Multiconsult ASA

OSE:MULTI

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q2

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Good morning, and welcome to this presentation of the results for Multiconsult, the second quarter of 2024. My name is Grethe Bergly. I'm the CEO. And with me today is also our CFO, Ove Haupberg.

Before we look at the figures, we'll just give a brief overview of Multiconsult. We are a Norwegian-based engineering and consultant company. We operate mainly in Norway. But we have a footprint in Scandinavia, Poland and we have a project footprint in large parts of Europe, some in Africa and also some in Asia. We have 4 segments, Region Oslo, that's where the headquarter is. And in addition to offices in Oslo, there's an office at the Lillehammer and Lillestrøm. Then Regions Norway is, of course, the other location where we're present along Norway.

Then we have the segment Architecture that comprises 3 LINK Arkitektur companies: 1 in Norway, 1 in Sweden and 1 in Denmark, and the Arkitektur A-lab who have their main office in Oslo. The last segment is International. That comprises the Swedish engineering company, Iterio, and our operations in Poland. In the market, we operate within 4 business areas: Building & Properties, Mobility & Transportation, Energy & Industry and Water & Environment. And our clients are 50-50 private and public.

Over the last few years, we have had a good profitable growth. This is based on a robust business model with a strong portfolio and very high skilled employees. It makes us able to deliver services to our clients, both across business areas and various geographies.

Looking at the figures, we've had a very strong quarter. We've had good operational performance, high billing ratio, good sales, which has also then led to a high -- continuous high order backlog and there's been an organic growth of 11.4%. Very strong results is, of course what comes out from this, an EBITA of NOK 186 million, which represents a margin of 13% and an increase of 2.2% adjusted for calendar effect. There were 5 more working days in the second quarter this year compared to last year.

It's very pleasing to see the improvement with the segment Architecture. And Ove will give you some more details into the flavor of the various companies. I would just like to state that this is very well considering the extreme challenges this market is facing. There's also a put option that's affecting the income. This is related to A-lab and has a positive effect this quarter.

Looking at the market. As you can see, steady sales year-over-year. And this also then leads to a continuous high order backlog. It is a good diversion in this backlog, both across business areas and geographies. And I would like to remind you all of the substantial amount of ongoing projects that we have listed, you can see them here on the left-hand side. And the sales in the period has again been across various business areas.

From defense, there's been more on onshore salmon farming, thank you. And we have a hospital in Sweden, and there are also 2 road projects that we would like to mention. In the short term, we see a continuous strong pipeline. And as I mentioned, we are seeing a strong demand within defense across all our segments.

Looking at people and organization. We are now 3,785 employees. There is an increase of 5.1% with respect to FTEs. We have issued 2,800 shares in connection with our share program to new employees in the quarter. And through the second quarter, we've had a focus on diversity and inclusion. And this is very in line with our values that, in Multiconsult, everyone should feel that they are accepted and respected. And there's a great honor to all the people who work for us who had the courage to stand up and tell their stories. And that's a testament to our culture, that they are able to do that.

Organization, we are in the process of integrating the M&As that we did in the first quarter. We've had a summer program with 116 very enthusiastic summer students. And when it comes to our engagements with our environment, yes, it's been an honor for me to be reelected as the chair of RIF. That's the organization for consultant engineers in Norway. And also, Marianne Fledsberg, who has been elected as chair of NemiTek.

Looking at excellence, Multiconsult was involved with all the projects that were nominated for the BREEAM Award of 2024. And it's also very pleasing to see that LINK [ Arkitektur ] earns a lot of trust with their clients and has a Net Promoter Score of 58.3%. Before I hand over to Ove, just some words on our biggest investment, Multicat. This is a purpose-built vessel for investigation and testing in the near-shore areas. It's an area where we have a very strong position, and we look forward to now assisting our clients in all the opportunities that we see along the coast in Norway.

And with this, I hand you over to Ove.

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

Thank you, Grethe, and good morning. Then we have a closer look at second quarter and the first half of 2024, and we are starting with the second quarter. Net operating revenue for the quarter ends at NOK 1.425 billion. That is an increase of 23.5% from the same quarter last year. Organic growth was 11.4%, and the result of the M&A activity is 4%. And that is from last year, A-lab and the Helm companies. And for first quarter this year, VA-Resurs, also part of Iterio. And the companies that Grethe mentioned, [indiscernible] and [ Planteknikk ], they are part of the order backlog and also in the number of employees. But the P&L effects will be reported from third quarter this year.

