ENENTO GROUP PLC, STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 27 OCTOBER 2023 AT 11.00 A.M. EEST
Enento Group’s Interim Financial report 1.1. – 30.9.2023: Weak Swedish consumer credit demand impacts net sales, strong performance by Business Insight in Finland and Norway
SUMMARY
July – September 2023 in brief
- Net sales declined 0,9% excluding the impact from the discontinued Tambur service at comparable exchange rates.
- Net sales amounted to EUR 37,3 million (EUR 40,5 million), a decrease of 7,8% (at comparable exchange rates decrease of 2,2%).
- Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 14,5 million (EUR 16,2 million), a decrease of 10,5% (at comparable exchange rates decrease of 5,5%).
- Adjusted EBITDA margin was 38,9% (40,1%), a decrease of 1,2 pp (at comparable exchange rates decrease of 1,4 pp).
- Adjusted EBIT was EUR 11,8 million (EUR 13,6 million), a decrease of 13,4% (at comparable exchange rates decrease of 8,6%).
- Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 8,9 million (EUR 10,5 million).
- The efficiency program targeting at least 8-million-euro efficiencies by the end of 2024, has progressed according to the plan. The measures implemented by the end of the third quarter are estimated to have an annual run-rate impact on the profitability of around EUR 5,3 million.
- The full-year net sales guidance was adjusted on 9 October 2023. Enento now estimates its full-year 2023 net sales to decline between 0% – 1,5% (previous growth of 0% – 5%), excluding the impact from the discontinued Tambur service, at comparable exchange rates compared to 2022.
January – September 2023 in brief
- Net sales grew 0,1% excluding the impact from the discontinued Tambur service at comparable exchange rates.
- Net sales amounted to EUR 117,0 million (EUR 124,6 million), a decrease of 6,1% (at comparable exchange rates decrease of 1,2%).
- Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 43,7 million (EUR 45,3 million), a decrease of 3,4% (at comparable exchange rates increase of 1,0%).
- Adjusted EBITDA margin was 37,4% (36,3%), an increase of 1,0 pp (at comparable exchange rates an increase of 0,8 pp).
- Adjusted EBIT was EUR 35,5 million (EUR 35,9 million), a decrease of 0,9% (at comparable exchange rates increase of 3,6%).
- Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 24,5 million (EUR 26,3 million).
In July–September 2023, the items affecting comparability amounted to EUR -0,5 million (EUR -0,1 million) and in January–September 2023 to EUR -3,8 million (EUR -0,5 million), including mainly restructuring and other efficiency program-related costs.
In July-September 2023, the amortization from fair value adjustments amounted to EUR -2,3 million (EUR -2,9 million) and in January-September 2023 to EUR -7,2 million (EUR -9,0 million).
KEY FIGURES
| EUR million | 1.7. – 30.9.2023 |
1.7. – 30.9.2022 |
1.1. – 30.9.2023 | 1.1. – 30.9.2022 | 1.1. – 31.12.2022 |
| Net sales | 37,3 | 40,5 | 117,0 | 124,6 | 167,5 |
| Net sales change, % (comparable fx rates) | -2,2 | 7,1 | -1,2 | 5,4 | 5,1 |
| Net sales change, % (reported fx rates) | -7,8 | 4,9 | -6,1 | 3,5 | 2,5 |
| Operating profit (EBIT) | 8,9 | 10,5 | 24,5 | 26,3 | 25,8 |
| EBIT margin, % | 23,9 | 26,0 | 21,0 | 21,1 | 15,4 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | 14,5 | 16,2 | 43,7 | 45,3 | 61,2 |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin, % | 38,9 | 40,1 | 37,4 | 36,3 | 36,6 |
| Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) | 11,8 | 13,6 | 35,5 | 35,9 | 49,1 |
| Adjusted EBIT margin, % | 31,5 | 33,6 | 30,4 | 28,8 | 29,3 |
| New services of net sales, % | 10,0 | 4,0 | 9,8 | 4,9 | 4,6 |
| Free cash flow | 7,1 | 10,0 | 23,1 | 23,4 | 33,9 |
| Net debt to adjusted EBITDA, x | 2,4 | 2,4 | 2,4 | 2,4 | 2,2 |
| Earnings per share, EUR | 0,23 | 0,33 | 0,64 | 0,80 | 0,72 |
| Comparable earnings per share, EUR1 | 0,31 | 0,42 | 0,88 | 1,22 | 1,11 |
1 Comparable earnings per share does not contain amortization from fair value adjustments related to acquisitions or their tax impact.
FUTURE OUTLOOK (UPDATED ON 9 OCTOBER 2023)
The general macroeconomic environment remains uncertain and unpredictable and is expected to impact negatively on the growth outlook of the Group. The weakening demand for consumer credit information services, direct-to-consumer services and services used for sales and marketing purposes is expected to negatively impact the net sales development. Enento expects increased demand for risk management and compliance services, which together with the introduction of new services to partially offset the decline. The discontinuance of the Swedish housing transaction service Tambur from second quarter onwards is estimated to have a negative impact up to -1.5% of the Group’s net sales at comparable exchange rates.
Enento expects cost inflation to increasingly burden the profitability level of the Group and is mitigating the impact by the efficiency program and temporary efficiency measures.
