Caverion Corporation’s Interim Report for 1 January – 30 September 2023: Solid profitability in an uncertain operating environment

Caverion Corporation Interim Report 3 November 2023 at 8.00 EET

Caverion Corporation’s Interim Report for 1 January – 30 September 2023

Solid profitability in an uncertain operating environment

 

1 July – 30 September 2023

 

• Revenue: EUR 578.0 (564.1) million, up by 2.5 percent. Organic growth was 2.5 (11.8) percent. Services business revenue increased by 0.1 percent. Projects business revenue increased by 7.0 percent.
• Adjusted EBITA: EUR 29.7 (26.9) million, or 5.1 (4.8) percent of revenue, up by 10.6 percent.
• EBITA: EUR 28.9 (25.1) million, or 5.0 (4.5) percent of revenue, up by 15.1 percent.
• Operating profit: EUR 25.0 (21.1) million, or 4.3 (3.7) percent of revenue, up by 18.9 percent.
• Operating cash flow before financial and tax items: EUR -5.9 (7.7) million, impacted by the cost reimbursement of EUR 10.0 million to Bain Consortium.
• Earnings per share, undiluted: EUR 0.12 (0.10) per share.

 

1 January – 30 September 2023

 

• Order backlog: EUR 1,943.1 (1,971.0) million, down by 1.4 percent. Services backlog decreased by 2.8 percent. Projects backlog increased by 0.4 percent.
• Revenue: EUR 1,821.0 (1,669.2) million, up by 9.1 percent. Organic growth was 8.1 (6.2) percent. Services business revenue increased by 6.7 percent. Projects business revenue increased by 13.9 percent.
• Adjusted EBITA: EUR 79.7 (67.2) million, or 4.4 (4.0) percent of revenue, up by 18.6 percent.
• During the period, key figures related to profit, cash flow and earnings per share were impacted by the tender offer related cost reimbursement of EUR 10.0 million to Bain Consortium.
• EBITA: EUR 64.5 (61.5) million, or 3.5 (3.7) percent of revenue, up by 4.9 percent.
• Operating profit: EUR 52.2 (49.9) million, or 2.9 (3.0) percent of revenue, up by 4.6 percent.
• Operating cash flow before financial and tax items: EUR 33.5 (37.4) million, down by 10.3 percent.
• Cash conversion (LTM): 94.1 (90.1) percent.
• Earnings per share, undiluted: EUR 0.23 (0.23) per share.
• Net debt/Adjusted EBITDA: 1.9x (1.8x).
• Acquisitions: Caverion closed five acquisitions in January–September 2023, total annual revenue EUR 60.4 million.

   

Unless otherwise noted, the figures in brackets refer to the corresponding period in the previous year.

 

Guidance for 2023

In 2023, Caverion Group’s revenue (2022: EUR 2,352.1 million) and adjusted EBITA (2022: EUR 105.8 million) will grow compared to 2022.

 

KEY FIGURES

EUR million	7-9/23	7-9/22	Change	1-9/23	1-9/22	Change	1-12/22
Revenue	578.0	564.1	2.5%	1,821.0	1,669.2	9.1%	2,352.1
Organic growth, %	2.5	11.8		8.1	6.2		8.6
Adjusted EBITDA	45.3	41.1	10.4%	124.6	109.1	14.2%	163.0
Adjusted EBITDA margin, %	7.8	7.3		6.8	6.5		6.9
EBITDA	44.5	39.3	13.2%	109.5	103.6	5.7%	143.4
EBITDA margin, %	7.7	7.0		6.0	6.2		6.1
Adjusted EBITA	29.7	26.9	10.6%	79.7	67.2	18.6%	105.8
Adjusted EBITA margin, %	5.1	4.8		4.4	4.0		4.5
EBITA	28.9	25.1	15.1%	64.5	61.5	4.9%	86.1
EBITA margin, %	5.0	4.5		3.5	3.7		3.7
Operating profit	25.0	21.1	18.9%	52.2	49.9	4.6%	69.9
Operating profit margin, %	4.3	3.7		2.9	3.0		3.0
Result for the period	16.0	14.6	9.7%	32.7	33.1	-1.3%	46.2
Earnings per share, undiluted, EUR	0.12	0.10	12.9%	0.23	0.23	1.2%	0.32
Operating cash flow before
financial and tax items	-5.9	7.7		33.5	37.4	-10.3%	144.3
Order backlog				1,943.1	1,971.0	-1.4%	1,943.3
Cash conversion (LTM), %				94.1	90.1		100.6
Working capital				-76.9	-75.8	-1.4%	-141.4
Interest-bearing net debt				332.8	274.0	21.4%	200.9
Net debt/Adjusted EBITDA				1.9	1.8		1.2
Gearing, %				190.9	131.8		89.1
Equity ratio, %				15.5	19.0		19.8
Personnel, end of period				14,853	15,037	-1.2%	14,490

