result is positive at almost EUR 2 million.Third, the overall growth was driven by significant double-digit growth rate in all divisions. With a plus of 65%, our Systems business showed an extremely strong performance and stood out of the 3 business lines. Our international subsidiaries are making a substantially growing contribution to our total revenues. The so-called other reporting segments revenue share came in at 19% in 9 months '21 compared to 11% in 9 months previous year.Last but not least, we are happy to further specify our full year '21 guidance. Thanks to the strong year-to-date performance, we now expect to arrive almost spot on at the other end, around EUR 100 million total revenues.Our growth path remains very strong. We are seeing also increased demand for our products beyond the corona vaccines, which is leading to continued high growth momentum. We remain also on the way to further expanding and consolidating our position as a leading company in the field of thermal energy efficiency, which is one of the keys to achieving a net euro carbon-neutral company.As usual, we will now dive deeper into all these highlights during the next -- during the rest of the presentation. Let's start by taking a closer look at our revenues.I'm moving now on to Slide #6, which shows the group revenues in 9 months 2021 by our 3 business lines. In our top line, we grew by 38% in 9 months '21. Within the pie chart, you can also see that the Systems business line, meaning sales of thermal boxes and containers, has increased its share of the total revenue. We saw massive momentum due to the increased demand for COVID Transportation Solutions and other business.In total, business with customers from health care and logistics sector, meaning the tenth chain business, accounts for 76% of va-Q-tec's total sales. Corona-related business had a share of 18% of total revenues compared to a 1% share back in 9 months 2020.We currently assume that the growing importance of temp chains in the pandemic and the accelerated adoption of temperature-sensitive mRNA technology leads to a sustainable tailwind for our key technology. This is also reflected in the need for booster and adaptation vaccinations.Now after having a look at our entire revenue distribution, let us also take a closer look at the top line performance of each business line. Therefore, let's move on to Slide #8.The product division, sales of vacuum insulation panels, recorded a strong growth with a jump of 32% to EUR 17 million year-to-date. va-Q-tec's customers note, for example, a growing demand for energy-efficient refrigerators and freezers in their consumer markets. This is partly due to the stay-at-home trend which was driving demand for frozen foods, for example.Additionally, we launched va-Q-tec [ Flex ] in collaboration with Uponor, a global international pipe manufacturer, making it available for district heating applications. This business also developed exceptionally well in 9 months '21.Revenue generated by our Systems business line showed an outstanding increase of 65% in 9 months and came in at EUR 23.8 million, up from EUR 14.4 million last year. The systems Q3 outperformed Q3 2020 by 138%. This area benefited particularly from global COVID vaccine campaigns. Business with va-Q-pal Solutions, for example, for transporting coronavirus vaccines, to hard to read regions on the world performed particularly well. We also implemented here a new business model with a hybrid use of rental containers and one-way containers.We also gained business from competitors who had supply chain problems, which we did not have thanks to our superior backward integration. The sales pipeline in systems is also looking encouraging for the remainder of the year. A big portion is also coming from our subsidiaries around the world.The Service division, comprising the renting of thermal containers and thermal boxes, also showed a very nice picture in 9 months 2021. In total, Services showed a year-over-year growth of 26% to EUR 31.3 million in 9 months '21 as a result of a strong increase in the number of small thermal box rentals for last mile shipments, especially for vaccine distribution. In Q3, Service grew by 42% quarter-on-quarter. Rentals of large thermal containers also benefited from an accelerated start-up of new projects. The very positive trends and momentum in the service sector will continue in the fourth quarter. Rental of boxes start to recover from a reduced clinical trial business.At this point, I would now like to hand over to my colleague, Stefan Dohmen, who will shed more light on 9-month financials. Please, Stefan.
