Schwab Short-Term U.S. Treasury ETF Price & Performance (SCHO)

We have programs going on across the board. Our customers, however, they are becoming more demanding on payment terms, and we really need to balance the risk and look after what's going on the receivable side. From that on, just looking a little bit in also to our to our net debts, which increased decreased following our very strong cash flow generation We are now well below two point leverage on EBITDA. And I think we built our cash flow from three different things. We We had a very decent level going on. We have been prudent on the investments in 2024 investment level of $685,000,000 We provided dividend and share buyback to our shareholders of $644,000,000. And as I said, our leverage well below the two point marker, and it's well in our leverage target of one point zero to 2.5. We think with this net interest bearing debt position, we are very well positioned also to take opportunities in the future, what might come. Then pushing on to our [indiscernible] performed very, very well throughout 2020. For BioMar, it really continued its strong focus on innovation and thereby also built strong positions in the market. Top line, however, was down 70% to €116,600,000,000.0 Volume delivered was 1,370,000 tonnes across all companies.

We saw volume in our big salmon markets lower than previous years, but that was on purpose. We continue to push our strategy to leave nonattractive tenders and contracts. The EBITDA, however, was very strong up 18% to 1,470,000,000.00 Our large markets performed very well, We had a continuously focus on our commercial excellence and also a very positive effect from good sales of our strong functional feed offerings. Biomark delivered a very strong cash flow of 1,600,000,000.0, which was also very satisfying especially Q4 twenty twenty four was very strong on cash flow. We are continuing to investigate a potential IPO of BioMar is still ongoing and to be honest, they are not much new news to report on that. It's still in the investigation phase. Parma, however, expect to continue its profitability journey also in 2025. Turnover now expected in the range of 1,600,000,000.0 to SEK 1,700,000,000.0 and the EBITDA in a range of SEK 1,470,000,000.00 to SEK 1,570,000,000.00. Biomar really continue to drive innovation and also really pushing hard on their profitable market strategy. From BioMar then moving on to DPB, DPV operating in the real as a sub supply in the to the global industrial companies KBW saw in 2024 very volatile markets and the demand was soft from some of the very large global customers.

Top line was as expected, lower than 23%, 15% down to €8,900,000,000 EBITD also down 16% to $625,000,000 Of course, here, we experienced full effect from lower volume but also we had, took on, quite significant amount of cost to continue to develop. GPV also prepared GPV for future. We are implementing a new IG system throughout the company and also looked a lot into our global footprint where we had some one off costs going on. However, also the organization and cost base has been prudently adjusted throughout '24, I think as we speak, we are around 1,000 employees low than in 2023. A lot of footprint initiatives has been decided to get full effect of synergies and also to increase efficiency. Looking into 2025, we will continue that journey And we have put aside one offs in the June of SEK 40,000,000 to cover that in 2025. We expect the soft demand to continue in the first half of twenty twenty five, but we are cautiously [indiscernible] that business globally will take up take off in the second half. Top line expected to be 8.7% to €9,300,000,000 EBITDA in the range of €590,000,000 to €650,000,000 And that's including the expected one off of €40,000,000 We have all time high project pipeline really to support our future.

A lot of interesting customers are knocking on the door with GPV, and we are quite optimistic on the future potential of GPV. Moving on from GPV to high loss spec map. We experienced at that high respect that really delivered very strong results in in rather difficult markets. Top line was up 2%. To a €3,000,000,000 turnover. That was really a mark for for Heide to pass that €3,000,000,000 turnover continued very good traction in renewables. EBITDA also increased 5% up to [indiscernible] Euros Across the board in Hydaspekme, we experienced very high efficiency strong cost control throughout the company. And we continue to see benefits from the investments from previous years and also synergies from the acquisition of Weimar. Hydaspegma is preparing for future and adjusting both footprint and costs. We expect one off costs of that exercise of the June of €30,000,000 in 2025 However, a sale of a previous production facility in Poland will be able to offset part of these one off costs We expect to continue to grow Hydrospectma and build profitability also in 2025. Top line EUR 2,900,000,000.0 to EUR 3,200,000,000.0 EBITDA in the range of €340,000,000 to €370,000,000 euros We also pushed hard at Hydra spectrum to continue to drive innovation and look for new solution provider opportunities across its markets.

