Attendo AB (publ)

Thank you and good morning, everyone. Today we present the Tando's results for the first quarter. As usual, we will focus on the key drivers behind our performance, our operational progress, and how we continue to execute on our strategy. I will start by giving a general update on the development in the quarter, then our CFO, Mikael Malmgren, will take you through the financials in more detail. Next slide, please. So let me start with the key highlights from the quarter. We continue to see positive development in both Finland and Scandinavia, given by higher occupancy, stable quality indicators and improved operational efficiency. While reported net sales decreased slightly, underlying growth in continuing operations remained strong at around 5%. The delta is fully explained by ended outsourcing and home care contracts in Sweden, as well as currency effects. Profitability improved significantly, with least adjusted EBITDA increasing by around 40% to 326 million kronor. The comparison quarter last year was affected by the transition to the 0.6 staffing requirements in Finland that came into effect January 1st last year, and this means that this quarter's results in our finished operations reflects a normalized run rate based on current staffing ratios. In Scandinavia, we continue to improve earnings according to plan. Adjusted earnings per share continued to increase, and we delivered a strong free cash flow of 211 million kronor, supporting continued investments in new capacity. During the quarter, we opened two new disabled care units with 12 new places. Overall, this is a quarter where we clearly see the effects of the actions taken during the past year, coming through both margins and cash flow. By continuing to develop quality of care and adding new care capacity to society, we're part of the solution to solve the care challenges of both today as well as tomorrow. Next slide, please. Turning to occupancy. Occupancy is a key driver for profitability. We continue to see improving occupancy across both Finland and Scandinavia. At the end of the quarter, we reached 88% of two percentage points year on year. The improvement is driven by stronger inflow of residents, active capacity management, and a continued focus on matching supply with demand in each local market. Next slide, please. So, let's turn to development of our rolling 12-month lease-adjusted EBITDA margins. We see a continued uplift in margins in both business areas, both sequentially and year-on-year, with least adjusted group EBITDA margin reaching above 7% in the quarter. While we've seen a steadily improving margin trajectory in Finland for many consecutive quarters, I'm pleased to show that we continue to deliver on the expected margin uplift in Scandinavia in Q1. As we have previously stated, we expect Scandinavia to continue to improve during 2026. The improvement is driven by several factors, higher occupancy, improved operational efficiency, a gradual exit of contracts with unsustainable terms, and better cost control across the organization. At the same time, underlying demand remains strong, and we continue to steer our business mix towards an increased focus on own operations, where we have a stronger control over both non-financial and financial results. With that, I hand over to our CFO, Mikael Malmgren. Please go ahead, Mikael, and you can put the next slide, please.

