Multiconsult ASA

OSE:MULTI

Earnings Call Transcript 2019-Q4

[Mirza Koristovic, Head of Investor Relations & Finance]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the fourth quarter and full year 2019 audiocast for Multiconsult. My name is Mirza Koristovic, and I'm Head of Investor Relations. Today's audiocast will be held by the CEO, Grethe Bergly; and the CFO, Hans-Jørgen Wibstad. Today's session can be accessed on our web page under the IR section. The presentation will last for approximately 30 minutes, and we will open up for questions through the web after the presentation. So with that, I'll leave the word to Mrs. Bergly.

[Grethe Bergly, Chief Executive Officer]

Thank you, Mirza, and welcome, everybody, to this presentation of Multiconsult's results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2019. If we look at the highlights for 2019, it's important for me to remind everybody that it marks the beginning of a turnaround for Multiconsult. And to some respect, this year's result has a reflection on this. We have our 18-month nextLEVEL improvement program that is on track, and it's one important activity to take us back on the profit level that we are aiming at. We come in with a weaker result for the fourth quarter. I'll give you some more details on that later. But we also leave this year with a record-high order backlog, which gives a very good and solid foundation for the 2020 production. We also continue to deliver outstanding solutions to our customers. This is how we make our profit. So continuing this commitment is extremely important for us. And this picture represents one of the future build projects that we are putting our efforts into, having knowledge to solve for our clients. And this is a zero-emission building for students in a Norwegian town of Ålesund. Going through some of the projects. It's important to show you that we are positioned to take on challenging projects that we think will give the solutions that are facing us as a society in the near future. Up in the left-hand corner, you see the Svalbard community. That is on a transition from a carbon-based to a renewable energy source, and Multiconsult has had an important role in assisting on this transition. You also see a large road project. It's a kind of contract that we are seeing more and more, where we are employed directly by the contractor. In this case, on E16, we are working with Skanska on a 10 km road stretch. In the other corner, you see -- down at the bottom, you see Fredrikstad high school and arena. This is a very important project for the community of Fredrikstad, which Multiconsult and LINK won together, and it will provide this community with a very important meeting place in years to come. And last, we see some examples of offshore wind. We are part of the transition, where we see that we can use the skills and the knowledge that we have gained through our work in oil and gas to take on finding new solutions for offshore wind both for a wind farm, just offshore Norway, and also in a windfarm offshore of New York. If we look at the financial highlights. The fourth quarter came in with the good project deliveries. We also see that the write-downs have reduced compared to last quarter. We come in with a record-high backlog. Our net revenues has grown 1.4% and come in at NOK 904.5 million. But there is a weak EBIT of NOK 8.7 million, to a large extent impacted by low billing ratios, both in Multiconsult and LINK and also some write-downs at the end of the quarter from LINK. Looking at the full year results. We come in at a revenue growth of 3%, leaving us at NOK 3.4 billion and an EBIT of NOK 106.3 million, which reflects an EBIT of 3.1%. There's been a satisfactory order intake in 2019, and there will be a proposal for the general annual meeting of NOK 1 per share, yes. If we look more detailed at the order intake. This represents a good balance for us. We have an order intake of NOK 1.3 billion, which is the second highest that we've experienced since the IPO. The balance between the 3 larger business areas is good. And it's very -- I'm very pleased to see that Buildings & Properties are up, as in Q3, you might remember, we had a lower sale. There will always be fluctuations from one quarter to another. But for us, this quarter represents a good balance. There are good -- there, we see a good long-term pipeline across most business areas, but we also recognize that there are some uncertainties in short term -- in the short-term tender pipe, somehow reflecting that we are seeing more uncertainties in Norway in relation to geopolitical issues. The key order intake this quarter has been a good balance between our 2 largest business areas, properties and infrastructure: One bigger road project where we work with Skanska; a very interesting one for the rail authorities in Polska; one big Fredrik II high school and arena; and also some call-offs on the frame agreement that we have with Forsvarsbygg on their Haakonsvern construction; and one good sign on Northern Lights, which is a CO2 capture project. As you can see, our backlog is increasing. It's at an all-time high. But we need to mention that there are some variations both with respect on the time horizons and with respect to how it's distributed, both amongst our business areas and geography. But as you can see, the big areas for us still remain Building & Properties and Transportation and infrastructure. I'd like to remind you all that in addition to this backlog, there are also future call-offs that will be taken in from larger frame agreements. But this is not added to our backlog until we get a call-off from our clients. The organization. We continue to grow, albeit at a much lower rate than previously. This is in accordance with our growth strategy. I'd also like to remind you all that we have a whole new team as of 1st of October 2019, who are starting up, helping us on the turnaround that we are facing. We continue to be the #1 preferred, most attractive employer in the industry. This is important looking at the future because attracting the best minds in a very competitive environment is important for sustainability also in the future. And we are #1 in our industry, and we are keeping our #2 position overall for all companies in Norway. We also continue to have employees who excel in the more academic and professional world. Erik Wærner, he became an honorary -- he got an honorary award, Årets Ildsjel, Enthusiast of the Year, and he has a long track record of working with environmental issues, and not least, working on materials and looking at recycling of materials, which we believe will be an extremely important area of expertise in the future. And we have 2 young employees who both awarded best master of the year on an event in 2019. And with that, I leave you all to Hans-Jørgen Wibstad, our CFO, who will go through the figures in more detail.

