For the first quarter 2025 for Multiconsult. My name is Grethe Bergly, I'm the CEO, and with me today is also our CFO, Ove Haupberg. Before I start going through the figures, just a short reminder of who Multiconsult is. We are a multidisciplinary engineering and architecture company with more than a hundred years' history. We have our main presence in Norway, but we also have businesses in Denmark, Sweden, the U.K., and Poland. We operate in four segments: Region Oslo, which is also where the headquarters is; Region Norway, which are all the offices outside Region Oslo; Architecture, that contains our four architecture companies: LINK, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark;
And the architect company A-lab. We have four business areas: building and properties, mobility and transportation, energy and industry, water and environment, and our portfolio consists of 50/50 when it comes to public and private clients. We have more than 15,000 projects on an annual basis. We are almost 4,000 employees, and over the last few years, we've had a solid, profitable growth and profit development. As the key figure shows, we've had a good start of this year. Good operational resulting in a revenue of NOK 1.5 billion and an EBITDA of 12.5%. Note that the comparisons year over year vary a lot over Q1 and Q2, depending on when the Easter break falls. The results were influenced by positive rate development and increased capacity.
Slightly lower Billing ratio of 72.1% from a very high level at the first quarter of 2024. We experienced some variations between our different business units, and Ove will give you some more insight into this. It is pleasing also to see the great improvements within the architectural segment, but it is still vulnerable due to market uncertainties. Looking into market and sales, we've had a—there has been a good sale in the quarter, and the variations that we see compared to last year are within—are something that we consider normal. Please note that the first quarter in 2023 was unnormally high, as we registered a sale of NOK 1 billion in relation to two large hospitals' developments in Oslo.
We have won many frame agreements with the Norwegian Defense Estate Agency recently, both in Norway and Denmark. Please remember that we don't regulate our order backlog until a call has been made on these frame agreements. We have reported sales over NOK 2 billion in these frame agreements this quarter. This means that we'd expect to see less fluctuations in order reserves going forward, but many more smaller sales. Part of the building and property continues to be unpredictable, but there is high activity in all the other business areas. People and organization. We are now 3,963 employees, an increase of just over 5%.
We see that we get good feedback on employee surveys, and it means that people are happy working in the organization. By far, the biggest news this year, this quarter, was the information that I have announced my decision to step down from the CEO role. It has always been my goal to ensure that this transaction occurs at a time when the company is stable and in a stronger position than when I assumed leadership. I firmly believe that given our current standing and the robust leadership teams that are established in the whole of the organization, the new leader will have all the necessary prerequisites to be successful in driving Multiconsult forward.
I also want to emphasize that my leadership remains fully committed and operational until the successor is in place and well integrated into the role. We also announced yesterday that Line Janicke Musaeus will take the role as Managing Director for our architecture company, A-lab. She comes from a position within the leadership team, and she has been part of A-lab since 2015. It's always gratifying to see that we have talented internal candidates who are being promoted. I'm also delighted when I see how our projects and our people are being recognized for their achievements. They win prestigious awards and are nominated to represent Norway in challenging international competitions. This bodes well for the future. With this, I hand you over to Ove.
Good morning, and thank you, Grethe. We will have a closer look at the numbers for Q1 2025. The Net operating revenue for the quarter ends at NOK 1,523 million. That is an increase of 11.4% from last year. In this, the organic growth was 4.2%, and the M&A activity from three purchases last year, VA Resurs and Site Partner Petter Odd Rasmussen, added an additional 1.2%. The calendar effect on top of that is positive by 6.1%, or NOK 82.9 million. There was an impact of four more working days this quarter compared to the same quarter last year due to the Easter effect. The main drivers behind this growth are a higher number of employees. That is 191, or 70 FTEs. You see these in the graph as increased capacity and increased billing rates.
