Netcompany Group A/S ($NETC)

Earnings Call Transcript · May 6, 2026

CPSE DK Information Technology IT Services Earnings Calls 55 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Operator

Operator
#1

Welcome to Netcompany's Interim Report for the first 3 months of 2026. Today's call is being recorded. If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. [Operator Instructions] I would like to introduce CEO, André Rogaczewski; and CFO, Thomas Johansen. You may please begin.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#2

Good day, and welcome to this presentation of Netcompany's results for Q1 2026. My name is André Rogaczewski, and I'm the CEO and Co-Founder of Netcompany. I'm joined today by our CFO, Thomas Johansen. And before we get going, there are some important disclosures that I need you to read through. So could we please have Slide #2. I will pause for 30 seconds here and let you all have a read-through of these important disclosures. And with that, can we please go to Slide #3. The topic of today's presentation is our performance for Q1 2026. I'll start by walking you through the business highlights for the first quarter. And once I'm done, Thomas will go through the financial performance of the quarter before we can open the call up for questions. Can we have the next slide, please? So the first quarter of '26 marked the beginning of a new and a very exciting era for Netcompany. Here, I'm not only referring to the recent announced AI partnership with INEOS Grenadiers, which I promise I will give you some more comments on later in this presentation, but also to the potential we believe we can help customers unleash with our AI-embedded products and platforms. Since the introduction of our go-to-market strategy 3 years ago, our market-leading products and platforms combined with embedded AI capabilities have given us a truly unique position in the market, a position visible in our results for the first quarter of this year, where we delivered growth of more than 38%, of which 13% was organic. One of the highlights of the quarter is our performance in the U.K., the largest market for IT services in Europe. Here, we saw very strong demand for our product and platform offerings, leading to more than 50% growth in top line. And in Q1, we also finally got to announce our partnership with Heathrow Airport. In the end of March, we lifted our EBITDA margin guidance for 2026, a result of the promising output we see from our investments in embedding AI into our products and platforms with Feniks AI. And can I have the next slide, please? Today, we launched a white paper on Feniks AI, focusing on Feniks Build and the specific benefits it allows organizations to harvest when applied in combination with our products and platforms. Agentic AI is fundamentally changing the way software is delivered. In complex and regulated environments, AI only creates value when it's combined with control, security and deep domain expertise. With Feniks Build, we are providing this balance and making it possible as the first of its kind in Europe. With accelerated investments into Feniks AI, we enable sovereign and secure agentic AI delivery across some of Europe's most demanding enterprise and government projects, reducing IT development time by up to 45% we're using in company products and platforms. While the potential of implementing agentic AI is significant, unregulated use of AI introduces substantial risks, especially in large enterprises and public sector systems where control, stability and quality is crucial. What we see in such scenarios with unregulated use of AI is that AI generates code in vacuum where it does not account for the many nonfunctional requirements essential in complex systems. And while this may work well for smaller applications in mission-critical systems, it creates serious challenges without the proper governance as solutions risk to be poorly constructed and not optimized and therefore, very difficult to maintain over time. For both private and public solutions, scalability, performance, stability, security, interoperability and data protections are essential. And when using agentic AI, they do not emerge automatically. The implementation of agentic AI and AI in general, therefore, requires a structured approach where AI is guided through clear frameworks and governance to allow for the benefits to be fully realized. And as a part of the Feniks AI framework, the Feniks Build approach guardrails the AI. It enables organizations to capture efficiency gains without taking unacceptable risks. At Netcompany, we help organizations embrace AI in a way that is not only faster, but also safer, smarter and better aligned with the realities of mission-critical delivery. And as you can hear, I'm excited about the opportunities ahead and Netcompany's crucial role in building European sovereignty in the age of AI. Can we have the next slide, please? Another exciting news took place last week as we announced the AI partnership with INEOS Grenadiers. The establishment of Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team showcases our PULSE AI technology by enabling world-class athletes to perform at their best. A high-performance environment where precision, performance and continuous improvement are essential for winning. Our PULSE platform is already implemented in airports around Europe under the name AIRHART, where raw operational data is orchestrated in real-time data platform, helping to predict and optimize decision-taking using AI. Through 3 dimensions of data, the platform will unify rider conditions, logistics around the team and tactics into one AI platform, optimizing planning and predictions around the team. The partnership with the most successful cycling team ever based in the U.K. with the ambition to continue to deliver extraordinary results, strengthens the awareness of Netcompany, not only in the U.K., but in all of Europe, and it reinforces our position as the best-in-class AI partner and supports our ambition to drive European digitization and competitiveness. I look forward to follow the team to the Giro d'Italia start on Friday, where the team officially will ride under the name Netcompany INEOS. And with that, I will now pass on the word to Thomas, who will go through the numbers. Please go ahead, Thomas.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#3

