Objectives & Strategy
Financial targets and target achievement
Sales growth
Financial target:
Average sales growth shall amount to a minimum of 10% per year over a business cycle. Growth is to be achieved organically as well as through acquisitions.
Target achievement:
During the last five-year period, average annual sales growth was 12%. Net sales increased 2% in 2024. Comparable units decreased by 1%, acquisitions/divestments had a positive impact of 3%, and currency movements had a marginal impact.
EBITA margin
Financial target:
The EBITA margin shall amount to a minimum of 14% per year over a business cycle.
Target achievement:
The EBITA margin has averaged 14.6% over the last five years. The EBITA margin in 2024 was 14.4%.
Return on capital employed
Financial target:
The return on capital employed shall be a minimum of 20% per year on average over a business cycle.
Target achievement:
During the last five years the average return on capital employed was 21%. In 2024 it was 19%.
Net debt/equity ratio
Financial target:
The net debt/equity ratio should normally not exceed 100%.
Target achievement:
During the last five years, the net debt/equity ratio at the end of each year ranged from 49% to 67%. The net debt/equity ratio at year-end 2024 was 49%.
Dividend payout ratio
Financial target:
The dividend payout ratio shall range from 30% to 50% of net profit.
Target achievement:
During the last five years, the dividend payout ratio has been an average of 38%, including the proposed dividend for 2024. For 2024, a dividend of SEK 3.00 has been proposed, corresponding to 40%.
The Group's overall goal is to generate sustainable profitable growth.
Strategic direction
Indutrade’s overall strategic direction is to capture the organic growth potential that exists in our companies and increase our ability to make more successful acquisitions. The starting point for it all is our business model: developing and acquiring successful companies managed by passionate entrepreneurs.
Strategic focus areas
People development
We facilitate long-term growth in our companies by focusing on continuous leadership and competence development, inclusive and productive work groups and workplaces where employees thrive, and always prioritising health and safety. For example, Indutrade works proactively with development programmes and training, succession planning, recruitment, diversity and inclusion.
Knowledge-sharing
Indutrade makes it possible for companies to derive benefits from the collective expertise that exists in the Group. Companies belonging to the Group enrich each other and are given opportunities for exchanging valuable knowledge via networking opportunities and internal benchmarking. Indutrade has also developed a digital communications platform where best practice and tools are available in several strategic areas, such as strategy planning, pricing, working capital efficiency, IT security and sustainability.
Decarbonisation as a business opportunity
Indutrade puts much emphasis on accelerating the Group’s contribution to reduce global warming and we see it as a business opportunity. We do this by having our companies work proactively to lower their carbon footprint and by ensuring that our companies, through innovation and business development, are on the forefront with products and solutions that help customers lower their carbon footprint.
Professional ownership
We exercise active ownership primarily through the Boards of Directors of our subsidiaries with the aim of developing them, generating sustainable value growth and contributing to society. As an active and professional owner, we work in a structured way through our business areas and the Boards of Directors of our subsidiaries to develop our leaders and inject both knowledge and capital so that companies have everything they need for being able to choose the right strategic direction, invest in product development and improve their customer offerings.
Scalability
In order to ensure the Group's ability to identify, acquire and support a continuous inflow of new companies to the Group, we work to stepwise and proactively improve our organisational capacity. The work includes, among other things, ongoing evaluation and development of the business areas and their business units, to ensure the right board composition for our companies and to enable more efficient processes and routines through shared working methods in selected areas.
Progress in 2024
Change in Group structure to five international business areas with a clear strategic focus on different business segments and technologies.
Further development of the new business areas, including resource enforcements and new board compositions in the companies.
Establishment of a new leadership structure under the business areas, with senior key employees in the Group being responsible for their own business segments.
Further development of the Group’s various programmes for leadership development, including a new programme focusing on CFOs.
Steady increase in acquisition capability, including added resources in Germany and Italy.
Preparations for the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), including a completed double materiality analysis.
Work to fulfil the criteria in Science Based Targets initiative, and validation of the updated climate targets.
Acquisition strategies
Growth via acquisition of stable, profitable and entrepreneur-driven technology and industrial companies has always been a key component of Indutrade's business model. The acquisition strategy has been successful and is continuously developed to ensure long-term, sustainable value creation.
Opportunity-oriented
Indutrade has an opportunity-oriented acquisition strategy. We acquire well-managed, successful and typically owner-led technical and industrial companies. We are also open to considering companies in different industries and markets and sometimes also make smaller add-on acquisitions through our existing companies to strengthen market positions. A central feature of the acquisition process is to ensure that there is a shared foundation of values and ethical principles.
Organic growth potential
Indutrade puts a great deal of emphasis on a company’s ability to continue generating profitable organic growth. Particular focus is put on identifying and acquiring companies that are active in a segment with structural growth, such as medical technology and pharmaceuticals, as well as companies with products that make a positive contribution to the green technology transition.
Geographic expansion
Indutrade has a strong presence in the Nordic countries and Western Europe and this is where we primarily intend to make our future acquisitions, with greater focus on Germany and northern Italy. Gradually and in a well thought-out manner, we can enter new geographic areas when the right acquisition candidate is identified and we have ensured that we have the necessary market knowledge.
Gradual increase in acquisition capabilities
As Indutrade grows, we continuously strive to ensure that we have the right prerequisites for being able to manage more acquisitions in an efficient way, without compromising on the quality of the evaluation process. Among other things, the work involves identifying, recruiting and developing talent in our acquisition teams.
Structured lead generation
Indutrade has a continuous inflow of new, interesting acquisition candidates, both from its own internal network and from external brokers and business advisers. In recent years, we have strengthened our acquisition teams in the business areas, partly in order to further increase the proportion of acquisition candidates generated via our internal network.
Differentiated pricing model
Indutrade's basic principle is always to acquire 100% of the shares in a company and for the acquisition to be completed at a price that makes the deal value-creating for both parties. In order to create continued financial incentives for key people in the acquired company, there are typically agreements on additional earn-out payment, which means that additional payment will be made if the company reaches a certain level of profitability after the acquisition. Indutrade will continue further developing the price model with a stronger link between price and the organic growth potential of companies.