Coor Service Management Holding AB (COOR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Coor Service Management Q4 report for 2022. [Operator Instructions] Today, I am pleased to present President and CEO, AnnaCarin Grandin; and CFO and IR Director, Andreas Engdahl. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and welcome for listening into our Q4 and full year report at Coor. I will start, as usual, to present Coor for those of you who do not yet know Coor. I will then continue to present our triple bottom line results, followed by a business and market update. I hand over to Andreas to present some more details around our financial performance before we sum up and have a Q&A. Coor is the Nordic market leader in integrated facility management. We provide our customers with a broad range of services through our customer-centric business model with a decentralized organization. We are building a truly sustainable company, and we are constantly taking new positive steps in that direction. And as a company, we continue to drive and steer from a triple bottom line perspective, meaning that we are taking our business, social and environmental responsibility to future-proof our company and making a positive impact in society and for the environment. Coor's total turnover of SEK 11.8 billion LTM can be viewed in different dimensions. And from a geographic perspective, Sweden is our largest country with 54% of total turnover, Denmark is our second largest country with 22%, followed by Norway at 18% and Finland at 6%. And from a contract type perspective, we see that the split continues to be stable with IFM contract just under 60% and single service contract just over 4%. And slicing the turnover by service line, we see that cleaning is the largest service line with 38%, property is the second with 30%, workplace includes a number of different soft services with 17%, and food and beverage is now accounting for 11%. This means that we continue to see a normalization of the volume more similar to pre-COVID. And our top 3 customer segments are public customers by 31%, manufacturing by 22% and energy by 15%. So all in all, our business has a well-balanced portfolio that makes us resilient to economic downturns, as I will elaborate later on. Well, 2022 was a year with high growth even if we experienced some negative impact from a few but large lost contracts. And I'm very pleased with our performance during the year. We have grown by SEK 1.7 billion and delivered an adjusted EBITA margin at 5.4%, in line with our financial targets. I'm not just pleased from a financial perspective but also how we adapt our operations in all countries to new volume levels. But let's look at some of the key financial metrics in Q4. Organic growth is more or less flat in the quarter, but we see continued -- continue to see large swings on country levels. Denmark have organic growth by 15%, mainly driven by the public contract with the Danish Building and Property Agency. Our largest country, Sweden, is flat on organic growth with new midsized contracts and recovery in variable volumes offsetting the ended contract with Volvo Group. In Norway, we continue to see a net negative organic growth, mainly from the ended contract with Equinor Office and from the temporarily high project volume or maintenance stoppage in the oil and gas industry that ended before summer. Acquired growth is at 4% in the quarter, fully related to Sweden and driven by the acquisitions of Inspira and Centrumstäd. And the EBITA margin for Q4 is 5.0%, an improvement from the third quarter. And in the fourth quarter, indexations and executed mitigating activities has reduced the negative inflation impact we saw last quarter. Compared to the COVID period, we continue to see effects of normalized volume mix. We also view expected effects of starting up large contracts. And compared to last year, we are in line with the EBITA margin if we exclude the positive nonrecurring repayment from the AGS Group sickness insurance policy of approximately SEK 40 million in Q4 2021, combined with temporarily high central costs last year. Cash conversion is an LTM number, and it continues to be strong at 94% and well in line with our target of staying above 90%. Leverage is also an LTM number with 1.9. We are slightly below Q4 last year and well in line with our target of staying below 3. With continued solid cash generation and leverage well below target, the Board of Directors proposed a dividend of SEK 4.8 per share for 2022 to be paid out in 2 installments: the ordinary dividend of SEK 2.4 per share to be paid out in May and an extraordinary dividend of additional SEK 2.4 per share to be paid out in October. This provides our shareholders with a strong dividend yield of 7.5% and still provides Coor with a financial capacity to continue making value-adding acquisitions going forward. Moving on with our performance in social and environmental sustainability. We see that we continue to improve our TRIF levels. As of Q4, TRIF is down to 7.0 compared to 8.9 last year. I'm happy to see a steady improvement, but there are still work to be done in order to reach the target being below 3.5. Gender balance continues to be stable at around 50-50. And we continue our efforts to reduce our CO2 footprint. We see steady positive development in Scope 2 and 3, while we are struggling a bit with the CO2 reductions related to our vehicle fleet, Scope 1. This is partly due to the strong growth, delivery time of electric vehicles and some challenges in infrastructure, but we recognize that we need to do more from an internal perspective. And for the first time, we present our performance in Scope-3-aligned suppliers, approved by the Science-Based Target initiative. And during 2022, we have had dialogues with our suppliers and challenged them to assign to Science-Based Targets. And so far, dialogues have been positive and an initial measurement shows that 4% of Coor suppliers have validated their goals at the end of 2022. Our target is that 75% of our suppliers has approved their goals by the end of 2026. So it is still a way to go. Now over to our business and market update. In Q4, we have won several midsized contracts. In Norway, we have won a contract with IKEA, starting up in June. And already in February, we are starting up a new food and beverage contract with Technopolis. And from March, we will deliver property services to Studentsamskipnaden in Oslo, and we also have been awarded a cleaning contract with Drammen municipality. So several important wins in Norway. And in Sweden, we have won a property contract with the Ekerö municipality; and in Finland, a new cleaning contract with 2 large shopping malls in the Helsinki area, Jumbo and Flamingo. And in the quarter, we have important prolongations of the IFM contract with Vasakronan as well as a 1-year prolongation of the contract with Equinor Offshore. We have also prolonged a number of midsized single-service contracts that brings the second half of 2022 back to a solid retention rate above 90%. And integration work for the Inspira acquisition have been finalized in the fourth quarter with several important migration activities, and there is a continued focus of start-up activities of the large IFM contracts in Denmark. And as I mentioned earlier, we see effects from indexation and mitigating activities that reduces the impact from inflation compared to last quarter. We remain convinced that inflation will be managed in a good way over time. On the sustainability area, I am proud to see our HR Director, Helena Söderberg, being awarded as HR Director of the Year in the private sector. In the fourth quarter, Coor has also signed a sustainability-linked refinancing of our credit facilities. This sustainability-linked refinancing reflects Coor's commitments in terms of environmental and social responsibility. And we continue to see growth opportunities ahead from a solid pipeline across the Nordics. We recently received a positive sign that Coor is down selected as 1 out of 2 suppliers for the third and final phase of IFM outsourcing at the Danish Building and Property Agency. And in terms of acquisitions, we're actively looking at new M&A opportunities. And there are several indications of an economic downturn in the Nordic region, and I would like to give our view on the FM market and Coor in such a period based on what we have seen historically. In a short-term perspective, we will most likely see existing customers looking for new efficiencies by reducing facility management spend. This might affect variable volumes but can also reduce scope in subscriptions. But as an IFM supplier, this is a well-known situation, and with our experience, we will manage to reduce cost and fulfill our customers' requirements for efficiency in a margin-neutral way. And at the same time, we will most likely have the existing customers that has not fully outsourced their services and want to find new efficiencies by consolidating their FM spend with one service provider. And that is a good opportunity for Coor to increase the scope. And in the longer run, we expect both subscriptions and variable volumes to recover when economy stabilizes. We have also experienced that the level of outsourcing increases in the facility management market when new customers look for efficiencies. And all that combined means that we expect to see some short-term decrease in demand in some customer segment, but it is also a period that we believe will bring new opportunities to the market for us to capture. And with that, I will hand over to Andreas to continue with the details on the financials.

