Margins above target, multiple wins supporting outlook

Zalaris’ Q4/16 revenues were up 11.2% to NOK 105.2 million, with an EBIT margin at 11.8% - well above target. Dividend for FY/16 proposed at NOK 0.87 per share.

Zalaris, a leading provider of payroll and HR services, delivered solid results in Q4/16 with both revenues growth and margins above target. The quarterly revenues passed a record high hundred million mark to NOK 105.2 million, 11.2% higher compared to Q4/15. EBIT reached NOK 12.4 million (11.8%) for the period.

“We managed to reach our sales growth and margin targets due to strong focus on operational improvements. This, together with multiple wins, give us confidence that we are on the right track a couple of months into 2017", says Hans-Petter Mellerud, Zalaris’ CEO and founder.

New contracts
Full year revenues were up 6.1% to NOK 396.6 million, and EBIT reached NOK 37.9 million for 2016. Dividend for 2016 is proposed at NOK 0.87 per share.

Multiple new wins and advances were achieved in Q4, including contracts signed with Norwegian Railways (NSB), the municipally owned public transport operator Sporveien Oslo AS and the steel producer Outokumpu in Sweden. Post quarter, Zalaris renewed a contract with Norsk Hydro for another five year term.

“These wins are evidence of our ability to deliver continued growth. We are already covering 200,000 employees in the region and we see substantial opportunities for further growth on our scalable platform”, says Mellerud.

Extensive regulations
New EU privacy regulation generates opportunities for Zalaris, increasing relevance and demand for the company’s services supporting compliance.

“The risk of being subject to large fines for non-compliance could potentially result in a boost for Zalaris’ fully compliant systems and processes”, Mellerud comments.

During Q4 Zalaris continued to improve its utilization target for the Chennai service center within the HR Outsourcing segment – with India representing close to 19% of the total headcount. Zalaris’ aggregate offshore and nearshore presence was 34% of the total workforce at the end of Q4/16.

“Through building bridges between our outsourcing, cloud and consulting business units we target improved customer service, innovation and further cost reductions in 2017”, Mellerud comments.

Contact
Hans-Petter Mellerud, CEO and founder
Mobile: +47 928 97 276
E-mail: hans-petter.mellerud@zalaris.com

Nina Stemshaug, CFO
Mobile: +47 982 60 394 
E-mail: nina.stemshaug@zalaris.com

Zalaris is certified as a SAP Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Partner and is a leading SAP Human Capital Management (HCM) and SuccessFactors consulting partner. Founded in 2000, Zalaris today operates in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden, including local-language service centers with extensive expertise in HR-related laws and regulations.