Okay. Good morning, all, and welcome to ABG Sundal Collier's Q4 results presentation. With me here today I've got our CFO, Geir Olsen, who will make sure I behave, and he will also elaborate a bit on financials and a bit on the cost base later on. Before we kick off, I would also like to mention that, of course, as usual, there will be a Q&A session after the presentation. If you want to raise questions, please use the Q&A function in Teams, and we will answer all questions in turn. Before we dig deeper into the numbers, let me start with a few general reflections about Q4 and the year that has just passed.
During the quarter, markets recovered from the lows in end of Q3 on the back of signs of fading momentum in inflation, and thus hopes of interest hikes coming to an end. This supported some, although limited, capital markets activity during the quarter. Especially in equity markets, we saw some activity with ABG conducting a number of private placements and also actually one IPO, which was a very rare thing in the second half of 2022. That said, a high market share in very quiet markets doesn't make anyone happy. Therefore, I'm very glad to see that our business model is working as designed, with leading positions in all relevant product areas across many sectors, as well as in different geographical markets, making us less dependent on one single product or one single area.
From that point of view, I'd like to highlight our strong performance, especially within our Norwegian M&A franchise, as well as our brokerage and research platform. We improved our market shares in the high yield segment further during 2022, and improved our rankings, such as number 1 and 2 within the Prospera Corporate Finance ranking. All in all, a solid achievement in tricky markets. Let's look at the numbers in more details. During the quarter, we delivered revenues of NOK 508 million, resulting in full year revenues of NOK 1.7 billion. Our operating margin ended up at 23% for the full year, which is a touch south of the 25% we think we should achieve over time.
Still decent and within historical ranges. Clearly, our revenue and profitability-driven compensation model mitigates some of the effect on our operating margin from decreasing revenues. We'll talk a bit more on about costs later on in the presentation. This ended up with an EPS on a fully diluted basis of 17 KRW in the quarter and NOK 50 on the full year. In line with our dividend policy, the board has also proposed a dividend of NOK 50 per share. I should also mention that we intend to work actively with keeping the share count stable over time from here. When it comes to market and the macro and market backdrop, Q4 was one very clear example of that history tends to repeat itself.
The history I'm referring to is that when all three major asset classes, equities, bonds, and commodities, at the same time, in the same quarter, decreases in value, such as was the case in Q3, we tend to see a bounce back in the following quarter. Of course, a trigger is needed, apart from just historical patterns repeating itself. This time around, it was, as I alluded to, just previously here, signs of fading momentum in inflation and thus interest rates, coming, nearing a peak in a few months or so. We actually articulated just that back in early October, and we have since then witnessed a rebound between 10%-20% for this basket of assets. That have automatically not resulted in capital markets being receptive for new issuance activity, but at least it's a start.
Most important for capital markets to be open for business again is volatility fading, coming back to low levels and staying low for some time. As you can see in the middle of the chart, we witnessed that in end of 2022. Now we need to see stability for some time before markets are really open for business again. How did this translate into for important market for us, this macro backdrop? As described, the markets bouncing back in Q4 did not instantly lead to a strong recovery in volumes picking up again, which is evident looking at the ECM volumes being down by close to 80% in the quarter and just north of 70% for the full year.
Look at the light blue shaded part of the bar in Q4, which is primary placements. Some signs of increased activity and actually the best quarter of 2022 in terms of volumes in primary placements. The reason is short lead times making these kind of processes possible days rather than months, such as the case for IPOs, which enables companies to utilize or take advantage of any window that might be open, which was the case especially in November of Q4 last year. Too early to tell if this is a clear sign of markets recovering, but at least it's an observation.
Debt capital markets did slightly better throughout the first 9 months of the year, but finished on a low in Q4. This year has started better in debt capital markets, and we have already been involved in several DCM transactions in the first few weeks. M&A, as always, more stable. Transactions down by 26% in the quarter and 20% in the full year of 2022. How did we do considering the market conditions in our specific niches? Well, decent, I'd say, and in terms of number of transactions, not too bad. Starting off with the corporate finance, I think we did our fair share in terms of number of transactions at least, primary placements such as Catena, Exeger, an unlisted one, Komplett, to mention a few.
The only Scandinavian IPO above EUR 30 million in transaction size with IPO of Cinis Fertilizer in Sweden. In DCM, we did a few transactions such as Kvalitena, First Camp, and Proximar. Given the smaller size of the transactions in the quarter, our revenues were down to NOK 124 million from NOK 427 million in Q4 last year. M&A, as alluded to, more stable. When it comes to ABG and our performance specifically, it was not only stable, it was actually up both in the quarter and the full year.