JACOB GÖTZSCHE, PRESIDENT AND CEO:

“In the third quarter of 2023, we continued to deliver solid profitability as well as revenue growth. Even in a challenging operating environment, our underlying business has proven resilient. Global trends driving market demand, such as energy efficiency and the green transition in the built environment, continue to support our growth. I am pleased that thus far, the challenges of the building construction market and the high interest rate environment have not been reflected in our overall performance. So far, we have been successful at mitigating the negative effects, but the market situation continues to be challenging.

 

Group revenue in the third quarter continued to increase compared to the previous year and amounted to EUR 578.0 (564.1) million, which is a decent result considering the current operating environment. Excluding currency rate effects, revenue in the third quarter remained at a good level across both the Services and Projects businesses. Organic growth continued at a satisfactory 2.5 percent level, whereas acquisitions contributed by 3.8 percent. The currency devaluation in Sweden and Norway continued to be significant, impacting our third quarter revenue negatively by EUR 22 million. Inflation and higher sales prices due to increased material costs contributed in part to revenue growth. The impact was, however, clearly lower than in the same period last year and in the first half of 2023. In comparable exchange rates, revenue increased in divisions Sweden, Norway, Austria, Denmark and Industry and was at last year’s level in Finland and Germany. Current customer highlights include infrastructure initiatives improving power transmission capacity in Finland, renewable energy projects in Sweden, planning and building of a cleanroom in Germany, and facility management agreements, to name a few. These examples demonstrate well the breadth of Caverion’s capabilities.

 

In the third quarter, we achieved a strong adjusted EBITA, despite the negative impact of currency devaluation of the Swedish Krona and Norwegian Krone (at about EUR 1 million). Compared to the previous year, our adjusted EBITA improved by 10.6 percent to EUR 29.7 (26.9) million and was 5.1 (4.8) percent of revenue during the quarter. The increase in adjusted EBITA was driven by business unit Projects, where revenue remained strong with a healthy project mix. Our operating cash flow during the quarter was EUR -5.9 (7.7) million, negatively impacted by the tender offer related cost reimbursement of EUR 10.0 million paid to Bain Consortium.

 

Order backlog at the end of the third quarter was slightly behind last year at EUR 1,943.1 (1,971.0) million. In comparable currencies, order backlog was at the same level as last year. Despite the continued challenging market conditions, the order backlog provides us with confidence that our business will remain stable towards the year end. Whereas material price inflation is easing, the impact of currency rate fluctuation is difficult to predict. While we are not immune to the challenges of the current operating environment, global trends drive long-term demand in our business, which overweighs limitations in the short-term.

 

The execution of our Sustainable Growth strategy has progressed well during the year in all of our business focus areas. During the quarter, we completed two acquisitions, VVS Teknikk in Norway and Kiwa Inspecta’s building services business unit in Finland, and welcomed around 85 skilled colleagues to the Caverion Group. Both of the acquisitions strengthen our service capacity and expertise in these markets. As outlined by our strategy, high quality companies that complement our existing capabilities and/or geographical footprint will continue to be in our radar also going forward. 

 

On a different note, the tender offer for the Caverion shares, which is recommended by the Board of Directors, has recently taken a major step forward as all the acceptance conditions have been met. The ownership of Crayfish BidCo Oy, a Finnish company controlled by Triton Fund V, has exceeded 2/3 of all outstanding Caverion shares and all merger control clearances have been received. According to the preliminary result after the tender offer period, which  ended on 1 November 2023, Triton’s ownership will increase to 94.3% when the tender offer is completed. The ownership change in itself has no impact in our daily business. We at Caverion continue to focus on serving our customers and working together across the company as before.