Thank you for that, André. I will now go through our financial performance for Q1 2026 and our guidance for 2026, too. So if we move past the breaking Slide #7 and straight into Slide #8 in one go, please. As already mentioned by André, we've had a strong start to the year with organic revenue growth of 13.1% in constant currencies compared to Q1 2025. Currencies impacted revenue growth negatively by 0.3 percentage points in the quarter, resulting in reported organic revenue growth of 12.8%. Organic growth was driven by 10.1% growth in the public sector and 19.5% growth in the private sector. Revenue growth was driven by a combination of new wins related to our products and platforms and from existing customers buying additional services with all segments contributing to the growth, most significantly in Netcompany U.K. and in Netcompany SEE & EUI. Group revenue grew by 38.7%, of which 25.6 percentage points were nonorganic related to the inclusion of Netcompany Banking Services. Netcompany Denmark increased revenue 1.6% compared to Q1 2025, driven by 16% growth in the private sector with contribution from multiple different verticals. Netcompany SEE & EUI grew revenue 18.6% compared to the same period last year, which was actually a tough comparable as Q1 2025 included close to DKK 42 million in license revenue, and the growth was driven by both the public sector, including the EU and the private sector, which grew 15% and 32.6%, respectively. Netcompany U.K. continued its strong growth path from last year and grew revenue by a staggering 51.4% compared to Q1 2025. The growth was driven by both the public and the private sector as a result of increased engagements with both existing and new customers adopting our products and platforms. In particular, the TSS win from December 2025 and continued increase in the utilization of the DALAS framework supported this strong growth. In Netcompany Banking Services, revenue increased 10.1% compared to pro forma revenue in SDC in Q1 2025. In Netcompany Norway, revenue increased by 2.1% and in Netcompany Netherlands, revenue increased by 21.5% compared to the same period last year. And can we move to the next slide, please? In Q1 2026, organic adjusted EBITDA before allocated headquarter cost was 16.4%, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points to the same quarter last year, all in constant currencies. The decrease was a result of lower license revenue, which had a dilutive impact on margin of 1.7 percentage points and investments into our product development unit to accelerate the adoption of agentic AI in all of our offerings, which had a dilutive impact on margin of 2.1%, split between increased costs impacting margin 0.7 percentage points and foregone revenue impacted organic margin 1.4 percentage points. Hence, in a "like-for-like" scenario, margin in Q1 2026 increased from 18.5% last year to 20.2% in Q1 2026. Group adjusted EBITDA before allocated headquarter costs increased 12.1% to DKK 362 million in Q1 2026. In Netcompany Denmark, adjusted EBITDA margin decreased 4.7% to 17.4% in Q1 2026. The decrease was a result of the transfer of 150 client-facing FTEs into product development that led to higher costs related here to and foregone revenue, which in total had a dilutive impact on margin in Q1 2026 of 3.5 percentage points. And hence, on a "like-for-like" basis, margin in Denmark was 20.9% compared to 22.1% in Q1 2025. In Netcompany SEE & EUI, adjusted EBITDA margin was 16.3% in Q1 '26 compared to 17.5% same quarter last year. The decrease in margin was a result of lower license revenue income recognized this quarter compared to the same period last year. On a like-for-like basis, adjusting for the lower license revenue in Q1 2026, margins would have been 4.5 percentage points higher and yielding a 20.8% margin in SEE and EUI for Q1 2026. In Netcompany U.K., adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 5.5 percentage points to 16.5% in the quarter, an improvement reflected by improved utilization, larger projects delivered on Netcompany fixed fee basis and better project execution. In Netcompany Norway, adjusted EBITDA margin was 4.1% in Q1 '26 and Netcompany Netherlands margin increased 2 percentage points to 23.3%. In