Multiconsult ASA

OSE:MULTI

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q3

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Good morning, and welcome to this presentation of the figures for the third quarter 2022 for Multiconsult. My name is Grethe Bergly. I'm the CEO of Multiconsult. And with me today, I also have our CFO, Ove Haupberg.

Looking at the main figures for the third quarter, you can see that we've had a good revenue of NOK 876 million. We have an EBITDA of NOK 68 million. There's a billing ratio of 68.3%. And we've also had a strong order intake of NOK 945 million. So this has -- this means it has been a good quarter for Multiconsult, and there's also been an increase compared to 2021 on all these KPIs.

All in all, there's a good operational performance in Multiconsult this quarter. We have a solid growth of 13.8% in revenue. I must please note also that this includes an insurance settlement of NOK 13.6 million. But even without this, we still see a good progress compared to the third quarter 2021.

There's been a strong order intake, and we also have a well-balanced project portfolio leaving the quarter. We still see a high demand for the competence of Multiconsult in LINK in the quarter and also looking forward. We have continued our efforts in reducing the losses in LINK Sweden and LINK Denmark, and Ove will give you some more details on this when he goes through the figures in more detail.

Looking at market and sales, we've had a good increase in the order intake compared to 2021. And we now leave this quarter with an order intake of NOK 945 million. You can also see that we've had an increase in the order backlog. And we have now, for 3 consecutive quarters, we've had a very stable backlog, which, of course, is a good situation to be in.

Of the larger projects, new projects, we would like to highlight the New Vasteras Hospital, which is being executed in Sweden by LINK Sweden. So summarized: good sales, strong and diversified order backlog. We see also that there is a good market for the transformation that we need to make in society for more sustainable solutions. And we also see, because the majority of our activities are in Norway, the proposed national budget for 2023 has major importance.

And looking through that in more detail, we do experienced that there is a strong market and many opportunities in the proposal for the 2023 budget. We are well positioned in the ongoing projects that they will continue also into 2023. We're seeing again an increase in the defense industry and also defense infrastructure, where Multiconsult has a strong position.

And there's also a shift in investments in highways and motor highways to rail and to urban development, again, areas where Multiconsult already have a strong position and also an area that we have already highlighted in our strategy. We will also see that there's more allocation to energy sources, energy transformation and also much higher emphasis now on energy efficiency for the coming year.

In Norway, the proposed national budget has also proposed an increase in employment contribution, employer contribution to people having a higher salary than NOK 750,000 a year. Our calculation so far show that this will impact our cost level with around NOK 18.5 million. I would like to stress that this will hit all employers in Norway. So in a lot of ways, it will be a leveled playing field. We will be able to also take this into account to new contracts, but it will take a while before it is part of our index that we use for contract adjustments.

Looking at the ESG, we are quite proud to have developed what we think is one of the world's first hybrid drilling rigs, and we have now executed a project where we have used on the renewable energy. And again, we do believe that this is the first time in the world that this has happened. And it is a major investment for us, but also showing our commitment to taking down our own CO2 footprint from our operations.

We have also launched a product on digital calculation for green loans. This is a new business model for us, but again showing that our competence can be applied for end users.

Social, we have more than 1,000 applications for 100 summer jobs, confirming our position as a preferred employer. And we have -- this quarter, we have welcomed 75 new graduates to the organization.

On governance, we are very proud to have been given the grade A from a company that assesses the 100 largest listed companies in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. And we have also resigned our code of conduct for the whole company in this period.

Looking at people and organizations. We are 3,310 employees. As you can see, that's an increase from the third quarter 2021. And we also are very proud when our people are given awards. And we had for this, the young digital talent, we actually had 3 -- 2 of the 3 in the final. And we had a winner from Henrik Groth Leroen, who was awarded the Young Digital Talent. Again, an important part for the future of Multiconsult.

