Abg Sundal Collier Asa

Good morning all and a warm welcome to ABG Sundal Collier's Q1 result presentation. And before we kick off the presentation I would like to mention that we will as always have a Q&A session after the presentation and should you want to raise a question please use the Q&A function in Teams and we will answer all your questions in turn. We entered Thank you very much. The geopolitical tensions had a negative impact on risk appetite in markets, leading to reduced transaction activity in capital markets specifically, but also longer execution timelines in general. Against that backdrop, I think that the first quarter performance on our side yet again proves the resilience In our business model enabled by our broad product offering and presence in many different markets, segments and geographies. The broadness of our product portfolio is not something that just happens to be. It requires us to have faith in continuing to invest in growth and strengthening our positions. Since the alternative would be to lose relevance over time. Therefore, we continue to relentlessly work with just that, strengthening our positions at the same time as the exponential development in terms of technology enable us to increase productivity in the coming couple of years. During the first quarter, we also integrated FIH partners to our platform, and we are very pleased with the integration process so far. And we are truly now one team. This is a true step change in our Danish market position, contributing to our overall attractiveness on a Nordic basis. Our pipeline remains intact in spite of the turmoil in the markets, even though execution obviously is delayed, as I alluded to earlier. But when the market normalizes, we are in a very good position to execute at a higher speed again. So, with that initial comment, let's have a closer look at our numbers in the first quarter specifically. Starting off with revenues that in spite of these challenging conditions, as alluded to, actually grow, even though it was not a big step change in growth or revenue level, it was still growth. We ended up the quarter with 440 million NOK on the top line, and that means we are now close to 2.2 billion NOK. Thank you very much. Percentage drop in margin consists mainly of acquisition and integration costs related to FIH and other non-recurring costs, contributing some three percentage points to that drop and two percentage points due to reclassification of securities financing and M&A related interest income. Basically due to new accounting standards, that means that a bigger portion of what used to be operating results now ends up on net finance instead. And that ties very well into, as I said, the development of earnings per share. As you can see on the right-hand side of the graph, as illustrated by A margin of decrease in earnings per share from 9 to 8 EUR in the quarter. Over to the market or the market backdrop. We are getting used to this almost having new difficulties to face early on in the year. In April last year the US president surprised us with Liberation Day, Trade War and consequently Paris. This year he started off earlier in the year with a surprise attack on Iran. The current verdict in the market in light of the current recovery we've seen as of late seems to be that this too shall pass since the alternative simply is not a viable solution or viable alternative. The risk appetite usually needs a bit more time to recover than what the stock market index indicates. But once things stabilize, we will be in a better position again to execute on our pipeline and capital market transactions. We have also seen after the quarter ended continued recovery and less uncertainty in the market, even though setbacks could or should not be excluded, obviously. Continuing with the next slide, looking at how our main markets within investment banking have performed in the Nordics and starting off with the Nordic equity capital markets. The volatility alluded to earlier obviously had a clear negative impact on volumes, being down by 29% in the quarter from 36 billion last year to 25 billion this year. And within the debt capital market side of things, the decline in volumes were actually more visible, down by 38%. From 89 billion NOx to 65 billion NOx in the quarter of a year. With regards to debt capital markets, one should bear in mind that we are still on healthy and high levels, as you can see on the lower hand side of the chart. And we still expect that we will see continued structural growth. In the Nordic capital debt markets, even though it won't be without cyclicality, obviously. And finally, looking at the M&A market, usually the most stable of our markets, deal count was down by 12% in the quarter, but I think the last 12 months The account is probably more relevant when looking at M&A. And once again, you can see the relative stability in this segment. Continuing with the next slide and looking at how we performed against this backdrop and starting off with our corporate financing operations. We delivered revenues of 134 million NOK in the quarter, up by 10% versus the same quarter last year. Market volumes overall, as alluded to on the previous slide, is not always the perfect guide for drawing