HusCompagniet A/S ($HUSCO)

Welcome to HusCompagniet Holdings Q1 2026 Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. If you have any objections to this, please disconnect your line. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand the call over to your speakers. Please begin.

Thank you, and thank you all for joining us today for the presentation of HusCompagniet's Q1 results. My name is Martin Ravn-Nielsen. I'm CEO of the company. By my side on this call is CFO, Allan Auning-Hansen. And as usual, I will start with the market condition. So please go to Slide 2. In the first quarter of '26, we saw continued interest rate -- interest in housebuilding despite the ongoing conflicts in the world around us. Consumers were still cautious and the consumer confidence remained volatile. In Detached, the dampened sales trend from year-end continued in the first 2 months of '26. We were, therefore, pleased to see a positive trend in March and into April based on more leads and higher sale as well. The macroeconomic condition in Denmark market remained solid. We noted an unchanged high employment rate, slightly declined core inflation and stable long interest rates. Still, we are focused on the geopolitical situation and the development in the Middle East very closely. We are ready to take the necessary commercial steps to alleviate its potential impact. This could be on raw material prices, inflation and consumer sentiment. But so far, we have seen few price adjustments from our main suppliers but we have increased prices slightly in April and are keeping an eye on the situation. All in all, we remain cautiously optimistic for the Danish detached market in '26. We are already -- we are ready to pursue the opportunities we continue to see in a volatile market with a low visibility. On Slide 3, Allan will take us through the highlights for Q1.

Thank you, Martin. We delivered a good performance in the light of harsh weather conditions in the first quarter. The Detached segment was significantly impacted by the unusually long and cold winter season. Still, we generated revenue growth of 25%, in line with expectations and driven by all segments. The positive development was due to execution on our strong order backlog, which was fueled by the sales pickup in the first 3 quarters of 2025. At the same time, average selling prices in Detached and Wooden Houses were higher. Detached, the average selling prices increased across Denmark and with satisfactory traction and contribution also from Funen, our high-end brand. The Semi-detached business, the growth was driven by higher revenue from work in progress on several projects. To further support sales and the consumer experience for private housebuilders, we opened a new showroom in Soborg, outside Copenhagen. The new showroom is based on the same curated and guided approach as our recently inaugurated showroom in Horsens. Gross profit increased by 5% to DKK 130 million as we saw good progress in Detached and Wooden houses. The margin declined to 16.4% from 19.5% in the comparison period. The development was driven by all segments with an expected impact from the 3 challenged B2B projects. We had expected lower margins in Detached as well but this was further accentuated by the cold winter. The harsh winter entailed increased construction costs in the Detached business, in particular, whereas the effects were minor in Semi-detached, where we can catch up on potential delays during a longer construction phase. We may see some of the costs of the winter measures run into Q2 and Q3 in the Danish businesses. EBITDA came in at DKK 18 million compared to DKK 17 million last year, and the margin was slightly lower at 2.3% compared to 2.6% last year. The decline reflects the lower gross margin and was partly countered by an improved SG&A ratio based on a strong cost focus. EBIT amounted to DKK 5 million against DKK 6 million in Q1 last year. Free cash flow was negative DKK 97 million against negative DKK 14 million last year. The change was driven by higher net working capital and timing of deliveries. Let's go to Slide 4 for an update on execution of our revised strategy for the Semi-detached business. Three weeks ago, we announced the divestment of our factory in Esbjerg to our trusted supplier, Nordic Wood Industries. The sale followed our review of the Semi-detached business and our decision to change the market approach. We have shifted our focus to improve performance and regain profitability ahead of growth. The divestment was completed for an enterprise value of DKK 55 million on a cash and debt-free basis and completed at announcement. All 93 employees at the factory have been transferred to the new owner on existing terms. Based on preliminary figures, the transaction will reduce our net interest-bearing debt by DKK 56 million in 2026 and entail an accounting loss of DKK 68 million recognized as special items in Q2 2026. As part of the agreement, we entered into a 3-year strategic partnership with Nordic Wood Industries for the supply of all prefabricated wooden elements and wooden roof cassettes for our activities in Denmark. The divestment of our factory in Esbjerg is fully in line with our revised strategy, going back to the core. It means that we will be more asset-light and engage as a developer in selected low complexity projects with clearly defined risk profiles, execution frameworks and counterparties. We will also pursue opportunities to build on own land and collaborate with carefully selected partners where we develop projects on their land plots. With this transaction and the improved processes as well as a new head of the Semi-detached business in place, we now have a foundation for regaining profitability in the future. Let's flip to Slide 5, where Martin will give an overview of sales in the first quarter.

