Welcome to the Catella Q3 2026 report presentation. For the first part of the presentation, participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the CEO, Rikke Lykke, and CFO, Gustav Jansson. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Catella's Q3 2026 interim report presentation. Before we turn to the quarter, I would like to briefly position Catella and our platform. Catella is a leading European specialist in property and alternative investments. We operate across 12 European countries with approximately 470 employees and assets under management of SEK 162 billion. Our business is built around two complementary business areas. Investment Management, where we provide regulated fund solutions and tailored investment products, and our regional asset management services. We also use selected co-investments to support future recurring management fees. Corporate Finance, where our strong local advisory teams are combined with cross-border capabilities and access to international investor bases. This combination gives us a strong European footprint, deep specialist capabilities, and several sources of earnings. However, our platform is not delivering the level or quality of profitability that it should.
My first 12 months as CEO have confirmed the strengths of capabilities of Catella's market position, our capabilities, and people, but they have also identified clear opportunities to streamline the organization. We need to improve our performance, and we need to strengthen our long-term shareholder value. We are therefore sharpening Catella. Our objective is not simply to position the group for a market recovery. It is to continue to build a business that can deliver stronger profitability and greater resilience across the market cycle. That leads directly to our three strategic priorities. These priorities remain the same as the ones we presented earlier this year at the AGM. First, resilience of quality of earnings. Second, operational excellence. Third, selected investments in capabilities and track record and operational efficiency.
If we start with earnings quality, we have carried out a thorough review of our activities, strategic priorities, and our allocation of resources. During this third quarter, this has resulted in a restructuring of our U.K. fundraising platform and our development management team in Germany. These are some deliberate steps to optimize the group, to lower our fixed cost base, and to concentrate our resources in areas where we see a stronger potential for sustainable value creation. The actions taken during 2026 are expected to, on one hand, entail a one-off cost of approximately SEK 30 million, but on the other, to deliver annual efficiency gains of around SEK 40 million on a 12-month run rate basis in 2027 and onwards. These actions are important. This is an important first phase, but they are not the end of the process.
I see further opportunities to improve efficiency, profit margins, and our earnings quality across the group. We will communicate more details as these initiatives progress and become sufficiently concrete. Our second priority is operational excellence. A clear conclusion from my first year at Catella is that Catella can make better use of its scale and its capabilities across the group. From January 2027, we will adopt a federated operating model. It is a model that is designed to preserve our local entrepreneurship, the specialist expertise that we have across the group, and our proximity to our clients while we introduce a clearer group-wide support and governance. Over time, I am sure this will reduce duplication, improve our coordination, and create a more scalable platform. It is important that this should allow for our client-facing teams to be spending more time on managing the investments, servicing our clients, and generating new business.
This is not about centralizing things. It is about being very clear about what should remain local and where we have shared capabilities and common standards and stronger coordination that can create better outcomes. The third priority is selected investments in capabilities required to support our continued performance and efficiency. Alongside the cost and organizational measures, we are also investing selectively in technology, data, and AI. All our investments that are intended to improve productivity, strengthen our operational effectiveness, and support our clients better. This is therefore not simply a cost reduction program. We are building a stronger operating platform for Catella, one that is more integrated and more efficient and more scalable, while we intend and aim to retain the specialist expertise and the local entrepreneurship that distinguishes Catella. The past year has been about examining the business and challenging our assumptions and setting the transformation in motion.
Emphasis going into 2027 will be disciplined execution and realization of benefits. With this strategic concept, or context, let us now turn to the financial and operational highlights of the third quarter.
Thank you, Rikke, and good morning, everyone. Looking at some of the key highlights for the third quarter, total income fell by 10% to SEK 359 million compared to the same quarter in 2025. The largest difference is driven by the Balance Sheet Investments segment, where income fell by SEK 70 million. Investment Management saw a decline of SEK 6 million, driven by lower variable fees, and these two differences were partially offset by Corporate Finance having a strong quarter with income around SEK 42 million higher than the previous year. Operating profit, or EBIT, was reported negative SEK 16 million, a SEK 23 million worsening compared to the same period last year. These results include a negative fair value adjustment, costs for now disposed businesses, and transformation costs, as mentioned by Rikke.
