Annual rank83
Sweden · Industrials
AQ Group
Business areas span electric cabinets, system products, injection moulding, precision stamping, inductive components, wiring systems and sheet-metal processing.
FY2022–FY2025
FY2022–FY2025
FY2022–FY2025
current context only
Company profile
The industrial systems inside trains, grids, ports and machinery
AQ Group is the listed Swedish parent of a decentralised network of specialised manufacturers. Its companies engineer and manufacture customer-designed components and complete systems, then source, assemble, test and deliver them. Electrical cabinets, harnesses, transformers, sheet-metal structures and moulded parts sit inside trains, commercial vehicles, ports, power grids, data centres and industrial machinery. Production in 17 countries lets local operations stay close to customers while sharing purchasing and logistics across the group.
Products and applications
The product can be a harness, a transformer or the whole machine
Electrical-cabinet units build controls for ship cranes and harbour automation. Wiring operations make signal and power harnesses plus train driver desks and electrical cabinets. Inductive subsidiaries design transformers and reactors up to 22 kV and 12.5 MVA for traction, renewables and data centres. System Products can integrate mechanics, electronics and software into ticket machines, ATMs, packaging equipment and passport automation.
- Open Electrical Cabinets Controls for ship cranes, harbours, motors and food-industry machinery
- Explore complete System Products Ticketing, banking, packaging, printing and passport-automation equipment
- Follow a wiring system into production Harnesses and driver modules from design to tested assembly
- Map the inductive portfolio Transformers, reactors, coils and filters across demanding power applications
- See AQ Trafotek products Dry-type transformers and filters for drives and renewable-energy systems
- ▶ VideoWatch Electrical Cabinets Official English overview of the business area's engineering and production
Manufacturing toolbox
Metal, plastics and electrical work meet under one supplier
Sheet-metal factories handle material from 0.2 to 20 millimetres through laser cutting, punching, pressing, welding, coating and assembly. The injection-moulding network operates more than 120 presses from 25 to 1,500 tonnes and can combine up to four materials in one component. AQ Components Kodara in Pärnu adds friction-stir welding, powder coating and assembled aluminium or steel parts for rail, power and defence applications.
- Open the sheet-metal toolbox Laser, press, weld, finish and assembly capabilities
- Explore injection moulding More than 120 presses, multi-material parts and varied batch sizes
- Meet AQ Components Kodara The official operating-company profile for the Pärnu plant
- Open Kodara's process list Forming, welding, coating and torque-controlled assembly
- ▶ VideoWatch inside AQ Components Exact shop-floor film embedded by AQ Components Kodara
- ▶ VideoWatch Plast Anderstorp Official film of AQ's injection-moulding operation
Plants and geography
Specialised plants combine processes close to customer markets
AQ lists operating companies in 17 countries across four continents. Its wholly owned Chakan operation near Pune combines sheet metal, electrical cabinets and wiring at one site, with processes ranging from robot and friction-stir welding to harness cutting, crimping and high- and low-voltage testing. A 2019 anniversary film follows the group's wiring-system development and Lodz operation as historical context, not as a current footprint count.
- Map AQ's operating companies The current issuer directory across 17 countries and four continents
- Tour the combined India operation Sheet metal, cabinets and wiring at the wholly owned Chakan site
- Read the 25-year history From Aros Quality to acquisitions, greenfields and complete systems
- ▶ VideoWatch AQ Group at 25 Official historical film with wiring development and the Lodz plant
Operating model and strategy
Customer-owned IP becomes a repeatable industrial process
AQ states that customers retain the product intellectual property. The group then builds the industrial route through design, industrialisation, purchasing and logistics, serial production, assembly and testing. Specialised subsidiaries remain decentralised, while group purchasing and production near customers support regional supply chains. AQ is therefore the manufacturer behind a customer's train, crane or data-centre system, not the owner of the finished product brand.
- Understand the business model Components, systems and specialised operating subsidiaries
- Follow the value chain Engineering, sourcing, production, assembly and testing
- Read the 2025 annual report Pages 9-17 and 38: value stages, strategy, applications and customer-owned IP
- See how AQ describes the group Current history, acquisitions and decentralised development
Official profile sources: AQ Group Annual Report 2025 · About AQ Group
Current 2026 update
What is changing at AQ Group in 2026?
AQ Group is turning data-centre and defence demand into a wider production network while integrating Time24, an unusual UK/Czech electrical-cabinet and wiring acquisition.
