Welcome to the AcadeMedia Q1 2023. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answer session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing star five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the speaker, CEO Marcus Strömberg, and Deputy CEO/COO, Katarina Wilson. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everybody, and welcome to this Q1 interim report from AcadeMedia that also represent the new school year for us. I will just start to make some initial remarks, and then I will hand over to Katarina to go through the numbers. This school year has started, in fact, in a very good way, and what is very positive is the organic growth of the company. We have continued to grow more than 5% when it comes to students, and we have also had an organic growth of more than 6%, and this gives us a turnover growth of more than 10%. Of course, we have invested a lot in organic growth, and we have also developed our campuses.
We have built 1 unique position when it comes to vocational training, both at upper secondary level and also at the adult level. We have continued our international expansion, and in fact, now 26% of the revenue is outside Sweden. We have continued to start organically with preschools, 6 preschools in Germany, this school year start, and we plan to start around 15 this year. And we have also had an accelerated acquisition strategy with bolt-on acquisitions in Sweden. We have invested in a private paid school group in the Netherlands, adult education in Germany, and we have also acquired one of the most well-known education brand in Sweden, that is Berghs, that is totally private paid. And this is also a way to develop our strategy and the way to the Roadmap 2030 that we are working against.
The board has also proposed a voluntary share redemption program, and this is also very important for us because we think that the share price don't reflect the position that the company has for the moment. And with this program, we hope to have a share that we can use to continue our international development. And with that remarks, I will hand over to Katarina, and she will go through the numbers.
Thank you. I'm Katarina Wilson, and I will walk you through our first quarter, which is a seasonally small quarter of our new financial year, 2023-2024. So moving on to page three, highlights, quarter one. Strong growth, as might be said, number of children and students grew by 5.1%, and net sales grew by 10.5%, with growth in all segments, except in the adult education segment, where volumes in the municipal business is still coming down somewhat, but at a slower pace. Organic growth, including smaller bolt-on acquisitions, was 6.5%, and the acquisition of FAWZ in Germany and Winford College in the Netherlands contributed 3% to the growth. Changes in currency impacted positively 0.5% in the quarter.
Despite continued high inflation, adjusted EBIT was in line with last year, SEK 151 million, and the adjusted margin decreased to 4.4%. This quarter is the third quarter where we're seeing the full effect of inflation, including increased rental cost, about SEK 35 million in the quarter compared to last year. In addition to inflation and increased rent, we're also seeing the annual salary revision from September of 4.1% impacting this quarter, where we will see the full effect from the annual salary revision in the next quarter. Compensation for higher cost levels will come in January 2024 with the annual school voucher revision. Electricity cost decreased in the quarter compared to last year, and we also received electricity support from the government, in total, SEK 20 million.
Items affecting comparability -6 relates to transaction costs, as well as insurance compensation related to a fire in a compulsory school in the last financial year. Cash flow is normally negative at the beginning of a new school year, related to working capital, and the free cash flow in the quarter was somewhat more negative than last year, SEK -127 million, due to lower prepaid income in Norway, and this is entirely a calendar effect. So moving on to page five, rolling twelve months, which this is only really with one quarter from full year 2022-2023 numbers. Net sales, rolling twelve months, amounts to SEK 15.9 billion and adjusted EBIT to SEK 965 million and the adjusted EBIT margin 6.1%. And free cash flow is solid at SEK 729 million.
So jumping to page 8, development in the quarter by segment and starting with the preschool segment. And this segment has changed name to Preschool and International segment, reflect the recent additions: Winford College, with compulsory and secondary schools in the Netherlands, Mediadesign Academy, adult education in Germany. Both of these acquired in this quarter, and as I've said, acquired last year with compulsory and upper secondary schools in Germany. The number of children increased by 14.5%, with growth in all countries except in Sweden, where three preschools closed in the quarter. And if we adjust for these closures, the number of children increased also in Sweden. Growth was driven by acquisitions and six new preschools that started in Germany in the quarter. And the plan in Germany is to start 15 new preschools during this full year.
