Good morning. Welcome to the presentation of Sweco's results from this year's first quarter. To present the results and the report is Sweco's President and CEO, Åsa Bergman, and CFO, Olof Stålnacke. After the presentation, there of course will be room and time for questions. Please, Åsa.
Welcome, everyone, to Sweco's Q1 presentation. Before we move into the quarter, let me give you a quick recap of Sweco. Sweco is today Europe's leading architecture and engineering consultancy with operations in eight geographical Business Areas across some 15 markets in Europe. We are a well-diversed business with projects in three broad segments: building urban areas, water energy industry, and transport infrastructure. The foundation for Sweco's long-term success is our mix of competencies spread across 20,000 experts, organic and acquired growth, as well as our efficient and decentralized operational model. With our solid financial position, we continue to build Sweco. As you can see, we have a steady improvement in sales and EBITDA. Our net debt EBITDA after the latest acquisition landed on 1.1.
Let us take a look at the result of the first quarter. We started the year with excellent momentum, delivering strong organic growth and an all-time high EBITDA. Net sales increased to SEK 7.1 billion. The organic growth adjusted for calendar was 10%. We achieved a total growth of 17%. EBITDA increased by 19% year-over-year to SEK 849 million, adjusted for calendar. Our operating margin improved to 11.9%, more or less on par with our financial target of 12%. The strong performance was driven by solid demand connected to the green transition in Europe, higher average fees, and a good FTE growth. If we move over then to the operational highlights in the quarter, there was a continued strong demand in most Business Areas.
We had a solid inflow of new orders with the strength in order book, and we also had a good momentum in recruitment. All Business Areas reported strong organic growth, and six out of eight Business Areas reported increased EBITDA. I especially want to highlight Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Belgium, that all achieved EBITDA margins exceeding 14%. We also made four acquisitions during this quarter, welcoming around 700 new experts to Sweco, and we won several high-profile projects, which I will come back to later in this presentation. The market overview shows that although the current macro situation continues to be uncertain, there was overall good demand in the market of projects connected to the green transition in all segments. We have a particularly strong demand within water, energy, and industry, where the markets for investments continue to be solid.
In building and urban areas, we see a good demand in public buildings. There is, however, continued, declining demand in residential and in parts of commercial, real estate. Within transportation infrastructure, we see continued good demand. Concluding, the quarter proves the strength of our diverse offering and position in attractive segments. I will now hand over to Olof to take us through the numbers. Olof, please.
Thank you, Åsa, and good morning, everyone. Starting with an overview, we see net sales, as Åsa said, of SEK 7.1 billion in the quarter, with 10% organic growth, M&A and FX each contributing 3%. EBITDA, SEK 849 million, which is an all-time high for the second quarter in a row. We increased EBITDA by over SEK 200 million versus last year, and we have a 19% E-EBITDA growth, excluding the calendar effect. The margin expansion is 1.2 percentage points up to 11.9%. Leverage increases to 1.1, that is driven by M&A and by a seasonal working capital buildup.
On net sales, we are pleased to see solid organic growth in all BAs, ranging from Finland and Germany and Central Europe at around 6%, up to Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Netherlands at double digits. Very positive also to see that Sweden continues to increase growth and was at over 8% in the quarter, and that UK is close to 10%. Across the board, the drivers have been continued price increases and FTE growth. We continue to have good momentum in recruiting, and personnel turnover has declined somewhat in the quarter. In addition, part of the negative impact from sickness absence that we saw last year has been reversed. Looking at EBITDA, on the EBITDA side, we see margin improvements in six out of eight BAs, and double-digit margins in five BAs.
With that, as Åsa said, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Belgium all delivering above 14%. The EBITDA drivers are much the same as the growth drivers, price increases, FTE growth, and also that about half the negative impact from sickness absence from last year has been reversed. Other operating expenses increased, as in Q4, declined as % of net sales and continues to be on a sustainable level. Billing ratio is the only disappointment in the quarter, declining by 0.4 percentage points. Looking at the EBITDA bridge by Business Area, it's Belgium and Denmark that continue to lead the EBITDA growth, we also see significant contributions in Sweden, Norway, and Netherlands. Finland is impacted by a one-off payment as part of the collective salary agreement of around SEK 20 million.
