Good morning, and welcome to the Addnode Group Q2 2022 earnings call. All participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing star then zero on your telephone. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Johan Andersson, CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you to all of you listening on this busy report day. With me is Lotta Jarleryd as well, our CFO, and we will give you a guidance to the Q2 report today. I guess if we could please flip all the way to the slide with agenda Q2 2022. We will walk you through a little bit of Addnode Group, our Q2 report, spend some minutes on sustainability and our investment case and end with the Q&A. There are also some appendices for further reading with regards to acquisitions, sustainability cases, and our shareholders. I guess we operate it. We could flip to the slide saying Addnode Group digital solutions for a sustainable future. For those of you who are new to Addnode Group, we are providing digital solutions.
We have a strategy growing by acquiring and developing cutting-edge enterprises that utilize society. We are organized in three divisions, Design Management, Product Lifecycle Management, and Process Management. Looking at the financial rolling 12-month ending Q2 in 2022, net sales are around SEK 4.8 million. We are delivering an EBITA of SEK 590 million, and we are at 2,300 employees providing digital solutions. With the high growth, we have managed to keep the recurring revenue at 67% of net sales. Next slide, please. Addnode Group has presence in some countries in Europe, Asia, Australia, North America. On the slide to the right, you can see that net sales distribution for the rolling 12 months period ending in Q2.
With acquisition of Microdesk in U.S.A. has become an important geography for Addnode Group. As Microdesk only has been consolidated for four months, U.S.A. is expected to be a higher portion of Addnode Group's net sales going forward. Next slide, please. Looking at Q2, we can see strong progress in all divisions, and the second quarter was another record quarter for Addnode Group. We had good demand, high organic growth, and we improved EBITA and our margins. Net sales increased by 49%, of which 11% was currency adjusted organic and increased to SEK 1.5 billion almost. We had a tailwind from the euro and the U.S. dollars. EBITA was up 57% to SEK 154 million. Earnings per share rose by 73% to SEK 0.52.
All three divisions experienced good demand, won new businesses, and improved earnings. What particularly stands out this quarter was that the Design Management division achieved the biggest improvement, doubling EBITA from SEK 40 million-SEK 8 0 million. Primarily, the growth and earnings gain in the division were related to strong sales by Symetri and the newly acquired Microdesk, which was acquired in March 2022. We'll come back to that further when we go through the different divisions. Next slide, please. Looking at our net sales distribution, license revenue increased to SEK 67 million. Recurring revenue increased to 1.5 billion. Service revenues increased to SEK 386 million, and we also saw some increase in other revenue. The recurring revenue that increased by 56% was 68% of net sales in the second quarter.
We see that long-term customer relationships and our business model with a high share of recurring revenue aid stability over time. Because investing in a digital solution for a mission-critical process is an undertaking for our customers and also for ourselves as a provider. It's not unusual for us to have customer relationships extending over 20 years back in time. Next slide, please. As I said early on, we are organized in three divisions. We are a decentralized organization with 21 companies summing up to the three different divisions to make sure that synergies can be generated when possible. Next slide, please. Looking at Design Management with a continued strong market drive and a record quarter. Net sales increased by 84% to SEK 806 million. Organic growth was 19% and 15% currency adjusted.
The EBITA increased by 10% to SEK 80 million, and the EBITA margin increased as well to 9.9%. The demand for Symetri's digital solution and services remained good, as reflected in the division's growth and earnings. Demand in the Nordics remained positive from the AEC segment and from manufacturing as well. The demand increase was especially positive in the U.K., and our customers value an Autodesk partner with proprietary related products and services. Microdesk performed above our expectations, thanks to increased demand in the AEC segment on the American market. For both, Microdesk and Symetri, new business sales and renewals of prior agreements performed above expectations. Tribia and Service Works Group providing collaborative portals for construction, infrastructure, and facility management also made good progress, especially in the Nordics. Next slide, please.
