Caverion Corporation's Interim Report for 1 January - 30 September 2022

Caverion Corporation Interim Report 3 November 2022 at 8.30 a.m. EET

HELSINKI, Nov. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 

Strong quarter with continued organic growth and improved profitability

1 July – 30 September 2022           

• Revenue: EUR 564.1 (493.7) million, up by 14.3 (-4.2) percent. Organic growth was 11.8 (-4.6) percent. Services business revenue increased by 15.5 (-0.1) percent. Projects business revenue increased by 11.9 (-11.2) percent.
• Adjusted EBITA: EUR 26.9 (21.5) million, or 4.8 (4.4) percent of revenue, up by 25.0 percent.
• EBITA: EUR 25.1 (17.7) million, or 4.5 (3.6) percent of revenue, up by 42.2 percent.
• Operating profit: EUR 21.1 (13.5) million, or 3.7 (2.7) percent of revenue, up by 55.8 percent.
• Operating cash flow before financial and tax items: EUR 7.7 (-10.1) million.
• Earnings per share, undiluted: EUR 0.10 (0.05) per share.
• Acquisitions: Caverion closed four acquisitions in July–September 2022, total annual revenue EUR 53.2 million.

1 January – 30 September 2022           

• Recommended public tender offer for all Caverion shares
• Order backlog: EUR 1,971.0 (1,889.7) million, up by 4.3 (16.1) percent. Services backlog increased by 9.0 (15.2) percent. Projects backlog decreased by 1.3 (+17.2) percent.
• Revenue: EUR 1,669.2 (1,554.1) million, up by 7.4 (-1.4) percent. Organic growth was 6.2 (-2.3) percent. Services business revenue increased by 9.1 (2.6) percent. Projects business revenue increased by 4.3 (-8.1) percent.
• Adjusted EBITA: EUR 67.2 (57.6) million, or 4.0 (3.7) percent of revenue, up by 16.6 percent.
• EBITA: EUR 61.5 (50.8) million, or 3.7 (3.3) percent of revenue, up by 21.1 percent.
• Operating profit: EUR 49.9 (38.4) million, or 3.0 (2.5) percent of revenue, up by 30.0 percent.
• Operating cash flow before financial and tax items: EUR 37.4 (27.1) million, up by 37.9 percent.
• Cash conversion (LTM): 90.1 (96.4) percent.
• Earnings per share, undiluted: EUR 0.23 (0.16) per share.
• Net debt/Adjusted EBITDA: 1.8x (1.4x).
• Acquisitions: Caverion closed nine acquisitions in January–September 2022, total annual revenue EUR 92.3 million.

Unless otherwise noted, the figures in brackets refer to the corresponding period in the previous year.

Guidance for 2022: In 2022, Caverion Group's revenue (2021: EUR 2,139.5 million) and adjusted EBITA (2021: EUR 87.7 million) will grow compared to 2021.

KEY FIGURES

Jacob Götzsche, President and CEO:

"I am pleased that we continued our positive development in the third quarter of 2022. We delivered a double-digit organic revenue growth both in Services and Projects. Partially the growth was driven by the increased costs of materials and external services, that we were able to successfully factor in our sales prices. We estimate this inflation impact to account for roughly one third of the organic growth. In addition, our profitability and cash flow improved. We expect our solid order backlog to support revenue growth also going forward.

The high cost inflation continued to impact the building technology market in the third quarter. We have proactively taken various measures to manage pricing, including price increase clauses in tenders and agreements. The market instability is expected to decrease new construction volumes going forward. However, our Services business accounts for around two thirds of the Group revenue and is overall more resilient throughout business cycles.

The effects of the corona pandemic stabilised during the third quarter, however the sick leave levels were still above normal. We remain somewhat cautious with the pandemic as unpredictable virus variants and new waves of the pandemic may continue to emerge.

Despite all the challenges posed by the operating environment, our order backlog continued to increase during the third quarter, and amounted to EUR 1,971.0 (1,889.7) million at the end of September, 4.3 percent higher compared to same time previous year. Our third quarter revenue increased by 14.3 percent to EUR 564.1 (493.7) million. The revenue increased in all divisions as a result of increased underlying activity and partly indirectly due to inflation impact.