Net sales increased by 21.8% compared to last year, and the organic growth was 10.3%, adjusted for the acquisitions that contributed 9.8%, and currency development had a positive effect of 1.7%. Adjusted EBIT and margin were somewhat higher than last year, though this first quarter usually is a small quarter. Higher operating costs in all countries, driven by inflation, rental cost. Also, we had in this quarter, higher maintenance cost in Norway with SEK 7 million, and this is also entirely timing effect. All in all, cost increases were offset by the annual school voucher revision. items affecting comparability, SEK -6 million, related to transaction cost from acquisitions. So moving on to compulsory school, page 9.
The number of students increased by 1.4%, but adjusted for restructuring units, the number of students increased by 2.4%. We also added 2 new schools in the quarter with the, with an acquisition, with 624 students in total. Net sales increased 7.1%, also, positively impacted by the annual school voucher revision from January, 5.3%, as well as SEK 5 million in governmental electricity support. Adjusted EBIT was in line with last year, SEK 51 million, and this is despite continued high inflation, the margin decreased to 6.4%. Inflation continued to impact operating costs, and rent increased by about SEK 10 million compared to last year, somewhat offset by lower electricity cost. The annual salary revision, 4.1% from September, affected the quarter by SEK 2 million.
A small positive items cffecting Comparability, plus SEK 1 million, related to insurance compensation for the fire last year. Upper secondary school, page 10. Student numbers increased by 2.7%, and net sales increased by 7.5%. Growth is mainly coming from 5 units that have opened over the last 3 years, admitting 550 additional students, as well as from capacity expansion. The 2 campuses that opened last autumn have increased the number of students by 13% compared to last year. In total, capacity utilization increased in this segment to 86.9%, according to plan. Revenue increase is also coming from the annual school voucher revision. That was 3.9% from January and about SEK 5 million in electricity support.
Adjusted EBIT and margin decreased compared to last year due to higher operating costs caused by inflation. Rent increased by SEK 20 million due to indexation, and the annual salary revision, 4.1% from September, affected the quarter by SEK 5 million. About 30% of the upper secondary school segment schools operate in the greater Stockholm area, where the school voucher increase for 2023 was 1.8%, and this increase is not compensating for the current inflation, including the annual salary revision. However, compensation for the high cost level will come in January 2024 with the annual school voucher revision, where the preliminary indications from Stockholm indicates an increase by 3.4%. Moving on to adult education, page 11.
Sales decreased by 3.2% due to continued lower volumes in the municipal business area, where sales decreased, but at a much lower pace, by 13%. Capacity adjustment in this business area and cost-cutting measures implemented last year are now showing effect and profitability increased. Sales in the labor market services business was in line with last year, and volumes in the new matching contracts are still much below expectation. Demand for higher vocational education remains high and revenue increased by 7%, and operating profit was in line with last year. In total, adjusted EBIT in this segment increased to SEK 48 million, and the margin increased to 13.2%.
I would like to point out that the first quarter, like last year, is a seasonally strong quarter impacted by lower personnel costs due to vacation, and the assessment is that the adult education segment margin for the full year will be closer to the range. As Marcus mentioned, after the close of the quarter, Berghs School of Communication was acquired, and this is one of the world's leading schools in the field of communication. Berghs will strengthen the privately funded market. Moving on to page 13, free cash flow and investments. Cash flow in the first quarter is normally negative, related to working capital, and the free cash flow in the quarter was somewhat more negative than last year, SEK -127. As I mentioned, this is due to lower prepaid income in Norway, entirely a calendar effect.
The maintenance CapEx as a percentage of sales was 1.8%, and this is the same level as last year. We saw a somewhat higher level in 2021, 2022, where we had CapEx related to the new campuses that we opened last year. Page 14, the financial position remains strong. Net debt, excluding IFRS 16, was in line with last year, SEK 1.3 billion. Leverage ratio, including IFRS 16, was lower than last year and well below the financial target of less than 3. Net debt, including property-related lease liabilities, was higher than last year due to expansion in capacity and growth. Lease liabilities also increased from January 2023 due to indexation of rental costs, adjusted at SEK 400 million. Leverage, including lease liabilities, was 3.4 in line with last year.
