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Assa Abloy Quarterly Report Q2 2024

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STOCKHOLM, July 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — 

Strong performance

Second quarter

Net sales increased by 10% to SEK 37,968 M (34,474), with organic growth of –1% (3) and acquired net growth of 11% (6). Exchange- rates affected sales by 0% (8).Organic sales growth was good in Americas and EMEIA, stable in Entrance Systems, but declined in Asia Pacific and Global Technologies.Eight acquisitions with combined annual sales of about SEK 1,000 M were completed in the quarter.Operating income1 (EBIT) increased by 11% and amounted to SEK 6,085 M (5,500), with an operating margin of 16.0% (16.0).Net income1 amounted to SEK 3,927 M (3,731).Earnings per share1 amounted to SEK 3.54 (3.36).Operating cash flow amounted to SEK 5,604 M (6,671).

Sales and income 

Second quarter

First half-year

2023

2024

Δ

2023

2024

Δ

Sales, SEK M

34,474

37,968

10 %

66,865

73,168

9 %

Of which:

Organic growth

897

–349

–1%

3,115

–1,111

–2 %

Acquisitions and divestments

2,002

3,925

11 %

3,346

7,532

11 %

Exchange-rate effects

2,109

–83

0 %

4,346

–118

0 %

Operating income (EBIT)1, SEK M

5,500

6,085

11 %

10,686

11,512

8 %

Operating margin (EBITA)1, %

16.6 %

16.9 %

16.6 %

16.6 %

Operating margin (EBIT)1, %

16.0 %

16.0 %

16.0 %

15.7 %

Income before tax1, SEK M

5,054

5,236

4 %

9,898

9,852

0 %

Net income1, SEK M

3,731

3,927

5 %

7,423

7,389

0 %

Operating cash flow, SEK M

6,671

5,604

–16%

10,741

8,701

 –19%                  

Earnings per share1, SEK

3.36

3.54

5 %

6.68

6.65

0 %

1 Excluding items affecting comparability. Please see the “Items affecting comparability” section in the report for further details about the financial effects in 2024. For information about items affecting comparability in 2023, please see the Year-end report 2023, available at assaabloy.com.   

Comments by the President and CEO

Strong performance
Today we announce strong results in a challenging market environment. Our sales grew 10%, driven by very strong acquired net growth of 11%, while organic sales declined 1% and the operating margin was strong at 16.0%. The continued solid non-residential development in the US contributed to good organic sales growth of 3% in the Americas division while EMEIA’s organic sales grew 1%. In Entrance Systems, organic sales were flat, where much lower demand for loading docks in the US were offset by strong growth in Pedestrian. Organic sales in Asia Pacific and Global Technologies declined by 5% and 7% respectively. The decline in Asia Pacific was mainly because of continued low construction activity in China, while high comparable sales figures last year due to the backlog catchup in Physical Access Control remained a challenge for Global Technologies.

The operating profit increased by 11% to SEK 6,085 M, corresponding to an operating margin of 16.0%. Strong operational execution through implementation of cost actions of about SEK 300 M, continued strong price realization, lower direct material costs and HHI contributed to the strong bottom line performance. The operating cash flow was excellent in the quarter, SEK 5,604 M, with a cash conversion of 107%.

Acquired growth is a key pillar for our growth strategy
To deliver on our 10% annual growth target we work with strategic activities shared across our divisions. One of these activities is to continue our acquisition journey. This has been a vital part of our strategy since the foundation, and it is further underscored by the strong growth in the first half of 2024. After a record of 24 acquisitions in 2023, we have closed another 11 acquisitions in the first six months of 2024. Given our robust pipeline and strong financial performance, we can continue our successful acquisition strategy. We are also convinced that the combination of our well-structured M&A process, our local knowledge and clear-cut investment criteria, provide a solid base for continued synergy realization while also enabling accelerated organic growth over time.

