Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Q3 2022 conference call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker presentation, there will be a question- and- answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. I would now like to hand the conference over to Michael Larsen, Group CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Welcome to our Q3 2022 conference call, and thank you for dialing in. If we move to Page 2, we kindly ask you to read the important notice provided on this slide, and then let's move on to Page number 3. Here you see the presenting team of today. My name is Michael Larsen. I'm the Group CEO of NTG, Nordic Transport Group, and together with me today, I have Christian Jakobsen, our Group CFO. Let's move on to Page number 4. Here you see the agenda for this conference call, which includes the highlights for the third quarter of 2022, a review of the financial performance of the group and the two divisions, a presentation of the other key figures, and finally, the outlook for 2022. By the end of the presentation, the line will be open to questions from the audience.
If we move on to Page number 5, these are the main highlights for Q3. In the third quarter of the year, we experienced a change in the market dynamics as a weakened macroeconomic outlook, rising inflation, and declining supply chain congestions led to a change in consumer behavior across a range of industries, which altogether led to a cool down in transportation activities. In the Road & Logistics Division, we experienced a gradual stabilization of the capacity situation in Q3, and even though capacity continued to be short in supply, a weakened market outlook led to reduced supply side pressure. As reflected in the spot rates, slowly declining in July and August, followed by a partial rebound in September. In the Air & Ocean Division, Q3 marked the beginning of a softening of global air and ocean freight markets and the combination of a slowing demand.
Decreasing bottlenecks in the U.S. and Asia led to a significant decline in ocean freight rates across key trade lanes. In air freight, rates were also on the decline, although at a much more moderate pace. Despite these challenges, we experienced strong results across both divisions in Q3 with a double-digit growth in net revenue and operating profit. Finally, the guidance provided on the 6th May, 2022 is maintained. For the full year, 2022, we expected to achieve a net revenue of DKK 9.7 billion-DKK 10.2 billion and adjusted EBIT of DKK 700 million-DKK 750 million. With those words, I will now hand you over to Christian, who will take you through the Q3 financial results. Christian?
Thank you, Michael. As Michael mentioned, we are pleased to show strong results across both divisions during the third quarter of 2022, despite an increasingly challenging market environment. On Page 6, you see the main financial highlights for the group. Net revenue for the third quarter of 2022, total DKK 2.8 billion, which is an increase of 51% versus the same period last year. Organic growth contributed with 17% while the acquisitions of AGL and APL contributed with additional 36% for the quarter. Currency translation effects had a negative impact of 1.9%. Gross profit increased 45% to DKK 533 million, corresponding to a gross margin of 18.9% versus 19.7% in Q3 2021.
Adjusted EBIT increased 47% to DKK 209 million in the quarter, corresponding to an operating margin of 7.4% versus 7.6% in Q3 last year, reflecting a constant margin in the Road & Logistics Division and a margin decrease in the Air & Ocean division. If we move to Page 7, you see the summary of the financial key performance indicators. As illustrated to the left, the gross margin development for the group was mainly impacted by a decrease in the Road & Logistics Division compared to the very last quarter as well as the same period last year due to an increase in the cost of procuring capacity and a softening spot market in July and August.
The gross margin within the Air & Ocean division also declined slightly compared to the same period last year, although trending higher compared to the previous quarter as a result of the decline in ocean freight rates. In the middle of the slide, you see the conversion ratio, which on group level increased compared to the same period last year, although declining compared to the previous quarter in both divisions, mainly because of seasonality effect during the holiday period and secondly, AGL having a full financial impact in Q3.
On the right-hand side, you see the development in the operating margin, which decreased compared to the last quarter due to the development within the Road & Logistics Division, which was a consequence of seasonality effects, but also less favorable spot rates. Air & ocean margin development in the Air & Ocean division offset the declining conversion ratio compared to the previous quarter and the margin consequently remained constant. If we move to Slide 8, you see the financial review for the Road & Logistics Division. The division generated a net revenue of DKK 1.7 billion in the quarter, which was 24% above the same period last year. The increase was related to both acquisition growth contributing with 7% to the total growth, while organic growth contributed 21% driven by capacity and E.U. Mobility Package surcharges introduced to safeguard capacity.
Elevated spot rate also had a positive effect on organic growth in the quarter of 2022 compared to the last quarter, same quarter in 2021. Gross profit increased 20% to DKK 338 million corresponding to a gross margin of 19.5% versus 20.2% in Q3 2021, and the decrease was mainly driven by increasing cost of procuring capacity. Adjusted EBIT increased 26% to DKK 134 million in the quarter, while the operating margin remained constant at 7.7%. The conversion ratio increased to 39.7% compared to 37.9% in the same quarter last year. That was mainly driven by an increase in cost per shipment as well as consistent cost controls throughout the quarter.
