Fourth quarter, October – December 2021
- Net sales amounted to SEK 2,309m (1,935). Sales increased by 19.3%. Organically sales increased by 14.2%. The acquisition of Unified Brands contributed with 5.1%. Last year the quarter was more impacted by the pandemic than this year.
- EBITA amounted to SEK 164m (142), including acquisition and integration related costs of SEK –56m, corresponding to a margin of 7.1% (7.3). Underlying EBITA-margin was 9.5%.
- Operating income amounted to SEK 141m (119), corresponding to a margin of 6.1% (6.1).
- Operating cash flow after investments amounted to SEK 459m (460).
- Income for the period amounted to SEK 129m (70), and earnings per share was SEK 0.45 (0.24).
- On December 1, 2021 Electrolux Professional acquired Unified Brands, a leading US-based manufacturer of food service equipment, for a total consideration of SEK 2,113m.
- The Board proposes a dividend of SEK 0.50 (–) per share.
Alberto Zanata, President and CEO:
“The sales recovery continued also in the fourth quarter, and sales are now back or almost back to pre-pandemic levels in some countries. Order intake continues to be strong and our order stock is on a new record-high level. We expect the market to be back to 2019 levels in the beginning of 2022.
Sales in the quarter increased organically by 14.2% compared to last year. Both in Europe and the US we saw strong sales growth, while other regions were nearly flat.
EBITA for the fourth quarter was SEK 164m (142) with a corresponding margin of 7.1% (7.3). EBITA includes acquisition and integration related costs for Unified Brands of SEK –56m, meaning that the underlying EBITA-margin corresponds to 9.5%. The result improvement was driven by the increased sales volume and benefits from the 2020 restructuring program. Due to timing, price increases have not compensated for the rapidly increased component, raw material and logistic costs. The negative net impact was approximately SEK –35m in the quarter.
As of January 1, 2022, we have increased prices to mitigate the cost increase. However, we will only partially mitigate the cost increase in the first quarter of 2022 since part of the sales will be from products ordered in 2021. This means that the negative net impact in the first quarter of 2022 will be larger than in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Unified Brands, which was acquired December 1, 2021, is included in the quarter with sales of SEK 99m. In 2021 Unified Brands had sales of SEK 1,134m. The underlying EBITA-margin of Unified Brands was 9% in 2021. With a strong order stock and offering, Unified Brands is well-positioned to grow and further strengthen our position in the US.
Despite the pandemic, we have been able to strengthen Electrolux Professional during 2021. The recovery of the hospitality industry has been faster than anticipated with our organic sales growing by 10% and our profit by 50%. We also became a larger and more relevant player in the US Food market through the acquisition of Unified Brands. This will allow us to continue to profitably grow our business.“
This information is information that Electrolux Professional AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person detailed below, at 8:00 a.m. CET on January 28, 2022.
Media contact Jacob Broberg, Senior Vice President Investor Relations and Communications +46 70 190 00 33