When it comes to excellence, the Zero Emission Building laboratory in Trondheim was awarded a quality price. And again, this is a life-sized laboratory. And to have been part of this important development, LINK and Multiconsult has been consultants on this and again shows that we are at the forefront of technology and knowledge in this very important area for developing sustainable solutions for the future.

And with this, I hand you over to Ove, who will take you through the figures.

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

Thank you, Grethe, and good morning. My name is Ove Haupberg. I joined Multiconsult 1st of September this year as the new CFO. I will focus first on the third quarter and the year-to-date figures.

We had a very strong quarter, delivering sales of NOK 876 million, and that is a growth from last year of 13.8%. The organic growth underpinning this is 7.9%. And the rest of the growth is due to the insurance settlement of this board cut of 1.1% and then the effects of acquisitions done last year of 4.1%.

So to remind you, we bought Erichsen & Horgen, Nordland Teknikk and Smidt & Ingebrigtsen since last year. The drivers behind this good growth is a combination of increased capacity. You see the graph under the table here, 4% increase in employees. We have a higher billing ratio that has increased by 0.9% and then a higher billing rate.

On the other operating expenses, we are able to maintain the same level as last year on 19%. We delivered also a strong EBITDA on NOK 68 million, 7.7%, with exception of the insurance settlement. It's still increased from last year, delivering now 6.3% without that. The profit for the period also an increase from last year of NOK 20.5 million to NOK 48 million, and we have a very strong order backlog that Grethe has showed you on NOK 945 million.

So the table is all green for this quarter. Also, year-to-date, we see a, say, an increase in revenue on 12%. The organic growth is 4%. And since we did the major acquisition 1st of September last year, the effect is stronger on the year-to-date figures. So acquisitions effect is 6.9% out of this.

Besides that, the insurance settlement, 0.5%. And then a calendar effect, 1 more working day first half this year, 0.6%. And again, as for the quarter, the drivers behind is the increased number of personnel, increased billing ratio and increased billing rate.

On other OpEx, it's a shift from the situation during COVID-19. We are now back to normal activity. That means more training and increased competence for our employees, which is, of course, very important in the line of business that we operate in, and some more travel activity. So it increased then from 16.1% to 16.9% in other OpEx.

A very strong EBITDA, delivering 10.2% on this period and 9.8% without board cut, so delivering NOK 312 million. And on the profit, it's increased from last year. It's NOK 8.3 per share, and that makes NOK 1.93 stronger than last year. And again, a very strong order backlog.

Then some financial highlights. Starting to the top left. And we see in orange the smaller third quarters that we have. So we have 1 month vacation, normally July, and the start-up of newly trained employees, 75 that Grethe mentioned, and that makes this then a quarter with lower activity.

But what we made this year was to have a better startup after the summer, so a higher billing rate and also an increased number of personnel from last year. So that makes the growth 13.8%. And also then an increased EBITDA that we see on the top left -- sorry, top bottom here of 7.7%.

Then a short work-through of our segments, starting with Region Oslo. Top line growth of 24.5%. And that, in combination with a higher margin, up to 15%, makes a very strong delivery on EBITDA, more than NOK 60 million, also helped then by the higher billing ratio. That is 0.9% stronger for the period. And in the quarter, it's even better, 2.1%.

Region Norway, a very strong order intake, 23% increase year-by-year. And on that, also a higher revenue of 11.9%, also helped by a higher billing ratio both year-to-date, as you can see here, on 0.5% and year-to-date is 1.3% points stronger.

In this region, we have the insurance settlement on board cut in these numbers. This is a huge region, basically covering most of Norway. So that makes higher travel activity after COVID-19, also higher office costs and energy costs. So we have some weak margins for the period.

Then the segment Energy. Continuing with good growth, no winning, especially in international activity, and that helps us on the growth in combination with a higher build rate here as well. So we have stronger results from that. And the international is mainly water power.