Then moving on to Bo, Paul managed to deliver growth in a market with really fierce competition, particularly strong competition on some of our key products top line, however, up 5% to 2,000,000,000 especially our Newman segment and what we call low volume segments drove this uplift EBITDA also up 11% to SEK 171,000,000 Here, we saw the effect of product mix and also efficiency with a very positive effect. However, our salaries in Poland increased significantly. That's been very difficult to offset these very large increases in our pricing. But always, building an even stronger position in the best cost countries We acquired ERT in Tunisia a company that has been supplying both with the status and alternators over the last years, but now we are 100% in control. Of this company, and we really intend to develop that platform even further. Bo expects, despite very tough competition, to grow market share top line expected in the range of €2,100,000,000 to €2,300,000,000 EBITDA. In the range of SEK 170,000,000 to SEK 200,000,000 And this guidance is built on full focus on efficiency and utilizing its entire footprint also in best cost countries. Then moving on to Fibrotech's Personal Care, Fibrotech Personal Care is really hampered by declining Asian markets.

We are, as you know, rather big with the two large factories in Malaysia. Flat top line of SEK 1,900,000,000.0. That is despite a volume increase of 4% coming from Specialty our European markets. They performed very well and underlined also Fibertex Personal Care's very strong position in these markets. EBITDA, however, down 29% to $187,000,000 we had saw full effect of very low margins in Asia. Also a negative effect from lower volumes and efficiency in Asia. When we also decided to close down temporary one of our factories in Malaysia and one of cost from that is also in the actual EBITDA figures. We have a full focus on regaining volume and utilize our Malaysia capacity, trying to open new geographies, new markets, driving innovation, Maybe we have seen that the demand, the soft demand in Asia is start to bottom out. Let's see, but could be potential that in 2025, we would see a small take up in the market. Top line, expected to be SEK 1,400,000,000.0 to SEK 1,600,000,000.0. Again, building on Asia low volume in Asia, EBITDA 132 to EUR 160,000,000 also impacted by our rejection of very low margin contracts. In the Asian market.

Then last but not least, our private action on bones continued to grow despite challenging U. S. Markets top line increased 4% to SEK 2,200,000,000.0 and our volumes were up 10%, especially our European segments have been doing very well, continue to do very well. We also saw satisfying EBITDA development up 15% to SEK194 million. Here, positive effect from margin management and product mix. Tight cost control in general and then negative effect from a difficult production start up and low profitability in U. S. However, productivity and efficiency in U. S. Are really improving. We have full focus on lifting profitability in The U. S. Over the coming years. Fibertex nonvone has a very attractive customer pipeline in U. S. And we intend to deliver on that. And then, of course, continue to drive efficiency and output. Fibrotech's nonvolumes expect to build on strong platform and continue to grow top line €2,300,000,000 to €2,500,000,000 and EBITDA in the range of €200,000,000 to $230,000,000 Then just a few words on our CapEx investments. As you all know, Skoln company, we have over the years invested quite significantly in capacity. It's part of our business model to secure sufficient capacity in the markets.

But we continue to have very strong focus on capital We reduce our net working capital and then continue to be prudent on the CapEx and spendings throughout twenty twenty. Twenty five. As you see here, we expect CapEx a little higher in 2025 than in 2024, but let's see what happens over the year. But however, also Shaw and its common company continue to grow and invest when needed. So concluding, just looking at the guidance for 2025, I would say that we are cautiously optimistic on 2025 in spite of how the world is looking. We have a very solid and well invested platform. Very important strong and long lasting customer relations And we have throughout all our companies a strong focus on profitability and continuous improvements, meaning turnover expected in the range of 33.4% to €35,900,000,000 and the EBITDA in a range of €2,830,000,000 to €3,120,000,000 And that is, as we speak, what we see, and that's what we guide and we are we are optimistic on our solid platform. So with these closing remarks, I would like to open up for questions.

