Enento Group Plc | Stock Exchange Release | April 25, 2025 at 12:00:00 EEST
SUMMARY
January - March 2025 in brief
- Net sales amounted to EUR 37,7 million (EUR 37,3 million), an increase of 1,1% (at comparable exchange rates increase of 1,0%).
- Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 12,4 million (EUR 12,4 million), an increase of 0,2% (at comparable exchange rates increase of 0,2%).
- Adjusted EBITDA margin was 33,0% (33,3%), a decrease of 0,3 pp (at comparable exchange rates decrease of 0,3 pp).
- Adjusted EBIT was EUR 9,5 million (EUR 9,4 million), an increase of 1,0% (at comparable exchange rates increase of 1,1%).
- Operating profit (EBIT) was EUR 5,2 million (EUR 5,2 million).
In January - March 2025, the items affecting comparability amounted to EUR -2,3 million (-2,0 EUR million), including mainly IT infrastructure consolidation related costs.
In January - March 2025, the amortization from fair value adjustments amounted to EUR -2,0 million (EUR -2,1 million).
KEY FIGURES
| 1.1. - | 1.1. - | 1.1. - | |
| EUR million | 31.3.2025 | 31.3.2024 | 31.12.2024 |
| Net sales | 37,7 | 37,3 | 150,4 |
| Net sales change, % (comparable fx rates) | 1,0 | -6,3 | -3,6 |
| Net sales change, % (reported fx rates) | 1,1 | -6,8 | -3,5 |
| Operating profit (EBIT) | 5,2 | 5,2 | 24,6 |
| EBIT margin, % | 13,7 | 14,0 | 16,3 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | 12,4 | 12,4 | 52,0 |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin, % | 33,0 | 33,3 | 34,6 |
| Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) | 9,5 | 9,4 | 39,6 |
| Adjusted EBIT margin, % | 25,1 | 25,1 | 26,4 |
| New services of net sales, % | 11,0 | 14,0 | 15,6 |
| Free cash flow | 7,0 | 6,9 | 30,7 |
| Net debt to adjusted EBITDA, x | 2,7 | 2,4 | 2,7 |
| Earnings per share, EUR | 0,09 | 0,13 | 0,51 |
| Adjusted earnings per share, EUR1 | 0,24 | 0,27 | 1,09 |
1 Previously reported Comparable earnings per share has been restated and renamed to Adjusted earnings per share by excluding in addition to fair value adjustments related to acquisitions also items affecting comparability and reduction in value of associated company as well as their tax impact. The restated quarterly information is disclosed in Note 1 Alternative performance measures.
FUTURE OUTLOOK AND GUIDANCE (UNCHANGED FROM 14 FEBRUARY 2025)
There are signs of a gradually improving macroeconomic situation and stabilization in the demand for mortgage and unsecured loans, and the demand for business information services remains good. However, the Swedish consumer credit market is facing structural changes and new regulatory developments. These are expected to impact Enento's operating environment and financial performance in 2025. Enento remains focused on maintaining profitability and strengthening free cash flow through disciplined cost control, while simultaneously investing in future competitiveness and growth opportunities.
Enento Group expects that 2025 net sales will be around EUR 150-156 million and Adjusted EBITDA will be around EUR 50-55 million.
The guidance assumes that exchange rates remain at the current level.
JEANETTE JÄGER, CEO
Our net sales grew for the first time in over two years in the first quarter of 2025. Net sales for the first quarter were EUR 37,7 million (EUR 37,3 million), representing an increase of 1,0% at comparable exchange rates. We continued to see good growth in Business Insight in Finland, Norway and Denmark. Especially compliance services demonstrated very good growth rate. Consumer credit information demand remained relatively stable in Finland, while in Sweden, it experienced a decline, though at a significantly lower rate compared to previous quarters. We see good progress in the strategic growth areas in Sweden as we continue to penetrate the market in new services and new customer verticals. Moreover, we continue to drive efficiency and pricing actions to ensure our competitiveness and address lower volumes in the Swedish consumer credit information.