Then if we flip to Page 9, we see the financial review of the Air & Ocean Division. The division generated a net revenue of DKK 1.1 billion in the quarter, which was 129% above same period last year, pure organic growth of 7% driven by high growth in Poland and Denmark, though partially offset by declining volumes with a limited number of customers as well as declining freight rates. While the acquisition of AGL contributed with 100% to the growth during the quarter. Gross profit increased 126% to DKK 196 million corresponding to a gross margin of 17.9% versus 18.2% in Q3 2021. The development was mainly a consequence of the acquisition of AGL.
If we adjust for this, the gross margin increased 0.7, 0.8 percentage points year-on-year. Adjusted EBIT increased 109% to DKK 75 million corresponding to an operating margin of 6.9% versus 7.6% in Q3 2021. The margin decrease was driven by negative development in the conversion ratio of 3.1 percentage points, and that was due to more challenging market conditions. If we flip to Page 10, you see an overview of our key figures. On the left you see that the net working capital decreased to minus 22 million kroner as per September 30. AGL added 153 million in the net working capital, and the rest is normal seasonality. While our refinancing program released DKK 9 million as per end of the quarter.
The adjusted free cash flow totaled DKK 223 million in the third quarter compared to DKK 76 million in the same period last year, mainly driven by improved operating performance and an improvement in net working capital compared to the previous quarter. Finally, to the right you see that the net interest-bearing debt, excluding IFRS 16, totaled DKK 367 million by the end of Q3, mainly as a result of the acquisition of AGL and also the solid cash flow in Q3. If we flip to Page 11, you see our full-year outlook for 2022 that was provided on 6th May . We maintain our full-year expectation of net revenue of DKK 9.7 billion-DKK 10.2 billion and an adjusted EBIT of DKK 700 million-DKK 750 million. That was all what we had planned for today. Moderator, please open the line for Q&A.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now begin the question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone. We have the first question, so please stand by. The first question from Ulrik Bak from SEB. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello, Michael and Christian. First of all, a question on your guidance. You maintain the guidance, which means that you implicitly guide for around DKK 115 million-DKK 165 million in Q4 adjusted EBIT. Which is, if you take the midpoint, a 30% decline compared to what you reported in Q3. Can you perhaps share what you have seen in the market that makes you expect such an earnings decline in Q4? Also if we can sort of use the implicit Q4 guidance as a reference when looking into 2023. Thanks.
Yeah. What we are seeing is that we are having close to no visibility. What we are then hearing is that the stocks in the warehouses in the U.S., they are completely full and a lot of people expect that the U.S. Market will be very soft in Q4. Then we also see some analysts from some of your competitors indicating that also the road freight will be soft in Q4. We don't have any visibility and therefore you can say that we're also having a little bit higher spread than we would normally have at this point on the year. It is due to the fact that we have close to zero visibility. We are hearing a lot about the markets, also hearing that the U.K. market is very soft at the moment. That is the reason.
Okay. Thank you. Maybe a follow-up on that. If you look at the volumes for perhaps October and the trucking rates for October compared to the Q3 average, where are we tracking at the moment, if you can share that?
There's no doubt that the market has softened also on the road market. And please remember, we came from a very high level in Q2, where we had some very good spot due to the new market conditions for the E.U. Mobility Package. This market has normalized. We do see a decline in the index.
Any sense of percentage terms, are we down 10% in terms of volumes and yields or is it more or is it less? Just to provide an indication.
I don't think it will be suitable if I give you a percentage on that.
Also, please have in mind that there's a big difference if you take it from market to market in the road. Like Christian said before, the U.K. market is really slow at the moment, so there's a big difference. To give you a percentage, there will be quite a big gap between some of the countries.
We're also hearing south of Europe should be pretty soft. It would be very difficult to give you a flavor on the different markets.
Okay. Thank you. A question on your cost. What have you done in terms of cutting costs or if you have done anything, but given the uncertain macro environment?
I think that our different parts has already done what they see in the market. That means some have made a little bit of cost-cutting, and some have stopped hiring people and also replacing people. Yeah, we are very focused and all of the group is very focused on being cautious on the cost side. If we have to do more, then we'll do more.
Okay. Thank you so much. No further questions from me at this time.
You're welcome.
Thank you for your question. We don't have any other question at the moment.
All right. We can conclude it. Thank you for listening in and see you when we are publishing our full year. Thank you.
That concludes the conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect.