Netel Holding AB (publ)

Good morning and welcome to our presentation of our first quarter results. My name is Jeanette Reuterskjöld and I'm president and CEO of Natal. With me, I have as usually Fredrik Helenius, our CFO. During today's presentation, I will start by running through the key developments in the first quarter, as well as a recap of our seasonal pattern. I will also give you a market update and highlights from our recent business wins in the quarter. Fredrik will then, as usually, go through the finances in more detail before I make a short summary and then we will open up for your questions. A weak first quarter, but in line with our expectation. Our growing order backlog and continued savings measures lay the foundation for increased profitability during this year. After a year in 2025, with major write-downs of all products in two of our companies in Sweden, combined with lower sales, we accelerated several activities to restore our profitability and increase our sales to be more competitive. We initiated large saving programs with full effect for 26 and long-term saving program for 27 and beyond. We also discontinued our operations in Finland and the UK, which have been loss making operations and naturally required a lot of resources from management. Now we have full focus in 26 to deliver on the saving programs and continue to build a healthy order backlog for a successful improvement during the year in sales and results. In our industry, the first quarter is normally the weakest of the year since many products are in the startup phase. As communicated already in connection with the year-end report in February, we expected a slower start of the year as the winter implied delayed product starts. This year's long winter, as well as the ongoing transformation of the telecom market, had a negative impact on sales, earnings and cash flow for the quarter. However, we remain optimistic about the full year 26 and expect both growth and margin improvements. One of the reasons for the expected improvement is our ability to grow our order backlog and our successful strategy of securing new customers and expanding into new geographies, both in Norway and Sweden. We are showing that we are competitive. At the beginning of the year, our order backlog for 26 amounted to approximately 2 billion. After the first quarter, the order backlog for projects to be implemented during the remaining nine months of the year amounts to 1.8 billion. This corresponds to an increase during the first three months of approximately 400 million, an important signal for the continued development of the year. The increased order backlog is an indication that we are doing well in the competition and continue to be an attractive supplier in our markets. As I earlier said, we carried out a series of changes to restore profitability last year. One of the measures was to reduce layers on managers and shorten decision-making processes. Two years ago, we organized our operations into three distinct divisions, Power, Infraservices and Telecom, to strengthen focus and increase collaboration within each business area. This work has laid a solid foundation and we are now taking the next step to collaborate even more strongly between the divisions and where relevant, submit joint tenders. The aim is to increase our competitiveness, improve the quality of tenders and ensure better capacity utilization. The agreement with Stång & Staden is a prime example of this, with the telecom and power divisions working together. This means we are utilizing our resources more efficiently, which gives us the opportunity to also retain a larger share of the product profits. This year we will start to merge our Swedish operation companies, which is a key action in the program that will reduce costs by 15 to 25 million with full effect from 27. About 10 Swedish companies will be merged into one operating company, Netel AB, in the autumn. The merger will shorten decision-making processes, reduce overhead costs and make us more efficient in such areas as purchasing, tendering and product management. In addition, it will enable us to establish standardized ways of working, faster exchange of knowledge and more efficient communication channels. We can also build a broader team spirit and enhance the activitiness of the branding of Natel. In the fourth quarter last year, we gave a clear description of our seasonal patterns. It is essential to understand our seasonality in order to interpret our performance correctly. Our operations follow clear recurring seasonal patterns related to product life cycles, customer investment plans and weather conditions. These patterns impact volumes, results and cash flow. Our first quarter of the year is normally our weakest quarter. This is due in part to many projects in the startup phase, which includes preparation work, such as design and planning. In this year, we also had a particularly long winter, which delayed the startup of the projects. When we now get started a little later with production in Q1, it also affects Q2, but we will make up for it in the second half of the year. We expect larger production volumes primarily during the second half of the year. Now I would like to present some new wins under this quarter from each division to show an example on how we deliver on our strategy. The level of activity we have in the Infraservices market is high, and we are participating in more tenders requests now compared with last year. For an example, Infraservices announced a new public customer during the quarter, the City of Stockholm. The contract with the City of Stockholm is worth 30 million SEK and covers civil engineering work in the former gasworks area in Jortagen. We are now involved in transforming old industrial land and port areas into a modern mixed-use city with housing, offices, services and culture. Profitability for infraservices declined in a quarter as a result of the high proportion of product starts and delayed projects. Given the highly competitive nature in the infraservice market, we've made significant cost adjustments to our operations last year, while also improving our product management and risk control. This means that we will now be better prepared and competitive when volumes increase during this year. In the Swedish energy market, customers were cautious in 2025 within substations, but activity is now increasing and we see more business opportunities in the near future. In Norway, demand remains high with new and extended framework agreements broadening our geographical footprint and strengthen our position in the Norwegian market. Power remains the main driver behind the increase in the order backlog. Overall, the market is strong, but the long project times mean that the volumes are being realized gradually. We announced an agreement with E.ON regarding the construction of a substation in Norrköping, worth just over 40 million SEK. And we also, during the quarter, announced a new framework agreement with the Norwegian energy company, Glitternet, which were a new customer for us last year, covering a new geographical area and services in operation and design in the regional networks. The agreement is worth up to 300 million NOK until the end of 2031. We also signed a new framework agreement with Elvia, covering approximately half of Oslo municipality, which is yet another new geographical area for the power in Norway. This agreement, together with a renewed framework agreement with Elvia for Sönderfollow, south of Oslo, are valued as just over 110 million NOK for a term of four years. In power, product times for design and construction of substations are very long, often several years. The substation, for example, in Norrköping for E.ON is scheduled to be completed in the spring of 28, which means that the final invoicing will be in two years time. It is important to understand our long product timelines for power when assessing our future performance. The telecom market is undergoing a transformation whereby our traditional customers are moving from hardware installation to service and maintenance. This means that our customers are reducing their investments, which we have noted in all three of our geographic markets. with volumes and our profitability falling in the quarter. However, we can adapt to this decline in volume more easily due to our flexible business model with a high share of subcontracting in our telecom projects. We are adapting to the transformation by increasing our focus on service and maintenance and by winning new customers. During the quarter, we present a new three-year agreement with Global Connect in Norway for service within the customer's B2B segment. We have also presented larger agreements with the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, a new customer for Telekom. The framework agreements cover the design and construction of Telekom mast and towers for the new European Railway communication system. The agreements are three years with the possibility of extension until 2030, an estimated value of just over SEK 130 million by 2030. We have also signed a framework agreement with the housing and property company Stångåsdalen in Linköping. There we will implement a comprehensive upgrade of the network infrastructure, commissioning, security and electrical measures in all apartments and premises. Important contract as we gain a new major customer and establish ourselves in a new geographical area. And as I said earlier, the agreement with Stångestaden is an example of the collaboration between our divisions by joint tenders. So let's move on to our financial performance in more detail, Fredrik.