That is part of other revenue effects. Of course, the calendar effect. The growth is partly offset by a lower Billing ratio. We see differences in Billing ratio between the different geographies and business areas. There has also been higher focus on competence networking activities in this quarter in Multiconsult Norge. We also see the effect of time off, the two first working days in January for many of our employees. Based on the reported project performance in 2024, the expected normal level of net project write-downs is unchanged and below 1% of Net operating revenues also for 2025. This quarter, we had a legal expense of NOK 9 million reported as write-downs related to the Sotra project.
These are costs in relation to preparations for the quartraad planned for September this year. Bear in mind, the accounting risk for this project is considered to be unchanged. EBITDA in Q1 is NOK 190.4 million. That is an increase of close to 40% from last year. The margin is 12.5%, also an increase by 2.5 percentage points from last year. EBITDA is impacted by increased employee benefit expenses and, of course, other operating expenses. We see this down right in the graph. This continuation of the temporary employer's contribution resulted in reduced costs at the level of NOK 5 million compared to the first quarter of 2023 and 2024.
We had a good order intake this quarter, NOK 1 billion, 696 million, and also a solid order backlog, NOK 4 billion, 749 million. The reported profit was NOK 134.8 million, a good increase from last year, and also earnings per share increased to NOK 4.86. Looking at this development over time, we see the first quarter in black. Here you also see the effect of the calendar days. The first quarter, we see an increase of 11.4% in Net operating revenue, but also a continuous increase in rolling 12 months, top left on this graph. To the right, the increase, sorry, the change in the Billing ratio by 1.4% negative, but the increase in the number of employees by 5.1% and the increased billing rates caused EBITDA to be 12.5%,
As you see down left. A closer look at our four segments, starting to the left at Regions Oslo. All numbers are Q1 2025 compared to Q1 2024. Net operating revenue in this quarter, NOK 563.7 million. That is an increase of 10.5%. The main drivers for the growth are the improved billing rates, increased capacity, and also the positive calendar effect in this segment, NOK 36.9 million. Also offset by a lower Billing ratio, as commented on the first page, and approximately half of the legal expenses related to the Sotra project. A small technical change compared to the previous year. There is a move in the organization from this region to non-allocated of 15 full-time equivalents.
Operating expenses increased by 6.1%, and EBITDA ended at NOK 88.7 million. That is a solid margin of 15.7%. Going one step to the right to Regions Norway, Net operating revenue, NOK 637 million, increase of 13.9%. The improvements are with the same reasons as Regions Oslo, but a higher increase in capacity, 58 full-time equivalents, and a positive calendar effect of 39.6. Also in this segment, we had half of the cost related to the Sotra project and the reduced Billing ratio. Operating expenses increased by 12.9%. That is caused by the employee benefit expenses, the other operating costs, but also integration costs of one acquisition and liability cases in this quarter.
EBITDA ended at NOK 81.4 million, and that is a solid margin also in this segment of 12.8%. Segment architecture, Net operating revenues, NOK 217.4 million, increased by NOK 23.1 million, or 11.9%, and the EBITDA, NOK 21.1 million, increased by NOK 16.1 million. That means the margin increased from 2.6% to 9.7%. Calendar effect positive by NOK 7.6 million, and the currency effect on Net operating revenue is positive of NOK 1.7 million and on EBITDA of NOK 0.8 million. Some small comments per company, starting with LINK Norway. We see improved results compared to the same quarter last year due to the improved billing rates, the calendar effect, and also our one-time settlement agreement.
The marketing conditions still, sorry, still differ based on geography and business area and remain challenging in part of the country, especially in the Oslo market. Like previous quarters, the Oslo market is characterized by late project startups. The total capacity and number of FTEs is unchanged from last year, but we still have some temporary layoffs during this quarter. LINK Sweden, we are faced with weak results this quarter due to changes in the project portfolio in northern Sweden and the Stockholm market. This is causing Net operating revenues and Billing ratios, but we are able to keep our more favorable rates in the remaining portfolio.
