Year-end report 2020 Cabonline Group Holding AB (publ)

OCTOBER-DECEMBER

• Revenue amounted to MSEK 997 (1,789), a decrease of 44%. Organically, revenue fell 43%.
• Adjusted EBITA was MSEK -11 (40) and the corresponding margin was -1,1% (2.3).
• Operating profit amounted to MSEK -75 (-27), which includes a write-down of acquired excess values (goodwill) of MSEK -19 and items affecting comparability of MSEK -37 (-32).
• Net loss for the period was MSEK -118 (-80).
• Earnings per share before and after dilution were
• SEK -3.67 (-2.59).
• Cash flow for the period was MSEK -52 (281).
• Dag Kibsgaard-Petersen, former CEO of Norgestaxi and Cabonline Norway, was appointed President and CEO in December.
• Kalle Boumedienne was appointed deputy CEO in December.
• Petter Lindkvist was appointed acting CFO in December.

JANUARY-DECEMBER

• Revenue amounted to MSEK 4,171 (6,490), a decrease of 36%. Organically, revenue fell 37%.
• Adjusted EBITA was MSEK 37 (202) and the corresponding margin was 0.9% (3.1).
• Operating profit amounted to MSEK -124 (-158) which includes a write-down of acquired excess values (goodwill) of MSEK 19 and items affecting comparability of MSEK -82 (-97).
• Net loss for the period was MSEK -317 (-259).
• Earnings per share before and after dilution were
• SEK -10.29 (-8.66).
• Cash flow for the period was MSEK -56 (270).

CEO´s comment

Corona pandemic has major impact on Cabonline
Cabonline opened the year strongly and revenues in January and February were approximately nine per cent higher than during the corresponding period last year. The rest of the year has largely been focused on initiatives to deal with the effects of the Corona pandemic. The crisis we are experiencing changed life from one day to the next and leaves no one indifferent.

The decline in travel volumes is a direct consequence of authorities’ restrictions to reduce the spread of infection in society. In order to cope with the temporary decrease in demand for our services, especially in the business and consumer segments, the main focus areas have been efficiency improvement and cost-out throughout the Group.

After a challenging spring and summer for the taxi business at large, we experienced some recovery in the market by the end of the third quarter. Unfortunately, the second wave of contagion meant new restrictions and closures, which again reduced demand for our taxi services towards the end of the year, especially in the business and consumer segments. The reduced demand is to some extent compensated by new business opportunities. Several regions will for example offer taxi transportation in connection to Covid-vaccination to those who cannot get to and from the place of vaccination themselves. We see great opportunities that we will be able to carry out parts of these trips in 2021.

Public transport
However, in this extremely difficult market situation, Cabonline has been relatively less affected compared to many other companies in the taxi industry. The reason is that more than half of Cabonline's revenue is related to publicly procured traffic, e.g. transportation of elderly people, school transports and wheelchair taxis. In dialogue with our customers, the municipalities and regions, we have found solutions to maintain the, for society, critical transports. The Stockholm Region, for example, has paid compensation for lower activity in wheelchair taxis to ensure future capacity.

We continue to be competitive and successful in terms of publicly procured contracts. During 2020, we won approximately 20 procurements and in total operate approximately 120 publicly procured contracts. Among the major contracts we won there are the contracts for service transports for Region Västmanland, school transports in Espoo, school transports in Umeå, medical transports for the South Region in Denmark, the school transports in Stavanger and patient travel in the region of Trondheim. It is gratifying that we are increasingly winning the publicly procured agreements due to quality and service and to a lesser extent on price.

New business opportunities by acting solution-oriented
To stimulate demand, we have created new business opportunities and services in addition to the taxi services. These initiatives concern services helping companies deliver internal mail, home delivery of groceries, delivery of food from restaurants and more. We have also found other creative solutions to utilize our temporary overcapacity, e.g., in the region of Stockholm we have handled the transport of Covid-19 tests and have delivered over 100,000 tests within the region. This type of assignments have not replaced but helped to compensate for lost volumes. At a time when we are encouraged to avoid public transport, we have also launched an attractive fixed-price offer for travel within cities in Sweden. This has stimulated the demand for shorter trips and also enabled us to reach new target groups.

Sustainability
During the past year we have continued to take steps in our sustainable development with the goal that all our taxis will be fossil-free. Already, half of our taxi fleet in Sweden meet the target. In December we took a major step in Norway towards the goal of 100% fossil free cars by 2023 by being the first taxi company to use world leading technology for high power wireless charging.

The future
The effort of all employees, all measures taken to improve cost efficiency and the fact that a large part of our business is based on procured assignments for services vital to society mean that our core business remains stable. The reduced cost base and increased coordination have created a stability that makes us flexible and ready to increase the pace when the market starts to recover.  Creativity is born out of crisis and I am convinced that all our work during the very challenging 2020 means that we will emerge from this turbulent time as a better, stronger, and more efficient Cabonline. I feel confident about the future but, at the same time, have a great respect for the difficulties of assessing the pandemic's continued development and impact on society and the taxi industry.

Dag Kibsgaard-Petersen
President and CEO

For further information, please contact:
Dag Kibsgaard-Petersen, CEO, tel. + 47 400 11 981

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 February 19, at 13:00 a.m. (CET).

About Cabonline Group
Cabonline is the leading taxi company in the Nordic region with 2,500 connected transporters and approximately 4,500 vehicles in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark. Cabonline contains a series of well-known brands, such as Flygtaxi, TaxiKurir, Norgestaxi, TOPCAB, Kovanen, Taxi Skåne, Taxi Väst, Umeå Taxi, Sverigetaxi and Taxi 4x27. Through Cabonline, transporters 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 4.2 billion. For further information: www.cabonlinegroup.com.