Perfect. Good morning, everyone. And thank you, Conette. Certainly, we do have several key takeaways in the quarter with the important and recent contract wins with new customers, the ongoing consolidation of our Swedish business and the evidence on our and Natal's ability to adapt in a changing market. Another key takeaway is our order backlog at the end of the first quarter here in 26. The backlog is reported at approximately 4.2 billion, a backlog above the position at year end, and with new contracts and margins supporting our progress towards the financial targets of 5% to 7%. Our backlog has benefited from our strong contributors within Power, and especially in Norway, with the new contracts from Glittre and Elvia. And as just recently communicated, we have also now added important wins within Telecom during the start here in the second quarter, adding light on the necessary volumes to continuously support our process for improved financial performance and margin growth. With the reported backlog, we note that around 1.8 billion to be produced during the rest of 26 as previously described here by Connett. That means that coming from approximately 2 billion at year end, we have during these first three months managed to add approximately 400 million for production during the remaining nine. Our net sales in the quarter amounted to 575 million. And as communicated already in connection with the year end report, we expected a slow start here of the year as the winter implied delayed project startups and low volume activities during most of the three month period. Our net sales are down with 14.9% from last year with the winter and project phases being the underlying reasons. And that's in addition to the weaker knock in Euro with negative effects from FX. The transformation of the telecom market with the operators providing significantly lower rollout volumes and our customers moving from hardware installation to service and maintenance, that also impacts our net sales negatively as expected. March, on the other hand, in the quarter accounted for more than 40% of the sales. And while it's needless to say that we were slow in the start, we now look forward to continue to pick up speed throughout the year and in line with the defined and expected seasonality that we have in our operations. We continue to be cautious and thorough on our strategy, being flexible in the market and competition within the telecom and infraservices sectors. Nevertheless, with the 4.2 billion backlog and 1.8 billion referring to 26 with new additions based on healthy margins in line, With our financial target range, we do look forward to an improved performance, especially during the second part here of 26. As previously stated, our first quarter is normally our weakest with many projects in the startup phase and focus on the low volume activities of preparation works, design and planning. In this quarter, we also had a particularly long winter, which delayed the startup of projects and confirmed the expected lower rollout volumes. With the 575 million in sales, we report an adjusted EBITDA of 10 million and a low but positive margin of 1.7%. The power operations in Norway continues with a very strong momentum, increasing profitability as a result of running contracts and with the addition of the now offset operations in the southern regions. We do expect that our seasonal pattern with a stronger H2 will be visible also here in 26. Closing 25, we said that we do expect to improve during 26, but it's likely that H2 in general or the last and fourth quarter in particular will be the strongest cash generating period for this year and for future years as well. Now in Q1 here in 26, we closed with an operating cash flow of minus 60 million. In general, in line with our seasonal pattern and where we need the working capital during the early phases of the projects. And this year affected by consideration of the relatively long winter and delayed project starts with lower volumes driving our cash flow. The cash flow from operations before our net working capital is minus eight and hence the quarterly cash flow of minus 60 is mainly due to the working capital lead as described of 50 million relatively evenly split amongst our divisions and countries. Liquidity wise, we have 277 million in available funds and we are well in line with our new financing agreements that we finalized during the end of 25. We did put in a lot of work in our financing processes during 2025, and we are now well prepared to focus on our strategy and improvements over both the short and long term. If we move on to the divisions, Infra Services delivered net sales of 121 million in the quarter with a negative growth of 16%. With the relatively lower volume, the profitability was reported at 1 million or with a 1% EBITDA margin. The year-on-year decline was in general due to lower sales resulting from a high proportion of the projects in startup phases and the long winter delaying many project starts. We still need to add additional projects and volumes for the yearly production. Our average projects are both relatively small and short in time, and a lot of bids and tenders that we work with now during Q1 and here in Q2 will be both started and finalized during the year. This is a normal process for our Infraservices division, a continuous work with new interesting opportunities in a market characterized by high activity from the client side. Within power, we reported 9.4% lower sales totaling 229 million in the quarter with an EBITDA of 4 million and 1.9% as the relevant margin. The season and slower project starts in combination with fewer substation projects running over the same or at the same speed implied that Sweden were trailing last year and the Norway was just below last year in volume. We note an increased margin in Norway as the momentum in that region provided positive opportunities from the 25 agreements. We continue to win interesting contracts and we have successfully confirmed expansion to the southern regions of Norway now running as ongoing business. Market activities are still good in Norway, enabling additional growth and continued focus on client and sector diversification. And the activity in Sweden has shown positive signs here in Q1 with improvements and additional projects to bid for. As said previously, the transformation of the telecom market with operators providing lower rollout volumes, moving from the hardware installation focus to service and maintenance, that impacted our net sales for telecom and profits negatively in the quarter. The transformation is visible in all three geographical markets, yet the decline was partly mitigated in Norway with our running frame agreements and ongoing cost saving actions. Our telecom division generated 225 million in sales in the quarter, down 19% from last year, and the EBITDA amounted to minus 2 million. As with our other divisions, the winter did impact the timing of our intended production starts. Sweden has been focused on rollout volumes within mobile networks, volumes that are now expected to come down during the transition towards service and maintenance, We are now taking advantage of the underlying and flexible business model that we operate, moving towards new client and sectors. As said, the quarter was impacted by the delays of project starts and lower volumes regarding the rollouts and mobile networks. Rollout volumes within fixed and mobile networks in Sweden and Norway are now significantly lower, and we are moving fast towards other interesting opportunities within the defense and public sectors, to name a few. Germany, too, were behind last year in the quarter as the early winter in our regions became a long winter with delays in the starting phase. But we continue to run profitable projects in Germany despite the lower volumes from the uncertainties in the telecom sector and the German economy. And with that, I think that we can move on to a few concluding remarks.

