Ework Group AB (publ) (EWRK) Q4 FY2025 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to the presentation of Ework Group's results for the fourth quarter. My name is Michaela Abercrombie, and I'm Communications Lead at Ework Group, and I will be moderating today's webcast. With me here today to present our Q4 results, I have Daniel Almgren, CEO at Ework Group, together with our CFO, Johanna Estra. And in just a moment, we will begin to go through the highlights and insights from the fourth quarter. And after the presentation, we will open up for questions, starting with the calls, followed by the written ones. And with that, I am handing over to you, Daniel and Johanna.

Thank you, Michaela. My name is Daniel Almgren, and I joined Ework as CEO in November. Since this is my first of these presentations, I thought I'd start with a brief intro of myself. I have a dual background within business and sports. Professionally, I started my career at McKinsey & Company and have held several leadership roles, most recently as CEO of Medley. Common theme of my leadership roles has been turnarounds and transformations. Within sports, I have multiple Swedish championship titles and have competed in the world and European championships and track and field in the event of Decathlon. I have spent my first months here at Ework visiting our offices across Europe and meeting with customers and partners to understand the business and its potential. What I've found is that Ework has successfully navigated a challenging period during which we have also upgraded our technological platform. Now that necessary changes are behind us, we will use Ework's strong position, independent model and innovative team to drive profitable growth going forward. Ework is a leading European partner for talent solutions, primarily within IT, technology and engineering. With more than 25 years of experience, we operate as an independent talent provider. We support around 500 clients across both the public and private sectors in optimizing their businesses and operations. We do this through our broad service offering and global operating model. Through our extensive talent network, we have access to more than 240,000 consultants and 36,000 partner companies. On any given day, more than 10,000 consultants are on assignment onshore, nearshore and offshore through Ework in more than 50 countries. We currently operate from 12 locations across 7 European countries. In the third quarter, we announced our expansion into Germany with operations planned to launch this year, an important step in our ongoing European expansion. Whether delivering individual talent, full projects or advisory services, we remain focused on business needs and real value, powered by people driven by impact. Our offering is built around a portfolio of talent solutions structured across 3 core services: consulting and project provider, managed services and talent advisory. As a consulting and project provider, we identify and match the right expertise to every assignment and deliver the right competencies or defined project outcomes, managing the full life cycle, including contracting, administration and compliance. As a managed service provider, we assume administrative responsibility for clients' total external workforce, allowing for governance, transparency, cost control and optimization. Through talent advisory, we help clients align workforce strategy with business strategy, supporting long-term capability planning and future readiness in a market shaped by rapid technological change and AI-driven transformation. A key strength is our network of partners and professionals. They can access active assignments in our open marketplace, providing clients with top talent globally. Members of the network also benefit from services such as Ework+ and PayExpress, strengthening both engagement and retention. This is complemented by value-adding services such as permanent placement, protective security services with advanced background screening, flexible payment solutions and nearshore and offshore delivery models. Altogether, this positions Ework as one of Europe's leading talent solutions partners, combining scale, independence and strategic depth with global reach and local expertise. We're currently in the midst of a geographical expansion, driven by our ambition to be a global partner to our clients. This aligns with the increasing demand we see from existing clients who need support across multiple markets. Last year, we established operations in Ghent in Belgium, responding to growing demand from both new and existing clients, particularly in manufacturing and automotive. Belgium and the Netherlands together represent one of Europe's largest consulting markets, and our presence in Ghent strengthens our ability to develop our talent network across the entire Benelux region. With Belgium in place, Ework now operates in 7 European countries, combined with our global talent network, partnerships in markets where we do not yet have a presence and our global delivery model, we are well positioned to act as a truly global partner. We're also expanding into Germany with operations planned to launch in 2026, and we continue to explore additional geographies where we see potential. Our entry model is efficient, often leveraging existing client relationships, allowing us to expand to new markets with modest investment. Altogether, this puts Ework in a strong position to continue growing and to deliver on our ambition of being the global partner our clients need. Looking at the highlights of the fourth quarter, we can see that the market remains challenging. Order volumes are down, competition is intense and clients continue to implement cost-saving measures and workforce reductions. There are no signs of a short-term recovery, but we're still not standing still. Despite these headwinds, we strengthened our gross margin through higher contract margins and growing demand for our value-adding services. EBIT was affected by one-off write-off of legacy IT investments of SEK 20 million. Behind -- looking behind the Q4 numbers, starting with our service offering. Our value-adding services continued to perform strongly. PayExpress delivered its strongest month ever in December with sales increasing by 21% year-on-year. Heightened risk awareness in a volatile environment is also driving increased demand for protective security services and background checks now offered across all markets. In addition, stricter EU regulations are contributing to growing demand for compliance-related support. These services contribute positively to both customer value and margin development. In terms of demand for different skill areas during the