Proact IT Group AB

STO:PACT

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Good morning, everyone. We'll just wait another few seconds for everybody to join the meeting from the lobby. So just bear with us for a second.[Audio Gap]All right. Good morning. Welcome to our Q1 Report Call. We are, as always, recording this call just so that you know. We will go through a couple of slides and then we'll leave the room for questions at the end. So we make sure that everybody leaves here with a good understanding of the quarter.Agenda is as usual, it'll be myself and Asa, our CFO, who will do the presentation. We'll talk through a little bit about Proact, for those of you who do not know us, our view of the market. But obviously we'll spend most of our time on the results of the quarter.And we'll get going here right away. So to start with, most of you know this already. We are a tech company that are helping enterprise customers across Europe with effectively solving their business critical IT needs and data management needs. We are turning 30 years old this year, which we're quite proud of. We're going to celebrate here in Stockholm later this year with a big celebration. Obviously, we have presence, as you can see in the map here across Northern Europe, Nordic and Baltics, Germany and Czechia, Netherlands and Belgium and the U.K. are our 4 regions and markets that we operate in. And we've had a good growth journey over the couple of years. And for those of you who read the report also, this quarter came out quite strong, in particular from a profitability perspective, and we're going to go through that in detail.We operate in these 4 different units and you can see the spread here in this chart. I think one of the things we want to highlight here is that, we are delivering our services out of our 4 different delivery hubs. And this is important for us because this is one of the ways we're driving both local presence but also scalability in our cloud services. And that's one of the important things in our strategic journey, in particular to improve our profitability, that we can deliver services from few places to all our customers and drive a lot of standardization and scalability in that.We're also operating a 24/7 service. So we have people that are online and working day and night, in particular to make sure that networks and security are up and running as expected. So we have 24/7 security monitoring, for instance, of our customer systems, which is nowadays extra important. We deliver products in 4 main categories and you can see them here. Systems is still a little bit more than half of our revenue. So that's a reseller business of hardware and software. Support services, so that's the contracted services to help our customers keep those systems up and running. That's effectively the services to make sure that all lights are running green and they're always up-to-date and working as expected.Third category of products and services are own cloud services. So this is where we deliver infrastructure and data management solutions as a service, storage as a service, infrastructure as a service, security as a service, or even development, cloud-native development platforms as a service.And then last and frankly also least, our consulting services, which is a quite broad set of services. Anything from strategic consulting to help design their IT architectures and address their strategic business needs, to implementation, migration of data and applications to operating and training. And there's a couple of areas we want to highlight in particular, because they are very important in the main trends and dynamics of the market right now. Obviously, cybersecurity is constantly increasing in importance, and I mentioned this already. We have 2 security operations centers that are running 24 hours every day of the week.Cloud-native, so this is enabling our customers to develop applications at high speed. We can help them effectively bring down the time to market from months to weeks by modern so-called cloud-native or DevOps technologies. Sorry for being a little bit too technical here, maybe.AI, another very important and obviously very hyped area right now. We're helping customers with AI infrastructure, both selling our systems so where customers run it in their own data center or as a service. And then last but not least, a very strong practice around Microsoft technologies, not only then as cloud services, but also consulting. So a couple of extra important areas of expertise and skills that we bring to our customers. And we want to highlight that one of our focus areas, one of our important drivers is to be very good at what we do, but rather do fewer things and do them really well, because we want to be that very trusted partner of our customers and we want to be able to provide a premium experience and premium service to our customers.The market is developing roughly in the same way as we've discussed before in these calls, there are a couple of key drivers that are driving our customers and how we are helping our customers. First and foremost, what we broadly call digital transformation. So our customers using technology to improve their own business practice. It could be anything from analyzing and making clever decision out of huge amounts of data, automating their processes, digitizing records, whatever it may be, that are making their own business more valuable to their customers or more efficient.Security, we touched on sustainability, obviously increasing, as well as regulatory quite rapidly. And we're proud that we can help our customers become more sustainable by offering our services. We are running our data centers on 100%, almost 100%, I should say, 98% renewable energy, and on very energy-efficient data centers and platforms. So we are reducing energy usage and with very, very little emissions when customers are using our services.Cloud as a technology trend remains very, very important. And last but not least, obviously a lot of these trends are driving continuous growth of data, which is an underlying trend that is important for our business strategy.And just to give you a little bit more deep on what we actually do, because our offerings are quite basic as in fundamental, not basic as in simple, but we actually do help our customer with very critical, sometimes life critical solutions. So I just want to give you a couple of examples here. We are helping health care customers with digitizing their patient records, millions of records, of course, with very high requirements and expectations on privacy and security. We are helping other customers with optimizing their routing of thousands of trucks around Europe so that they can optimize the delivery of their products. And we're helping get other customers that are offering software-as-a-service solutions to their customers, and we make sure that their infrastructure is up and running 24 hours a day, and that their core business is running, and so on and so forth. There are a couple more examples here. And just the point we want to make is that, we're not just delivering some side technology to our customers, we are truly helping them by understanding their business and solving their business critical needs. And that trend will continue, of course, also going to the future.So a little bit about Proact, most of you know this already, let's speak a little bit then about the quarter. Of course, very happy with the profitability of the quarter. We had significant growth in profitability over 65% year-over-year, which is great, driven both by our services business, where we continue to have good growth and we're improving our scalability in our services business. But we also had some significant systems deals that contributed to the margins in the quarter. Growth was relatively flat in terms of revenue of down a few percent. But it's also good to see that our annualized recurring revenues continue to increase with over 10%. So, again, annualized recurring revenue services under contract. So all our cloud services and all our support services are, in our recurring revenue definition.Very strong cash flow, over SEK 100 million of cash flow compared to SEK 30 million last year, and a very strong quarter with regards to new cloud contracts, in particular for a Q1, which is usually a little bit slower after an intensive fourth quarter.A couple of more things to highlight. Obviously, we initiated a share buyback program at the end of last year and we continue to execute that here during the year and we are happy to do that with the continued very strong balance sheet and we are net positive in terms of our cash. Recurrent revenues I mentioned. And then we've done quite a bit of work as always with our portfolio. We can never stand still in terms of our offerings to our customers. We've expanded our security services in a couple of different areas. We have a new partner we call Arctic Wolf here in the Nordics to help us with even broader set of services to customers. We've also increased our skills with regards to both Microsoft, as well as NetApp so that we can offer even more security services on top of their platforms.And then last, just to highlight here, Broadcom, which is an American chip manufacturer, acquired a company called VMware, and VMware is a very fundamental building block in most customers enterprise architectures, and there was a little bit of a noise in the market here in terms of what that will mean. Will Broadcom change their partner structures or pricing? And we're quite happy to announce that we are one of Broadcom's premier partner. We can continue to deliver a lot of value-add to our customers on top of the VMware platforms. That's a good and positive thing, both in terms of reselling their products, but more importantly as an important building block in our own cloud services.So with that, I'll hand over to you, Asa, and we can dive in a little bit deeper to the numbers.