Netcompany Banking Services, the adjusted EBITDA margin was 8.8% in the quarter compared to pro forma adjusted EBITDA margin of 3.2% in SDC in the same quarter last year. The integration of Netcompany Banking Services is progressing as anticipated, and we are starting to see the impact from synergies materializing. Can we have the next slide, please? In Q1 2026, we employed an average of 9,845 FTEs, equal to an increase of 1,695 FTEs or 20.8% compared to Q1 2025, of which around half was nonorganic related to the inclusion of Netcompany Banking Services in the numbers. To enhance and streamline our product and platform offerings and to further embed AI capabilities into these, all efforts around product and platform development as well as all AI initiatives previously anchored with business segments in Denmark and Southeast Europe was moved into one central unit, product development as of January 1, 2026. During the first quarter, an additional 52 FTEs were transferred to product development to accelerate the adoption of agentic AI. At the end of Q1, the total amount of resources working within product development totaled 459 FTEs compared to 302 FTEs in the first quarter last year, an increase of 51.8%, underpinning our commitment to invest in this area. Most of the increase in FTEs are reallocated resources from the Danish business segment. Non-client-facing employees amounted to 545 for the entire group in Q1 2026, an increase of 13 compared to the same period last year. This means that the proportion of admin and support staff declined from 6.5% of all employees last year to 5.5% in Q1 2026, a relative reduction of 15%. The attrition rate for the last 12 months was 16.4% for the group compared to 18% in the same period last year. And can we go to the next slide, please? Free cash flow was negative DKK 305 million in Q1 '26 compared to DKK 67.9 million in Q1 2025. The negative free cash flow in Q1 '26 was driven by 2 main factors in our working capital, development in trade receivables and work in progress. The increased trade receivables were impacted by the timing of more than DKK 200 million in payments, which were expected to be paid on 31st of March, but was not received until the beginning of April. Further, work in progress increased as a number of the large ongoing projects under the so-called Recovery and Resilience Facility will not reach payment milestones until Q2 and Q3 in connection with their ongoing completion. Such lumpiness in the process from work in progress to accounts receivables to cash received occur from time to time, and it is indeed a pattern we have experienced before with the large and complex multiyear fixed fee contracts. The funding for the projects are guaranteed by the EU under the special RRF program, and there are no counterparty risks associated with the buildup of the work in progress experienced in Q1 2026 that is expected to normalize throughout the year. Can we have the next slide, please? Revenue visibility at the end of Q1 '26 for the group, excluding Netcompany Banking Services, amounts to DKK 6.190 billion, an improvement of 10% compared to Q1 2025 with an improvement in visibility in the public segment of more than 13% compared to last year. Revenue visibility for Netcompany Banking Services amounts to DKK 1.024 billion and are solely related to the private sector. Can we move to the next slide, please? On March 26, we updated our financial margin guidance for the full year, and we now expect an adjusted EBITDA margin, excluding Netcompany Banking Services, between 17% and 20%, previously 16% to 19%. The announced AI partnership with INEOS Grenadiers, creating Netcompany INEOS Cycling Team will not lead to diluted margin expectations in 2026 or in subsequent years for that matter. We maintain our full year guidance for revenue growth of between 15% and 20%, including Netcompany Banking Services, and revenue growth of between 5% and 10%, excluding Netcompany Banking Services based on realized revenue in the first quarter, current backlog and the revenue visibility. With that, the presentation of the detailed financial performance is concluded, and we'll open up the call for Q&A. So if you move to the Q&A slide, please, and open up the call. Thank you.

