Bouvet ASA

I would like to welcome you to the presentation of the results of the second quarter in Bove. Welcome to all of you who have found your way here to Sørkenasveien. We appreciate that very much. And welcome to those of you who follow us on stream. We do this in an ordinary way. I tell about what we do and what we have done this quarter, and then Trude comes and talks more about the numbers. Finally, I talk a little about how we look at the times we have in front of us. We also have the opportunity for questions, and then we have a microphone, so those who are also on stream get what we always do. These are results we are... I can't help but smile, because we are fantastically proud of this. We increase the operating revenues by 168 million, and exactly the billion. Then there is the operating result, which is 135 million, up from 89. and that is an increase of no less than 52, a little over 52 percent. In addition, we are attracting new people, so the 12-month rate of net employees in BOV is 172, so 15 from last quarter. I'll get back to that later. For us, this is a very strong result. In terms of turnover, it is fun for us to round 2 billion in half a year, which is significant. Summing up, I have to say that we are very proud of this. I am both happy and proud to be part of a team like this, which delivers at this level. This is a thank you to all those who have created this, and that is to bow to all corners of our beautiful organization. So thank you very much to all of you who have created this. We are a company that is inspired by the idea that it is the people in this company who are at the centre, who create the values that we are so lucky to be able to share with everyone. This is about us wanting to be a company, and we work every day to be a company, where people should enjoy themselves, where people should be able to be themselves, where everyone's competence should be seen, and give space for development, and where everyone will get the development they dream of and wish for. In addition, we are a large community that we invest a lot in, Where people will learn from each other, share their skills, and not least have a lot of fun together. The little illustration I have on the slide behind me is from the weekend we have just left behind us, where we gathered all this company in Kristiansand for what we call the Bové Øya Festival 2024. We will talk a lot more about that in Q3. But this is about building a company where people enjoy themselves, have fun, and have fun together. Then we will go into how the store works. First, a little about the split between public ownership and private ownership companies. Many of you have been with us for a long time and followed us from quarter to quarter. And for a few quarters later, we knew how the trend was that we were constantly increasing in the private sector. What we have seen in the last few quarters is that in relation to the publicly owned companies, this is where we have had the greatest growth. And then also this quarter. And also in relation to the previous quarter. Now it is significant in relation to the same period last year. But this development is driven by the deliveries we have to companies such as Forsvaret. like Statnet, NVE, the Court Administration, Kystverket, and Arbeidstilsynet. At the same time, we have growth in the private sector, but a relatively large growth in the public sector. Again, this gives us a good balance, which is a development we are very good at. I will come back to the sectors in a moment. And from last quarter, you will see that it is relatively unchanged. What I will tell you about a little later, I have an illustration of it, so you will see that we have solid growth in all of our major sectors. What we point out here, coming back a little, is that you have such a marginal relative decline in relative turnover in relation to the oil, gas and renewable sector, and relatively Now I will tell you a little more about which customers there are. What I find interesting when we look at this division of our sectors, is when we start to sum up what Bové is working with within the large sectors that are energy, and defence. So if you sum up what is within energy and defence, you will quickly reach 70%. Because within the public sector, where you see that it is 16 and