Review by the President and CEO
This year started well for Exel. Our order intake, revenue and adjusted operating profit all continued to improve in line with our guidance. The business climate also improved from the previous quarter. Our activities with customers were successful across many of our customer industries, leading to an order intake growth of 21% year on year and coming in at EUR 34.6 million for the quarter. At the end of March, our order backlog stood at EUR 43.3 million, 24% above the comparison period.
Strategic transformation progressing well
During the quarter, we continued to progress our strategic transformation. An important milestone for the Industrial Solutions Business Unit was securing the approximately EUR 10 million order from a major wind turbine manufacturer in South Asia in February for our new factory in India. We are currently working on ramping up deliveries and expect to progressively increase them in the second and third quarters, continuing into 2026.
Another important milestone took place in the Engineered Solutions Business Unit where the closure of our factory in Oudenaarde, Belgium was completed. Production was concluded at the end of March. In line with the requests from many of our customers, production of their profiles has been transferred to our other factories.
Financial performance improved
In the first quarter, our revenue grew by 8% year on year and amounted to EUR 25.3 million despite the impact of strikes in Finland and some delays in deliveries due to the closure of the factory in Belgium.
Two of our strategic focus areas and customer industries, Transportation, and Buildings and infrastructure, reported revenue growth. We are pleased with the growth of 38% year on year in our Transportation customer industry, where deliveries grew to customers preparing for the closure of the Belgium factory. It was also encouraging to see the continued positive development in Buildings and infrastructure, where we saw revenue increase by 13% due to acquisition of several new customers and market progressively improving after a multiple-year slowdown.
Going forward, we expect growth in the Energy customer industry to start showing as we begin to recognize revenue from the spar cap deliveries from India. We are also seeing increased activity and customer interest in defense-related applications.
In addition, profitability continued to steadily improve in line with our guidance for the year. Adjusted operating profit grew by EUR 1.3 million year on year, coming in at EUR 0.7 million for the quarter (-0.6), thanks to our actions to optimize capacity, tight cost control and operational measures.
In line with our strategy, we continue to invest in the growth of our business and in the production ramp-up in India, both of which are visible in our cash flow in 2025. In the first quarter, the closure of our Oudenaarde factory in Belgium and the investments in India affected our net cash flow from operating activities, which amounted to EUR -3.4 million.
Financial guidance for 2025 intact
We maintain our guidance and expect our revenue to increase and adjusted operating profit to increase significantly in 2025 compared to 2024.
The recent turmoil in the global trade and financial markets and continued geopolitical tensions have increased uncertainty in the market. While our order intake has grown, the increased uncertainty may delay customers’ decision-making and slow down order intake and deliveries in the near term.
Exel has own manufacturing in all main geographical regions, including the US, which means that we are resilient to geopolitical changes. We can ensure deliveries to our customers on all continents with established demand for composites.
At Exel, we continue to feel positive about the year 2025 and will continue to implement our strategy to deliver continued positive growth this year.
I would like to thank our customers and investors for their continued trust in us and the whole personnel of Exel for their hard work and commitment to excellence.