Q4/FY 2025 - Lifco AB - Full Analysis
Q4 EBITA boosted by insurance claim - forward shareholder returns still unattractive
Before the bell, Lifco reported its Q4/FY 2025 results. At the time of writing, the stock’s trading down 1.5% at 305 SEK. In July 2024, we published our deep dive, focusing on - as we always try to do - the key drivers of value.
Underlying EBITA Margin Reveals Some Surprising Softness
In a nutshell, FY 2025 was yet another solid year for Lifco on the acquisition front, while we assumed organic EBITA growth trends had been improving sequentially throughout the year until Q3.
In Q4, reported EBITA margin was 22.8%, down 13 bps versus Q4 2024. However, this Q4 2025 included a one-time insurance claim related to a fire incident at one of Lifco’s subsidiaries some time ago - which CEO Waldemarson mentioned during the Q&A session (not in his prepared remarks). This claim was booked under other income, amounting to say 45-50 million SEK.
Excluding this, like-for-like EBITA margin actually dropped 70-75 bps despite strong M&A accretion (being positive with about 50-60 bps). As always, there were some organic mix effects but it was surprising to witness more variability as end markets continue to stabilize.