We have been able to show resilience despite the cost inflation and higher sick leave levels and improved our adjusted EBITA by 25.0 percent to EUR 26.9 (21.5) million, or 4.8 (4.4) percent of revenue during the third quarter of 2022. Profitability improved in both Services and Projects. I am also pleased that in the current operating environment, we could improve our operating cash flow before financial and tax items significantly to EUR 7.7 (-10.1) million in the third quarter.

As part of the implementation of our Sustainable Growth strategy, we have made targeted acquisitions. In the first nine months of 2022, we closed nine acquisitions with total annual revenue of EUR 92.3 million and welcomed already more than 700 new colleagues from the acquired companies. The acquisition of PORREAL Group strengthens our position in the Austrian facility services market. The acquisition of CS electric expands our footprint in marine, energy and industrial segments in Denmark. After the review period, we also signed an agreement to acquire TM Voima group's substation and transmission line business in Finland and Estonia. The acquisition strengthens our presence in the energy sector. Our third quarter revenue increased by 2.9 percent as a result of acquisitions and divestments. We continue to look for high quality companies that complement our existing capabilities or geographical footprint.

A consortium of investors led by Bain Capital has today on 3 November 2022 announced a public tender offer to the shareholders of Caverion. The Board of Directors of Caverion, represented by a quorum comprising the non-conflicted members of the Board of Directors, has unanimously decided to recommend that the shareholders of Caverion accept the tender offer. The offer provides clear evidence that our goal to achieve Sustainable Growth by delivering to our customers along the building's lifecycle and assisting in their Smart Building and green transitions is an attractive strategy for the future. I believe that with the support and resources of the consortium we will be able to further accelerate our business and deliver for all our stakeholders. We at Caverion continue our daily work as usual, focusing on serving our customers and working together across the company.

Despite the lowered economic growth prospects, we are on a good track to improve profitability in line with our strategy. We have already before the ongoing energy crisis proactively strengthened our capabilities in energy efficiency enhancing services. We enable our customers to reduce their energy consumption, be more sustainable and reduce their carbon footprint. We strongly believe in our purpose to enable building performance and people's wellbeing in smart and sustainable built environments."

Impacts of the Ukraine crisis on Caverion's business during the first nine months of 2022

Russia's invasion of Ukraine at the end of February 2022 increased geopolitical tensions especially in Europe overnight. The war has created uncertainties weakening the growth prospects in several countries where Caverion operates. The duration of the Ukrainian conflict and its future effects on the industry, and Caverion in particular, remain uncertain, and the overall situation remains highly volatile.

Caverion has divested its Russian subsidiary at the end of 2021 and has no operations in Ukraine or Belarus. Therefore, the impact of the conflict on Caverion is currently indirect. Caverion has experienced increases in material prices and delays in the supply chain and in decision-making, however Caverion continued to manage them on a daily basis without having a significant impact on the performance during the first nine months of 2022.

Market outlook for Caverion's services and solutions in 2022 and megatrends impacting the industry

Caverion expects the underlying demand to be overall positive in Services during the rest of 2022. In Projects, Caverion expects the underlying business activity to remain stable for the last months of 2022. In Projects, however, the economic uncertainty may start to impact the demand environment negatively. This scenario assumes a sufficient control of the corona pandemic impacts with no significant unforeseen setbacks during the last months of 2022 and no further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

The conflict has resulted in geopolitical tensions, mounting inflation, rising interest rates and lowered economic growth prospects and the situation is estimated to persist. Also the probability of recession has increased. In order to control the mounting inflation, the European Central Bank (ECB) has continued to raise the key interest rates and indicated further increases in its upcoming meetings.

The business volume and the amount of new order intake are important determinants of Caverion's performance in 2022. A negative scenario whereby the ongoing geopolitical conflict or the corona pandemic start to negatively impact market demand cannot be ruled out. However, a large part of Caverion's services is vital in keeping also critical services and infrastructure up-and-running at all times. Furthermore, the continued focus on energy efficiency and CO₂ reduction activities and projects continues to support the activity and business volume. The energy crisis is expected to increase the need for energy efficient solutions for the built environment.

Increased material prices, including fuel costs, and longer delivery times may continue to affect also Caverion's business going forward. Potential risks may still emerge from the supply side, not only from cost inflation but also from labour shortage, potentially further fuelled by increased sick leave levels or quarantines caused by the corona pandemic. Any further delays in the supply chain and potential cost increases may have a negative impact on business execution and order intake going forward.

