Ework Group AB (publ) ($EWRK)

Hello, everyone, and warm welcome to the presentation of Ework Group's results for the first quarter 2026. My name is Johan Lindblad. I'm the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Ework Group. and I will be moderating today's webcast. And with me here today to present our Q1 results, I have Daniel Almgren, CEO at IvAGroup, together with our CFO, Johanna Esther. In just a moment, we will begin to go through the highlights and insights of the first quarter. And after the presentation, we will open up for questions, starting with the calls followed by the written ones. And with that, I think I will hand it over to you, Daniel and Johanna.

Thank you very much, Johan. Thank you all for joining today. It's good to be here. It's going to be a pleasure to take you through the Q1 results of Ework Group. Looking at the highlights of the first quarter, 2026 the market environment remains challenging. Demand continues to be cautious and uncertainty has increased during the quarter driven by geopolitical tensions, rising energy prices and continued cost control among our clients. As a consequence, business volumes remain down year-on-year. That said, the first quarter developed fully in line with our expectations and in line with our guidance for 2026. our full year EPS guidance of minus 10% to minus 20% compared to 2025 remains unchanged. In that context, we view the quarter as a solid and as a confirmation that we are managing the business in a disciplined and controlled manner. Looking at the market conditions, they continue to vary across geographies and segments. Norway shows a positive momentum, while Sweden remains more restrained with differences between industries. Poland was impacted by the ending of a larger contract, but underlying demand remained stable while Denmark had a softer quarter. Our expansion in Belgium and Germany continue to develop according to plan and preparations for entering the Netherlands are progressing. Driven by clear market interest and as a natural step in strengthening our presence in Benelux. A key highlight of the quarter is the successful implementation of our organizational transformation. which is now fully in place and operating as intended. We see clearer accountability, shorter decision paths and higher internal engagement. allowing us to maintain a high operational tempo even in a challenging market. This transformation is critical as an enabler of long-term scalable growth and a more customer-centric and commercially driven organization. We have also strengthened our commercial capabilities during the quarter, including the recruitment of a new head of sales in Sweden and increased focus on proactive sales and new customer acquisition. At the same time, we continue to deepen relationships with existing clients. Technology and AI remains central to our strategy. our AI-powered services continue to drive efficiency and productivity, particularly within consultant matching. During the quarter, -- we launched the e-work client hub offering a more user-friendly alternative to traditional vendor management systems, and it has been very well received by our customer base. To conclude, while the market remains uncertain, we are executing and delivering according to our plan with a more efficient organization, strengthened commercial focus, continued investments in technology and disciplined cost management, we are well positioned for a turnaround. Our work to broaden the customer base and deep and existing client relationships continue during the first quarter. We are pleased to see strong momentum as we secured several important new agreements, extended existing partnerships and increased business volumes with selected customers, including, for example, ASSA ABLOY, E.ON and Citi. As for ASSA ABLOY, we have secured a new framework agreement creating strong opportunities to deliver consultancy services across multiple markets to 1 of the world's leading access solutions companies. With a decentralized organization and global footprint, ASA ABLOY is a strong fit for Ework model, combining a broad international network with strong local expertise. The agreement enables delivery of both individual consultants and teams across IT and engineering, supporting a wide range of business units within the group. Ework has initiated a new collaboration with CiteWise in 2026, a leading Nordic expert organization within the built environment and digital solutions. The partnership spans both the Finnish and Swedish markets. From the outset, Citis will adopt EW client hub, enabling a streamlined transparent and compliance setup for managing external consultants engaged through Ework. Ework ability to support clients with scalable sourcing solutions combined with efficient digital tools. And we are pleased to have regained trust with E.ON. through a new framework agreement for consulting services within marketing and communication and procurement and process. E.ON has previously been a client of Ework , and we are glad to reestablish the collaboration. The agreement came into effect in February 2026 and positions Ework as a consulting provider. During the quarter, we also finalized the extension of a framework agreement with an important client in the automotive industry and look forward to continued cooperation. We are very excited about these new collaborations and the opportunities they bring going forward. Turning to our markets. The first quarter remain characterized by cautious demand and mixed signals. Sweden continued to experience varying demand with the embattled automotive sector seeming to stabilize a bit, a decline in banking while energy developed positively. Net revenue declined due to overall lower business volumes, driven by fewer consultants on assignment, although a higher number of hours per consultant compared with last year, partially mitigated the decline. Norway delivered a positive quarter with growth in both revenue and profit, primarily driven by telecom. During the quarter, a few smaller contracts were secured while no existing client contracts were lost. Poland was impacted negatively by the ending of a larger client contract. Excluding this effect, net revenue remained broadly stable, supported by continued underlying demand. Slovakia showed a slight improvement in demand compared with the same period last year. Denmark experienced a weak quarter with lower demand, particularly within banking and life science. Higher gross margin could not compensate for the drop in business volume. Investments in sales capacity is being done in order to increase the sales pipeline going forward. Finland saw a decline in revenue compared with last year, also given the ending of a larger client contract. There were some small signs of stabilization in the market driven by banking, public sector, consulting and manufacturing. Looking at our industry segments in Q1. The picture reflects continued variability across sectors. The public sector remains a key driver and continued to grow compared with last year. supported by ongoing 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 uncertain with continued declines compared with last year, reflecting recent client cost control and restructuring measures. Instead, within the private sector, growth was seen in telecom and energy, while manufacturing remained broadly stable compared with last year. Banking & Finance, Retail and Life Science declined year-on-year. Although retail showed a slight increase in share of business. The negative development in life science, particularly in Denmark, reflects ongoing adjustments among key clients. Overall, these trends highlight the need for a strong client focus and the necessity of an increased sales effort, both of which were initiated during the quarter as the softer market requires gaining market share in order to achieve business growth. Looking at skills and competencies. Our data shows a consulting market with a clear operational focus. Demand is concentrated on AI-related software development tools. Over the past year, our top 5 individual skills have been Python, SQL, Java, CICD and Azure. We also see a preference for specialized technical expertise over broader nontechnical roles. In Q1 specifically, the skilled areas that stood out in terms of rising demand with data science, cybersecurity and cloud development operations. If we look at the graph on the right, we see the distribution of requested seniority levels in the first quarter. Here, there's a slight shift compared to last year with higher demand for junior and mid-level professionals. This may indicate that organizations are now focused on execution and scaling. Demand is shifting from strategy heavy roles towards delivery focused roles that can build, configure, test and operate solutions. And with that, I'll hand over to Johanna, who will take us through the financials for the first quarter. Thank you very much, Johanna.