In LINK Denmark, the improvements in performance continues with improved Billing ratios, improved billing rates, and a solid cost control. In addition, there has been a positive write-up effect in the project portfolio. Based on the attractive competence, LINK Denmark has the ability to attract new customers and win tenders in a still demanding market. A-lab has significantly improved the performance since the same quarter last year, caused by improved Net operating revenues and improved Billing ratio and reduced costs. Unfortunately, still some few temporary layoffs in this quarter, and the market situation has improved compared to last year,
But the international uncertainty is causing some private developers to delay their project startups. In total, in this segment, a reduction of 16 FTEs compared to last year and 4.6 FTEs temporary layoff at the end of the quarter. The last segment, international, Net operating revenues increase by 14.5% to NOK 110 million. Currency effect positive by NOK 4 million, and the calendar effect in this segment is negative by NOK 1.2 million. This increase is primarily driven by organic growth in Multiconsult Polska and the acquisition of VA Resurs in Iterio. EBITDA for the quarter, NOK 6.6 million, an increase of 26.2%. The improvement in performance was mainly in Iterio this quarter.
We had a bit slower start in Multiconsult Polska this year. The currency effect positive on EBITDA by NOK 0.3 million. I guess you all are ready for the final position. Starting to the left on the cash, we started the year by a positive cash of NOK 165 million. We have created cash from operation in total NOK 202 million, including IFRS 16. We have a negative change in working capital as expected. This is a seasonal effect, a bit higher than last year due to the cut-off dates, but this is invoiced in April, and we do not see any change in the risk in our portfolio. Cash from investment, NOK 24 million. We had two new Drilling rigs, sorry, not vessels this period. We had one new last year, but two new rigs and a truck.
We also had a net effect from financing activity, an increase in interest-bearing debt of NOK 177 million. Ended the quarter with a positive cash of NOK 240 million. You see down right that the net interest-bearing debt is NOK 260 million. That is NOK 81 million better than last year. The gearing ratio of 0.5 means that we still have a strong, I would say a very strong financial position. The last on cash is the free cash flow. We see the light blue graph on net cash from operating activity. That is minus NOK 22 million. Also, the investment activity is just explained on minus NOK 24 million in the green line. This quarter, a net negative effect of 46, but rolling 12, close to NOK 600 million positive, NOK 598 million. With that, Grethe, I hand it back to you. Thank you.
Thank you, Ove. We maintain good growth in the revenue by split on the various business areas. In line with our strategy, you can here see that the growth is largest in energy and industry and water and environment. Overall, there is an increase of 10% year over year. In light of the geopolitical and market situation we are in, I would like to say a few words about this before I go more into detail on some of the sales we have had this quarter. In our strategy work, we prepared for greater uncertainty, and we have seen that the pace of change has increased also since we presented our strategy on the Capital Market Day.
We stand well in this strategy. We have a strong demand for our services in all business areas. We have a strong market position, and we have a leading position within defense. A brief reminder of the strategy. It has four main parts. The first one is to maintain our position in big projects, large and complex projects to form a basis for growth. Within the green transition, we have three areas. I'll get into more detail on this afterwards. Then we have the fifth one, where we're looking at increasing our impact in the Nordic and in Poland. Looking at some of the sales we've made in this quarter, they fit very well into the ambitions that we've set out.
I'll go into more detail with the energy transition ones, but you can see that we have also now three very good projects within being a driver for urban transformation and development. The middle one, Hörnefors Station, is a cooperation where both Multiconsult and A-lab are now working with the rail property developers to see how we can develop a sustainable town around the station areas. We are also involved in a number of projects where we're looking at both mapping and restoring nature. Looking a bit more into the depth of some of the projects, one project we just got this quarter was the electrification with Equinor of three of their fields,
Hampen, Tampen, and Grane, Hampen, Tampen, and Balde, Grane. On these projects, we do all the activities in connection with the onshore facilities, cabling, landfall, substations. Another very significant project in this quarter is the carbon capture project in Oslo. From this point, 17% of the CO2 emissions for Oslo is occurring at the moment. This, of course, will help a lot on the journey for Oslo to be a zero-emission city. Multiconsult and LINK, as subcontractors to Aker, are working on all the traditional engineering disciplines in this project. It is very pleasing then to say that we're also working at the other end of this, that we have already finished, or we are involved with the phase one of the
Northern Light Carbon Storage project, and Equinor has now decided to take on the next stage. Multiconsult and LINK are working with Aker on providing our services in this very exciting project. We are seeing that we are involved with one of the most challenging, but also, of course, very interesting projects in Norway. In addition, we also won in this quarter a large project for a hydropower plant in Nepal. Here, we will work with three local partners to provide the services to make sure that we develop a plant that will help improve the power situation in Nepal. Finally, the outlook. We experience a stable outlook supported by a solid pipeline and new frame agreements.