Thank you, Joachim,and welcome to all of you from my side as well.So let's move to Slide #9. There, you can see a summary of the 9 months 2021 profit and loss compared to the previous year. Revenues increased by 38% in total to EUR 73.4 million, as already explained.The total income increased even stronger than revenues by 45% to EUR 89.4 million over previous period, EUR 61.5 million. While the absolute numbers of cost of materials and services increased by 58%, our gross profit increased by 38% in the 9 months 2021 compared to the 9 months 2020.Cost of materials and services also includes a high number of temporary workers hired in production for the ramp-up of our capacities as variable cost.The gross profit margin on total income decreased from 61% year-to-date to 58% in 9 months 2020 to 58% for the 9 months 2021, mainly due to a significant increase in inventories and other own work capitalized at 0% margin.Moving down the P&L on this slide to personnel expenses and other OpEx. We would like to point out that while personnel expenses increased by 30% to EUR 24.5 million compared to EUR 18.9 million in the 9 months of 2020, the cost ratio decreased from 31% to 28% as a result of operating leverage.The other OpEx, or SG&A, grew roughly in line with total income at 15.2% or EUR 13.6 million compared to the first half of 2020.As a result of these numbers, EBITDA rose by EUR 4.5 million year-over-year from EUR 9 million in the prior year period to EUR 13.5 million or plus 51%, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 15.2% in relation to total income. This compared to 14.6% in the prior year period, and the EBITDA margin on revenues increased from 16.8% to 18.5%.Considering the slight increase in D&A of approximately EUR 700,000 or 8%, the EBIT improved very significantly by EUR 3.9 million year-over-year from negative EUR 0.2 million to EUR 3.7 million. And this also shows in our net result, which came in at a positive EUR 1.7 million.Turning to cash-related items now on Slide #10. Please note that cash flow from operating activities before working capital increased by 72% to EUR 11.2 million compared to the EUR 6.5 million achieved in the 9 months of 2020. This significant increase was to a large extent offset by an increased working capital year-over-year. The main driver behind this development is a relatively strong increase in inventory, which was built up mainly to support the expected strong business volume and the buildup of inventories at our subsidiaries abroad. And as a result, net cash flow from all operating activities decreased to EUR 0.7 million in the 9 months of 2021 compared to EUR 5.9 million a year ago.The investing cash flow of EUR 15.7 million in this first 9 months reflects accelerated investments into our container and box fleet and also investments into the expansion of our manufacturing capacity since the fourth quarter of 2020, as we explained earlier this year already. Among the investments were additional manufacturing facilities in Kölleda, which will be refinanced shortly. We expect CapEx in Q4 2021 to be in the same order of magnitude as in the previous quarters.The financing cash flow totaled to a net EUR 6.1 million as of September 30, 2021, and va-Q-tec had a total cash position of EUR 8.2 million versus EUR 10.7 million as of September 30. Taking into account the positive development of operating cash flow as well as unutilized credit lines and taking into account yesterday's capital increase, we feel very comfortable with our financial situation at this point. In this context of the capital increase, our debit headroom also has significantly increased.Let's now move on to Slide #11 to take a quick look at our balance sheet. Total assets increased to EUR 132 million as of September 30, 2021 compared to EUR 119 million as of year-end 2020, mainly due to the investments we've made in PP&E, and we already mentioned working capital increase financed from our cash position at year-end.In addition, we would like to point out once again the following. First, due to our organic growth up to this point, we do not have any goodwill on our balance sheet, and accordingly no impairment risk in the current pandemic situation. And second, even after our bond issuance, more than 30% of our bank borrowings are mortgage loans for property and buildings. If you exclude those, our net debt ratio is only at about 2x our annualized 9 months 2021 EBITDA. But even if you include those loans, the ratio has significantly come down to approximately 3.4x annualized EBITDA by the end of September 2021. The equity ratio prior to yesterday's capital increase was at approximately 33%.Some more remarks on the capital measure. It is rather a technical measure to strengthen the balance sheet for our next growth step. We have announced and committed ourselves to remain in a 35% to 40% band of equity ratio, and this is also a risk management measure. This measure increases our equity by approximately 20%. With the capital increase and the positive free cash flow we anticipate from 2022 onwards, we see ourselves as being sufficiently financed to take the next growth step beyond the EUR 100 million revenue mark. On the basis of our current planning, we will be able to realize the investments we require for strong organic growth from our operating business from 2022 onwards.And with this, I'd like to conclude the summary of our 9 months 2021 numbers, and give the floor back to Joachim for the outlook and the conclusion of our presentation.