On an adjusted basis, the operating profit for Q3 2026 is a positive SEK 15 million, an improvement compared to the same quarter last year. I will come back to the financials later on in this presentation and provide you more details on these adjustments. But before that, I would like to highlight a few key achievements from the business side. Investment Management agreed to a strategic asset swap of GreenPoint, a completed and fully let 445 rental apartments development, and in return acquired an adjacent development site in Copenhagen. This is an opportunity for Catella to close one successful project and at the same time continuing a successful partnership to develop further projects in a market with high potential.
Furthermore, we completed a EUR 215 million sale of the remaining 923-unit Dutch residential portfolio of the Panta Rhei Dutch Residential Fund to an affiliate of Lone Star, concluding a 14-year core plus investment strategy that generated an average annual net return of more than 5.5% for our investors. In Corporate Finance, Q3 was a strong quarter. The key call-out is Catella being the advisor on the successful sale of a 123-room hotel property in Madrid, a transaction with a value of EUR 81 million. In Sweden, our team ranked number 2 in terms of market share with 12%, but they were number 1 in terms of transactions. For Stockholm, the inner city office transaction volumes, Catella had a 66% share of those transaction volumes. Moving on, you are now familiar, we launched a share buyback program in Q2.
We continued that during Q3, and to date, more than 3.9 million shares have been repurchased at an average share price of SEK 19.7. We have utilized SEK 77 million of the SEK 100 million mandate approved at the AGM, and we will continue to utilize the remaining portion over the coming weeks and months. All right, moving on to the business area performance. We are starting with Investment Management. In the quarter, AUM is helped by currency movements, but otherwise, the trend we have seen in the last few quarters of net outflows and downward valuations have continued. This is a trend that is seen across all open-ended public funds. You will see in the announcement that our Catella MAX fund will be terminated after a successful strategy for the last few years. But now is the time to exit this in an orderly way.
In terms of revenue for our Investment Management, our management fees remained stable. However, variable fees are down due to fewer dispositions in the funds. The low activity seen in 2026 is partially related to timing, but we do expect that activity will remain subdued for the remainder of this year. The EBIT is down 4% as the revenue shortfalls are offset by lower cost, but this means EBIT margins remain constant. Moving on to Corporate Finance. The positive momentum we saw in Q2 has been sustained also into Q3. Total revenues are growing both quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, where the SEK 125 million of total revenue represents a 51% growth compared to Q3 2025. Our teams are well-positioned in the markets and are winning new mandates.
We hope that activity will remain high, although there is a risk that recent interest hikes may impact pricing calculations and delay some transactions. Turning to Balance Sheet Investments business. Looking at the P&L, total revenue, as mentioned before, is down SEK 70 million. This is driven by our Metz-Eurolog project, which generated revenues of SEK 57 million a year ago, but also generated SEK 57 million expenses. The other major difference is in regards to fair value movements, where we see a negative movement, and this is almost entirely related to our holding in Pamica. Looking on the left side of the page and our projects, I think the key call-outs here is Metz-Eurolog. The development is completed, and we hope to close the project completely before the end of the year. Maltings is currently being prepared for sale, and we hope to see that completed in first half of 2027.
We are also reviewing our way forward with the Silbersteinstraße project to see how we best proceed with that investment. Looking at our financials on a consolidated basis, we have discussed the individual business segments' performance before, but I would like to call out that despite the lower total income, our gross profit improved compared to a year ago. On a reported basis, SEK 11 million better or 4% higher. The other key call-out on this page is, as I mentioned before, the adjustments I think is worth calling out when assessing the Catella financial performance. There are three categories. Firstly, disposals, which in the Q3 time period includes Catella Valuations. In 2025, this business generated revenues, which we no longer have, so we deduct that when assessing our income. Catella Valuations also have costs associated with it, so these costs should be added back when assessing our cost base.