With that, I would like to conclude page 15, financial performance versus target. Organic growth 6.5%, which is within our target, adjusted EBIT margin 6.1%, which is below target, and the target on capital structure is met. The board is proposing, as we earlier communicated, a dividend of SEK 1.75 per share, which is unchanged from last year. The board is also proposing a voluntary share redemption program of not more than SEK 275 million, with the intention to determine the redemption amount to a maximum of 30% above the volume weighted average share price. This program, the proposal is that it will take place in February-March 2024, after the announcement of the second quarterly report.
With that, I would like to open up for questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Stefan Knutsson from ABG. Please go ahead.
Morning, Marcus and Katarina. I have a few questions. First, on the upper secondary profitability, can you just go into more detail what has changed since Q2 to explain the steep drop in profitability year-over-year? As you also had a lot of, quite a lot of tailwind from higher utilization here in the quarter.
So, you know, the underlying effect of this, margin decrease is, of course, that the school voucher, especially in Stockholm, 1.8%, will not really, compensate for, the inflation that we're seeing now. And what's different in this quarter compared to last quarter is that we also have the salary revision, and, it's only SEK 5 million that is impacting the quarter. But, because this is a small quarter, of course, this is, coming through in a bigger way. Also, we were saying in the last quarter that we had good cost control, and we did. And quarter one is a quarter where we do some purchasing, for the new school year, and of course, with inflation, that is also impacting.
But we saw last year that the school voucher, apart from Stockholm, was pretty much compensating for cost increases, and that's what we are assuming that we will have the same effect in January.
Okay, but I think it's incorrect to refer to the 1.8% in school voucher as the—you had said that it's 3.9% as an average for the whole, for the whole segment. So, that's a reflection there. But shall we interpret this as it will get even worse next quarter then, because you will have a full quarter of salary revisions?
We will have three months of salary revision. That's correct.
And for next year, when do you expect the salary revisions to take place? As normal in April, or
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay.
It's September for teachers, always.
... Okay, okay. Perfect. And going on to the adult education segment, then, was there any temporary-
Just to comment about the salary. Yes, excuse me, Marcus here. Just to comment on that. In the last year, the salary revision was 2.2. This year, it's 4.1, and next year, 2024, it will go down a little bit. So it was the new agreement, so you should keep that in mind. And also, if you look at the school voucher, the voucher will also be affected because the municipality also increased the salary in the same range.
Yeah, but I think that you will not expect a large positive deviation next year. You indicated 3.4% up,
Yeah
on the school voucher here in the quarter.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But that is very more positive than it was last year. And, you know, we have very big schools in the Stockholm area, and so we run the business quite effective. So but the problem for this quarter is that the salary, that the school voucher was just 1.8 this year.
Yeah. Okay, perfect. Then on the adult education segment, and the, was there any temporary drivers for the profitability here in the quarter?
Well, you know, we see the profitability, especially in the municipal business area, really going up, and this is related to the cost-cutting measures and the restructuring programs that we did perform last year. So this is all according to plan.
Okay, because I'm quite surprised by your guidance then on approaching 9%-11%. It looks like, given the strong start, that it should be very reachable.
But I think I tried to say that quarter one is a seasonally small quarter, and you have effect from vacation. And so this is impacting the quarter, and this is similar to last year. We also had a very strong quarter one last year. It's a similar seasonality.
Okay, perfect. And then, just a last question on, on, free cash flow generation. What is happening there? It looks like you are tying up, a lot more working capital these days. I mean, the trend for, for free cash flow generation as a, as a percentage of, EBITDA has, has come down for, for two years in a row now.
Well, working capital in this quarter in particular is related to Norway, and it is entirely a calendar effect. So I'm hoping that it will jump back next quarter. And quarter one is usually a negative free cash flow quarter.
