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Qt Group Plc: Financial statement bulletin for January 1 – December 31, 2022

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Qt Group Plc, stock exchange release, February 16, 2023, at 8.00 am EET

This release is a summary of Qt Group Plc's Financial statement bulletin for January 1 – December 31, 2022. The complete report is attached to this release as a PDF file, and it is also available on the company's website at www.qt.io/investors

Fourth quarter 2022: Strong net sales growth and EBIT more than doubled

October-December 2022
 

  • Net sales increased 38.9 percent to EUR 51,349 thousand (EUR 36,960 thousand). The effect of exchange rates on the comparison period’s net sales was EUR 2,078 thousand and at comparable exchange rates, net sales increased by 31.5 percent
  • Operating profit (EBITA) was EUR 18,811 thousand (EUR 9,022 thousand) or 36.6 percent (24.4 %) of net sales
  • Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 16,803 thousand (EUR 8,106 thousand) or 32.7 percent (21.9 %) of net sales  
  • Earnings per share were EUR 0.53 (EUR 0.24).

January-December 2022
 

  • Net sales increased 28.2 percent to EUR 155,318 thousand (EUR 121,139 thousand). The effect of exchange rates on the comparison period’s net sales was EUR 8,284 thousand and at comparable exchange rates, net sales increased by 20.0 percent.
  • Operating profit (EBITA) was EUR 42,249 thousand (EUR 31,534 thousand) or 27.2 percent (26.0 %) of net sales
  • Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 36,870 thousand (EUR 28,812 thousand) or 23.7 percent (23.8 %) of net sales
  • Earnings per share were EUR 1.36 (EUR 0.91).

The figures in brackets refer to the comparison period, i.e., the corresponding period in the previous year.  The percentage of change in net sales at comparable exchange rates is calculated by translating the net sales from the comparison period of 2021 with the actual exchange rates of the reporting period of 2022 and by comparing the reported net sales in 2022 with the calculated 2021 net sales at comparable exchange rates

Key figures

EUR 1,000  10-12/2022  10-12/2021 Change, %  1-12/2022  1-12/2021 Change, %
Net sales         51,349 36,960 38.9%       155,318       121,139 28.2%
Operating profit (EBITA)         18,811            9,022 108.5%         42,249          31,534 34.0%
   EBITA, % 36.6% 24.4% 27.2 % 26.0 %
Operating profit (EBIT) 16,803     8,106 107.3%   36,870  28,812 28.0%
   EBIT, % 32.7% 21.9% 23.7 % 23.8%
Return on equity, % 19.3 % 14.5 % 49.6 % 55.0 %
Return on investment, %  16.2 % 16.0 % 41.5 % 57.0 %
Interest-bearing liabilities1         28,159         17,028 65.4%          28,159         17,028 65.4%
Cash and cash equivalents1            8,815         17,374 -49.3%            8,815         17,374 -49.3%
Net gearing, % 1 22.3 % -0.7 % 22.3 % -0.7%
Equity ratio, % 1 52.8 % 51.1 % 52.8% 51.1 %
Earnings per share (EPS), EUR 0.53 0.24 121.2% 1.36 0.91 50.0%
Diluted earnings per share, EUR 0.53 0.23 127.5% 1.36 0.88 54.3%
Personnel, on average 675 486 38.8% 603 445 35.5%

1 At the end of the period

Juha Varelius, President and CEO

The last quarter of 2022 was the best in our company’s history. Qt Group’s net sales in October-December 2022 were EUR 51.3 million, increasing by 38.9 percent against a tough comparison period in 2021. Growth at comparable currencies was 31.5 percent. Both developer and distribution license sales had strong growth in all geographical areas. EBIT in the last quarter amounted to 32.7 percent of net sales, or EUR 16.8 million.

Full year net sales increased 28.2 percent and amounted to EUR 155.3 million. Net sales increased at comparable currencies 20.0 percent. In 2022 distribution license revenue amounted to EUR 29.5 million, which equals 37.7 percent growth year-on-year. Full year net sales were impacted by the weakening global economic situation and rising energy prices, which caused some of Qt Group’s customers to decrease their manufacturing volumes and reevaluate the timing of new product development processes. Despite the challenging operating environment, we saw great demands towards our productivity improving tools, and we won several new customer accounts during the year. Revenue growth was supported by strengthening US dollar. In total the impact from exchange rates to full year 2022 revenue was positive EUR 8.3 million. Growth has been particularly strong in medical technology, which has quickly grown to a meaningful customer industry next to automotive.

The transition to subscription licensing, which began in 2020, has progressed according to our expectations. Approximately 80 percent of our license base is now subscription licensing. We estimate that the conversions from perpetual and term licenses to the new licensing model will continue in 2023, but that some of the license holders of older software versions are not likely to transition to the new model at all. They are likely to continue their software development with older Qt-versions.

EBIT-margin was 23.7 percent or EUR 36.9 million in 2022. During the year, we executed significant growth investments to sales and R&D organizations in particular. Our personnel on December 31, 2022 totaled at 688 employees. During the year, our personnel grew organically by 151 employees, in addition to the 41 employees who joined Qt Group from the acquisition of Axivion.

During October-December 2022 we published several new releases such as Squish 7.1, Axivion Suite 7.5, Qt Design Studio 3.9 and Qt Creator 9. Squish 7.1 improved user experience and the integration to Qt development environment. Axivion 7.5. release on the other hand featured new functionalities and UI enhancements as well as added support to the new coding standard (MISRA C++ 202x) for safety-critical devices, used for example in automotive, industrial automation and medical industries.

The global economic slowdown will continue to bring uncertainty to Qt Group’s short term growth outlook. However, launching new products and increasing productivity in the product development process are critical for successfully performing companies regardless of industry. Demand for Qt Group’s products and solutions is on a strong level, and we estimate that especially in long term we have an excellent opportunity to become a more meaningful solutions provider in the global software development, testing and quality assurance tools markets.

Outlook for 2023

We estimate that our full-year net sales for 2023 will increase by 20-30 percent year-on-year at comparable exchange rates and that our operating profit margin (EBITA-%) will be 20-30 percent in 2023.

News conference

A news conference, where CEO Juha Varelius and CFO Jouni Lintunen will present the results, will be held on February 16, 2023, at 11.00–12.00 noon EET in Helsinki, Finland and as a webcast at http://www.qt.io/investors. Analysts and investors can participate in the news conference in person and via conference call at http://palvelu.flik.fi/teleconference/?id=10010158

Further information:
President and CEO Juha Varelius, tel. +358 9 8861 8040

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key media
www.qt.io

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