Interim report Rejlers AB January - March 2017

First quarter
• Sales increased by 13 per cent to SEK 630.0 million (559.2)
• Organic sales growth excluding exchange rate fluctuations amounted to 8 per cent
• EBITA (adjusted) amounted to SEK 33.0 million (3.1) and the adjusted EBITA margin amounted to 5.2 per cent (0.6)
• Operating profit amounted to SEK 29.7 million (loss: 6.0), corresponding to an operating margin of 4.7 per cent (-1.1)
• Profit after tax was SEK 21.2 million (loss: 5.5)
• Earnings per share before and after dilution were SEK 1.59 (-0.46)
• Cash flow from operating activities totalled SEK -10.2 million (-13.3)
• The AGM decided in April to carry out a rights issue of around SEK 200 million before issue costs

Statement by the President and CEO Peter Rejler
During the quarter, we reported continued growth, improved earnings and a higher utilization compared with the first quarter of the preceding year. The transformation of the business, with the closure of less profitable areas and a focus on the digitization of processes and IT solutions, is now beginning to have an effect and is providing us the right conditions to continue strengthening our offering and our position.

Continued growth
Growth remains strong with a sales increase of 13 per cent, of which 8 per cent is organic excluding exchange rate fluctuations. We are seeing strong growth in Rejlers Finland where the market conditions have improved, and a continued strong development for Rejlers Embriq, which is well positioned in a growing market. In Rejlers Sweden, part of the industrial operations during the previous year was shut down, which negatively impacted growth, but improved earnings.

Improved profitability
Adjusted EBITA increased to SEK 33.0 million (3.1) during the quarter, which is attributable to the restructuring we did in parts of the operations in the previous year, but was also affected by a positive calendar effect. It is pleasing to see a generally higher efficiency in the operations and that the utilization continued to increase during the quarter. However, Rejlers Norway is suffering from continued profitability problems as a result of a low efficiency in several projects.

Management changes
In April, Thomas Pettersen was appointed the CEO of Rejlers Norway. Thomas is also keeping the role of CEO of Rejlers Embriq and through this change can create both business and administrative synergies between the operations. I am convinced that this together with further measures in the ICT/Telecom and railway area will improve the profitability of Rejlers Norway over time.

Rights issue
During the quarter the AGM decided on a rights issue for existing shareholders, which was strongly oversubscribed. The issue was completed after the end of the quarter and raised around SEK 200 million before issue costs. We are thereby strengthening the company’s position and operating flexibility and can now intensify the on-going transformation work.

Positive trend
Demand for our services remains good in all segments and we are continuously strengthening our position in the market. We are continuing the transformation into a more efficient organization and operation with the goal of increasing the operating margin to 8 per cent over time at the same time that we achieve our growth target.

Stockholm, May 2017

Peter Rejler 

For more information contact:
Peter Rejler, President and CEO tel. +46 (0)70-602 34 24, e-mail: peter.rejler@rejlers.se
Mikael Lingefelt, acting CFO tel. +46 (0)70-929 09 55, e-mail: mikael.lingefelt@rejlers.se

Rejlers is one of the Nordic region’s largest technical consultants. Our 2,000 experts work with projects in the areas of construction and property, energy, industry and infrastructure. At Rejlers, you will meet specialist engineers with the knowledge, cutting edge expertise and energy to achieve results. We are still experiencing rapid growth and can now be found in 80 locations in Sweden, Finland and Norway. Rejlers had sales of SEK 2.3 billion in 2016 and its class B share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

The information in this interim report is such that Rejlers AB (publ) is obliged to publish under the EU Market Abuse Directive and the Swedish Securities Market Act. The information was submitted through the care of the contact person above for publication on 9 May 2017 at 8:00 a.m. CET. This report is also available in Swedish. The English version is a translation of the Swedish original. If there are any differences, the Swedish version takes precedence.