Looking at Product Lifecycle Management, had a strong market position and continued to support growth. Net sales increased by 32% to SEK 494 million. Organic growth was 13% and currency adjusted 9%. EBITA also increased to SEK 35 million, and their EBITA margin was stable compared to last year. Operations in the U.K . And U.S. made especially positive progress in the second quarter, with good demand for PLM systems and related services. Demand also remained good and stable in the Nordics and Germany. Initiatives in simulation solutions and solutions for customers in life sciences progressed well and supported the growth in the quarter. Next slide, please. Process Management. Once again, Process Management's high organic growth corroborated leadership status of the division's offerings to Sweden's public sector. Net sales increased by 11% to SEK 297 million.
Organic growth was 9% in line with recent quarters. EBITA increased to SEK 56 million, and the EBITA margin also increased to 18.9%. The division is outgrowing the market in those operations, providing solutions and services in document and case management, public services, and municipal engineering information systems for public authorities and municipalities. The division executed its first acquisition outside Sweden in the quarter. Decisive in Norway was consolidated in, effective from 1st of June 2022. Next slide, please. Looking a little bit closer at the acquisition that we did in the second quarter of Decisive. The company has net sales of SEK 57 million and 25 employees. It was founded in 2003 by the company's current CEO. The company is a leading provider rule-based decision support system for the Norwegian public sector.
Example of customers are the Norwegian Tax Administration, the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration, and the Norwegian Directorate of Health. It's something that support what we're doing in Sweden, and we are hoping to grow the market in Norway as well with this as a start. Next slide, please. With that, I would like to hand over to our CFO, Lotta Jarleryd.
Thank you, Johan. I would like to start with an overview of the consolidated cash flow. The operating cash flow for the second quarter amounted to SEK 322 million, an increase of SEK 71 million quarter-over-quarter. Since we had a very strong cash flow also in the first quarter this year, the first half of the year has generated a total operating cash flow of SEK 364 million. That corresponds to a cash conversion rate well over 100%, and that is operating cash flow to EBITA, adjusted for property sales in the first quarter. The improved operating cash flow compared to the same quarter previous year was primarily attributable to increased operating profit.
Investing activities in the second quarter amounting to SEK 93 million, primarily related to three topics, acquisition of Decisive, deferred payments for acquisitions made in previous periods, and investments in development of proprietary software. These investments were financed through available cash funds. Previous year, we did three acquisitions in the second quarter, which explained the rather large comparative amount. Financing activities predominantly related to the dividend of SEK 3 per share that was distributed to shareholders in line with the AGM's decision in May 2022. Total dividend of SEK 100 million was paid out on May 11th. Next page, please. I would like to continue with a few comments on the consolidated balance sheet. We continue to operate supported by a resilient balance sheet, which give us a favored position to continue to grow organically and through acquisitions.
Changes in the balance sheet from December 31st, 2021, until the end of June 2022 predominantly derived from the four acquisitions we have executed during the period. Following the customary purchase price allocation exercises, goodwill and other intangible assets have increased by about SEK 800 million in total. Due to strong cash flow during the first six months of the year, the cash position has increased by SEK 191 million to SEK 597 million as per June 30. Together with unutilized portion of the revolving credit facility, we had about SEK 1.2 billion in available funds by the end of June. Addnode Group's current revolving credit facility totaling SEK 1.6 billion was arranged in June last year and has a three-year term with option for extension 1 + 1 year.
In June 2022, we exercised the first option to extend the credit facility by one year to June 2025, with other terms and conditions unchanged. By the end of June 2022, the credit facility was utilized by SEK 1 billion, and the amount was reported under non-current liabilities. Net debt has increased to SEK 601 million following the four acquisitions made in 2022. Finally, I would like to mention a couple of things related to equity and the Addnode Group share. Following a resolution by Addnode Group's AGM in May 2022, a second long-term incentive plan for managers or senior executives were launched. In June 2022, 56,950 call options for Class B shares were issued to some 40 participants.
