Welcome to the Netcompany Q4 update. Throughout the call, all participants will be in listening only mode, and afterwards there will be a question and answer session. Today, I am pleased to present CEO André Rogaczewski and CFO Thomas Johansen. Please begin your meeting.
Good day, and welcome to this presentation of Netcompany's results for Q4 and the full year of 2021. My name is André Rogaczewski, and I'm the CEO and co-founder of Netcompany, and I'm joined today by our CFO, Thomas Johansen. Before we get going, there are some important disclosures that I need you to read through, so could we please have slide number 2. I will pause 30 seconds here and let you all have a read through of these important disclosures. With that, can we go to slide number 3, please? The topic of today's presentation is our performance in 2021, and a detailed presentation of the financial performance in both Q4 and for the year.
I will walk you through the business highlights for 2021, and I will also go through our revenue visibility and our financial guidance for 2022. Once I'm done, Thomas will go through the numbers in greater detail, both for Q4 and for the full year before we open the call for questions. Can we have the next slide, please? We grew revenue in 2021 with close to 28%. Of that growth, 10.1 percentage points comes from the acquisition of INTRASOFT International in October. The remaining growth was organic.
As communicated during the first half of 2021, our employees have in general deferred some of their vacation from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, which was accelerated towards the end of 2021, and ended with our employees taking a little bit more vacation for the full year than expected. Gross profit increased by more than 15%, yielding a gross profit margin of 36.7%, which was four percentage points lower than in 2021. As was the case in the first nine months of the year, we continued to work with Danish resources on international projects, which led to lower margins on those projects, and also a higher usage of freelancers in Denmark. However, the relative level of such activities have been decreasing during the last quarter of the year as expected.
In addition, COVID-19 related restrictions imposed late December reduced the utilization with the equivalent of 2 working days, which naturally also had a negative impact on both revenue growth and margins. However, the main factor for margins to be lower was the inclusion of Intrasoft into our books in 2021, irrespectively of the fact that financial performance in Intrasoft actually was better than our initial expectations for 2021. The lower gross profit margin naturally impacts adjusted EBITDA margin to the same tune. Adjusted EBITDA was DKK 880.9 million, which yields a margin of 24.3%, a decrease of 4.2 percentage points compared to 2020.
We added more than 1,000 full-time employees during 2021, and here Intrasoft also adds a significant share to the number and constitutes almost half of that increase. Can we have the next slide, please? Continuing on the employee topic, the breakdown here shows the growth in Netcompany Core and the analyzed number of employees in Netcompany-INTRASOFT. Freelancers and independent contractors in Netcompany Core are not growing as fast as early in the year, and the number of independent contractors is also coming down fast as expected. We also note that out of the close to 2,900 employees in Netcompany-INTRASOFT, more than 600 are freelancers or contractors, a result of the different delivery model in Intrasoft compared to Netcompany. Churn for the last 12 months was higher compared to last year and ended at more than 22% driven by the high churn in Norway, U.K., and the Netherlands. In Denmark, churn was more than 19%, which when comparing to 2020 where it was 14.5% might from the outside seem high. This is however, not the case, as churn in Denmark historically has been around 17%-18% with a significant drop in churn in 2020, the year of COVID-19. What happened in 2021 when society opened up was the change between jobs deferred from 2020 was added to the normal job changes in 2021, and thereby drove up churn compared to 2020.
We have certainly seen increased competition for IT talent during 2021, and the demand for our experienced consultants have increased significantly. In times like these, I'm proud that we have been able to continue to add a significant number of employees across the group. Can we have slide 6, please? We've won a number of new contracts during the last quarter of the year, of which I am mentioning a few here. In Denmark, we've won a project to renew one of the main platforms for FlexDanmark that will support their ambitions for a more efficient operation and supporting their ambition to contribute to a greener environment. We have also won a large contract with the second largest municipality in Denmark, Aarhus, to deliver the entire social domain within the municipality of Aarhus.
The solution will be based on our modular social platform and forms a great example of the power and the value of our GovTech framework. In addition, we won the project to digitize the solution for registration and management of ownership of real estate, transfer hereof and other related processes related hereto for the National Board of Justice. We have also won a major project to deliver the new system for general elections in Denmark. That project is run by Combat, and it is a significant piece of critical infrastructure in Denmark that we are really proud to be delivering going forward. We've also won a large contract with Møller Mobility Group, a private customer in Norway, which is a multi-year strategic development contract that will enhance our position in the private segment in the Norwegian market. Can we have the next slide, please?
I also want to take this opportunity to mention a couple of the contracts we've already won in 2022. The first contract under the so-called RRF initiative, funded by the EU, has materialized in our Greek operation of Netcompany-Intrasoft. The project is a digitization project of all land and parcels in all of Greece and will be run as a joint project with the Greek subsidiary of the Deutsche Telekom, OTE. This gives us even better comfort that the large amount of more than DKK 30 billion in the RRF pool in Greece will be spent as planned. Also, I want to highlight a recent win in Norway, where we won the biggest contract ever in Norway. It was a renewal of the strategic agreement with the municipality of Oslo, but bigger than previously, and with Netcompany being the only vendor on this new contract.
The win was only made possible due to the outstanding cooperation with highly skilled employees from both Denmark and Norway, and underlines why it, in fact, is a good idea to have cross-utilization of Danish resources for the longer run. Can we have the next slide, please? With the acquisition of Intrasoft, we have updated our operating model approach to that of Netcompany Core and of Netcompany Expand. The Core part of the group constitutes of our operation in Denmark and the acquired companies in Norway, the U.K., and the Netherlands, and they are labeled as Core because we integrate the acquired companies fully into our operating model. Unlike with the acquisition of Intrasoft, that we are not integrating fully and hence labeled as Netcompany Expand. Can we have the next slide, please?
