Netcompany Group A/S

CSE:NETC

Earnings Call Analysis

Strong Q1 Performance Despite Fewer Working Days

In Q1 2024, Netcompany reported a 3.6% increase in revenue despite fewer working days affecting growth by approximately 3 percentage points. Gross profit margin fell slightly to 27.4%, primarily due to these fewer working days, but adjusted EBITDA margin remained stable at 15.5%. Notable success includes a strong performance in Intrasoft and the Netherlands, with 9.9% and 41% revenue growth respectively, and a significant UK contract expected to boost revenue in the second half of 2024. The company reaffirms its 2024 guidance of 7-10% revenue growth and 15-18% adjusted EBITDA margin【4:0†source】【4:1†source】【4:2†source】【4:3†source】.

Solid Q1 Performance Amid Challenges

Netcompany reported a revenue growth of 3.6% in Q1 2024, despite facing a negative impact from fewer working days, particularly in Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands. This growth was bolstered by solid performances from its units, with Intrasoft growing by 9.9% and the Netherlands by a remarkable 41%. In Denmark, adjusted revenue growth in the public sector was 6.6%, while the private sector saw a 2.2% increase.

Gross Profit Margins and Factors Affecting Them

However, gross profit margins experienced a slight decline of 1 percentage point, settling at 28%. Adjusted for the reduced working days, the underlying gross margin would have been 29.6%. Specifically, Denmark managed to improve its margin by 1.5 percentage points, reflecting enhanced utilization despite the fewer working days. Conversely, the U.K. faced a significant reduction in margin to 18.9% from 30% in the previous year due to ongoing tender preparations.

Improvement in Overall Revenue Visibility

The company's revenue visibility increased by 9.7% to DKK 5.4 billion. Public segment visibility rose by 10.9%, with private sector visibility climbing by 6.9%. This suggests a growing willingness among both private and public entities to invest in IT services, pointing to an optimistic outlook for future growth.

Positive Outlook for Revenue Growth

Management has maintained its revenue growth guidance for 2024, projecting an increase of between 7% and 10% alongside an adjusted EBITDA margin anticipated to be between 15% and 18%. Notably, mid-term targets remain in focus, with aspirations of reaching at least DKK 8.5 billion in revenue and a minimum adjusted EBITDA margin of 20% by 2026.

Promising Contract Wins

In Q1 2024, the company secured multiple contracts, including a significant five-year contract in the U.K. which is expected to bolster revenues from the second half of 2024. Additional solid contracts were won in Norway, Denmark, and Greece, indicating strong market demand for Netcompany's services.

Challenges in Cash Flow and Efforts to Regain Strength

The net free cash flow was negative at DKK 4.9 million compared to DKK 141.6 million in Q1 2023. The company's free cash flow has been influenced by timing differences related to tax payments and varying working capital needs, particularly around the Easter holiday period, which should normalize. The management is focused on regaining positive cash flow as activities ramp up in Q2.

Shareholder Returns and Future Commitments

In a strong commitment to shareholder returns, Netcompany has initiated a new share buyback program totaling DKK 250 million, expected to be executed by August 12, 2024. This performance commitment aligns with its goal of redistributing at least DKK 2 billion to shareholders by 2026, further emphasizing the company's focus on increasing shareholder value.

Outlook on Costs and Operations

Management indicated that the company has started realizing savings through operational efficiencies. The admin costs were down DKK 12 million year-over-year. Although Q1 saw employee levels stabilize compared to the previous year, the overall personnel count increased by 295 full-time employees. This positions the firm for future growth as demand escalates.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Operator]

Welcome to Netcompany's Interim Report for Q1 2024.

[Operator Instructions]

This call is being recorded. And I will now hand it over to your speakers. Please begin.

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Good day, and welcome to this presentation of Netcompany results for Q1 2024. My name is Andre Rogaczewski, and I'm the CEO and Co-Founder of Netcompany and I'm joined today by our CFO, Thomas Johansen. Before we get going, there are some important disclosures that I need you to read through. So could we please have Slide #2, please? I will pause for 30 seconds here, and let you all have a read-through of these important disclosures. And with that, can we please go to Slide #3.

The topic of today's presentation is our performance for Q1 2024. And I will walk you through the business highlights for the first quarter and our financial guidance for 2024. Once I'm done, Thomas will go through the numbers in greater details before we open the call for questions. And can we have the next slide, please. In Q1, we grew revenue by 3.6% in constant currencies, fewer working days in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands in Q1 this year compared to the same quarter last year impacted revenue growth negatively by around 3 percentage points underpinning the solid performance delivered by the group in the first quarter of the year. Gross profit in Q1 was on level with last year, yielding a gross margin of 27.4% which was 1.2 percentage points lower than the same period last year.

