Welcome, and thank you for joining this Per Aarsleff Holding Q1 conference call. With me today, I have Group CEO Jesper Kristian Jacobsen and Group CFO Mogens Vedel Hesselberger. After the Q1 presentation, we will continue to the Q&A session, where questions will be read along with the sender. All speakers will be available for questions during the Q&A session. Questions can be submitted in English via the Q&A function. Kindly, we ask all participants to submit a maximum of one to two questions. The conference call will be recorded and published on aarsleff.com. The call is scheduled to last 45 minutes. Please be aware that the presentation contains forward-looking statements subject to uncertainties. Over to you, Jesper.
Thank you, and also welcome from Mogens and my side to all of you. Go briefly back to the first slide, to the first picture. That's a photo or picture of our harbor project in Gothenburg, Masthuggskajen, a huge harbor project that we have worked on for the last two to three years. A project that's going according to plan, and we expect to hand over the project to the client within the next roughly approximately 12 months, and then to the overall figures. Turnover approximately DKK 5.5 billion in the first quarter, a growth of approximately 4% compared to the same quarter last year. As you can see on the doughnut on the left-hand side of the slide, still roughly a third of our turnover is outside Denmark. An EBIT of DKK 239 million, corresponding to 4.3% EBIT.
Percent-wise, roughly the same as last year, and percentage-wise also the same. Going to construction, the biggest of our five segments. The picture you can see on the left-hand side is from our harbor projects in the north, harbor in Copenhagen, Lynetteholm. A project that we have worked on for the last one to two years. A project which is still going according to plan, and as you can see on the picture, the breakwaters, stone breakwaters, are now more or less all coming above water, so you can see the perimeter of the breakwaters. Turnover, roughly DKK 2.5 billion, a growth of 2%-3% compared to the same period last year.
The growth, which is driven mainly by civil engineering projects, construction projects, not building projects, civil engineering projects driven by infrastructure, energy, the green transition, where we see a relatively good market both in Denmark and outside Denmark, and a building market which is still on a relatively low level. EBIT 4.4%, and EBIT result, DKK 112 million. And as we see, as I said, we see a high activity on the infrastructure market. Lynetteholm is one of the projects where we are busy at the moment. Fehmarn, the tunnel in the southern part of Denmark, the Masthugkaj, which we showed just before, just three projects where we see high activity and general good market conditions within energy and green transition projects. Technical solution, a growth of roughly 20% compared to the same period last year. Also here, infrastructure projects driven by energy, the pharma sector.
We see a high activity level and good market conditions. EBIT result of DKK 39 million, 4.2%, quite a bit better than we saw the same period last year, and again, driven by high activity and good market conditions, especially within energy projects and infrastructure projects. Rail, the picture you can see on the left-hand side is from the southern part of Copenhagen, Ny Ellebjerg Station, where we have had several contracts and are also still busy building on the station. A growth of roughly 3% compared to the same period last year, turnover of roughly DKK 500 million, and an EBIT result of DKK 11 million, 2.1%, quite a bit better than last year, and also here, especially in Denmark, we see high activity, good market conditions. The same in Norway and Sweden.
But in Norway and Sweden, we have been through the last two to three years a turnaround process, a process which is well advanced in Norway, to a lesser extent advanced in Sweden. But in Denmark, we do see really good market conditions and high activity. Ground engineering has had a hard Q1. The picture you can see is from a ground engineering project in Aarhus, in central Aarhus. But I said a hard Q1 for ground engineering, and that's a mix of still a housing building market, which is, as expected, on a low level, especially in Sweden. But we also do see that outside Sweden, giving less demand for concrete piles and again, giving lesser capacity utilization of both the factories and also our driving equipment on the sites.
And then we also do see that we have spoken about that on previous calls, that the infrastructure markets, both in Denmark and outside Denmark, we do see projects that are getting delayed. And that's basically the two reasons for, you could say, the lesser demand for concrete piles and the delayed infrastructure projects that's giving the result of a decline in turnover of roughly 5% in ground engineering landing about DKK 800 million in turnover, and EBIT result close to zero. But looking forward, the pipeline of projects is still relatively good, and we expect, and we do see projects in the pipeline that are due for execution in Q3 and Q4 if we are lucky to win some of them. So the pipeline of projects looks relatively good going forward. Pipe technology is also a project from Aarhus Harbor.
