Sweco AB

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this presentation of Sweco's Q2 report. With us today, we have Sweco's president and CEO, Åsa Bergman, and CFO, Nås Dolnacke. They will take us through the results of the second quarter of the year, and after that, we will open up for questions. So please, Åsa.

Welcome, everyone, to Sweco's Q2 presentation. Before we present the second quarter result, let me give you a quick overview of Sweco. Sweco is Europe's leading architecture and engineering consultancy with operations in eight geographical business areas across 15 markets in Europe. We are a well-diversified business operating across three different segments with a good balance of private and public clients. The foundation for Sweco's long-term success is our mix of competencies spread across 22,000 experts. Our focus on organic and acquired growth, as well as our efficient and decentralized operational model. With a strong financial track record and a financial position, we are focused on continuing our growth journey and build on Sweco's success. With this introduction, let me start the presentation of Q2 2025. FECO delivered a stable performance in a quarter marked by a significant negative calendar effect. Net sales were 7.8 billion set and the organic growth rate was 2% adjusted for calendar. Net sales were down 3% in the quarter affected by a negative currency effect and the negative calendar effect. EBITDA amounted to 750 million SEK and the EBITDA margin was 9.6%. EBITDA increased by 15% or 115 million SEK adjusted for calendar. We continue to see further improvements in average fees and billing ratio. We are also executing on our M&A agenda with the announcement of several new acquisitions during the quarter. I will get back to the acquisitions later in this presentation. Altogether, this was a stable quarter and we continue to execute on our strategic priorities. Let us now dive into some of the operational highlights from the quarter. In the quarter, six out of eight business areas reported EBITDA improvements and five out of eight reported positive organic growth. We continue to be active and successfully navigating the market, resulting in an increase in both orders received and the order backlog. We are also seeing a continued solid operational trend across several business areas, with three business areas reporting double-digit margins, and the UK as well as Germany, Central Europe, continuing to improve their performance. The efficiency measures taken are having further effects with higher internal efficiency and a higher billing ratio. All in all, we are pleased to see that we are making steady positive progress across most business areas. Let us now move over to the market overview. The demand for Sveco services remain generally in line with previous quarters. with some variations between segments and markets. Demand remained good in water, environment, energy, and infrastructure segments, as well in security and defense. The generally weak demand continue in residential and commercial real estate, as well as in parts of the industry segment. The green transition, resilience, demographic changes, and digitalization and AI and will be key drivers for our business. And our well diversified business continues to be a strength for us and provide stability. With that I will hand over to Olof to walk you through the numbers. Please Olof.

Thank you, Åsa, and hello, everyone. Starting then again with a summary of the result. Net sales was 7.8 billion SEK with 2% calendar-adjusted organic growth, 1% from M&A, and a significant negative FX impact. EBITDA at 750 million and excluding the negative calendar effect. As you just heard, we are 115 million or 15% up. And the margin is at 9.6%. Leverage down significantly from last year at 0.8. Looking then at net sales, we see organic growth in five out of eight BAs. UK, Germany, and Central Europe, and the Netherlands has the strongest growth. Finland continues to show negative growth. The Finnish market remains challenging. In the quarter, we also see slightly negative growth in Belgium with a weaker industry segment and in Denmark where we see a slightly slower energy segment and have more vacation absence in the quarter. Sweden grows 2% and Norway 5%. The growth drivers continue to be average fee increases and higher billing ratio. And these are partly offset by vacation absence and lower sub-consultant revenue. On the EBITDA side, we see a 15% increase despite the negative top-line growth. And excluding the calendar effect, the margin would have been 11.4, a 1.6 percentage point improvement versus Q2 last year. Sweden, Denmark, and Belgium delivered double-digit margin. UK delivers 6% in another quarter of significant improvement. Germany and Central Europe improves margin, whereas Finland and the Netherlands are slightly down. And in Norway, you see the reversal of the large positive Easter effect from Q1. Looking then at the EBITDA bridge by business area, overall higher average fees continue to be a positive driver, together with higher billing ratio and the net positive of 47 million from restructuring costs. Higher personnel expenses and vacation absence had a negative impact. Looking at the BAs, six out of eight delivery increased EBITDA, Sweden and Germany and Central Europe saw significant EBITDA improvements. UK also improved significantly, but again, this was versus a relatively weak quarter last year. Still, it's a positive sign that the turnaround in the UK is on track. The other five BAs are more or less in line with last year, and it's worth noting that Finland and Belgium would be positive, excluding the negative FX effect. Erik Sundell, Significant calendar effect from Easter with 11 fewer working hours corresponding to a negative 159 million in net sales and EBITDA impact. Erik Sundell, And it is also worth noting that the FX effect, which normally is limited on EBITDA level this quarter was as high as minus 28 million. The financial position remains strong. Net debt at 2.6 billion is significantly down versus Q1 last year. Leverage at 0.8, also significantly down versus last year, and well below our target. We remain financially very strong with available liquid assets of 4 billion. And finally on the numbers, the calendar effect. After the big Easter effect, we now have limited calendar effects for the rest of the year. And for the full year, the total is minus eight hours, which basically corresponds to the leap day we had in 2024. And with that, back to you, Åsa.