[Asa Jansson, executive]

Yes. Thank you, Jonas. Total revenue amounted to SEK 1.191 billion in the quarter, which is a decrease of 2.4% compared to last year. On a like-for-like basis, revenue declined by 2.8%, effective positively from the currency by 0.6% due to a weaker Swedish krona and by a negative effect from the divested Lithuanian business of 0.2%. The main reason behind the decrease was system sales that declined 8.7% year-on-year due to a strong comparative quarter in the Nordics and Baltics in particular. Service business continues to grow, as Jonas mentioned, and increased with 6% in reported numbers and 5.4% on an organic basis, driven by growth in support and managed cloud services.Business Unit UK, as well as Business Unit West grew year-on-year from an increasing demand and well-performing teams. Business Unit Nordic and Baltic was affected by the decline in system sales. However, then partly compensated by healthy development in the service business. Business Unit Central is still more affected by the general market conditions in Germany and Czech. There are, however, some good signs in the build up of pipeline.And a few words on the recurring revenues. As mentioned, it grew by double-digit numbers or figures this quarter to SEK 1.766 billion on an annualized basis and now make up for an increasing share of the total revenue. And also as mentioned, the new cloud service contracts of SEK 183 million were added in the quarter, which is supporting a continuous growth in recurring revenue.And moving on to the earnings. EBITA grew significantly compared to last year, driven by a strong gross margin development in Nordics and Baltics, and in the West in particular. The improvement is a combination of growth and efficiency improvements in the service business and high-margin deals in the system business. Just a few notes on what comes below EBITA maybe. There were no items affecting, sorry for that Jonas. There were no items affecting comparability this quarter and the financial net improved following the positive net debt development, which we then come into balance sheet.Yes, the development in the quarter has further strengthened the balance sheet and we remain in a net cash position. An operating cash flow of SEK 104 million, of which close to SEK 120 million from operations before change in working capital and with a small and negative change in working capital of SEK 15 million from timing effects. Investments in fixed assets of SEK 11 million and an outflow of SEK 52 million from financing activities, including then acquisition of own shares of SEK 31 million and amortization of leasing liabilities by SEK 20 million, which then resulted in a cash balance of SEK 606 million, including some currency translation effects. Yes, and this strong cash flow generation from operations continues to develop in line with results with some variations as you can see between quarters, driven by timing effects from change in working capital.And then a close up on our Business Units, starting with Business Unit Nordics and Baltics, our largest Business Unit that delivered yet another very strong quarter. System sales were down 11.7% and 11.2% on a like-for-like basis, whereas the service business increased with 9.9% and 11.1% organically, driven by cloud services and support. The reported EBITA in the quarter increased to SEK 65 million compared to SEK 42 million last year as a result of the high-margin system sales in the quarter and improved service business margins from growth in combination with cost efficiencies.Looking at Business Unit UK. Their top line increased by 17% and 12.5% on an organic basis, largely from an increased demand in the system business that grew 28% and 24% on an organic basis. The service business increased by 8% and 4% organically, where a healthy increase in support and managed cloud services were partly offset by weaker consulting revenues. And EBITA almost doubled to SEK 8 million from revenue growth and a higher gross margin in services.Then we'll move West and Business Unit West. Their total revenue grew by 5% and 4% organically, where the system business increased by 8% and 7% on an organic basis following a continued healthy demand than markets. The service business grew 4% and 3% organically, mainly from an increase in cloud services, whereas consulting revenues declined. The strong EBITA growth is also here. A combination of top line growth and improved gross margins in the service business. West delivered an EBITA of SEK 16 million and an EBITA margin of 7% in the quarter.And then lastly, Business Unit Central. Revenue declined 15% in reported numbers, as well as organically to SEK 202 million in the first quarter. System business, which decreased 28%, is the main reason, partly from a strong comparative quarter and from a continued challenging market conditions. Service business was down 0.9% and 1.6% on an organic basis, where growth in support and cloud services were offset by the decrease in consulting revenue. EBITA decreased to SEK 2 million from SEK 6 million last year as a result of lower revenue, which could not be fully compensated by a higher gross margin and lower sales and admin costs.And that was it for the more detailed financials. Back to you, Jonas.