Yes. Thank you, Stefan. And let's now turn to our full year 2021 outlook on Slide 13.So our most important message is, based on our strong year-to-date performance and our continued high expectations for quarter 4, we will finish the financial year very close to the EUR 100 million revenue target. This means we specify our guidance to the top upper end of our first guidance at the beginning of this year. EBITDA will grow stronger than the rate of revenue growth, thanks to operating economies of scale and the changed product mix reflecting a growing proportion of higher-margin systems and services. Accordingly, we also expect a year-on-year stronger margin improvement compared to 2020.I'm now moving on to Slide 14 to give you a little bit business outlook also at the end of the presentation, so please go to Slide 14. You can see that some of the corona vaccines are known to be the first approved mRNA vaccines. These vaccines require particular safe transport at stable temperatures, mostly at very low temperatures. But in the future, there will be mainly -- many more drugs that will also work with the help of mRNA technology. Here, you can see some excerpts of reports on such drugs. And all these drugs will also need temperature-controlled logistics. With our boxes and containers, we see a big future market for us here. But we do have more possibilities than vaccines.We will also continue to ship regular medical products by the offerings we have learned to improve during corona. Our hybrid container offering with rental and one-way containers and -- is an excellent offering for the entire pharma industry, and this combination is quite unique. It combines lightweight and energy-efficient containers with the ever-increasing temperature reliability, which is needed for all the new products to come. And this combination gives us much more possibilities in serving also hard-to-reach regions.With this outlook, from our temperature business, we can really say that we have an extraordinary successful year 2021. We not only increased our international presence and reputation, we created new systems and the hybrid business model out of the blue in a super short time. And we also executed in an excellent way and delivered our products worldwide in an excellent quality and in time. This could be achieved through an extraordinary performance of our teams around the globe, which I want to thank at this way. I would now also like to hand over back to the moderator who will open the Q&A session. Thank you, all.
We have our first question. It's from Olivier Calvet, Kepler Cheuvreux.
Joachim and Stefan. I will ask 2 questions focusing on Q3. The first one would be, I just want to look at the cost of goods sold line. What we saw in quarter 3 with very strong top line growth in Services and Systems and a decline -- a slight decline in the products -- product line. All other things equal should have a very positive margin mix effect. And I see -- I see on the EBITDA line an increase of 1.8 percentage points which is good, but less than one would expect, right? So I see the difference is mostly on the cost of goods sold line. Can you shed a bit more color on what were the main drivers for this? Are we talking cost of raw material inputs or cost of services, I'm sure the freight rates have played a role, but any color here would be quite helpful.And the second question would be on price increases. Can you maybe help us think about price increases in your 3 product lines and -- and a related question maybe is just on the product line. If you could explain a bit, let's say, the year-on-year change in products in the quarter? Because I -- if I'm not mistaken, yes. Compared to the beginning of the year, it's, let's say, a bit slightly disappointing, although not really worrying. But any color there would be also helpful.
