Teqnion: a small Swedish serial acquirer

What is Teqnion and why does it matter to a small holding company?

Teqnion describes itself in its Teqnion 2025 annual report as a company that buys profitable niche businesses with strong cash flow and holds them long term, managing them in a decentralized way. It reports 38 operating subsidiaries at the end of 2025 (30 a year earlier) and 614 full-time-equivalent employees.

It matters because it is a small, listed, cash-funded serial acquirer with a stated hold-forever stance, and its reports give dated numbers year by year. Its market is not a US one. Nasdaq First North Growth Market is described in Yubico's September 2023 company description as a multilateral trading facility, with lighter rules than the main market and a required Certified Adviser. Its 2019 listing release and 2020 year-end report name Redeye as its Certified Adviser.

What did it do, by the numbers?

All amounts are in Swedish kronor (SEK), as reported.

• March 2019 listing. The press release of 29 March 2019 on the share issue reports a new share issue of SEK 80 million at SEK 26 a share, subscribed 515% (about SEK 412 million), with 16,129,710 shares outstanding afterward. It planned about 70% of proceeds for acquisitions and expected first trading on April 4, 2019.
• Net sales. 579.5 million (2019) and 659.1 million (2020) per the 2020 year-end report. Then 920.2, 1,324.8, 1,475.6, 1,567.0 and 1,800.0 million for 2021 to 2025 per the Teqnion 2025 annual report.
• EBITA and margin. 105.6 (11.5%), 146.1 (11.0%), 170.6 (11.6%), 149.7 (9.6%) and 203.1 million (11.3%) for 2021 to 2025.
• Earnings per share. SEK 4.95, 6.84, 7.54, 5.58 and 5.74 for 2021 to 2025.
• Acquisitions. Two companies in 2020 per the 2020 report. Nine in 2025, seven in the UK and two in Sweden, with acquisition cash outflow of SEK 306.9 million (120.7 million in 2024). The annual report describes no share issue in 2025.
• July 2023 placement. The release on the directed share issue of 26 July 2023 (MFN) reports 866,366 new shares at SEK 202, about SEK 175 million, taking shares from 16,272,120 to 17,138,486.
• Targets. Net debt to EBITDA below 2.5, EBITA margin above 9%, and EPS doubled every five years. Net debt to EBITDA was 1.6 for 2025 in the Teqnion year-end report for 2025 (published 14 February 2026, via Inderes).
• Dividend. The board proposes none for 2025, saying the cash can earn excess returns inside the company.

What worked, or what went wrong?

Net sales in 2025 were about 3.1 times 2019. The 2025 EBITA rose 36% and free cash flow before acquisitions was SEK 173.1 million against 77.8 million. Those are the company's figures.

The same reports show the weaker side:

• Organic net sales fell 5% in 2025, and organic EBITA fell 10%. The year-end report says fourth-quarter EBITA, up 92%, was boosted by reevaluated earn-outs.
• The interim report for July to September 2025 records a goodwill impairment of SEK 73 million in two units, Hem1 and Reward Catering, and says Reward Catering entered a liquidation procedure after the quarter. The quarter's profit was a loss of SEK 22.5 million. The report says the impairment affects the result, not cash flow.
• EPS of SEK 5.74 in 2025 compares with 7.54 in 2023. The 2025 equity ratio was 42.8% against 49.9%, and net debt including leases was SEK 433.4 million against 270.2 million.
• In the 2025 annual report, the chief executive wrote that the company had "lost too much momentum in terms of growth and profitability" in parts of the portfolio.

The interim report for April to June 2026 (18 July 2026) shows higher figures than a year earlier: net sales of SEK 517.9 million against 474.5, EBITA of 72.9 million against 53.7, and three acquisitions in the quarter. Organic sales were down 2.8%.

What does and does not transfer to a small holding company?

Four things transfer:

• A pace tied to cash flow. In the July 2023 release on the directed share issue of 26 July 2023 (MFN), the company's CXO said the acquisition pace was roughly at the limit of what its own operating cash flow could fund, and that cash flow and acquisitions come unevenly.
• A written debt ceiling and a margin floor, which Teqnion measures against in each report.
• Raising equity in cash placements, as in 2019 and 2023, while the 2025 report describes no share issue to sellers. Compare stock versus cash in acquisitions.
• A long hold, with no dividend while returns inside the group are high.

The venue and rules do not transfer. A US small holding company faces Rule 144, SEC reporting and Nasdaq or OTC rules instead. See seller stock and Rule 144. Teqnion's scale, with about SEK 1.8 billion of sales, is also far above a first holding company. My view is that the discipline of reporting debt, margin and per-share targets every quarter is the part to copy.

Worked numbers: what two share issues show

The 2019 issue was 3,080,000 shares at SEK 26, or SEK 80.08 million, with about 70% planned for acquisitions, or about SEK 56 million. The 2023 placement was 866,366 shares at SEK 202, or SEK 175.0 million, and the new shares were 5.05% of the 17,138,486 shares afterward. Between the two, the share count moved from 16,129,710 to 16,272,120, so the issue price rose from SEK 26 to SEK 202 with little change in share count. Net sales grew about 2.5 times (2.55) in that span, from SEK 579.5 million in 2019 to SEK 1,475.6 million in 2023. The 2019 figure is from the 2020 year-end report, so the two may not be on an identical basis.

Another check: SEK 306.9 million of 2025 acquisition cash outflow over nine acquisitions is about SEK 34 million each. The reports do not say this line equals purchase prices, so treat it as an average of cash out, not a price.

Where these numbers come from:

Business description, subsidiaries, annual figures, EPS, targets, acquisitions and dividend are from the Teqnion 2025 annual report. The 2025 fourth-quarter and net debt to EBITDA figures are from the Teqnion year-end report for 2025 (published 14 February 2026, via Inderes). The impairment is from the interim report for July to September 2025. The 2026 quarter is from the interim report for April to June 2026 (18 July 2026). The 2019 and 2023 share issues and the CXO comment on acquisition pace are from the press release of 29 March 2019 on the share issue and the release on the directed share issue of 26 July 2023 (MFN). 2019 and 2020 sales are from the 2020 year-end report. The First North description is from Yubico's September 2023 company description. Multiples, growth ratios and per-acquisition averages are this site's arithmetic.

Related questions

Does Teqnion pay sellers in shares?

The 2025 annual report describes no share issue in 2025. It reports acquisition cash outflows of SEK 306.9 million for the year.

Is First North the same as a main market?

No. Yubico's 2023 company description calls it a multilateral trading facility with a lighter rulebook and a Certified Adviser requirement.

Did Teqnion meet its EPS target?

The target is to double EPS every five years. EPS was SEK 4.95 in 2021 and 5.74 in 2025, an increase of about 16% over four years.

What comes next

To compare Teqnion's model with a larger and longer-running one, read Addtech: born from a spin-off or Lifco: a controlled, decentralized compounder.

Related articles

• What is a serial acquirer, and how is it different from a roll-up?
• Lifco: a controlled, decentralized compounder
• Addtech: born from a spin-off
• When does paying with stock beat paying with cash?
• What hurdle rate should a serial acquirer use?

Meraki Dealmakers is a service of Meraki Partners, LLC, an advisory firm. It is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, business broker, law firm or accounting firm. This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice.