Eezy Plc's Interim Report 1-3/2022: Strong growth continued
EEZY PLC -- INTERIM REPORT -- 10 MAY 2022 AT 8:00
Eezy Plc's Interim Report 1–3/2022: Strong growth continued
January–March 2022
- Revenue was EUR 50.9 million (EUR 36.6 million in January–March 2021).
- EBITDA was EUR 2.5 million (2.8).
- EBIT was EUR 0.5 million (0.9) and was 1.0% of revenue (2.5 %).
- Earnings per share was EUR 0.00 (0.01).
- Revenue grew by 39% exceeding the market growth.
- Business continued to normalize from Corona conditions, but sick-leaves grew.
Outlook for 2022
Eezy expects revenue to grow and EBIT-% to increase during 2022. The guidance will be made more precise during the year.
Key figures (IFRS)
| EUR million, unless otherwise specified | 1–3/2022 | 1–3/2021 | 1–12/2021 |
| Revenue | 50.9 | 36.6 | 203.3 |
| EBITDA | 2.5 | 2.8 | 19.5 |
| EBITDA, % | 4.9% | 7.5% | 9.6% |
| EBIT | 0.5 | 0.9 | 11.8 |
| EBIT, % | 1.0% | 2.5% | 5.8% |
| EPS, undiluted, EUR | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.31 |
| EPS, diluted, EUR | 0.00 | 0.01 | 0.30 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.8 x | 4.1 x | 2.4 x |
| Chain-wide revenue | 77.0 | 56.4 | 305.5 |
CEO Sami Asikainen:
Growth clearly exceeding market growth
"Eezy's revenue grew by 39 percent in the first quarter and exceeded 50 million euro. That is a great achievement in Corona conditions on a normally smallest quarter of the year.
Staffing services grew organically and clearly faster than the market. The 35 percent growth shows our performance and the rapid recovery of the markets. Our industrial sector has been performing well already for several quarters, and the activity on the horeca sector increased quickly once the restrictions were lifted in February-March, Working-life professional services' revenue almost doubled (+97%).
I am proud that we were able to make positive EBIT of 0.5 million euro in the smallest quarter of the year. Especially, when taking the record-high sick-leaves and the effects of the January-February lock-down to the horeca sector into account. The sick-leave costs were approx. 1.5 million euro (3% of revenue), which is more than double to the normal level and to the previous levels during corona. Noting also that in last year's Q1 we had a non-recurring income of 1.7 million euro, I estimate that we have operationally improved our profit by over 2 million euro from last year's Q1. Great start for the new year.
Expansion according to our strategy
We acquired Valmennuskeskus late last year, and its co-operation inside Eezy has started rapidly. Especially the revenue synergies with the employment services offered for the public sector are substantial, as we can utilize Eezy's nation-wide presence and thousands of open jobs. Know-how in Valmennuskeskus will also enable us to expand our training offering.
We announced in March the acquisition of Farenta, which is the market leader in staffing services to the pharmacy sector with revenue a bit below 10 million euro. The acquisition was closed in April. Farenta expands our staffing services in the higher educated sectors and complements our existing services in the healthcare sector.
During the period we also announced the acquisition of Leidenschaft and Siqni, and the deal closed in early April. Siqni is a fast-growing surveyor of employee experience that offers a new perspective for gaining employee understanding and measuring employee experience. Leidenschaft has a strong presence in business culture development. Their consulting services help our customers to develop their operations so that employee satisfaction rises and productivity increases. Siqni and Leidenschaft with their approx. 3 million euro revenue nicely boost Eezy Flow's already strong position in employee experience surveys, related consulting and management development. Eezy Flow is now the undisputed leader in its field.
Success is based on committed employees and continuous development
We have fought for good results in the challenging conditions during the past two years. In the middle of pandemic, we have integrated multiple companies into one Eezy brand and have built a unique Eezy culture. We have utilized Eezy Flow's expertise of organizational development in that transformation. We have invested into our employees' wellbeing and to the people management and interaction skills. Almost 200 000 persons answer annually Eezy Flow's People Power surveys, and we are using the same tools for ourselves. One of my greatest joys in early 2022 was the continuing positive trend in our satisfaction surveys! Over 500 Eezy group employees are even more committed to serve our customers and employees. As the CEO I feel that well-being employees are our greatest strength and competitive advantage. The future looks great on this front.
With good spirits toward summer
Despite all uncertainties in the business environment, we believe that our revenue grows and EBIT-% increases in 2022. However, there are several worrying and hard-to-forecast factors. Corona is still with us, but we believe that the situation normalizes during the summer period. The direct impacts from the war in Ukraine and sanctions for Russia to us are small, as we do not have business in Russia or Ukraine. Material and component shortages due to the war or the corona situation in China may still reflect into our operations. Additionally, the increasing inflation may affect the economic outlook.
The labor shortage is visible in all our business areas, which increases our strategic significance in the labor markets. We have several workforce acquisition projects ongoing and I believe that thanks to our nationwide presence we can serve our customers in all parts of Finland.
We have proved also in this quarter our ability to implement our growth strategy. We head to toward the high season in summer in good shape and with good spirits."
Result publication event:
A Finnish-language briefing for analysts and media will be held on 10 May 2022 at 13.00 Finnish time as a webcast at https://eezy.videosync.fi/2022-q1
The webcast will be hosted by CEO Sami Asikainen and CFO Hannu Nyman. During the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. The presentation material will be available at the company website at https://eezy.fi/en/financials/reports-and-presentations/ before the conference. A recording of the webcast will be available at the same website later.
Attachment: Interim Report January–March 2022 in PDF format
Further information:
Sami Asikainen
CEO
[email protected]
tel. +358 (0)40 700 9915
Hannu Nyman
CFO
Eezy Plc
[email protected]
tel. +358 (0)50 306 9913
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