Besqab AB (publ)

Hi and a warm welcome to Best Gaps presentation of the second quarter of 2025. My name is Mattias Karlsson and I will be moderating today's broadcast. With me in the studio is CEO Magnus Andersson. Welcome. Thank you. And CFO Magnus Sundell. Welcome. Thank you. Before we start, I would like to remind you that you can ask questions in the chat and we will take them after the end of the presentation. And with that said, we leave the floor to you, Magnus, for a presentation of the quarter.

Thank you, Mattias, and welcome to all of you who have called in to this presentation about Beskabs' bookend for the second quarter of 2025. Jag och Magnus kommer gå igenom en presentation här med händelserna under kvartalet. Vi inleder med den här bilden som var en viktig minstolpe under det här kvartalet för oss på BESCAB. On June 30, we carried out the planned list change of our STAM and preference stocks from Nasdaq First North to Nasdaq Stockholm's main list. This was an important step, partly because we are now back with the STAM stock on the main list, but also because it marks the end of the integration journey we have been on since the merger was initiated between Aros Bostad and Beskav about a year ago. This is a quote on how the integration journey has gone well. And that we now stand as a single and new Beskab, ready to continue to develop over the coming years. And then it goes over to the second quarter, so we can summarize it as a quarter with high activity. Above all, we had a very strong sales. During the quarter, we booked or sold 247 homes. And that is due to the fact that we have good products in good condition even in a lagging market. This means that at the end of the quarter we had a rate of booking where sold or booked homes in ongoing production rose to 64% and that is a figure that we feel very comfortable with. The good sales also led to us being able to start production on a large number of projects. We started production on seven projects with a total of 416 homes in Stockholm and Uppsala. And during the quarter we have completed 490 homes, so we have continued to have a high level of completion. And that means that we at the end of the quarter had a total production value of 1,602 homes in ongoing production. Vår långsiktiga målsättning är att vi ska ligga på 2000 bostäder i pågående produktion. Det beräknar vi att vi kan nå någonstans kring 2027. Vi följer den planen. Byggrettsportföljen bestod av 6483 byggrätter i Stockholm och Uppsala. Vi har inte gjort några förvärv under kvartalet, men efter kvartalets utgång genomförde vi ett förvärv av byggrätter i ett mycket attraktivt läge i Nackastrand. And during the quarter, we have also expanded our administrative facilities. We expanded four administrative facilities in two businesses. It is a rental apartment in Uppsala and it is a nursing home in Nacka. We do this because we see that we get good pay for our properties and we can proactively use the capital to invest in new housing buildings or new production starts of housing projects, where we get a higher discount on our own capital. Financiella utvecklingen under kvartalet, där har vi en betydligt högre omsättning och ett högre bruttoresultat. Omsättningen i kvartalet 928 miljoner kronor jämfört med 487 miljoner kronor i jämförelsekvartalet föregående år. Så nästan en fördubbling. Bruttoresultat på 116 miljoner kronor. Det ger en bruttomarginal på 13% som är lägre än jämförelsekvartalet och även lägre om man jämför med föregående kvartal. Anledningen till det här är att vi har ett stort antal produktionsstarter i kvartalet där vi har en mer konservativ vinstavräkning i de tidiga skedena. And we expect that the gross margin will be able to climb back up to where it has been during previous quarters. Rörelseresultatet, 55 miljoner kronor, fortsatt påverkat av vissa kostnader kopplat till samgåendet. Till exempel listbytet som genomfördes under kvartalet, som i allt väsentligt nu är tagna, ger en rörelsemarginal på 6 %. Vi ser, som vi kommunicerade tidigare, att i takt med att vi kan öka produktionsvolymerna, öka omsättningen och realisera kostnadsynergier, så kommer rörelsemarginalen att kunna stiga. Balansräkningen är stabil med soliditet på 52 %. When we go to the market, we had a good start to the year, increased demand, strong sales, we had a large number of very successful sales starts. But during Q2, we have seen that we have a decline in the housing market, and this is completely due to the fact that we have an uncertain environment, with trade wars and uncertainty in geopolitical tensions that affect both the Swedish economy and the Swedish housing market. We see that we have a more patient market. Purchase processes take longer time. We have a little lower volume of transactions, steady prices and a fairly high supply on the succession market. Med det sagt så ser vi också att vi under kvartalet har fått ett antal händelser som påverkar bostadsmarknaden positivt. Sänkta räntenivåer. Vi har också fått i ett förslag från regeringen besked om lättnader i amorteringskrav och