Comments by the CEO and Group President

Strong operating profit improvement

Despite challenging market conditions with uncertainties and geopolitical disturbance in some of our key markets, we had a good start to the year. Sales growth was 3.3% with organic growth of 5.4%. Western Europe and Asia delivered strong growth, US and Middle East was stable, while Africa and Latin America declined.

Gross margin was flat compared to last year 46.2% (46.2), with lower margins on continued deliveries to the strategic customer in India.

Operating expenses were in line with last year when including a one-time redundancy cost of SEK 3.7 million related to the CEO change. Excluding the one-time cost, the operating expenses decreased by 7%. 

Operating margin improved by 2 percentage points to 10.5% (8.5). Excluding the one-time cost the operating margin improved by 4.4 percentage points to 12.9% and operating profit increased with 58%. Cash flow from operating activities improved to SEK 12 million (-9). Liquidity strengthened in the quarter and cash and cash equivalents were SEK 41 million. Cash and available credit facilities amounted to SEK 100 million. 

My first impressions as a new CEO

During my first 16 days, I was struck by the fact that Boule is a company with a good team focused on delivering great customer experience every day. The company enjoys strong brand recognition and a loyal customer base which makes a good foundation for future growth.

Within R&D, Boule has in recent years mainly focused on the development of a new 5-part instrument platform BM900. Based on our current timeline we expect that the instrument will be submitted for validation during the second half of 2024. However, FDA has requested more extensive test samples than initially planned and we now expect an FDA approval and CE marking to be completed during the second half of 2025. With this timeline we expect the first sales from our new platform BM900 to be reported in beginning of 2026.       

Strategic direction

We remain committed to continue our relentless focus on meeting and exceeding the expectations of our customers, strengthening our market presence, develop innovative quality products and to drive cost efficiency.

Over the next few months I will be working with my team to review the current strategy together with the board, an update of what this work leads to will be presented later.

Torben Nielsen

CEO and Group President