conclusions on market position or market share development short term. Having said that, given the very sharp drop in overall Nordic capital market volumes in the first quarter, I think it's fair to say that we did okay with our 10% increase. As you can see on the right-hand side of this slide, we closed numerous transactions during the quarter with a wide spread between ECM, DCM, sectors, geographies, and including one very successful IPO during the quarter in Norway. Our DCM operation was active as you can see as well in the quarter in spite of the more muted environment with quite a few large transactions completed. Moving on to the next slide please, talking about our M&A business. We delivered a very, let's say, under-metric set of numbers. Yet another stable quarter in what seasonally tends to be, from an M&A perspective, a rather weak quarter. Revenue ended up at 110 million NOC, very much in line with the same period last year. And looking at our pipeline, we are in a good position to return to growth again. Within M&A operations over the coming quarters provided some stability in markets, obviously. And as you can see on the right-hand side of this slide, we closed quite a few high-profile transactions as well during this quarter, yet again with a decent spread between sectors and with contribution from all geographies included our expanded Danish operations. Okay, and finally, continuing with brokerage and research before we talk about headcount and costs. This also can probably be best described as undramatic on the headline with very stable revenues. Around the 170 million mark yet again in this quarter and above 600 million on a last 12 month basis. Looking under the hood, there are as always differences between our desks and geographies with Norway equity sales yet again delivering strong growth, not least from new brokerage clients, but we also witnessed Healthy Growth on our Swedish Equity Desk, and slightly more muted elsewhere. Volatility in March contributed to growth somewhat, but we had growth, strong growth, in January and February as well, meaning that our performance is not only a function of volatility in the markets that usually tends to be positive for our secondary business. I would also like to highlight the continued strong performance within our research department. We cover some 400 companies, which is among the highest of all Nordic investment banks. Crucial for our ability to deliver on both brokerage and IPOs once that cycle recover over time, of course. Okay, so let's continue with headcount. Next slide, please. We clearly have a sequentially increased number of FTEs, obviously as a result of the strengthening of our Danish investment banking team through SIH partners. But year on year, the increase has been more marginal, as you can see, due to a combination of disciplined performance management and some natural turnovers. Our combined team of 350 FTEs is now stronger than ever. We have grown our front-end operations with some 75-80 FTEs, some 35%, since I took over the helm seven years ago, while keeping our support operations basically flat around 60 FTEs. That It's important to keep in mind when thinking about our long term potential in terms of leveraging our platform. And as you can see on the right hand side of the slide, we are relentlessly working with what I think is one very important key ratio indeed, and that is increasing revenue per head. And before We conclude. I would also obviously like to have a few words about our operating cost level. Next slide, please. That level increased by 9% in the quarter, or some 30 million NOK, mainly as a consequence of consolidating FIH partners and some non-retiring costs. To a lesser degree, cost inflation increased. Contribute to this quarter, meaning that our underlying like-for-like cost base is pretty stable. As you can see in the middle of this slide, our compensation-to-revenue ratio increased slightly, partly as a technical function of the reclassification in accounting, as alluded to earlier, with more contribution from net financials and less to revenues. So it's more of a technical thing that increase. So let's summarize what I think are the key takeaways on the next slide before opening up the floor for any questions. In spite of the elevated volatility and geopolitical tensions hampering market activity, we had a very resilient top line Development in line with last year. Our strong brokerage and research platform contributed to this stability. Our pipeline is intact, meaning that we are well positioned to return to growth in a more normalized market environment. And the increase in our cost base is mainly related to the integration of FIH partners. And we are very confident The inclusion of that very strong team to our platform will support long-term growth. So with that, I thought we'd open up the floor for any questions.

We have not received any questions from the floor today as of yet.

Okay, Kristen, Claire, should there be any questions, you know where to find us, please reach out to Anna, Anna Tropp, and she will coordinate, should you have any follow-ups, and yours truly, Kristian Fyksen or my CFO, Geir Olsen, will follow up accordingly. Anna, before we close, still no questions?