quarter, Java was the most in-demand skill followed by Python and SQL. We also saw a clear increase in demand for project managers, which may serve as an early indicator of renewed investment activity among clients. With 2025 behind us, we are looking ahead with new leadership and a clear transformation mandate. We are accelerating our strategic agenda and the shift toward a more focused and AI-enabled organization. Our new platform is fully rolled out across all geographies, forming the foundation for automation, scalability and improved competitiveness. Three AI-powered services, request to add, AI matching and feedback automation are now fully integrated into daily operations, driving efficiency, quality and precision in our delivery. In Q1 2026, we will launch the Ework Client Hub, a modern intuitive portal to simplify client operations, increase transparency and deliver more value. To conclude, while the market remains cautious, we are executing decisive measures to adapt to changing client needs and to position EWork for long-term profitable growth, all the while continuing our expansion into new geographies. Into 2026, we also take with us that the past year concluded with several strategically important agreements and renewed collaborations, including, for example, Tieto, City of Malmö, Norsk Helsenett, Three or Hi3G, Norwegian mapping Authority and Vivicta. Vivicta, former Tietoevry Tech Service and now a stand-alone company, has extended its collaboration with Ework in 2025 as a partner in external sourcing within the Nordics. Ework' experience and large network of consultants contribute to Vivicta's service offering and accelerating digital transformation across Nordic businesses and society and support Vivicta's guiding principle, making every day easier through technology. Ework and Three has had a long-standing relationship historically on a smaller scale. In 2025, our partnership evolved into a broader strategic collaboration, driven in part by our strong expertise in compliance and our ability to support clients through periods of change. The agreement includes delivery under both the consulting provider and project provider models starting as of January 2026. And we are really excited about these new and renewed collaborations going forward. Turning to our markets. The fourth quarter remained characterized by caution and mixed signals. Sweden saw lower order intake compared with the same period last year, primarily due to consultant stops and cost savings measures at several large clients. Net revenue fell as a result of a lower average number of consultants on assignment and fewer hours per consultant, leading to reduced quarterly earnings. Norway delivered cautiously positive results. Both revenue and earnings improved compared with last year, supported by more stable macro conditions. Order intake rose in the private sector, particularly in telecom, while banking and finance were weaker. Increased net revenue was partly offset by lower gross margins and higher costs. Poland and Slovakia faced pressure from client workforce reductions and increased competition, but Poland continues to strengthen as a near-shoring hub. Slovakia remained cautious through temporary reductions in key sectors and largely concluded by the end of the quarter, setting the stage for gradual improvement. Denmark experienced dampened demand driven by workforce reduction among clients. Order intake declined, particularly in Life Science, banking and finance, though some growth was seen in the public sector. Revenue decreased year-on-year, while investments in sales and our Vejle office impacted EBIT. Finland remained weak with order intake and earnings down, mainly due to reduced consulting volumes. Some stabilization was observed towards the end of the quarter, particularly in banking and finance. Our establishment in Ghent in Belgium was completed in October 2025. The team is in place. Client agreements have been secured, and we expect contributions to revenue starting in the first half of 2026. Looking at our industry segments in Q4, the picture reflects both resilience and ongoing challenges. The public sector remains a key driver with continued frame agreements and new assignments across Sweden, Norway and Denmark. This sector continues to provide stable revenue and contributes to overall volume growth. The automotive sector remained under pressure. Ongoing client cost cutting and restructuring measures led to declining order intake through the pace of -- though the pace of decline eased slightly toward the end of the quarter. Within the private sector, demand remains strong in banking, finance and insurance as well as in telecom, where consultant requests continue to rise. Manufacturing and energy sectors showed early signs of recovery, supported by new framework agreements and renewed client activity. In Life Science, particularly in Denmark, demand slowed temporarily due to workforce restructuring and transformation at key clients, while other regions remained stable. Overall, these trends highlight the continued importance of sector-focused expertise, our ability to respond to shifting client needs and the growing relevance of nearshoring and flexible talent solutions to support both private and public clients. For the past 2 years, we have, as a side effect of establishing a new operating model and a new technological platform, become process-focused and introspective. At the same time, the macro climate has been unfavorable and competition has increased. Perhaps the most central conclusion from my first months at Ework have been these 3. One, we need to simplify the way we work. Two, it is imperative we get back to one of our core strengths, being client-centric. Three, we need to invest time, resources and competence into our sales efforts. As a consequence, we have simplified the organization, making it more commercially oriented. Change starts from the top. So the senior leadership team now consists of 6 people instead of the 13 that were the case when I started. This is done in order to enable faster decision-making and to have a more responsive setup vis-a-vis our clients. Sales and commercial topics are giving more priority in the leadership team and throughout the organization. Although it has not been the primary objective, the simplification of the organization will also have the added benefit of yearly cost savings of SEK 18 million. I think that our new setup will enable us to pursue our goals more aggressively and allow us to both increase our speed of service and once again become fully focused on the success of our clients. On a personal note, I am really excited to get to see this team and this organization work their magic. Over to you.