lånetak, vilket är positivt och kommer att stärka förutsättningarna för vår affär på lite längre sikt. Vi ser också att vi har ett underliggande behov av nya bostäder i Stockholm och Uppsala, och det tycker jag att vi fick ett starkt kvitto på under inledningen av året, när vi hade en väldigt stark försäljning. In terms of sales, during the quarter we sold 216 homes on binding agreements and another 31 bookings. This is in projects that are in ongoing production. This means that we have a share sold or booked in ongoing production of 64 percent. If you take away rents from that calculation, the bookings rate is about 50 percent, which is a level that we feel safe with. What I think is fantastically fun and good is that we only have ten homes that are unsold in finished production. We have been good at selling out the homes that exist in projects that go towards completion. I have a picture to mention the sales tactics we have. It goes out that we in each project want it to be finalized and completed at the same time as we want to maximize revenue. And that means that we have a sales curve that is a bit S-shaped, where we in the earlier stages have a slightly higher sales pace to be able to reach our internal sales requirements, which are also the sales requirements we have in order to be able to get funding for the project. And then we have a slightly calmer sales pace until we get closer to entry, where we can partly have a higher sales pace and also increase revenues, and in this way we can maximize the revenue in the project. The total booking rate in the portfolio will be between 50 and 60 percent. And that's exactly where we are now. We have started a large number of projects in the first quarter. There we have now reached the sale rate. We can start production. And that makes us in a good position to handle the slightly more waiting market that we are in right now. Byggradsportföljen, 6483 byggratter i portföljen, det har minskat lite som ett resultat av att vi startat projekt. Vi har inte gjort några nya förvärv under kvartalet men efter kvartalets utgång så har vi genomfört ett förvärv av byggrätter i Nackastrand. Det här är byggrätter i ett läge som medger premiebostäder och därför så har vi ett samarbete med Wallin Bostad som Beska äger 50% i. Projektet kommer att genomföras i Wallin Bostads regi. Det stärker vårt samarbete. Vårt del ägande i Wallinbostad som kommer att utföra ett riktigt fint projekt i det här läget och vi ser fram emot det samarbetet. Vi har då produktionsstartat ett stort antal projekt under kvartalet. Vi har också färdigställt 490 bostäder. Så vi har en hög färdigställande grad och det gör att vi totalt sett har 1 602 bostäder i pågående produktion. Och som vi har sagt tidigare så är vår målbild att vi ska med ökade produktionsstarter komma upp i en volym på mer än 2 000 bostäder i pågående produktion och det kommer att ta ytterligare något år. But we follow the development as planned. We continue to see that the conditions for entrepreneurship are good. The development of the construction cost index is basically stagnant or even negative. We have a good competitive situation and we think that we have a good control over the cost side. And it is an important condition for us to be able to maintain the profitability in our projects. So we have started seven new projects under Q2 and that is a result of the strong sales. And here are the projects that we have started production during the second quarter. To the left of the picture we have Skeppskaj in Uppsala. We think it's fantastic fun that we are now starting this big project. This is old industrial land that has now been converted into an attractive and exciting residential area in the middle of central Uppsala. We have developed the detailed plan and the project in a JV together with Econo. But now BestGab has started the first quarter. which consists of three stages with ownership rights and housing rights that have received a very good reception at the start of sales in Q4 last year. So now the project has started production. In the higher picture we also see the Franciscan in Stockholm and it is the first housing project in the slaughterhouse area in southern Stockholm. The slaughterhouse area is an exciting destination already today with a large culture and restaurant and sports offer. And now we are starting the first housing rights stage. In this part of the city, there will be a very exciting part of the city in the future with the connection to the subway. And we are starting the first stage, which has high quality housing rights. There are two housing rights associations and a school. We access the land from Stockholm city during the quarter and have now started the project. And beyond that, we have also started two small house projects, both in Täby and in Upplands Väsby, which have received good reception, good sales and another stage in our development project Norrberget in Vaxholm. So a large number of production starts during the quarter. With that, I hand over to Magnus to go through the financial development.