Yes. Thank you for taking my questions. I have a couple of questions. So I will take them one by one.

Yes. I think I'll start off with a question to the announcement you came with in connection with the Q2 report regarding a possible several listing Beimab because this has obvious reasons attracted some attention So any flavor and comments you could provide on that? And if possible, at timeline on when you expect to have a final decision on the outcome? Of this evaluation would be much appreciated.

Yes, we are still thank you for the question. I mean, we're still as I said, investigating and working hard on it. We have nothing more really clear to say expect that it can early be second half of twenty twenty five if we are doing something. But of course, decision gets closer and closer on and a lot of work is is really going on considering what to do.

Okay. So can you say, should we expect a decision before the summer or you be any specific on that part?

To be honest, I would very much like to give you a specific date and so on, but we don't do that because then we know you'll remember. We work hard on it and we also it's also important for the company and everyone that we really push on and get a decision taken. So everyone knows where they are. But we are working hard on it, but confirmation of dates or anything. All right. That's fair. So the next question is also on Biomar.

So as you mentioned, Bauma delivered a very strong performance throughout 2024 with an EBITDA margin at the upper end of your long term ambition of this 7% to 9%. And you're guiding implicitly for an EBITDA margin of 9.2% from 2025 So is this ambition now a bit conservative Or do you still see this range as the, let's say, sustainable level in the longer term?

Yes. I think as we speak, we do because you also know that this mark [indiscernible] also a matter of of market mix, product mix and so on. We are in as usually, in a huge contract negotiation And we have had very good positions over the last years. But But I just think when we think still that we have a good mix a good positions and so on. But we think it's around that area where we could be also long Okay. [indiscernible] as mentioned, in 2024, Beaumont, you had a very strong focus on profit [indiscernible] on volume growth now that you have entered into long term contracts especially in Norway and improved profitability within these?

Yes. No, it's a very interesting question. Of course, we elaborated a lot on that because also how low in brackets can you go on volume before it really starts to hamper your efficiency and so on. And And we intend to grow, but we have not changed at all on our profit growth mindset. But we have capacity to grow a little bit more, and we will try to push Okay. So just a quick follow-up on this because as you mentioned the guidance, you're implying revenue in line with 2024. So if you expect volume growth, does this imply that you expect raw material prices to decrease slightly in 2025? Or how should we view this?

Yes. We see the raw material basket might decline and you also see but if you look at our guidance in the upper end of [indiscernible] bit better than 2024, but a lot of things, of course, needs to succeed. But we are cautiously optimistic on the way commercial excellence, market positions and so on are run within Bauma.

Makes sense. And then just one last question on BioMar and then I will jump back in the line. So I'm curious to hear if thoughts on Movius' announcement a few days ago regarding the initiation of a strategic review of their integrated fleet division. Because from a geographical perspective, it seems that there could be potential synergies for Beaumont based on the location of Movis factory in Norway and the location of your two factories And adding movies capacity in Norway could significantly strengthen your your position in the Norwegian market. But I assume movie would require a long term contract to secure feed for their farm in new operations, which might, in my view, be make this less attractive, of course, depending on the contract's terms. So could you provide some insights into your view and this on this and potentially the implication for the market if this strategic review results in a sale.

Yes. So I think it's first of all interesting that movie is out there with this announcement also maybe showing that even it might seem quite commoditized, feed is a complicated business. It requires a lot to be innovative continuously within FEED and so on. So I think interesting move they are doing. We haven't looked too much into it because the announcement first came out the other day, but of course, we know very well the movie operation and their positions and so on. Of course, looking into it, it's something BioMar needs to look into, and then we will take our on that. I think as what the movie is saying is, I I think the intention is quite quite open that they want to get out of feed because they want to invest more upstream in the value. It's chain. And I think they realize that being innovative and efficient in feed production is not just a walk in the park. So we will, of course, evaluate and then let's see.