 

Looking ahead, Caverion is well set to deliver on its long-term business targets and accelerated sustainable growth. We continue to focus on being the trusted expert partner for our customers and to support them in being smart and sustainable throughout the entire lifecycle of buildings, infrastructure and industrial sites. Our biggest asset in delivering on this ambition is our knowledgeable employees, who deserve a special thank you for ensuring Caverion is the preferred choice for our customers.”

  

MARKET OUTLOOK FOR 2023

Caverion expects the underlying demand to be overall positive in Services during 2023.

 

In Projects, the high inflation and increasing interest rates are impacting the demand environment for new construction negatively. In addition, the conflicts in Ukraine and recently also in the Middle East are creating economic uncertainty. With its balanced Projects business portfolio, Caverion still expects the underlying business activity to remain stable in 2023.

 

The digitalisation and sustainability megatrends are in many ways favourable to Caverion and they are believed to increase demand for Caverion’s offering going forward. The increased energy efficiency requirements, and the increasing digitalisation, automation and technology requirements in the built environment remain strong, together with the urbanisation megatrend. Increasing awareness of sustainability is supported by both EU-driven regulations and national legislation setting higher targets and actions for energy efficiency and carbon-neutrality. The continued focus on energy efficiency and CO2 reduction activities and projects continues to support activity and business volume in Caverion’s operating environment.

 

FINANCIAL AND SUSTAINABILITY TARGETS

Caverion updated its financial targets in connection with publishing its updated strategy on 9 May 2022. Sustainability targets remained unchanged.

 

Mid-term financial targets until the end of 2025		1-9/2023
Cash conversion (LTM)	Operating cash flow before financial and tax items / EBITDA  > 100%		94.1%
Profitability	Adjusted EBITA > 5.5% of revenue		4.4%
Organic revenue growth	3−4% p.a. over the strategy period		8.1%
M&A revenue growth	2−3% p.a. over the strategy period		5.0%
Debt leverage	Net debt/LTM Adjusted EBITDA < 2.5x		1.9x
Dividend policy	Distribute at least 50% of the result for the year after taxes, however, taking leverage level into account		62%*

 

* Calculated as Dividend per earnings (%). The Annual General Meeting approved the proposal of the Board of Directors according to which a dividend of EUR 0.20 per share was paid from the distributable funds of the company for the financial year 2022. The dividend was paid on 5 April 2023.

 

Sustainability targets until 2025	2025 target	2022	2021
Decreasing our footprint
Total carbon footprint defined and measured	100%	90%	80%
Increasing our handprint
Our offering has a defined carbon handprint	100%	25%	20%
Carbon handprint over footprint (Scope 1−2)	5x	>3x	>2x
Caring for our people
Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR)	<2	4.0	4.0
Share of female employees	15%	11%	11%
Our employees trained in sustainability	100%	30%*	N/A**
Ensuring sustainable value chain
Supplier Code of Conduct sign-off rate	>90%	74%	66%
Our tender requests include sustainability criteria	100%	-	-

 

* Sustainability eLearning available since Q4/2022. During the year two other ESG related eLearnings conducted with performance rates of 97% (InfoSec eLearning) and 97% (Code of Conduct eLearning).

** Sustainability eLearning not yet available. Two other ESG related eLearnings conducted with performance rates of 86% (Safety eLearning) and 92% (Code of Conduct eLearning).

NEWS CONFERENCE, WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL

Caverion will hold a news conference on its Interim Report on Friday, 3 November 2023, at 10.00 a.m. Finnish time (EET) at the Company’s premises, Torpantie 2, 01650 Vantaa, Finland. The news conference can be viewed live on Caverion’s website at www.caverion.com/investors or at https://caverion.videosync.fi/2023-q3. It is also possible to participate in the event through a conference call by registering beforehand on the following link: https://palvelu.flik.fi/teleconference/?id=1009622. Phone numbers and the conference ID to access the conference will be provided after the registration. To ask a question, press *5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. More practical information on the news conference can be found on Caverion's website, www.caverion.com/investors.

FINANCIAL INFORMATION TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2024

The Financial Statements Release for 2023 will be published on 8 February 2024. The Annual Review 2023 including the financial statements will be published during week 9/2024, at the latest. The Interim and Half-yearly Reports for 2024 will be published on 25 April, 31 July and 31 October 2024.

 

Financial reports and other investor information are available on Caverion's website www.caverion.com/investors. The materials may also be ordered by sending an e-mail to [email protected].

 

CAVERION CORPORATION

 

Distribution: Nasdaq Helsinki, principal media, www.caverion.com