The market value call option premium of SEK 49.7 per call option resulted in a total purchase price of approximately SEK 3 million, which has been applied to the group shareholder's equity. Each call option carries entitlement for purchase of four shares. In June, the board of directors, supported by an authorization from the AGM 2022, decided to repurchase 230,000 Class B shares. The main purpose was to enable delivery of shares associated with the new incentive plan just mentioned. The repurchase has not yet been executed. Finally, I would like to mention that the AGM 2022 also approved the board's proposal for a four-to-one share split. The purpose was to increase the liquidity of the Addnode Group share. The first day of trading in the company share after the share split was May 17th. Back to you, Johan.
Thank you, Lotta, for that. Looking at our sustainability agenda, there is just if you could keep slide to sustainability agenda, please. We look at Addnode Group, we work according to sustainability with five focus areas. We believe that our biggest contribution to a more sustainable society is actually the digital solution we offer to our customers that can use the solutions, among other things, to perform digital simulation for the benefit of environment and health, make more sustainable design choices, product lifecycle management, handle property management, and improve participation and dialogue with the citizen in the community where we are active. Of course, we care about the people and environment in our businesses. We try to ensure that our partners and suppliers support our sustainability agenda.
It's also important to make money so that we can finance our business and make investments to support the sustainability agenda. To make all these things happen, we need the control and management of all the sustainability work. I identified five UN Global targets that we support. It's good health and wellbeing, gender equality, decent work conditions and economic growth, sustainable industry innovations and infrastructure, and also climate action. It's a part of our business DNA, and we try to live by it. Next slide, please. Addnode Group as an investment. Addnode Group is continuously creating value by acquiring enterprises that complement its current businesses. We bring industry expertise and structural capital to accelerate sales, product development, and support of all the people in the organization. Together, we try to create synergies and even more value for our customers.
Like I discussed previously, we provide digital solutions to our customers, and we're positioned to benefit from continued digitalizations. Demand from both private and public sector customers is driven by urbanization, more senior sustainability standards, change in working methods, and the need for efficiency. 2/3 of our net sales is from recurring revenue, meaning that the customer pay upfront yearly, quarterly, and also three years ahead for the right to use a software as a service solution or digital solution that we provide. For the customer to get the full benefit of their investment, it needs to be implemented and adopted, and those consulting services tend to also be of a recurring nature, even though we don't disclose them as such.
While I'm proud of Addnode Group's positive progress in the second quarter and the first half of the year, we are attentive to the uncertain business environment with the conflict in Ukraine, supply chain disruptions, rising interest rates, and inflation may impact demand. On the other hand, we have a strong financial position with a low debt-equity ratio. We have extended our credit facility, and we have a business model with a high share of recurring revenue, which offers us the freedom to keep executing on our strategy for profitable and sustainable growth. With that as an introduction to our second quarter, next slide, please. We would like to open up for Q&A.
Thank you. We will now begin the question- and- answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the key. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question is from Daniel Thorsson with ABG. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you very much, and a very solid report indeed. You mentioned in the end, Johan, that the inflation may cause lower demand in your markets. Can you explain in what way that could happen, and have you seen any early signs of that in any market so far?
No, we haven't seen any effect of that in our business. We're just saying that we are part of a bigger economy, and if something changes in the bigger economy, that will probably have some effect on us down the road as well. We haven't seen that in the demand from our services. Looking at in Q2, in all the divisions we had, there was no division. I think the lowest currency-adjusted organic growth was 9% in a division. We still have a good demand, and I can't see change from that yet. Of course, we are part of a greater economy, so I'm just opening up for that. I think you should view it from that point.
Yeah, that makes sense. A follow-up on that, I guess. Regionally, you comment a little bit soft comments here, or verbal comments in the different business units. What is standing out here? I guess U.K., U.S. is kind of my takeaway, performing better than Germany and the Nordics. Is that a good conclusion?
