Good morning and welcome to this presentation of the results for the fourth quarter and the year 2022 for Multiconsult. My name is Grethe Bergly. I'm the CEO and with me today is also our CFO, Ove B. Haupberg, who will give you some more detailed insight into the figures. Multiconsult's vision is bridging the past and the future. In a lot of ways, 2022 is a proof of how we are part of transferring the society to a more green and sustainable society.
We are experiencing how our expertise of the things we learned in the past is also useful for the projects and the challenges facing us going forward. The KPIs for 2022, you can see here is both for the fourth quarter and the full year. As you can see, there is progress in all the figures with an exception of the billing ratio, who is at roughly the same level as 2021. It's a good year, it's a solid result, and it has also then resulted in an earnings per share of NOK 11.06.
We leave the quarter with a good overall performance and improved earnings. We have a sustainable profitability level over time now. We have an all-time high order intake, and we have also a record high order backlog. The results are somewhat affected by LINK arkitektur, and Ove will give you more insight into the details on what has been going on in LINK in the last year.
We have a strong cash flow and we have refinanced, so we also go into 2023 with a robust financial position. We have strengthened our market position through acquisitions and the sales that we have done in 2022. The proposal for dividend is NOK 9 per share. Looking in more detail at the sales, you can see there's been a significant increase in the sales compared to the fourth quarter in 2021. Just a reminder that there are some fluctuations between the quarters, but anyhow, this is a very strong sales in this quarter.
We've seen some very good projects coming in with regards to both hydropower and electrification in Zambia and Tanzania. We are also assigned a new industrial project for Wacker Chemicals, and we have been awarded a frame agreement for Nye Veier, a Norwegian road public company. We have a record high sales, strong order backlog, a good diversification when it comes to the four business areas that we operate in.
We also see that there's a growing market for with respect to projects on sustainability and sustainable transformation. We are well-positioned for the projects that have been awarded finance for through the Norwegian national budget for 2023. The only weakness that we see is that there is some more uncertainty with respect to housing and real estate, and this affects our architectural business mainly. On ESG topics, we have developed a digital tool for tenants wanting to look at the most efficient use of their facilities.
It's an area that we believe will be growing. Things are changing in the way we use our offices, we see that this is an important tool going forward. We are also a partner in an innovation project with respect to green HVAC, again, to make sure that energy efficient buildings can be developed. In Multiconsult, we have a tradition of always giving a gift to a voluntary organization. This year, the gift was given to Matsentralen in Norway. We also see that we have a high level of employee satisfaction in the surveys that we do on a regular basis.
We are 3,353 employees at the end of the year. We do see that we continue to have a high sick leave in the fourth quarter in line with the level that we saw in 2021. It is also in line with what we see in society in general in Norway. We have acquired one company, Roar Jørgensen, who is now 100% owned by Multiconsult. We also see that we continue to have a strong position as an preferred employer, both among students and professionals.
We've made 1 adjustment to our organization where the segment energy is now included in the segment Oslo and the segment Norway. Excellence is a part of our strategy, and comparing ourselves with others is always a measure on how we're doing. We are also, of course, very pleased that one of our project has been nominated as for the Klimapris in 2022, and also one project in Denmark has been given the Municipality Architecture Award for the transformation of one of the areas in Aalborg. With this, I hand you over to Ove.
Thank you, Grethe, good morning. My name is Ove B. Haupberg. I'm the CFO, and I joined Multiconsult first of February last year. We start with the fourth quarter, and we saw net operating revenue at NOK 1,127 million. That is an increase of 5.5% from the same quarter last year. This quarter, all the growth is organic. The purchase of Roar Jørgensen will be consolidated from first quarter 2023. The drivers behind this growth is illustrated in the graphics underneath.
That is the higher number of employees, a growth by 153 people, and we also have higher billing rates. There is no calendar effect in this quarter. We have commented on the billing ratio that is somewhat weakened by 0.2% points, we are happy with this level, since we also have been faced with a higher short-term sick leave this quarter. The main driver for the change is higher bid activity in LINK Arkitektur in Norway and also in Multiconsult Polska. EBITDA is solid NOK 96.8 million.
That is an increase on 6.3% from last year or NOK 5.8 million. Also, we have strengthened this in percentage, so we increased from 8.5% to 8.6%. The order intake, a record high, NOK 1,559 million for the quarter, an increase of 36.5% since 2021. On the other OpEx, a small change from 2021, 0.1. That is the business back to more normal activity after COVID-19 with more training activity, somewhat more travels, and we also have some other effects that I'll comment for the year.