As you can see on the right-hand side of the slide, several transactions completed during the quarter, such as KKR and Oslo Pensjonsforsikring acquisition of 30% of Telenor Fiber, Constructa to Veidekke, the sale of 50% of Revac to Rune Isachsen, to mention a few. A number of private to public as well, as you can see in the chart on the right-hand side. On top of that, several real estate transactions were closed in the quarter, with contribution from both ABG Capital Product Finance in Oslo and ABG Fastena in Stockholm.
When it comes to our brokerage and research operations, I'd say we have continued to deliver a very solid result, a very solid performance in a rather challenging environment, and not least, a very tough or difficult comps, given the strong performance of 2021. Within brokerage and research operations, I would especially like to mention our fixed income sales operations. That has not only performed well in difficult markets, but has actually increased revenues year-on-year, both in Q4 and full year.
I'm also pleased to see that our clients appreciate our efforts in our brokerage and research operations, where ABG in the latest Prospera survey for Norway and Sweden had top three positions in 27 sectors, including the number one spot in important sectors and fields such as bank and financial services in Sweden and shipping seafood and macro in Norway. With that, I'll hand over to Geir. Please, Geir.
Thank you, Jonas. Some comments on our operating cost base. Our total costs are down 30% compared to last year.
That's mainly a function of our, I would say, dynamic cost model, being a function of profitability and revenues. Looking at headcount, which is a key driver for costs, they are up in line with our sort of long-term growth strategy. We're up 7% to an average of 332 for the year. We ended the year of about 340. That's mainly, I would say, junior hires, but also some selective senior additions adding to our teams. We have, I would say, a focus on maintaining a very slim support operation. We have a target of having more than 80% of our staff working in front operations, and we have maintained that also during 2022. If you flip to the next page.
We are constantly fighting underlying inflation, as everyone are these days. On the non-compensation costs, and particularly, we are pleased to see that we maintain a level of about NOK 1 million-NOK 1.1 million per head. That has been stable now for, as you can see, for the last 5 years, but it's been basically the same number for the last 10 years or so. It's been quite robust. With respect to compensation and personnel costs, they are mainly a function of revenue and profitability, and over time, they have been in the mid-50s, which is a level where we see all the Nordic and international comparable companies operate.
Still, we are, as I said, constantly fighting inflation, and we have a very tight and focused monitoring of our cost base. We focus on trying to improve our efficiency and also be able to respond if we have a material drop in market activity.
Okay. Thank you, Geir. With that, let me summarize what I think are the key takeaways here. I think what we did in difficult markets last year simply could be described as a solid achievement. We have continued to further strengthen our market shares in several important product areas during 2022, such as Debt Capital Markets, as well as in our long-standing strong, leading position within Norwegian M&A. Our 2023 pipeline is more balanced in terms of product and geographical mix as well compared to 12 months ago. As Geir alluded to, while we see early signs of markets stabilizing, we are staying focused on keeping our long-term, proven track record of sound profitability.
Finally, we are looking forward to expanding our business through our new initiatives within private banking and alternative investments. These new business areas make a lot of sense for us for several reasons, but mainly 2. We see clear synergies, of course, with our existing operations, as well as over time enable us to generate new revenue streams, potentially with less cyclicality than our existing operations. With that, I'll open up the floor for any questions.
Yeah, we have received a couple, and first being: What does the pipeline look like in terms of volumes compared to 2022?
In terms of volumes, pipeline, I would say, is pretty much in line with the same time last year. As we mentioned, we, not only think, we can conclude that it's a better product and geographical mix in the pipe compared to 12 months ago.
On the same topic, last year you also started with a strong pipeline. I assume it was not fully realized. How do you see the probability for realizing the current order book?
I think one important takeaway is as we already mentioned, the product mix having improved makes us more confident we will actually be able to realize the pipe. As always, markets need to be receptive, but we're not tilted the same way to one specific product. Of course, this time 12 months ago, we had a lot of equity capital market transactions coming up in our pipe, and now we have a better product mix.
When do you believe that the IPO market will open up again?
I think that most important. I talked about primary placements being more activity in the market when it comes to primary placements in Q4, thanks to short lead times and obviously market bouncing back. We need stability in terms of volatility staying low for some time and more solid ground. We don't need markets to go up from here, but stability is important. Having said that, we're actually launching one IPO today. We see signs that it might be more activity in that area as well.
When will the private banking business start to generate revenues?
During next year, 2024.
I believe that was all the questions we've received for now.
Crystal clear. As always, do not hesitate, should there be any follow-ups later on after this presentation. You know where to find either me or Geir. Thank you all for tuning in.
Thank you.