Sweco AB

Hello everyone and thank you for joining us for this presentation of Sweco's Q2 report. Åsa Bergman, Sweco's president and CEO, is here together with Jan Alde, Sweco's CFO, to take us through the results of the second quarter. And after their presentation, there will of course be an opportunity for you to ask questions.

So with that said, please Åsa. Welcome everyone to Sweco's Q2 presentation. Before we present the result for the second quarter, 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 14 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 23,000 experts, our focus on organic and acquired growth, as well as our efficient and decentralized operational model. With a strong financial track record and financial position, we are focused on continuing our growth journey and build on Sweco's success. Let's start with a summary of the second quarter of 2026. It was a solid second quarter in a continued mixed market, characterized by broad organic growth, higher average fees, a strong billing ratio, and continued acquisition activity. Net sales increased by 9% to 8.6 billion SEK, and organic growth amounted to 3% adjusted for calendar effects. EBITDA increased to 864 million SEK corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 10.1% and EBITDA increased by 7% adjusted for calendar effects. The positive development was supported by higher average fees and an improved billing ratio as well as positive contributions from recent acquisitions. We also continue to execute on our M&A agenda by announcing two new acquisitions during the quarter. Moving over to the operational highlights. Overall, we delivered a solid second quarter. Seven out of eight business areas reported organic growth and six out of eight increased EBITDA. We continued to navigate the market well, increasing both order backlog and orders received. We also maintained a strong focus on efficiency, reflected in an increased billing ratio of 75.9%. The solid operational trend continues across several business areas, with three reporting double-digit margins. I would also like to highlight the strong EBITDA improvements in the quarter from Circus Sweden and the Netherlands. Overall, we are pleased to see that we continue to make progress across our business areas. Turning then to the market overview, demand for our services remained broadly unchanged compared with previous quarters. Demand was good in energy, infrastructure, water and environment. We also continue to see growing demand related to security and defense across several of our markets. At the same time, residential and commercial buildings, as well as parts of the industry segment, remained weak. While the geopolitical and macroeconomic environment is uncertain, Sweco benefits from a diversified business model, a strong local presence and a clear European focus. Trends related to sustainability, demographic shifts, digitalization and AI, as well as security and defense are driving demand for Sveco services across our core segments. With that, I welcome our CFO, Jan Alde, to walk you through the numbers. Please, Jan.

Thank you, Åsa. I'll start with the summary of the Q2. So net sales was 8.6 billion SEK with a calorie-adjusted organic growth rate of 3% and with the prior growth of 5%, giving a total sales growth of 9% versus last year. Calorie-under effect was five more working hours versus last year. EBITDA increased 7% or 53 million SEK adjusted for the calorie-under effect. EBITDA margin came in at 10.1% versus 9.6% last year, and a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 0.8 times at the end of June, which is the same as last year. Then let's look at net sales. So organic growth of 3% was driven by higher average fees and higher billing ratio. We saw organic growth in seven out of eight BAs, Germany and Central Europe had the strongest organic growth rate at 7%, driven by higher average fees and FTE growth in an overall stable market. The growth in Finland was still low, but we saw a somewhat improved demand situation within the public and commercial building segments. Denmark was impacted by lower investment in the pharmaceutical industry, However, they have been able to compensate this by strong growth in other segments and hence showed an organic growth in Q2. The UK reported negative growth rate of 3% due to less sub-consultants and less FTEs while the overall market was stable. Please note that the growth in both Finland, Denmark and the UK was negatively impacted by lower FTEs due to ongoing efficiency improvement and measures taken to adapt the organizations to current market conditions. Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands all reported organic growth rates of 4% versus last year. Then we look at the EBITDA. So EBITDA increased by 7% versus last year adjusted for calendar effect. The quarter was negatively impacted by restructuring and integration costs in Sweden and Finland of 30 million, which is 18 million higher than last year. Adjusting for this, EBITDA for the group increased by 10% versus last year. The EBITDA improvement was driven by higher average fees, improved billing ratio, and contribution from acquisitions. while higher personnel and other operating expenses had a negative impact. The reported EBIT margin was 10.1% versus 9.6% last year, and the calendar effect in Q2 affected the result positively in Sweden and Norway. Now let's look through the performance by BA. Sweden continued to improve its underlying EBIT margin positive calendar effect and the negative effect of restructuring and integration cost in Sweden was almost the same. The EBITDA margin in Norway was unchanged, adjusting for the calendar effect. Denmark reported improved margins from already high levels, and the Netherlands reported a strong margin improvement versus last year. The EBITDA margin in Belgium was lower than last year, but they continued to perform at the high level. The EBITDA margin in Germany and Central Europe was lower, while the margins in Finland and the UK were roughly in line with last year. Then let's have a look at the EBITDA bridge. So starting with Sweden, where the result was 10% higher than last year, driven by higher average fees, higher billing ratio, and positive contributions from the PE acquisition. Please note that Sweden booked 26 million SEK of restructuring and integration costs in Q2. Excluding this, EBITDA improved by 20% versus last year. The restructuring integration costs were mainly related to optimizing the organizational structure in Sweden and drive efficiencies. The costs related to the PE integration was minor as the integration is now completed. The result in Norway was 7 million SEK higher than last year, driven by positive FX effects. And the higher result in Finland was due to 8 million SEK less restructuring and integration costs compared to last year, but also due to a higher billing ratio. The result in Netherlands was 34% higher than last year, driven by higher average fees, higher billing ratios, as well as contributions from the acquisitions made last year. Denmark and Belgium delivered EBITDA improvements, while the result in the UK was stable. The result in Germany and Central Europe was slightly lower due to higher personnel costs and less positive project adjustment versus last year. The calendar effect was five more working hours versus last year, corresponding to a positive year-on-year impact of 60 million SEK. Overall, the integration of the acquisitions made last year and also this year are progressing well, and we expect synergies to continue to materialize during the quarter. Sorry, during the year. Now let's look at the financial position. So cash flow from operating activities was 911 million SEK compared to 680 million SEK last year. M&A cash outflows was 176 million SEK. and dividend paid was 1,355,000,000 SEK. The net debt position at the end of June was 2.9 billion SEK, slightly higher than last year, while our net debt to EBITDA ratio was 0.8 times, same as last year. Hence, our leverage is well below our target and we remain financially very strong to pursue an active M&A agenda. Then lastly, look at the calendar. So the current effect for 2026 is that we expect to have seven hours more than 2025. And in Q3, we expect one hour more than the same quarter last year. And by that, I hand back to you, Åsa.