A very good first quarter in pipe technologies, close to DKK 700 million in turnover, a growth of 6% roughly, and an all-time high Q1 EBIT result, DKK 74 million, 11% EBIT margin. And that's a result of good market conditions in all the markets we're in, both the Nordics and Western Europe. And also initiatives of being more effective, looking more on the inside of the activities that we have had, but good market conditions in all the markets we are in at the moment. Order backlog, order intake, starting with order backlog on the left-hand side, a bit more than DKK 24 million status quo compared to the same period last year, and an order intake of close to DKK 5.5 billion, relatively good or good in most segments. It's again ground engineering suffering most, also order intake-wise.
It's a mix of smaller and medium-sized projects, so very positive because that's basically what makes the basis of the company. We're happy, very happy that it's a good mix of products that we have got in the first quarter. Guidance for the full year is unchanged. Expected revenue growth 0-5%, and EBIT between DKK 1.05 billion and DKK 1.15 billion. It's unchanged compared to what we have guided earlier, and EBIT margin-wise, close to 5% again this year. To some projects. The first project is in Copenhagen district heating project, a project type which we see quite a lot of in the pipeline at the moment. This is the largest one we got, project volume roughly DKK 2 billion. District heating in the outskirts of Copenhagen, project that is well advanced, going according to plan.
A project type that fits quite good to our competencies and also a project type which we see more of in the pipeline. Again, a project type which is driven by the green transition energy type projects. Again, back to Aarhus Harbor, where we are busy with building housing projects, one of three bigger building projects we have at the moment. This is a housing project, 305 apartments, project size DKK 7 million-DKK 800 million, project that we started working on last year. DGNB certified projects, which is planned to be handed over in 2028, and a project which is going according to plan.
Then to Poland, foundations for a bridge in the eastern part of Poland, roughly 130 km east of Warsaw, where we are doing both concrete piles, as you can see on the picture, and also sheet pile walls, which you can see close to the water. A typical ground engineering project in Poland, which we have built many of during the years. And again, crossing of a river eastern of Warsaw. And then to our latest acquisition, Articon on the Faroe Islands, acquisition which we announced late January this year, and which was approved by the competition authorities earlier this week. So now all the formalities are in place. The biggest construction company in the Faroe Islands, turnover roughly DKK 700 million. And that was the last country that we missed to have in the portfolio, looking at the North Atlantic region.
We do have PermaGreen already in Greenland and Istak in Iceland. And now we also got the Faroe Islands with Articon and an acquisition that fits quite good into our strategy of getting a better and larger footprint in the North Atlantic region. And then to another climate project, green transition projects, Kaysergården, also in Copenhagen, where we are building basins below ground for storage of water. Basins that are needed for storage of water with heavy rainfalls. And then we can keep the water in the basins until there is space enough again in the public sewage system. And again, a type of projects that we do see quite a lot of. We do have other of the same type where we're working on at the moment. And this is one of the larger ones.
Contract value is roughly DKK 500 million project that we have started on recently, and then onto rail, where we have got quite a good order intake here in the first quarter. Four framework agreements have been contracted, order volumes roughly DKK 700 million in Q1, and then early Q2, we have also announced that we have been awarded the contract on renovation of the central station in Aarhus, a contract with the value of roughly DKK 300 million, so a good start of the year, also order intake-wise in rail. Then to Greenland, still in the North Atlantic region, Nuuk Hospital, where PermaGreen has recently got awarded a contract of psychiatric facilities in Nuuk, 6,500 sq m of new hospital, and basically a classical PermaGreen project that we have done many of in the past.
And as I said, a contract that has been recently awarded and a project that we have to hand over to the client in 2027. And then to a cable project again, energy green transition driven projects, 43 kilometers of cable with our company Petri & Haugsted together with Østergaard from Vejle. It's busy with a classic cable project that we also have done many of in the past for one of our clients in Copenhagen. And a project where we have also participated in the planning and the design of the project. But again, a project type that we do see many of in these days and also in the pipeline going forward. That was the last slide, and then we go over to questions and answers.
And the first question comes from Sebastian Graabæk from Nordea, and it is regarding Articon.
Do you see any potential synergies from expanding your footprint in the North Atlantic? And can you put a few words on the Faroe demand picture in general?
Mogens Vedel will answer that one. If we start with the last part, we see a high demand on the market up in the Faroe Islands. There's a lot of demand for housing where Articon is strong, and there's also infrastructure projects in the pipeline. There's energy projects in the pipeline. So in general, we see a strong market at the moment up there. Another market where Articon is strong is on the land-based fish farming where Faroe Islands is one of the leading ones in the North Atlantic. In general, we see synergies here. We see that we can make our three entities up there, Greenland, Iceland, and Articon in the Faroe Islands, work closer together, sharing resources.