something percent, so approximately 10% there, it comes from defence. Everyone knows what is one of the most important focus areas in the development of society we are in now, especially energy, and especially security and defence. This describes some of the background for the fantastic development we have been able to talk about for several quarters, and also what we are talking about this quarter. If you, in addition to that, add to all that BOE works with in total defence, you get an even more complete picture of what is the foundation of our development. and the solidity in our development and long-term development. This is a picture we are very happy with and very happy for. I would like to share with you some of the customers and some of what has happened in the second quarter. First, Swedish municipalities and regions. In that sector, it is about municipalities and regions in Sweden. In that sector, about 1.2 million people work. It is a lot about the services that are provided to the builders in the municipalities. We have worked with Swedish municipalities and regions for many years. And now, in this second quarter, we got a new agreement, which is worth 200 million kroner, over four years. Here we work with a lot of what is about improvement and development of even better health services. So here, Jobbe Bovee has previously talked about how our service spectrum is built up, with a lot of technology, but also a lot of organizational development. work processes, change management and so on. And what we do most of within Swedish municipalities and regions is to develop new, more modern and effective, what in Swedish is called health care. So that is health services. This is organizational development and change management and interaction between the different parts of the business. We are very happy about that. In addition, this agreement is an agreement that we have on our own, which is also extended to cover technical services. So that means that we are in a position to be able to deliver on the entire service spectrum, in addition to the more organisational. Then we have another dear customer, you who were here in Q2 a year ago. You were told that we had received a new number on Kystverket. Kystverket is a customer we have worked with for many years. and especially within the coast office that is called Baren Svarts, which is an information service for the northern areas of the sea and the ocean. The coast office is responsible for sailing and transport along the Norwegian coast, in addition to the preparation service for pre-cleaning. So what they work with is a lot of development of sailing guides, fire and market services, traffic central services, navigation control, readiness for prevention and safety. This is the social mission of the last work. In addition, in this agreement, we are working with SafeSeaNet, which is the Norwegian part, which is connected to the European sailing system, which deals with all routes that pass by the Norwegian coast. We develop a lot of solutions here. It's about these solutions, and then we have something here that we talk about here. It's a solution called MAR, which is about emissions from ship traffic along the coast. So this is a solution that is available, that you can enter. It's called MARU. Maritime Exhaust. And it gives you the opportunity to search and get information about all the exhaust that is made of ship traffic along the Norwegian coast. Trains to and from Norway. Trains along the Norwegian coast, that is inland. on different types of ships and geographical areas. All of this is used by the coast guard to work with even more focus on reducing emissions, having an overview of how much emissions there are in different areas of different types of ships. So we work with the coast guard, plus a lot of other things. We work with a number of customers that we historically, traditionally, have not worked very much with. In previous quarters, we told you that we have had some new colleagues abroad. who for many years have worked with forestry cooperatives in Norway. There we have four cooperatives, and here we have two cooperatives that we work with, Glommen and Mjøsen, who work a lot on the inland and have business in Østfold. And now we have some technical problems. I don't know. How is it? Do we have sound? Out?