The lower gross margin was driven by fewer working days in the quarter compared to last year, which more than offset the improved utilization in both Denmark, and Netherlands. And adjusted for this, underlying gross margin was 29.6% in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 15.5% in Q1 2024 compared to 15.7% in the same period last year. In constant currencies, adjusted EBITDA margin was on par with Q1 2023 despite fewer working days in the quarter. On a like-for-like basis, adjusted for the fewer working days, the margin was 18% in Q1 2024. We added 295 full-time employees when comparing to the same quarter last year, bringing the total FTE number to 2,808, an increase of 3.9%. And can, we have the next slide, please.

We have won several new contracts during the first quarter of the year, of which I am mentioning a few here. In Norway, our product for child welfare services, Modulus Barn, has been chosen by 2 regions, Trondelag and Valdres. This will add 21 new municipalities to the already 70 municipalities using the product. In private segment Denmark, we have won a framework agreement with Arla Foods as a preferred vendor. The project will assist farmers with relevant data insights and recommendations in that transition to more sustainable farming. In Public segment Denmark, we will continue the partnership with the Danish agriculture Agency for development and maintenance of the foundational IT solution in regulation and administration of EU agricultural grants management in Denmark. Further In Q1 2024, Netcompany U.K. won a significant contract with a duration of up to 5 years revenue from this contract is expected from the second half of 2024, and we look forward to disclosing more details on this contract win soon. Slide #6 please.

In Netcompany-Intrasoft, we have also signed several new contracts in the first quarter of the year, of which we have highlighted some here. In the European Union, we have signed 3 plus 1-year framework agreements with the European agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice. In the public segment in Greece, we have signed a framework agreement with the scope of digitalization of data archives of the hospital supervised by the Ministry of Health. And in the private segment in Greece, we have been awarded a 3-year contract extension with Eurobank. The agreement includes maintenance and support of the credit card processing system. And can we have the next slide, please.

In Q1 2024, we employed an average of 7,808, which was an increase of 3.9% compared to the period -- same period last year. In Denmark employees were level with Q1 last year, but during Q1 2024, we welcomed 144 new employees to our offices in Denmark. Intrasoft employee growth was 10.2%. And in Netherlands and U.K., employee growth was 14.8% and 6.7%, respectively. Churn for the last 12 months was 16.3%, which was a decrease of 3.7 percentage points compared to last year. And can we have Slide 8, please.

In Q1 2024, we grew revenue by 3.6% and realized adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.7% against strong comparable and despite being negatively impacted by fewer working days due to the timing of Easter. With growth on track, we see ourselves well off for the year and maintain our expectations for the financial performance for 2024 and expect revenue growth for the group between 7% and 10% and adjusted EBITDA margin between 15% and 18%. Furthermore, we reiterate our midterm target to be achieved by 2026, with a revenue target of at least DKK 8.5 billion and adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%.

We also reiterate our commitment to redistribute at least DKK 2 billion of cash to shareholders, mainly as a share buyback. And in that aspect, we initiate a new share buyback program of DKK 250 million to be executed by 12th of August 2024. And with that, I will pass on the word to Thomas, who will give us a more detailed view on the financial performance in Q1 2024. Thomas, please go ahead.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Thank you for that, Andre. And like already mentioned, I am the CFO in Netcompany, and I will now go more into details with the financial performance for Q1 2024. So if we move past the breaking Slide #9 and straight into Slide #10, please, in one go. Andre has already spoken to our performance in general terms. And I will now go more in details with the performance for Q1 2024.

In Q1, revenue increased by 3.6% measured in constant currencies and currencies impacted growth positively by 0.2 percentage points leaving reported revenue growth in Q1. The growth was driven by solid growth in Intrasoft and the Netherlands that grew 9.9% and 41%, respectively. Revenue in Denmark was on par with Q1 last year despite 3 working days fewer in the quarter, which impacted revenue negatively by close to 5 percentage points. Adjusted for this public segment in Denmark increased 6.6%, and the private segment in Denmark increased by 2.2%. Netcompany-Intrasoft started the year off strong and realized 9.9% revenue growth in the first quarter. The growth was driven by the public and the EU segment that grew 13.7%, while the private segment revenue declined slightly by 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

In the U.K., revenue declined 4.1% compared to the same period last year. However, in Q1, Netcompany U.K. won a significant contract with a duration of up to 5 years. Revenue growth in the U.K. is, therefore, expected to come back from the second half of 2024. Revenue in Norway was on par with Q1 last year despite fewer working days in the quarter, impacting revenue negatively by more than 5 percentage points. Adjusted for the fewer working days, the public segment grew 7.7% and the private segment grew 5.6% in Q1 2024. We delivered significant revenue growth of 41% in the first quarter, solely driven by the public segment. And can we move to the next slide, please.