On the profit for this period, that is NOK 75.6 million, an increase of 21% since 2021. The main driver for this change is the impact of the results from the partly owned company Norplan Tanzania that gives a solid effect for this quarter. Looking at the full year, 2022, a record high number here. We see we have a growth in net revenue of 10.1% to a level that is close to NOK 4.2 billion. The drivers behind this is organic at 4.4%, we have the effect of one more day, calendar day, 0.4, and this insurance settlement of the boat Borkum 0.4.
The rest is performed M&A activity in 2021 and 2022. That is the companies Erichsen & Horgen, Malnes og Endresen, Norplan Teknikk, and Smith & Ingebrigtsen. We also illustrated here in the graphics these drivers, you can see again the higher number of employees. We have a higher billing ratio that is increased by 0.2% points, and we have solid and good billing rates.
We deliver, we have to say, a record strong EBITDA for 2022, NOK 408.5 million, an increase on 65.5% since 2021 and a margin on 9.8%. On the order intake, close to NOK 5.2 billion for the year, and that gives us this very strong and solid and record high order backlog at the end of the year on NOK 3.6 billion . Other OpEx, an increase from last year, 0.6% point up.
We have commented some on this on training and travel, but also the merging activity with more offices, and also increasing in the office rates, besides then increased insurance and electricity costs in the general market has affected us. The profit for the period, NOK 303 million, that is an increase from last year on close to NOK 70 million. On earnings per share, NOK 11.06, that is an increase from last year on NOK 2.39. A very good result there. Highlights that it shows the development over time.
We see these results per quarter, the fourth quarter is highlighted in orange. We start top left with net revenue. You can see an increase from last year on 5.5% points. The difference between the quarter is of course affected by the available number of working days. The drivers now has been somewhat weakened billing rate-ratio, but higher number of employees and a higher billing rate has affected this increase that we see down left with 0.1 from 8.5- 8.6 in the EBITDA % year-over-year.
I think worth commenting is that this is now the 12th quarter in row that Multiconsult delivers solid results after the turnaround Next Level in 2019. The different segments. Grethe has commented that we have included now the former segment energy in region Oslo and region Norway. We have changed the historical numbers, they are restated. All these numbers are for the full year 2022. Starting to the left, Oslo. Very strong increase in net revenue, 15.1% or NOK 216 million.
A strengthen in the EBITDA margin to 13.6%, that is an increase of 3.3%. They also delivered NOK 224 million in this segment, or NOK 76 million more than last year. This is of course then driven by the billing ratio and a higher billing rate. Also a small reminding to you that we also have over larger projects, part of the results here in this district. For the rest of Norway, we see in this region Norway that we have increased net revenue close to NOK 180 million or a growth on 11.5%.
Also strong margins on 11.1%, and that is then of course due to the higher billing ratio and also somewhat more employees compared to 2021. We commented on Q3 on the insurance settlement on Borkum, but year to date, the effect on that is close to zero due to the loss of revenue from the boat. Also this region is affected by the higher OPEX, and we already had commented on the drivers underneath. Grethe said I should give some comments on LINK. We have a weak results on LINK, and we are not satisfied with this.
There's a difference between the markets. In Sweden, there has been a significant improvement, that is helped by winning of these two larger hospital contracts, that is Västerås and Växjö, where we have also reported to the stock exchange. We have then a large change in the organization structure and improved operation that has made this possible. In LINK Denmark, the results are in line with last year, but the order backlog that is good is a bit more uncertain going into this new year.
Norway has been faced with a weaker performance in 2022, especially at the end of the year. Due to this, we have put in place a performance improvement program in line with this Next Level that is performed in Multiconsult from 2019. It's focused both on cost and to increase the income. A challenging market in part of the country has made us to have some few temporary layoffs now in Q1 2023. The last segment, international. Solid revenue and a good margin. Somewhat stronger from Polska, a bit weaker from Iterio, but not very significant effects.
The margin is influenced by somewhat higher office costs in Iterio, and we have commented on the billing ratio driven by bid activity in Polska. The financial position. Starting to the left with the cash flow. From a starting point at the beginning of the year, we had a cash situation, a cash pool on NOK 156 million. We have created from the business NOK 533 million in cash during the year, and also freed up on the focus on working capital another NOK 28 million.
We have done some investments in ordinary business and the purchase of Roar Jørgensen in particular, that is NOK 94 million. We have paid off the dividend, and we have settled short-term interest-bearing liabilities, that is short-term debt, on a total NOK 512 million. This make us to be still cash positive at the end of the year, ending at, as you can see, NOK 115 million. Also illustrated to the right that we have reduced the net debt situation by NOK 114 million during the year. We are basically then also cash positive.