Who decided to take the evening?

This is not us delivering. No, this is Apple. But I can tell you that working with A.T. Skog, A.T. Skog is a forestry association that covers the geographical areas of Vestland, Rogaland, Agder and Telemark. Skogssamvirkende is owned by the members, the forest owners. And Skogssamvirkende, they actually run the purchase and sale of timber, oxen, and the development of the forest areas, new planting and so on. So we contribute to forestry. Here, Glomne, Mjøsen and A.T. Skog must make digital solutions that support their business. So that's collaboration within the forestry, between forestry, planning and planning of hogs out in the field, map solutions, information out to hog machines, reporting and New planting. This is about making the forest industry even more effective, more modernized. And the tree work is mildly said to be renewable, so it contributes to an even more effective use of the forest in society. So that's exciting, exciting customers that are a little new to us in Storbovet, but well anchored in what we have done abroad for many years. Let's see. I don't know if the presentation is completely with us. We have some technical... As I said, people are important in Bove. This is the most important company I have built on. And we are very happy that people want to come to Bove. This is a survey that, in this presentation, we are preparing for many different surveys. Universum has been out here and said that, made a survey among IT students, and we are very proud to be among the ten best, most attractive employers in Norway, among IT students. We need that, we are happy about that. Let's see, I'll try to ... So, a little about our sectors again. And this is, mildly said, a very nice and good picture. What we see here is that we have grown in absolutely all of our major sectors. In oil and gas, renewable oil and gas, we have an 18% growth from the same period last year. What is underlying in it is special operations such as AQBP, Gasco and NOE Equinol. That is what is underlying in it. Energy supply is the one we have the strongest growth from the same period last year. In that sector, we work several parts of the value chain and with several companies. What we particularly see this quarter, what drives that development, is a lot of what we do together with Statnet and Svenska Kraftnett. Svenska Kraftnett has the same social mission in the Swedish market as Statnet has in the Norwegian market, and they have a close collaboration, and we have agreements with that partnership. So that is a big part of the underlying development. In addition, we see high activity within those who provide strength and services to all of us, and especially here it is light and scabies. Comments about Statnet and Svenska Kraftnett. This is very long-term. They have great ambitions. And what is happening in Kraftnett now is a connection, a collaboration between the different power suppliers in the European power collaboration. And that is the digitalization we are so lucky to be allowed to work with. So that's exciting. And then there is Stas, I think, and I'm very happy about that. In previous quarters, we could talk about very stable, unchanged development in the public sector. That is not the case this quarter. Here we see quite a strong growth. And then I would particularly point to the collaboration we have with the Defence Force. There we see the sharpest driver to this development. But we also see that there are companies that are mentioned, such as the Court Administration, the Labor Service, and so on. But of course, our defence engagement is large, and it is a completely underlying driver for the development we see in the public eye. Then we have the service providers. There we also have, as I said, relatively large growth, and especially within companies such as Innovation Norway, Røde Kors, and now within Finans at Dun & Bradstreet. That is what is underlying this. But this is perhaps a little special. A very strong development in all the major sectors at the same time. And exceptionally strong within the energy sector. The largest of the time and the 20 largest. This is, I have said it many times before, this is what we are very happy about. This makes the people in Bovee get to work in long-term projects. We learn the domain, the customer, we develop long relationships, solid relationships with our customers, and it becomes long-term partnerships, and that is what we prioritize. We prioritize existing customers and that long-term, in front of many other possibilities. It has always been our strategy, and we continue to do so. We see that it has flattened out, but at the same time, we think it is a solid share of long-term customers that we have worked for a long time. And we are happy about that. It gives predictability and it gives interesting and good opportunities for people in Bove to work in interesting projects. So when you use most of your strengths to work with existing long-term customers, there are not so many new ones. I would like to point out two customers who have joined, who have contributed from the same period as last year, who are new. That is the work we do at Innovation Norway, as I presented in an earlier quarter. There we have many people who work with the legal treatment solutions and the internet solutions for Innovation Norway. In addition, we have Dun & Bradstreet, which was a company that came in together with the purchase we made abroad. So it is especially the customers that make up the growth of new customers. We are a company that is based on developing competence close to our customers, and we continue to do so. This quarter, we see that it is relatively stable in some of the smaller regions. Where we see the largest growth in the number of employees is in Rogaland, and it is in the regions east and Akershus, Buskerud and inland. It is in some central areas where we see the largest growth. And then, in the end, there is an increase in the number of employees. We are very happy about this. So we have a 12-month increase of 172, net. That is somewhat down from previous quarters, as you can see in the illustration. We think it is a healthy adaptation. We have written and talked a lot about the development in the consultant market and the IT market. We have a business that adapts quite well. So here the regions have looked at the possibility, and then you relax a little on the gas, or you press on the gas. And right now we have adjusted the speed to 0. And we are always there when we see that the horizon is without clouds, then we give even more gas. So that's a way we've always worked on and always succeeded in Bove. So we are very pleased with that. We are pleased with those who come. We need them. We are still in a situation where we have great demand. We are thinking up and down that we will have even more employees in Bove. We have great tasks. That was what I was going to say. Trude will talk a bit about the numbers, and then we'll be back, and we can take questions afterwards. Yes, it works.