Gross profit margin decreased by 1 percentage point to 28% in Q1 compared to last year. However, adjusting for fewer working days in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands, gross profit margin would have been 29.6% in Q1 2024. In Denmark, gross profit margin increased 1.5 percentage points despite the negative impact from fewer working days as a result of increased utilization throughout the quarter. Margins in Netcompany-Intrasoft declined by 1.2 percentage points, negatively impacted by a different revenue mix in the quarter. In the U.K., margin was 18.9% compared to 30% in the same quarter last year. The lower margin was a consequence of continued participation preparation of tender material, which was also the case during Q3 and Q4 in 2023. Margin in Norway decreased 3.5 percentage points in Q1 compared to the same quarter, impacted negatively by fewer working days in this quarter.

In the Netherlands, margin increased 13 percentage points and reached 33.5%. The increased margin in the Netherlands was a result of significantly better project economics and improved utilization. And can we move to the next slide, please. Adjusted EBITDA margin before allocated costs from headquarter was 16.6% in Q1 and thereby on level with last year. In Denmark, margin increased 2.1 percentage points compared to last year as a result of better utilization and lower administrative costs. Margin in Netcompany-Intrasoft decreased 0.8 percentage points due to the difference in revenue mix, as already mentioned. The margins in the U.K. decreased by 10 percentage points to 9.6%, mainly driven by the lower gross profit margin. In Norway, margin decreased marginally by 0.8 percentage points, impacted negatively by fewer working days.

In the Netherlands, margins improved significantly by 18 percentage points to close to 20% at 19.8% as a result of strong delivery on projects and execution. Can we have the next slide, please? Work in progress decreased by 2.7% to DKK 909.9 million in Q1 2024. Naturally, the work in progress was impacted by fewer working days in March 2024 compared to last year. As a total, the combined work in progress, prebuild invoices and trade receivables increased by 11.5% to DKK 2.063 billion whereas the revenue for the last 12 months increased 7.4%. Higher increase compared to revenue growth for the last 12 months was caused by the timing of Easter which brought trade receivables up temporary as payments to be received end of March was received on 2nd and 3rd of April. And can we go to the next slide, please.

Free cash flow was negative by DKK 4.9 million in Q1 compared to DKK 141.6 million in Q1, 2023. The free cash flow was, as mentioned, negatively impacted by the timing of tax payments and working capital changes impacted by Easter. Trade receivables paid in the following month, that's the month of April, increased by 126.2% compared to last year and amounted to DKK 652 million. The increase in trade receivables paid in the following month, clearly, it was also a result of Q1 2024, ending on an Easter holiday. Leverage was unchanged 1.6x compared to Q1 2023. As part of our 2026 midterm targets of redistributing at least DKK 2 billion to our shareholders, we have this morning, initiated a new share buyback program of DKK 250 million, which will be executed by before the 12th of August 2024. And can we have the next slide, please?

The revenue visibility improved 9.7% to DKK 5.4 billion in Q1 compared to last year. Visibility increased by 10.9% in the public segment and 6.9% in the Private segment. We see this improvement as a clear sign that both public entities and private companies are increasing their willingness to invest and increase their IT investments. With that, I have concluded the detailed financial analysis, and we will now open up the call for questions. So if we move to the Q&A slide, please, and open the call up for questions. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions]

The first question is from George Webb from Morgan Stanley.

[George Webb, analyst]

Well done on a good first quarter. I'll kick off with a few bigger picture questions, please. Firstly, just coming back to what you kind of said around the revenue visibility, on the big picture demand environment. If we look across the IT services sector, there's been some pretty mixed prints from some of the biggest players in the industry where Q1 were quite slow, calling out project slippages even if they're calling for recoveries moving forward.

Your Q1 was pretty strong considering that working day headwind, particularly in Denmark. So I wonder if you could touch a little bit more on the overall demand environment you're seeing and whether you're expecting a meaningful growth acceleration in Q2 as base comps ease and as the working days turns to a tailwind. Secondly, on the profit guidance, Q1 margin reported 15.5% on EBITDA. You were kind of talking about that kind of close to 3-point impact from working days. So Q2 should benefit from that. If I look historically, you seasonally have a stronger second half on margins. So are you actually feeling more comfortable that you're more likely to be at the upper end of your guidance range in the lower end at this stage? And then lastly, on costs, if I look at the Q1 admin costs, ex salaries and depreciation, down DKK 12 million in Q1 over last year in the written report, it was talking about beginning to gain scaling efficiency. So wondering if you could talk about where those savings are and the sustainability.

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

George, thank you for some good questions. Well, I mean, on the demand side, there's no doubt that we are seeing a larger demand, but also mainly as a result of our consistent strategy and addressing customers with our platforms and our products. We have been over the last 1.5 years discussing almost every engagement that we are doing new engagements with our platforms in our hand. So these are systems where we talk AI, but we also talk real-time optimizations. We talk case management, very, very complex case management, and we have, to a very large extent, also technology and methodology with us when we address the customers. So we see an increasing demand for the approach that we have, where we quickly can set up both demos and realize systems faster than many of our competitors.