Well, thank you, Fredrik, for this presentation. I will now finalize today's presentation with some concluding remarks. After all the actions we made in 25 to restore profitability, we enter 26 as a stronger company, although we still have much to do. Our underlying business is strong and we operate in three attractive market segments that can provide balance if demand fluctuates. We have skilled employees and good long-term customer relationships, which is reflected in our growing order backlog. And we still have new attractive contracts with new customers. At the same time, we have already made or are in the process of making significant savings to reduce our cost base. Considering the above, I'm confident in our ability to generate long-term value for our shareholders and other stakeholders. We have a clear plan to improve profitability and are completing the measures we have communicated. We are maintaining a high pace to win new contracts and implement the saving programmes. An important activity is the merger of the Swedish operating companies, which is one of the central measures within the programme that will reduce costs by 15 to 25 million with full effect in 2027 and forward. About 10 Swedish companies will be merged into one operating company in the autumn. The merger will shorten decision-making processes, reduce overhead costs and make us more efficient in such areas as purchasing, tendering and product management. In addition, it will enable to establish standardized ways of working, faster in change of knowledge and more efficient communication channels. just to secure our risk management. We can also build a broader team spirit and attractive activities to employ a branding of Natel. 2026 will be a transition year from where we came from. We expect to pick up speed during the second half of the year. We are now stronger and more competitive and will continue to grow and work with our operational excellence to improve further on. And with that, we now open up for questions.

If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key 5 on your telephone keypad. There are no more phone questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any written questions and closing comments.