Our investment in Norway and the U.K. continued to improve in terms of the financial performance, with revenue growth of 27% full year in Norway and close to 16% in the U.K. Performance in our Dutch operation was not satisfying, as we saw revenue decline with an equally sharp decline in gross margins. We have taken appropriate corrective actions in our Dutch operation, and I'm confident that the team in place now will facilitate a strong recovery for us in the near term of the Dutch market. Can we have the next slide, please? Last year, we acquired Intrasoft International, and we're excited to have welcomed to the Netcompany family. I am confident that we combine to constitute a strong and highly competitive company that can compete for large and complex projects in most of Europe.
The acquisition gives us better reach within Europe and within the EU institutions, and the level of interaction with the EU is maybe best illustrated by the order backlog in Netcompany-Intrasoft, which is mainly contracts with the EU. For 2022, more than DKK 1.3 billion is going to be released from the backlog, and if no new contracts are won at all, the value of DKK 6.5 billion will be realized as shown in the diagram here. We are confident, though, that new contracts will be added to the backlog. Can we have the next slide, please?
The strong performance in all our business units has increased the level of contractually committed revenues to close to DKK 3.8 billion at the beginning of January 2022, which was an increase of more than 62% compared to the same period last year. 17 percentage points comes from the Netcompany Core part of the business, and the remaining increase is related to the Netcompany-Intrasoft part of the business. As in recent quarters, we see improved revenue visibility in both the private and the public segment throughout all our units. This leads me into our expectations for 2022, so can we have the next slide, please? With the acquisition of Intrasoft, our guidance table has become somewhat more busy.
However, we find it important to continue to be transparent on our expectations for the Netcompany Core part of the business too. For Netcompany Core, we expect revenue growth of 14%-19%. This is net of the dilutive impact of 3 percentage points that the discontinuing of two services for 2022 have on our growth expectations. In a directly comparable analysis against 2021, we would have expected revenue growth of 17%-22%, all other things equal. When we have taken the decision to discontinue parts of the services we offer, it all comes down to the strategic alignment and doing the right types of projects. By being even more focused on the strategic core projects, we will lay an even better foundation for the accelerated growth in the future.
Total organic revenue growth is expected to be between 13% and 18% and includes the dilutive 3 percentage impact as just mentioned, and the impact for Intrasoft for the month of November and December 2022. We expect adjusted EBITDA margin of more than 23% in Netcompany Core. This is net of the dilutive impact on margins from changes to employee benefits that has an impact of more than 3 percentage points on margins in 2022. The benefits relates to level of paid vacation, maternity leave, and pension plans. In all, other things equal, quote unquote, situation compared to 2021, our margins expectations would thus have been 3 percentage points higher at more than 26% for Netcompany Core.
For Netcompany-Intrasoft, we expect adjusted EBITDA margin of more than 9% for 2022, and for the group altogether, we expect adjusted EBITDA margin of more than 20% for 2022. With that, I will give the word to Thomas to take you through the financials in greater details. Please go ahead, Thomas.
Thank you for that, André. Like already mentioned, I am CFO in Netcompany, and I will go more into details with the financial performance for Q4 2021 and for the full year of 2021. If we move past the blank slide number 13 and straight into slide number 14, please. André has already spoken to our performance in general terms, and I will go more into details with the performance both for Q4 and for the full year. Revenue growth for Q4 was 59.1%, positively impacted by currencies by 1.5 percentage points, leaving growth in constant currencies at 47.6% against Q4 2020.
37 percentage points of the growth was non-organic related to our acquisition of Intrasoft in 2021, and the remaining 12.1% was organic related to Netcompany Core. Gross profit increased by close to 18% to DKK 385.8 million, whereas gross profit margin was 33.5% compared to 42.4% in Q4 2020. The main negative impact on gross profit margin was the inclusion of Netcompany-INTRASOFT, which diluted gross profit margin by 5.4 percentage points in Q4 2021. For Netcompany Core, gross profit margin was 38.9%, which was 3.5 percentage points lower than Q4 2020.
The restrictions imposed in December related to COVID-19 and the more contagious Omicron variant led to increased vacation and more absence for illness, which impacted margins negatively by 2 percentage points. The use of freelancers and continued cross-utilization of Danish resources impacted margins negatively by another 1.4 percentage point in Q4 2021. Adjusted EBITDA was flattish for Q4 compared to 2020, which led to EBITDA margins of 20.7% compared to 31.1% for the same period in 2020. As was the case when discussing the development in gross profit margin, the main reason for the lower adjusted EBITDA margin relates to the inclusion of Netcompany- INTRASOFT , which had a dilutive impact on margins of 3.7%.
In addition, administrative costs in Netcompany Core was higher in Q4 2021 than was the case in Q4 2020, more than 20% higher per FTE. This is a result of spend in Q4 2020 being extraordinarily low rather than cost level in Q4 2021 being high. Administrative cost per FTE in Q4 2019 and Q4 2021 are on level at around DKK 40,000 per FTE, whereas the average cost per FTE in Q4 2020 was as low as DKK 33,000 as a direct result of the hard lockdowns and less activity in societies in 2020. Can we have the next slide, please? Taking a closer look at revenue growth in Q4, we have shown where growth was generated on this slide.
Revenue growth in Denmark was 12.2%, driven by continued strong growth in the private segment that grew 13.3% compared to the public sector, where revenue grew 11.5%. Both segments were negatively impacted from a growth perspective by the COVID-19 restrictions imposed in late December and the higher level of sickness following the Omicron variant. In total, revenue growth was negatively impacted by this of around 3.5 percentage points in Denmark in Q4. Norway grew 8% in the quarter, also negatively impacted by restrictions from COVID and the drag on some projects won back in 2020 at lower rates that is now coming to an end. Public segment grew 38%, whereas the private segment declined 26.4%.