So that's been a result of that. And we see the demand in both private and public sector increasing in '24 compared to '23. In '23, there was -- especially in the beginning of '23, there was a sense of maybe a financial crisis arising and we saw both stagnation in public and private demand. We don't see that in '24 at all. And when it comes to the Q2 and the EBITDA, and of course, the working days in relation to the Easter holiday. Well, you're absolutely right. So the days that we are missing in Q1 will impact us positively in Q2. And when it comes to the expense levels, I will leave that one to Thomas.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Thanks, Andre, and thanks for the question, George. And on the question on the admin cost, and I read your question as to whether this is now a stable run level. It is true that our admin costs are lower, and it is true that we are starting to benefit from realizing scale. Also though in Q1, if you look at the amount of FTEs in Denmark, that is actually lower than it was in Q1 last year. And our employees and new employees are driving some costs that are anchored in the admin cost. So while we look at 2024 and onwards with comfort, and that we also believe that we can start scaling admin cost. There might be a little bumps up and down depending on when FTE growth is hitting the various quarters just so that -- just so that you won't get surprised on that.

[George Webb, analyst]

Okay. That's really helpful. And if I could just ask one more. On the U.K. business, you called out a contract that you won in the first quarter, but not in great detail. Is there anything more you can say about that? Was that one of the previous frameworks you've been assigned to?

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

And we cannot say that much more in detail now. But what we can say is that within a few weeks' time, we can be more specific. It's a significant contract. And as you know, we've been investing into writing large tenders, actually several large tenders, and we will talk more about that when we can.

[Operator]

Next up, we have Daniel Djurberg from Handelsbanken.

[Daniel Djurberg, analyst]

Congrats to solid numbers, especially on the cost discipline. I would like to start with a little bit, if you can talk about the mix effect in the quarter volume report from price and also a little bit on if we saw the full employee salary increase starting from January? And if that -- what kind of level that was for the full group and if possible, a little bit more different in various parts of the group.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Yes. And thanks for the question, Daniel. On the vol -- Price Mix, we will answer as we normally do, and that is we don't really give too much detail on our price setting. What we can say is that it is not -- the performance in Q1 is not driven by significant increases in our hourly rate. It is basically driven by improved utilization. Of course, there's a little bit of price adjustments, but the main gain is from increased utilization. And on the salary increase that we normally see in Q1, that is also as we normally do, we've salary adjusted all of our employees on the 1st of January. And that means that the salary pool for people that we have on contract on the 1st of January, is increasing with between 6% and 8%. It's not that I don't have the number, but we'll give the range. That will then even out as we go through the year, but there is a full impact on the salary increase, if you saw, will, in Q1, which underpins even further the underlying improvement in margin.

[Daniel Djurberg, analyst]

And if I may ask you on that we've done in more or less rightsizing or H sizing the organization to get the employee turnover at the right level. Can you say anything if you're done with that work or if it's more to be done there?

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Well, we've done some considerable work in terms of rightsizing, as you said. And -- but we are very much finishing that now. And as you can see, the first quarter, we -- because we are getting more busy. We've created a bunch of new people, also some very young people to start up. So the pyramid is looking the way we would like it to look like, and we are ready for growth.

[Daniel Djurberg, analyst]

Perfect. And if I may, I'll ask you the last question here. There was some news in the quarter on this EPO investigation in Greece some of this RF fund the projects. And I just wanted to hear from you on the state if investors can leave this event and potential risk behind in full -- that's my question.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Sure. And thanks for bringing that up also, Daniel, it's true that we, alongside with 10 other large companies in Greece had a visit from the EU competition authorities in terms of tender awards and tender wins. We do not expect the visit to have any negative outcome on our business, neither in Greece nor in the European Union with Intrasoft, or with Netcompany Group as such.

[Operator]

Our next question is from Claus Almer from Nordea.

[Claus Almer, analyst]

Also a few questions from my side. The first question goes to Denmark. If we try to adjust for the whole Easter timing, Q1 and Q2, should we expect Denmark to be back to double-digit revenue growth already from Q2? And if that happens, should we start to dream that Denmark will return to this peak margins we saw a few years back. That would be the first one.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Thanks for that, Claus. You know us very well. So you also know that I'm going to answer that. We will not comment on what we expect on a quarterly basis in terms of revenue growth. The pure math of the start of this year with Easter hitting Q1, of course, means that relative, we will have a somewhat easier comparable when we look at Q2. But whether that is a double-digit growth in Denmark or not, I'll not comment on further. But just to refer back to what Andre said in the beginning of the call, namely that we are busy, and we see strong support for the services that we render which is good, and that's both in public and private.

In terms of margin trajectory, I'll refer to the bridge that we've made for how to get from 2023 level where the group margin was 15% to at least 20% in 2026. Part of that is a increased margin in Denmark and with the performance in Q1. Of course, we want to continue to show that we can do that. We do believe that we've shown that the variables that we have in the bridge to the 20% margin in 2026 are viable and achievable. And I'll leave it at that.