This report marks the one-year anniversary of ASSA ABLOY becoming the proud owner of HHI. Since the consolidation last year, I’ve had the opportunity to visit most of HHI’s facilities and factories. This has left me with a very good impression of the operations, the HHI team and all the opportunities going forward. The integration of HHI continues according to plan and we are even more confident than a year ago that we will be able to realize USD 100 M in synergies. It is also encouraging that HHI, on a standalone basis in the quarter, delivered a high-single digit sales growth with a sequentially improved operating margin. We are confident that this positive trend will continue.

We can look back on a strong financial performance in the first half of 2024 and I am convinced that the Group is in an excellent position to continue to lead the industry and generate significant value for all our stakeholders.
 
Stockholm, July 17, 2024

Nico Delvaux
President and CEO

Further information can be obtained from:

Nico Delvaux,
President and CEO, tel. no: +46 8 506 485 82

Erik Pieder,
Executive Vice President and CFO, tel.no: +46 8 506 485 72

Björn Tibell,
Head of Investor Relations, tel. no: +46 70 275 67 68, e-mail: bjorn.tibell@assaabloy.com 

ASSA ABLOY is holding a telephone and web conference at 09.00 on July 17, 2024 which can be followed online at assaabloy.com/investors.

It is possible to submit questions by telephone on: 08–505 100 31, +44 207 107 0613 or +1 631 570 5613

This information is information that ASSA ABLOY AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Markets Act. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 08.00 CEST on July 17, 2024.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/assa-abloy/r/quarterly-report-q2-2024,c4015788

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Trip.com Group Sincerely Accepts Administrative Penalty Decision Issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China

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SINGAPORE, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM; HKEX: 9961) today announced that it has received the administrative penalty decision issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China.

Trip.com Group sincerely accepts the decision and will adopt rectification measures in accordance with applicable laws and regulations to implement the decision’s requirements. The Company will strengthen its long-term governance mechanisms and strive to contribute to the sustainable development of the travel industry.

Trip.com Group’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time on July 27, 2026 (or 8:00 PM Hong Kong Time on July 27, 2026).

The conference call will be available on Webcast live at: http://investors.trip.com.

All participants must pre-register to join this conference call using the participant registration link below:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BIb78e08d8f18340c4882a7e4ab961906b.

Upon registration, each participant will receive details for this conference call, including dial-in numbers and a unique access PIN. To join the conference, please dial the number provided, enter your PIN, and you will join the conference instantly.

For further information, please contact:
Investor Relations
Trip.com Group Limited
Email: iremail@trip.com

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SOURCE Trip.com Group Limited

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NAVER Partners with Brookfield and NVIDIA to Expand Korea’s National AI Factory Infrastructure Buildout

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — NAVER, Brookfield and NVIDIA announced an expansion of Korea’s sovereign AI factory infrastructure. New investments will increase the initial NVIDIA DSX™ AI factory deployment from 55 megawatts to 200 megawatts.

Announced during Korea President Jae Myung Lee’s AI Summit visit to San Francisco, the planned 200-megawatt expansion will be built with the NVIDIA DSX platform at NAVER’s GAK Sejong hyperscale data center in Sejong, South Korea. The expanded infrastructure will provide Korea- and U.S.- based AI innovators with access to production-scale AI compute for building next-generation models, agents and AI-powered services.

Under the terms of the agreements, Brookfield will fund up to $9 billion as the exclusive capital partner, NVIDIA will invest $1 billion and NAVER will fund the remaining amount to finance the $10 billion project.

This builds on NAVER’s June announcement to extend its GAK Sejong data center with NVIDIA DSX, with a long-term path to gigawatt-scale sovereign AI infrastructure serving Korea’s enterprises, industries, government organizations and global AI cloud customers. Combining Brookfield’s capital with NVIDIA’s computing platform, the investment supports NAVER’s AI factory deployment.

“NVIDIA’s strategic investment and our infrastructure supply agreement with Brookfield have propelled NAVER’s vision for the AI Factory business into a robust execution phase,” said Haejin Lee, Founder and Chairman of NAVER. “Leveraging the solid partnerships with our global partners, we will drive technological innovation, foster a sovereign AI ecosystem, and spearhead efforts to strengthen South Korea’s AI competitiveness.” 