Thanks, Allan. Sales in Detached was a bit over than expected in the quarter. The 44% decrease overall was caused mainly by the Semi-detached and Wooden Houses segments after a very strong comparison period affected by a Semi-detached order of 96 houses units on the Danish Island of Bornholm and the B2B contract in Sweden of 15 units. In addition, detached sales in the comparison period were positive, affected by a pickup in the market sentiment. As I mentioned in the introduction, Detached was impacted by lower sales in the first 2 months of the year but we saw signs of improvement in March and April. I also want to stress that the large decline in Semi-detached is fully in line with our reverse strategy for the business with a focus on improvement performance and profitability ahead of growth. When we decided to review our B2B strategy, we held back on new sales activities. This will have an impact on 2026, which will be a transition year for this part of our business. Please turn to Slide 6 and an update on deliveries. In Q1 '26, we delivered 182 houses. This was a decrease of 7%, reflecting fewer deliveries in Semi-detached and moderate increase in Detached and Wooden Houses. As we have already covered, the cold winter impact timing of deliveries. But to an even higher extent, it impacts the ability to start working on certain projects. This may also impact the development in Q2 going into Q3. Let's turn to Slide 7 and our order backlog. We maintained a solid net order backlog in Q1 of DKK 2.1 billion and on par with the same period last year. The development reflected the strong sales performance in the first 9 months of '25 and the order intake in the first quarter of this year. Detached account for 59% of the total order backlog, Semi-detached for 36% and wooden house for the remaining 5%. Please turn to Slide 8 for Allan's closing comments on the outlook.

Thank you again, Martin. We are confirming the 2026 outlook based on the performance in the past quarter. It means that we are guiding for revenue of DKK 3 billion to DKK 3.3 billion, assuming that we deliver between 1,000 and 1,300 houses. EBITDA is expected in the range of DKK 70 million to DKK 130 million and EBIT of DKK 15 million to DKK 75 million. The earnings outlook is provided before special items, which has seen to come to an expense of DKK 68 million based on preliminary figures after the divestment of the factory in Esbjerg. While the overall Danish macro trends remain sound, we are very aware of the low visibility, continued volatility and a higher price sensitivity in our market. Therefore, I would also like to stress that our guidance is based on no severe deterioration of the geopolitical tension in the Middle East, causing disruption of supply chains or significantly increased raw material prices from the levels we have seen in Q1. All other assumptions are unchanged and can be found in the annual report on 2025 and on this slide. Our leverage was 4.9x at the end of the [ first ] quarter, up from 3.2 in 2025. The change was driven by lower EBITDA over the last 12 months, timing of deliveries and increased working capital. Thank you for listening in. Now please turn to the next slide for the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Kristian Tornoe from SEB.

A couple of questions from my side. Maybe starting with the weather impact. Just want to probably better understand your commentary that the effects here can drag into Q2 and Q3. Can you sort of talk us through the process and how -- I mean, the temperatures in January and February impacts your work in Q2 and Q3, so we sort of understand the dynamics going forward here?

Sure. So thank you for your question, Kristian. So based on the weather impact we experienced in Q1, some of our processes have been delayed on houses that we're going to deliver in Q2 and Q3. And therefore, in order to secure the best possible delivery and support our customers, it might add additional cost to subcontractors in order to reach our delivery plans.

Makes sense. Great. And then another question. If we look at houses delivered on owned land in Detached, it was down to 2% in Q1, which is at least for the period we have available in your data sheet, the low point. So -- what is the level of houses sold? I guess that would sort of indicate where this ratio should go? And when do you expect to sort of increase this proportion?

So also again, thank you very much, Kristian. And it's a really good question. So what we are currently looking into is our portfolio of options on owned land. And we, therefore, see some interesting opportunities in later 2026 ongoing in 2027. But of course, it takes some time from the exploration of that own land and owning that own land until you start constructing and delivering on that own land. But you're absolutely right. It is a historically low number for HusCompagniet, and has been an effect of the lower tendering of own land historically and the fact that we haven't acquired any significant own land for the past 3, 4 years.

So if I understand you correctly, we shouldn't really expect this ratio to move up materially at least this year. So we need to get into '27 before it's realistic that you can sort of make a step change here?

That's where we currently see a step change as possible, yes. And it's, of course, also something that impacts our margins when deliveries on own land are lower.

Exactly. All right. Then on your free cash flow and net debt obviously, your financial leverage took a big jump up in the quarter. So firstly, maybe a commentary of whether this brings you in any issues considering your covenants and also how to think about your leverage going forward? Obviously, the Esbjerg divestment will help a bit, but how should we think about net working capital development as well going forward?