Okay, Olivier. I'll probably take the first question, the cost of goods sold or the gross margin. I think it's a little bit misleading here that we are -- because we are relating all of our ratios on the total income line. And if you look at this and compare to last year, then basically the inventory and the own work capitalized have significantly increased compared to last year, in total about EUR 8 million.And all of this is shown at 0% margin. So if you basically deduct this on both sides, the material cost and the -- and the other income, then you get to almost the same basically material cost ratio and gross margin ratio as last year. And so I think that is the way you have to look at it if you -- If -- because this will, at some point, turn into a profitable business, especially the inventory increase.The other onward capitalized, obviously, is going into -- because most of it is our own manufactured containers and boxes which will go into our balance sheet. But again, at 0% margin. And because of that, it dilutes a little bit the actual material cost compared to the total revenue. And I think that's -- if you basically take that into account, as I said, the gross margin is almost the same. It's probably also why you see the EBITDA margin on total income not growing as much, only about 0.6% or 0.7% points, whereas the ratio on our EBITDA on total revenue or total turnover grew by 1.5%. Which, considering the huge increase in revenue, I think, is also a big achievement because obviously, we had to ramp up the production in the first half, had to hire a lot of temp workers and had to do extra shifts that were probably not that profitable, but we had to fulfill customer demand.And in that respect, I think we are quite happy with the increase in profitability. We are now getting back, I think, in the second half, we are getting more used to the higher capacities and have gotten better, more productive and so on. So I think we will probably also see a little bit of improvement still in the second half of this year or in the fourth quarter.
Okay. Sorry, just to follow up here. What I'm trying to get at, I mean, independently of whether you do the cost of goods sold on sales or total income? If you look at Q3, not the first 9 months, you have an increase, right? If I look year-on-year the increase, what I have is, I mean, 72%, 72.5% increase in the cost of goods sold year-on-year in Q3, right? Which is a slightly -- maybe impacted by the comps, but I just wanted to get a sense, this is faster than your revenue growth. I just want to get a better sense of what is driving cost of goods sold increase, if you can give us a sense of that. But I would understand if that -- yes, sorry. Go ahead.
But it's basically what I just mentioned that you have to take basically this -- this increase in inventory that you see in the total income obviously means that we have produced and used material to create this inventory, and that is at 0% margin. And that is why, on top of the revenue increase, you also see the inventory increase at 0% margin. And of course, that is -- you have to take out this to come to the right gross margin on both sides, material cost and inventory increase basically.And if you take out those 2 positions, you basically also deduct almost, let's say, EUR 6.3 million of material cost by the -- if you deduct the EUR 8 million other income, the rest is overheads and personnel cost and then you get an idea of the right gross margin that is almost the same as last year.
Okay. Makes sense. Yes.
Let me come to the second -- to your second question, yes. Not to go too much into the technical details or financial year, yes, that may bore some of the participants of the call here.So you asked about price increases. I'd say, yes, we have price increases so far that we do not give any discounts in many cases we are now running, but that will have impact on the future price increase around in the product division because we have higher material costs and customers seem to accept that so far, and so we'll also come here in a better situation.And also, I have to say about the freight cost. In many cases, we are in COVID times, and many of the projects we make are kind of emergency projects. You cannot imagine how short notice sometimes the people ask us to do something. And in that case, of course, we ask them, yes, we can do that. We can do that in every point of the world, but you have to take over the shipment costs, yes? And I can really tell you that we -- in many cases, we have to charter even airplanes and -- to bring the product in short time from A to B. And in most cases, the customers cover the air freight costs, yes, by chartering 3, 4 jumbos or whatever, yes? And that is enormous, and they are willing to do that.They know that we can deliver a good quality and that's why they are willing to do that.So you won't see these things in our balance sheet, but people are taking over a lot of additional shipment costs now at the moment because they know va-Q-tec is a helper. They can help us with a good quality product which will solve their problem, and that's why they are taking over a lot of the freight costs.However, as Stefan said already, many things are very spontaneous, yes, and we have to react on that, and we always do it with increased efforts. But we are -- at the end, I have to say I'm really proud that our EBITDA grew by more than 50% year-on-year. So that's a very good achievement.
Yes. Okay. Just maybe on the products line, any kind of explanation for the decline year-on-year? Is the comp base high? . . .