The decline in revenue in the private segment is a result of a number of projects being completed in Q3, and the starting of new projects did not happen in the private sector until the end of Q4. However, with the win of the Møller Mobility Group, the private segment is set for continued growth in Norway. In the U.K., revenue grew 15.3%, supported by our relationship with the NHS, but also driven by other new customers in other parts of the administration, which is exciting for the future. In the Netherlands, revenue declined 26% and continued the trend seen previously in the year. However, with an improvement from Q3, where the decline in revenue was 40%.
The Dutch operation has been under strict lockdown, which together with the lack of a functioning government, continued to have a negative impact on our growth in the fourth quarter. In our recent acquisition of Intrasoft, we realized revenue for the month of November and December 2021 of DKK 285.7 million, which was higher than our initial expectations. Revenue was mainly driven by the parts of Intrasoft related to the EU and the enterprise segment. With the recent win in Greece under the RRF, revenue growth in the public segment is expected to pick up too. Can we have the next slide, please. For the full year, revenue grew 27% in constant currencies, of which 10% was non-organic and 17% was related to Netcompany Core and organic.
Revenue in Denmark grew by close to 18% in the year, which would actually have been higher had it not been for the COVID-19 restrictions imposed late in the year. The private sector was the main growth contributor in Denmark in 2021 and grew by 32.4%, whereas the public segment grew 9.4%. Towards the end of 2021, we started to see an increased number of tenders and cases emerge in the public segment, and our expectations is that growth in the public segment will accelerate in 2022. Demand in the private segment, on the other hand, continues to remain strong. In Norway, we grew 27% for the full year, driven by strong demand in the public segment. The recent win with Oslo Municipality underpins this demand.
However, as in Denmark, we also see strong interest for our services in the private segment, and the recent win with the Møller Mobility Group is a good example hereof. In the U.K., revenue grew close to 16%, which constitutes stronger and higher activity in the operating unit than the growth number indicates. The growth of 16% is generated with a growth of just 5% in client-facing employees, which has been a deliberate management decision in the U.K. to focus on setting the right organization before accelerating growth. This means that we are now in a strong position in the U.K., with less than 4% of the workforce being independent contractors. We have bigger and longer projects, and we start to see more cases in the public segment in the U.K.
In the Netherlands, revenue declined by 16.6%, which we have already discussed as being not satisfactory. Corrective actions have been taken in the Dutch operation, and there is now a functioning government in place in the Netherlands. This should lead to activities in the framework agreements that we won participation on in the spring of 2021. It is expected that these are to begin to generate work for Netcompany Netherlands in 2022. Despite the low activity level in the Netherlands, we have continued to hire employees in 2021, and we have grown the amount of client-facing FTEs with 20% to 142 in 2021, which will ensure that we can accelerate growth in the Netherlands once projects are being released. Full year revenue for INTRASOFT has already been covered during the walkthrough of the Q4 numbers previously.
Can we have the next slide, please? Gross profit margin was 8.9 percentage point lower than for Q4 2020 and ended at 33.5%. The dilutive impact on margins from the inclusion of INTRASOFT was 5.4 percentage point. Margins were reduced in Denmark at 1.1% as a combination of more use of freelancers and the cross-utilization of Danish resources on international projects. This has led to an increase in the usage of freelancers in Denmark, however, at a lower ratio than seen in both Q2 and Q3. COVID-19 related restrictions and Omicron reduced margins with another 2 percentage point. In Norway, gross margin was reduced from 24.6% to 19.5%, mainly as a consequence of cross-utilization and the provision for additional resources required to complete one fixed fee project.
In the U.K., gross margin was improved significantly as utilization was improved compared to the same period last year. More and more, the operational setup and the projects undertaken in the U.K. begin to be of a type and character desired for the longer term growth and continued margin expansion in the U.K. Margin in the Netherlands was negatively impacted by the continued low utilization and usage of Danish resources as seen throughout the year. The largest fixed fee project in the Netherlands is being completed in Q1 2022, which will bring improvement to margins in itself. In addition, cases are emerging in the Dutch pipeline, and the fact that a functioning government is now in place is positive for our 2022 aspirations in the Netherlands.
Gross profit margin in INTRASOFT was 17.6%, above our expectations and a result of strong delivery on projects across the portfolio within the European part of Netcompany- INTRASOFT Group. Can we have the next slide, please? The pattern for the full year gross profit margins follow that of Q4. Lower margins impacted by the inclusion of INTRASOFT as expected and communicated in Q3, and continued impact from cross-utilization of Danish resources and impact of COVID-19-imposed restrictions towards the end of 2021. Positive trends in Norway and the U.K. in terms of projects and delivery hereof is expected to continue into 2022. The performance in the Netherlands is expected to be improved too. Can we have the next slide, please? Adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA margin for Q4 2021 of the operating entities decreased by six percentage points in the quarter.
Part of that is due to the reduced gross profit margin that I've just explained. Again, the main impact on margins come from the inclusion of INTRASOFT . Also, we did see increased costs related to employee activities. This was expected, and we are pleased that it is now possible to have more face-to-face activities with our employees. We expect these types of costs to continue to increase slightly through 2022. In addition, higher costs for our new office in Oslo, which was taken in use end of Q2 2021, impacted cost base. This was originally planned to sublet part of the new office in Oslo until we have grown in FTEs ourselves to occupy all of the new building, but this has not been possible and thus we carry the full rent ourselves.
