Hello everyone and welcome to NYAB's result presentation. NYAB has today released its year-end report for 2024, and giving the presentation, we have the Group CEO, Johan Larsson, and CFO, Klas Rewelj. My name is Marko Peltonen, and I am the Director of Investor Relations at NYAB. During the presentation, you can write your questions for our management to the chat, and we will go through them at the end. Now to get started, I hand over to Johan, who will go through NYAB's year 2024.
Thank you, Marko. Welcome everybody. Our first year-end report as a Swedish company. Looking forward to it. Also our first report with Klas Rewelj by my side. So another quarter of steady development. I'm happy to state that our yearly revenue amounted to EUR 345.9 million and that we have a revenue in the quarter of EUR 117 million. Continuous improvements in most areas, quarter by quarter throughout 2024, and great improvements with the comparison periods. We finished the year with an EBIT of EUR 25.4 million, an improvement of 66.9% year-over-year. For the full year, we had an EBIT margin of 7.3%, as expected and communicated that it would improve in comparison with 2023. And important to highlight is the margin for the quarter Q4 that amounted to 10.5% EBIT. Decent free cash flow, EUR 22.5 million, have a good cash generation overall.
Our order backlog is 10.3% higher than when we left 2023, noting that we're in a good position for 2025. When it comes to revenue splits, energy worth highlighting now our biggest segment out of those segments we address. We have also communicated this to the market that we expect that. They are also part of what we have said also that we will do our best to even out our seasonality. A lot of the energy projects can have quite high activities in Q1. Now it's our biggest segment, Infrastructure at a stable level. The Industrial, mainly due to a little lower investment levels, that's been lagging a bit since we had our macroeconomic circumstances in 2023, but still an important area for us. I expect growth there going forward, as I actually do in the other two segments as well.
Three quarters of our volume for 2024 was in Sweden and a quarter in Finland. In the Finnish economy, we see some clear slowness in the market there. They have a much more volatile economy than Sweden, more state-based and so on. But we have handled it very well. We have performed well on the Finnish side, and we have been able to utilize skills and competence on the Swedish market from our Finnish business. And we have only shy of EUR 100 million volume in Finland annually. So even in slower times, we can hold up quite great and have efficient cross-border collaborations. Private sector versus public sector, we have stated that we want a mix of approximately 50/50. At the moment, public sector is a bit bigger. That's just fine with us.
We follow the markets, and we have a lot of strong base industry clients, Swedish Transport Administration, and so on, so we feel quite happy with our strong great clients and how they are divided between private and public. When it comes to revenue per employee, worth mentioning and highlighting, because I think this says a lot about our business model that we have clearly explained, is very different from those we are compared to. You can also see that in our growth, long-term growth every year in combination with our profitability, and when it comes to revenue per employee, we end up at EUR 703,000 per employee, which is quite close to double the amount that many compare us with or view as our peers.
I would give the simple explanation and say that we are, to a high extent, a consulting company, but we also take business risks in fixed price contracts and so on. Although we're very happy with the growth of our collaborative contracts that lowers the risk profile. And with our more than 70% white-collar staff, we have a very scalable business. Most of the production is executed by niche providers, subcontractors, and such. We have a headcount of 492 people. And as stated, one third of our revenue from collaboration model projects, we have our own concept called Kraftsamla. And this area is growing. We are happy with that. We're coming to the projects at an early stage and can give our clients added value.
It also means the risk quite clear to be in the projects on an early stage, often contributing with the planning and so on. Last year, we had a very nice eNPS score, important within our unique business model to have skilled personnel. I think that we are by far the best in the industry with this figure. Looking forward to present the figure for 2025 that we will have shortly. We have a net cash position of EUR 16.6 million, and the proposal for dividend is EUR 0.01 per share. Now about the developments in the fourth quarter. We are happy we have gotten the trust from Kemijoki Oy to construct a 5,000 sq m fish farming and water treatment facility. It goes in line with our specialist knowledge. Exciting contract for us.
We have also won the trust of the Swedish Transport Administration, one of our biggest clients, to construct the new southern entrance at Häggvik Station in Sollentuna. And the Dovre acquisition, of course, more about that later. That was completed now, January 2nd. A platform investment. And we have some key executive appointments. We have a new CFO, Klas, who is with me today, and a new HR Director, Mårten, that are contributing already and key competence with international experience to support our future profitable growth. So the Dovre acquisition. What it's about for us is to create a platform for a geographic expansion. This gives us possibilities to expand the core business into Norway. The sector they address are the sectors where we already have proven our industrial knowledge, which is Energy, Infrastructure, and Industry. So we are aiming at the same sectors, but with different kinds of services.