The second category, fair value adjustments. These differences relate to our large development projects or other financial investments. We have a set methodology for how each type of assets is valued, and this is explained in detail in our annual report. However, the accounting and the valuation changes makes comparisons of our results challenging. Using Q3 as an example, in 2025, we saw positive fair value changes reported as revenue, while in 2026, we saw negative fair value changes reported under operating expenses. This is accounting-driven, and where the material valuation movements impact our financial reporting, we believe it is right to highlight it in our analysis of Catella's financial performance, so you can also better understand what's happening in the real operating elements of Catella. Lastly, the third category is impact from transformation costs. These costs are one-time costs and will generate benefits going forward.
Again, we believe it's important to highlight this type of item so that you can assess Catella's business on more clarity and what the numbers are truly telling us. With that said, I am handing back to you, Rikke.
Thank you, Gustav. I would like to conclude by stepping back from the quarter and look at where Catella is going from here. Over the past year, we have spent considerably time looking critically at our business, our operating model, and how we allocate our resources. The conclusion is clear. Catella has a strong business, strong specialist capabilities, and attractive positions across Europe, but we are not yet extracting the full potential of the platform. That is what this transformation is fundamentally about. We are moving towards a more integrated, efficient, and scalable European platform while we preserve our entrepreneurship, specialist expertise, and client proximity that are fundamental to Catella and our future success. We have already started this journey. We will continue, however, to review parts of the organization.
We are and will continue to restructure activities where the return does not justify the resources deployed, and we are strengthening how our enabling functions work across our countries, and we are investing selectively in technology and AI. All of this is to improve effectiveness across the group. I would like to be very clear, this is not simply a cost program. It is about creating a structurally enhanced Catella, a Catella that has higher quality of earnings, a Catella that has a stronger operating leverage, and a Catella where we use our European scale much more efficiently. Ultimately, a Catella that is capable of generating more consistent, attractive shareholder returns through any cycle. We have defined the priorities to get there: resilience and quality of earnings, operational excellence, and targeted investments in the capabilities that will make us more competitive and efficient. The direction is therefore set.
The next phase is about execution. Going into 2027, our attention will increasingly shift from identifying these opportunities to delivering the benefits. We will continue to challenge complexity in our cost base, to sharpen accountability, and to improve collaboration across the group. At the same time, we will remain very disciplined about where we choose to invest. We want to direct the capital, our people, and our attention towards the business and the opportunities where we see a clear competitive advantage for Catella and where the strongest potential to create shareholder value is. We are not building our plans around waiting for the market to recover. Improving the performance of Catella is our responsibility. A stronger market will create additional opportunities, yes, but the transformation that we are currently undertaking should make us better at and more profitable irrespective of the speed of the recovery.
We are not waiting for a recovery. We are acting. We have a strong European footprint, deep specialist knowledge, and longstanding client relationships, and an established investment platform. Our job is now to bring those strengths together more effectively and translate them into better profitability, stronger cash generations, and sustainable shareholder value. The transformation is underway, the direction is clear, and our focus is now on execution and delivery. We look forward to update you on our progress as we move through the next phase of Catella's development. Thank you. Gustav and I will now be happy to take your questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Gustav Jörgensen from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning. I have a couple of questions, to start off, the question is regarding the SEK 30 million in restructuring costs in 2026. Should we expect these to be behind us from 2027 onwards, or could further one-off restructuring charges arise in 2027 or 2028?
The cost here in 2026 is about some consulting and legal advice we received, as well as severance payments. Next year, I would like to say that they are not going to come, but I will also be very honest with you and say if we see that there is a potential to further generate savings on a 12-months run rate basis, we will not shy away from doing so.
Okay. Fair enough.
I would expect. I think that is also in everybody's interest, but if we see that there is the potential, we should do it and not just leave it because we are afraid of one-offs. But we are very specific about what our one-offs are. They have to be directly involved, linked to actual recurring savings and not temporary use like we might see in other companies that constantly has one-offs.
Okay. Thank you.