Margins in the U.K. continue to improve as a result of lower proportion of independent contractors, better and longer-term projects, and increased utilization. EBITA margin in the Netherlands took a decline for reasons already discussed when analyzing gross profit margin. In addition, the continued focus on growth, more people to do recruiting, increased management remuneration, and increased marketing efforts in the Netherlands clearly have its tolls on margins. However, these actions are initiated because we continue to see a very interesting market opportunity in the Netherlands. Adjusted EBITA margin for the quarter in Netcompany- INTRASOFT was 7.4% above our expectations. Can we move to the next slide, please? For the full year, adjusted EBITA margin was 22.9% compared to 27.7% last year. 1.3 percentage point of the reduction was attributed to the inclusion of INTRASOFT .
For the core part of Netcompany, adjusted EBITA margin was 23.1% compared to 26.2% last year. As mentioned before, 2020 was extraordinary in the sense that the lockdown of most of the world in 2020 led to significantly reduced administrative costs impacting margins positively in 2020. For 2021, the continued cross-utilization and use of freelancers in Denmark to cover the load had a dilutive impact on margins of more than 1 percentage point. Also, increased vacation and sickness related to the widespread Omicron variant reduced margin by around 1 percentage point. Can we have the next slide, please? Free cash flow was positive with DKK 408 million in 2021 compared to DKK 557 million in 2020.
The decline in free cash flow compared to 2020 is related to the acquisition of INTRASOFT and changes to net working capital. For net working capital, work in progress and accounts receivables increased considerably. The most of that increase comes with the quote, unquote, “mismatch of bringing only two months of P&L into the group from INTRASOFT , but balance sheet items based on the full year's activities.” In addition, income taxes paid and interest paid increased in the year, also impacting free cash flow negatively, just as the one-off payment of DKK 100 million to the Danish Vacation Fund had a negative impact on our cash flow. Adjusted for the one-off payment to the Vacation Fund and adjusting for fair value adjustment to the cash conversion ratio, it was 94.3% compared to 103% last year.
During the year, we have repaid DKK 612 million on our debt prior to the acquisition of INTRASOFT and bought back shares for DKK 100 million alongside with the payment of dividend of another DKK 50 million. Our cash at hand at the end of the year increased by DKK 100 million and underlines our strong financial position with underlying strong and recurring cash flow generation. With that, I've concluded the detailed financial analysis, and we now open up the call for questions. If you move to the Q&A slide, please, and open the call for questions. Thank you.
Thank you. If you do wish to ask a question, please press zero one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing zero two to cancel. There will be a brief pause while questions are being registered. Our first question comes from George Webb with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thanks, morning, André and Thomas. A few questions from my end. Firstly, on INTRASOFT , at the midpoint of your 2022 guidance, it looks like the order backlog there gives you a little bit over 80% visibility. Can you just talk about how you see INTRASOFT evolving moving forward given the price you paid for that business? I guess the EU RRF is one of those big attractions, and it's still early days on that. You mentioned one contract award so far. Is that guidance you've set in your mind therefore more of a baseline with the potential to move up to higher rates of growth if some of those contracts materialize, or are you already incorporating some success there? That's just kind of first question.
Secondly, on the kind of Netcompany Core guidance range of 14%-19%, you mentioned three points impact from discontinuing two service lines. Can you just briefly mention why you've taken that decision now to discontinue those activities and how much of that three points will fall between Denmark versus the U.K.? Just lastly, reading through the annual report, there's obviously a lot of mention in there around new target opportunities moving forward and the DACH region being an opportunity. If an opportunity arrives there, that would be something that would be interesting. Can you talk about how you kind of balance expansion plans against, for example, consolidating U.K. market, where your scale is still very small in the greater context of things? Thank you.
Thank you, George. Yeah, looking into the INTRASOFT acquisition and looking ahead in 2022, I think it's very important to underline that INTRASOFT is a business that has been running for 20+ years, and we expect INTRASOFT to continue delivering and running many of the projects that they do in the EU and also in Greece. What we are concentrating on is and focusing on, particularly in 2022, is of course all the new opportunities arising, both from the RRF but also in the other areas in Europe. That's where our main focus is, and the rest of INTRASOFT will continue doing what they do. As we also said around 2022, we expect INTRASOFT with a growth rate of around 9%-ish.
When it comes to the service lines that we have dismantled, this is where it has very much to do with, in particular two areas, and they're both in the nature of us either aiding or configuring standard packages that we are not a part of. I mean, work that is not strategic for us or us providing, in particular in the U.K., help in program management, as a separate isolated business. That is not of a strategic nature to Netcompany, and we've decided to focus on what really creates growth and what is important for us. That is long-term business critical projects where we have the entire ownership of delivering from A to Z, and that's extremely important for us. That explains the decline of 3%, which is dismantlement of these service lines.
When it comes to the DACH region and balancing that against U.K. growth, where it's always a balance, as we are definitely looking at the U.K. as a very interesting market where we can see more or less a breakthrough and great customers coming in. At the same time, we're also looking at further expansion possibilities over the years to come. I think the separation into Netcompany Core and Netcompany Expand is a very good example of how we look at it because there's an opportunity in the years to come where the whole of Europe is digitalizing and what that demands from a company like Netcompany, where we have the ambition to become a European leader, we need to get into those markets.
We need to be present there, and then on top of that, we will start delivering with the Netcompany methodology and the model that we know so well and that has been so successful for us throughout the years. Yes, in Netcompany Core, where U.K. is a part of, we will do exactly what we've been doing in Denmark, and we have accomplished a lot, changing the entire organization, going from contractors to perms, now having many more strategic engagements. When we grow in the Netcompany Expand, we will go into new markets, and that can happen on top of platforms where the existing company is in place, and then we will add our services and projects on top of that. In the longer run, in a longer perspective, we will incorporate our methodology into those areas.
I hope that answered your three questions. Yeah, I hope that's sufficient.
Yeah, that's helpful. If I can just touch on one of those points. Can you give us any kind of feel on how much of that 3 points service discontinuation comes out of the UK versus Denmark?
It's a total 3% of growth, George. We do not disclose what is in each unit, but it's fair to assume that they are, you know, of a more or less same magnitude in the two countries.
