Hilbert Group AB (publ)

Good morning and thank you for joining us for Hilbert Group's Q3 2025 earnings call. I am Bernali Biswal, Group CEO, and I am pleased to share what we believe represents a genuine inflection point in our company's development. The title of today's presentation, From Momentum to Movement, reflects a fundamental shift. In Q3, Hilbert made significant strides in its effort to transform from a specialized digital asset manager into an integrated financial services platform. The strategic decisions we made, the partnerships we have secured, and the operational milestones we have achieved position us differently in the market than we were just six months ago. Let me walk you through the specifics. Q3 marks a pivotal shift in our business model. We now operate across three synergistic verticals, asset management, banking infrastructure through our no dark acquisition, and decentralized finance via Synthetica. Each vertical reinforces the others. Our asset management expertise informs our banking services. Our DeFi infrastructure creates distribution channels for investment products. Our relationships across asset management and banking services drive liquidity for tokenized assets. The institutional adoption of digital asset is accelerating, and we are now positioned to capture value at multiple layers of that adoption curve. Our financial performance reflects this expanding footprint. Q3 revenues reached 51.6 million SEK, up 63% year-over-year. For the nine-month period, we generated approximately 143 million Swedish kronor in revenue, representing 102% growth compared to 2024. There were two primary drivers, substantial gain from proprietary trading and our growth in asset management operations. Now we're continuing to invest heavily in platform development in our team in regulatory infrastructure. These investments show up in our operating expenses today, but they are foundational to building scalable high margin revenue streams. Let me spend a moment on asset management, because this is where we saw the most significant validation this quarter. We secured a strategic allocation from an institutional investor managing over $25 billion. This isn't just about capital, though that's meaningful. It is about what this allocation signals to the broader institutional market. It validates our quantitative methodology, our risk management, and our operational standards. Our asset management AUM grew 35% quarter over quarter. Our institutional pipeline expanded 3.5 times during this period. And those figures both exclude Zappo Byzantine and Synthetica TVL. We believe this is what an inflection point looks like. Accelerating growth from an expanding base with momentum building on itself. Performance underpins everything that we do. So let me be specific about results. Our basis plus strategy now operating as the Hilbert Liberty Fund is up 30% in dollar terms. year-to-date and 24% on top of Bitcoin itself. We've achieved this with just 7% annualized volatility and a Sharpe ratio exceeding 4. That's the kind of risk-adjusted performance sophisticated allocators demand. Our Byzantine Bitcoin credit fund continues generating stable returns, 2.8% annualized net on top of Bitcoin exposure for clients seeking yield rather than pure beta. And our multi-strat fund is designed to capture alpha opportunities across different market conditions through diversified approaches. What matters is that these strategies delivered stable returns even during November's broad market repricing. When volatility increases, our risk management framework has proven its value. I want to emphasize this flywheel concept because it explains why our current momentum is fundamentally different from our earlier trajectory. Let me be direct. Our legacy Hilbert products lacked performance consistency and broad market appeal required to attract large allocators. That has changed completely, and it's no accident. With Russell Thompson as CIO, we now have an experienced risk manager with deep expertise across both crypto and traditional capital markets. The BasisPlus strategy is delivering superb risk-adjusted returns. Byzantine credit generates stable, predictable yield. These are strategies built to institutional demands, and that unlocked the flywheel. Consistent performance builds credibility. Credibility attracts institutional interest, which is why a $25 billion allocator engaged with us. Proven performance and scalability expanded our pipeline, and that validation drives new allocations. Each element reinforces the other, but the entire mechanism depends on performance consistency. The legacy products couldn't power this mechanism. The current products can and are. We've solved the product quality problem that constrained us historically, and that's activated a growth dynamic that compounds on itself. That is why we believe our asset management vertical has reached a structural inflection point. In September, we completed the acquisition of Nodark, Nordfinex holding AB through a 100% equity transaction. Nodark operates a fast-growing crypto banking platform providing multi-currency accounts, trading infrastructure, and lending services. This acquisition fundamentally changes our business model. Nordark brings a US$2.5 billion loan pipeline with established Tier 1 institutional clients. It generates revenue from three streams, banking fees, trading commissions, and loan interest. These diversified revenue model, already operational today, materially diversifies and improves our path to profitability. Nodark has already initiated the application process for both a MICA license and an EMI license. Achieving MICA will allow its products To be actively marketed EU-wide, the EMI license will position Nordark as a full-service online bank. The applications are now in