Thank you, Daniel. We will look into Q1 financials. And starting with the financial overview of the first quarter. we reported a revenue of approximately SEK 3 billion, which is 13.9% lower than last year, where we reported a revenue of SEK 3.5 billion. The lower revenue is related to all geographies, part from Norway, where we have seen a recovery. Overall, the market conditions are still challenging, especially in our main markets, Sweden and Denmark. We have reported earlier that we do not see any clear signs of recovery in the market. geopolitics, tolls, et cetera, is creating uncertainties and many clients are postponing investment decisions and are instead focusing on cost control. In this market, setting sales is key, and we are, therefore, strengthening our commercial capacity in different ways in order to maintain and gain market share, focus in on setting the basis for long-term growth and profitability. Gross profit in the quarter decreased in line with the lower revenue, while the gross margin remained strong at 4.1%, supported by our value-adding services. EBIT in the quarter amounted to SEK 14 million compared to SEK 34.3 million last year. EBIT was negatively impacted by nonrecurring items of approximately SEK 9 million relating to the reorganization. Adjusted EBIT amounted to approximately SEK 23.4 million. The reorganization is expected to result in annual cost savings of approximately SEK 18 million. and we will also reduce facility costs on an annual basis with approximately SEK 5 million starting 2027. We will, although see some gradual effect from this during the year. The financial net increase given reduced exposure to foreign currencies and more stable exchange rates. We have implemented new ways of working within treasury that has given effect. Earnings per share decreased impacted by the lower EBIT and restructuring costs. Our guidance on EPS target for financial year 2026 remains unchanged, as Daniel also mentioned. Moving on to order intake and our key drivers. The order intake for the first quarter amounted to approximately SEK 3.7 billion which is lower than last quarter, where we reported an order intake of SEK 4.2 billion. The market in Denmark has been challenging for a while, and 1 larger client has enforced workforce reductions. And of that, we have seen negative effects during the last quarters. In Poland, we have seen a negative impact mainly related to the loss of a bigger client contract, but the underlying nearshoring demand remains strong. As many clients look for cost reductions, reassuring remains a competitive alternative. In terms of industries, public sector remained stable during the quarter, while private sector decreased. Automotive remains challenging due to the uncertainties while Telecom has picked up a bit. From the first quarter, we have reported lower revenue compared to last year, as mentioned before. The decrease is related to all markets, apart from Norway and an effect of the prolonged economic downturn. We have no calendar effects during the first quarter. This is just loss of business volumes. Going forward, increasing business volume is our highest priority. And as mentioned, we are enhancing our commercial focus and sales performance. EBIT is also impacted by the lower revenue, but also the restructuring costs relating to the reorganization. On the cost side, we see, for example, lower IT costs as expected, given that the new internal digital platform now is fully implemented, and we will see a gradual effect from the reorganization and reduction in facility costs. We are currently not planning any other larger investments that could impact the cost sides. And with that, I will hand over back to Daniel to sum up.

Great. So if we summarize this session today. to sum up, although there are bright spots, we are still not acting in a market that we conclusively can say is getting more favorable. The U.S. Iran war has increased uncertainty for many of our current and prospective clients. That said, we have concluded a quarter in line with our plan for 2026. completely in line with our full year EPS guidance. One quarter done, 3 to go, so to speak. Also, although we have not yet been able to capitalize on the results. The reorganization has been carried out, and we will be able to both capture the planned savings and have begun to change our approach to a clear customer focus. After rain comes on shine. And because of this, we are continuing our expansion agenda despite the challenging environment with preparations ongoing for expansion into the Netherlands. In summary, I am convinced that we are positioning ourselves for a return to profitable growth. Thank you very much. I think we are now heading into the question section.