Thank you, AnnaCarin. As you heard from AnnaCarin, we continue to grow in Q4. Net sales is up almost SEK 200 million versus last year, and that takes us to a quarterly net sales of close to SEK 3.1 billion. In addition to more or less flat organic growth and 4% acquired growth, we also have some positive FX effects of 3%. Adjusted EBITA amounted to SEK 153 million, which gives us an EBITA margin in the quarter of 5%. Net income is SEK 55 million, and adjusted net income when adding back amortization amounts to SEK 86 million. On full year numbers, we see net sales of SEK 11.8 billion, which is an all-time high level and about SEK 1.7 billion above last year. Financial -- full year organic growth is 5%; acquired growth, 9%; and FX, 3%. Full year adjusted EBITA is SEK 634 million, which gives us a full year margin of 5.4%. Adjusted net income for the year is SEK 414 million. Looking at Q4 country by country. We continue to see strong organic growth in Denmark with 15% and high acquired growth in Sweden with 8%. This means that our 2 largest markets continue to grow. In Norway, as we mentioned in the last quarter, we have seen higher project volumes in the oil and gas industry for several quarters more or less offsetting the contract with Equinor Office that was ended in Q4 last year. These temporary high project volumes ended in the second quarter 2022, making the effects of Equinor Office more visible in the second half of the year. In Q4, we also see positive effects from high demand in variable volumes across the Norwegian portfolio, taking the negative growth to minus 16% compared to a negative 27% in Q3. In Finland, new contract wins and return on variable volume cannot fully offset the ended Finnish part of the contract with ABB. From an EBITA and margin perspective, Sweden continues to deliver a solid margin in the quarter. As AnnaCarin mentioned, last year included a repayment from the AGS Group sickness insurance policy of some SEK 40 million. Excluding that, Swedish margin is more or less in line with last year. Margin in Denmark is flat compared to last year, both years driven by integration of large IFM contracts, but also from strengthening central functions to handle the growth. In Q4, we see a steady improvement on margin compared to previous quarter. Looking at Norway, we also see margins flat compared to last year, both years affected by the ended contract with Equinor Office and also from temporary high project volumes that ended in Q2. As in Denmark, we see steady improvement in margin compared to the previous quarter. And finally, Finland, we see a negative impact from the ended ABB contract and high cost for snow removal after extraordinary heavy snowfall in the Helsinki area during November and December. Moving over to contract portfolio and retention rate for 2022. Looking at the contract portfolio, we see that there is a negative net change. This is mainly driven by the ended contract with the Volvo Group in the first half of 2022, accounting for almost half of the SEK 800 million. So apart from Volvo Group, the net change is approximately SEK 100 million positive, and we see a steady development in the second half of the year. On retention, AnnaCarin mentioned several important prolongations in Q4. And as with contract changes, we see a solid second half of the year with a retention rate back at levels above 90%. Looking at cash flow. We had an ingoing cash balance of SEK 628 million. Operations have contributed with SEK 742 million. The financing flows reflecting interest, loans and leasing adds up to minus SEK 312 million. Taxes paid equals minus SEK 80 million. Cash-out from M&A is related to acquisition of Centrumstäd and adds up to minus SEK 37 million. Dividend equals the ordinary dividend payment made in May and the extraordinary dividend paid in October and adds up to SEK 457 million. And that gives us an outgoing cash balance of SEK 484 million. We'll look at some details on the balance sheet and our cash conversion. Cash conversion continues to be strong at 94% for the full year with continued low CapEx and improved working capital. In terms of working capital, we continue to see stable payment patterns from customers. Net working capital is negative by SEK 1 billion or minus 8.6% of full year net sales. Net debt at approximately SEK 1.6 billion and leverage at 1.9%. In Q4, we have signed an agreement for a sustainability-linked refinancing. This refinancing address upcoming maturities ahead of time, provided continued flexibility in our financing. Besides refinancing of our existing revolving credit facility, we have also secured in advance a commitment for our noncallable bond that matures in Q1 2024. The credit has been committed with existing lenders, DNB and SEB, together with new lenders, Danske Bank and the Swedish Export Credit Corporation. Initial maturity is January 2026 with 2 year-1 (sic) [ 2 1-year ] extension options. And with that, I hand it back to AnnaCarin.