Operator

Operator
#4

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of George Webb.

George Webb

Analysts
#5

I've got a few questions, please. Firstly, starting with the growth outlook for the year. As you mentioned, Thomas, the kind of revenue visibility ex the Banking Services is tracking 10%. The organic Q1 growth was clearly double digits. The organic full year guide 5% to 10%. Is there anything in the mix for Q1, particularly on the U.K. or SEC and EUI side that's less sustainable as you look through the rest of the year? Secondly, on the Cycling partnership, could you share any details around how that deal is being structured? You mentioned no financial impact on the aspirations you've set out or no impact on the financial aspirations you've set out. And the press reports are that it's a relatively significant cost item. And I guess it's a little bit difficult to decipher the magnitude from within the guidance range for 2026, given it's a fairly wide margin guidance range. So anything you can do with kind of understanding the bridge within the mix of how that's coming through both in '26 and beyond would be very helpful. And then just lastly, just on the free cash flow. Cash conversion wasn't great last year, soft start to Q1. I appreciate those swing factors you talked about, Thomas. Is there anything you can give us with regards to how we should be thinking about a very broad picture for free cash flow conversion for 2026 as a whole?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#6

Thanks, George. I'll start with the growth outlook, and André will take the cycling and then I'll follow up with the cash flow. So as you indeed rightfully say, 13% organic revenue growth, second to none in the industry and also 10% growth in revenue visibility and what was -- then leaves us for the 5% to 10% revenue growth guidance for the organic part of the business. What we can say at this point in time is that it's still early on in the year, and we feel very comfortable with the top line guidance that we have given. We are not seeing any deterioration in our pipeline. On the contrary, especially with the launch that we've done, and we will talk more about that with Feniks Build. So at this point in time, we feel very comfortable with the outlook. It's still early days in the year, and I'll leave it at that. And then André, maybe a couple of words on INEOS.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#7

Of course, this is a significant deal, but it's not that we didn't plan with such a thing. We assembled and gathered many of our branding and marketing costs into this. So that's why we also, 3 months ago, came up with an even better margin prediction for this year. So it's been planned from the beginning, and it's actually just a concentration -- a better concentration of our efforts in the area and to get our name out there so that when we are -- which we are in some of the big European countries, we are contenders. Now we also are much more known in the ballrooms. So -- and there's also a license fee for the product. I mean the team is going to use PULSE AI, and that is also a part of the deal. So it will not affect our margins.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#8

And then on cash flow, as you rightfully stated, George, to the soft side in Q1, mainly as we are seeing some timing differences in working capital, receivables just dropping into April have been collected. So that will normalize. If you look at the accounts receivables, they are building up and they were building up and that will normalize during the year. And the same goes for work in progress. Work in progress increased net by close to DKK 400 million, mainly driven by RRF projects. Now we've seen that build up a couple of years ago before. And at that point in time, if you want to go back and look and check, the conversion of work in progress did indeed happen to receivables that were then subsequently collected. And it has to do with the stipulated milestone payments that are in the fixed fee contracts under the RRF, and that means that we are currently building up in work in progress. So long answer basically to say that we expect to see a normalization of cash conversion during the year. It's going to be gradual into Q2, Q3 and the rest of the year.

George Webb

Analysts
#9

That's very clear. If I just think about the midterm target to be above 20% on EBITDA. I guess since you said that, you've obviously given us the agentic benefit or the AI benefit, which you talked about that prerelease in March. And I guess that -- I guess on a multiyear view, you would expect that to still be there. It wouldn't be completed away. And then maybe there's an offset within that mix from the Cycling deal. Was that the right way to think about it?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#10

There's no doubt that we're going to see substantial benefit in our midterm and long-term margin from all the investments that we are putting into our business. We're going to see the benefit in twofold. First, we believe that we can serve our customers much better with better solutions faster, secure, and there's a value to that. And of course, there's also a benefit to Netcompany, which will help fund the increased investment into Netcompany A/S and then also have a net positive impact on margin even after those costs being accounted for.

Operator

Operator
#11

The next question comes from the line of Mads Quistgaard from DNB Carnegie.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#12

Also a couple of questions from my side. I will start with on Denmark. So can you maybe elaborate on whether the expected reduce of product development work will translate into revenue growth in future quarters? Because I guess right now, there's a double whammy effect in the first quarter.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#13

It's true that there's a double line effect, both in terms of increased costs, but also in terms of "foregone" revenue with those people being allocated from the Danish market unit into product division. When you look at the overall visibility for the public sector, and I know that, that's in all the markets, and we don't give that per se by individual markets. But the overall visibility in public sector is 13% up compared to the same period last year. So we do expect some revenue to pick up during the year. And whether that is going to be Q2, Q3, we'll be able to tell you more about when we report Q2 and Q3, but we do expect it to pick up during 2026.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#14

Perfect. Makes sense. And then a question on FTE growth because I can see FTE growth was up 1% Q-o-Q, while client-facing FTEs declined by 3%. So this AI strategy, does this imply that overall FTE growth will eventually align with client-facing FTE trends?