That is not our intention. We will always be very specific to say, we used, we invested, you could say, this year SEK 30 million in order to get an upside of SEK 40 million next year. That is our intention of being very transparent with you in this regard.
Okay, thank you. The next question is, you have emphasized that Catella should not rely solely on a market recovery to improve profitability. Beyond these cost reductions, what are the most important initiatives you are prioritizing to restore organic AUM growth, and should we expect new fund launches to attract fresh institutional capital?
We have two focus areas, revenue and cost, surprisingly. Cost reduction, but also revenue increases. We are working on new products, whether in this market where I think you are also aware that fundraising in general is a challenging task at the moment. Whether we will see a fund being set up next year, that's our aim, but I will not be able to promise you that it won't come in 2028, but we are working on it. What we are focusing as much on in terms of revenue generation is asset management mandates, which are more locally regional-based and not big fund setups. Fundraising and fund setups takes longer than asset management mandates, so we're working on both fronts. That's that.
Okay, thank you. Just a last question.
Yeah.
Could you say anything about the heads since you mentioned a more decentralized operations model from the start of 2027?
Yeah, I mean, we don't have a fixed headcount at the moment. One of the reasons also being that we need to be focusing even more on how we use digitalization technology to become more efficient. In some cases, we will have to install certain or invest in IT and digitalization in order to generate these savings over time. But we intend to start that in 2027 and finalize it in 2028.
Okay, thanks. That was all the questions from my end. Thank you so much.
As a reminder
You are welcome.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 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.
Yeah, I would just like to Do you want to address this?
We received a few questions on the chat as well. This is from Rasmus Jacobsson with Redeye. "How much redemption notice is already queued in the German open-ended funds?" At this point, we do not do forward projections on the redemptions, but as mentioned before, the trend has been a steady outflow. You have seen our notice on the Catella MAX termination in order to manage redemptions and liquidity in the funds. So we expect that trend to continue, but I do not want to give you a specific number at this point in time. Another question is, "Which new products launch in 2027, and at what fee level is today's funds?" I think, Rikke, you already addressed the question about the new funds.
Yeah, even though we would like to be transparent with you, I do not think we are going to tell you here in open space which funds we are contemplating. But we are working on several fronts with potential new fund launches.
Yeah.
Is that the questions?
Yeah, those are the questions.
I would like to address one thing. The previous question I was asked about FTE savings. I think it is important to state that this is not just about FTE savings. This is also about how we actually utilize our cost and how we minimize the use of, for example, external consultants, advisors, and so forth. Because we have a lot of very, very skilled and experts in the company, and can we utilize them more instead of paying third parties, then we should do that. This is part of our optimization as well. This is not a, as I said, cost-cutting exercise for the purpose of this. This is an exercise of making sure that we deploy our resources where it makes sense and where we optimize the use of them as best possible, that being people, that being capital. Then we have received another question from
Robin Linnar.
Robin Linnar, that says, "Throughout the year, you have repeatedly talked about reducing the size of projects on the balance sheet to lower risk. Yet KöTower seems to be turning into another Kaktus with the invested amount around one-third of our market cap. Why are you taking on such a large exposure?" First of all, this is a legacy project that has been inherited from previous management. Second of all, we have some written contracts with third parties that we need to adhere to. Unfortunately, it is not something that we can just divest overnight. We are in very good contact with our partner in this regard, a local pension fund in Germany, and together we work on this project. Whether we will see it come to an end in 2029 as expected, or we will divest it prior, that is a joint decision with our joint venture partner.
It is not something we can overnight off-lift off our balance sheet.
I believe the other questions submitted in writing have been addressed with other questions. Unless there are any additional questions from the audience, I think we conclude the Q&A, and then you can obviously reach out to us after the meeting for additional conversations and questions as well.
Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you for joining. Thank you for great questions, and we will keep you updated on the transformation progress as we continue to work with it. Hopefully we have more updates, or we will have more updates, I know, for you by Q4 in February. It is just because I am trying to get the team to do it quicker, so my mind is January, but February. Until then, take care and speak to you soon.