In Germany and Central Europe, the negative impact comes from the Central European countries, which had a weak start in parts of their business. U.K. continues to improve in a challenging market. It is important also to mention that the calendar makes this into a very big production quarter for us with eight more working hours, and that corresponds to SEK 75 million in net sales and EBITDA impact. On the financial position, net debt is at SEK 2.9 billion, significantly up versus last year. The LTM cash flow from operation is outweighed by larger outflows for dividends and M&A. In Q1, especially the larger acquisition of VK, as well as seasonal and growth-driven working capital buildup. Leverage is also up at 1.1, just over half of our target maximum. We remain financially strong with available liquid assets of SEK 3.1 billion.
With that, back to you, Åsa.
Thank you, Olof. Let me turn to some operative highlights of the first quarter. We completed four new acquisitions in Q1 with a combined net sales of SEK 1 billion, welcoming around 700 experts to Sweco. This strengthens Sweco's position in the Belgian, Dutch, and Norwegian markets. It is a mixture of competencies in architecture, engineering, and product management, all in line with Sweco strategy to have strong integrated engineering architecture offering, all in our core markets. I would like to dive into one acquisition from the quarter, as well as 1 recently announced. The acquisition of VK architects+engineers was our largest acquisition that we completed and consolidated at the end of March. The VK group came with some 600 experts and an annual net sales of around SEK 890 million.
VK is active in the Belgium market, but also has presence in the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the UK, and Vietnam. This acquisition strengthens our position in the Belgian market in attractive growth segments such as healthcare, industry, and infrastructure. On the 7th of April, Sweco announced the acquisition of Metria's Swedish survey business, a deal that closed last week. The business has 110 experts and an annual net sales of 130 million SEK. With its broad geographical presence and strong position within municipalities, this acquisition strengthens Sweco's already leading position in the Swedish survey market. I also would like to highlight some of the projects wins we had in the quarter. Our order book remained strong. During the quarter, there was a solid demand from both public and private clients. The demand from sustainability-related services is growing in all Business Areas and in all segments.
Just to show you some examples, Sweco, together with Team Aker, will design Norway's largest hospital in Oslo, New Aker, currently the largest construction project in Norway. The project includes new construction and reuse of existing buildings. In Frankfurt, Sweco was commissioned to plan the new Frankfurt long-distance railway tunnel, which will help increase capacity in the Frankfurt transport hub. In Sweden, Sweco has been commissioned by the biotech company Ecohelix to design a state-of-the-art production facility in Örnsköldsvik. The facility will be built entirely in wood, which still is an unusual choice of material for industrial buildings. To conclude, I am very pleased with the quarter and with the achievements we made. Sweco strategy and market position enable us to keep catering to the demand driven by the green transition in Europe.
The current market situation, however, remains uncertain, which makes us place even further importance in managing fees, efficiency, and costs. At the same time, continue to capture opportunities in the market. It is evident, particularly in the present market environment, that our diverse portfolio of clients, segments, and solutions is a competitive strength. We are also maintaining good momentum in recruitment. The Sweco Group is growing. To end, I want to give you a heads-up on our capital markets day that we will host in Stockholm 14th of November. A formal invitation with program and registration details will be published at the later date on Sweco's website. Thank you.
Thank you, Åsa and Olof. We will now open up for questions. Please, operator, if you could give us the instructions.
Yes, madam. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove your question, please press star and two. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. The first question comes from Dan Johansson of SEB.
Thank you so much. Good morning, Åsa and Olof.
Good morning.
Good morning, Dan.
Good morning. A couple of questions from here. I'll take them one by one. That's if it's possible to split, the organic growth to 10% here, what's sort of the volume and pricing back there in the quarter, if that's possible?
I think it's fair to say that roughly half of the organic growth comes from price, a little less from FTE growth and then sort of net rest, a little bit of it, but the main drivers are price and FTE growth.
Thank you. Also was curious a bit, is it possible to specify how much was the usage of sub-consultants in this quarter?
it was less than 2% up, I think around 1.5% up or something, contribution to growth.
Okay, thank you. Also related a bit on the mechanics behind, you know, you had quite good also volume growth and you used a bit of sub-consultants more now, but the billing rates are still declined from last year. What's sort of the mechanics behind that decline there?