That's clear. Thank you very much. I will jump back into the line. Thank you, Irmin.

Yes. Also some question from my side. And more question regarding Bauma.

Yes.

You mentioned in your presentation this focus on more profitable contracts. Has this move come to an end or should we also expect further negative volume impact in 2025?

As I said, it an interesting discussion and it has not come to an end because we have also lessons learned that if you really start the volume race then all by a sudden things happens on your margins and so on. But of course also you need to have a sufficient volume and so on. And we have that still. But we could maybe also get more capacity a little more through our factories and so so, of course, we are not denying volume. If it comes within what we call our commercial excellence mindset. So then we would look for more volume also. But we are not going into a market [indiscernible] we tried some years ago. I think that's that's a clear answer to that, but we could take more volume.

I was actually thinking the other way around, Jens. So you've been through some years where you have been saying no to low, no margin orders.

And I guess that there's a constant process But did you still in 2024, due to historical reasons, have some low no margin contracts in your mix. So I. E, if you continue being very strict on your margin assumptions, you will have isolated negative volume impact from that.

Yes.

No, I don't think so, to be honest. No, we don't have that. I think we have a base now. And also, it's difficult because when you get into a contract, you get a certain percentage of the contract. The customers are so big, so you cannot be too small, but maybe there are three three steps or three levels of volume you can take with the customer and so on. So we will not see depending, of course, on if we lost the Epic contract or so on. But we don't expect that. So we won't see any volume decline in 20 intention.

Okay. And then I know you won't say a lot about this strategic review, process obviously, but maybe you could put some color on how there been any discovery? Have there been any woah, that is interesting We can do this or we shouldn't do that.

Not really, to be very open. I don't think we have seen anything that we haven't been around or discussed. Of course, there'll always be things that you get a new insight into, but but not really something that has changed our mindset and so on. So So no, we are just working down the line and preparing ourselves. And of course, decision is coming closer and closer. But no really surprises.

Fair enough. And we're happy for that. Sure. So then margins maybe you could give some color to the margins split or new information about the margins. Both from salmon and shrimp.

Yes. We tried to open more up and try to make it more interesting also by our new four new segments. And you can see we have had a various strong profitability within our Summit segment in 2024, but also, of course, our Shrimp segment is rather big, growing think also you might remember when we introduced the first acquisition of of changed our strategy because to continue to develop the shrimp segment, you need to push harder for volume and build more capacity and so on, thereby we have entered into a lot of very, very big customers shifted our customer focus from bar small with risk to very big, large global oriented customers with security and of course also being prepared to offset a little on our margins.

Fair enough. Then the final question, not to disappoint you, Jens. Of course, I will ask you about unit working capital. Exactly. And congratulation with 2024 and Biomar. But there's always a thought here. GPV is flattish and both even up in Q4 year over year. So what's going on in those two divisions?

Yes. Let me start with Paul, and you're right, Klaus. Paul unfortunately Q4, we produced a lot to stock. Also because of the the demand on Remine were soft So we produced a lot of to stock and cores came in. And we think we are not satisfied. With the net working capital development within BOE management is the same. We have a strong program going on to reduce that over the next half year. However, TPV also the same, but a lot of of pressure also on terms from very large customers because of financing, a lot of things has been going on. So in fact, DBV working with a very, very hard program on also reducing net working capital. And I think also I said at the start when was a little bit I was proud of our net working capital reduction, but I knew also that We cannot stop that. We need to continue the strong push into 2025 and especially the two companies you are naming, Ella mentioning, they need to improve.

Your question on GPV should have a significant tailwind from bringing down the stock, I guess. Yes. And then we'll push out on that. I think you will see that also in 2025. Yes.