I think, yes. We still have a sort of a stable good demand in the Nordics and in Germany. What stands out is that we had a lower demand in the U.K. going back a year ago because I think there were more sort of effects from the COVID situation, and now it's back to a good, stable demand. We can also see we are quite new to the U.S. market, even though we have some operations in the PLM divisions, but it's a different scale now with the acquisition of Microdesk. We could see that we have a positive. The Microdesk is performing better than we expected, and I think that is reflected in our comments with the different regions.
Yeah. Okay, that makes sense. A question on Microdesk, please. I guess that they diluted the margins quite significantly in Design Management with full effect in this quarter, meaning that the underlying margin in Design Management must be very strong. Can you walk through the drivers a bit, please, on that?
Mm-hmm.
For the strong underlying.
Yes, we have a good margin in the underlying business. We can see that both in the sort of the Symetri business who has a similar business as Microdesk. We can also see that we have a very good performance in the other parts of the division within the Tribia and Service Works Group, who are our own software providing support for the construction and facility market. We also have a better-than-expected situation in Microdesk for the first four months. I think we talked about that they have a lower margin coming into Addnode Group, but they have also contributed on a higher level this quarter than we expected. They're still not up to the levels where we would like them to be going forward, but they have done a very good four first month.
Okay.
We have a good underlying margin. I think if I look into our CFO, she would probably guide me and say, "Please look at the end of the report where we have stated how much the effect is from the acquisitions that we have to do in the report." If you look at that, you could probably see that Microdesk is probably trailing around a 5% margin, 5%-6% in the first six months.
Okay, okay. That's very helpful. Is there any risk for a backlash in Microdesk that they have, like, tried to perform as good as possible here initially for you, and that there may be some costs coming up that they reduced around the M&A process?
Nothing with relation to the M&A process. I think we are full price. Of course, we have to be open for that. Microdesk has been part of the group four months, and it's still fresh and it's still new. We are very happy that they are performing well and that they are. By well, I mean above our expectation for the first four months. Let's evaluate them. Let's have a year before we evaluate it so.
Yeah, that makes sense. Okay, that's good. The second on Process Management. I mean, the organic growth was very strong there. I guess price was one component of the growth. Can you quantify that a bit?
Yeah.
I guess it was KPI-linked, partly.
Yeah. We can't quantify it. We don't disclose those figures. You're correct that there are sort of indices adjustment in the contracts in the public sector. Those are, of course, reflected in the organic growth. There are also volumes as well. There are both components. You have both price increases and volume in that.
Can you say if price or volume is the largest driver? I guess volume is slightly larger than prices this quarter. Is that fair to assume?
We don't disclose any figures around that, so but you have both components.
Fair enough. My last question is on employee turnover and salary inflation. We see many other IT companies reporting for Q2 here this morning, for example, reporting declining margins due to increased costs here. How do you see that playing out? You are reporting the other way around there.
We can see that what's happening is there are more sort of interaction with customers and internally with regards to different conferences, et cetera. Of course, we have that as well. We haven't seen that those things have sort of affected the margins as we are right now. We have the question about wage inflation. Yes, we have had a round of. There will be salary increases this year as well. It's not yet that drastic as we can see. Doesn't mean that we are sort of that there will be any changes in the autumn, I don't know yet. So far, we haven't seen those dramatic effects.
Of course, costs are increasing, meaning that if you look at margin, we have a history the last few years of increasing margins, sort of every quarter- by- quarter by division for the entire group. It will be tough to continue that sort of progress. We can grow on top line and probably if we can maintain the margins over time, that's probably more to be expected rather than seeing the sequential growth in margins that we had over the last two years.
Yeah. I see. Okay. That's a good comment. Yeah, that was it for me. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Fredrik Nilsson with Redeye. Please go ahead.
Hi. It's Fredrik Nilsson from Redeye here. I want to ask a question about the organic growth on the group level. I mean, you typically say that if you can manage 3%-5% over time, you're quite happy. However, the recent 1.5 year almost, the numbers have been much stronger, basically in every division. I suppose there's a rebound effect from COVID, then possibly some inflation effect currently. Still, it seems like you're doing quite good there. Could you explain a bit what's happening behind the numbers and what you think are the reasons?