Okay. Thank you very much for the answers.
The next question comes from Karl- Johan Bonnevier from DNB Markets. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, Marcus and Katarina. Just to come back to adult education first. When you look at the restructure you have done on the municipal side, do you feel that you are more or less through with, or given the kind of volume you see for the moment, or is there more to come?
You know, I think we always have to be agile when it comes to adult education. That's the nature of the business. For now, we are through it. But, we're trying to always comment on the fact that the market's economy can change, and unemployment can go up and down quickly. So we are always ready to scale up or scale down when needed. But for now, we are through it.
Good to hear. And looking at the acquisition of Berghs School of Communication, what kind of synergies can you normally get out of that kind of operation? Because I guess it's a decent-sized adult education operation, but looking at profitability over the last year, I've seen that struggled.
So they are struggling a little bit with the rental contract. They have entered a very nice and very beautiful building, but quite expensive, and they didn't have any synergies. You know, we run a lot of different businesses in Stockholm, so I think we can find synergies when it comes to this. And we also think that when it comes to our what we call Yrkeshögskola, where we run 12,000 students for the moment, it's also possibility for us to use this brand in different ways to improve our position in both private paid education and also in Yrkeshögskola segmenten, and that is very important for us.
When you look at the higher vocational side, this year is still gonna be a growth year for you in total, looking at adult?
Yes, yes. Well, we are at all-time high this quarter.
Then just to get your feel for it on a more high level, when you look at the ongoing cost inflation and the kind of voucher price increases you have indicated and the potential you see for maybe efficiencies in your operation, increasing occupancy, and so on, what kind of natural kind of margin impact would you expect for the full year this year? I appreciate that 61 is a seasonal small quarter for you.
It's a small quarter, but we have looked into the school. It's very early stage when it comes to the school voucher. But so far, it looks like the same as last year, that we will be compensated for the inflation. And we think it's a good move from the upper secondary in the Stockholm region, and when it comes to compulsory schools, it looks like 5% up in Stockholm, and that is a good indication.
The full year, basically a balanced situation when you look at it?
That is what we look at, but as I said, it's quite early so far.
Obviously.
It's quite early. This is just what we indicate when we look at the municipality budget. But as you see, we also see that we are some undercompensated by the municipalities. We have just made an investigation that showed that we are maybe 10%-15% undercompensated. So we are also working on the legal side to get this, the right compensation that our children and students should have.
Good. And good move also by, I guess, by the board to suggest this redemption program, even though I still think it's a little too complicated process, given that share buyback should be so much easier to enforce and drive and maybe less costly as well. But when you look at the redemption program, is it? Are you planning to do it program, so to say, redeeming real share, or are you looking to do it as a synthetic program, issuing, say, redemption shares and then canceling them back?
Yeah, the program will, in the end, if it's going to plan and if it's aaaaaagreed by the AGM, reduce the number of shares.
It's gonna be like, say, one-fifth of the share or, or potentially gonna be redeemed or something like that, depending on where share-
Yeah, something like that.
Sounds like a good move, given the strength of the balance sheet and the ongoing cash flow of the operation, I guess, so. If you look at this year from an investment perspective, is there any big things that you see are coming up with the kind of plans you have for maybe next year school starts or anything like that, that we should have in mind?
So we have done a lot of acquisitions so far, and maybe something more will happen. But the flat plan now is to continue the organic growth in Germany and to improve and increase the profitability in Germany, and maybe to do something more when it comes to compulsory schools in Germany, and also to develop now the business in the Netherlands. So we will make some organic moves in the Netherlands, and then to continue and strengthen the quality and profitability in Sweden.
I think you also mentioned, Marcus, that we, because the campuses that we opened a year ago has been really successful and very, very good capacity utilization, we are also looking at starting more campuses around Sweden.
When you look at the campuses strategy, Katarina, how many cities would be able to cater for that, looking at your, your structure?