Yes. The product is mainly based on fridge and freezer business, and in the second half of the year, we are continuing to see that people -- first, they have bought -- they have fridge and freezer in the first half of the year, so they don't need another one in the second half, yes, that would be one effect.And the other effect is that this industry is also affected by this shortage in chips -- that computer chips, same as automotive industry, but they also affected -- every fridge has a little computer in it. And so that's why we went down a bit. But it's okay, we can cover it, but it's just regular. They bought the fridge in the first half of year and don't need the second one in the second half of the year.
The next question is by Benjamin Pfannes, Berenberg.
Just maybe to kick off on the top line. So yes, the vacuum business came in quite strongly in the third quarter. Can you give us your expectation that's for Q4? And also then heading into 2022 compared to what you would see this year? I didn't hear anything.
Okay. So I gave a very positive outlook on the quarter 4 and also the next year to come. So we see a lot of increase in business now for all the 190 countries, which have not received the vaccine in the first round. And so we are transporting more and more of the vaccines around the world. We see also in future increase in mRNA technology, which will be a booster to the market, a tsunami to the drug market like the biotechnology back in 2002. And we are in the middle of this positive tsunami with our offerings. Most temperatures are at minus temperature, which is anyway a specialty from our company, so we see a good quarter 4 and a good 2022 and beyond as well.
Okay. So do you think it's possible to hold the level for the vaccine business into next year aswell?
Yes. Next year and years beyond.
Okay. Okay. And just a couple more, please. Just on the margins, sorry to come back to that. But if I just look at Q3, the EBITDA margin, just so I understand correctly. Compared to for example, Q2 or Q1, what would you say main reason is behind the slightly lower margin despite the higher or the stronger product mix?
Yes, I would say it's probably -- one of the issues is certainly the freight cost, which is still in many ways chaotic. And it's probably part of the reason is that we have significantly increased, as we said, the ratio of revenue in our so-called small subsidiaries.They are now already making up about 20% of our 18 -- I think, 18% or 19% of our total revenue. And obviously, at this point, we still have to ship all our products to those subsidiaries at least for the Systems business. And -- And the Rental business, of course, is done locally. And that has significantly increased our freight cost basically as intercompany cost, this is what we cannot basically let -- give to our customers as well and charge them for. And I would say that is probably -- the only reason I can really see as for a major increase here or for, let's say, not a stronger growth in our EBITDA margin.
Okay. Understood. And just looking at cash flow, the operating cash flow then for the full year, you still expect working capital to normalize in Q4? And then what's your expectation operating cash flow for the full year?
Yes. Yes. I think, as we said, our CapEx will probably be in the same magnitude as in the first 9 months. And -- But on the working capital, we expect basically that we don't see a further increase. Probably, if anything, then a small decrease as we now see more and more demand for our -- for the product that we distributed around the world for the vaccine business. And in some cases, those were reserved and we had to basically make already build up inventory to make sure that it can be used in the fourth quarter.So our expectation would be that we see a slight decrease in working capital. And with that, the operating cash flow should improve compared to the first 9 months a bit more. But obviously, we are not going to get into any way of a positive free cash flow. This we see more next year where we don't see a major buildup of working capital and a much less CapEx spending as we announced that -- of course, we accelerated a lot of the CapEx spending into this year, and with that, I think it's realistic to expect a positive free cash flow for next year.
Okay. Okay. And I guess that you sort of answered this one, but in terms of the EUR 8 million capital increase, so that doesn't change in any way the CapEx outlook? Or are you tapping into new growth measures?
No. We just make -- this year, we just make use of -- first of all, we increased our container fleet, yes, because we have more business, of course, incredibly more business. Second, we have -- we spent a lot of the capital in our second factory in Kolleda. Actually, it's already factory #3 because we have 2 factories now already in Kolleda. But there is a very nicely subsidized program, which we -- it's the last of the -- one of the last projects in the former East subsidiary -- subsidizing. So we make simply use of this nicely spend program -- subsidized program, and spend the capital this year because otherwise, we don't get the money for it. And next year, we come down to a regular level of CapEx, yes.