I would say there is -- there are some various perspectives on this. So one thing is we are behind with some deliveries in Q1. Secondly, our leverage ratio is also impacted from the write-downs that we made in Q3 -- and as you know, the leverage is calculated on last 12 months EBITDA or net debt as per the balance sheet date. So the last 12-month EBITDA is negatively impacted from those write-downs in Q3. We do expect leverage to increase going into Q2 as well, after which we expect a path towards normalization towards the end of the year.

Makes sense. And then just lastly, any changes to your organization since we last spoke or any pricing actions taken as a consequence of what's going on in the world?

Yes. So I would say in terms of organization, we haven't made any additional changes. We are constantly monitoring the situation that we are in -- the macroeconomic environment that we are currently in but no changes made. And secondly, we increased our prices in April across Denmark. And we did that to facilitate some of the potential price increases that we may assume coming in the future. But as for now, we do see limited price increases on the raw materials that we are currently using in our production of the houses.

Okay. So maybe just a follow-up. So far, the price increases you have done more than outweighs what you have seen so far on supply increases. Is that fair to say?

The price increases is a balance of what we see and what we might see going on in the future. So it's -- the price increases reflect to some extent, a guesstimate on where we are going and what we have actually seen.

The next question is from the line of Anders Preetzmann from Danske Bank.

Just going back to the input cost here. I mean, I hear you mentioned that you've not seen any significant impact so far from your suppliers, which I think is slightly different from what we've heard from other players in the construction space in Europe. So can you please just give us again a rundown of what you've seen from your suppliers so far on potential input cost increases?

Anders, the cost base of our houses is around 50% of materials and 50% is the blue-collar workers. And what we are seeing now, it is -- there is some materials who have significant increases in the cost prices. But if we are taking the few things and the amount in the total cost of the house, it is actually for now not that much. But we are, as Allan mentioned, monitoring that week by week and all the time is increasing the sales prices so that it is reflected to the development in the costs.

So for now, maybe if I could just add, we increased prices slightly here in April and have not for now planned any additional price increases.

All right. And then just to be clear, if we were to see any price increases on the cost side, the contracts which have already been signed on the Detached houses, you would not be able to mitigate any further price increases on to already signed contracts, correct?

I put it like that, the impact would be very, very limited.

Okay. Very clear. If we go back to the gross margin for the Detached segment at 17% for the quarter, obviously impacted by the weather conditions. Could you maybe share or give us an indication of what the gross margin for the Detached segment would have been in Q1 had the weather been normal?

So I would say, Anders, you're absolutely right. The gross margin has declined compared to last year. It's on the backdrop of a lower sale in the end of 2025, where we saw that the market was declining. And we decided to support our sales by also decreasing our margins on houses sold to some extent. And then I would say, as I mentioned before, when we only have slightly under 3% on owned land, it also does impact our margins. So I think that's the closest I can get in terms of explaining it. So I would say margins is fair to be said. Margins were expected lower and they're also slightly lower than we had expected due to these harsh weather conditions in Q1.

Okay. Also for the Q1, I mean, the SG&A print at DKK 112 million. Is that the run rate for the remainder of the year? Or would we expect this to decline? Of course, I assume that the divestment of the prefab factory would result in lower SG&A going forward. But can you help us a little bit here?

Yes. So I would say if you take Q1 and I would pretty much say, to some extent, close to a run rate. And as you said, then there will be an impact of the divestment of Esbjerg for the last 3 quarters of the year.

Okay. Super. But are you maybe speaking of the divestment, are you able to just help us slightly to bridge whatever potential changes there might be in gross margin and SG&A costs going forward for the Semi-detached segment? I mean, what changes do you expect to happen here?

Yes. So to shed a little more light on it, we would say from an SG&A perspective, we expect around DKK 15 million impact over the last 3 quarters. And I would say from an EBITDA perspective, a slightly negative impact without being too specific but on an EBIT perspective, a slightly positive impact because of the level of depreciations that we are no longer carrying after the divestment. So not a big impact, but slightly negative on the EBITDA and slightly positive on the EBIT side.

Okay. That is perfect. Final question for me. It's going back to the free cash flow of negative DKK 97 million for the quarter. Just potentially some flavor here on the movement. Maybe it's delayed deliveries impacting but where should we -- how should we understand the free cash flow for the quarter? And where do you see it for the upcoming quarters?

I'll put it like that. The free cash flow is very much dependent on deliveries from quarter-to-quarter. So if you take, for example, 2025 Q4, we had a number of deliveries towards the end of the quarter and a very high number of deliveries towards the end of the quarter, which obviously when we get the payment upfront and some of the creditors are being paid in Q1, that has a negative impact. And in addition, we also were some deliveries behind our expectations by the end of Q1 2026, which also impacted the free cash flow negatively. So these are the overall drivers. And I think trying to predict how the next couple of quarters are going to be is very much dependent on our progression in our production. So I wouldn't comment too much more on that.