process. Critically, Nordark integrates seamlessly with our asset management and DeFi capabilities. We can now offer institutional clients a complete solution. Custody and banking through Nordark, asset management and yield generation through our funds, and tokenized on-chain access through Synthetica. you This is what we mean by full-stack digital finance platform. Each component enhances the value of the others. Syntetica, our tokenization and decentralized trading platform, achieved full code completion in Q3. This represents a significant milestone after thousands of development hours. We've completed tier one security audits and conducted extensive testing with over 4,000 community participants. We are on track for token launch in Q1 2026. The market validation has been strong. Our total capital pipeline for Synthetica now exceeds $250 million. And we have announced a strategic partnership with Ledger, which manages over $100 billion in Bitcoin holdings. This partnership provides exposure to both institutional clients and subsequently retail users, a distribution channel that's difficult to replicate. And more such strategic partnerships are in the works and will be announced in due course. Our corporate treasury strategy launched in July focused primarily on Bitcoin and Ethereum with selective exposure to high conviction layer one tokens. We're taking a deliberately patient and opportunistic approach. We're not trying to time markets or chase prices. We're building positions gradually at levels that make fundamental sense over a multi-year timeframe. In September, we made our first strategic token investment beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum, a long term position in Concordium's CCD token. Concordium is a regulatory compliant layer one blockchain focused on institutional grade payments infrastructure. This investment reflects our conviction that regulatory clarity and built in compliance will be the differentiators as digital assets mature. We've also been adding Bitcoin exposure during recent market weakness, buying at approximately 35% below recent all-time highs. This is exactly the countercyclical deployment our active treasury strategy was designed to capture. Importantly, we plan to apply our proven Bitcoin yield strategies to Treasury holdings, the resulting compounding effect generating more of the underlying asset we believe will be a significant advantage over passive holdings. Throughout Q3, we strengthened our balance sheet through proactive capital management. We have secured opportunistic financing arrangements that provide growth capital without excessive dilution. These facilities are structured intelligently. No margin calls, no forced liquidation triggers. We also saw strong insider alignment. Our CIO, Russell Thompson, personally invested 25 million Swedish kronor in Hilbert shares. John Lilich, Nordarc's largest external investor, added another 5.5 million SEK. When leadership puts significant personal capital at risk alongside shareholders, that says something about the conviction in the long-term trajectory. In October, we welcomed Jonathan Morris as chairman of our board. Jonathan brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of global finance, technology, and capital markets. He's held senior roles at Blackstone, Credit Suisse, and GAIN Capital. He's raised over $850 million in institutional capital and directed more than $1.3 billion in investment commitments. He's also taken three companies through public listings. This is the caliber of leadership we need as we scale our institutional business and expand into the US market. Jonathan's networks, governance expertise, and operational experience will be invaluable as we execute our strategy. Looking ahead, our priorities are clear. Synthetica token launch in Q1 2026 with strong liquidity partnerships already in place. Number two is asset management growth converting our expanded pipeline into deployed capital and continuing to scale AUM. The table on this slide shows potential gross income scenarios for asset management based on different AUM levels and performance return assumptions. Revenue scales up by roughly $8 million for every $200 million increase in the asset base. At $500 million AUM and 10% return, we'd generate $20 million in annual gross income in asset management alone using standard 220 fee structures. As AUM scales to a billion and beyond, the revenue potential compounds significantly. To be clear, these are not projections. They're illustrations of economics we're building toward as we convert pipeline to deployed capital. No dark integration. Leveraging that $2.5 billion loan pipeline and expanding banking across Europe will be crucial. Active treasury management, optimizing our Bitcoin and digital asset exposure for superior risk-adjusted returns is also a focus. And US market expansion, leveraging Jonathan Morris' leadership and networks to establish our presence in the world's largest capital market. Let me bring this together. Revenue up triple digits year over year, AUM growth accelerating with pipeline expanding 3.5 times, institutional allocations from sizable investors, No dark acquisition, adding full banking stack and a sizable loan pipeline. Synthetica ready for Q1 2026 launch. Strengthen governance with our new chairman. These aren't disconnected achievements. They represent an integrated strategy coming together. building the infrastructure, securing the capital, attracting institutional validation and assembling leadership team required to become Europe's leading full-stack digital asset platform. We have the foundation, we have the momentum and we have the execution discipline. The opportunity ahead is substantial and we are positioned to capture it. Thank you and I look forward to updating you on the business again soon.