Yes. Thank you very much, Daniel and Johanna for that. Let's see if we have any questions coming in by phone today.

[Operator Instructions]. The next question comes from Simon Granath from ABG.

Yes. Daniel and John and thank you for presentation. As always, I appreciate the color on the various end markets, and I know this might be a bit of a speculative question, but are there any end markets that you are comparably more positive on? Or will you have better visibility in terms of showing improvements going forward?

I can start and you can fill in the gaps. I think as I said during the presentation, we are bullish about Norway where we see a positive development that's already been started. Personally, I think the Polish market is looking promising as well, given that sort of entire delta between this year's Q1 and last year's Q1 is essentially due to the loss of 1 specific client contracts. So demand in solid apart from that. Then, of course, what we are sort of hoping to see conclusively is a brighter future for the very important Swedish market. Anything to add?

No, good summary.

And while I do know that expanding into new geographies done in a particularly cost-effective way for you. Given the recent setback in sales and also in profitability, could you just help us unpack the balance between protecting margins and doing such investments.

No. We are active in a cyclical business. This has been sort of proven throughout the existence of e-work -- and as I said, a summing up after rain comes -- so we know that there are sort of more favorable market conditions coming ahead. So essentially, all of the things that we're doing, both in terms of expanding to new markets but also sort of shifting focus to sales and a more client-centric model. is done in order to prepare ourselves for sort of to be best set up for when the market conditions improve conclusively. So it's part of the overall game plan better to sort of make these smaller investments in more challenging times, so you can reap the benefits from the get-go when times are better.

That makes sense. Investments are usually done at lower end of the market at that time. On the competitive landscape, or do you see any signs of competitors becoming more aggressive given the dynamic still of a softish market?

Yes and no. There is a constant development in sort of how our types of services are delivered. I think we are, in many regards, leading that development. But of course, we can't be best at everything we do in sort of at all times. So sometimes we're surprised with what's coming from 1 of our competitors. But it's nothing out of the ordinary or nothing that we sort of haven't foreseen the types of sort of increased competition or types of moves coming from our competitors.

And just a final question. Historically, you've done some portfolio rebalancing of the customer contracts. You also highlight 1 of those in today's report, given the Polish development. Do you anticipate any other significant changes in the near term? Or is it so that is the market dynamic study will hold back sales development.

We're hopeful that we might be able to add 1 or more larger accounts in the coming quarters, given where we are in those types of processes. But of course, there are no guarantees and sort of -- we're always looking for opportunities to expand our business. Other than that, I think we are implementing a shift in focus throughout the organization, where we have, for the past few years, had a margin focus we've been looking at ways to increase our gross margin as in, in terms of percentage points. And going forward, our focus will be on the sort of absolute gross margin instead of building business volumes, not being too overly concerned about what the percentage margin is. We want to get the absolute margin moving in the northerly direction.

Thanks for having them. Thank you. Thank you, Simon. Do we have any more calls in the line?

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

Perfect. Thank you. Then we have a few written questions as well here. And the first 1 is Revenue declined 13.9% in Q1. Was this in line with your expectations?

Yes. That's the short answer. Yes. Of course, we work with our own sort of budgets and things like that, and this is -- this is the result we fully anticipated for the first quarter when we made our EPS guidance for the full year.

Okay. We have another one. What is your guidance for 2026?

This is a typical finance question.

Yes. We -- in the fourth quarter, we gave guidance on 2026 that we believe that EPS will not develop positively during this year, unfortunately. But we are doing a lot in order to stand on more stable platform in order to be able to achieve the profitable growth going forward. And as Daniel mentioned, our focus is on business volumes rather than hitting the best margins for a while going forward.

Okay. Thank you, Anna. Let's hit another one. And that is, you mentioned a growing skills gap in the market. What do you see? And how is eWork responding to that?

All right. So in times of change, which is -- I don't think it's evaded anyone that we're sort of in the midst of AI transition and that goes well beyond e-work and our clients, of course, -- but in times of grade change, there is often a rebalancing needed where there's an imbalance between available supply skills. in our case and the demand for -- and what we see is an increased demand for AI-related skilled cybersecurity, data science and so forth. while some of the more generalist roles or skills like software development. are not as in demand, but we have an oversupply of those instead. Partly that imbalance will over time sort of correct itself because if you're sitting with skills that are sort of redundant or not sought after, you will try to upskill and reskill so that you can meet the demands of the market but of course, we are also actively working with our network to ensure that we constantly fill the network up with the types of skills that we see are most in demand.

Thank you. And I have a last 1 here. The order intake is reported as if the customer would have 100% utilization of the consultant, has the actual utilization rate changed during the last year?

We have not changed the way we are reporting our order intake, and it's stipulated as 100% utilization, yes. And the reality looks a bit different than that.

Okay. I think that's it. Okay. Thank you very much, and thank you all for listening to our webcast. The Q2 report will be the 21st of July. See you then.

Thank you for joining.