It works well. Thank you very much. It is incredible how proud I am to be able to present the figures from this organization this quarter. We have had increased revenue and very good profitability. So, as usual, I will first go through the figures, and then I will talk a little about the operating revenues, then a little about the results, and then the change in the operating revenues due to the results, and finally the cash flow before Gunnar takes over the views. If we then look at the key figures, then we have in the quarter had operating revenues of 1 billion and 1 million. And that is an increase of 20.2% compared to last year. When it comes to operating results, it has been 135.6 million, which is an increase of 52.3% compared to last year. The operating margin is 13.5%, which is up from 10.7% last year. Half a year ago, we had 2 million and 16 million in turnover. That's an increase of 13.4 %. That has given a operating margin of 13.4 %, which is an increase of 12.4 % from last year. The operating result was 270.5 million. The increase in our income growth was at 20.2% per quarter. It is primarily for our own employees. That is where we have the growth. It was at 23.5% per quarter. That gave us a business income of 898.5 million. The turnover from our own consultants is at 89.7% of the total turnover, which is up from 87.9% last year. In the quarter from the turnover of sub-consultants, we have gone down by 5.7%, which has been 86 million. And you can see that the proportion of the turnover of sub-consultants was 10.9% last year, and now it is 8.6% in this quarter. So you can say that we, as I mentioned in Q1, that we strategically now work more with, have grown among our own employees and use only sub-consultants in strategic alliances. When it comes to surplus income, they have increased by 17.3% and have been at 16.7 million, which is a small part of our turnover. If we look at income from our own consumers, which has increased by 23.5%, which is 898.5 million, then the income from our own employees has been the most positive when it comes to increased

The number of employees is 8.7%.

As Per-Gunnar said, we have become 172 more people than last year, and we also have a very good demand for our services, with an increased factor of 2.6 percent. We deliver from all our services, and we communicate very well with the regions in between. In addition, this quarter we have two extra working days. That's actually on Easter. Last year was on Easter in March, and last year it was in April. The increase was 168.2 million. So the fact that 8.7% more employees have given 68.1 million. The fact that the time price has increased by 5.4% has given 42 million. These two extra working days have given 27.1 million. And also the increase in the turnover of 2.6 percentage points has given 23.9 million. If we look at the operating results, which had an increase of 52.3% compared to last year, we have a operating margin of 13.5%, which is an increase of 10.7% last year. We had an increase in total operating costs of 16.4%, and that is generally that we have split several people, which is the main reason for that. And then we had a general increase in annual costs of 4% over the last 12 months. We have received an additional wage. It has not had a major impact this quarter, but it will be in Q3, and especially in Q4 it will have an impact. If we look at the changes in the income that affects the operating result, the increase in the team price by 5.4%, which has the greatest impact, is 28.5 million. When it comes to the number of new employees, by 8.7%, it has given 20.7 million. These two working days have given 18.4 million. Our increase in the turnover has given 16.2 million. Then we go to the cash flow in the quarter. It was 108.3 million, against 123.9 million in the quarter last year. And the last 12 months, the cash flow from the business has been at 449.7 million. We have also paid the exchange rate in the quarter, and have also repurchased shares to the share program for employees, which is now in the fall. Then I thought I would return to Pegunnar and Utsikter.

Who knew that? Then it is just to summarize that what we look forward to is the sectors that I have talked a lot about. We have a lot of faith in them. We have seen it through the quarters we have delivered and we see it this quarter and the views for the sectors that I have focused on and told how we have the main part of all our activity. The trend and our expectations are that it will continue. We are happy about that. We see a lot of what happens on the customer side. This is the purchase pattern for the customer. There are a lot of big offers and requests. It is based on the idea that customers want to connect to larger suppliers such as Bove. tie closer partnerships and be even more careful about prioritizing and access to good competence. This is a development that we embrace. It is important for us. It is important for the development of good long-term customer relations, and we are very happy about that. And that is also one of the reasons for the numbers we can talk about. And these revenues come, as I have explained, mainly from long-term customer relations, where we are connected to obligatory partnerships. So that's good for companies, as BOV, and especially for BOV. We deliver, when I sum up our sectors and what we do, we do it with a lot of socially critical infrastructure. That means that information security in everything we do is on top of the list. It's about security clarifying, background checks and security clarifying of people. It's about how we manage our information and technology platform. It's about how we work with our customers to ensure that we make good solutions and we don't expose The customer for unfortunate situations. Customers, our customers, and then of course we can only think of customers like Forsvaret and Statnet, and Equinor, to name a few. This is completely above the agenda. That is above our agenda, above the people's agenda, and it sets a great agenda for us. It makes it important again with suppliers like BOVE. We are big, solid processes and systems on this. In addition to information security, it is also about the desire to support the competence of people, that has a connection, not to fine-tuning, but to the model we are built on. So there are many macro-trends in society that play a good part in the model we are built on. We are happy about that. And then, as I said earlier this quarter, a lot has happened on the art-intelligence side. We work with that in large part, and with a lot of customers. We work with art-intelligence ourselves, and work with it, but most of the customers are in projects where this is technology that we try out and that is implemented. So that is also exciting. And then we are in a time where we experience quite reduced turnover from times when it was somewhat higher. And now it is also on a level that we are very pleased with. People enjoy BoV, become in BoV, enjoy the projects that we work with in BoV, so we see a positive effect. And we are very happy about that. That means that we as a company can build on existing employees and develop ourselves from that. So we are very happy about that. So we, summed up, this is We deliver what we think is a fantastic second quarter, and we are fundamentally very positive in relation to the times we have ahead of us. We have some fantastic customers that we have a lot to do with. It's a nice picture. The sun is shining outside, and it does so here in Bovea. That's how we look at the future. So with that, I thought I would conclude the presentation. And then we are open for questions, if anyone would have anything to ask. We have with us, Trude is here, I am here, we have Lisbeth with us, who is the director of economics, who is also strong in how our numbers are connected.