[Hans-Jørgen Wibstad]

Yes, good morning. I will go through the fourth quarter figures as well as the full year figures for 2019. Starting with the fourth quarter. Revenues is up 1.4% to NOK 904.5 million, and the growth is purely organic. The growth is at a lower level than we have seen recently, and it's also a reflection on the relatively low billing ratio that we had during this quarter. So -- and the EBIT came in at NOK 8.7 million, which is a 1% margin. It's a reflection of the relatively low level of billing ratio as well as certain costs in the quarter relating to, in particular, LINK arkitektur, which had one-off elements also both in terms of some special write-downs in the area of NOK 5 million as well as a settlement which has impact on the cost. The OpEx, excluding IFRS adjustments, is up by 1.8%. The good news is that the OpEx -- the other OpEx is down. And we're starting to see the impact of the nextLEVEL initiatives, where we're seeing that despite a revenue growth, we're seeing that the OpEx -- the other OpEx element is coming down. So we're -- that's a positive. The other positive I would like to mention is the level of write-downs, which is at 1.9% or NOK 16.8 million for the quarter, which is much lower than the same quarter in 2018. And a significant portion of that particular write-down, namely about NOK 5 million, is related to LINK, which has very high write-downs in the quarter. But for the year as a whole, it's at a normal level. So then I would like to go through just the bridge, trying to compare the fourth quarter this year with the fourth quarter of 2018. Starting with the NOK 8.7 million of reported EBIT, we had some one-off costs in the quarter of NOK 4 million IFRS effect, which has a positive impact relative to last year. Which takes us down to an adjusted comparison with the fourth quarter 2018 of NOK 8.3 million, which is a 0.9% margin versus 1.1% margin for the fourth quarter 2018. We're also seeing in the quarter that we have a very positive development on the net interest-bearing debt, which is reduced from NOK 283 million to NOK 91.6 million, which is -- has to do with fluctuations in working capital positions. And I'd like to go over to the full year. A 3% growth overall to NOK 3.4 billion, again, purely organic growth, and it's a growth which is 3.6% adjusted for the legal settlement with Stortinget, which has also an impact on net revenues. It's a lower level of growth than we have had historically, but we are -- at the same time, we're closely trying to monitor to emphasize margins rather than growth. The EBIT came in at NOK 106 million, which is a 3.1% margin. It's also impacted by the legal settlement in the second quarter, IFRS and severance agreements, but it's, of course, at a low level. But on a comparative basis, it is a moderate improvement from the full year 2018. The OpEx, excluding IFRS adjustments, is up 3.4% and following the general salary adjustment levels in Norway. On the -- again, on the other OpEx, we're seeing that level of growth in that section is leveled off. And as I mentioned, the fourth quarter is down. On a full year basis, it's only marginally about the same level as it were in 2018. So overall, we're trying -- starting to see the net effect of the nextLEVEL initiatives. And for the full year, the net write-downs is NOK 81.2 million, up from the same -- from 2018. But excluding the Stortinget settlement, it's down and then it's 1.8%. And the bridge between the years. Starting with NOK 106 million of reported EBIT, we have the legal settlement adjustment. We have one-off restructuring costs of NOK 14 million and the IFRS effect which we didn't have in 2018, which brings us on a comparable basis to an adjusted margin of NOK 120 million, comparable with NOK 99 million in 2018, which is an improvement of NOK 21 million or 0.5%. Summarizing some historical levels. Revenue is relatively stable, and we're seeing that we have a relatively higher revenue in the fourth quarter, which is seasonal. But at least, we're seeing that we have a relatively good activity level when it comes to revenues. On the EBIT, we see clearly that we have been through 3 poor quarters: second quarter, third quarter and fourth quarter, while the first quarter of 2019 had a reasonably high EBIT. So that's what we're -- that is one of the key backgrounds for the nextLEVEL initiatives as well as additional initiatives that Grethe will talk about later. The billing ratio is very disappointing, as we have talked about, at just about 68% for the quarter, which is significantly below the same level in 2018. And we're also seeing that the last 2 quarters or second half of 2019 was on overall at a low level, which, again, is something that we are -- that is being challenged with the nextLEVEL improvement program. Number of employees. It certainly has flattened out, which is good, which is how we want it to be in many ways, and it's up by 2% on a year-on-year basis, flat from third quarter to fourth quarter. And that increase, in particular, does not happen in Norway. It happens in Poland, in particular, which has a very healthy growth. So that's representing the highest portion of the increase. So just bring you through the bridge overall from last year to this year. Starting with NOK 99 million of EBIT in 2018, we have a positive effect from a capacity increase of NOK 41 million. We have positive impact of write-downs, excluding P26 or Stortinget of NOK 5.7 million. And