Yes, you have already mentioned high level here, our financial figures for the quarter. A turnover of 928 million, which I think is the strongest turnover in a quarter we have produced in a number of years actually. Bruttoresultat på 116 miljoner och en marginal på strax under 13 procent. Fick det återkommer till rörelseresultat 55 miljoner och efter avräkning för våra centrala omkostnader så har vi en marginal, rörelsemarginal på strax under 6 procent. The marginal goals are a bit from our long-term goals that I think I talked about last time we were here. But in order to reach them, we need to reach these 2,000 plus apartments in production so that the turnover will be large enough to cover our costs centrally. So it is a mechanism that is there and that we have talked about earlier. I will come to that in the next picture as well. We have a strong balance sheet. 5.3 billion in assets is financed with 52% of our own capital, which is about 3 billion. And not least, we have a budget of over 400 million when we go out from the first half of the year. A strong fighting budget to meet the autumn with. I will include this picture because I suspect that the question of gross margin It's bubbling a little bit. I know that you, Mattias, mentioned earlier that you have to explain. You should think that this is from our segment presentation. And the way it works is that when we start a project, we book all worked costs, including land acquisition, as revenue in that quarter when we start a project. And this can be costs that we have taken over several years. Development costs, exploitation costs and acquisition costs, not least, which we have balanced until the day we start the project. And project start, just like Magnus was talking about earlier, we do when we have achieved a sales level that is usually around 30 percent, sometimes a little more. And in the second quarter, we have no less than seven project starters, so that's a lot of revenue from our newly started projects. No less than 60 percent of the revenue actually comes from our newly started projects. And that's in combination with the fact that we are careful with the profit calculation in the early stages of the project. We have cost reserves and we have revenue reserves that we can then successfully facilitate, all because the project is running. The uncertainty is always the biggest in the beginning and it takes over time. And it is a fairly simple math that makes us get an expansion effect on the gross margin here, which is very clear here on the second quarter. If you look at the graph to the right, the stacks show the turnover from the convergence between Aras and Beskab. This is the fifth quarter report and we see two quarters, it looks quite a lot there. It's Q4 last year and it's Q2 this year. with a high turnover and a corresponding dip in the upper line, which is the gross margin. And that's exactly what this expansion effect that I've tried to explain. As I said, 60% of the turnover in the higher stack comes from our newly started project. So you should not take this with you and believe that it is a low-marginal project we have started. These projects have exactly the same turnover and profitability as our other 15 that are under production. In short, the lower line is our moving margin. When we have achieved our full capacity, producing approximately 2,000 homes, we will have a turnover of around 3.5-4 million SEK per year. then our turnover will be about 5% of the turnover, which is exactly the difference between gross and moving margin, 20-15% which is our long-term goal. And we will also achieve this in combination with these synergies, cost synergies, which we have talked about earlier, about 100 million. From the beginning of 2024 to the beginning of 2026, we are going to take away about 100 million from our total cost costume. So that's the math behind it, and hopefully the pedagogy is connected. We'll see when Mattias asks his questions. A little short about the administration facilities. Magnus has already mentioned that we have sold four during the quarter. We have released about 250 million in liquidity from these two transactions, one in Vånbord i Nacka and the three administration facilities in Uppsala. This is money that we now have in the cash register and that we intend to invest in the coming quarter in upcoming projects. So, a short summary of the situation. We think that we are in good shape for the autumn with the uncertainty that lurks in the environment. We have had very high activity during the first half of the year, both sales and production starts. Vi har redan startat ungefär 500 av totalt planerade 700 som vi hade tänkt för året. Vi står med en stark kassa inför fortsättningen av året. Integrationen genomförd, listbytet avklarat på kvartalets sista dag. Vi har projekt i bra efterfrågade lägen, vilket ger bra efterfrågan på produkterna. Säljet går bra. And this rate reduction that we have brought with us, and the advertised training and amortization requirements, I hope we will also give further boost in the future. That was it.