And we see that we reach deeper in the value chain and that there are a lot of cross-selling synergies. And the implementation so far has gone very well. And worth mentioning also is that we naturally see that there is a shortage of engineers in the market. And we don't expect that shortage to be lower. The shortage will increase over time going forward. And this gives us a lot of opportunities. I can also say that our first main focus now is the implementation that is handled successfully. It goes very well. Main focus for development with this business will be in Norway and then in Sweden and somewhat in Finland. The more international business where there aren't too big volumes that are more international and global. It's more about continuing to deliver to some of the world's biggest energy clients on long-term frame agreements with margin improvements.
Quite marginal margin improvements there is to be expected, but clear improvements still.
Right. Thank you, Johan. Taking some further looks into our financial development, starting with the order book. Order backlog, as you saw, closed at EUR 325.1 million , and as heard, that is 10% higher compared to the value at the end of 2023. The production in the quarter was at a high level, and the backlog reduced with some 15% during the quarter. The backlog primarily driven by projects in Sweden, and the balance is supporting year-on-year growth for 2025. Our model continues to drive growth and profitability. The share of collaborative contracts now represents approximately one third, and the average project size increased. This improving revenue security, as well as reducing risk and strengthening our market position. The cross-border and intra-project collaboration is accelerating in NYAB, enabling resource optimization and further profitable growth.
Taking a look at our net sales, the fourth quarter revenue was EUR 117.1 million, representing a growth of 33% in relation to previous year. Compared to 2023, the winter was milder in the northern region, supporting project execution. We saw increased activity in all our three industry segments. The largest growth driver was power network projects. Sweden grew a whole 48% and increased the share of group total revenue to 78%. Likewise, public sector had the highest growth with 52%, giving a 59% share of quarterly revenue. Then summarizing our profitability development, strong Q4 operating profit was EUR 12.3 million, giving an EBIT margin of 10.5% compared to 7.5% in 2023. EBIT increase was derived from volume growth combined with higher project margins and cost scaling. The quarterly net profit was EUR 9.3 million, giving a full year profit of 16.8%.
That represents a year-on-year growth of net profit and earnings per share of almost 90%. Looking at our financial position, free cash flow for the quarter, EUR 18.3 million, corresponding to a cash conversion of 135% of EBITDA. The 2024 full year free cash flow, EUR 22.5 million, is equivalent to a year-on-year increase of 70%. We land the quarter with a negative net debt, EUR 16.6 million, amounting to negative 0.55 in relation to EBITDA. The ROCE, return on capital employed, of 12% represents an increased return. We closed 2024 with a stable equity ratio above 70%. We highlight our 2024 full year performance versus our financial targets. The revenue growth of 23% outperforms the target to be about 10%. The EBIT margin 7.3% is quite well in line with our target to perform above 7.5%.
We exit 2024 with a negative net debt, giving a capital structure ratio with substantial headroom compared to net debt to EBITDA ratio below 1.5. The proposed dividend equates to 42.4% of 2024 net profit. Also, this is in line with our target to distribute above 35% of the same. Yeah. At this point, we choose to inform about the pro forma adjusted financials for 2024, combining NYAB reported numbers with the acquired Dovre business and linked transaction effects. Notably, this is preliminary numbers based on unqualified company filings, and the numbers in total have not been subject to external audit yet. However, it will serve us as a good indication. On a standalone basis, excluding allocated group cost, the acquired Dovre business amounts to a revenue of some EUR 111 million , an EBIT of EUR 4.5 million EUR, and a net profit estimated to EUR 4.2 million .
In addition, the acquisition brings following effects. Accumulated transaction costs during 2024 totaling EUR 1 million, and those will be costed during the first quarter of 2025. Additional annual amortization of intangible assets of EUR 1.1 million. Financing costs mainly related to the bridge facility we acquired, estimated to EUR 1.3 million post-tax on a full year basis. The acquisition, including Dovre business and adjustments, would thus have brought additional operating profit of EUR 2.4 million and a net profit of EUR 1.3 million. The 2024 consolidated combination, should the acquisition have been completed in January last year, therefore shows a revenue of EUR 457 million with an EBIT margin of 6.1% and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.4 positive. Finally, we take this opportunity to inform on our plans for 2025 reporting.
On the group level, we will report on order intake and linked year-on-year growth as a new KPI. With the Dovre acquisition, we get the material part of the group working with a different operational and business model. We will continue to disclose consolidated performance for our NYAB legacy civil engineering in terms of order intake, backlog, revenue, and EBIT margin. We will also disclose these KPIs separately for Sweden and Finland. We will combine the acquired Dovre business with our existing Sitema Finnish operations to a new consulting segment. And for this, inform about order intake, headcount, revenue, and EBIT margin. That was all from me. So over to you, Johan, to summarize.