Understood. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Claus Almer with Nordea. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Yeah, also a few questions from my side, and I will do them one by one. The first question goes to the employee cost inflation. So how are you actually managing and also offsetting cost inflation? And related to this topic, do you see a different pattern when it comes to pricing when you are in tender and project negotiations? That will be the first.
In general, one can say that it is true that the demand for IT resources across Europe, basically across the globe, is increasing. Of course, when looking at that will mean eventually, if it continues, that employee costs will go up, salaries will go up. That's a fact. Looking into the market itself and how that relates to our pricing, one can say it's easier. It's somewhat easier in the private sector where pricing will go up as a result of this. In the public sector, that will happen too. Some of the long-term framework agreements, you need to negotiate those. You can negotiate those every year because you can add the inflation rate to the contract.
Of course, in some of the longer-term contracts, especially the fixed price contracts that last over one , two , three years, it's that is very difficult. Overall, we'll try to price we put a pricing effect on the increased salary cost for sure. There will be somewhat of a delay in some of the public contracts, but we are very aware of that, and it's something that we are focusing on, and it's a part of being doing what we do and running the business that we do.
Okay.
Just one thing more, Claus. We're used to a salary model whereby the average salary cost increases between 7% and 8% every first January, simply because of the performance-based evaluation we have of all our employees. Top performers already in Netcompany will receive a salary increase of 12%-14% on an annual basis. It's not new for us to work with the salary increases. Like André said, we have ample opportunities to reflect that also in our ongoing contracts.
Do you see competitors doing the same? I mean, they need to do that, but do you also see them doing it?
Yeah. I mean, it's always difficult as most of our competitors are not very open and frank about, you know, how they are adjusting their prices, like we're also not. Clearly, the market in general is seeing increased salary costs, so that's something that hits everybody. As you know, our assumption is that everybody is to a certain extent pushing that price increase to the extent possible to the end customer. It's not always fully possible, but to the extent possible it will be pushed on.
Okay. Thanks. My second question goes to INTRASOFT , and I guess it's a two-fold question. The first is, now you've owned this entity for a few months. Is everything as it should be? Have you had any learnings? Secondly, the lower margin by INTRASOFT , and I know this is not a big surprise, but is this mainly a reflection of a more fierce pricing environment in general, or it's more about the setup and execution ability of INTRASOFT ? That will be the second question.
Yeah. Thanks for those questions, Claus Almer. Well, we are, as we said, two months with INTRASOFT . It's been going as we expected, actually a little bit better, as you can also see from the numbers. The due diligence has been thorough, and right now we are looking into exactly the company. We have no negative surprises, and things are running according to plan. We're of course focusing on new projects where we could deliver together. I think the lower margin is that a reflection of a fierce competition? Well, in some areas it is. For instance, when INTRASOFT is selling hourly-based consultancy services to some of the service agreements in the EU.
However, on larger projects and engagements where the ability to deliver entire engagements and fixed price projects, I think that has much more to do with having the right platforms and having the right organization. Lower margins. Well, of course there is competition in some of their services, but we will look into where we can change that, especially going forward with the new projects where we go together and using the Netcompany model, because that's where we wanna go with the. When we increase margins, that's where we're gonna focus as in 2022.
The delivery model for Intrasoft or Netcompany- INTRASOFT , as we call them now, is inherently different from that of Netcompany. So like André say, a higher proportion of basically resource selling, which comes at a lower margin. We know that, no surprise, and that's going to change gradually. And then the split between contractors and own employees, which is also what we've seen in the U.K., and we also know what impact that has. A combination of the operating model, the type of projects, engagement in some areas, some parts of the group, which is not yielding as profitable returns as other parts of the group of Netcompany- INTRASOFT . That's all things that we'll look into, 2022 and onwards.
Okay. Is there any difference between Greece and EU projects?
From a margin perspective, no.
Okay. That's all for me. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Our next question comes from Frederic Boulan with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning. Two questions on my side. The first one is on your margin profile outside of Denmark. If you look at U.K., Netherlands, Norway. If you can maybe share with us some thoughts on where you think you can realistically take those businesses on a three-year timeframe versus what you've achieved in Denmark, you know, if you see structural differences there. Maybe within that, you can bring in the INTRASOFT point around some of the potential arbitrage that you could do in terms of solving some of the skills shortages that you may have in those geographies with a lot of talent that you've acquired in that deal.
Second, around free cash flow, if you can discuss the moving parts in your debt guidance for 2022, what we should assume in terms of a delta between your kind of normal free cash flow generation. You mentioned a DKK 100 million buyback. Anything else that you've taken into consideration in terms of contribution to Vacation Fund or any other points we should have in mind? Thank you.
Yeah, I can take the first one. You can take the second, Thomas. Margin profile, U.K., Norway, Netherlands, Denmark. Well, that's the Netcompany Core. Our overall ambition and strategic direction in those markets is to create businesses that resemble the one in Denmark. Norway is a very good example. You can have a very good margin there. Of course, if you have one or two projects in a quarter, can dilute the margins somewhat. The ambition is, and has been in those markets, to create a business that operates fully in line with what the Danish business is doing, using our methodology, our career model entirely. Also having the blend of fixed price and we're basically taking the responsibility for entire outcome-based projects.
To answer that question, we are having the ambition to have margin profiles in the likes of Denmark. Now we have to remember, Denmark is 20+ years of experience. A lot of organic on top growth, also on people's competencies and abilities to perform. We're definitely moving in that direction in all those new three markets. When it comes to the INTRASOFT part of the business, I think it's fair to say that when we look into new projects where we're gonna run it by the Netcompany methodology, that's gonna be the same ambitions. Whereas looking into the existing INTRASOFT business, I think Thomas said it very well in answering the previous question, that there we have to use other means. For instance, replacing contractors with perms.