Great. Then I know what to ask for the coming quarters, of course. In fact, I intended to say thanks to Klaus, we brought our net working capital down to 500,000,000 And to be honest, pushing is okay because it also gives a good opportunity for us to say, look what they are. Thank you so much, Jens.

Andre? Yes.

Thanks for taking my questions. I also have a few.

So just coming back to this MOVIE announcement. And I just want to be sure does this announcement affect your IPO considerations in any way?

And as we not as we are speaking, but we'll never promise something we can't keep. So of course, we need to look into Because it's such a big move within the business we are in. And you know things could happen and so on. But as we speak, we are still full intentions on not too long time. So that's where we are. But of course, it's a big thing. An interesting announcement.

Okay. And then just another thing around movie. We because they recently acquired the last ownership in NovaSeq. Schouw does that or how will that affect you in I think it's mainly 2026?

You're right.

It is in 2026. As of course, it's one of our good customers. We don't disclose volumes from there, but we have been with Nuversea for many, many years But let's see if something happens on the movie feed or all by a sudden they are not producing [indiscernible] a larger supplier for NovaSea and so on. So a lot of things is in play. But of course, if nothing happened, then we might could lose some of the volume with NuvaSeq, but then there are other opportunities in the market. But you're right.

But is it a profitable customer?

Yeah. It is a problem. We don't have any customers that are not profitable within our business for the time being. It has been part of our commercial excellence really working on that.

Okay.

And then just regarding current trading because we can you comment anything around current trading on both Biomar and GPV?

Yes, I think we maintain the guidance we already came out with in January, and that's of course, things are going as expected. So nothing really new on that. I think, of course, you are always a little bit nervous on what's happening in the world and so on. But we have seen the first two months starting as expected, yes. Underlining our guidance.

Okay. And just follow-up on that, mainly regarding GPV, because I understand that it will be H2 loaded. So have the first month been weak in GPV?

I would not say really weak. I think no, as it expected and not very weak, of course, not a lot of uptake, but It has been soft, but controlled.

Okay.

And then just my last question regarding working cabins surprised about Biomar in 2024.

So is there more that could surprise you to the the upside on working capital in 2025 for biomass specifically?

And so they have worked very well with the net working capital cash flow and so on. So but we continue to push and it's really one of the most important KPIs and focus five also because of in general, it's very good housekeeping that you do that but also, of course, it comes with a cost on interest and things like that to have too high net working capital. So we are pushing hard on it. Continue to do that.

And then just one last question, before, but that's just regarding CapEx for five or six nonwovens. Yes. Just to be sure, so why is it so much higher? And is it worth continuing to spend money here?

Now that's a very relevant question. We are spending on we have already we did already in 2021, we acquired a line that we didn't finalize. We had it literally standing in boxes Now we are finalizing and implementing it at our factory in The Czech Republic. And in fact, it's finished and ready for production in 2025. And in fact, we have a very, very strong pipeline on that. We have sold out on our European businesses and so on. So it's to support capacity there. So in fact, very positive on that, but but it's finalizing the huge investment program we started back in 2021.

Okay. All right.

Can you hear me?

Yes, yes. It's Wade from ICT. Yes, I Yeah. Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Actually, the most questions have been answered. Maybe just a follow-up on the Beomar margin. Could you please comment on your current production utilization? In 2024. Your volume was down in 2024, but please correct me if I was wrong. I can see that what is embedded your revenue guidance and also the current raw material price trend I understand you expect quite a positive volume growth in 2025. Do you expect a better utilization of the production capacity to be in main margin driver or just a a marginal margin driver in 2025?

Yes. Thank you for the question. As I it's rather difficult to really very precise on capacity utilization across the board because it's very different. If you look at the big salmon market, especially Norway, there is a high season thing going on, meaning Q2, Q3, very high season, Q1, low Since we don't utilize a capacity full out, But in the high season, we expect to utilize our capacity full in Norway and so on. And some of the other factories we are quite high on capacity looking into Ecuador where we just put in two new lines, capacity is more or less full and so on. But still, have a few opportunities around and of course, usage [indiscernible] think the most important margin driver will be our constant focus on innovation functional feed, using a much broader based raw material basket that can really move margins a lot. We have capacity to [indiscernible] Capacity to be open.