Thank you, Daniel. Yes. Let's move on to the financials. And firstly, looking at the financial overview of the fourth quarter, we reported a net sales of approximately SEK 3.6 billion, which is 13% lower than last quarter, where we reported a net sale of approximately SEK 4.1 billion. As mentioned, the market conditions continue to be challenging, especially in our biggest market, Sweden, which has a big impact on the group. And we unfortunately do not see any clear signs of recovery in the market short term. As reported and also mentioned by Daniel, many of our bigger clients have enforced consultancy freezes or reductions in their workforce, and we see this continuing into the first quarter of 2026. We are enforcing our sales capacity, and we are very glad that we are continuing to win new frame agreements in this setting. Our gross margin development continues in a positive way at 4.1% versus last year, 4.0%, driven by both more profitable client contracts, but also our value-adding services. In December, as mentioned, we had an all-time high on sales of PayExpress and the interest for these value-adding services continues to be strong. EBIT in the fourth quarter amounted to SEK 6 million compared to SEK 54 million last year. EBIT was negatively impacted by nonrecurring items of SEK 20 million relating to the depreciation of old IT investments relating to the previous IT platform. As mentioned, we -- before, we have, during the year, implemented a new IT platform that will enable more efficient working. Adjusted EBIT amounted to approximately SEK 36 million. The financial net decreased somewhat relating to currency effects. In terms of the financial net, we have on top of implementing new ways of working around our currency exposure, also initiated activities to improve working capital in Poland and to, over time, reduce the financing from the group. And if we turn to the full year of 2025, we reported a net sales of approximately SEK 13.7 billion compared to last year, where we reported a net sales of SEK 15.8 billion. The decrease is, as mentioned, a result of the weaker market, but we also have some calendar effects with 2 less workdays and also some effects from the previously reported phaseout of less profitable client contracts when we look at the revenue for last year. EBIT in the full year of 2025 amounted to SEK 123 million compared to SEK 190 million last year. And also here, EBIT was negatively impacted by nonrecurring items in total of SEK 28 million, and that is relating to the depreciation of old IT investments, restructuring and group conference. And adjusted EBIT amounted to approximately SEK 151 million. And we are also pleased to announce that the Board of Directors have decided to propose the AGM a dividend of SEK 4 per share. We have a strong financial position and have the ambition to deliver shareholder value over time, and this is well above our target of 75% of net profit. Order intake for the fourth quarter was approximately SEK 6.6 billion, which is lower than the last quarter, SEK 7.6 billion. We have seen a negative trend, especially in Sweden, but also in Denmark that has been hit very hard by client reductions in the workforce. We have seen, as mentioned, a strong interest in nearshoring from our Polish business over time. That is driven by cost reductions, but also the Polish market has experienced challenging and that has resulted in higher competition. What is really positive is that we see a stabilization in Norway, a market that has been struggling due to the regulations implemented a couple of years ago. In terms of industries, we have seen a stabilization in the public sector, but a decrease in the private sector, much driven by the consultancy freezes and reductions in workforce. Banking and tech decreased somewhat in the fourth quarter, which is mainly related to 2 of our bigger clients. Telecom has shown some positive signs, particularly in Norway. Hourly rates remained fairly stable despite the higher competition and higher number of consultants available in the market. And here, we have the overview of sales development and EBIT development from last year. And from the fourth quarter, we do not have any impact from the previously reported phaseout of less profitable client contracts and the decrease in revenue compared to last year -- last quarter is only related to the lower number of consultants in assignment. The hourly rates and add-on services helped to mitigate the decline to some extent and the decrease is mainly related to our biggest market, Sweden, that has been hit very hard by the recession and experienced a high competition. Going forward, increasing business volumes is our highest priority. And as Daniel mentioned, we are reorganizing to enhance customer focus and drive sales performance. EBIT is also impacted mainly by the lower revenue, but mitigated somewhat by the higher gross margin. And of course, the nonrecurring items relating to the depreciation of IT investments impacts costs heavily during the quarter. During the year, we have had also increased costs relating to the implementation of the new internal digital platform, but we expect those to stabilize during 2026. And as mentioned in previous quarters, we are looking into cost reductions to adapt to the market conditions. We have reported the annual cost savings from the reorganization, and we are looking into other cost savings like facility costs that we expect to decrease about SEK 5 million on an annual basis going forward. And then I think I will hand over back to Daniel to sum up.