The next question is by Guido Hoymann, Metzler.
3 questions from my side. First is -- so when -- I know it has been partially answered but I'm going to ask it anyway. So when do you expect the EUR 10 million on capital buildup to reverse, I think you said it's going to start potentially in Q4? And should that then continue and accelerate in [indiscernible] from Q1 next year onwards? So that's on the working capital.Maybe then can you also -- again, give us the CapEx estimates or you're planning for the CapEx 2022, '23 and '24, if possible?And last but not least, so should we actually -- since we have seen the gross margin to be sort of understated, if I understood you right, so far this year because of the buildup of capacities and stock, should we then see this gross margin rather being overstated than next year? Because then you're going to use these boxes and don't have these expenses at 0 margin next year? Is that the right or correct assumption? So, these are my questions, please.
Okay. I'll try to answer that. Working capital, we were so -- yes, probably to some extent because, as we said, we build up quite a bit for the business that we expected. On the other hand, as we continue to expect a lot of business from next year and are very positive about continued growth, it is also going to be -- I mean, I wouldn't expect too much of a reverse. I'm happy if we can probably realize a small reduction in our working capital. But what I definitely don't see is a major buildup again for next year, so that should already give us a very good operating cash flow for next year if we don't have a working capital increase. And if you look at our 9 months operating cash flow before working capital, if that's any indication, I think then that's already a very good -- very good sign or indication for good total operating cash flow next year. The CapEx, I think we see much closer to our current depreciation and amortization rate in the magnitude of EUR 12 million to EUR 14 million per year, which is also the run rate we had in 2019 and '20. So -- and we -- I think, it claims the reasons why we -- why we accelerated CapEx this year. So that is the magnitude EUR 12 million to EUR 14 million maybe in '24, up to EUR 15 million or so depending on where we are at that point, it's what I would see as realistic at this point. We'll spend much less in additional container fleet buildup, we will not spend anything in Kölleda or hardly anything. Everything has been done and -- basically this year. So we have to do some replacements obviously, and so on, spend some money on software development and other immaterial assets. But yes, the big CapEx spending of this year, we won't see again.And gross margin growth, 2022. Yes, if you -- if you relate to the total income, then I agree with you that by basically not building up any additional inventory and having much less own work capitalized, the difference between revenue and total income will be much smaller and with that, the gross margin growth on total income should get better. But if you look at total revenue, then it's probably next year, it's not going to be as strong because already this year, we see almost 2% increase on that. I think that we are currently at EUR 1.7 million. So if you relate it on turnover of revenue, then it's probably not going to be that strong.
The next question is by [ Logan Skule ], [indiscernible] Europe.
Okay. Congratulations on the excellent success story so far. One question I'll have, you talked about the internal costs, especially freight costs and logistics costs. So how will you see this change in the future? And do you think it'll start to like brighten up a bit in the future?And second, I was just thinking about the Services momentum, which seems low given the increasing number of COVID shipments. So was this kind of cannibalized by the systems that saw stellar growth? And to what extent do you think this will increase in improvement in the future as well?