I mean, we have talked about this before, but one kind of more long-term and overall thing for us is that the personal turnover has an effect of onboarding and offboarding that affects the efficiency. That is one thing. Really clearly so that we have, I mean, we have increased the pace of recruitment, so there's lots of people that we need to onboard. With that said, this is our main focus to make sure that we get really into efficiency and that we can break the trend to kind of increase the billing ratio going forward.
If I, if I can add, I think it's fair to say that we are quite pleased with what we have achieved on the cost side with the actions we announced last year and that we are still have more to do on the billing ratio, I would say.
Yeah, totally agree. I mean, the margin is quite good despite the slower billing ratio. Let's see what happens ahead. Also one more question, if I may, and I'll jump back into the line. It's in Finland, how much was that one-time salary payment you had here in Q1?
It was roughly SEK 20 million that we took. That's part of the, as the industry agreement, as we said, this one-time payment, which is, we think, quite a good solution actually to get sort of the short-term coverage of inflation without permanently increasing salaries there.
Perfect. Thank you so much for taking my questions. I'll jump back into the line. Thank you.
The next question is from Fredrik Lithell of Handelsbanken.
Thank you. Good morning, and thank you for taking my questions as well. Maybe two, if I may. On the central negotiations that has been sort of concluded in several markets, would be great with an update on the various markets for you and if the impact is fully in your books from Q1 or if you have markets where that will sort of start to show from the second quarter or other. That's the first one. The second one, maybe, Olof, if you could sort of dissect the working capital build up a little bit. Are there any elements from adding balance sheets from the acquisitions into that? Or is this purely the momentum in your projects that is tying the cash in the quarter? Thank you very much.
Good morning, Fredrik. First question on the salary reviews. We have accomplished around half of our Business Areas. Parts of it is done and affecting the quarter, but we haven't finished it in all our Business Areas. We expect this also to affect in Q2. I mean, what we are doing is that we continue to focus to mitigate it with price increases, which we have succeeded with in this quarter. Maybe you would like to add something.
I think that really covers our position. On the trade working capital, we have a 1% increase in trade working capital, as percent of net sales. I think this is primarily sort of the normal seasonal effect, but also effect of the high growth we are seeing now. There's no specific sort of additional impact from M&A in this, maybe a small piece, but most of it is seasonal and growth.
Okay, thank you. That's very clear.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from. I'm sorry, sir, do you have a comment? The next question is from Johan Dahl of Danske Bank.
Yes, good morning. Good morning, everyone.
Good morning, Johan.
Just very briefly, on your order intake, is that possible to put it a bit more into sort of?
Color, comparing it to last year compared to Q4 possibly, and possibly the organic sort of increase in the first quarter compared to year-end.
I think, I mean, what we can say is that when we say that our order book is growing, it's not only growing in absolute terms, but also relate in as percent of net sales. We have an order book that increases with the organic growth we see now, that's positive. As we've been saying for some quarters now, it continued to strengthen in the quarter.
Just to add some flavor on that is that, I mean, it's really clear that those segments that are growing, we are kind of focusing on those, and it's really clear that we're winning contracts in the energy industry and infrastructure market, and also in the pharma sector. The obvious question might be how we manage kind of the architecture or the building sector. It's really clear that we can utilize the resources. I've talked about this before, that we, as we have this balance of public and private, we see good demand in the public building sector, meaning that that is where we kind of focus, those kind of resources. We have really been able to manage the market in that way.
Okay. Also on the billing ratio, can you just talk about what levers you're pulling exactly to sort of achieve improvements here? I mean, you talked about this for quite some time, and I think it was the lowest billing ratio on record we have for a Q1. Just talk about what projects you're initiating, what targets you're accepting, on what timeframe. Would just be interesting to hear how you're actually driving this.
I think it's very much the things we talked about in connection with the Q3 report, with reducing, reviewing and reducing overhead and management layers, reducing internal activities, and also have a very strong focus on improving onboarding. We saw some positive development in Q4. As we said, now we are not happy with the development in Q1. We need to continue those efforts. It's very much the same. It's the sort of normal mechanics of our business.
All right. Just a final question on your acquisition payments. It seem you've acquired some very profitable operations it seems. Do you think here in the first quarter, those companies that you've consolidated and paid for, is that a good sort of fair description of where acquisition multiples are at the moment? Or is there anything, you know, that sticks out in terms of valuations of targets here in the first quarter?