Thank you, Johanna. So in conclusion, on the one hand, we do not yet conclusively see that the market environment is improving, and we expect to see further softening for at least the first half of 2026 and for the full year to see an EPS decrease of 10% to 20%. On the other hand, we are celebrating some important wins and charging ahead with our expansion into new markets. In combination with the simplification of the organization and our renewed external orientation, not least through an increased focus on sales, we are building momentum for profitable growth. And that's pretty much it.

Thank you.

[Operator Instructions]

So first, we'll see if we have any calls.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Okay. So we have got some questions, some written questions. They're quite long. So bear with me when I read them out loud. The first question is, 9 consecutive negative year-on-year sales growth. What are you seeing in Q4 regarding demand stabilization, particularly in Sweden, with multiple large clients maintaining hiring freezes throughout 2025 and into 2026. Have you seen any signs of these restrictions being lifted? And what is your outlook for consultant volumes in early '26?

I think we covered that to some extent in the presentation. But to reiterate, we don't see any sort of conclusive or definitive signs of a strong market recovery. There are sort of encouraging tidbits here and there, but not frequent and strong enough for us to say, yes, 2026 is going to be the year of the turnaround.

Thank you. And next question. With Belgium operational and Germany launching in '26, while your core Swedish market remains under pressure, how do you prioritize between geographic expansion, shareholder returns and maintaining financial flexibility during this downturn?

Yes. Good question. Also mentioned in the presentation is the fact that the way we are entering into new markets, including Belgium and Germany, is quite cost efficient. It's not any form of substantial investment to enter into a new market. So in that sense, it's not a financial trade-off. And of course, there is the sort of question of focus in the leadership team. Do we focus on the new and up-and-coming markets, which potentially could grow? Or do we focus on the core market, which, of course, is Sweden. And the answer is, in short, both. I see that we are longer term, we should act to become less dependent on the Swedish market. Because it is such a sort of central part of our finances that it's difficult for us to impact our results beyond how the Swedish market moves and how we are -- if we are successful in the Swedish market. I would like for us to be more diversified geographically going forward.

Thank you. I think we have time for another one. It's quite long. So you initiate a transformation program and reorganization and is expected to generate annual cost savings of approximately SEK 18 million with gradual impact starting in 2026 to a cost of SEK 9 million. You write you will implement a simplification of the organization and more efficient ways of working. Can you give us more hands-on information what this transformation program consists of?

Yes and no. I think in the presentation, I mentioned that change starts from the top. We have a management team that is significantly smaller than it was just a couple of months ago. That means we're also sort of we're enabling ourselves to make faster decisions to become more focused on the core issues, which for me and by some default for us happens to be our sales efforts. So a greater share of the management team and the functions within that sort under the management team are focused on sales versus how we were set up just a few months ago. That's the short answer.

Maybe we have time for one short last question because it's very short. Are you sacrificing margins to defend volumes in the current market?

Also a good question. I can start and you can correct me if I say something wrong, for me, I will be more focused on gross profit as opposed to gross margin. I don't foresee sort of the gross margin in -- going forward will be dramatically impacted or anything like that. But for me, it's much more important what the absolute number is than what the percentage share is. Do you concur?

Yes, I do. And in this market setting, of course, we will also focus on the profitability. But right now, it's about the volumes. So I agree, I fully agree.

Okay. Thank you so much. I think we're just running out of time here. So thank you, everyone, for listening to our Q4 report.