The calendar effect is positive by 8%. There's 5 more working days compared to last year. The effect is positive by NOK 92.6 million. You can see that in the graphs done right in the picture. Main drivers behind this growth is the higher number of employees. We are 200 more people or 174 -- sorry, 171 employees, full-time employees, also seen in the graphs. So in addition to this, then the increased billing rates and the increased billing ratio, that is 73.8%, improvement of 1.7% from last year, that gives us an all-time high rate, and we are very proud with that.

EBITA in Q2 is NOK 185.7 million. That is an increase of NOK 130 million from last year and gives us the margin of 13%. And if we adjust for the calendar effect, we have an underlying EBITA of 7%, and that is an increase of 2.2% from 4.8% last year. And then strong sales, NOK 1.531 billion, and that gives us then the order backlog, as Grethe mentioned, NOK 4.943 billion. On the profit for the period, that is NOK 147.9 million or an increase by NOK 112 million from last year. We have financial income due to a remeasurement of a put option due to the A-lab purchase from last year. The positive effect is NOK 25.4 million.

Then first half. Net operating revenue, NOK 2.792 billion, an increase of 13.3% from last year and organic growth is 10.7%. The mentioned M&A activity gives an additional increase of NOK 8.4 billion. And the calendar effect is negative by 0.8. It's 1 less calendar day the first half compared to last year, and the effect is NOK 21.1 million. The drivers, the same as second quarter. Higher number of employees. We have an increase in billing rates that is part of other revenue effects in the graphs. And increased the billing ratio, we delivered 2.1 percentage points stronger than the same period last year.

EBITA is NOK 322.4 million, 18.6% stronger than last year of NOK 50.5 million. And also adjusted for the calendar effect, we see an increase in the margin by 1.2 percentage points from 11% to 12.2%. Also a strong sales for the first half, NOK 3.378 billion.

Okay. Looking then on development over the different periods and over some years, we see the second quarter in orange in this picture. And starting top left, net operating revenue, 23.5% growth, as commented on the last pictures, and also gives us a positive rolling 12 months uplift seen in the light blue line there. So this increase in operating revenue compared -- sorry, in combination with increased billing ratio and the number of employees, as you can see to the right, gives us then the solid 13% EBITA, as you see down left.

Then as promised by Grethe, some comments on the different segments and the companies in the segments. So all the numbers here are Q2 numbers compared to Q2 numbers for 2023. Starting to the left, Region Oslo. They delivered at the same high level as last year. Net operating revenues has a good level, NOK 531.6 million, an uplift of 17.3% from last year. The increase is driven by a higher number of employees and a positive calendar effect that is NOK 40.2 million, also increased billing ratio and increased billing rates. Operating expenses increased by NOK 8.3 million, mainly caused by a recruitment and ordinary salary adjustments, and the EBITA ends at NOK 80.7 million or a margin of 15.2%.

Going then to the right to Region Norway, and we see strong improvement in the results from this segment. Net operating revenue increased by NOK 103.6 million from last year or 22%, and EBITA on NOK 88.2 million is NOK 74.6 million stronger than last year. The calendar effect is estimated to be NOK 42.5 million. And hence, the underlying performance has improved significantly from last year. And it's driven by a solid growth in capacity, increased billing ratios, as you can see, 1.5 percentage points, and also increased rates.

Then segment Architecture. The growth of net operating revenue, NOK 60.1 million or close to 40% is mainly caused by incorporation of A-lab that came in from third quarter last year and the calendar effect also estimated positive at NOK 9 million. Then a small comments per company. LINK Norway, as you have heard before, they had an increased profit due to the improvement program that we launched by end of 2022, so focused on all aspects on the P&L. On top of that, we see the positive calendar effect and net write-offs in the project portfolio also improves the underlying performance.

But due to a more challenging market, the part of the country, the total capacity is somewhat reduced and there were some temporary layoffs also at the end of the second quarter. The positive is that the layoffs reduced now after summer. LINK Sweden, the performance has improved from a very good level last year in all parts of the country, with the exception of the [indiscernible] with more challenging Stockholm market.