Then LINK, difference between the countries, starting with Sweden. We have 1 now reported in July that we had the Vasteras Hospital coming in and now in October, Vaxjo, that has helped us to build capacity that have a small cost for a period and in combination with the restructuring earlier this year and a new CEO coming in, setting a new pace for the future, we are convinced that LINK Sweden will have success.

Denmark, we are hit by the weakening entrepreneur market. We have had some people to leave us, and that makes the billing ratio for the quarter a bit lower. And Norway, a good quarter, increase from last year. But COVID-19 had an effect on first half, as probably you remember, and that has some effect on the numbers.

And then at last, International, that is Iterio in Sweden and Multiconsult Polska. Also a very good revenue increase and also a better billing ratio. A bit change on the deliveries, stronger from Multiconsult Polski and a bit weaker from Iterio.

And then probably what you have all been waiting for, our financial position. It's strong also for this quarter. Starting to the left, that is our cash flow, the cash at the beginning of the year, NOK 156 million. That has been strengthened by the cash flow from operation of NOK 4.15 million so far. We have a change in working capital, mainly in the work in progress. Work in progress is mainly half of this change. Some investments in the operation, and then we have paid out dividend that is showing in the cash flow from financing.

So at the end of the quarter, we have a net negative cash of NOK 46 million. But bear in mind that we still have an unused capacity of NOK 440 million at our bank and a very low gearing level, it's 0.63. And you can also see down right that from the same quarter last year, we have been able to reduce our debt by NOK 57 million and also helped by this quarter focus on working capital. So we have reduced by the same level, NOK 57 million over work in progress and trade receivables.

And I think the last thing from me is that the equity ratio is close to 41%. So we are well equipped for further growth. So I'll hand it back to you, Grethe.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Thank you, Ove. We will just give you some more insight into the revenue in the business areas that we operate in. And as you can see, there has been a good increase in the 3 major business areas, showing altogether that we've had a 14% revenue increase.

And this is a good level for us, and it just shows that there is a high level of activity in the organization. We have also made a change in the organization with effect from the 1st of October. And the segment Energy will -- we close down that segment and we transfer the people working there mainly to the Oslo segment, but also some to the Norway segment.

The rationale behind this is to strengthen the total capacity to support the changes that we see with our clients, to support both the traditional projects that we have, but also prepare for the growth that we expect to see within the energy and industry.

And again, it's -- of course, it's, I think, a change that we make to focus on building the competence and the capacity to make sure that we remain and strengthen the profitability of the company.

We have chosen to do a bit more of a deep dive into the business area, building and property this time. It's by far the largest business area, a revenue of NOK 3.5 billion. And as you can see, there has been a good development in the order backlog growth of almost 15% compared to last year. And there's also a good sales in the period leaving us this quarter with NOK 407 million.

In this business area, we are involved with hospitals and health, education, research, commercial buildings, housing and also some connected to cultural buildings and also education. The projects that we would like to highlight is a major hospital development in Oslo, then the Rikshospitalet. This is both a national and a local hospital with a specialized unit for children.

We're just waiting now for the improvement to start the detailed engineering. In this project, LINK and Multiconsult are the suppliers on the engineering and architecture side. Aker Hospital, that's a large local hospital in Oslo. Again, both somatic and psychiatrists cycle -- sorry, psychiatric ward. It's a combination of new building and rehabilitation. And in this one, we have a smaller part than in the Rikshospitalet, and we are then part of a group to deliver on this. And the same timeline as with Rikshospitalet, we are awaiting the commitment to start detail engineering just after Christmas.

The Museum of the Viking Age. This is the Norwegian heritage. This will be the largest museum to display the history of the Vikings. Of course, we are very proud to be part of this. And after some challenges with the price, we have now managed to land, and it has been decided that this will go forward. It's due to be finished in 2026.