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#15

Well, it's a good question, Mads. There's no doubt that it's affecting the entire industry. Agentic AI is affecting the entire industry. And actually in 45 minutes or less than that, we're going to issue a white paper where we describe how you can actually deliver parts of the development process 45% -- up to 45% faster to clients. And without compromising on security, on compliance, on -- and even the EU Act. This is what we are investing into. And everything we see right now is suggesting that we can do more with less resources. And everything we do is also suggesting that customers with the great part of legacy renovation and old systems that need to have access to agentic AI are really, really interested in this. So it's actually extremely promising and also a very exciting development within our industry.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#16

Perfect. And then my final question on this PULSE platform, is this applicable in other sports areas? Because as I recall, this has been designed in the Formula One industry. And if so, would this require additional investments into sponsorships? Or can you build anything organic here? And finally, maybe also here, how do you measure the return on investment when you spend, let's say, price is right, DKK 750 million?

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#17

It's true that Formula One is even more adequate as a sport in terms of online AI platforms. But I think the investment we've made is in regards to our European strategy and not being bound to any particular other sports teams. I think what is most important here is that it's an international investment. We have riders from every country and the team comes from the U.K. And with this investment, we are positioned right in Europe at the moment. We don't have other plans in that regard.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#18

And when we talk about the ROIs on an investment like this, Mads, we clearly have an expectation that this will increase the awareness of Netcompany and the Netcompany brand, particularly in the U.K., which is the biggest market for IT services in Europe and where we see 51% growth. So to stand even stronger in the U.K., we are certain will support our continued growth in the U.K., but it will also build awareness of Netcompany throughout Europe, which is where we will have to see our significant growth in the years to come. So we do expect that the investment will lead to better name recognition and that in itself will lead to better growth opportunities for Netcompany in Europe without giving you a specific ROI number, but this is how we think about it. So the investment is, in our view, also an economically financially sound decision to do, and you'll be able to see that in our continued long-term growth and our commitment to the markets on that.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#19

Perfect. Maybe just one bookkeeping question. So the provision you have in NBS of DKK 62 million, is that part of COGS, which also triggers a higher COGS than NBS in the quarter?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#20

Part of what did you say?

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#21

The provision you have -- I think you have a provision in NBS of DKK 62 million. Is that included in your cost of sales in the quarter?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#22

No, it's from last year's. So it was part of the -- when we took over SDC, as you very well will recall, we made a special item adjustment of DKK 352 million for various -- both -- certain payments, but also adjustment to value on different assets in SDC. So that's part of last year's special item sitting in the balance sheet.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#23

Okay. So the project provision you have of DKK 62 million that's included in special items. I'm talking about referring to Note 8 in the report.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#24

Yes.

Operator

Operator
#25

The next question is from the line of Poul Jessen from Danske Bank.

Poul Jessen

Analysts
#26

A few questions first on the INEOS. When you say that it's not impacting long-term aspirations, I was just wondering if you could give an indication if that's because you expect a higher growth rate in revenue through 1, 2, 3 years out in the future than without the contract or if it's because it's being funded by reallocation of internal costs mainly. That's number one. Number two is on public sector Denmark. Does it have any impact now that we have been waiting for government for 6 weeks and it might take quite a long time and then we go into the summer period and then it soon out to be August before it's normal business. Will that have a negative versus the thought you have when you started the year? And then finally, on the U.K., the strong growth in Q1, does that include any one-time payments or revenue recognition?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#27

Thanks for that, Poul. I'll take the first and the last question and André will talk to the public sector in the middle. Now on the long-term guidance and the implication of Netcompany INEOS, we maintain our long-term growth targets of 5% to 10%. That's also what's still said. But would we like to see increased awareness leading to increased opportunities for Netcompany? Yes. And do we think that, that will also happen? Yes. But as with the question from George in terms of our full year guidance of 5% to 10% and trying to square that with 13% organic and 10% increase in visibility, where I said it was early days, it's even more early days to have an opinion on the long-term growth trajectory for Netcompany with the impact of Netcompany INEOS. We do this because we are absolutely certain that it will increase the awareness of Netcompany. Now with the investment and the stand we take later on today in agentic, we think that, that will accelerate even further. What that then means on long-term growth rates, we'll come back to later on.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#28

Yes. And when it comes to the government public sector in Denmark, it's mostly because some of the larger tenders moved a bit to the right side. So we are -- some of our largest clients are a little delayed, but many of the budgets have been given already before the election. So the election is not really having that profound effect. Obviously, you can find small customers where the farming is a bit slower because of the election, but it's not what we see. And we're not too worried about it. There's a lot of digitization going on in many of our largest clients. And overall, we expect that the visibility we have will be materialized over the year.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#29

Yes. And then you had one more question on one-offs in U.K. Q1. And was the question whether there was any one-offs in Q1?