The change in one sentence
A behind-the-product manufacturer is scaling faster-growth industrial niches across existing plants.
Transformers now run through a four-country ramp, northern Sweden is adding defence and electrification capacity, and Time24 brings two specialist plants with a measurable recovery task.
Four lenses on 2026
The same four-quadrant format used in the Company profile.
01 · Data-centre power
Transformer production becomes a four-country operating network
Data-centre inductive components reached 6% of AQ Group's Q2 sales. Management said transformer output for this market doubled from Q1 across Hungary, Finland, the United States and the Czech Republic, while reported capacity reached 70 systems a month and the ramp continued. The interim report separately says complete systems were delivered from Hungary, Finland and the United States and that AQ's Chinese transformer factories were growing toward the same segment. Customers retain their product intellectual property. AQ's specialist companies industrialise, source, manufacture, assemble and test the components and systems behind it; in inductive components, AQ says it is taking greater design responsibility. The change is therefore not one branded product launch, but a distributed production capability built across existing factories. Seventy systems a month is stated capacity, not disclosed actual monthly output or utilisation.
- Current signalFour-country ramp · 70 systems/month capacity · 6% of Q2 sales
- Why it mattersAQ is converting one specialist capability into a multi-plant platform for power-intensive data-centre infrastructure.
- Q2 operations and Time24 AQ Group · 14 July 2026
- Transformer, defence and customer detail AQ Group · 14 July 2026
- Transformer product context AQ Group · Current official page
- AQ operating model AQ Group · Current official page
02 · Defence and electrification
Northern Sweden gets new machines; programme RFQs remain pre-award
AQ is investing SEK60 million in production equipment and premises in northern Sweden for current and future demand from defence and electrification customers. The company already reported strong defence sales from northern European sites, so the investment should not be described as preceding all defence orders. A separate Q2 slide said several large defence-programme requests for quotation were in the pipeline and that management expected nominations during or after summer. AQ's official English release archive contained no later material operating announcement through 28 August. The evidence states are therefore different: the machines and premises are a committed investment, current defence demand is established, but the cited programme RFQs are not yet disclosed nominations or awards. Later reporting must show which prospective programmes convert and how the new capacity is used.
- Current signalSEK60m committed · current defence demand · programme RFQs still pending
- Why it mattersThe factory commitment is visible now; the strategic payoff depends on programme conversion and utilisation rather than pipeline language.
- Q2 operations and Time24 AQ Group · 14 July 2026
- Transformer, defence and customer detail AQ Group · 14 July 2026
03 · Time24 integration
A £1 cash price opens a two-plant industrial recovery case
AQ acquired Time24 on 11 May for £1 in cash at closing plus redemption of debt; net debt was about £4 million, so £1 was not the transaction's full economic burden. Time24 makes electrical cabinets and wiring systems from Burgess Hill in the United Kingdom and Vizovice in the Czech Republic, mainly for semiconductor and rail customers. The later Q2 report records 135 employees and annual sales of about SEK124 million, superseding the acquisition release's earlier 150-employee figure. From closing through June, Time24 contributed SEK20 million of revenue and a SEK2 million loss after tax, with an operating margin below AQ's average. AQ names Applied Digital, Oxford Instruments and Alstom as customers, but not as new orders. The integration test is whether AQ's wider manufacturing network and process discipline can improve this specialist operation.
- Current signal£1 cash plus debt redemption · two plants · below-average margin
- Why it mattersTime24 adds customers and technical capability, but its unusual entry terms and initial loss make operating improvement observable rather than assumed.
- Time24 acquisition terms AQ Group · 11 May 2026
- Q2 operations and Time24 AQ Group · 14 July 2026
- Transformer, defence and customer detail AQ Group · 14 July 2026
- AQ operating model AQ Group · Current official page
04 · What to watch
Three questions for the next disclosures
The next disclosure should separate installed capacity, programme conversion and integration outcomes.
- Transformer rampDoes actual transformer output continue rising, and does stated capacity move beyond 70 systems a month?
- Defence conversionDo the Q2 programme RFQs become disclosed nominations or awards, and separately, does AQ report how the new northern Swedish capacity is used?
- Time24 recoveryDoes Time24 narrow its loss and below-group margin while integrating its UK and Czech operations into AQ's network?
Annual record
Ranking history
Future editions add rows; they do not rewrite the 2026 record.
| Edition | Measurement period | Rank | Revenue growth | Net-income growth | Stock return |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | FY2022–FY2025 | 83 | +33% | +70% | +228% |