We achieved several important strategic milestones during the quarter. The IT infrastructure server transition is nearing completion in Finland while the transition in Sweden is on track for completion in H1 2025. We also continued to introduce new innovative services to the market. In Sweden, we have launched company ownership data and private person PEP & Sanctions services, and we see very good customer interest towards these services. In Finland, we launched a new advanced consumer credit service called Rating Odin and ESG company rating service. We also extended our Finnish ESG real estate climate risk services with a flooding risk service, which is already being applied by a large customer and demonstrates our ability to scale services across the Nordic countries.
Our Adjusted EBITDA was stable year-over-year and reached EUR 12,4 million (EUR 12,4 million), which resulted in an Adjusted EBITDA margin of 33,0% (33,3%). Profitability was supported by sales growth and cost savings, while lower production for own use due to the IT infrastructure consolidation continued to pressure the margin. This is driven by a lower amount of capitalized development investments as finalizing the IT infrastructure consolidation is still impacting our development speed and capacity usage. Our free cash flow, however, continued to be good at EUR 7,0 million, resulting in a cash conversion of 67,2%.
Business Insight delivered good growth on a wide spectrum and net sales grew by 2,9% at comparable exchange rates. Especially compliance had a strong quarter and we continue to develop and expand our unique services as we see very good customer interest. In Sweden, we are taking actions to transform our premium business, where we have around 28 thousand SME customers. We are still in the planning phase, and our aim is to shift towards a new sales model with a higher share of insourced customers, new sales channels and distributors, subscription-based model and a refined offering. In the shorter-term, it means that some of our Swedish premium sales is at risk, but we are taking retention and new sales actions to mitigate, and the mid-to-long-term impact will be positive with higher customer satisfaction, more recurring revenue and improved profitability.
Consumer Insight net sales declined by -1,8% at comparable exchange rates due to slight decline in consumer credit information in both Sweden and Finland. In Sweden, the trend in the loan broker segment remained consistent with Q4 as the Swedish loan brokers have limited their growth actions while consumer confidence has decreased. On the other hand, we continue to see good growth outside the loan broker segment with new customer verticals and housing related credit information. We have also seen good customer interest towards our fraud prevention solutions, and we continue commercial actions to establish UC as the leading fraud prevention solution provider in Sweden. However, due to the prevailing uncertainty with macroeconomic development, consumer credit markets and regulatory landscape, the overall outlook for Consumer Insight remains muted.
Regarding regulatory developments in Sweden, we have not yet observed significant impacts from the regulations that took effect primarily on 1st of March 2025. However, despite lower interest rates, we anticipate that consumers will become more cautious about taking unsecured loans, as the terms are less favorable for them. Additionally, the regulatory measures proposed in January 2025, which would restrict the provision of consumer credit and loan broker services to only companies with a banking license, are already affecting the growth activities and prospects for loan brokers in Sweden.
Looking ahead to 2025, the demand for business information services remains good, but especially our Swedish consumer credit information business faces uncertainty due to the new regulations and structural changes. Furthermore, the uncertain global trade and political environment limits the visibility on general economic activity. Despite the short-term uncertainty, there are many growth drivers, and we continue to execute our strategy to drive profitable growth. Besides the core services, we continue to focus on growing strategically important new services, namely fraud prevention, PSD2 (open banking), compliance and real estate ESG services. Growing market penetration in new verticals and mid-sized corporates continues to be important. We also remain focused on maintaining profitability and strengthening free cash flow through disciplined cost control, while simultaneously investing in future competitiveness and growth opportunities. I am confident in our strategy and our ability to execute it moving forward.
WEBCAST
Webcast for analysts, investors and media will be arranged on 25 April 2025, 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.events.inderes.com/q1-2025/register.
The presentation material and the webcast recording will be available on Enento's investor website.
Helsinki, 25 April 2025
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 Plc
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 380 people are working for Enento Group in Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. The Group's net sales for 2024 was 150,4 MEUR. Enento Group is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki with the trading code ENENTO.