AI Factory Expansion and Open Model Collaboration to Fuel AI Innovators

NAVER, as an NVIDIA Cloud Partner, provides deep expertise in operating hyperscale infrastructure powered by the full-stack NVIDIA AI platform. The 200-megawatt AI factory, featuring NVIDIA Vera Rubin and Blackwell platforms, will establish a dedicated resource pool for emerging AI companies, providing the compute, software and support needed to develop and deploy competitive AI models and applications at scale.

This expanded infrastructure also builds on NAVER and NVIDIA’s collaboration on open model development for agentic and physical AI. NAVER is advancing its HyperCLOVA X models to be based on NVIDIA Nemotron™ 3 Ultra open models with its proprietary data and training expertise. NAVER is also the first Korean company to join the NVIDIA Nemotron Coalition, contributing to open model development across pretraining, post-training and reinforcement learning.

NAVER plans to launch an AI agent platform in Korea in the second half of the year, powered by NVIDIA Agent Toolkit software including NVIDIA NemoClaw™ blueprints. NAVER is also developing a Seoul World Model using proprietary urban street-view and spatial modeling data, built on NVIDIA Cosmos™ world foundation models.

About NAVER

Founded in 1999, NAVER is Korea’s largest Internet company and one of the world’s top tech companies. Leading cutting-edge technologies, NAVER operates the No.1 search engine in Korea and holds various business portfolios encompassing commerce, fintech, cloud, AI and robotics.

NAVER recorded sales of KRW 12.04 trillion (USD 8.18 billion) in 2025. TEAM NAVER continues to enhance its business portfolio and expand its global presence across Japan, North America, and Europe, while pursuing innovation through continuous research and development in future technologies.

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SOURCE NAVER

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Beijing Review: Walking Through Time: China and U.S. Youths Explore Dali’s Past and Future

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BEIJING, July 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — On July 17, a China-U.S. youth delegation came to Dali of Yunnan Province. By examining how Dali’s rich history intersects with modern development, the delegates explored new pathways for rural development.

They visited Dali Old Town, tried their hand at making the Bai people’s Three-Course Tea and also explored the ancient town of Xizhou, where they learned how modern tourism and indigenous life coexist.

In Yunnanyi Village, they explored its history as a stop along the Tea Horse Road and learned about the role it played during the Second World War (WWII).

Tyler James Smith

“I think it’s a very underappreciated part of World War II history. Hearing these stories of different countries working together despite cultural differences is incredibly inspiring.

I also think there are many stories like these that haven’t been widely told, simply because World War II is such a complex period in history. That’s why I think it’s so meaningful to visit museums like this and experience these stories firsthand.”

At Xiangyun Economic and Technological Development Zone, they visited a local new energy company to see how green, low-carbon development is driving regional growth.

Valerie Marie

“I recently started studying energy transitions. I know China has been really big in the renewable energy sector. So actually getting to hear more about [China’s] 2060 [pledge], learning more about carbon neutrality [goals], as well as other zero-carbon goals, was cool.”

During their stay in Dali, they also strolled along the Erhai Lake Ecological Corridor.

Bai Yiwen

“I’d describe this journey as “to be continued,” because my own connection with Yunnan is far from over. For the U.S. delegates, this was only their first visit, so they’ve only had a glimpse of what Yunnan has to offer. I hope they will have more opportunities to come back to China, explore other cities in Yunnan, and discover even more of its people, culture and traditions.”

After Dali, the delegates will visit Beijing for more tours and exchanges. The event was co-hosted by China International Communications Group (CICG) Center for the Americas and the U.S.-based International Student Conferences.

https://x.com/beijingreview/status/2080104404552663067?s=46&t=yfVMVdMyE2zKAFrYaLoV-g

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1EtGCCKzy4/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.tiktok.com/@cachinachic/video/7665536913532587294?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7227134149436605995

https://youtu.be/jGONWTqwduc?is=KfL-Zn3HyVYE-KEm

Contact: Jiaweibellapeng@163.com

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/beijing-review-walking-through-time-china-and-us-youths-explore-dalis-past-and-future-302834587.html

SOURCE Beijing Review

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