LINK Denmark also has an improved performance compared to last year, and the turnaround process led by the new CEO and her management team has continued to cause uplift in the billing ratios, the billing rates and also savings on other costs. In this company, there is a onetime positive effect caused by the sales of the [ Olum ] design royalties, and the effect is positive by NOK 7.4 million. A-lab, the large architecture company, is facing a more demanding market, causing reduced net operating revenues. And A-lab more focused towards the private market, whereas LINK has a more diversified portfolio.

So to compensate for the sales loss, there has unfortunately been a number of both permanent and temporary layoffs in the company. A-lab is doing slightly negative results for the quarter, but the result is significantly improved from the second quarter this year. So in total, in this segment, a reduction of number of personnel by 8 and there were 23 temporary layoffs at the end of the quarter. Positive again, the number of temporary layoffs is reduced to 13 now in August.

So then the last one, International. Net operating revenues increased by 28.7% from NOK 79.8 million to NOK 103 million. The currency is estimated positive by NOK 7.6 million. And the main driver is the improved activity in Multiconsult Polska, and integration of both the Helm and VA-Resurs in Iterio. Calendar effect is positive by NOK 7.2 million. Underlying EBITA is improved in Multiconsult Polska, but there is a bad debt provision in the quarter that is due to a pending court case, and is causing a slightly negative result. Iterio is faced by a more demanding market situation, and that has caused a reduced call-off on some frame agreements and that is putting pressure on the results from that company in this quarter.

So that was the segment and then some comments on our financial position, starting to the left on the cash flow. So we started the year with a positive cash situation, NOK 278 million. Then we have a positive cash from operations by NOK 356 million, included IFRS effects. Then there's seasonal change in working capital. And we have used NOK 119 million in investments. That is a combination of the 3 M&A activities and then the new vessel and some other investments.

And then we see cash from operations is negative NOK 196 million. That is mainly caused by the dividend payout in April, NOK 221 million, partly compensating by a new loan of NOK 50 million. But in total, a cash situation end of Q2, positive NOK 93 million. And also the long-term debt situation, gearing ratio is 0.8, so still well in line with our policies.

The last comment from me is the free cash flow. We see here in dark blue, positive cash from operations this quarter 2, NOK 262 million. Net investments, NOK 19 million, that gives us the free cash flow of NOK 242 million and rolling 12 months positive on NOK 515 million.

That was the financials, Grethe. So handing back to you for closing remarks.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Thank you, Ove. Here's an overview of operating revenue split on the business areas. As you can see, there's a positive development in all 4 business areas, which is to be expected when you have 5 more calendar days. The positive drive on Energy & Industry and Water & Environment is what you should see here, and it's a growth that we expect to continue also into the rest of the year.

We also always give you an insight into some of our project portfolio. And this time, we've taken the headline: Wilder, wetter and warmer. We are faced with huge climate changes. Our scientists say that this is probably the largest environmental changes in the 21st century. And we as a society need to start preparing for the consequences of this climate. And we would like to give you now some insight into the projects that we are involved with, in particular, related to water.

This is an area in Norway, where we have hydropower dam to produce energy. This network of rivers, there are actually 11 plus 22 dams that are part of this system. And we are looking now at helping our clients have an insight into the -- how fragile is this system. And what are the effects, the domino effects, in case of a flooding and how do we, in the worst case, prepare for an evacuation should the worst thing happen.

Vågåmo, a small village in Norway have both in the past and quite recently seen huge problems with flooding and infrastructure being renewed. We are now reaching the point where we are getting an acceptance in society to start preventing rather than building up when the things -- accident has happened. And here, we are part of implementing a substantial plan that has been made to prevent damage to the infrastructure when we see huge amounts of water.

Drinking water security related to drinking water supply, major issues happening all over the world, really, and in particular, in the EU and also then within Norway to secure safe water to the population. Here is an example from Tromsø, where we are now looking at rehabilitating 4 dams that are part of the water supply system for this big city.

Multiconsult also work international. And this is an example for the for work that we do in connection with a plant -- hydropower plant in Malawi. Before you start any work of this kind, you need to do an environmental and social impact study. We are working on creating the report for this, looking at mitigating actions. And again, a very good example of the spread of expertise we have, but also the team that we can connect to help our clients in these kind of challenges.

And with that, we come to the outlook. We see that the overall market outlook remains positive and stable. We see a good level in the pipeline that we have. There is some continued uncertainty as we have reported in previous quarters and somewhat increased competition in parts of the market. But with our strong portfolio, with the ongoing projects that we have and the pipeline that we see, we are still very robust going into the second half of 2024. And we have, so far in the start of the second part of the year, seen a good and stable sales.