No, I wouldn't say so because I mean, it's always so that we kind of look at the whole business case from different angles. I mean, multiple-wise, it can, I mean, it could be quite wide range what we are willing to pay, depending on how much synergies and one-off costs, then also how we see the business case for us and how strategically important it is for us. I mean, we're satisfied with the deals that we have made.
All right. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Steffen Knutsen of ABG.
Morning. Some of my question has been answered already, but, just if you can talk about the recruitment strategy, given that you say that you see an uncertain working conditions and that we have seen mainly in the architecture space that firms are a bit hesitant to recruit here.
I mean, we really need to be able to do many things at the same time in a market like this. We kind of focusing on recruiting in those areas where we actually see a demand short-term, mid-term, and long-term. I mean, the baseline for all of this is that Europe is kind of lacking engineers for what we need to achieve, of kind of transforming the whole society. If we look at the programs that EU has posted out on the market of EU Fit for 55 and REPowerEU and the Net-Zero Industry Act, it will require huge amount of competence and resources. For us, it's really about understanding what is in those program, what areas will grow, and focus to recruit, and looking for companies to acquire in those areas.
When it comes to our architects, I mean, we would like to take market positions when it comes to our architectural business also going forward. We have gaps still in our portfolio, and that is also why we're focusing on finding the right architecture company in this kind of market to position ourself with a combination of architects and engineers. It's also a market where there might be opportunities that we can act on also for the future. Short-term, yes, you could have a question on, you know, what to buy and not, and what to grow and not. In the long-term perspective, it's also about how we position ourself.
Be selective, focus on the right areas, and also making sure that we can execute on our strategy, which this kind of market circumstance actually can give you.
Thank you for the flavor. Also, Olof, if I can follow up on the cash flow that you mentioned briefly here. As far as I can see, I mean, the days sales outstanding is quite high here in Q1, and maybe it's a bit seasonal effect, but any flavor on that?
No, I, that is true, and I think that's part of what I said about the growth-driven, working capital buildup. Again, a lot of it is seasonal. In terms of the total trade working capital including the accounts receivable, we are 1% up on net sales, so still within the normal fluctuations. We haven't seen any increases in credit losses or payment problems for customers, et cetera. In this kind of market, of course, we follow it very closely. So far it's just sort of parts of doing business right now and growing quite significantly.
Okay. Thank you very much for clear answers.
Thank you.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touchtone telephone. The next question is from Johan Sundén of Carnegie.
Good morning, Åsa and Olof. Thanks for taking my question.
Good morning.
Good morning, Johan.
A few questions from my side. The first one is on employee turnover. Was an issue in 2022. Now we have some uncertainty on the kind of general economic outlook, et cetera. The real estate market don't seem to be that healthy. How is employee turnover developing in the beginning of this year for you?
as I said in my presentation, it's actually going down slightly. We had increased levels in 2022, as you know, 13.9% versus 13% in 2021, and we are now down more at the 2021 level. Of course, we hope to that this is a break in the trend, but remains to be seen. At least, a good start of the year in that area.
We continue to focus on every level, every area that we can to kind of keep our employees in Sweco a little bit longer all the time.
Perfect. One other question on the building side. You mentioned weakness on residential new build and still quite solid demand on the public side. Has there been any kind of elements of spreading effects on price pressure to the public side when the residential building side has weakened? Or what's really happening here?
I mean, the residential market has been declining for, I would say, the last two and a half year. The real estate sector, I mean, you all know, started to weaken after the full-scale invasion, Russian invasion of Ukraine, meaning February last year. It's so it's a kind of more long-term perspective in this movement. We have been able to increase our prices. I mean, we have won good and nice contracts in the public area towards those clients over this period of time. We have reallocated our businesses a bit.
Perfect. Just one final question, that's on Germany and Central Europe. Is it possible to give some more color on the kind of soft start of the year from the Central European business?
I mean, it's, I would say not dramatic. We've had a relatively big project in one of the countries that has been postponed, which has quite an impact on those smaller markets. We have, not big, but still, a write-down in one of the other markets. It's relatively small things, but it has had an impact in the start. We don't think it's any sort of long-term issues or anything that will affect the rest of the year in Central Europe.
Perfect. Very clear. I get back in line. Thanks a lot.
Thank you.
Thank you.
At this time, there are no more questions from the conference call.
Thank you so much, operator. There are no more questions. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for joining us. I wish you all a nice day and the weekend to come. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.