We see investments increasing in defense and the energy sectors. There are also some positive signs within healthcare. The challenging market in housing and real estate continues. There is still geopolitical uncertainty. It hits the whole world, but we are still unsure to say something about how it will affect Multiconsult and our industry. We are sure that we do sit with a high volume of ongoing projects, a diverse portfolio, and a high order backlog. With that, just a reminder for the dates. Today is the first quarter. On the 19th of August, we come back and present the second quarter, and then again on the 4th of November, we will present the third quarter. That finishes the session here, and we open up for questions.
Yeah, thank you. We have a question from Magnus Rasmussen in SEB, or there are quite a few questions from him. Let's start with the employee benefit expense increased more than 8% on just 2% higher FTE count. Should we expect that to continue in the coming quarters, and can prices keep up with that, that apparent wage increase?
Yeah. Also explained on the Norwegian call, the employee cost increase needs to be calculated based on the number of employees, not on the full-time equivalent. Also, an increase this quarter was 191 on the number of employees, but just 70 on the FTEs. That is the starting point. The difference between salary cost and the billing rates has been commented, I mean, over a period of time, but we have been able to adjust our cost base and also been able to have a high Billing ratio to compensate for that and delivering in line with the expectations that we have communicated.
Good. Permanent employees growth was 5.1%, and FTE growth was 1.9%. Permanent employees is the new definition. Why such a big difference?
Yeah, this is based on the number of available hours. If we have a lot of new employees coming in late in the quarter, then there will be a huge difference between available hours and the number of employees at the end of the quarter, as an example. That aspect is calculated, sorry, on the available hours.
Thank you. Over to EBITDA for the quarter. It is down NOK 29 million year over year, adjusted for calendar effects. Is that driven by lower Billing ratio, and should we expect lower Billing ratio also in the coming quarters?
Yeah, on the calculation, you are roughly right. Our calculation is that the Billing ratio accounts for NOK 25 million of this NOK 29 million. On the way forward, Grethe, I hand it over to you.
Yes, thank you. The Billing ratios that we saw in the first quarter and the second quarter of 2024 are the highest that we have ever reported. It was to a large degree a result of the portfolio we had at the time. 72.1% is still a high Billing ratio if we look at the history. We are expecting to remain at that level. I think we left 2024 at roughly 72.5% when we took year over year, the whole year. I think that is the level that we are aiming for.
Thank you. There was a question from Bengt Jonassen in ABG Sundal Collier. In your outlook, you comment on margin pressure or pressure on the prices. Can you elaborate a little bit around this?
Yes. There is a certain slowdown in several of the markets where we operate. History shows us that is when we start competing on rates. We are, however, within the four business areas that we operate in, the margins, the rates are quite different, more competitive in some. We are able to allocate resources into more profitable markets. We are expecting that the 2025 year will be quite a competitive one.
Good. The last question from Bengt Johannessen. In your strategy communicated on the Capital Markets Day last year, number 5 or 0.5 was related to M&A. What is your view now, and has it changed somehow related to locations?
We have not changed that. Our main aim is to grow where we already have a presence. The only place in the strategy we showed also Finland, but we are mainly expecting that growth to come through other M&A that we make.
Good. That is it for all questions.
That is it. Okay, then we call it a day here in Oslo. Thank you all for listening and have a nice day.
Thank you.