NCAB 4Q Sales Up 22% to SEK 515 Million

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NCAB Group has reported net sales of SEK 514.9 million, up by 22% year-on-year (YoY). The company attributes the increase to the acquisitions of Flatfield and Bare Board Group. In US dollar terms, net sales increased by 32%. Excluding acquisitions, net sales decreased by 6%, but is up 5% in US dollar.

Order intake increased by 42% YoY to SEK 681.4 million. Order intake has gradually improved during the quarter, partly due to orders with longer delivery times linked to announced price increases. The effect of this is estimated at between 10% and 20% of order intake for the quarter.

For the full year, net sales increased by 19% to SEK 2.115 billion, mainly driven by the acquisitions. Growth in US dollar terms was 22%.

Order intake, meanwhile, increased by 23% to SEK 2.24 billion (in US dollar terms, order intake increased by 27%).

In a statement, CEO and President Peter Kruk said, “We leave 2020 behind us with a positive trend for order intake and increased activity among our customers. This augurs well for 2021. We are also continuing to invest in growing our market shares through further additions to our sales organisation, primarily in Germany and North America. Our portfolio grew in 2020 with many new customers and projects. This is partly due to acquisitions, but our ability to provide excellent service to customers during these difficult times has also secured us new business. The acquisition of PreventPCB will make us the leading supplier in Italy.

“Order intake rose sharply, by 42% during the fourth quarter and 57% in USD. A large share of this is attributable to our acquisitions, although organic growth also accounted for a 27% increase in USD. It is gratifying to see a recovery in many of our markets. There is for instance a rapid growth in solutions for electric car chargers. One contributing factor to our strong order intake is the decision by customers to bring orders forward to avoid the announced price increases from our suppliers. These price increases are the result of higher raw material prices and foreign exchange effects. We do not expect this to have an impact on NCAB’s margins.” 

While travel restrictions and restraints have kept costs lower, the company has now begun to recruit personnel for future growth.

“In Nordic, order intake and margins have picked up again in the fourth quarter. The strong growth in Norway is particularly pleasing and is largely the result of various projects linked to electric car chargers. Europe has had a highly positive quarter. The automotive industry, which was weak earlier in the year, has now begun to accelerate and our German operations have continued their positive trend with many new customers and projects. The acquisition of Flatfield has now been integrated into NCAB and after the end of the quarter we completed the acquisition of Prevent PCB in Italy. The fact that North America reported another positive quarter is pleasing. We can see exciting opportunities to improve margins in the acquired company Bare Board Group. Sales in East were slightly weaker during the fourth quarter while margins remained at a high level. Order intake increased in China while Russia is still suffering from lockdowns,” added Kruk. “NCAB has major opportunities for continued growth. Organic growth, with more new customers and projects, is something we will continue to strive for. We can also see further opportunities in market consolidation through acquisitions. The integration of last year’s acquisitions, Flatfield and Bare Board Group, has been successfully completed. Our balance sheet is strong and we are actively working with our pipeline of attractive acquisition candidates.”