Okay, thank you very much, Magnus and Magnus, for this quarter. Yes, it was unfortunately an eventful quarter, and many figures are actually record figures, as production starts at 416 apartments in a quarter. And then we also sold 216, which is a very high figure. So it seems that the momentum is there in the organization, both when it comes to sales and production starts. Hur ska vi se framåt här? Är det här siffror som en one-off eller hur ska vi tänka litegrann in i andra halvår till exempel?

I would say that if you look at the beginning of the year, we had a very strong development. We had a large number, we had six sales starts that everyone got a very good reception. The sales that we have in the second quarter is a lot of conversions and bookings from the successful sales starts that have given this record high sales figures. Vi har ett bra momentum, vi har startat projekt, vi har kommit igång. Sen är vi inne i en rättvist osäker bostadsmarknad, lite avvaktande bostadsmarknad. Det är svårt att säga om vad det här tar vägen. Som vi redogjorde förr så är vi på bästa på en bra plats därför att vi har nått upp till de interna säljkrav vi har för att kunna uppnå finansiering. Vi har startat projekten, vi kan ta det lite lugnare försäljningsmässigt i den här avvaktande perioden som vi är inne i. Vi har en förhoppning om att hösten kommer att se mindre osäker ut och att vi får en lite bättre skjuts i bostadsmarknaden under hösten. Men det är lite svårt att säga om. Men vi är väldigt glada över att vi har startat upp en stor del av de projekt som vi har planerat att starta upp under året. Vi har nått upp till de säljkrav vi behöver för att få finansiering och kunna gå vidare. And we have increased the turnover and the result. So we are in a good place. And then I also think it is important to say that in such a market, it is also incredibly important that we have projects in good condition. And we think we have. We have projects in good condition where we see that there is a demand. So we feel, despite a lagging market, that we are in a very good place.

Just to remind you that you can ask questions in the chat as well. Right now we don't have any questions from the chat, so I'll just continue. You have started 520 apartments in the first half of the year and as Magnus said, you had a plan for 700. And then I think, now you have started 520 and we only have 180 left. Is there a possibility that it can be so, given the market situation, that it is possible to start up more than 700 under 2025?

That could be done. If we see that the market strengthens during the autumn, that we get a good speed, that we can sell start a project and reach the sales requirements, then we have a good readiness. We have several projects to start. Then there is the plan that we have guided a little about earlier, that we want to have somewhere between 700-800 starts during this year, to then increase the volumes next year. But the readiness is there, everything is really up to how the market develops.

And now you have 1,602 apartments in production, and should you consider it as a bottom level?

Yes, I think we will, as I said earlier, we will be, we have a high degree of completion, we have a number of large projects that will come to an end, so depending on whether we can start up the projects we have planned, then we will be here a few more quarters, so that then in 2026 it will increase, so that by 2027 it will be somewhere around 2,000 apartments.

I'll give an example of what you mentioned, Magnus, about just coming up to these 2,000 apartments to be on these margin goals that you have set. And then we're talking about a bottom margin of 20% plus and an EBIT margin of 15%. And then I think, you mentioned a little briefly here that Magnus just said that there was one year left until you reach these 2,000. Can you develop that a little more?

We believe that with this high degree of completion we have now, and that we are now ramping up the production starts, we believe that somewhere in early 2027, we will be on these 2,000 homes in ongoing production. And it is the business plan period that extends to 2027, and that is when we have also said that we are focusing on these financial key figures as well.

So with today's market conditions, we could see about a level of 2,000 by the end of 2026?

Yes, with that comment that we have a market disturbance right now and we want it to go over and come into a more stable recovery as we actually had at the beginning of the year. So it's with that uncertainty then, but it's our plan to be able to do it.