We have 600 contractors in the Intrasoft part of the business, but we've done that in the U.K. You can, so to speak, we are kind of experts in replacing contractors with perms from the U.K. experience. That's one of the tools we're gonna use there. Yes, you're right, Frederic. Altogether, I think bringing in INTRASOFT also opens up for new competencies and also resource pools that we haven't had before. That's overall a very strong thing for the company in a time where resources will be restrained across geographies. Thomas, if you could answer the second one.
On the free cash flow and what our expectations is for 2022, in an all other things equal situation, that's before any potential acquisition. We would expect the leverage, which is currently at 2.7x, to come down to below 2 based on the free cash flow generated in the organization. Including a share buyback of at least DKK 100 million, we expect to see some impact on cash flow on the positive note from Q1. There's been a substantial reduction in Netcompany Core in work in progress that has been moved out from work in progress and into receivables, which will then turn into cash during Q1. Work in progress net was actually reduced by 20% in Netcompany Core.
Netcompany- INTRASOFT diluted that improvement somewhat due to their different operating model. That is also a thing that we will look into in 2022. For Netcompany Core, we expect continued strong cash flow. Unlike in 2021, where we had the one-off payment to the Danish vacation fund, which also happened to be DKK 100 million. That will not happen in 2022, which of course will add another DKK 100 million compared to 2021. Basically, the growth in the business of Netcompany Core will accelerate free cash flow generated. Free cash flow, for all intents and purposes, we think looks strong and will, in an all other things equal situation, reduce leverage quite fast.
Okay. Thank you. Very clear.
Our next question comes from Poul Jessen with Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my questions. Coming back to the attrition rates and then the increase in the cost for the employee benefits next year. First, attrition rates. Do you see the range of 30%-40% attrition rates being any limitation on your ability to grow in the near mid-term? I haven't seen rates at that level at any of the companies I look at. And then the additional cost on the improved employee benefits. Is that part of general negotiations with employees? Or is it you deciding to improve the benefits for employees to become more attractive as a workplace?
Yeah. Thank you for those questions.
That's the first question.
Thank you, Poul. Great questions. Attrition rates. In general, one has to say that we've had very low churn.
In 2020 because of COVID, and then we had an overreaction, so to speak, in 2021. That trend we see specifically also in Denmark. You're right that we have higher attrition, higher churn in U.K. and in the Netherlands. One has to remember that in particular, in both those countries, we've been also deliberately changing the organization and putting in people that we know have run after the methodology that we want to enforce in those countries. Some parts of that is also deliberate, and we expect the churn to come down to normal levels in those countries. When it comes to the benefits, that is entirely imposed by ourselves.
We've increased pensions for some of our employees in the U.K. We've also changed vacation benefits in Denmark. That has been initiated only by ourselves, not legislation, because we want to be in line with what we think is both reasonable and adequate for the market itself. We wanna be, you know, a company where people really feel that they get the benefits that they deserve. We will always be in the market where we're not gonna go be better than the market, but we wanna be positioned in a balance where employees feel that they are taken very well care of.
On Claus's question earlier about the ability to push cost inflation to your contracts on the public side where you have this delay. Do you see any dilution of the margins from cost inflation versus public sector in 2022?
No, we don't.
All of that is managed, and here, of course, the law of big numbers is helpful. There are some projects where it's more difficult, there are other projects where it's easier. I think as André alluded to earlier, easier on new contracts and also easier on existing contracts in the private segment. Then we have to be clever, intelligent in how we handle some ongoing, especially maintenance projects in the public sector. All of that is balanced, the assumption that we have in terms of employee costs going into 2022 is fully reflected in our expectations to margins.
Mm.
Now you mention or start talking about Netcompany Expand, and you talk about becoming a European leader by 2030. Is it possible to say some words on what is necessary to be for you to become a European leader? What kind of revenue or size or number of people do you need so that you can label yourself a European leader in nine years?
That's a very good question, Paul. I mean, two things are necessary to become a European leader, and then we can take numbers after that. Two things are definitely necessary. One is to have enough offerings and platforms that you're relevant across many countries. With the Intrasoft acquisition, now we have also platforms within the customs and tax area, and with the launch of the Composable Enterprise Framework last week for the private businesses and the GovTech framework that we launched a few years back on the gov for the government parts. I think we are getting there. We can still have more platforms coming into our palette and portfolio of solutions, but we are getting there. Of course, you need to be present in many markets. You need to be there.
One thing is that you have a message, you have platforms, you have something that the customers would like to hear about and possibly buy, but you also need to be present. That requires that you have offices and people there. That's why we're also using the Expand way to go into markets with existing solutions and building on top of those. So when are you a European leader? Well, it's a very good question. It's not just a question of number of employees, but it's definitely a question of markets and size. I say some of the bigger European countries are definitely areas where we will go.
Specifically also the DACH region is interesting because over the last two years, digitalization has become a very important focus in those countries too. Whereas before, it was something one talked about but not really acted upon. I don't think I can go more into detail than that.
All right. Just follow up on that one, and I'm done. Given the performance of the Netherlands, U.K. and Norway in the last three years, which I would assume has not performed as you had expected, and now you add Intrasoft. Do you see that you have the resources or are you just accelerating the risk profile of the company?
I don't think we are accelerating the risk profile of the company. On the contrary, I think we have more legs to be standing on, more platforms and solutions. The company now delivers many more things than it did four or five years ago, but most importantly, many of the things that we are delivering are of long-term nature and of a criticality that just brings the customers into a strategic partnership across geographies. I think that's very healthy for a company like ours, instead of focusing only on a few solutions and maybe a limited market space. I sincerely believe that the company has a wider but also a more critical role in various countries. I think that's a stabilizing construction when you're growing.