Thank you very much, Klas. Very well described and even more so with a mild fishy feeling. You fought well. Thank you. Yeah. To summarize this, we are, of course, quite happy with the year.
We have steadily built a better and stronger company. We have succeeded very well in evening out seasonality. We have protected our scalable business model and have grown without increasing our risk, and we have proven ourselves and our capabilities with handling bigger volumes. For us, it's no surprise, but it's, of course, good to show this to the market. We know these industries and this industry. We know what we are doing, and we come out in a very good position before 2025 or into 2025, and for the quarter, it's a strong operational and financial performance. Great improvement from the previous year. We increased our volume with 33%. And as I was quite clear with when presenting Q3, that the underlying and ongoing growth were much higher than the 6% we showed in Q3 due to timing effects and timing reasons.
So this, of course, is no surprise for us. And we have a solid EBIT margin, very well performed both in Finland and Sweden. Sweden, of course, has had a much better margin due to better and stronger market and also how the structural settings for the markets are in each country. But great performance on both sides. Very happy to see that. We fight when it's hockey, but when it's running business, we are colleagues. Strong and diversified order backlog. We have put ourselves in a great position. The increase is above 10% year-over-year, and it provides good prospects. Continued strong growth in energy. It's now our biggest segment, as told earlier. Also good and related with acquisition of Dovre. Even if they have both Infrastructure and Industry, it's within Energy they have their vast majority of business. Good market position.
We are exposed to stable market segments, high underlying demand in both Finland and Sweden. And it's a remarkably high tendering activity in Sweden. Dovre acquisition, we have run that through a bit. So the summary is quite easy. Expansion in Norway and increases revenue potential and a lot of synergies are possible. Good performance for the year. Overall, we are in line with our financial targets, looking forward for 2025 and continue our work to steadily build a better and stronger company. That's it for me.
Thank you, Johan. Thank you, Klas. Let's move on now to the questions we have received. Our first question is that for the full year of 2024, the EBIT margin amounted to 7.3%. However, the integration of the project personnel business will naturally put some downward pressure to your margins.
How fast do you anticipate NYAB to return to the margin levels that we saw pre-acquisition and about your target of 7.5%, or should we expect a lower margin for the foreseeable future?
Hi. No, you shall not expect a lower margin for the foreseeable future. Naturally, from day one, there is a dilution in the margin. Work is already ongoing to improve Dovre's margins. There are a lot of business coming up, and we won't change, as we know of today, our long-term financial target of delivering about 7.5%. So, as we've stated throughout the year, that the best way to view us or try to foresee our future is by looking at our financial long-term targets. So that is what I suggest you'll do.
Then could you provide some insights into how the cash flow profile conversion looks like for the acquired businesses from Dovre?
How does it compare from your current cash profile?
Yeah. The cash conversions are quite similar. The seasonality is more preferable. It's quite even throughout all quarters. Helps us on group level. Of course, Klas has a much better understanding and knowledge in this area than I do. But since he has a cold, I'll try to do my best in your place.
My voice. Thank you for that. Thank you. Yeah.
The acquired businesses from Dovre had quite weak 2024 in terms of revenue growth and EBIT margin compared to 2023. Could you talk a bit about this performance? What measures will be implemented to strengthen the profitability and steer the company back to growth?
Yeah. Well, I can see you can see our track record knowing these industries having one of the best margins in the business.
Our track record when we did the reverse takeover of the Finnish Skarta business, who had slight red figures the last year, quite significant margins improvement straight off. So I would say that there are a lot of potential. Work is ongoing, and we run business to have profitability. So the goals are clear, and the market will see a bit more what will happen during this year.
And the next question, the order book growth could be even better. How do you see the landscape for generating new orders during 2025?
Yeah. Well, first of all, our order book is at a 10% higher level than the comparison period. And we are quite happy with that, especially since we had such high revenue in the fourth quarter. But you should also know that, as I have mentioned, there are collaborative contracts with phase two that aren't disclosed as volumes.
There are guarantee volumes in certain contracts that have roof volumes and so on. So shouldn't stay too blind focusing on the order book. We are very happy with our position, and that's what I can say now.
Correct.
And how did the acquired businesses or intake develop in Q4 and in the full year 2024?
Yeah. I would say that they don't have an order intake to high extent. Their main business is perennial framework agreements that have a maturity that are many years away from now. So we are very confident, and we have a lot of time, I would say, where we are and stand now. So the clients are there.
I think overall, I think the revenue profile was quite stable during 2024 compared to previous years for the Dovre acquired business.