All right, so now while we solve the questions, let's see if we have any written ones. One question, we reiterate growth and margin improvements for 26. from Q1's 1.7% adjusted EBITDA margin. How should we think about the bridge to that improvement? How much is cost saving versus volume mix versus spread of project execution? Well, I think that we have been quite clear on the fact that we expect to have a better H2 in comparison to H1. That's also in line with our seasonal pattern. I think further on the additions in the order backlog with the recent contract wins, But we also confirm that we tender for and bid for contracts that support our financial target range of 5% to 7% will contribute to our margin improvement here in 26. Cost savings have been discussed and confirmed from us that we had 25 million referring to 26, of which 10 million refer to Sweden. Those were finalized during 25. And now the consolidation of the Swedish operational business that we will continue to work with during 26 will have additional effects for the cost savings during 27. So a lot of this will be about our operational improvements. a lot of the actions that we did during 2025, divesting our Finnish operations, the UK operations, and doing the necessary adjustments that we had to do for two subsidiaries in Sweden. That itself gives us the foundation that we need in order to have the improvement here further on during 2026. Let's see if we have any other. It's about market credibility. Let's see if we can view these questions. All right. Share price development suggests a gap between communicated expectations versus delivered results regarding backlog quality and margin visibility. I think in general, We have added additional information here since the year-end report, adding light on the seasonal pattern in order to have a better understanding for our underlying business and operations. And that's to provide better expectations on our progress here, quarter on quarter and year on year. In terms of the order backlog, I think that we add additional information here saying that we have 4.2 billion in backlog for the total and adding some information on our progress, basically the order intake during Q1 to add our understanding of the improvements in the order backlog. In terms of the margin visibility, again, we have confirmed that we are going for and tendering for projects that support our margin target range of 5% to 7%. Another question on guidance and transparency. We're making changes to our forecasting processes or guiding approach. At this time, I think that we have provided the guidance for the year of 26. We do expect to see growth. We do expect to have margin improvements for 26. Yet again, we are very keen on adding light on the seasonality pattern for Natel in order to have the correct expectations between our quarters throughout the year. We have another question on shareholder value and liquidity. With the current valuation and limited trading liquidity, what initiatives are in place to strengthen shareholder value? And I think that then refers back to liquidity, if I interpret your question correctly. I think that if we look at our position today, obviously, we have a slight different position today than we did a couple of years ago in the IPO process. Still, though, we have two analysts covering the company, providing necessary and very important information to the market and to the shareholders. In addition to that, we, I mean, of course, evaluate alternatives to that, considering the position and the value of Natel today, looking at alternatives to provide additional information to the market and to the shareholders. And you have several channels that we will be able to provide that kind of information. I think that we will be able to get back on that topic now during the coming months here, June 26. In addition to financial data information analysts, we also work with other market participants. We have engaged as communicated a couple of, I think, maybe years now. that we work together with ABG as the relevant investment banking firm to support the liquidity in the stock, making sure that we have a relevant order value for the trading in the stock. They are not sort of affecting the trading as such, but they are making sure that there's always liquidity in the stock to improve the value for shareholders looking at Natel stock. A final question from the, I think that investor engagement and coverage, I think that we brought an analyst. Yeah, I think that I answered that one basically in the response that we obviously are evaluating alternatives. Moving on to another question. The liquidity financial covenant in the annual cycle. When do you see the seasonality making you be closest to it? And when do you start creating headroom again? The liquidity. I'm not sure if I get that question correctly. I think, yes, we do have a liquidity financial covenant. We confirmed during the earnings call now that we have that we are very well in line with our financial agreements that we have. And we do not expect to be close to any covenant for any time soon. Maybe this is a question for you, Conette, looking at strengthening power market. Can we find the resources to scale the demand that we see in the market?

Well, as I said earlier, it's a very strong market. When you see a strong market, there are always a lot of interest to take part of that market. So that's one of the reasons for us to build the activity of our brand as well, and show that we are a profitable company who invests in the employees further on. So we... If we could, for example, in Norway, when we had the possibility last year to grow with customers with 40% and a good margin, that attracted employees to come to join our team in our business. power company in Norway. So we need to improve our results. We need to improve and continue to grow with our customers, but also to be able to scale further on and to grow even faster, if possible, on the Swedish market and in the video market. It is to have the business model as we have, not only to be dependent on employees, also work with subcontractors as well as a complement further on. That will always be important for us further on to scale up.

All right, I think that we have answered. Please feel free to write if you have any additional questions. um here's another one to realize cost savings do you foresee further substantial non-recurring costs uh we will continue to work with the with the consolidation of of the swedish operational business working with these restructuring measures that will incur some additional non-recurring costs and i think that the the level here in q1 gives um In general, I got an approximation of what we will see throughout the year. I think that Q1 will probably be a bit north of what we'll see going forward. But yes, we will do see additional costs here during 26 to finalize the operational consolidation of the Swedish business. Okay, I think that's it. No additional questions.

Thank you all for