That's also why we've expanded the communication on our operating models from both to Core and Expand. Netcompany- INTRASOFT is an example of Expand, which is where we will not be integrating the unit fully into Netcompany methodology from the get-go. If we were to integrate 3,000 or, you know, 2,800-2,900 employees into our methodology, into our academy, redo all the project documentation and stuff like that, then I would be fully with you, Paul, in terms of that is an increase to the risk profile.
Because we're doing it the other way, and because we are working our way gradually into Netcompany Core on new projects together, that actually has a smaller risk profile even though that is a bigger acquisition than some of the previous acquisitions we've done where we've changed everything into Netcompany Core. We see strong improvement in Norway, a little bit later than what we originally thought. Fully agree with you on that. 2022 looks really strong. We also see improved performance in the U.K., also looks very interesting for 2022. Then we have the Dutch acquisition, where our first year was fantastic. We more or less grew revenue by 100% in 2020.
In hindsight, that was maybe a little bit too fast, because we inherited some problems on some projects in 2021. All of that is now in the past and the organization is strong. We've changed the delivery team in the Dutch operation, so we have high expectations to the Dutch market and our performance there also for 2022. Long answer short, we don't think that we are increasing our risk profile, and that's also why we stick to our guns and say we still want to deliver the original financial performance in Netcompany Core that we've set when we've entered those new countries. We will continue to focus on that because that's a good foundation for continued growth.
All right. Thank you.
As a reminder, if you do wish to ask a question, please press 01 on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Yiwei Zhou with SEB. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. I have two follow-up questions, and I have one housekeeping question. I'll do them one at a time. First, looking at INTRASOFT , I realize there's quite a big difference in the margins across its regions. So if you're looking at the Nordic business, the margins are very high, and I guess for the rest of the business it's also very low margins. Regarding this new contract under RRF in Greece, what margin do you expect to deliver?
Just on that, and you're referring to the disclosure in the 2020 annual report of INTRASOFT International.
Yeah
where it's disclosed that the margin on INTRASOFT Scandinavia is three or four times as high as INTRASOFT Group, so it's closer to 25%-27%. INTRASOFT Scandinavia is where INTRASOFT is doing the joint project with Netcompany. That's the projects we do on customs together. That is a good example of what joint projects will look like once we start winning them and delivering them. That's what we can expect when we win new projects in Netcompany- INTRASOFT that we'll deliver in the core model. The new project that INTRASOFT has won under the RRF contract is a project they had pitched for already before we acquired INTRASOFT .
That will be delivered on INTRASOFT t, Netcompany- INTRASOFT old model, if you will, which means that the margins there will not be to the same magnitude as the ones we have in, for instance, INTRASOFT Scandinavia for 2020, such as the project on customs. New projects that we will bid for in Greece under the RRF, and we can think of a lot of different digitalization projects there, clearly we will utilize the GovTech platform that we have developed and expanded so heavily in Denmark over the last 10 years. Clearly, that means that there will be some margin upside when starting to deliver on those.
Great. Very clear. My second question is on the Dutch business. I mean, you have grown FTE 20% and it seems the pipeline also looks really good. When exactly should we expect to see the growth pick up and the margin improvement?
We expect that to happen during 2022. We see strong pipeline. We see strong and good activity. That will happen during 2022. Whether it's in one or the second or the third month, this is difficult for us to say very clear. We clearly have an opinion and a expectation that 2022 will start to look better in Holland.
Okay, great. My last question here is admin cost. It is higher, and you say it's normalized. Is it fair to assume this would be the run rate for 2022?
Which one? Sorry, I didn't hear the first part of the question, Wei.
Admin cost.
Oh, and then. Okay. Yeah. That's a fair assumption that it will be more towards what is the level of Q4 and onwards.
Okay, great. I jump back to the queue. Thanks.
Our next question comes from Gianmarco Conti with Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Hi. Yes, thanks for taking my question. I've only got a few here. I'll say them one by one. The first one I've noted that you've touched on this before, but, clients facing FTE growth was, you know, lower in Norway and in the U.K. because you've had higher churn rates. I was wondering whether that is because you have seen higher attrition from your younger workforce, or was this sort of more spread out across all ages?
A little bit difficult to hear the full question, Gianmarco. But as I heard it was the question was the hiring growth in Norway, U.K., and whether churn has prohibited us to hire more than what we have. At least that's what we're gonna answer on. If you want another question, then forgive us. Especially in the U.K., the reason why we did not grow that much is not so much a result of the churn. We can actually see that we can hire and we are a good name in the universities in the U.K.
It has more been a case of right-sizing the organization before we start to grow. The 15% growth is generated on only 5% employees, which means that we've taken up or driven up utilization. We've hired actually a lot of people that we've replaced with independent contractors. The underlying hiring in the U.K. is higher than what you can see in the number, and it will continue into 2022. On Norway, there is some churn, but we start also to see increased interest in our offices there, both in Oslo and in Trondheim. It's not as much a problem for us to hire.
Of course, there's still, you know, a battle for the right people, but I think we get our fair share. I don't know whether you want to add anything, André?
No, I just want to say that in Norway, it's always been tough in Norway historically throughout the years to get the right people, and the only way to do that is to be very close to the universities as well. We are, and I think we're taking our fair share. In the U.K., I think I heard something about whether it's young or older people leaving us when people leave us. I think it's fair to say that we are very good at attracting young people, both entirely new people from universities, but also people with a few years of experience. They really like to go into Netcompany, especially in the U.K. as well.
If anything, I think people leaving us when they leave us, that's typically well, when we close down service lines or do something that our core business, the way we like to run it, we need a constant inflow of young and also one to two, three years of experienced people. Right now, we're getting that in the U.K. It's always a struggle. It's always a battle. You need to be good at what you're doing. I think our HR people are some of the best in the world to do that. Of course, the market is a tough market, but we are getting what we need at the moment.