we have the negative effect of Stortinget, which is NOK 20 million. Then we have the big factor into this, it's the billing ratio, which has been at a disappointing level in 2019, which has an impact of about NOK 49 million compared with the same quarter -- same year, compared with 2018 that is. Other effects including improved OpEx, IFRS, and that brings us to NOK 106 million of reported EBIT for 2019. Going through the business units quickly. The Greater Oslo Area has an increase in operating revenue, so 1.9% to NOK 1.572 billion, which is a reasonable growth margin-wise. And EBIT is up on an adjusted basis, where we're adjusting for IFRS 16 and the Stortinget matter. It's up from NOK 57.5 million to NOK 90.5 million, equivalent to a 5.8% EBIT margin, which is up from a 3.7% margin. So it's a reasonable year for the Greater Oslo Area, although the margin is not at the level where we're aiming at. Billing ratio is down from 70.5% to 69.1%, and the number of employees is pretty flat on a year-on-year basis. Regions Norway has a healthy revenue growth of 4.8%. They have been, on the margin side -- on the EBIT side, they have had a more challenging year, where the comparable adjusted EBIT is down from 50.1% -- NOK 50.1 million to NOK 44.9 million, and the margin is down from 4.7% to 4%. And the main factors contributing that is that Regions Norway has a billing ratio which is down from 71.4% in '18 to 69.9% in -- 67.9% in 2019. And it's worth saying that Regions Norway is more impacted by the regional reforms in Norway than any other area, where some of the decision-making processes within -- for our customers has been delayed and postponed because of the reorganizations that are taking place during the second half of 2019, in particular. International, doing quite well. In particular, I would like to mention Iterio, which is in Stockholm, Sweden and Multiconsult Polska having a healthy growth, bringing the operating revenues to NOK 228.4 million, which is up 14.8%. And the margin adjusted is NOK 14.2 million versus NOK 8.1 million in 2018, equivalent to a margin of 6.3%, which is relatively good. However, the margin is significantly impacted by a more challenging situation in Multiconsult UK that has had a poor result in the second half, mainly due to some lower activity level that we believe is temporary. And LINK, finally, on the business unit side, growth of 4.4% to NOK 535.8 million and an adjusted EBIT of NOK 18.3 million, which is an improvement from 13.1% -- NOK 13.1 million in 2018. The margin is 3.4%, which is, of course, not where we want it to be. On the other hand, it's a very mixed picture between Norway, LINK in Norway that has had a good year with the exception of the fourth quarter, while Denmark has improved but is still struggling. And in particular, Sweden has some challenges on the activity side and during the full 2019. So that's -- Denmark and Sweden is impacting the figures relatively negative. Number of employees is flat, reflecting that it is -- that there are some efficiency gains in the system. A few words on cash flow. Moving just on the working capital side, it's only -- it's a negative by NOK 19.9 million, reflecting a stable level of working capital during the year. It fluctuates significantly between quarters. But comparing year-on-year, it shows that the figure is flat. We have investments of NOK 61 million, which is slightly above depreciation, normal level. And then we have financing with dividend and repayment of debt, in particular, of NOK 78.1 million, which leaves us at the end of the quarter with a net interest-bearing -- and ended the year with a net interest-bearing debt which is about NOK 30 million lower or worse than it was at the end of fourth quarter 2018. But it has a very, very positive development in the fourth quarter of this year, where net interest-bearing debt goes from -- improves from NOK 283 million to NOK 91.6 million. Overall, Multiconsult has a very solid financial position. We have NOK 320 million of undrawn facilities. And we have very recently renegotiated our loan facilities with Nordea, giving us improved margins as well as improved covenants. And I'd like to, in particular, mention that we have improved our covenant -- gearing covenant from 2x to 3x, which is important for our flexibility and robustness. And we also have in place a new 3-year NOK 200 million revolving credit facility, replacing a term loan which was repaid every year. So that has a bullet profile. So that is also a good thing for us and improves our robustness. So overall, we're in a position where we have a strong and solid balance sheet. Finally, on the dividend proposal from the Board to the shareholders' meeting. The proposal is to have a dividend payout of NOK 1 per share in -- for 2019, which represent a 77% payout ratio, which is historically at a high level in percentage of net profit. Our dividend policy is about -- is 50% as a guideline. It shows that we have a consistent and historical dividend payout ratio. We have taken -- a lot of thought has gone into this figure. And we think -- we believe and the Board believes that, in this situation that the company is in at the moment, it is prudent to bring down the dividend level from NOK 1.50 to NOK 1 but still keeping it at a historically high level of payout ratio of 77% of net profit. Adjusting for the one-off on the Stortinget costs, the adjusted dividend payout is 53%. That completes my section, Grethe.