So that's really also part of this acquisition to have a stronger foothold up there where we can have much more cooperation and share best practices and market opportunities. So that's really why we went into this acquisition.
Perfect. And the next question is, the Danish government is rapidly ramping up defense spending. Do you see any market opportunities from Barracks Renovations or other things potentially going your way?
We do expect to get a part of those activities. Barracks Renovation is definitely one way we will look with Hansson & Knudsen in Odense. But we also do expect harbor projects to come out of this agreement, NATO harbors, defense harbors. And that's maybe even a greater focus for us to look towards the harbor expansions that we also do expect from this.
And the next question is regarding ground engineering.
With a slow start of the year, it seems like your guidance hinged on successful tenders over the coming month. Are you comfortable in terms of winning these?
We are comfortable with the guidance that we have given you. Otherwise, we would have given another guidance for ground engineering. As I said, it has been a hard Q1. Some of the tenders that we have tried to win have not gone our way. We do see a relatively good positive pipeline going forward. And there are projects that we are tendering for at the moment, which is due for execution in Q3 and Q4. So we are comfortable with the guidance we have given you so far, yeah.
And the next question is regarding pipe technologies, and it is posting the best quarter since 2012. What is going your way, and to what extent is this level of profitability sustainable?
Yeah, I think I said it's at all-time high. So it's a very good first quarter. Maybe I already answered it when I went through the segments. It's good market conditions on all the markets we're in at the moment. So that's one part of the success for this first Q results. And then we have also in the recent years worked on the internal lines to be more effective, to develop new technologies. So it's a mix of these efforts and then the good market conditions.
And the next question comes from Christian Turner, SEB. The Danish government has decided to allocate DKK 50 billion to the Danish Armed Forces for 2025 to 2026. Can you elaborate on the opportunity that brings for your business?
Maybe that's a repetition of what I said before.
Barracks Renovation for Hansson & Knudsen is definitely one area that we will look at, but we will look even more towards infrastructure projects, harbor projects that we also do expect to come out of these investments.
And you highlight the increasing market for renovation of buildings in the Copenhagen area. Historically, this segment has not been your stronghold. So how optimistic are you, and can you capture a significant part of this market?
Whether we can capture a significant part of the market, I don't know. But it's a focus area for Hansson & Knudsen, who specialized in renovation of buildings. And it's right that we have got more projects in Copenhagen, also outside Copenhagen. So it's a high focus for Hansson & Knudsen, and we do see a high demand going forward as part of this green transition agenda that's out there.
And the next question comes from Anders Pries-Møller, Danske Bank. Can you elaborate on your comments on activity levels in Iceland normalizing? Should we expect normalized EBIT margin contribution from the Icelandic business now?
Like I said, especially last year, there was very, very high activity level in Iceland for us. We have worked on protecting cities and infrastructure towards the labor that came from these eruptions up there. And we have had significant activity in the airport. And so it was unusually high for us last year. I think it's more normal now, but there's still a high activity level going on there. Fish farming is really starting to kick off in Iceland. We have a strong pipeline of fish farm projects. There's still plans on expanding the airport. There's still a need for housing up there. And we still see this increase in infrastructure projects.
We are quite optimistic about the Icelandic market, although it will be at a slightly lower level than last year due to this special labor. But on the other hand, we saw another eruption in November, and we have worked on that again. So it's also a thing what will happen with this nature. Whether it's tough with these eruptions or not, that can also affect our result this year in Iceland.
And the next question is regarding ground engineering. Can you elaborate on how you reach your guidance for this year? What dynamics would we need to see in the second half of the year? And what is your current view on this?
As I said, we have in the first quarter seen a decreased demand for precast concrete piles. We have also had some projects that we have tendered for that have not gone our way.
That's how it sometimes is in a project-driven business. But when we look at the pipeline going forward, there are many opportunities out there. We have also seen, unfortunately, projects being delayed. But the view we have going forward, as I said before, there are quite many projects out there, and some of them are also due for execution in Q3 and Q4. So the guidance we have given so far is based on the picture that we can see at the moment.
And the next question comes from Karsten Søndermølle, Maj Invest. You have just published annual report for, among others, MD Rustfri. What an acquisition that has been. Turnover and EBIT has exploded. Can you talk about the process in more detail? And on the other hand, the increased earnings in the rest of the technical installation segment is perhaps a bit less impressive.