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Yeah, just to summarize then, I think here on this slide, we have our financial targets. We said we should grow 10% per year. We're tracking close to that at 7% over the past 4 and some years. EBITA 8% is our target. We're now at a rolling 12 at 6.7%, with the good, of course, injection in this particular quarter. And then on our net debt over EBITDA, we should be below 2x. We actually have a negative multiple here. We're cash positive, as we mentioned already. Return on capital at almost 18%. And as you know, we are suggesting a dividend to be decided later today at the shareholders meeting of 31%. So, well, in that 25% to 35% span that we have committed to. So I think we're on good track across the board with our financial targets and continue to build upwards, which is positive.So just to summarize then, a very strong quarter and a very strong first quarter continue to build on our recurring revenues, which is perfectly aligned with our strategy. And then we see the market improving in all our regions, not only driven by some of the key trends like AI and cybersecurity, but also the underlying market in general, which is positive for the rest of the year.So with that, thank you very much. We open up for questions and we're going to ask Anna here to help us let people in some sort of orderly fashion.

[Anna Linde, executive]

I think Fredrik Nilsson was first this time.

[Fredrik Nilsson, analyst]

I want to start with a very strong gross margin. I mean, could you elaborate a bit on how much is coming from strong margins on system and on efficiency improvements, respectively?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Yes. So there are 3 components that are the main drivers of gross margin, and system is a significant part of it, but it's also the scalability we get in terms of growth. So the services growth and the effect of the efficiencies that we've implemented in particular, then through the cost program and efficient initiatives we did during last year. So without giving you any specific split, but those are all 3 key contributing components to the gross margin.

[Fredrik Nilsson, analyst]

Okay. And, I mean, like 1 year, 1.5 years ago, you had some issues that you couldn't put the costs to the customers for your increased cost due to inflation and so on. Is that happening now? Is that explaining the solid growth in recurring revenue and improved gross margin?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

There's a mix of things, but we did a lot of price -- we constantly work with price, by the way, but obviously about a year ago or a little bit more, when inflation was very significant, we did a lot of work on pricing. And as you remember, Fredrik, we had a little bit of a hard time absorbing all of that in about Q1 last year. But yes, we've been able to then, both through the cost program, which we successfully implemented last year, as well as just delivering our services more efficiently, been able to get margins back up again.

[Fredrik Nilsson, analyst]

Okay. And lastly, I mean, once again, Nordic and the Baltics were very strong, while it was a bit of a mixed picture in the rest of Europe. And, I mean, looking at the long trend, it's always the Nordics in the top, more or less. I mean, would that be a reason to focus future M&A more on the Nordics? Or do I miss something there?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

No, I don't think there is a reason to focus only M&A on Nordics, but including Nordics, I think Nordics is a super interesting market. And obviously we have a very strong position here, in particular in certain areas of our portfolio. But we also see that some other markets, in particular U.K. and Germany, but also Netherlands, are very large markets and we're still a relatively small player in those markets. So I think M&A in those regions are also interesting, if nothing else, just to gain market share.