The next question is from the line of [ Sebastian Garvey ] from Nordea.

So we had a lot of discussion around the margin profile, and I will stick to the same topic essentially here. So on the Detached margin, it seems in the quarter, it reflects 2 things. It's deliberate pricing initiatives from last year and then it's some winter effects here from start of this year, as I understand it at least. Now going forward, you also talk about an upward pressure on your cost base. I mean how -- what should we think of -- or maybe let me put it like this, how do you think of the balance between chasing volumes in the Detached segment, which you are pursuing deliberately and protecting profitability? That would be my first question.

Yes. So I would say it's -- and thank you for the question, Sebastian. So I would say, in general, and as you said, it's something that we focus very much on, and it's something that we balance on a continuous basis. So of course, if we just decided to reduce margin significantly, we could increase volume significantly. So for us, it's constantly about finding that balance and navigating the market depending on the market conditions as well. So I think that's the closest we can get to that without being too specific on the margin in a nominal value.

Okay. That's fair enough. I understand. And then as you said, it -- a lot depends on the customer activity and the outlook. So a lot of uncertainty around the world. Still your March sales looked fine and so did April. But I guess, I mean, these sales are based on, so to say, old leads. So what are you seeing in terms of like current leads and current customer engagement levels on the back of escalated uncertainty again, again around the world?

Yes. So what we are currently seeing is quite good activities and a number of meetings in both in our showrooms and our show houses. Actually, they had a very high number of visitors in our show houses during Easter. So I would say currently, we look positively or cautiously or being cautiously optimistic. But of course, as you also mentioned, we are monitoring this situation closely. And I would say in April, we saw a decline in consumer confidence again following some months where it had been either more positive in its trend or flatlining. So yes, I think it's a very cautious market that we are in right now.

And just to add, it is very volatile what we are seeing about the leads and the number of meetings and of course, the conversion going into sales. So -- but we -- for the last couple of years, we have been a very volatile industry. So actually, it's not new for us. So we just have to be agile in the way that we are monitoring this business and also the opportunity that we are taking and also what we're seeing into our SG&A and FTE base. So it is very volatile. And the 1 month can see very good and the next month a bit lower, and that's what we are looking into for now.

Okay. No, that's great. And just the last question. Could you remind us now post the Esbjerg divestment, what's the medium-term margin profile we should expect in the Semi-detached segment? So obviously, it's had a few quite standout good years in that segment in the past. What's the medium-term profile here going forward?

The margins that we experienced in Q1 was in line with what we had expected. We are still carrying around some challenging projects. And therefore, there is uncertainty to the margin in the midterm -- in the near midterm, I would say. When we look beyond 2026, we are looking into a different profile of our Semi-detached segment and should get back to margins around 14% to 18% in line with that. And it, of course, varies a lot depending on whether it's B2C sales on own land or B2B sales. So but -- so overall, these are still the expectations we have on the longer-term basis. And as we have mentioned before, some of these challenging projects, one is being delivered in this year and the 2 other projects in the beginning of next year and into mid next year.

Next up, we have a follow-up from Kristian Tornoe from SEB.

It was just a question around the gross margin in Semi-detached. So obviously, we have seen some volatility here. And as you probably also noted, the 10.9% you reported was notably above the consensus estimate. So I'm just wondering if there's any way you can maybe help us a bit on the phasing here. I understand that these 3 projects you highlight is have a dilutive effect but will there be any changes to the mix making the gross margin vary in the coming quarters? Or how do we best model that development?

I think it's a fair question, Kristian. And I think I have to stick to my answer, which I have mentioned on some of the earlier calls. We are having 3 challenging projects, and it's difficult for us as we are also having some difficult dialogues with the counterparts to be very much more concrete or specific than what we are seeing right now. So I think the closest I can get is that we are -- that the margins that we saw in Q1 was in line with our expectations. And then we are delivering one of these projects and have another project ongoing or 2 more projects ongoing. So there is uncertainty to these margins. And that I think is the closest we can get.

Fair enough. But is there -- I mean, the proportion of revenue in Q1 from these 3 projects, is that materially different than what you expect in the coming quarters?

No.

As there are no further questions, I will hand it back to the speakers for any closing remarks.

Yes, and thank you again for taking an interest in HusCompagniet. If you have any following up questions, please reach out to us, and have a nice day. Thank you so much.

Thank you.