Third quarter 2023: Revenue growth weaker than estimated, operating profit enhanced from the comparison period
Qt Group Plc, stock exchange release, October 26, 2023 at 1.00 pm EEST
This release is a summary of Qt Group Plc’s Interim Statement for January-September 2023. 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
July-September 2023
- Net sales increased 7.7 percent to EUR 38.0 million (EUR 35.3 million). The effect of exchange rates on the comparison period’s net sales was EUR -1.7 million and at comparable exchange rates, net sales increased by 13.1 percent.
- Operating profit (EBITA) was EUR 9.2 million (EUR 7.9 million) or 24.1 percent (22.3 %) of net sales.
- Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 7.2 million (EUR 6.3 million) or 18.8 percent (18.0 %) of net sales.
- Earnings per share were EUR 0.22 (EUR 0.28).
January -September 2023
- Net sales increased 16,8 percent to EUR 121.5 million (EUR 104.0 million). The effect of exchange rates on the comparison period’s net sales was EUR -1.6 million and at comparable exchange rates, net sales increased by 18.6 percent.
- Operating profit (EBITA) was EUR 29.4 million (EUR 23,4 million) or 24.2 percent (22.5 %) of net sales.
- Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 23.4 million (EUR 20.1 million) or 19.3 percent (19.3 %) of net sales.
- Earnings per share were EUR 0.70 (EUR 0.84).
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 2022 with the actual exchange rates of the reporting period 2023 and by comparing the reported net sales in 2023 with the calculated 2022 net sales at comparable exchange rates.
Key figures
| EUR 1,000 | 7-9/2023 | 7-9/2022 | Change, % | 1-9/2023 | 1-9/2022 | Change, % | 1-12/2022 |
| Net sales | 38,039 | 35,308 | 7.7% | 121,479 | 103,970 | 16.8 % | 155,318 |
| Operating profit (EBITA) | 9,158 | 7,880 | 16.2% | 29,450 | 23,438 | 25.7 % | 42,249 |
| EBITA, % | 24.1% | 22.3% | 24.2% | 22.5 % | 27.2 % | ||
| Operating profit (EBIT) | 7,150 | 6,347 | 12.7% | 23,427 | 20,067 | 16.7 % | 36,870 |
| EBIT, % | 18.8% | 18.0% | 19.3% | 19.3 % | 23.7 % | ||
| Return on equity, % | 5.7% | 11.4% | 18.6% | 34.3 % | 49.6 % | ||
| Return on investment, % | 6.1% | 6.9% | 19.3% | 22.0 % | 41.5 % | ||
| Interest-bearing liabilities 1 | 20,923 | 43,593 | -52.0% | 20,923 | 43,593 | -52.0 % | 28,159 |
| Cash and cash equivalents 1 | 31,289 | 18,926 | 65.3% | 31,289 | 18,926 | 65.3 % | 8,815 |
| Net gearing, % 1 | -9.9% | 34.9% | -9.9% | 34.9 % | 22.3 % | ||
| Equity ratio, % 1 | 60.0% | 43.7% | 60.0% | 43.7 % | 52.8 % | ||
| Earnings per share (EPS), EUR | 0.22 | 0.28 | -21.8% | 0.70 | 0.84 | -16.1 % | 1.36 |
| Diluted earnings per share, EUR | 0.22 | 0.27 | -20,1% | 0.70 | 0.81 | -14.3 % | 1.36 |
| Personnel, on average | 740 | 626 | 18.2% | 719 | 579 | 24.2 % | 603 |
1 At the end of the period
Juha Varelius, President and CEO
The third quarter of 2023 was weaker than expected for the company. Net sales growth for the quarter at comparable exchange rates was 13 percent, and net sales amounted to EUR 38 million.
Throughout the period under review, net sales growth has been slowed by the general uncertainty associated with the market situation. For the company, this has been reflected particularly in a decrease in consulting projects and the maturity of new developer licenses, where a shift toward one-year licenses has been seen. While the growth of the number of developer licenses continued during the period under review in line with the long-term average, the shorter maturity of the new licenses has had a substantial negative effect on the development of the company’s net sales. At the same time, however, expiring licenses have mostly been renewed for the same term as they were originally sold for, at least for the time being. Over the longer term, the shorter maturity of developer licenses will have a positive impact on the development of net sales due to the higher annual prices of one-year licenses, provided that customers continue to renew their licenses.
Net sales accrued from distribution licenses saw strong growth throughout the period under review. The development of the net sales of quality assurance products (QA tools) was also good during the period under review.
The effect of exchange rate fluctuations on the company’s net sales was negative at EUR -1.6 million for the period under review and negative at EUR -1.7 million for the third quarter.
In addition to the aforementioned factors that had an impact on net sales throughout the period under review, the modest growth of net sales for the third quarter was also attributable to the number of delayed deals, including a few contracts of significant size.
Operating profit (EBITA) for the third quarter came to EUR 9.2 million, an increase of 16.2 percent compared to the third quarter of 2022. The profitability of operations (EBITA %) was good considering that net sales growth was more modest than expected and the fact that we have continued to make our planned investments in growth in spite of the general economic uncertainty. The number of personnel has increased by 95 over the past 12 months and stood at 746 at the end of September.
In spite of the unfavorable market situation and weak third quarter, the company’s outlook for the remainder of the year is good, and the number of open sales opportunities is at a record-high.
Outlook for 2023
We further refine our guidance for 2023 so that our full-year net sales for 2023 will increase by 20–25 percent year-on-year at comparable exchange rates and our operating profit margin (EBITA %) will be 25–30 percent in 2023.
Our previous guidance was 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
Qt Group will hold an English-language news conference on October 26, 2023, at 15:00–16:00 EEST at Sanomatalo in Helsinki, Finland, and as a webcast at www.qt.io/investors. CEO Juha Varelius and CFO Jouni Lintunen will present the results at the news conference. Analysts and investors can participate in the news conference in person or via conference call at https://palvelu.flik.fi/teleconference/?id=10010164
Further information:
President and CEO Juha Varelius, tel. +358 9 8861 8040
Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key media
www.qt.io