Cabonline Group Holding AB (publ) Interim report January to September 2020

JULY-SEPTEMBER

• Revenue amounted to MSEK 970 (1,534), a decrease of 37%. Organically, revenue fell 36%.
• Adjusted EBITA was MSEK 7 (53) and the corresponding margin was 0,7% (3.4).
• Operating profit amounted to MSEK -16 (-3) including items affecting comparability of MSEK -15 (-20).
• Net loss for the period was MSEK -80 (-26).
• Earnings per share before and after dilution were SEK -2.58 (-1.07).
• Cash flow for the period was MSEK -43 (-3).
• Cabonline enters into an agreement to acquire Ring Taxi in Ålesund business of 18 cars during the fourth quarter, and thereby strengthen the presence in north western Norway.
• An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on September 26, during which Carl Harring, Andreas Rosenlew and Jon Risfelt, who made their seats available, were dismissed. John Harper was elected as a new board member.
• Anneli Lindblom, current CFO, was appointed acting CEO on 28 September.
   

JANUARY-SEPTEMBER                   

• Revenue amounted to MSEK 3,174 (4,701), a decrease of 32%. Organically, revenue fell 35%.
• Adjusted EBITA was MSEK 48 (161) and the corresponding margin was 1.5% (3.4).
• Operating profit amounted to MSEK -49 (-131) including items affecting comparability of MSEK -44 (-64).
• Net loss for the period was MSEK -199 (-179).
• Earnings per share before and after dilution were SEK -6.62 (-6.08).
• Cash flow for the period was MSEK -4 (-11).
• The process of renegotiating the terms of Cabonline's secured bond loans ended with new terms on 28 July.

CEO´S COMMENT

The third quarter of the year, just like the second quarter, was largely about measures and initiatives to limit the effects of the Corona pandemic. The decline in travel volume is a direct consequence of the authorities' and countries' restrictions to reduce the spread of the infection in society. To be able to handle the temporarily reduced demand for our services, especially among business travellers and private individuals, efficiency improvements throughout the Group have continued to be a high priority. This is necessary in order to reduce costs and increase coordination of operations in the short and long term.

We have been able to maintain a critical volume and assignment to our connected transporters, despite more or less closed communities. The reason here fore is our business model, where a predominant part of the traffic consists of publicly procured contracts. Even so, the situation is still difficult for our transporters and drivers and will remain so, as long as the authorities request people to continue to work from home, limit travel and also has banned larger gatherings. The government restrictions will need to be met by support packages to ensure that the taxi industry survives and continues to function again when the situation becomes more normal and when people can start to travel and commute as usual. The government support to businesses for loss of sales is positive, but the application is not an easy task to manage for an individual transporter. Therefore, we are supporting our transporters with filling and handling the applications to secure that as many as possible will receive the government support. Taxi is part of the special public transport, and important for society to function. The importance of having a functioning taxi infrastructure when the pandemic is over, is something that we tirelessly return to in our contacts with politicians, decision-makers, and the media.

In dialogue with regions, we have also found creative solutions to utilize our temporary overcapacity. Since last spring we have handled transportation, of healthcare staff's Covid-19 tests in the Stockholm region between the home and the laboratory, followed by home tests to residents in the region. By the end of October, we and our drivers had delivered 70,000 tests in the region. This type of mission does not replace, but helps restore, lost volumes. We have also reminded our corporate customers of the change in taxation of benefits connected to taxi journeys to and from work. As long as the pandemic is ongoing and the public is asked to avoid public transport, the Swedish Tax Agency has announced that free taxi journeys to and from work will be taxed on benefits in the same way as other public transportation. Together we can assist to reduce the spread of infection, for those who need to get to the workplace and cannot work from home.

We were able to see a cautious recovery in the taxi industry at the end of the third quarter, after a tough spring and summer. It is partly linked to the school start at the end of August and underlines the strength with the large share of procured traffic. Volumes have slowly but surely returned in September, but the second wave of the spread of infection that is now affecting the whole society has slowed down this development. We follow the development closely and adapt the business vigorously, based on a scenario that the recovery will take time. Our reduced cost mass and increased coordination have created stability and made us more flexible and ready to increase the pace again when the market begins to return.

Anneli Lindblom
CFO and acting CEO
November 2020

This information is information that Cabonline Group Holding AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 15:00 CET on November 26, 2020.

For further information, please contact:
Anneli Lindblom, CFO and acting CEO, tel. +46 76 593 84 00, anneli.lindblom@cabonline.com

About Cabonline:
Cabonline is the leading taxi company in the Nordic region with 3,000 connected taxi firms and approximately 5,700 vehicles in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Cabonline contains a series of well-known brands, such as TaxiKurir, Norgestaxi, TOPCAB, Kovanen, Taxi Skåne, Taxi Väst, Umeå Taxi, Sverigetaxi and Taxi 4x27. Through Cabonline, taxi firms have access to attractive customer agreements, support from industry-leading technological development and utilization of economies of scale, efficient service and a shared infrastructure. The Group has revenue of approximately SEK 6.5 billion and performs about 45,000 journeys per day. For further information: www.cabonlinegroup.com.