There are several things. I think to start with, we have to believe that we have a good offering to the customers that makes us more. I think we have become probably a little bit more focused over the years, meaning that we are more focused in our offering that tends to make us more interesting for the customers. Like you said in the beginning, we probably had some rebound effects from the COVID. There are possibility to increase prices. I think it's a little bit of all there. We are very happy that we are able to generate the organic growth and like that.
Then on the other hand, like you said, it's a little bit of a new situation for us as well, being able to do 10% organic growth every quarter and go with. We don't want to make any promises with regards to that. We're happy that we're doing it. I would like to continue that, but I can't make any promises on that side. I think. Why are we able to generate organic growth? Yes, we have a good offering to our customers in areas where there are good demand, meaning that customers who would like to work with the organizations to become more efficient and automate different things. That are things within design and engineering, the same with construction and facility management and in public sector.
I truly believe that underlying demand will be there going forward as well, also driven by organization, also driven by sustainability. There is demand on making sure that you follow different things. We have that. We need to keep up doing the good work where the people in the organization are doing that. We'll see. We will do anything we can.
Okay. Thanks. That's all from me.
The next question is from Erik Larsson with SEB. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi. I have a question on Microdesk, which you said was outperforming. If they have expanded their margins, it feels like it's too early to say it's because of something you have implemented these four months. Would you say that's fair? Like, have they sort of improved their margins standalone?
No, no, of course it's fair. We have only been there for four months. We are sort of in discussion all day. Of course, it's up to the management team and the people in it, and the different employees in Microdesk doing a really good job these four months. It wouldn't be fair of us saying that it's been sort of on our side. It's the team in Microdesk who has performed that.
Okay. In terms of their growth rate, would you say? I mean, is it fair to assume they're keeping the level that you mentioned during the acquisition? Like they doubled over the last five years, is that the same pace sort of the first six months?
Yes, they have a growth. To be honest, it's tough to measure different types of exactment right now with regards to different sort of IFRS, different recognition criteria. But they have a growth in the market. Looking at the U.S. market, I think that you have a rebound there with the COVID situation, because the COVID situation was much tougher in the U.S. than it was here in Europe, I truly believe. You have probably a little bit of a rebound effect there as well.
Okay, thanks. That's great. A final question on Tribia and Service Works Group. I assume they have better margins, but if we're talking about the underlying business and Design Management excluding Microdesk, my take is that they've taken a higher share of the revenues there. Is it sort of like mixed effects behind parts of the margin expansion there?
Yes. They are. They have a growth in that business. With the higher margin, it has a positive effect on EBITA as well. Yes. We also see that we are the Symetri business are also performing well, so it's actually both.
Okay, great. That's all from me. Thank you.
Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. For any further questions, you may press star then one on your keypad. There is a follow-up question.
Oh.
From Daniel Thorsson with ABG. Please go ahead.
Yes, okay. I missed some of the latest questions, but I have one on the current M&A activity in the market here.
Mm-hmm.
I mean, given how the markets are developing, the IPO window is pretty much closed. Do you see more, not forced sellers, but more willing sellers to look in the private market here, which could gain you in the M&A activity? Or what do you see playing out there?
I think to start with most of the sort of what we are interested is entrepreneurial-led companies within the areas where we are. That means that we are very seldom involved in auction process and different things like that. In the short run, no, I don't think there will be forced processes with regards to the companies that we are interested in. In the overall M&A market, yes, I truly believe what you're saying, that there are the valuation sort of is going down in overall level. There will be companies who have to sell because they can't generate capital to support further growth. That will have sort of an from my perspective have a positive effect, meaning that valuation probably will go down. That's sort of more on the overall M&A picture and expectations.
I don't think that we will see forced sales that we will sort of be interested in because that's not generally our target.
Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks.
This concludes our question- and- answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Andersson for any closing remarks.
I just wanna say thank you for listening in and all the good questions. With that, I will hopefully wish you a good summer period. Thank you.
Thank you.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.