With the public buildings, we have chosen to show you the city hall or the town hall of Stavanger. This is a project, a rehabilitation project. It's a client here that had high ambitions, both on the environment and technology. We have shown that we have the skills and the knowledge to provide this for the client. And we believe that this kind of projects, rehabilitation, is something where we'll see a growing market in the years forward.

And commercial buildings, we are now involved with the head office for one of the larger contractors in Norway. It's a continuation of a cooperation that we have been part of for a number of years. And again, seeing clients having high sustainability ambitions and also testing new kinds of technology. And here, we are going to use old concrete as input rather than new rock. So recycling, testing out new technology, a very exciting project for us.

Ocean Space Centre, we have shown this earlier. This is the Norwegian investments in making sure that Norway contain -- continues to have a position related to the ocean, is a research and education facilities in Trondheim, and we are here the owner's engineer for Statsbygg.

And it's time then for me to wrap up the outlook as we see it, strong overall market outlook in all the business areas that Multiconsult operate. We leave this quarter with a solid and diversified backlog. We see that we are well positioned for a lot of the projects that are proposed in the national budget for 2023. We expect continuous investment in energy and industry, both in Norway and internationally.

There is, however, some uncertainty related to the housing and property market. And we also then have to mention the general uncertainty that we see globally, both with respect to macro and geopolitical environment.

And that wraps up the presentation from us. I'll just remind you of the date and the next time we meet will be on the 8th of February 2022 for the fourth quarter -- sorry, '23, yes, in the fourth quarter of 2022. And with that, we open up for questions.

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. Thank you, Grethe and Ove. We have some questions during the Norwegian presentation that was made this -- earlier this morning. So I'm going to translate them. And then Bengt Jonassen from ABG Sundal Collier. He had a couple of questions. The first one, the background for the acceleration of growth in the net operating revenue, especially during the third quarter. Can you outline that?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Well, there are 3 main factors. We have -- we see a good increase in the rates. We see that our billing ratio has come up, and we are more headcount.

[Unknown Executive]

Good. Second question was with regard to the proposed increased costs related to the proposed increased employer contribution tax of 5% in Norway. How will you make sure to transfer this cost to your customers?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

We will do our best. That's my answer. We will not be able to make a change to already commitments on contracts. But of course, we will try and take it out in the market on new contracts. And then over time, it will be a part of our index. But the Norwegian government has so far indicated that this is a 1-year happening.

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. Third question. In your outlook, you are somewhat more positive than what we see from other companies. Can you please outline?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Yes. I think we have no other choice than to explain the situation from where we are. And as we see it now with the portfolio, with the level of inquiries that we see and the pipeline that we see, that gives us the reason to be slightly more positive than I do understand that others have expressed lately.

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. Then the question was -- there was actually a couple of questions related to this. And -- but specifically was the proportional net operating revenue to the public sector. And maybe you could outline a little bit on the backlog there as well.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Yes. We have roughly 50-50 when it comes to private and public. And I think that's a situation that's valid also for the backlog that we see at the moment.

[Unknown Executive]

Good. And then the fifth and last question was do you have any direct cost in your results or in your financials linked directly to the restructuring in LINK Sweden?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

No, we haven't looked into that, but it's not a major sum, I can say that. It's not something that really affects in a figure. If it had been, we would have given a note on that.

[Unknown Executive]

Good. And then Jeppe Baardseth from Arctic had a question related to the -- the question was, can you comment on the market for your architectural service in relation to the fact that the billing ratio in LINK is down from 74.3% to 70.8% last year?

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

Well, the main driver for that billing ratio is the situation in Denmark. And we are actually now, we are -- the activity level in Sweden is going up, and the level in Norway is also at a satisfactory level.

[Unknown Executive]

Good. That concludes all the questions.

[Grethe Bergly, executive]

That's it. Okay. Then it's just for me to say thank you, everybody, for meeting up and listening to us, and have a nice day.

[Ove Haupberg, executive]

Have a nice day. Thank you.