[Claus Almer, analyst]

Okay. It was worth trying, at least. Looking at this U.K. project win, do you need to use FTEs from outside the U.K. division? Or can you meet your order by adding people within the U.K.?

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Well, we will, of course, need some expertise from the main contribution to the engagements in the U.K. will be U.K. people.

[Operator]

Next up, we have Yiwei Zhou from SEB.

[Yiwei Zhou, analyst]

Congrats to the good Q1 results. And I have 3 questions here. I'll do one at a time. And firstly, a question on Norway. So if we adjust for these 2 effects, it still shows a growth acceleration here in the quarter and still far below your medium-term target. Could you maybe add a bit of flavor on your expectation? And in relation to that, could you please give an update on the delivery of the Avinor contract?

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Yes. Thank you for that. So in Norway, as we also mentioned, we are delivering the system for child welfare system for the municipalities, and we expect that to continue over the year. And we actually expect to have even further penetration into that market. And when it comes down to the Avinor contract, that one is building up a bit slower than planned. It's more complex than such, but we are in a very good state there. So it's more a question of timing. So overall, we feel comfortable in the Norwegian space. And we see an organization there that is much more capable of delivering large IT projects than they were just 1, 2 years ago.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

We still believe those targets we have set for the revenue growth midterm to get there. We still firmly believe in those. So it is a matter of, as Andre said ramping up, and that is taking a little longer time than anticipated, but we're getting there.

[Yiwei Zhou, analyst]

Great. Q4, you had a big margin improvement wine loss-making again. Should we still expect those kind of fluctuation during 2024 to return to the deposit margin trends?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

I'll have to disappoint you a little bit here, way and say that, yes, there will be fluctuations in margins. The reason why Q4 was so strong was that we had a higher -- high proportion, sorry, of revenue that came from licenses. And clearly, when we realize licenses in a quarter and especially in Norway, which is a smaller business, then that will have a significant drive on margin. And we will also see that during these quarters in 2024 and potentially also on or...

[Yiwei Zhou, analyst]

Next question is on the Danish operation So if we adjusted for the street, would you be happy with the employee utilization in Q1? Or you still see a room for flood improvement?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

That's a good question. We asked poised for some booby traps here, I think. I will answer in a way that we are satisfied with the performance in the Danish organization in Q1 without answering straight on your question as to can we utilization improve even further. But I understand you have to try.

[Yiwei Zhou, analyst]

All right. Fair enough. And then a question -- a follow-up question actually on the U.K. large contract. Could you please comment if [ 3D ] was wrong before the end of Q1 after just trying to figure out, it was -- if it was included already in the revenue visibility figures you provided in the report?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Contract won in Q1, but not in revenue visibility as some technicalities in terms of when we start is only being fleshed out now. And that's also why we are not commenting on what it really is more than we've won the contract. So the contract win is not reflected in the revenue visibility for the remaining part of the year.

[Yiwei Zhou, analyst]

Okay. But then the delivery will start in the second half. If -- last question here is also on the U.K. You mentioned the P&O [ Paris ] contract. Could you maybe comment on the time for delivery on maybe contract size?

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

So delivery has started, and it will be a continuous periods of time, but we cannot go into detail of the contract size.

[Operator]

Next up, we have [indiscernible] from Redburn Atlantic.

[Unknown Analyst]

I just want to find out 3% impact reported from the working day happens in Denmark. Could you please explain the mechanism here? I was doing question that most of the contracts in the public sector here are mostly fixed price engagements rather than time materials. So is it therefore an impact from a percentage of completion on the revenue recognition on a daily basis? Or how do I think about the impact on fixed price engagements?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Yes, thanks for the question, and you actually had the answer in part of your question. The impact from public holidays in Q1 on the fixed fee contracts is, as you say, a percentage of completion. So in a -- if there is in a quarter, 3 working days less -- that means that the work on those contracts clearly will be less complete than if we had 3 working days more. So as the percentage of completion is lower than the relative income recognition of those fixed-fee projects are clearly also lower simply because the projects have not been as progressed as if there had been more working days. So it's the mechanisms of pork accounting percentage of completion on fixed fee projects where we look at what is the percentage of completion, estimated time to complete. And then clearly, on an ongoing basis, income recognized according to that.

[Unknown Analyst]

Understood. And just another one. On the total cash OpEx, I think it was DKK 191 million and seems to be down 11% sequentially. Is this also again to an extent to working day impact? Or is this some new baseline we can perhaps extrapolate a portion of sale the next few quarters?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Yes, the first part of the question, the line is not very clear. So can you please reiterate the first?

[Unknown Analyst]

Sorry, The total cash OpEx, I think it was DKK 191 million, which was down sequentially around 11%. I just wanted to know if this was mostly due to working days or also if maybe there's a new baseline or savings that we could possibly extrapolate for the following quarters to come?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Mean there's some savings that comes from scale. There's also some lower cost on admin, as I mentioned earlier on, which is related to how many people we hire. And clearly, in Denmark, for instance, we are fewer people in Q1 compared to Q1 last year, which means that there's a lot of one-off initial cost when we are lower in Q1, and some of that will come back as we will see more people coming to the offices in Q2 and onwards. But there will also be some more staying of the -- of some of the lower cost without going into more details. But there will be some that are FG driven.