The digitalisation and sustainability megatrends are in many ways favourable to Caverion and believed to increase demand for Caverion's offerings going forward. The increased energy efficiency requirements, increasing digitalisation, automation and technology in built environment as well as urbanisation remain strong and are expected to promote demand for Caverion's services and solutions over the coming years. Especially the sustainability trend is expected to continue strong.

The economic stimulus packages provided by national governments and the EU are expected to increase infrastructure, health care and different types of sustainable investments in Caverion's operating area over the next few years. The main themes in the EU stimulus packages are green growth and digitalisation. Caverion expects the national and EU programmes to increase demand also in Caverion's areas of operation in 2022. The EU aims to accelerate the green transition due to the current geopolitical situation that has led into energy crisis in many countries that have been largely dependent on imported gas from Russia.

Increasing awareness of sustainability is supported by both EU-driven regulations and national legislation setting higher targets and actions for energy efficiency and carbon-neutrality. This is furthermore supported by the society's end-users' general request for an environmentally friendly built environment. Examples of current initiatives include e.g. the proposed revision of EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) it aims to establish as well as the "Fit for 55" climate package and the Renovation Wave Strategy. The "Fit for 55" climate package proposes to make EU's climate, energy, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. The objective of the European Commission's Renovation Wave Strategy is to at least double the annual energy renovation rate of residential and non-residential buildings by 2030. Mobilising forces at all levels towards these goals is expected to result in 35 million building units renovated by 2030.

Services

Caverion expects the underlying demand to be overall positive during the rest of 2022. Caverion's Services business is overall by nature stable and resilient through business cycles. Stimulus packages are also expected to positively impact general demand in the Services business.

There is an increased interest for services supporting sustainability, such as energy management. Caverion has had a special focus for several years both in so-called Smart Technologies as well as in digital solutions development. These are believed to grow faster than more basic services on average and enable data-driven operations with recurring maintenance. The sustainability trend is also increasing the demand for building automation upgrades.

As technology in buildings increases, the need for new services and digital solutions is expected to increase. Customer focus on core operations also continues to open opportunities for Caverion through outsourcing of industrial operation and maintenance, property maintenance as well as facility management.

Projects

The market instability resulting from the war in Ukraine and the high inflation are expected to dampen the willingness to invest in new construction. Uncertainty is caused by the availability of building materials and the significant cost increases. However, the demand for energy improvement projects is expected to increase going forward, driven by the focus on energy consumption due to the energy crisis. The stimulus packages are expected to positively impact the general demand also in the Projects business. Caverion expects the underlying business activity to remain stable for the last months of 2022. In Projects, however, the economic uncertainty may start to impact the demand environment negatively.

From the trends perspective, the digitalisation and sustainability megatrends are supporting demand also in Projects, as Caverion's target is to offer long-term solutions binding both Projects and Services together. The requirements for increased energy efficiency, better indoor climate and tightening environmental legislation continue to drive demand over the coming years.

NEWS CONFERENCE, WEBCAST AND CONFERENCE CALL

Caverion will hold a news conference on its Interim Report on Thursday, 3 November 2022, at 10.00 a.m. Finnish time (EET) at Flik Studio Eliel, Töölönlahdenkatu 2C (Sanoma House), Helsinki, Finland. The news conference can be viewed live on Caverion's website at www.caverion.com/investors. It is also possible to participate in the event through a conference call by registering beforehand on the following link: https://call.vsy.io/access-8279. Phone numbers and the conference ID to access the conference will be provided after the registration. To ask a question, press *5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. More practical information on the news conference can be found on Caverion's website, www.caverion.com/investors.

Financial information to be published in 2023

Financial Statement Release for 2022 will be published on 9 February 2023. Annual Review 2022 including the financial statements will be published during week 9/2023, at the latest. Interim/Half-yearly Reports for 2023 will be published on 27 April, 3 August and 3 November 2023.

Financial reports and other investor information are available on Caverion's website www.caverion.com/investors. The materials may also be ordered by sending an e-mail to [email protected].

CAVERION CORPORATION

Distribution: Nasdaq Helsinki, principal media, www.caverion.com

For further information, please contact:

Mikko Kettunen, CFO, Caverion Corporation, tel. +358 50 347 7462, [email protected]
Milena Hæggström, Head of Investor Relations and External Communications, Caverion Corporation,
tel. +358 40 5581 328, [email protected]

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