Vilka är då de här makroparametrarna som ni tittar extra noga på för att avgöra hur marknaden kan utvecklas?

I think, and Magnus can add to that, but I think that what it's all about is that uncertainty affects the Swedish economy and recovery in the Swedish economy. What is important for our customers is to know that unemployment is going down and that recovery in the Swedish economy is taking off. That's what's important, that you feel safe around work and income, that the real wages continue to increase. We are in a situation where we have trade wars and we have wars in the world. Then there will be insecurity and we have had some lower values and BNP growth in Sweden. I think that is what creates insecurity. We are probably safe in the fact that there is a strong demand. There is a need for housing. But it is a matter of time. Right now, our customers are a little more uncertain. They want to know how this will develop before they do their housing business, which is natural. And we hope that this will be the case. Because basically, the structural conditions for housing development in Stockholm are very good.

It's actually a consumer product in the end when we sell. And for families who make one of their life's most important investment decisions. And then it's just up to you. What do I need to dare to make that decision? Not least, I will probably need to sell the home I have. which is a stopping factor in today's market. But then I also need to know roughly what it will cost me in terms of interest and amortization. And not least, what is the situation around the world? Do I dare to start consuming? I mean, I look at all the reports from financial newspapers and the Riksbank and others, that growth in the country does not really take speed. And it is connected with the same thing. There are uncertainties in the situation around the world and it affects us in exactly the same way.

If you compare your first half with some of your competitors, it seems that you have a better position. How do you see that?

We think we have a better position. Why? I think there are a number of factors. We are concentrated in Stockholm, the central part of Uppsala, which is relatively the strongest housing market in Sweden. There we have access to building rights and projects in good condition. We have a strong sales organization. We have also gone through this integration between Norges Bostad & Bäska, where we have a strong organization, high competence, we have good financial stability and, as Magnus has already done, a high cash flow. We are well positioned to continue to develop and start more projects. Everything for us is about how the market develops during the autumn.

I can just add that we get very good conditions and response from all the business banks that make us good offers.

If we look at the price picture, we have had some weak price development figures in recent months. How do you see the price development for your project?

Statistically, prices have been stagnant in Stockholm in the last quarter. They have not gone down from plus or minus zero. We have a assessment throughout the year that prices in our markets will go up maybe 5% on a yearly basis. We still have that as a forecast, but it also depends on that we get a little extra speed here in the fall. At the same time, when you look at the fact that the prices are basically stagnant, we also have stagnant or negative price growth on the cost side. And that is also an incredibly important condition for us to be able to start projects with good profitability, that we can keep the cost side. And there we have achieved a large number of deals and see a very positive development. So we are not so stressed that the prices on housing are not rising right now, but we see that during the autumn we have a hope that prices will continue to rise again.

I know that you mentioned in the report that it has had some extra costs, integration costs, plus the stock market rating. How has that affected the marginals?

Yes, it mainly affects the movement marginals, the difference between gross and results. Our exchange rate has cost about 8-9 million kronor. These are costs that in their entirety have burdened especially the second quarter a little bit during the first also. And then we have a few other positions around 5-6 million that will not be repeated. So we are well aware that we are preparing a fairly high turnover figure for the first half of the year. We will continue this program to maintain the cost development for the rest of the year.

Approximately 10-15 million in the first quarter. That is quite a lot. If we look at the integration cost savings program that you have in place, how much do you have in the numbers now and what is left?

I would say that it is difficult to measure exactly, because it is the apples and the pears most often. What we do is that we look at the total cost budget from the two companies that came together here in 2024. What did they cost when the companies came together? And then we look at what we think this will cost at the beginning of 2026. Mellanskillande där, det var en liten bild jag hade här. Det ska ner med ungefär 100 miljoner och vi är ju på en god väg. Jag skulle bara i killgissning säga att vi når 60-70 procent där. Good.

It looks like we don't have any questions in the chat. I don't have any questions left. Thank you very much for this presentation. I wish you a happy summer. Thank you to all of you who have listened. A happy summer to you too. Take care. See you.