Poul Jessen

Analysts
#30

Yes. It's any revenue recognition, which has been delivered over time and then you take it as a one-off...

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#31

No -- none of that. It's a good old traditional classic Netcompany style revenue-generated activity. So that means it's really a very, very, very rapid ramp-up on TSS. So the big contract we won in the U.K. in December, that is ramping up extremely fast and probably one of the quickest ramps that we've seen, also being helped by good colleagues from both Denmark and Greece since this is on . And then also DALAS is stepping up. When we won the DALAS framework a couple of years ago, we were very excited. And I think a lot of the investor base was excited too and then nothing happened for a year or 1.5 years, but HMRC have now found out how to really utilize the DALAS framework. So that is ramping up very fast also. And then, of course, finally, the ramp-up on Heathrow. So there's no special one-offs. There's no licenses in the U.K., and that's also why we are so excited about the growth and the 600 basis points margin improvement in Q1 compared to last year. We've been in the U.K. for many years, and a lot of you have been with us since the IPO. And we have had many discussions about when is things happening in the U.K.. And we think we are at a true inflection point right now that we can also back with performance in the numbers.

Poul Jessen

Analysts
#32

So it's fair to assume that the Q1 revenue number is a good base for predicting the rest of the year?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#33

I didn't hear that was the question. So I think you are making your own assumptions now on my answer. I'm not going to comment further on that.

Poul Jessen

Analysts
#34

Okay. A short final one. I can see that the number of FTEs in NBS is increasing sequentially. I would have assumed that you were taking out costs.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#35

And...

Poul Jessen

Analysts
#36

Why are they increasing?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#37

We are. But sometimes you have to invest a little bit to really reap the benefits. And there are specific areas in NBS that we need to strengthen very much around operations. So we have strengthened them to be able to really accelerate the synergies that we've put forward. Then there's also some timing in terms of when the collective bargaining agreement was concluded and when we will then see the reduction in headcount. So that is a temporary timing, and you'll see headcount coming down in the quarters to come.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#38

Building more automation.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#39

Building as André said, that's an important part. There's a lot of automation to be built for sure.

Operator

Operator
#40

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from the line of Claus Almer from Nordea.

Claus Almer

Analysts
#41

Yes, I will ask you a few questions. So the first goes to these AI investments. And first of all, congratulation or thanks for the improved clarity about these investments. Going forward, should we expect this level to increase further or decrease, stay stable? How should we think about that? That will be the first one.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#42

Well, thank you, Claus. And it's true that we have been providing more clarity about it, and I think it's more important than ever. We have some of the -- I can say, some of the best people working on this, and we are doing true progress. I don't think we will see larger investments, but we will also be investing on the same level going forward because there's so much interesting potential. So I think what we're seeing at the moment is the right level.

Claus Almer

Analysts
#43

In absolute terms or relative to the revenue, and I know this is more an analyst question, but more trying to figure out.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#44

Well, if anything that we say is true, then there can only be one answer to that, right? That means that it would be an absolute number.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#45

Absolute number.

Claus Almer

Analysts
#46

Okay. The second question goes to Denmark and the private sector. So first of all, do you start to see more of these AI-driven projects? And how does the pipeline look like?

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#47

Yes. So this is actually what we see, and we also see a very good interest in our platforms because they guardrail the AI and actually give benefits. And we see even further interest in renovating all the systems. So a very interesting pipeline, strategic partnerships emerging, both on our offerings using AI.

Operator

Operator
#48

The next question comes from the line of Daniel Djurgerg from Handelsbanken. No, it seems Daniel dropped out of the line. [Operator Instructions] We will continue to the next question from Poul Jessen from Danske Bank.

Poul Jessen

Analysts
#49

Just a small one on Smarter Airports now that you have taken full control of the unit. Should we see any operational differences on Smarter Airports that you invest in more go-to-market? Or is it more or less business as usual just for you as a full owner?

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#50

It's not business as usual because with the Heathrow win, we have more interest than ever, but we're not going to change the approach. We have a mature offering. And what we need to do now is to accelerate the selling and scaling this business, and we believe that the company is the adequate owner to do so.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#51

And further to what André is saying, what we also believe we can do is to add better efficiency by owning Smart Airports 100%. It is inherently easier to manage when you own it 100% than when it is in a full 50-50 joint venture. So expect to see accelerated top line and also better efficiency, i.e., margins in Smart Airport.