So for me before I -- before we wrap up from here, next time we see you is in November. And we are also then, in addition to presenting the results, are going to send an invite for our Capital Market Day. So with that, we open up for questions.

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. Thank you. There are no questions directly related to this presentation, but we have some from the Norwegian presentation that was made earlier. So we're going to translate that into English. So first question was from Simen Mortensen at DNB. Can you say something about the recruitment for Q3?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Yes. We have -- the third quarter is the year we invest in new people. And in particular, that's when we take up the largest number of graduates. This year, it's slightly lower recruitment rate than we had in the quarter -- same quarter in 2023.

[Unknown Executive]

And next question from Simen was the order backlog was flat year-over-year, and the number of employees is up 5%. How do you -- how are you working with this in relation to future growth?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

The reality is that we have a record high order backlog. And so we are not worried in any way. And we are, of course, monitoring the backlog based on the number of employees. But it's still a very strong backlog, and we are seeing good steady sales.

[Unknown Executive]

Good. Njål Kleiven, ABG Sundal Collier. You mentioned NOK 7.4 million in Denmark, but also write-ups in the portfolio. Is it possible to comment a bit more on that?

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

Yes. That is just normal operation that you reevaluate our projects. That is done on a quarterly basis. So this is just an ordinary. But this quarter, it was a positive effect and that was the reason why we come into that.

[Unknown Executive]

Okay. Njål as well. He has 2 questions. How did the first half of the year compared to your expectations at the start of the year? And you had a stable outlook for a period, but then if we compare it with Q1 and the beginning of the year, what would you comment on that?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Okay. We -- I would say that Q2 was roughly in line with what we'd expected. But there are some particulars in this second quarter that is not part of our normal operations that we didn't really foresee. I think on the whole, it's really -- the big note is that we had a really good start of the year in the Q1. And Q2, when we don't have Easter falling in the second quarter, that is a very high production period for us.

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

And also as commented on the Norwegian presentation, already the focus on the projects has been also a strong factor in giving these results.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you, Martine Kverne, from Nordea. She was interested in the cost in International. So could you tell us a bit more about the scope of the cost in international and how they are expected to develop going forward, particularly the extraordinary ones?

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

Yes. And it was the bad debt provision in Poland that we commented on. Otherwise, it's not a cost issue. It's call-off on frame agreement. So it's on a net operating income that has put a challenge on the results.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you. Erik Jacobsen also with Nordea. He was interested in the defense sector. Could you talk a bit more about how important the defense sector is for you and how -- what the outlook is for this sector?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Well, we expect a growth in the defense sector, and all our subsidiaries actually have projects within this sector. It's probably maybe the area where we see a good growth. But again, it's not sort of -- not vital for us in the sense.

[Operator]

Good. Then over to SEB, Magnus Rasmussen. He noted that we had a comment on increased competition. So the -- he was wondering where does this apply, in which business area?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

We have earlier commented on increased competition in Buildings & Properties. And the way our industry works is that then resources are transferable within all business areas. So in reality, we expect increased competition in all our business areas.

[Operator]

Good. [ Sindre Sørbye ] in Arctic. Do you expect further improvements in Architecture beyond the autumn?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Carefully, I would say, yes. We have -- and we have, of course, talked with all our architectural companies and they are seeing now increased activity. They are being contacted more by clients. So yes, we have a careful positive attitude towards that part of the market.

[Unknown Executive]

Thank you. Simen Mortensen again from DNB. You have now notified us about the CMD or Capital Markets Day. Will you consider to work on the financial targets? Are there any -- or/and are there any major changes in the planned strategy?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

That is, of course, a question that we will answer in November. But we are not planning on any drastic changes, I would say, in the direction or the targets that we set for the company. Just to come back in November and we'll tell you.

[Unknown Executive]

Good. And then finally, there was one question from [indiscernible], and that was also related to the activity in defense and in which segment.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Yes. And as I said, it will probably hit all our segments because it's very complex. When you look at defense infrastructure, it could be anything from buildings to very heavy roads, bridges, defense.

[Operator]

That was all questions, and there are no more questions from this.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Okay. So then we conclude from this day and wish you all a nice day.

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

Thank you.