Nilfisk, a leading global provider of professional cleaning products and services, reports revenue of 256.4 mEUR for Q1 2023.
“I’m truly happy to see that we strategically are on the right track. In first quarter of 2023 our Service and Specialty businesses performed well and delivered strong organic growth. Overall, the quarter was impacted negatively by the consequences of the economic slowdown, particularly in Europe, and to a lesser extent in North America, while APAC performed very well,” CEO at Nilfisk, Torsten Türling comments.
Strong organic growth of 6.5% in the Service Business and 6.9% in the Specialty Business supported revenue. The branded part of the Professional Business contributed with organic growth of 1.7%, while the Consumer Business and Private label declined in line with their respective markets with 25.4% and 39.5% respectively. Overall, this led to an organic revenue decline of 2.0% in the quarter.
The EBITDA margin came to 11.0%, down from 14.2% in Q1 2022. Free cash flow improved significantly by 35.8 mEUR from Q1 2022 and reached 13.1 mEUR in the quarter. Investments into Business Plan 2026 continued in Q1 2023.
Offsetting inflationary pressures contribute to strong gross margin
As in 2022, inflation and macroeconomic challenges continue to be a global topic in 2023. This particularly impacted Europe and to a lesser extent North America, while Asia-Pacific performed well and delivered solid organic growth of 10.2% in the quarter. Nilfisk’s pricing actions continued to positively impact profitability across all regions. As a result, the gross margin came to 40.2%, which is the best of the last five quarters.
“Despite the macroeconomic challenges we currently face, our results for the first quarter are in line with Nilfisk’s business plan. Demand for the branded part of our Professional Business remained strong and contributed positively to the quarter, partly outweighing the decline, we particularly saw in the Consumer area,” CEO Torsten Türling comments.
Outlook for 2023 confirmed
We confirm the full-year outlook as communicated in the Annual Report 2022. We expect that the current macroeconomic uncertainty will continue into 2023, leading to some volume decline, particularly in the European market.
The range for organic revenue growth is expected to be -2% to 2%. This is supported by full-year effects of pricing actions completed in 2022 and by a substantial order book at end-2022. Negative organic growth for the full year of 2023 would require a worsening of current trading conditions.
The range for the EBITDA margin before special items is expected to be 12% to 14%.
Read the full Q1 2023 Interim Report here
Nilfisk images can be downloaded here
Key figures Q1 2023
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About
Nilfisk was founded in 1906 by the Danish engineer P.A. Fisker. Today the company is a world-leading provider of professional and consumer floorcare equipment, vacuum cleaners, and high-pressure washers. More than 90 percent of sales target professionals, while the remaining 10 percent of the business is focused on consumers.
Nilfisk products and services are sold in more than 100 countries and produced at 9 manufacturing sites across the globe. Our main facilities are based in the U.S., Mexico, Hungary, Italy, and China. A total of 4,700 employees secured revenue of 1,069.5 mEUR in 2022. The largest single market is the U.S., covering 30% of revenue in 2022, followed by France (11%), Germany (10%), the U.K. (5%), and Denmark (4%).