Thanks, Andreas. Before we go into Q&A, I would like to sum up Q4 and 2022. Well, 2022 has been characterized by strong growth both in terms of organic growth by 5% and acquired growth by 9%. All in all, we have grown the company by SEK 1.7 billion and performing adjusted EBITA margin of 5.4%. We continue to see expected effects of normalized volume mix and start-ups of large contracts. We have a solid cash flow at 94% and the leverage of 1.9 and well in line with our financial targets. Given our strong financial position, we see continued opportunities to carry out value-adding acquisitions in the Nordic region, and the Board of Directors proposed a dividend of SEK 4.8 per share, and that provides our shareholders with a dividend yield of 7.5%. I really would like to thank all my colleagues at Coor for the great performance and the very strong work you put in during 2022. And with that, we will open up for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Karl-Johan Bonnevier from DNB Markets.

Just first starting off, AnnaCarin, with your comment on the recession risk. And I take it that you are -- more of a cautionary statement from you at this stage. Or have you started to see something coming through in different contracts in some of the verticals or geographies?

Karl-Johan, no. So far, we haven't seen any effect of a slowdown in the economy. But we feel quite confident that this will bring some new opportunities for us if we see such kind of activities in the market.

And I guess, variable volumes are at very good level in Q4, if I understand it right.

Yes, that's correct.

Would you say that they are above normal? Or are we back to normal now? Or where are we in that kind of cycle for you?

I think we can see higher volumes in restaurants and in project-related volume, and they are more or less back to normal levels as before pre-COVID.

Excellent. And looking at the different geographies, looking at Norway. It seems like with a good flow of new orders that you got in the -- towards the end of the year, you're starting to prop up the gap that the Equinor loss created for you. Does that mean that you now have -- I remember, before, you were a little uncertain about your ongoing long-term cost structure in Norway, if you needed to do some adjustments to it. Is these new contracts you've not been able to sign basically giving you the structure in Norway that you want?

Yes, of course, we still have focus to grow our Norwegian business, of course. But those wins we have made in Q4, they will help, of course.

And when you're looking at the ramping in Denmark, is there any news on that development and how you see it, good news coming back from the clients?

No, I think we are in an integration or start-up phase and there is more to do in the Danish organization, of course. So we continue to stay focused to really ramp up that contract in a very good way.

And when you look at that coming into a normal kind of delivery, you still feel good that Denmark should be up towards the group target on 5.5% margins?

Yes, that's our ambition. Absolutely.