Acando Year-end report 2016
FOURTH QUARTER OCTOBER 1–DECEMBER 31, 2016
> Net sales of SEK 633 m (565)
> Operating profit SEK 82 m (62)
> Operating margin 12.9% (10.9)
> Profit after tax was SEK 67 m (60)
> Earnings per share were SEK 0.65 (0.59)
ACCUMULATED JANUARY 1–DECEMBER 31, 2016
> Net sales of SEK 2,206 m (2,115)
> Operating profit SEK 210 m (168)
> Operating margin 9.5% (7.9)
> Profit after tax was SEK 180 m (131)
> Earnings per share were SEK 1.75 (1.27)
> Cash and cash equivalents totaled SEK 72 m (93)
> The Board intends to propose that the AGM resolve to distribute a dividend of SEK 1.30 (1.20) per share, corresponding to a total of about SEK 134 m (123).
Statement by Carl-Magnus Månsson, CEO
We ended the year with continued strong financial trends in all geographies. We continue to grow and raise our margin, and we are proud to deliver the highest operating profit in Acando’s history, representing an increase in profit of 25 percent for the full year. Sales for the fourth quarter of SEK 633 m corresponded to fourth-quarter growth of 12 percent and an operating margin of 12.9 percent made this one of the strongest ever quarters.
Technology is far more than an enabler, it is a driver that creates innovation and efficiency in entirely new ways — for us and for our customers. We have noted in an increasing number of our assignments that the digitalization of products and services coordinates with opportunities in traditional business-process-driven IT. We are noticing how increasingly complex value chains and solutions are being built in shorter timeframes. At these speeds, focus on user behavior becomes an increasingly important element in how solutions are defined and implemented. The pace of change is high and the ability of organizations to mature digitally and maximize the leverage of their investments is becoming a journey of change in itself.
At Acando, we have a unique, collective ability, whereby we combine deep technical expertise with insight into customer and user behavior, where our experience of driving complex, strategic transformative processes at high speed in partnership with our customers becomes the norm, and where our culture of strong individual ownership and a high collective ability give us a unique advantage in how we relate to our customers and partners. Altogether, our perception is that we have never been better positioned to leverage the increasingly rapid digital reality that we live in. We have high credibility with our customers and we attract talent, and these factors have never been more relevant. But we are not resting on our laurels — we continue to challenge ourselves to always be defining new possibilities where we can make a difference.
Over the last year, we have driven driverless buses in Norway, built a digital innovation agency, Itch, created an entirely new digital transformation offering in Germany, put 100 trainees through our program and delivered a modern digital workplace to 100,000 people. We have won all the framework-agreement renewals in Norway, delivered our most complex Microsoft Dynamics project on time and on budget, and won the SAP S4 upgrade project. We have implemented our two largest ever project assignments, created customer insight through advanced data-driven analysis, established industrial IoT and machine learning as skills areas and much more besides.
Acando’s vision is “A more capable world,” and through each assignment we create greater capabilities; in ourselves, our employees, our customers and in our operating environment, and we have only just got started!
This report comprises information that Acando AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Market Act. This information was submitted through the agency of the above contacts for publication on February 8, 2017 at 8:00 a.m. (CET).
For further information, please contact:
Carl-Magnus Månsson, President and CEO
+46 (0)8 699 70 00
Anneli Lindblom, CFO
+46 (0)8 699 70 00
Acando is a consulting company whose business concept is, in partnership with its customers, to create business value by enhancing and streamlining processes, organizations and digital solutions. We stand out due to our ability to combine skills in strategy and business operations with sound technical expertise and deep understanding of how organizations function. The Group has approximately 1,700 employees allocated over five countries. Acando had sales of more than SEK 2 billion in 2016 and is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.