Interim report January – March 2019

JANUARY – MARCH 2019

• Revenue amounted to MSEK 1,499 (1,567), a decrease of 4%. Organically, a decline of 5,9%.
• Operating profit was MSEK 9 (22), which includes items affecting comparability of MSEK -20 (-15)
• EBITA before items affecting comparability was MSEK 61 (69) and the corresponding margin was 4.1% (4.4)
• The net income for the period was MSEK -11 (-2)
• Earnings per share before and after dilution was SEK -0.66 (-0.41)
• The period’s cash flow was MSEK -9 (57)
• Events after the reporting period:
  • Financial objectives were adopted: revenue growth should exceed 5% pa and adjusted EBITA-margin should exceed 4%
  • Acquisition of Taxi Västerås in Sweden
  • Acquisition of Taxi 4x27 in Denmark
  • Kati Rajala was appointed new CEO for Cabonline Finland as of June 1
      
    

The Group in brief

* APM, see the basis for calculation and definitions on pages 22-27
2018 comparable figures have not been changed according to accounting principle IFRS 16, see note 1.    

CEO’s comments  

As earlier mentioned, we have been asked by our owners to prepare the company for a possible shift in ownership where an IPO at Nasdaq Stockholm is one alternative. In line with this, the Board has decided on financial objectives for the Group. We shall grow the revenue by more than 5% p.a., including both organic as well as acquired growth, with an adjusted EBITA-margin of more than 4% in med-ium term. The first quarter started somewhat weak which was according to expectations. Revenue declined by 4% and the adjusted EBITA-margin amounted to 4.1% (4.4). During the quarter the competition has become tougher in the B2C-segment compared with the same period previous year. We have also seen the effects of that we are priori-tizing price before volume in our B2P agreements in Sweden as well as in Norway. New agreements with more attractive terms will successively replace the old ones, which will benefit transporters and drivers but also contribute in due time to an expected growth in the number of cars.

New agreements 

Publicly procured travel, such as paratransit taxi services and school transports, account for approximately 40% of our business and are of strategic importance to Cabonline. Less attractive agreements will successively be replaced during 2019 by newly won contracts with more attractive prices in Sweden, Norway and Finland. These new cont-racts provide a favourable foundation for future revenue in the public sector and predictability since the contracts duration are 3-4 years. They have been negotiated on better terms, which will benefit both us and our trans-porters in the future with an expected growth in the number of cars. The new agreements will start to generate effects in stages as of the second quarter of 2019 when they become effective and less favourable public agre-ements are terminated. These agreements constitute a solid base for our future growth.

Effective 1 March this year, we successfully launched the new and more comprehensive assignment of patient transportation in Oslo. The agreement is for two years with a two-year extension option. The new agreements concerning paratransit taxi services procured last autumn by the traffic administration in Stockholm County Council started the new assignment on 1 April. The assignment corresponds to a total value of nearly SEK 3 billion in four years.

We also had successes in several other public-sector procurements in Sweden and in Finland which together have revenues of around 200 MSEK and often with a duration of 3-4 years.

Scalable platform 

The start of the year was intensive. In addition to the core of our business – driving 45,000 customers to their destin-ations – we continued work to build a well-functioning and scalable platform for growth. Important features for this work is about internal processes and routines in order to strengthen the competence within the organisation. During the first quarter we also recruited key personnel within marketing, legal affairs, public-sector procurement, IT and customer service. These initiatives are done with the ambition to strengthen our ability to continue grow with profitability in order to become more attractive for our existing customers and be able to win more public-sector procurements and corporate agreements. Through additional acquisitions, we are strengthening our geographic presence which at the same time increase our availability for our customers.

New acquisitions 

We are fulfilling our acquisition strategy and establishing a presence in markets in which Cabonline has not previously been active. We recently acquired Taxi Västerås with 148 cars which we will take over as of May 2019.

We have also taken a step into the Danish market through the acquisition of Taxi 4x27 with around 300 vehicles. The Danish taxi market is currently undergoing gradual deregulation and is expected to expand in the next few years. As the leading taxi company in the Nordic region, it is therefore important for us to establish a strategic platform in Denmark from which we can grow in the future.

Initiative in Finland

We have also worked intensively to develop the business of Cabonline Finland, particularly ahead of and after the deregulation that became legally effective on 1 July last year. Our foremost challenge is to attract more drivers in a fiercely competitive market and we have to continue to focus on this issue in the future. A new CEO has been recruited to Cabonline Finland, Kati Rajala, who will take office on 1 June. Kati will continue work on eventually creating a strong position in the Finnish market.

Together with our initiatives over the past year to develop a stronger corporate culture and Group-wide leadership, we are now better equipped to achieve our objectives, grow with profitability and realise our target scenario: a world-class taxi company.

Peter Viinapuu
President and CEO
  

For further information, please contact:
Peter Viinapuu, CEO, tel +46766411006
Olof Fransson, CFO, tel +46705172022
  

This information is such that Cabonline Group Holding AB (publ) is obliged to disclose in accordance with the EU’s Market Abuse Regulation. The information was issued for publication through the agency of the contact persons set out above on
7 May 2019, at 16:00 p.m. CET.
  

About Cabonline
Cabonline is the leading taxi company in the Nordic region with 2,700 connected taxi firms and approximately 5,300 vehicles in Sweden, Norway and Finland. Cabonline contains a series of well-known brands, such as TaxiKurir, Norgestaxi, TOPCAB, Kovanen, Taxi Skåne, Taxi Väst, Umeå Taxi and Sverigetaxi. Through Cabonline, taxi firms have access to attractive customer agreements, support from industry-leading technological development and utilisation of economies of scale, efficient service and a shared infrastructure. The Group has revenue of approximately SEK 6.2 billion and performs about 45,000 journeys per day. For further information: www.cabonline.com.

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