Yeah, that was actually my question. Thanks. I have another one around when do you roughly expect to for both the U.K. and Norway be operating without the need of Danish freelancers? Is it safe to sort of assume that it will be on the back end of 2022?
We've been helping both Norway and the U.K., and that has been great. I mean, one of the reasons why we could win the big deal in Norway, the biggest win ever in Norway, with the Oslo Municipality, is because we have a very strong team working together. Now, looking at the numbers, over 2021, we have not grown the number of people helping out. It has actually declined somewhat in the last quarter. Of course, we are focusing on this. We do want to help every time it's strategic, and it even grows the business further. Also, we have to remember that every time we do help, we also create local resources that can take over by themselves.
It will always be a balance, but we don't have any ambitions to amplify it even further. Every time we put in Danish resources and take them out again, we have some new local resources that can do this, can do their jobs. That's the way we look at it.
One more comment on that. Gianmarco Conti, and that is, the projects that we put people on at short notice during Q1 in 2021, which was when we really started to see this cross utilization and accelerating, were projects that were already won. Clearly when we bid for new projects, we'll be able to also take into consideration the mix of the project team, thereby also better reflecting in our pricing vis-à-vis margins that there are some Danish resources on. We are absolutely certain that this is the right thing to do.
When we do it in a more longer term perspective, then we can also better manage the potential dilutive impact on margins, which was difficult in Q1 and Q2, 2021 because it happened at such short notice.
Right. Right. That makes sense. I guess, like, because you're having Danish resources, you might with the new wins potentially adjust the pricing for those resources in the regions. Okay. Fair. Could you perhaps give some commentary on whether you'll be trying to adjust the currently high number of contractors from Intrasoft to full-time employees and sort of what is more in line with what is Netcompany call in 2022? Is that more of a phased progress that you're gonna try to shift those? Is that just not at all in the strategy?
No, I think what is important here is to also reflect that when we acquired Intrasoft, we decided basically to let the current business run as is because it would be impossible for us to change it in a short period of time. New projects that we win together will be based on teams that we have basically staffed the same way as Netcompany Core, which means our own employees. For 2022 and a good part into 2023, all the work that is being done in Intrasoft basically comes out of the order backlog, a lot of it comes out of the order backlog, so that has already been planned for and catered for, so difficult to change on short-term.
Clearly, we will always look into how we can best deliver the projects, and we will look into that more broadly during 2022, and then we'll see where that takes us. It's of course something we look at, but not something that we will at this call be able to say in Q1 this happened, in Q2 that happened and the like so.
Right. Just one last question, just for housekeeping. Do you expect similar levels on, you know, of sales and marketing costs as a percentage of revenues in H1 as you had in Q4? Or is that sort of still like an exceptional item? 'Cause I saw that you guys had substantially increased it because you had participation in conferences, you know, increased marketing campaigns and so forth.
We don't expect the same acceleration on an absolute amount in 2022. We have stepped up the game in 2021, also as a consequence of our desire to have a more European presence, be part of significantly important conferences as speakers, and drive the understanding of the GovTech framework and now, most recently, the Composable Enterprise Framework. That has come with a cost, which has been a step up in 2021. We do not expect to see the same absolute step up in 2022.
Right. Right. Fair. Thanks a lot. That's all for me.
Our next question comes from Balajee Tirupati with Citi. Please go ahead.
Hello. Thanks for taking my question. Two from my side if I may. First, how should we think of growth evolution in 2022 at the group level? Would it be fair to expect some COVID-19 related utilization headwinds in the first quarter of 2022? The second question is on midterm targets for Netcompany Core business. With changing scale and talent market dynamics, should we say that growth and margin expectations have had a reset for the group?
Thank you. We got the first question, Balajee, on COVID-19, but the second part of the question was difficult to hear, so could you rephrase that and then we'll take the two of them?
Yes, sure. The second question is on the medium-term targets for the Netcompany Core business. I was asking that with the changing scale of the business and the current talent market dynamics, should we say that the growth and margin expectations over the medium term have had a reset now?
All right.
Well, around COVID-19, of course, no one can say what's actually gonna happen. We sincerely hope that with the Omicron variant, the impact of the pandemic is gonna be less, and we can go back to more normal operations. One thing is for sure, it doesn't seem like the customers are buying less. The impact of COVID-19 hopefully disappearing from the European country or being less important will just mean that we don't have this increase in sickness or vacation fluctuations will disappear. That's what we're hoping for. Overall for the group, you asked about, you know, what do we expect in 2022. Well, what we've...
Right now as it is for the group, we're expecting for the whole year of 2022 45% to 50%, +50% growth, and a margin above, I think it's 58% growth and a margin above 20%. That's an overall for the group what we expect for 2022 when it comes to the medium targets.
Yeah, I mean, it's clear that if you look at the Netcompany Core part, which the question was towards, then the gradual improvement of performance in Norway, in the U.K. and in Holland, which we expect to happen, will have a positive impact on margins. We don't expect margins in Denmark to come down. Since the other part of the group is going to improve, clearly the logic is that the margins will expand in the medium term without, you know, giving you a number.
Understood. If I just follow up on that and ask the question differently, would it be fair to say that the target would still be to deliver more than 20% growth in the core business with a margin of more than 35% in the medium term?
Yeah. I mean, we are not going to be able to comment on such specific questions, Balandier, because we have not given any medium-term targets, so that would be wrong of us to sit here and be very specific on that. What we can offer is that what we just said, and clearly, as margins are expected to improve in U.K., Norway and Holland, it will have a positive impact without going into longer term guidance implications.
Understood. Thank you for your answer.
There are no further questions. I hand back over to our speakers.
Well, thanks a lot, and have a great day. Thank you.
Thank you.