Interim report January–March 2018
• Net sales increased by 11% to SEK 4,557 million (4,115)
• Organic growth was 1% (12)
• The order backlog was 20% higher at SEK 10,825 million (9,000)
• EBITA increased by 7% to SEK 226 million (211)
• The EBITA margin was 5.0% (5.1)
• Profit after tax was SEK 168 million (151)
• Cash flow from operating activities was SEK 58 million (381)
• Net debt amounted to SEK 1,841 million (2,058)
• Three acquisitions were completed in the quarter, adding annual sales of approximately SEK 232 million
• Basic earnings per share were SEK 0.83 (0.75) and diluted earnings per share were SEK 0.83 (0.75)
CEO statement
”A solid start to the year”
Organic growth and stable earnings
I’m pleased that, despite strong comparative figures and the negative effect of Easter falling in the first quarter this year, we are reporting organic growth of 1 percent for the quarter. I’d particularly like to highlight the strong growth in our Danish operations:Bravida Denmark delivered sales growth of 20 percent and a 70 percent increase in order intake. The Group continued to enjoy good growth in service, which grew by 11 percent for the quarter and a high 15 percent for the last 12 months.
Easter had a negative effect on cash flow in the first quarter as customer payments were shifted to the first few days of April.
Earnings performance was stable and the underlying EBITA margin, excluding Oras, was unchanged at 5.1 percent.
Bravida Norway’s management, together with Oras’ personnel, has undertaken extensive measures to restructure and integrate the business, and developments are proceeding according to plan. Oras has already turned a profit in the first quarter.
In Sweden, the EBITA margin improved owing to an increased share of income from service, which generally has a higher margin. In Norway, the underlying EBITA margin improved through good cost control. In Denmark and Finland, the EBITA margin was unchanged.
Finland
Marko Holopainen, Bravida’s newly recruited Head of Division Finland, joined at the end of March. I was Acting Head of Division Finland for seven months and during that time I spent much of my time developing our fundamental business approach, the Bravida Way. As I have previously stated, our business needs to grow in Finland, both through acquisitions and organically, in order to achieve a critical mass and, consequently, an acceptable level of profitability and a stronger market position. In January we took a further step by acquiring Adison Oy, which has sales equivalent to SEK 190 million in the Helsinki area.
Marko joins with extensive industry experience and good leadership skills to enhance Bravida Finland and increase growth.
Acquisitions continue to strengthen Bravida
Bravida’s growth and market position within both service and installation continue to be strengthened by acquisitions. So far this year we have made five different acquisitions, two of which were in April, that bolster our market position. The sector is still highly fragmented with significant opportunities for consolidation. We therefore continue to see considerable potential to make further acquisitions and most companies view being part of our Group as an opportunity to develop, which means Bravida has a good reputation as an acquiring business.
Market remains good
The technical installations and service markets will remain good in Sweden, Norway and Denmark, and stable in Finland.The order backlog is once again at a record level and the bulk of the order backlog consist of lots of small and medium-sized installation projects, which together with our large service operations, will support growth over the coming quarters.
Mattias Johansson, Stockholm, May 2018
For further information, please contact:
Mattias Johansson, CEO and Group President of Bravida. Tel: +46 8 695 20 00
Nils-Johan Andersson, CFO of Bravida. Tel: +46 70 668 50 75
IRcontact@bravida.com
This information is information that Bravida Holding 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 person set out above, at 07:30 CET on 3 May 2018.
The report will be presented at 09:30 CET by CEO and Group President Mattias Johansson and CFO Nils-Johan Andersson. The presentation will be held in English and can be followed on the web or over the phone. There will be room for questions.
Link to the webcast:
https://tv.streamfabriken.com/bravida-q1-2018
Telephone numbers for telephone conference:
SE: +46 8 5664 26 63
UK: +44 20 3008 9811
US: +1 85 5831 5945
The report and the presentation are available on bravida.se/en/investors/.
Bravida is a leading multi-technical service provider in the Nordics, with more than 10,000 employees. Bravida delivers specialist services as well as complete electrical, heating and plumbing, HVAC, security, cooling, sprinklers, technical service management and power supply solutions. Bravida is represented in more than 150 locations in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. www.bravida.se/en/
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