[Operator]

The next question is from [indiscernible]. He just disconnect. We will continue with Alistair from Bank of America. But I do believe we have Balajee Tirupati from Citi back on the line.

[Balajee Tirupati, analyst]

Congratulations on decent set of numbers for first quarter. Two questions from my side, if I may. Firstly, on better-than-expected profitability in the quarter, clearly benefited from superior utilization rate. Do you see the current utilization improvement sustainable? And how should we think of head count growth going ahead given expectation of growth acceleration to close to double-digit rate interest in rest of the year? And the second question on cash flow. Would it be possible to quantify the impact on working capital from early Easter break? And would it be fair to see the higher cash tax in the quarter as part of reversal from lower cash tax last year? Or should we expect reversal in the coming quarters? And also how should we think of cost capitalization rate and lease costs in the coming quarters versus the first quarter level?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

All right. Thanks for the question, Balajee. When it comes to utilization, whether that level we are now is something we can expect at least sustain. The short answer to that is yes. And without going into what that means for FTE recruitment and the likes, and the likes, I'll just leave it at that. On the cash flow impact from Easter falling at the end of March, the timing difference, if you so will, on account receivables received on the 2nd and 3rd of April, which in a month where we didn't have Easter at the quarter end. That impact is somewhere between DKK 125 million and DKK 135 million. So free cash flow would have been DKK 125 million to DKK 135 million better if those payments that outstanding end of March was actually also received in March.

We only received them in our bank because of spending holiday on the first, we only received them in our bank on the 2nd and 3rd of April, so DKK 120 million to DKK 135 million. On the increased tax rate, part is a calculation or a correction due to earlier years in terms of tax and then there is a generally speaking, higher tax rate than what we've seen historically which has been around 22%. And that has to do with the limitation to interest code when the balance sheet is composed of a large proportion tax code in Denmark, which prohibits especially price -- especially private and then subtract all the interest rate for that and have the tax payers pay for the investment. So that's why it is a little bit elevated. It will come down gradually, but it will be higher than 22% for the remaining part of the year. And then the last question I didn't get, so if you can reiterate that.

[Balajee Tirupati, analyst]

Sure. Before going there also a clarification on the cash tax, which was higher than P&L tax, I was -- the question on that part was, is it on account of reversal from lower cash tax last year? Or should we expect a reversal or the difference between cash tax to reverse in the coming quarters?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

There's some payment of the adjustment to taxes for '23, which happened in Q1. And clearly, those will not happen in Q2 and onwards.

[Aditya Buddhavarapu, analyst]

But there is no reversal either as a high cash tax this quarter doesn't mean that cash tax in the coming quarter is going to be lower than P&L tax is more of catch-up.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

No, no. As we've always -- and maybe we'll take this as an item off, but the cash tax will always be higher potentially then profit and loss tax due to the Danish system where you pay your income tax on account in Q1 and Q4. So basically, the entire income tax for a full year, we pay in 2 quarters, Q1 and Q4, that means we paid we pay taxes in Q1, no taxes in Q2, and we pay no taxes in Q3 and then we pay again in Q4, which, of course, means that in Q1 and Q4, the paid taxes, all our things equal, will be higher than the accrued taxes. Does that make sense?

[Aditya Buddhavarapu, analyst]

It does. Nonetheless, I mean, it's still the cash tax for first quarter in '21 versus first quarter '23 is significantly higher, almost double of that. And that is why I was asking this question on the reason behind such a increase in cash tax. And your point taken. The last part was on the cost capitalization in the quarter and lease cost in the quarter. Can we -- how should we see both of these versus the first quarter level as we go ahead in the year?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

So the lease cost, so that's basically depreciation because we are capitalizing right-to-use assets, which is a normalized run rate, so you can utilize that. And the other costs that you were referring to? I'm sorry, it's a very bad line. So it's difficult to hear the question. Apologies.

[Balajee Tirupati, analyst]

The part of cost that you capitalized as intangible investment.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Okay. So the capitalized cost you talked about.

[Balajee Tirupati, analyst]

Yes. And also the amortization charge, both of that, how should we think about the -- as we go ahead in the year?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

So they are now -- and compared to what we've said previously, we have said previously, we expect capitalized cost to be to the tune of around DKK 120 million for full year, which was in line with 2023. If you look at Q1, then we have capitalized DKK 20 million compared to DKK 30 million in Q1 2023. That is not the same to say that now the capitalized cost will be DKK 80 million as a given. It might be higher, but we don't expect it to be higher than what we have said previously, which was DKK 120 million. seemly a little bit lower, but it could be higher depending on what we do in the different parts of the business in terms of development on products and platforms.

