Nobina Interim report 1 September–30 November 2017

A STRONG QUARTER

Third quarter 1 September–30 November 2017

• Net sales amounted to SEK 2,324 million (2,245), an increase of 3.5 per cent.
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 213 million (168).
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 140 million (102), and earnings per share totalled SEK 1.58 (1.16).
• Cash flow from operations was SEK 348 million (397).
• Cash flow for the third quarter totalled SEK 127 million (154).

Nine-month period 1 March–30 November 2017

• Net sales amounted to SEK 6,769 million (6,615), an increase of 2.3 per cent.
• Operating profit was SEK 406 million (431).
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 234 million (251), and earnings per share totalled SEK 2.65 (2.84).
• Cash flow from operations was SEK 728 million (898).
• Cash flow totalled SEK –245 million (13). Cash flow for the period included the payment of the preceding year’s dividend of SEK –274 million (–230).

Significant events during the third quarter

• In the third quarter, Nobina AB (publ) announced the repurchase of own shares in ­connection with the share savings programme for senior executives, as resolved by the Annual General Meeting.
• Nobina Technology was chosen to lead a major new pilot project with autonomous buses in Greater Copenhagen. The pilot project will run for three years and involve four buses.

Significant events after the end of the quarter

• Two new traffic contracts in Helsinki with HRT/HSL consisting of a total of 42 buses with a value of SEK 570 million over the contract periods of seven years and one year respectively, with the option to extend by three years and one year, respectively. Traffic is scheduled to start in August 2018. In conjunction with this contract, Nobina was also awarded an environmental premium of about SEK 5 million for its transition to biodiesel.
• Nobina becomes the first bus operator in the Nordic region with its own self-driving buses in conjunction with a cooperation project in Kista with Ericsson, SJ, KTH and the City of Stockholm among others. The project will run over six months starting in January 2018 and will be the first with autonomous buses on public roads in Sweden.

CEO’s comments

Nobina delivered strong results for the third quarter, which reflects that we are through the effects from last year’s extensive contract migrations in Sweden. Profit before tax amounted to SEK 178 million and is higher than the corresponding quarter in the preceding year. It is also our best result ever for a single quarter. We are now entering a quiet period with few start-ups and completions of traffic contracts, which provides us with more scope to continue to improve our existing operations. However, activity is intensifying in work with tenders. After one year with unusually few contracts available for tendering, we can now see another situation for 2018. A far greater number of buses in several contracts will be tendered in 2018, and we therefore have a substantial focus within the Group on tendering. In addition to a greater share of incentive contracts, we expect demand for electric buses will become increasingly common in tender documentation. The development of electric vehicles is progressing rapidly and buses are no exception. Within the next few years, electric buses will be a common sight in many Nordic cities. For example, Nobina will begin operating in Malmö in 2018 with 13 electric buses and is involved in a major electric bus project in Oslo together with the public transport authority (PTA) Ruter.

In Helsinki, work extending the city’s metro system is complete, which means the extra traffic we operated for the City of Helsinki in connection with the project will finish at year-end. In Denmark, we were chosen to be responsible for and operate a three-year pilot project with four autonomous buses in Greater Copenhagen, a unique collaboration between Nobina, various Danish municipalities and universities, as well as IBM. Moreover, in Sweden we are operating a test project for six months with two purchased autonomous buses, starting in January 2018 and will supplement regular services in Kista.

Work towards achieving our financial targets is proceeding as planned, and we see opportunities for continued good organic growth as well as growing through acquistions that complement our bus solutions in the Nordic region.

Magnus Rosén,
President and CEO 

The information comprises such as Nobina AB (publ) is obliged to publicly disclose pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and the Securities Market Act. Through the above contact person, the information was submitted for publication at 8.00 am CET on 21 December 2017.