GUIDANCE (UPDATED ON 9 OCTOBER 2023)
Net Sales: Enento Group expects net sales in 2023 to decline between 0% – 1,5% excluding the impact from the discontinued Tambur service at comparable exchange rates as compared to 2022.
Adjusted EBITDA: Enento Group expects its adjusted EBITDA margin to be in the range of 36,0% – 37,0%.
Comparable exchange rates mean that the effects of any changes in currencies are eliminated by calculating the figures for the previous period using current period’s exchange rates.
JEANETTE JÄGER, CEO
Consistent with the last two quarters, the economic conditions in our markets remain challenging. In the beginning of October, due to a weaker-than-expected performance in our Consumer Insight business, we revised our 2023 net sales guidance to an organic decline of 0%–1,5% from the earlier 0%–5% growth guidance. Our adjusted EBITDA margin guidance remains unchanged, and we are committed to our long-term financial targets for 2024–2026. This includes an annual average net sales growth target of 5%–10% and an aim to expand the adjusted EBITDA margin to approximately 40% by 2026.
The Business Insight business area has again shown positive development and Finland, alongside Norway, and Denmark, experienced a strong quarter. Enterprise Solutions, Premium Solutions, and Compliance Services all maintained a strong performance, leading to a 4,8% increase in net sales at comparable exchange rates. Given the weak real estate market in both Finland and Sweden, the Real Estate Information maintained a satisfactory performance. Although Business Insight experienced a positive quarter, it could not counterbalance the development in the Consumer Insight business area and the organic Group net sales decreased by 0,9% compared to the same period last year, at comparable exchange rates.
We continuously manage and prioritize actions within our company with a consistent focus on operational efficiency, which includes developing Nordic solutions for our customers to build scale at the Nordic level and phasing out legacy systems. We are advancing in the development of roadmaps and detailed operational plans. These plans are for executing our strategy across several growth themes and for digitizing our sales and marketing activities. These are areas we control and attend to every day. What is beyond our control is the macro-economic environment in our operating markets. Currently, this environment poses challenges, particularly impacting our financials in Sweden. Consumer Insight area saw a net sales drop of 7,2% at comparable exchange rates, mainly attributed to the weak demand for credit information services in Sweden. It is important to note that we have not lost any customers in the consumer credit vertical in Sweden due to competition in 2023. Both mortgages and unsecured loans have seen consumer sentiment and related loan volumes that are much weaker than anticipated. This is expected to further affect the demand for Enento’s consumer credit information services and, as a result, our net sales for the rest of 2023. We anticipate that enhanced consumer sentiment and confidence, stemming from stabilizing or potentially declining interest rates, are key factors that will reverse the trend and drive future growth in demand for consumer credit information services. During the third quarter, the business lines of Consumer Insight in Finland demonstrated stability, with direct-to-consumer offering continuing an upward trend.
Our focus on enhancing profitability remains committed and our efficiency program is progressing as planned, achieving a 5,3 million euro run-rate impact by the end of the third quarter. One concrete example with immediate impact on our profitability is the decommissioning of our legacy decisioning solution in Finland. The adjusted EBITDA margin in the third quarter decreased to 38,9%, compared to 40,1% in 2022, a quarter when we focused heavily on implementing temporary efficiency measures. During the third quarter, margin development mirrored the net sales trend in Swedish consumer credit information services with high fixed data acquisition costs, but the measures implemented as part of the efficiency program nearly entirely offset these effects.
During the quarter we introduced several services well aligned with our strategic direction. Our new services KPI progressed as anticipated, accounting for 10,0% of net sales. We successfully expanded our compliance services in Finland and introduced KYC and Sanction List Monitoring services. We also unveiled Apartment Information Reports, a unique offering tailored for the real estate and banking sectors. A pivotal launch this quarter was the decisioning solution, the Nordic Decision Hub, launch in Finland. This platform not only enables growth as a decisioning tool for all our markets but also promotes efficiency, allowing us to phase out our legacy service in Finland and next in Sweden. We are also making progress in uniting our ways of working as in September we celebrated the milestone of having our development teams in all countries working in the same agile Nordic release train. The newly introduced services are of strategic importance to us as they assist our customers in managing their risks and making better decisions, which are especially valuable during challenging times.
WEBCAST
Webcast for analysts, investors and media will be arranged on Friday, 27 October 2023, starting at 2.00 p.m. (EEST). CEO Jeanette Jäger and CFO Elina Stråhlman will present the results in English.
The webcast can be followed at: https://enento.videosync.fi/q3-2023
The presentation material and the webcast recording will be available on Enento’s investor website.
Helsinki, 27 October 2023
ENENTO GROUP PLC
Board of Directors
For further information:
Jeanette Jäger
CEO
Tel. +46 72 141 00 00
Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Major media
enento.com/investors
Enento Group is a Nordic knowledge company powering society with intelligence since 1905. We collect and transform data into intelligence and knowledge used in interactions between people, businesses, and societies. Our digital services, data and information empower companies and consumers in their daily digital decision processes, as well as financial processes and sales and marketing processes. Approximately 399 people are working for Enento Group in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The Group’s net sales for 2022 was 167.5 MEUR. Enento Group is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki with the trading code ENENTO.