We have a positive cash pool and no debt at the end of the year. To strengthen this financial position, we also have renegotiated our loan agreement with Nordea. We have now three lines until March 2026, and it's composed in three parts. We have this multicurrency cash pool overdraft facility that is with all companies in the group with exception of Poland. On top of that, we have this revolver on NOK 300 million and non-committed accordion with fixed terms on NOK 500 million.
A total that is about NOK 1.1 billion. To sum up the dividend. Due to very solid financial results, a strong balance sheet, and then a solid loan agreement with this bank, we are able to pay out NOK 9 million. The board will propose to the general assembly to pay out NOK 9 per share. That is increased from 6 NOK last year and a payout rate to all 82%. With that, Grethe, I hand it back to you.
Thank you. Looking at the overall operating revenues within the four business areas, you can see there's been a good increase in three of them and the same level on the smallest one with water and environment. It just confirms our statement on a diversified and solid order backlog and sales.
Taking a more deep dive into the business area, water and environment, this is our smallest business areas, but it's also an area that we expect that will grow with the challenges that we see with climate changes and the following climate risks that comes as a consequence of this. Typical projects and objects that we work on in this area is water treatment. It is wastewater treatment plants.
It's natural hazard and climate adaption, environment and nature, and landscape and urban planning. Looking at some of the projects that we're involved with, this is the water treatment and distribution for the capital of Norway, Oslo. It's a huge project. When it's finished, you'll see some rather small buildings at the top. Underneath, that's where it's all happening and how you can see the scale of it. This is where the whole process plant for the water treatment will be positioned.
We have been involved in this project for a number of years, and the last contract on this is an alliance contract, and again, a business model that we believe in, and we are pleased that the client has given us the trust in entering into this one. Here's another example of a wastewater treatment plant. Here, they are decommissioning the existing plant. We have designed a new one and also looking at the wastewater, how it's going to be transported in pipeline. A very multidisciplinary competence that we have in the company.
This is a natural hazard and climate adaption. Again, flooding, climate changes means that we need new measures of preventing damage in the areas where these big rivers are flowing. Again, an important area, a growth area, and an area where Multiconsult has a lot of experience. This one, again, same theme, quick clay. It's a very special challenge in Norway with quick clay.
We had a huge disaster a few years back, has meant that this has been lifted much higher on the agenda to map out the areas where there is this risk and also looking at preventive measures on infrastructure. We are involved in a number of projects of this kind in Norway. Landscape and urban planning, one contract we're on is a new road that's being constructed. The client here has an ambition that when they take land for new roads, they are going to restore other areas to make sure that there is no lost of biodiversity.
I'm sure a lot of you have heard the news also from the United Nations where there is a goal globally to restore 30% of the nature that has been built on. Again, we are well-positioned with lots of skills in this kind of transformations. Looking forward, our view is that the overall market outlooks is generally strong in all the business areas that we are operating in. The only exception from this is housing and retail. Again, it's mainly our architectural business that will be affected by this.
We see that we have a lot of opportunities in the pipeline. We leave this year with a very solid backlog, which gives us a very strong foundation going forward. We have had good sales also so far, at the beginning of 2023. We are well-positioned for the larger project that has been allocated finances in the Norwegian national budget. Last, we would like to mention how we are very well-positioned with experience in the growing market for long-term and sustainable solutions.
Just a glimpse at the calendar looking forward, the annual report will be out in the middle of March. There's an annual general meeting in April, we will come with our first quarter of 2023 in May. Look forward to seeing you then. We open up for questions.
Yeah. Thank you, Grethe and Ove. We have two questions translated from the Norwegian webcast earlier, and one question was about the cash flow. Can you outline a bit on the strong cash flow for the quarter, and is there a one-time effect or similar that we need to account for?
The answer that we gave in Norwegian is that, yes, we have, again, good underlying operation. But on top of that, we have been focused on improving the working capital. That gives close to NOK 200 million for the quarter in free cash.
Thank you. There was a question regarding the other OPEX development per employee and the fact that it's a bit higher than the increase in inflation. Can you outline? Moreover, second question regarding this is at what level can we expect the OPEX ratio to be going forward?
We have previously said that we are, we are still trying to sort of sort out the level of this, as COVID gave us, unnaturally low levels. We are aiming at keeping it somewhere between 17% and 18%. There will be fluctuations. Again, we are hit by the same inflation, and the uncertainty related to that. We are on a very tight cost control regime.
Mm.
We are also, of course, now adjusting our office facilities, and we're looking at other ways of trying to compensate for the general inflation.
Thank you. I have no further questions from the webcast, so I think you can sum it up.
Okay. We say thank you and have a nice day.
Thank you.