Stronger Nordic growth to meet society's care needs
CEO comments:
During the third quarter, we are accelerating growth and creating value by meeting more people's needs for quality care, while continuing to deliver in line with our financial targets.
One important driver is Validia in Finland, which once again this quarter has delivered good earnings through high occupancy and quality. We are concurrently moving forward and establishing operations in yet another segment in Finland through an acquisition in care for children and youth, a segment where we have extensive experience from other Nordic countries.
Making more acquisitions and the start-up of new care unit enables us to keep building on a strong Nordic platform för continued growth and development. Care needs are increasing vigorously and we are ready to support our customers with more quality care places. In parallel, we are strengthening our pipeline through new contracts and future establishments.
Vardaga continues to expand elderly care in Sweden to a greater extent than any other provider. We signed four new contracts for nursing homes in the Stockholm area during the quarter, corresponding to 320 new elderly care places.
Growth also continues in Nytida, where we signed new contracts in the period for group homes in the Stockholm area and expanded one daily activity unit in Lund.
Altiden continued its positive performance, with strong occupancy and improved earnings mean we are now ready to take the next step and accelerate growth in Denmark.
Stendi had a slightly lower and more fluctuation in occupancy year-on-year, it continued to deliver high quality care and good profitability. We adjust capacity locally to match demand.
The integration of Validia is progressing well and the business area is already clearly contributing to the Group's growth and earnings.
The Board of Directors has decided to repurchase up to 2,000,000 own shares as part of the company's active capital allocation until the Annual General Meeting in 2026.
Third quarter July - September
- Net sales rose 16 per cent to SEK 4,114 million (3,555). Organic growth was 4 per cent, acquired growth was 13 per cent, and currency effect was -1 per cent.
- Adjusted EBITA, which excludes items affecting comparability, amounted to SEK 570 million (478), representing a margin of 13.9 per cent (13.4).
- Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK -5 million and refer to integration costs related to the acquisition of Validia in Finland.
- EBITA amounted to SEK 565 million (478), representing a margin of 13.7 per cent (13.4).
- Operating profit (EBIT) totalled SEK 539 million (455), representing a margin of 13.1 per cent (12.8).
- Profit for the period totalled SEK 322 million (266).
- Earnings per share were SEK 3.83 (3.14) before dilution and SEK 3.82 (3.13) after dilution.
- Cash conversion was 73.7 per cent (66.0).
- Free cash flow totalled SEK 482 million (385).
Webcast/telephone conference
In connection to the announcement, Ambea will host a telephone conference at 10:00 (CET) today. The presentation will be held in English and available as webcast on www.ambea.com or direct link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/eg7ey76i
Telephone conference
To participate the conference call, register before the call using the link below (registration opens up one week before the event). Upon registration you will receive a dial-in number and a unique personal PIN code. To ensure that the connection to the conference call is working, please call ten minutes before the conference call is due to start.
Telephone conference registration:
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BI7190d745b61c408b8263befa746d0176
The quarterly earnings report and associated presentation will be available on https://ambea.com/investor-relations/reports/reports-and-presentations/
For more information, contact:
Susanne Vogt, Head of IR, Reporting & Group Business Control
E-mail: ir@ambea.se
Ambea media contact
Telephone: +46 (0)10 33 00 501
E-mail: press@ambea.se
Ambea is Scandinavia's leading competence-based care company. Ambea has over 38,000 employees who are creating a good life for more than 16,000 care receivers in our 1,000 units across the Nordics. We aim to be the quality leader in all that we do and our vision is to make the world a better place, one person at a time. Ambeas head office is located in Solna, Sweden. Ambea is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.