Volue ASA

OSE:VOLUE

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q1

[Trond Straume, executive]

Hi. I'm Trond Straume, CEO of Volue. Today, I'm presenting our financial results as well as selected highlights from the First Quarter of 2023. Total operating revenues for Volue amounted to NOK 339 million in the first quarter, representing a growth of 19% from the same quarter last year.

Adjusted EBITDA came in at NOK 55 million, making the adjusted EBITDA margin 16%. Annual recurring revenues amounted to NOK 223 million, out of which NOK 88 million were SaaS revenues. By extension, ARR and SaaS grew by 21% and 34%, respectively, illustrating strong performance compared to the same quarter last year.

Since listing, we've repeated the message that Volue is investing for scalable growth. The strong performance for the quarter is a valuable proof point on that journey for our underlying business.

Now I'd like to turn the attention to our progress in Japan. And I've got to be honest, I've been looking forward to providing this update. The story behind Volue's entry in Japan was the deregulation of the power market following the Fukushima disaster. Not surprisingly, Japan decided to build a system based on the Nordic market design. That is great news for Volue. As no one knows the Nordic model better than we do. We've literally helped shape it.

Additionally, the Japanese market represents 1/3 of Europe's combined capacity, meaning that the market potential for Volue is enormous. For these reasons, Volue established an office in Japan early 2022. And we launched our first offering in September last year.

When we reported our Q4 results, we signed our first customer, and it brings me great to report that we've now signed our 11th customer. We've had feedback from customers doing benchmarking, stating that we consistently outperform the competition. This brings me great confidence for the future.

With the 11th contract signed, the team in Japan is exceeding the sales ambitions at the start of the year. And following the successful entry, expansion of our market offerings is under consideration. The energy system of tomorrow has crystallized over the last year, having several strategic implications for Volue.

Intermittent renewables are being brought online at the breathtaking speed. And moving towards 2030, this will largely be done by small to medium and new players. The contrast to the energy system of 2020 is significant. Incumbent players used to be responsible for the growth in power capacity. At Volue, we've built a unique offering for those incumbent players, verified by the growth in our Energy segment.

To add to this growth, we're targeting the right of small to medium wind, solar and battery players with portfolio management as a service. We know that the owner of a single wind farm will have a different approach to software procurement compared to an integrated European power giants.

They're also more likely to hand operations over to a third party like ourselves. This is already an important revenue stream for Volue. And given the change we're seeing in the energy system; we're convinced it will be a significant part of Volue's future.

In targeting this space, we're building organically, and we'll look for structural options in our pursuit for the European #1 position by 2030. That's all for now. For more details, please find our quarterly presentation published on our website, volue.com.

Thank you for your attention, and have a great day.