Operator

Operator
#52

The next question comes from Daniel Djurberg from Handelsbanken.

Daniel Djurberg

Analysts
#53

Amazing. It was the third time actually I tried to do this, but I got muted and then unmuted again. But nevertheless, now I am here. I would like to start with the banking services as you have this OBOS deal and you are going to develop this credit solution development. Can you comment a little bit on this project and how it is developing so far and if it's impacting margin profile in any so far.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#54

Yes. Well, it's true that we are working with OBOS up in Norway, an exciting project that we announced, I think, to the back end of last year. That project is progressing as planned. We are together with OBOS fledging out and making sure that the capabilities for the -- specifically for the credit process is being optimized. And the credit process in Norway is different from the credit process in Denmark, believe it or not, but it is. So there are some functionalities that will be added to the solution, which we believe will make Netcompany Banking Services even more competitive in a market that is really dominated by one big player in Norway, which is our peer up there. So we believe that we will have something pretty soon that is much more appealing to the Norwegian market, too, that will accelerate the continued success of Netcompany Banking Services under our ownership.

Daniel Djurberg

Analysts
#55

Perfect. May I also ask you on the quite nice increase in organic growth despite that you moved so much people over to the R&D side in Denmark. For how long should we expect this internal development phase to continue? Will it like come back or normalize in 12 months? Or -- and also on that topic, last time you used internal consultants for platform R&D work, you swiftly brought them back and got a good utilization rate in Denmark. Could you see that these internal R&D is also kind of they get educational or also that it's an investment in -- and that could also support the attractiveness of these consultants in the market after these projects? Long question.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#56

Yes. Thank you for that question. No, no, it's okay. It's -- and you're absolutely right. Obviously, we're building up a great set of both platforms, products in AI, but also competencies. And these people are obviously also could also be pivotal in many of our projects. So it is investment into that as well, definitely.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#57

And we will -- as we answered in one of the questions before, we will -- we've increased the headcount in Product division to 450, and that's going to stay most likely at that level for some time. That's not the same to say that there cannot be efficiencies to be had other places. But we have seen really, really interesting results as of now with our investment into agentic, and André will talk a little more about that. The results are staggering. And we're quite sure that with the head start we have and with our products and platforms, we are in a truly unique position in the market, and we want to make sure that we capitalize on that and make the gap to our peers even further. And that's exactly what we will say more about in the white paper that's coming out here in, what, 15 minutes.

Daniel Djurberg

Analysts
#58

Perfect. And may I also take the last question here on the Smart Airport and the AIRHART. Now you have Munich and Heathrow. And is it fair to assume that you will need to finalize these large -- super large projects before you can continue? Or do you have more potential in this to speak?

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#59

We don't need to finalize these projects. And actually, I think many of these projects will run for a long, long time because they kind of continue to add more and more sources. They never really finish. So what we will do in parallel, of course, is to -- we need to materialize the pipeline, which is growing rapidly with other airports. So that's the short answer to that. And we can.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#60

Thanks for being persistent, even though we took 3 times.

Operator

Operator
#61

The next questioner, please state your name and company before asking your question.

Aditya Buddhavarapu

Analysts
#62

This is Aditya from Bank of America. It's a bit of a follow-up on the product development unit, which you discussed a bit of that earlier. But if you look at last year as well, you had some FTEs which have moved from client-facing roles into more product development and a mix of, of course, some M&A related to SDC. But again sort of moving people from client-facing into product development this year. Can you just talk about incrementally what's different? Is this more specifically focused on that agentic AI tools, and that's why you're having to do this again in some sense? And then again, I think sort of relating to that going forward, do you see some part of that 450 million eventually also being billable or client-facing as well to some degree? Or is that going to be strictly sort of internal R&D?