Now we are just looking ahead and see, as Johan said, several opportunities to start to accelerate the same. Yeah.
It appears that your order intake of significant orders is already higher than in Q1 2024. Would you say that this is representative for other smaller orders as well?
I would say so. It's a good market. We can't hide the fact that society must invest in Infrastructure, Energy, and Industry to develop, and that are the markets that we address. So we are winning new contracts, have a big pipeline, and the markets look favorable and good. We are very happy. One of the foundations or ideas of our reverse takeover of Skarta, except for being a listed company, was to get the skills and knowledge how to operate in Arctic climate.
And we can really utilize that with the more hot market that is current in Sweden. We have engineers who are skilled and designers and so on, who contribute very well from the Finnish side, also with the more CapEx-heavy business and such.
And I would say just to add that we are always and will remain focused on winning the right projects for us, being selective. And we are happy to, as I also said, to gain projects and contracts with recurring revenue, increasing revenue security, and lower risk for us. So I think that we are happy for that development as well that we see. Yeah.
Yeah. It works as planned, and it's a good summer.
And could you provide more details on the current order backlog and which major projects are expected to contribute to revenues in 2025?
Yeah. There is, of course, contracts we have already disclosed, but Helenelund, Oxelösund, for Vattenfall. We have Aurora Line. We have the municipality contract in Luleå and the framework agreements with Vattenfall. We have multiple framework agreements. It's a mix.
Yeah. With growth comes a more diversified profile as well, where more projects become contribution to the overall performance. Yeah.
Yeah. Relying on our business model where we don't have to invest in high CapEx business, we don't even have to hire that many people and so on. It's scalable. Our average project size consisting of over 100 projects per year goes up in size, a small bit and portion for those who are ready for a bigger responsibility. We grow from there. That's where our historical track record and high growth with good margins comes from.
More questions of the Dovre acquisition.
Is the staff at Dovre based around the world, or can they be relocated entirely depending on where the projects are carried out? What type of projects are we talking about there, and how do you intend to continue being so geographically spread out, or will Dovre focus more into Nordic countries?
Yeah. It's mainly white collars. It's mainly engineers. Some of them are movable and can work wherever they like or please. And they are from all over the world, but we have a clear base in Norway where we have most of this revenue is in Norway, in Norwegian. It's more of a consultancy business. It has more related and possible synergies with our ongoing and existing business. But there are a lot of opportunities there. Yeah.
I think we see it as a strength that, actually, the combination of local sourcing and delivery combined with some geographical flexibility and capability. So that combination is for sure a strength in the business acquired by NYAB.
Then please say more thoughts on the market outlook in Norway and how much of the revenue Norway is expected to account for in the future.
Well, in the future, we can't really give that indication now. I would say that that would tend to be a forecast. And what we can say is that we will have growth, and we will have margin improvements. And we also see Dovre and their core business and consultancy business taking a bigger place and role in Sweden over time going forward. So it's on both sides.
The EBIT margin for NYAB was very strong in Q4 with operating profit growing at more than twice the base of revenue. Could you elaborate on how NYAB achieved this level of cost scalability and the key factors driving this performance?
Yeah. I would go back to what we talked about earlier, our business model, how scalable it is, and when it comes with volume, but then you also have a seasonality effect. This isn't too strange, even if it's an improvement with a comparison period of 3.0 PP, meaning 3% units. It's a weak comparison period. Historically, we have delivered on EBIT levels around 9% or something like that for a full year. Now we are a listed company with costs related to that. Happily, our size and volume now makes it not so expensive to be a public listed company.
With that said, I think I made an explanation.
There is a question about collaboration with Luleå University of Technology, how it can benefit NYAB?
Yeah. We're looking into it and actually have some seeds planted and see what progress we can make. But of course, a technical university in our hometown where this company is founded and have its seat provides possibilities, especially since we have a lot of engineering and energy work and so on. I guess there will be more about that in the future.
Then despite the 23% revenue growth, net cash flow from operating activities has only increased marginally. Do you have any comments on that?
My comment is that we have a very strong free, positive cash flow throughout, but as all other companies, we have timing effects and such depending on size of contracts that has higher revenue for the last month before closing the quarter and so on. So it's not much to highlight, I would say.
Yeah. I mean, in addition, the comparison period there benefited from a settlement, which was in that period. So I think, as Johan says, the performance in the fourth quarter was well in line with what we expect to see from free cash flow. Yeah.
Okay. Now we have gone through all the questions we have received. NYAB will release its full annual report on Monday, the 17th of March. And for now, we thank everyone for participating. And until the next time.
Thank you very much. Sorry for the voice. Thank you.