Multiconsult ASA

OSE:MULTI

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q2

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Good morning, and welcome to this presentation of the second quarter of 2022 for Multiconsult. My name is Grethe Bergly, I'm the CEO. And with me today, I have Unni Kristiansen, who is the acting CFO. I will start by giving you some highlights of the quarter, and then Unni will take you through the more detailed figures.

It is a good second quarter for Multiconsult. We have a revenue of just over NOK 1 billion, and this represents an increase from last quarter -- last year's second quarter of 6.2%. We also have a strong EBITA of roughly NOK 75 million, and this represents a margin of 7.1%. I'd like to remind you all that the comparison with the second quarter 2022 is -- you have to take into account that there were 3 more calendar days in the second quarter last year. We also maintained our high rate -- our high billing rate. And as you can see, we also had a strong order intake of just over NOK 1.2 million (sic) [ NOK 1.2 billion ] in the quarter.

Looking at the half year. Again, NOK 2.1 billion in revenue, and this represents an increase of 11.2%. We have a strong EBIT (sic) [ EBITA ] of NOK 244 million. For the second half -- for the first half, we also maintained a strong billing ratio and again also a strong order intake.

Summing it up, we could say that we are on track with our strategic ambition. It's the second quarter with a good result, good revenue. We have a strong order intake, and we maintain a very balanced project portfolio. We also have -- LINK, our architects, have been rated and A+ amongst the most sustainable architects in the world. And this is all in line with our ambitions of a #1 position within sustainability. We also, for the Norwegian business, have confirmed our strong position as a preferred employer.

Looking at the sales. So here, you can see the listing of some of the major sales that's been made in the period. By far, the largest is the top 1 here, Norwegian nuclear decommissioning. We've already reported this sale. It's a frame agreement in the order of NOK 750 million to NOK 900 million, which we are working in, in cooperation and joint venture with Jacobs.

Also, it's a good mix, this infrastructure bridge. There's an energy project in Mozambique and also a waste facilities in Østfold. We'd also like to remind you that we have some of the sales that we've recorded this year is related to projects that are ongoing. And some of the larger ones, of course, Fornebubanen, Sotra, the new hospital.

Looking at the figures. You can see here it's been a good order intake, and we're stable when it comes to the order backlog. And as I mentioned earlier, it's a good mix for large and small projects but also within the business areas.

Looking up on the ESG different topics. We -- the sustainability award for LINK. We are also on track on the ambitions that we have for the footprint that we as a business make. Although we do know that our main effect is, of course, through the projects that we execute. Social, we've had one of our employees who's been out with Red Cross in Ukraine. And when it comes to governance, I've been given the honor of serving on the Board of LINK -- of Skift, which is a network for business climate leaders, showing the engagement that we have also externally.

People and organization. It's a good growth with the number of employees, mainly driven by the acquisitions that we made last year. But we're also seeing a slightly higher sick leave figure, but it's gone down from the first quarter of 2022. We've got a new Director for the LINK business in Sweden, Christina Kazeem. And she will take -- start her job on the 1st of September. And we have just in Norway completed the summer program where we've had 88 summer students.

And when it comes to excellence, I would like here to mention Richard Opsahl Resvoll, who was appointed -- awarded Young Engineer of the Year in Norway, but he also got an honorable mention then in the European competition. So again, having first-class people is, of course, a very important part of our business.

And with that, I'll give you over to Unni.

[Unni Kristiansen, executive]

Thank you, Grethe, and good morning, everyone. My name is Unni Kristiansen, and I am the acting CFO. And I will give you some more details on the figures.

Overall, Multiconsult continues the positive journey. Solid net operating revenues and good operation growth impacted by high billing ratio and billing rates. Second quarter was a good quarter. We have an increase in net operating revenues of 6.2%, impacted by increased capacity related to the acquisitions last year. We have an organic growth of 3.4%, offset by a negative calendar effect of 3 less working days amounts to NOK 43 million. EBITA came in at NOK 74.7 million with a margin of 71 -- 7.1% for the quarter.

We see an increase in other operating expenses compared to the same period last year. We monitor our cost base closely, and the increase in costs relates to more employees, office expenses, general salary increase last year and increased cost due to travel, courses and insurance and so on. It is caused in connection to employees coming back to the office, whereas it was low activity last year. We maintain our high billing ratio of 71.9% ratio in the quarter.

Looking at the first half. We have continued solid operation with growth of 11.2% in net operating revenues, impacted also by capacity related to the acquisitions last year. Organic growth of 2.5% and a positive calendar effect of 1 more working day amounts to NOK 14 million. EBITA came in at NOK 243.9 million with a margin of 11.2% for the first half. The increase in cost has the same explanations as for the quarter. Billing ratio of 71.6% for the first half, and we have a stable and comfortable order backlog of NOK 3.5 billion.

Here, you can see the development historically. And the picture is a stable and good development and performance over time for Multiconsult. Down in the right-hand corner, you see the increase in employees, which mainly are from the acquisitions last year.

When we're looking into our segments in the first half. We see that Region Oslo delivers a strong result with a growth in net operating revenues of 28% and a margin of 17.2% driven by high billing ratio and a positive development in billing rate. Region Norway had good sale and solid performance and delivered EBITA margin of 11.2%. For both these regions, increased capacity from the prior acquisitions contributed positive. Even though a higher short-term sick leave, we are satisfied with this result.