[Balajee Tirupati, analyst]

And then amortization charges, should we expect them to go up as we go ahead because last year, amortization charges were DKK 30-odd million on account of capitalized cost. And since the number is higher, should we expect that will increase through the quarter in 2024?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

I'm not going to discuss amortization on a quarterly basis, but I suggest you take it off-line with [indiscernible]. Overall, when we capitalize more cost as our own development, of course, the logic is that until we have done that for a full 5-year cycle, then the amortization regarded to that will be higher. What is offsetting that increase is that other parts of the intangible assets related to some acquisitions we've made, and they are beginning to be fully amortized. So that is offsetting that increase. So there are bips and bobs and difficult to give a very straight answer in a call like this, but we're happy to take it offline.

[Operator]

And the next question, I do believe the name is Alistair from Bank of America.

[Aditya Buddhavarapu, analyst]

This is Aditya from Bank of America. Most of them have actually been answered. If you could just comment on the U.K. So you talked about weaker growth in the public sector. Can you just talk about what's driving that beyond maybe the impact of spending time on the tenders, anything great to the market itself. Second, I want to try getting this, again, you talked about it a bit earlier. Given the working day impact versus in the second quarter, so should we think that the 5 basis point impact you had, let's say, in Denmark, that should be like a 5 percentage point, let's say, tailwind versus 1Q into 2Q?

And then finally, could you just talk about what you're seeing in general around -- I mean just on the demand environment, as you said, but more specifically around the, let's say, discretionary aspect of spending with a more larger deals, was that been one area of weakness flagged by some of your peers?

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Well, thank you for that question, Aditya. And I think I'll take the first one. When it comes to the U.K. market, we see demand for our platforms and products, and it's both in private and public sector. So our Pulse product, which is used to real-time optimization of transportation companies and logistics supply chain kind of cases, we see an increasing demand, but we also see a great interest for our public platforms and products here on there also, of course, of tax and customers products [indiscernible]. So it's a very positive development where we approach customers with concrete solutions and something that they can tap into really fast. I see that as a great parameter for being competitive and differentiate towards differentiating in terms of other competitors in that market space. When it comes to the working day question, I think, Thomas, you can probably allude to that.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Sure. And thanks for the question, Aditya. So on the working day, the logic in the math is that the headwind in Q1 is going to be a tailwind in Q2. And whether that is then x or y percent at -- I'll not talk into. But clearly, if we are 3 days short in Q1 and we are 3 days up in Q2, then the logic is that all of the things equal, you'll have the same effect, just reversed. And then your last question, I think, was what do we see in spending on large enterprise investments and big public deals, and I'll leave that to Andre also to give a little bit of a voice over. I think that was for the group in general.

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Yes. I mean, we will always continuously be working and focusing on larger tenders and larger engagements. But of course, when doing so, we also win some. So overall, seen from -- in a long time period perspective, it will be the same kind of business development efforts on average. But we will have periods of time like we've seen in the U.K. over the last 2, 3 quarters where we're investing more into it. And then, of course, subsequently, when we win some of them, it will go down again. It's very normal, and we see that fluctuate throughout all the markets. But overall, the -- it's going to be the same level of business development on average across our markets.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

And maybe to add further. So we don't -- as some of -- as you mentioned, some of our peers have seen a slowdown in their markets, we have not seen a slowdown in demand. We've not seen a slowdown in terms of the type of talks that we have, the amount of talks. And if anything, we do believe that the focus we initiated at the start of 2023 with increased focus on platforms and products is really beginning to show its worth now. We can see that in all the dialogues that we are having. They are progressing well, and they are getting bigger and bigger, and there's plenty of them.

[Aditya Buddhavarapu, analyst]

Understood. Maybe just one quick follow-up on the free cash flow. I know you haven't given any guidance for the year. But how should we think about the, I guess, given -- obviously, you have the working capital impact reversing in 2Q. How should we think about that overall for the full year? And also related to that, I guess you don't increase -- you don't include the lease liabilities within that free cash flow number. Any big reason for that in terms of how we define that?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

So in terms of what we think about the free cash flow, I didn't hear the last part of the question. But in terms of what we think of the free cash flow for the remaining part of the year, I think it's fair to assume that we are not -- we're not concerned. And I think the best way of looking at that is that on the back end of Q1, we are initiating a second share buyback program. This time, DKK 250 million, which is on top of the DKK 150 million that we did in the first quarter. So we are working diligently, we believe, with collecting our cash and making sure that the work in progress because receivables and making sure that we are getting the cash flow that we require to meet those midterm targets of DKK 2 billion, mainly share buyback by 2026.

[Aditya Buddhavarapu, analyst]

The second part of that was just you don't include the lease liabilities within that free cash flow number. Just wondering if there's any particular reason why that has compared to maybe some of your peers?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

No. We have right or wrong, but we have always used free cash flow before depreciation and on leases also when we were at our previous headquarter. Now clearly, the headquarter now has a higher lease, if you so will. But with -- this is the same method we've used all along.