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#63

No, no, no. I mean what is happening in agentic AI, especially over the last -- we started with the Feniks thing 1.5 years ago. But what is happening to agentic AI now, it empowers our platforms even more. And we've decided to invest further into these agentic capabilities into our platforms and the tool sets that we have. And that comes in lumps. I think this is -- it's been a great investment. And with the launch of Feniks Build today and the white paper, we have something that is truly differentiating us from competitors. I don't think we need in absolute numbers to invest further into this. And I also believe that many of the competencies we've been building just by setting this up can be used crucially in some of our projects and client-facing activities.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#64

And to elaborate further on what André is saying here, of course, we are putting all the learnings we can get from agentic into our products and platforms. And the reason why we have gathered everybody in the same unit now under the same leader is that we want to take our products and platforms also to a level where they are commercially ready to be sold and where we can then in a greater way than what we've done previously, start to charge licenses for our products and platforms, including our services on AI. So that is, of course, why we make this investment also to be able to commercialize and capitalize on these products and platforms that we, in all humbleness, feel are quite unique in the market space. And with the added investment, we are very close to be able to accelerate our capitalization and monetization of these products and platforms, i.e., to start to see meaningful license revenue coming from these.

Aditya Buddhavarapu

Analysts
#65

Got it. Maybe a quick follow-up on that last point then in terms of monetization because that is something that you talked about at the Capital Markets Day last year as well. How should we think about the time line for that, the opportunity for that in terms of when we should start to -- when that becomes maybe a bit more meaningful?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#66

We believe that you'll start to see some numbers already for 2026, but clearly accelerating in '27 and onwards. And it all ties into Feniks Build. It all ties into Feniks Learn. It all ties into the capabilities of the product platforms now being much more mature. And then there is a little bit of lead time, of course, to make sure that we then also get that monetized with our clients, but we think we have a great opportunity to do that. So we'll start to see some of that this year, but more meaningfully in '27 and accelerating from there.

Operator

Operator
#67

The next question comes from the line of Mads Quistgaard from DNB Carnegie.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#68

Two follow-up questions from my side. First, on SEE & EUI, given you don't book any -- well, insignificant license fees in the quarter, you managed to grow the segment 15% -- sorry, 18%, 19%. Public sector in here is up 15% year-over-year. Can you clarify whether this is sustainable throughout the year?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#69

So without giving specific guidance on a country-by-country, Mads, clearly, when we look at the revenue visibility for the remaining part of the year, increasing by 10% and the magnitude of the SEE & EUI business to the group for the Q1 in terms of how much revenue is generated there, you would need to see a continued strong performance to get to a 10% growth, and that's as far as I can go.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#70

Fair enough. And then maybe on the license contribution because I guess there will be some from INEOS in Q2 meaning that the margins will come significantly up alone based on license fees. Do you see any potential license projects in the remaining part of the year? I know in the past, license fees has accounted for around close to 1% of group sales for the year.

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#71

It's true that the INEOS license will hit our books in a positive way, of course, right? But it's going to be over Q2, Q3 and Q4. So it's not going to be a one big lump sum. There are also other projects that we're working on that have an element of license in different parts of our product suite. So we would expect that to materialize also. And whether that's then going to equate to 1% or 0.8% or 1.2% or 1.5%, I'll be silent on at this point in time, but we do have a good pipeline of projects, including licenses for the remaining part of the year.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#72

And maybe if I can add to that, not giving any numbers away or anything. But with Feniks and with the platforms we have, in order to benefit and get the efficiencies that we're talking about up to 45% faster deliveries, the customers have to choose our platforms, products or Feniks, right? So it's not that we have a magic pill and now you can get anything cheaper or faster. Here, in order to get the benefits, you need to go in and buy our platform products and our Feniks framework. Obviously, that's a benefit for the customer, but it's also a benefit for us. In that sense, I think we will see -- systematically, we'll see more and more projects being a mixture of licenses and consultancy.

Mads Quistgaard

Analysts
#73

Makes sense. Finally, from my side, on Netcompany Banking Services, 10.1% pro forma growth. Is that the result? Or how much impact do you see for the launch of the 2 new AI projects -- products you did in Q1?

Thomas Johansen

Executives
#74

Well, we've launched a couple of AI agents into NBS. That's absolutely true, Mads. That is not really what's driving it. But there is a huge potential in AI. I think André can look more to that.

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#75

Yes. So again, like with everything else we do with our client side, we need to get access to the systems and then we can start building the AI. We're already doing so. So it's -- we are investing into automation adding NBS, but we're also investing into AI. And we're doing that in combination with also client projects from our banks. So it looks promising, but it's a combination of renovating, automating and investing into AI.

Operator

Operator
#76

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

André Rogaczewski

Executives
#77

Well, thank you so much for joining in today, and don't forget to read that white paper and watch the video because we're issuing it in 5 minutes.

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