In Energy, we see a positive development with an improved EBITA and margin. In LINK, the result is down compared to last year. But in LINK Norway, they have a high activity and good performance in the second quarter. But the first half of 2022, it's affected by a high short-term sick leave in the first quarter. We see a positive trend in the short term sick leave in the second quarter. For LINK Sweden and Denmark, they are in a turnaround process. We see a positive development in both countries, but Sweden have some more costs related to the turnaround process.

And then our companies in International, Multiconsult Polska and Iterio, continues their stable and good performance. It is an increase in net operating revenues and EBITA margin of 9% on average.

At the end, some words about the financial position. It's minor changes to our financial picture. We have a comfortable gearing level and a strong balance. Then Grethe will continue.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Thank you. Unni. Looking at our business areas. So you can see that it's not a major change in the distribution when it comes to the sizes and the revenue from the various -- 4 various business areas. Building & Properties, still the largest one. We have a revenue of NOK 2.5 billion, and it's an increase of 14% year-on-year.

I'd also like now to give you a bit more of a deep dive into the business area of Energy & Industry. It represents 19% of our business. We expect that level to maybe increase some as we see the demand for the services within these business areas are increasing. There's a slight reduction in the order backlog, but we had an extremely high backlog in the second quarter of 2021. And this is within the variations that we expect. As you can see, there's been a nice and steady sales in each quarter going back 4 years within this business area. The typical kind of projects that we do here is hydropower and dams, it's wind power, it's solar, it's transmission and distribution and also smart grid.

Within the Industry, it's the metals and chemistry where we have a strong position. We also see now an increase in what we've named green energy and industry. Within this is typical battery factories, it's production of hydrogen, production of ammonium that we're seeing an increased demand. We also have a position in aquaculture both onshore and offshore, some logistics and distribution projects and not least onshore plants, where Multiconsult has actually been involved with all onshore plants that's been constructed in Norway.

Going more into detail, solar and hydropower. This is a project that we've been awarded this quarter. The GET FiT program is about helping the governments in the various countries to attract private investors for renewable energy. We've had the program in Uganda, in Zambia, and also now we're getting our position in Mozambique. Solar, a variety of services within this area, early phase analysis. We also, of course, do some engineering to assist our clients in providing the solar parks that we see are a vital part of the sources for energy in the future.

Hydropower. We're involved just now -- the largest one is hydropower in Georgia, where we are the owner's engineer. But we also do engineering contracts designed all over the world. Electrification, lots of electrification projects going on in Norway. This is one of the largest and more complex one with the electrifying the onshore plant of Melkøya, which at the moment is the largest single point of CO2 emission in Norway.

New energy. This is an ammonium factory that's being -- is under planning in the North of Norway. We provide the clients with services from the very early phases of finding out where you position it and helping them with all the civil engineering work in relation to such a factory.

Aquaculture. More and more now it's being looked at, taking the aquaculture plants onshore. This is a large one that we've done with LINK. It's under -- the investment hasn't been made, but we have the skills and the knowledge to provide services for a total package for the clients in this kind of projects.

Carbon capture storage. This is the first of its kind in the world being built on the West Coast of Norway. People can -- the plan here is to come with the CO2, we'll transfer it and we will store it. And Multiconsult has been involved with all the -- from the very early phases until it's now being constructed at the moment.

And with that, just a final word on outlook. Strong market outlook in all 4 business areas. We are aware of an increased uncertainty both in eco, economics, this to do with inflation, cost of energy materials. But so far, we have not been hit by any of this. But we are, of course, very aware that things have -- the uncertainty has increased. We are seeing that we are attractive as a partner with our skills to assist our clients in their journey towards more sustainable solutions. And we are leaving this first half year with a balanced portfolio, and we're on a steady course.

So that completes -- I'll do this last one. These are the dates for the next quarters. And that completes our presentation. And then if there are any questions.

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. We have some questions from the Norwegian presentation that was done -- made earlier. So we translated them into English. And then the first question back then was, have you noticed any slowdown in your activity for your architectural business, LINK, or any other segments?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

We -- the only place where we've seen some slowdown is in Denmark. So the market, the whole construction industry in Denmark seems to have been hit harder. And what they're saying is that projects, they are not stopped or canceled but they are put on a delay. So there have been some effect there. In Sweden, we are being hit -- I think the area that's been most affected is housing. And our LINK business is, to a large extent, involved with hospitals. So they have not been hit very hard. In Norway, it varies a bit within the regions. But so far, we have had -- hardly any project has been stopped.

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. Thank you. Second question was, what's the organic growth in Region Oslo?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

It's 3.1%.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you. Last question was, you booked a profit of NOK 6 million from a profitable -- a partly owned company in Africa in the quarter. Is this a one-off?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Well, my answer to that is that the NOK 6 million comes from the running business. So -- and they are experiencing a very high activity. This is from our business in Tanzania, where we have a 49% ownership. So it's not a one-off in the sense that something special has happened. But the future of that income will, of course, depend on the level of activity that we see in Tanzania.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you. That concludes all the questions.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Okay. Then I'd say just thank you to all who have listened in, and have a nice day.