[Operator]

The next question is from the line of Gianmarco Conti from Deutsche Bank.

[Gianmarco Conti, analyst]

Congrats on the quarter. I just have 2 very short questions. On the first one, the large U.K. contract that you mentioned in the report already show up in your revenue visibility metric. And was this the large win with into that you're expecting? And the second one is for Thomas, maybe could you share your expectations for the tax rate throughout the year -- the effective tax rate was 29% in Q1 and consensus is on 21% for FY '24. Is this a fair assumption? Any color on that would be great.

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Thank you for those questions. And then the first -- the answer to the first question is no. So it cannot be seen in visibility, and we cannot comment on what specific customer that it is in question at the moment. Well, we will return, and we will be back in a few weeks' time about more details about that contract.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

And the second question, Gianmarco, in terms of tax rate. The tax rate for 2024 will be -- it will be lower than we realized in 2023, but it will be higher than the 22%. And the reason for that is the limitation to interest cost deduction [indiscernible] to how much of the interest rate or the interest cost that we can deduct. And the reason why this then shows as show up in 2023 and now also in 2024 is that previously, interest rate was close to 0. And right now, interest rate is higher. So even though that we will continue to deleverage and even though that we will see also improvement in earnings. We will have, to some extent, and in some periods and elevated effective tax rate above 22%.

The reason why I'm not going to be able to disclose what we expect in terms of effective tax rate is that, that will be a very big stepping stone in you being able to calculate what we then expect in terms of earnings. And that is still a little early in the year to give you that number, Gianmarco.

[Operator]

And our final attendee with the question is Orson Rout from Barclays.

[Orson Rout, analyst]

The quick ones for me. The first is just on the U.K. where there wasn't any working impact in Q1 obviously, very positive to see the sort of turn on H2 and the large contract. But I was wondering if you could give some color on the sequential slowdown in Q1.And I know you won't give explicit guidance on Q2. But could you give some more color where the Q2 is expected to be quite depressed again before an acceleration in H2? That's the first question.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Thanks for the question, Orson. We cannot comment more in detail. First of all, we don't comment on the quarter for the group. And therefore, we're also not commenting on the expectation for the individual entities clearly. Now the slowdown in the U.K., Q1 is related to significant tender writing activities. There will still be some of that in Q2. And then we will start to see revenue picking up in Q3 and Q4. That is also in line with what we said in connection with the annual report, where we gave the revenue growth expectation on a geographical aspect.

And there, we said that the U.K. would grow -- expected to grow between 10% and 30%, which is quite a big swing. And I don't think it's a surprise that the low part of that range probably relates to 2024, reflecting that a lot of tender writing activities indeed is taking place in Q1 and also will take place in Q2 until we have onboarded and ramped fully on the contract win, which we cannot say which one is.

[Orson Rout, analyst]

Okay. Fantastic. That's helpful. Second question is just on the license revenues. There's been a lot of discussion on working days, which obviously should make Q2 a March year to year comp. But was wondering how you're thinking about license revenue given that looking at the license revenue line, you did get quite a big chunk in Q2 a lot above DKK 2 million or so. I'm aware this is chunked in, you probably can't give explicit guidance, but I was wondering if you could give some color how you're thinking about license revenue and to a phasing through the year this year.

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

What we can say on license is exactly as you have said yourself, as it is chunky, and whether that falls in Q2, Q3 and Q4, to some extent, is harder to predict. And of course, when it falls in a given quarter, it will have a almost 100% impact on margin also. So clearly, it is moving the needle. So -- there is some uncertainty to that, which I'm unfortunately not going to be able to say much more about other than, yes, we know it's there. And yes, we also know that we have a fair amount of licenses in Q2 last year, but we are looking into a 2024, which we've come on a good start. So let's -- we'll continue on focusing on that, but I'm not going to comment on the phasing of licenses.

[Orson Rout, analyst]

Okay. Fantastic. And then the final question is just on free cash flow. And again, aware that you're not going to give an explicit guidance, but through most of last year, you said that expectations for 2023 were going to be that absolute free cash flow would be higher than '22 that wasn't quite realized. I was wondering if you have conviction that in 2024, free cash flow should recover to at least 2022 levels? Or is that too early to comment on that?

[Thomas Johansen, executive]

Yes, we're not going to comment on that. The only thing I can look back to is that we feel confident on our full year guidance. We feel confident on our midterm targets. And we have initiated yet another share buyback, which is now DKK 100 million higher than it was in Q1, so -- or the one we've done in Q1. So we feel comfortable with our targets set also, but I'm not going to be able to comment on a specific cash flow expectation.

[Operator]

As there are no further questions, I will hand it back to the speakers for any closing remarks.

[André Rogaczewski, executive]

Well, thank you all for joining in today, and have a good weekend.