Do you see problems in any of these bigger projects?
It's correct that MD Rustfri has been a very good acquisition. I think the timing, we have been through that also on previous calls. The timing was good. Novo, the pharmaceutical sector, has huge expansion plans in Denmark. So the timing of the acquisition has also been close to perfect. We do still see in the installation M&E segment in general quite high demands, both in the pharmaceutical sector for district heating, energy-driven projects, projects driven by the green transition infrastructure. So quite high demand for the competencies we do have in Wicotec Kirkebjerg. And we are busy on several bigger projects, the district heating that we showed on the screen a little bit earlier in the presentation. We are working on two huge hospitals.
So the business in general, the division of the segment in general, and also the projects I have just talked about are all going according to plan.
And the next question is about Articon. You say that you will guide when you had time to evaluate the project portfolio. Is that a general comment, or do you have a hint that you will like to change in the approach on reservations and accounting principles?
It's a general comment. And of course, we also need to discuss with them on aligning the way they are having their accounting with our way of doing it. But we are positive on the acquisition. What we have seen in the due diligence is positive. So we do not expect any major surprises.
But of course, we need to dig further into it here when we have the official keys, take over the keys here mid-March.
And the next question comes from Peter Sehested from ABG. Seems like the most of the Q1 order intake in general engineering was immediately converted. So sales, very low level of long-term orders. You had a similar quarter in 2023. Is this how we should look at Q1? Abnormally low intake with normalization in the order in Q2, or is this just a very weak market?
Was it related to ground engineering?
Yeah.
Yeah, it has been a hard Q1, and the demand for precast concrete piles has been low, both in Denmark but also outside Denmark, especially in Sweden. But again, some of these orders, it's difficult to get them to fall just after each other.
And especially if we're talking bigger projects, which there are some out there, there will be gaps and holes between those. So I don't think you can conclude that.
I guess we can say that in the past, we were doing more building constructions that are small, medium-sized, where you have a larger pipeline. And now we are moving more to infrastructure, large individual projects. And the timing, of course, will be more important in relation to order intake. So when you have one of these, you will see the order intake. So those are changed at the moment. But on the other hand, we see the first weak signs of the building market, for example, in Sweden, coming back.
Yeah, it's starting slowly to ramp up again. But it's going slow, especially in Sweden.
And the next question comes from Alexander Busch from Carnegie.
Do you have enough capacity to bid on Vestforbrænding's stage two district heating tender, given your involvement in stage one?
Yeah, there's a new round of tenders coming out, and we do have a strong focus, and we'll try to see if we can get another share of those.
At least we have capacity.
Yeah, yeah, we do. Yeah, yeah.
And again, on Articon, when do you expect to have sufficient insight into the Articon business to allow you to incorporate it in your financial year guidance?
It will take some time. We will start looking at it as soon as we have the official takeover of this plant here mid-March. And I would assume that it will be sometime during May, latest in connection with our Q2 announcements.
You mentioned that you see a good tender pipeline in ground engineering.
Would you elaborate whether that is a few tenders or more spread out? Is the pipeline related to specific countries or more widespread? When are these tenders expected to materialize?
It's more tenders. It's not only a few. And it's also in more of the countries that we are in. So it's not only one or two tenders in one or two countries. It's a wider picture that we do see. And as I said, some of them are due for execution in Q3 and Q4 in our second half year.
So there's no more in the next.
Yeah, yeah. We cannot say. I think we repeated that a few times now that that's the best outlook we have at the moment. But there are relatively many tenders out there, and it's not only in one or two countries. So it's a widespread picture.
And again, from Christian Turner, SEB.
We have seen a lot of political focus on Greenland since the change of administration in the U.S. Can you update us on the market opportunities in these markets and whether this political focus already has materialized in more projects?
Yeah, it's a tumultuous world at the moment, and we have also, of course, followed the media as we all can do. It's difficult to say precisely how these discussions will end, but we do expect that independently how these discussions will end, that it will require more activities up there. And basically, that it's something that we will benefit of.
We've not seen it so far on a per project basis. It's a project we have known for the last two, three years that are coming out. So that's business as usual. There's no change up there.
In the other part of Greenland, it's a normal pipeline we've seen, and we're winning our share of the project.
Yeah, but we do expect high activity level. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Thank you for the questions. That was the conclusion of the Q&A session. Over to you, Jesper, for a final remark.
Thank you, everybody. Thank you for joining. Thank you for listening. Thank you for asking good questions. Thank you for the interest of our company. I would wish you all a nice day and a good.