So thank you for your questions. So indeed, we will see cost increase by freight, by materials, and we will convert that into price increases and -- or less discount, yes, which is particularly the same. And that is definitely what we are going to do.On the other hand, we have now found systems to work around a bit. So for example, I'll give you one example, we have -- We do not use air freight for repositioning of container so much anymore. We use more sea freight, yes. And before the gap was very, very high, now also sea freight increased a bit there, but still the gap is high. But we have also worked out or work around about this high freight costs as good as possible. In case of emergency, as explained before, we try to let our customers do the emergency shipment and pay for it, so we have some good math here. However, we will go through price increase round or less discount round, so to say.The second question, Service, you speak about the service momentum. Yes, the momentum is still good at 26%, yes, which is probably, I would say, from what I can see, it's one of the best in the world when I see on our peers.But on the other hand, sometimes it's -- and it's not cannibalized by the business we have, but it's even, let's say, powered by this business we have because we have now a better offering for our customers to do better shipment in faraway countries. At the same time, having the regular lanes with good infrastructure with the rental system. And so the product is traveling within one technology, but in a combined business model as well, that is a great offering. And we saw -- but that was not usually our offering, it was simply about the circumstances. We see many customers deciding for one-way lightweight containers which are also, by the way, CO2 saving, freight saving, because of the lightweight. And so we see that, but that only fires our other possibilities. So it's not cannibalizing. It's not cannibalizing. It's just a decision out of the circumstances, yes. If they wouldn't choose our, they would probably be lost without any solution, and so to say.So I think we will also see in quarter 4 and next year a bigger momentum. We are now in the last weeks and months going from -- in the Service business for containers in -- from -- we are going from record to record shipments, I have to say. So you will see a better momentum now coming.
Okay. So just if I may, quickly. So with internal logistics costs, as you talked about the increased pricing round that you want to implement. Do you think this will be implemented next year already? Or do you have any visibility on a time frame or a time horizon when will -- when this will improve?
Yes, we are thinking about next year, early next year.
The next question is by Manuel Peter, Helvetische Bank.
I got 2 questions, if I may. The first one, I saw that you had some sale and leaseback transaction in the last quarter. I was wondering if you could provide some information about that? And is that something that you going to use in the future as well? Second question would be some sort of housekeeping question. I was wondering about how high the level of your liabilities for outstanding invoices by end of September? And if that changed from the beginning of the year?
Okay. Yes, you're right. There was a sale and leaseback transaction done in Q3. However, that is not unusual, I would say, because we again financed the new containers in our rental fleet. And basically, we have done this for many years.
Manuel, please go on mute, we hear background noise.
Yes. So basically, this was a transaction that we have done many times in the past by financing our container fleet. And this probably was -- yes, this was the only transaction we did this year. It has now changed a little bit from how it was done before. We can also do higher purchase agreements or sale and leaseback transactions, but it's basically all more or less the same and the same purpose to finance the container fleet.
We did this sale and leaseback, may I add, since about, I would say, 12 years regularly. Yes.
Yes. In different ways, yes, slightly different ways. The second question. That is -- I have to look up the number, but I think the level is almost the same as at the end of last year, but I'll probably come back to that separately to you. But I'm pretty sure it's about the same level of invoices outstanding that it's not the accounts payable, but the ones where we are still expecting invoices to come in.
The next question is by Olivier Calvet, Keplar Cheuvreux.
Yes. Just a follow-up. Coming back to H1 COVID sales, I just want ask if you could give us an idea of -- because you didn't publish info for Q1. Could you tell us how much COVID-related sales you made in Q1 or in Q2? I mean, it's the same info?
Yes. I think in the first 6 months, we said we were at about 13% of total revenue, and this has now gone up to about 18%.
Yes.
Yes, yes. But in Q1, do you have -- I just -- I'm interested in subsequential development. So I just wanted to. . .
No, we don't have a figure for that.
No, we didn't at the time.
Any -- even a ballpark figure for Q1, Q2, just to get a sense? I have EUR 6 million for H1, as you said, but just getting a sense of what was in Q1, what was in Q2?
I mean, basically, I think we are all -- it's -- we went up in Q1 and saw quite a bit in Q2, so I would say we were probably at EUR 1.5 million or EUR 2 million after Q1, but that's really -- that's a rough ballpark figure.
[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions, and so I hand back to you.
Yes. Thank you very much to all of you for sharing your precious time with us. And yes, we will see you now or hear each other beginning next year. And so far, I wish you a nice year-end, holiday period as well. A little bit early, but it's my last opportunity for most of us to say that to you. So thank you very much, and have a nice day and a nice weekend following. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Goodbye.