Niall Kleiven, ABG. I would like to ask a question first about the appointments. You say 172 in tact now in Q2, year over year. If we move a little into Q3, you have written in a press release on your website that you have requested a welcome of 50 new employees now in August, and that number was 100 last year. That's right. Can you comment on how the senior management has been in the first two months compared to last year?

You probably have a number. Gladly. That's what you want. I can't give you numbers, but the senior employees came in much more in the beginning of August than the new employees, than the new graduates. We have an idea that we want to be a company where we employ experienced people. We have had good access to that. There is a good part that moves on in the market. So we are satisfied with the access we have had to the experience. Then of course the underlying question is that we have taken that pace down. I just want to emphasize that this is part of how we function in relation to consciously gas and let go of the gas. So we have made our assessment of that, and the organization has adapted that to us. We think that is very positive. We have experienced enough in the market that people have received their employment agreements rejected, cancelled, and so on. We don't do that. So we make good assessments, and then we make good decisions, and then we are in a good position to increase or adjust the pace, depending on how we see the market developing. So that is well-considered and conscious choice, and that is what I am, in the chair I am sitting in, I am very happy with how the organization works on exactly that. It gives predictability in all ways, And that gives good and solid development over time.

Thank you. I have another question. The Swedish business area is not something you talk about too often in this type of meetings, because there are not many employees there. There are 71, as you saw on the slide. But if you look back in time, in the last 6-8 years, the margin impact from Sweden has not been significantly negative on the group margin. Can you tell us a little about how Sweden has performed in the first six months? And if you want to concretize it, in your annual report, you have quantified in the Goodwill note that you have a 5% margin goal in Sweden over time. Is it possible to quantify the first six months' development in relation to that?

I don't have the numbers in my head, but I can say that we are working with the plan and strategy for Sweden. Everyone who reads our report knows and sees that this development is not what we want. We would like a better development in Sweden, and we are working on that. We have a strategy. We are a Scandinavian IT and consulting company. We have a plan to lift the Swedish business. I'm sorry I don't have the numbers you're asking about, but we're working on that.

Last question from me on the issue of employment benefits. If you could explain to us how your contract works in relation to that. Now you have the extra employment benefit and it was clearly affected last year. But is it so that you and the customers share the extra cost, that it is regulated in the contract, or is it more that you have to take it on your own so that when it is removed next year, it will largely fall on you?

Yes, we have to take it on our own. It hurts a bit now. It will probably get better when it's gone. But we have to take it on our own. So there is no way. There was a bit of confusion, of course, when this was introduced, and some authorities had an expectation that it would be shared. We haven't seen any of that. So we'll take it. And as Trude commented, there is a very small effect, almost nothing in Q2, and a little more in Q3, and then it comes to full effect in Q4. Yes, other questions? Now everyone understands why BoVe is doing well. Good people and good customers. That's the headline. If there are no more questions, I'd like to thank you and welcome you back