<a id="bm-comp-02c827a2-6f5e-4a11-9673-9933b217954c" name="bm-comp-02c827a2-6f5e-4a11-9673-9933b217954c" class="BMCustomAnchor"></a><table><tr><td bm-component-id="02c827a2-6f5e-4a11-9673-9933b217954c" style="vertical-align: top; width:100.000000%;"><ul><li>ABGSC hosted CEO Samuel Alteborg at our SMC seminar</li><li>Finland and Sweden driving recovery...</li><li>...while Norway remains sluggish</li></ul></td></tr></table><a id="bm-comp-7bcd11dd-47a9-496b-8c34-fb26ce2dcc79" name="bm-comp-7bcd11dd-47a9-496b-8c34-fb26ce2dcc79" class="BMCustomAnchor"></a><table><tr><td bm-component-id="7bcd11dd-47a9-496b-8c34-fb26ce2dcc79" style="vertical-align: top; width:100.000000%;"><h3 class="bm-h3">New CEO, strategy firmly anchored</h3><p>Today, CEO Samuel Alteborg presented at ABGSC's Small & Mid Cap Seminar in Stockholm. He took up the CEO post on 1 June, joining from Cramo, a facility and equipment rental company. Mr Alteborg made a confident impression at the presentation. He was explicit about not intending to start a cultural revolution, with the operational strategy and financial targets left unchanged (organic growth above 5%, adj. EBITA margin above 10%, ND/EBITDA below 3x and a 30-50% payout ratio). He confirmed his commitment both to the core offering (Swedol and Tools, ~80% of sales) and to continued expansion of the non-integrated businesses (~20% of sales), acquired across separate technology areas since the group was formed. Asked about new verticals of interest for the non-integrated segment, he named chemicals.</p><h3 class="bm-h3"><strong>Finland's recovery ahead of plan</strong></h3><p>Finland's margin recovery has run ahead of our expectations, with an adj. EBITA margin of 7.0% in Q2'26, up 2.3pp y-o-y and 4.5pp sequentially. Management described the recovery as broad-based, spanning industrial customers and a returning SME segment. We find it particularly impressive, given that two large industrial customers were phased out during Q1. The strong development in Finland matches what serial acquirer Karnell said at an earlier seminar today, also displaying a strong Q2 in the country. Norway stayed sluggish, with oil and gas held back by lower investment. In Sweden, management continues to describe customers as cautious, with smaller basket sizes. This is mainly attributed to lower volume per visit and is concentrated in the SME cohort that has historically been the core of the segment. Mr Alteborg argued that broadening the customer base should reduce that sensitivity. The quarter was nonetheless the third consecutive quarter of organic growth, and management sees the market gradually improving. On store expansion, Mr. Alteborg noted that the group does not necessarily need more stores, but rather a better distribution of the ones it has.</p><h3 class="bm-h3">Valuation</h3><p>The share has fallen 3% over the past three months, against a 3% gain for the OMXSPI, and now trades at 12x-10x adj. EBITA on our '26e and '27e.</p></td></tr></table>