Interim report January–September 2015

“Providing knowledge about how to work with and analyse data has always been at the
core of Bisnode’s business, and we constantly develop our products and operations to enable
our customers to gain actionable insights from smart data.”

FINANCIAL SUMMARY JULY-SEPTEMBER 2015

• Revenue amounted to SEK 822m (823)
• Organic revenue growth –1.7 per cent (0.2)
• Operating profit EBITA of SEK 57m (66)
• Profit before tax totalled SEK 12m (–7) which correspond to earnings per share of SEK 0.1 (–0.2)

FINANCIAL SUMMARY JANUARY-SEPTEMBER 2015

• Revenue amounted to SEK 2,572m (2,547)
• Organic revenue growth –0.3 per cent (–0.9)
• Operating profit EBITA amounted to SEK 160m (181)
• Profit before tax totalled SEK 53m (–63) which correspond to earnings per share of SEK 0.3 (–1.0)

IMPORTANT EVENTS

• Bisnode has acquired SN4 International Oy (SN4), a leading provider of Customer Experience Management and Marketing Automation technology to companies in various industries. The acquisition was completed in early July 2015.
• On 1 September 2015 Bisnode’s new Group CEO, Magnus Silfverberg, started his position. Magnus brings fifteen years of experience from leading positions in innovative businesses and was most recently CEO of Betsson Group. With Magnus joining the Bisnode Group, we add strong experience in business development, leadership and sales that will further strengthen the company going forward.
• In September, Denmark’s third largest debtor register was acquired from DKS as an asset deal purchase. Through the acquisition Bisnode’s Danish operations will become even stronger in areas such as small and medium-sized enterprises in the market for credit information.
• In October, Bisnode acquired the operations of AIS Nordic and expands the capacity to deliver Smart Data within vehicle information. AIS Nordic provides high quality services within vehicle data, such as registration-number searching, which simplifies and provides quality-assurance for the matching of spare parts, tires, accessories etc. to the correct vehicle.

COMMENTS FROM THE CEO

I joined Bisnode as Group CEO on 1 September and I am pleased to present my first report and comments. The world is entering an era of continuously smarter computers and greater possibilities for building insights from data. Data is the new natural resource of our time, but it needs refining to create customer value and actionable insights.

It is about matching and analysing our data with our customers’, as well as all of the events and signals created in the new digital world we live in. This creates major business opportunities, but also calls for finding the reliable and experienced partner to work with; a partner who know how to work with data, how to match data, how to gain insights from data in order to make the right decisions and how to treat data with respect.

Providing knowledge about how to work with and analyse data has always been at the core of Bisnode’s business, and we constantly develop our products and operations to enable our customers to gain actionable insights from smart data.

To be able to capture the full potential of the market transformation and new business opportunities, we need to transform our own business to create sustainable growth and profitability. In order to do so, I have initiated a strategy process to mark out Bisnode’s way forward to position ourselves as “pioneering Smart Data to enable our customers to make Smart Decisions”. The strategy process will be finalised during Q4 and in our year-end report, I will be presenting more information about our future strategic path.

Our organic revenue growth for the third quarter was–1.7% (0.2), leading to organic revenue growth for January-September 2015 of –0.3% (–0.9). This was a disappointment after the good development in the second quarter, which reiterates the need to move ahead with our ongoing business transformation. The only Business Areas showing positive organic revenue growth in the quarter were Finland/Estonia and DACH.

Our Swedish business had, once again, weaker revenue development than expected for the quarter. This indicates that a transformation is very much needed. On the positive side, September showed signs of increasing strength.

Norway had a weak quarter in terms of organic revenue growth. A large part of this is explained by the fact that September 2014 was an exceptionally strong month. The organic revenue growth was also affected by the conversion from one-time sales to a more subscription-based offering.

In Finland/Estonia our business showed considerable strength. It is mainly our credit business that is growing, but the recently acquired SN4 has also started to positively influence our marketing solutions offering.

A strong trend was broken when our Danish business showed negative organic revenue growth in the quarter.This comes from a major re-organisation of the sales team in order to be better suited for the future.

After a long period of steady growth, our Central European business showed negative organic revenue growth for the quarter. This is mainly an effect of a conversion from onetime sales to subscription-based sales, in line with that carried out in Norway.

The DACH Region was Bisnode’s best performing area in the third quarter, from a revenue growth perspective, which is especially positive considering the negative development we saw in 2014. The markets in Germany and Switzerland showed the main positive effects, while Austria is still lagging behind.

During the summer Bisnode re-evaluated the Belgian business, which was designated as non-strategic one year ago, and decided to keep it as a strategic asset due to the marketing offering. Customer demand for these types of services in modern marketing solutions is increasing. Revenue development during the quarter was negative compared to the previous year as an effect of scaling down one of the largest contracts.

Magnus Silfverberg, CEO Bisnode
Phone: 0046 8 558 559 00
E-mail: Magnus.silfverberg@bisnode.com

Bisnode helps people to make smart decisions. We transform data into insights that supports decision-making in both small day-to-day issues and major strategic decisions in companies and organizations throughout Europé. We have more than 2.500 employees in 17 countries. Read more about Bisnode at www.bisnode.com

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