Thank you, Martin, and good morning, everyone. In the quarter, we saw underlying growth in both business areas, approximately 4% in Finland and 7% in Sweden. However, growth was offset by ending contracts in Sweden and FX Edwin, which resulted in reported net sales decreasing 1.6% to 4.7 billion. In Scandinavia, the growth was down 1% reported. However, underlying growth in continuing operations, which excludes ended and exiting contracts, was 7%, with good development in owned homes. Ending and exiting contracts will continue to weigh on sales throughout 2026. In Finland, the reported net sales was down 1.9%. Adjusting for currency, the business grew 3% and 4% when we exclude the divested child welfare businesses. Improvement largely driven by an increase in net new customers compared to the same quarter last year, with a good development in owned nursing homes. Currency had, as expected, a larger negative net sales effect. And based on current Eurosec trading, we expect, although slightly less, still a negative FX effect also in the coming quarter. Next slide, please. The reported result improved to 470 million. Correspondingly, the lease adjusted EBITDA increased from 234 million to 326 million, up 39% versus same period last year. Lease adjusted EBITDA in Scandinavia was 24 million higher, and in Finland, the lease adjusted EBITDA improved 77 million, excluding FX effects. Currency had a 60 million reported and a 12 million negative effect on lease adjusted EBITDA. Next slide, please. Growth for Atendo Finland was 4% excluding divestments and FX effects and 1.9% reported due to mainly a weaker euro. The suggested EBITDA was 254 million, an improvement of 65 million or 77 million excluding currency effects. The quarter improved by more sold beds in primarily owned nursing homes, continued improved manning, driven by investments in staff development, working conditions and support systems, as well as reduced sick leave. In addition, last year, Q1 was, as previously mentioned, impacted by the transition to 0.6 staffing density requirements. The transition is now estimated to have impacted 2025 results negatively by close to 25 million SEK. And please note that during 26, we plan to exit a few low or no occupancy units, which should lead to further improved productivity. At the same time, we're now scaling up our investments. with confirmed plans to add about 400 additional beds during 2026. And in line with our sustainable growth strategy, to add two to 3% EBITDA growth per year, we acquired one smaller vault loan in Q1 and two more in April, including separately press released auction account. Next slide, please. In Scandinavia, underlying net sales growth was 7%, driven by growth in own homes and recent acquisition. However, reported net sales growth was slightly negative due to the ended and exiting contracts, and which I will come back to on the following page. In line with a communicated financial plan and the billing block of margin uplift, the lease adjusted EBITDA improved to 93 million, up 24 million versus last year. Improvement primarily driven by own homes and improved central costs, with ended outsourcing contracts having no material impact on the result. The result was slightly negative, affected by home care exits, where the contracts generated about 5 million in losses. Going forward, we still foresee some minor negative impact from ongoing home care contract exits as they roll out. During the quarter, we opened two new disabled care units with 12 places and also won three quality tenders in disabled care to a value of 20 million on an annualized basis. Currently, we have 286 beds under construction, and we will open one new 60 beds nursing home end of the year. Next slide, please. So to better showcase underlying growth in Scandinavia, we introduced in Q4 a more detailed reporting of continuing operations versus ended and ending contracts. As you may recall, we showed the total reported net sales in Evita at the bottom of the page from left to right. While at the top column of the page, we see the Attendo underlying business, which we call our continuing operations, and where the ended and ending contracts have been excluded. Attendo margins continue to improve for the second consecutive quarter due to improved ways of working, faster responding to changes in manning and sales, while at the same time exiting non-strategic outsourcing contracts and exiting non-sustainable home care contracts. As you can see, Attendo continuing operations showed a net sales growth of 7% and a margin of 5% in the quarter, up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. At the same time, the contracts which have ended or will end had a significant impact on net sales but limited impact on EBITDA. Next slide, please. In total, we now have a pipeline of 1,350 beds and up 100 versus previous quarter. which closed 930 new beds expected to open during 2026 and 2027. Worth redirecting is that our pipeline is built on our strategy to open in micro locations where we forecast a strong need for our services, a good payer relationship with a biomechanism in place, a growing population, as well as good commute options for both staff and relatives. Next slide, please. Our free cash flow to firm showed strong resilience and improved to 211 million compared to 50 million same period last year. As a result, the rolling 12-month free cash flow to firm increased to 1,340 million SEK. During the quarter, we repurchased 201 million worth of shares, and today we can report that we also reached our target mandate from last report to buy back 200 million worth of shares between February and the time of this report. Since the initiation of our continued share buyback program back in February 2024, we have repurchased approximately 5% of outstanding shares. And in line with our EPS strategy, our ambition is to continue our share buyback program. And if the AGM later today approves a new mandate, we aim to disclose a new program shortly. Next slide, please. So let's have a look at some of our key financial metrics. If we start at the top left, the adjusted earnings per share improved by 44.11, up 39% versus last year. Improvement primarily due to highly adjusted EBITDA and further supported by continued share buybacks. If we turn to the top figure on the right and our least adjusted margin in percent, adjusted for non-recurring items in 24, we continue to improve our least adjusted EBITDA margin. In Q1, the rolling 12-month margin was 7.2%, up 1.5% compared to the quarter last year. And if we look at the figure at the bottom left, a least adjusted net debt to EBITDA ratio remained at 1.1 and down 0.7 times compared to the same quarter last year. And finally, if we look at the figure on the bottom right, net interest expenses in the quarter was 24 million, 7 million better than the same period last year. and 38 million lower on a rolling 12-month basis, further supporting our adjusted earnings per share growth. With that, I hand over to you, Martin.

Thank you, Mikael. So let me summarize. We continue to deliver appreciated care, creating value for both individuals and for society. Our latest surveys show high and stable satisfaction across all stakeholder groups, which confirms the resilience and sustainability of our operating model. The high and stable quality across our operations is paired with solid financial performance, given by continued improvement in occupancy and strong operational efficiency. We also continue to strengthen our geographical footprint by gradually leaving less attractive areas and opening new units in locations with stronger long-term demand and better economics. With one new Bolton acquisition made during Q1 and another two signed early Q2, we continue to deliver in line with our strategy for balanced growth, targeting at least 2% annual EBITDA growth through acquisitions. For the first quarter, rolling 12-monthly suggested earnings per share increased to 6.47 kronor, well in line with our financial plan and rolled towards a new financial target of reaching at least 9 kronor per share in 2028. Our strong financial results and cash flow enable increased investments in new capacity to meet the growing demand for care in society. Currently, we have around 930 new care beds under construction. Overall, Nathanael is well positioned to meet increasing care needs in society while delivering sustainable and profitable growth for shareholders. With that, I'd like to thank you for your attention and open up for Q&A. Operator, please go ahead.