Beat on adj. EBIT but lower OCF Adj. EBIT up 8.9-9.8% for '25e-'26e Trading at 5.6x '25e EV/EBIT
Higher volume but lower ASP
Boule Diagnostics ended the year with sales of SEK 143.2m (+2% vs. ABGSCe 140.6m), organic growth of -1.8% (ABGSCe -4.3%), a gross margin of 44.6% (ABGSCe 47.1%) and improved opex. Excluding one-off restructuring charges, the gross margin in Q4 was 45.9%. While the ASP was lower than expected (SEK 35.8k vs. ABGSCe 42.5k), the number of instruments sold was higher (1,144 vs. ABGSCe 780), resulting in a small beat on sales. Management's recent focus on improving opex is starting to bear fruit, with opex 7% below our expectations. Operating cash flow improved sequentially in Q4 to SEK 15.1m (SEK 5.2m in Q3'24), but with total capex in Q4 of SEK 22.8m (SEK 20.8m in R&D capitalisation), FCF continues to be held back. As of 31 December, the company had SEK 22.7m in cash and an additional SEK 34.8m in credit facilities.