[Anna Linde, executive]

Next is Daniel Thorsson.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Just to follow up a little bit here on Fredrik's question on the gross margin, and more specifically about any one-time deals or high-margin deals in the systems business that is of a kind of non-recurring nature. Should we expect the gross margin to come down more to the 22% we have seen historically from Q2 and onwards? Or do you see that you have some structural changes in the product portfolio or in the system sales portfolio related to higher gross margins continue?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Yes. In this systems portfolio, the gross margin is not a sustainable level in this quarter. So it is higher than you would normally see also going forward. On the services side, and there's obviously been always an important part of this. There are also structural improvements in gross margin that is driving us upwards to -- which is important. And I think we mentioned this many times, historically, the way to get to our 8% target is scalability and growth in our services business. And we see positive effects also in this quarter on the services gross margin.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Okay, that's clear. And then a question on the strong order intake for cloud solutions in the quarter. Any like one-off deals there to highlight, or any regional mixes between the demand? Or is this just structurally stronger than before and expected to be strong?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Both. Definitely a strong intake in general and spread well across the regions, but also a quite significant deal in one of our regions that is helping a little bit extra.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Okay. Can you quantify it roughly with the range or so?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

No.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

No? Okay, that's fine. And then regarding the partnerships with Microsoft and NetApp you talked a little bit about, and also the Broadcom and VMware deal. Do you see that this affecting your competitive position in the market in a meaningful way? Or is that something that most of the competitors also had?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Some of these are unique. So the NetApp one, I think we may be first in the world. I can't remember now. I'm looking around now. Yes, we're first in the world. So in that regard, it's unique at this point. Obviously, it won't be unique forever, but we are such a close partner and friend with NetApp that we do have competitive edge there. The Microsoft skills are more generic, but very important, and they are strengthening our position as also a cybersecurity partner to our customers. So that's important.VMware and Broadcom, let me elaborate just a little bit on that. Broadcom is a much more, let's say, focused player. So they have narrowed down the partner programs quite significantly compared to where VMware were when they were a stand-alone company, or at least operating as a stand-alone company. So here, there are definitely a bit of an edge for us. We're not alone, but there's fewer partners that are now able to play a significant role in the Broadcom partner program on VMware than it used to be. So a little bit of advantage there for us as well.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Okay. That's interesting. And then also regionally, you commented that Germany is starting to show some improvements. Is that the market as a whole? Or is it more [ your ] operations that after a couple of years of underperforming, I guess, are improving a bit?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Both. It's definitely been a challenging market, the most challenging market for us, but we've also had a lot of focus on our internal integrations, which has impacted some of our sales performance. But we have made changes there, including new leadership in Germany. So we see positive trends also internally in our operations.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Do you expect that to continue or any kind of warning flags in that market that it could be a strong and unexpected quarter, but the market is still challenging, so we shouldn't extrapolate it? Or...

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

No, I think when we look at our markets, they are behind. I think we've seen more positive trends in Q1 in the other 3 regions in Germany. But when I look forward [Technical Difficulty] positive. I think Germany is also catching up here after a tough period. So there's light in the German tunnel as well, looking into Q2 here, for instance.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Okay, good. And then final question regarding AI deployment among enterprises and customers. I guess, as you have said before, that they start off with cloud solutions, exploring co-pilot, et cetera. Is that something you see benefits from in your cloud order intake in the quarter? Or have you also seen some early system deals related to investments into own AI infrastructure? Or is that too early? So just some words to understand where we are in that phase here.

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Yes, exactly. And just then to explain for everybody else, you're absolutely right, Daniel. So, a lot of customers obviously piloting and doing proof of concepts and developing their AI solutions, and the normal way to do that is that, you do your piloting in a public cloud environment. So in Microsoft or an OpenAI or a Google Cloud, but when you have your applications and your use cases developed and fine-tuned, we expect customers to find that it's not the most cost-efficient way of running AI, and they're going to start bringing -- bring some of those AI applications and AI use cases home and home can be that they invest in their own high-performance compute platforms or with a local providers like Proact. And I think we're starting to see the very first, but it's literally very first signs that people are starting to bring it home. We're engaging in dialogues with a few enterprise customers on NVIDIA-based compute platforms. So first signs of that trend to bring things home.

[Daniel Thorsson, analyst]

Okay, I see. And have this affected your cloud order intake in any meaningful way that some customers are buying more space? Or...

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

No meaningful way. It's more of the traditional use cases that are driving the growth in the quarter.

[Anna Linde, executive]

Are there any other questions? Please raise your hand. No?

[Jonas Hasselberg, executive]

Good. Thank you very much. We appreciate you taking the time. We will be back on -- I'm looking at Anna again, I think it is July 12 for our Q2 report. Until then, have a great spring, and thank you for listening in.

[Asa Jansson, executive]

Thank you.