Okay, great. And is it possible to indicate the share of your long term contracts with your customer?

We don't do that, but we have and where you really work with long term contracts, that's mainly Sam on two markets, three markets. It's in the Salmon segment, let's say it like that. There you work with longer contracts than in the other segments. Then you could also especially in Equatorial, with some of the last customers, look a little bit into long term contracts. But it's not a normal long term contract based industry.

Yes. And how often do you do the price negotiation? The customer.

That also depends on segment. If you look into the split Specialty segment, then you can do it yes, When things happens in the raw materials, although you have a pass on mechanisms in your contracts and so on. So it's a very broad picture on when and how Okay, fair enough. Well, thank you so much. Thank you very much.

Yes, thank you. A few questions from my side, this time on TPV.

So tariffs is, of course, an important topic these days. And if I remember correctly, and please correct me if I'm wrong, The U. S. Accounts for just above [indiscernible] But around €100,000,000 of this amount currently coming from the Mexico plant.

So I assume the impact from tariffs on GPV's performance will not be material, but could you quantify or provide some sensitivity on the expected impact on margins? And also, are any tariffs included in your current guidance both for TPV and for the other companies where this might be relevant?

Yes. Thank you for the question. No, it's not. We haven't included anything because we are still yes, it's still so uncertain. We have rightly activities into The U. S. Delivered from supplied from different factories in GPV. But we have a big Mexico up, a rather large Mexico set up and we have in increased capacity and so on because the pipeline of new customers, new product was very strong. Course, we are also looking into what's going to happen with this. We haven't seen any [indiscernible] yet although some of the customers has been holding back a little bit, but we are investigating and calculating on a we think we can supply U. S. Based customers from other production facilities around the globe. We have full capacity to do it. We are looking into what are we going to do in Mexico and what impact will it have. We don't have a clear picture yet in Middleport. It's really top priority on our agenda now.

Understood. Thank you. A question also on this one off cost that you expect 2025. Are there any specific quarters you expect these materialize in just to have understanding of the phasing.

Yes. We have just announced in Sweden some of the is going to Sweden. We have announced, as you know, there's a lot of things going on when you have to to larger layoffs and so on. So we announced in Sweden that we are going to do things and so on and when they're going to materialize. I'm too I'm not quite sure. But we still expect it to be in the magnitude [indiscernible] not a very clear picture on quarter by quarter. And just one last question from Vermais. Side. Maybe on synergies from the integration of Enix.

Can you provide just a general update on the progress and where you're currently at in terms of the €100,000,000 that you expected in synergies?

Yes. We are more or less in On the target with that, I think it has delivered it. We have been of course, hit by the soft demand but we have been doing most of the things on the sourcing, on the factory footprint. I think the last thing we really need to do now is Sweden that came in with the merger, so we really need to work hard on that. Otherwise, we are more or less on target with it. So, yeah.

Okay.

And is it possible to quantify how much of the total synergies that you have harvested so far?

I would say a rough give and take around 70% to 80%. [indiscernible] Thank you very much. That was very helpful for me. Thank you. [indiscernible] Yes, comments from the chat on defense exposure. We do not have that much exposure. Where we have is hydrospectma. We have production facility in the uncertain speak in the northern part of Sweden where we are next to PAE, we are supplying into BAE and expect really to grow that. So we have also within GPV, we are authorized to supply into defense and so on. And let's see, of course, it's something we are looking into to see if we really can push hard on that because we have a lot of interesting products that could go into defense. We are not that big yet, but we intend to look more into that. And we have opportunities.

Okay.

I think I'm just hearing that there's no more questions not from chat or any other ones. So thanks a lot for everyone listening. Thanks for the questions. And have a nice day. Thank you very much.