Well, I mean, we're mostly speaking of the two we opened in Stockholm last autumn, but we already have campuses in other cities, in Uppsala. And so, of course, it's the biggest cities that we are focusing on.
What is very interesting to see that this has really impacted our market share in Stockholm. Stockholm is a very important market for us. 50% of the children go to, to private operators, and 25% of them go to us. So every fourth student in Stockholm go to an AcadeMedia school. And what we see now is that we have taken market shares, both from the municipality and from our competitors, and we think that that is a result that we have invested in the campuses, we have invested in, in quality. So, and I think the coming year, it will be a battle around the best quality. That will increase the market share, and that will so, that will also increase the, the profitability.
Good to hear. Thank you very much, and all the best out there.
The next question comes from Beltran Palazuelo from DLTV. Please go ahead.
Hello, good morning, Katarina, Marcus. My question. I have two questions, if I may. First of all, I know it's still very early regarding the vouchers, but regarding, let's say, the increases you expect. So just to maybe a little bit of negativism all the questions I'm hearing. So with the vouchers you're expecting, would you expect to be reasonable to have some margin expansion from last fiscal year, or you think it's not reasonable? That is my first question, and then my second question, congratulations, I think, for, let's say, the share buyback or the redemption, how you want to call it. And just to better understand here for Madrid, it's more difficult to understand. How has this decision come?
Because as I understand, let's say the biggest shareholder was more, let's say, focusing on, let's say, organic and inorganic expansion of the business and not, and was not willing to, let's say, to give capital back apart from the, let's say, from the dividends. So how has this decision come? How was the, let's say, the rationale in the board meeting, and maybe so we can have more information. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Beltran. I will start with your first question. I think, you know, it is too early to say anything about margin expansion related to the voucher. We still don't really have any decisions on school vouchers. This is very preliminary. This is really early. Usually, we communicate this much, much later, but... And it's something we follow closely. And, you know, the system proved to work well last year. Most, you know, that was a fair school voucher, and it did compensate for the cost. And this is what we're seeing again this year. So, it's too early to say something about that right now. I don't know, the share redemption program and how the board made that decision, I don't know if that's a question for us, really, but Marcus-
Maybe it's difficult, but you know, I don't know, you once said it's a good thing, because this is a way for us to invest in ourself. Now it is optional for the shareholders to take cash from their shares, and the price will be 30% above the price that we will have when we go into the program. Because it's voluntary. I think it's a good and quite easy program to understand, and hopefully it will work out in a good way. If it works out in a good way, it will be a possibility for AcadeMedia to use this also in the future. It will be possible for instance, for Mellby Gård, you can ask them yourself what they will do.
So it's a possibility for them. If they want, they could increase their ownership, or they could sell shares, and that is the same for all of the shareholders. And this will also reduce the number of shares, which is also positive. So when we have looked into this program, we think it's a quite good way for a company like AcadeMedia to give it, like, a voluntary option for the shareholders.
No, no, totally agree, Katarina, Marcus. I think it's a fantastic decision. It's a decision that I think should have been done earlier, but well, it's better later than never. But then I totally support the decision as a long-term shareholder. Just how does this come out? Because if I'm not wrong, in the last AGM, there was, let's say, a couple of shareholders pushing for a share buyback, and at the end, nothing happened. So, why did this happen? Well, it's positive, and then, yeah, I think, yeah, thank you for that.
Just a short comment on that, because when we had the annual meeting last year, it was still quite uncertain what would happen with the voucher. But the voucher developed quite well last year. We think it will do it the same this year, the coming year. So maybe that has also changed the situation a little bit. And in fact, we have a very strong balance sheet, and the board also think that the share price is undervalued. This is a way to show that they think that the share price is undervalued. And, because if we have the right share price, it's also possibility to use AcadeMedia, to use the share when we do some more international expansion. So I think that has been the background to the discussion.
Great. Very useful and all the support for the coming fiscal year.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial five on your telephone keypad. There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you very much for your time. We wish you all a good day. Thank you.
Thank you. Bye-bye.