[Grethe Bergly, Chief Executive Officer]

Thank you. As announced on the Capital Market Day, we have initiated an improvement program called nextLEVEL, and I will now give you some more details in how we are performing. It's important for us to remind you all that the main focus is for us to reach the target that we've set on an 8% margin in the short term and aiming at 10% margin in the long term. That is the commitment that we -- I have and my management team have. nextLEVEL is one of the main initiatives on this. And if you look at progress, in the middle of February, we have now committed NOK 55 million of the NOK 150 million that we aim at by the end of Q2 2021. And this NOK 55 million have not quite yet reached our bottom line, but we are ahead of planning with regard to implementation. And we will, throughout the year now, continue to add more committed and we will also have executed more of the NOK 150 million that we have set out to achieve. Looking at it in more detail. We had 2 main areas that we talked about: It's cost-out and operations. With respect to cost-out, we have, by the mid of February, committed NOK 45 million. NOK 20 million of this is related to offices and IT, NOK 15 million within travel and professional services and NOK 10 million in the area of miscellaneous or others. In this, we also include reductions with respect to staff. If you look at operations, we have, by mid-February, committed NOK 10 million. And all of this is in connection with adjusting the organization. The other 2 areas within operations is operational efficiency and reduced impairments. We have seen some effects of this by mid-February, but we will not report until we've seen that this is a trend. And we are absolutely certain that the full effect will hit our bottom line. Then to sum up. Looking at ahead, we leave 2019 with a very high order backlog, but there are variations across the business areas. There is a good long-term market outlook across most of our business area, and we see a strong, good tender pipeline over the next 12 months. There are, however, some uncertainties with respect to growth in some areas. And in particular, we now like to mention within the Building & Properties, which also includes our architectural services, and the public reforms that is underway in Norway is adding some uncertainty in the short term. So the summary for 2019. It's been another year of growth and outstanding solution to our customers. We start the year of 2020 with a record-high order backlog. We had a weak fourth quarter, mainly related to our billing ratio but also some write-downs and other effects. There is a good long-term outlook, but there are some short-term uncertainties. We are at the beginning of a turnaround. We are committed to reaching the financial targets that we've set. We have got commitments in the whole of our organization. And nextLEVEL, as introduced in the Capital Market Day, is on track. Thank you.

[Mirza Koristovic, Head of Investor Relations & Finance]

We will now go into the Q&A session. And I see there is one question on the web. The committed cost reductions, is this another way of saying implemented cost cuts? Or are these just planned cost cuts, not done yet?

[Grethe Bergly, Chief Executive Officer]

It's a mixture, actually. NOK 55 million is what we committed, and some of it is already implemented. And the rest will be implemented through the year.

[Hans-Jørgen Wibstad]

Yes. I think just to add to that, it's -- these are decisions that have been made, and they are not planned. But they have been made. But they are not -- as Grethe says, not all of them have been implemented and can be seen in our figures.

[Mirza Koristovic, Head of Investor Relations & Finance]

Thank you, Grethe and Hans-Jørgen. This concludes our session for today. There were no more questions. So thank you very much for your attention, and have a nice day.