Good day everyone and welcome to Sitowise's Q3 results audiocast. My name is Mari Reponen and I am responsible for strategy and IR here in Sitowise. And today with me are our acting CEO Jannis Mikkola and our CFO Sanna Sormaala. And this time around we also have with us our Senior Vice President of Digital Solutions Business, Sami Lankinieemi. Welcome all. Thank you. We will begin with our Q3 performance followed by the market outlook. And after that, we will take the first questions for the Q3 performance. And after that, Sami will give a brief introduction on our recently announced partnership with Lovable, and then we have another set of Q&A. And you can submit your questions through the chat below or by calling in. The instructions are available for it. And now I hand it over to Jannis, so please go ahead. Thank you, Mari, and good day from my side also. Let me begin with the main positive development in this 3rd quarter. Group net sales grew by 5.3%. With growth both in infra and buildings. Infra's net sales increased by 8.2%, with growth across the whole business area. Building grew by 7.6%, supported mostly by improving utilization rate. Our adjusted EBITDA margin reaches 9.8%, which we are quite proud. Infra's strong performance supported our profitability. In digital solutions, the seasonally higher share of SaaS also supported our group margin. Outside the topic, On slide, I could also mention the complementation of our technical consulting business in Sweden in August. That was also in important milestone for us, and that also shows very concretely in our quarterly financial figures. And now we are going to see the headwinds we faced during the quarter. The market environment remained polarised during the 3rd quarter. Weak residential construction continued to slow activity in buildings and in some parts of infra. At the same time, the economical pressure in public sector hold investments, and that is seen across our business areas. The market environment was especially tough in digital solutions, and order intake in DITSI was at a low level. This turned the group order intake as a whole to a decline, despite infra and buildings order intakes growing. Let us now look at the group key figures for the continuing business. The net sales in the 3rd quarter was totally €37.6 million compared with €35.7 million in Q3 2019. This means growth of 5.73%, as already mentioned. The adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 9.8% from 8.9% in the comparison period. 3rd quarter always have some seasonality. from the SaaS business, but as said, we are very pleased to see this improvement. Our utilization rate was 74.3%, unchanging from the same quarter last year. The order book stood at €140 million at the end of September compared with €139 million a year earlier. Parked projects, totally €5 million compared with €12.2 million in comparison period. Operating profit increased to €2.5 million from €2.2 million in Q3 '25. Overall, quarter showed growth in net sales and improved profitability. Let, let us look at the next figures for the first 9 months. During the first 9 months of the year, net sales for the continuing business totaled €122 million compared with €119.3 million in the comparison period. Net sales growth was 2.1%. The adjusted EBITDA margin was 7.7% compared with 8.1%. So while the margin improved in Q3, profitability for the first 9 months remained below the comparison period. The difference comes from the Q1 performance. If you remember, we recorded in Q1 sizable write-downs that were related to old building services engineering and structural engineering projects. Utilization rate improved to 73.9% from 73.6%. Operating profit totaled €4.5 million compared with €5.2 million. The order book we already discussed. And Sanna will discuss it more detail in late. With the group figures covered, let's now move to the business areas, starting with Infra. So let's see some examples in the railway project supporting. have in the business. During Q3, we won several major projects for the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. These included detailed engineering design for the renovation of Siuntio railway station, as well as environmental assessment and railway design work for additional tracks between Tampere and Nokia. These assignments reflect our strong position in urban rail and major national rail connections. Together with our ongoing alliance projects, they helped increase Infra's order book during this quarter. Let's now look more closely at Infra's Q3 performance and outlook. Infra had a strong 3rd quarter. Net sales increased 8.2% to €17.4 million, with growth across the whole business area. All this growth comes from our existing operations, profitability remained clearly above our medium-term target. TramproTechs. that we won in earlier years supported growth alongside transport infrastructure and green transition projects won this year. We also looked for new opportunities in private sector, data centers, energy and industry, and in, of course, environmental services. The market remained mixed. Demand from municipalities was moderate and the state investments level were stable. Whilst tight— a tight public sector budget increased the price competition. Residential construction continued to limit work on the new residential areas. Utilization rate, that is the share of the staff spent time on billable work, remained moderate. We recruit people to strengthen our expertise, including in early-stage industrial design. and electrical engineering. Our order book grew and it was in a good level at the end of September, supporting the growth in the near term. Looking ahead, we are expecting the market to remain mixed over the next 12 months. Several major Alliance projects come to an end and the construction recovers. Slowly, and demand for traditional infrastructure design may even weaken. At the same time, we see growth opportunities in data centers and related energy infrastructure, as well as the green transitions and security services. We are focusing our expertise on those growing areas. Now moving to buildings. Data center projects remains an important source of work during Q3. The image here relates a totally different kind of projects. called Tampere Passenger Rail. It's one of our key projects that help keep our teams busy during the quarter. It shows how major projects Outside, the very weak residential market also supports work in buildings. Let's now look at the quarterly performance and outlook in more detail. Buildings net sales increased by 7.6% to €12.1 million in Q3. Data center projects from earlier kept our team busy and building Buildings' share from the group net sales was 32%. Demand varied a lot between customer groups. The data center market was strong and the residential construction stayed very weak. Of course, the renovation offered moderate growth opportunities for our building. business area. A more balanced mix of projects and more time spent in billable work helped improve profitability, especially in structural engineering and building system design. We continued to look at project risk earlier, paying attention to pricing and project interruptions. Our active order book was higher than a year earlier. In addition to the data center new assignments, including Siemens Halls in Kemi and Varkaus and Metsä Spring Motor 1 production line. And of course, many, many other projects. Looking ahead, Confederation of the Finnish Construction Industry expects a gradual but even recovery in construction in 2026 and 2027. Housing remains historically weak. Data center investments, renovation, needs support long-term demand. Our priorities remain improving business profitability and using technology and AI to improve project work and efficiency. Focusing on growing areas of the market, renovation, and specialist services. We are continuing to adjust our operation to match the demand of what we expect on the medium term. For example, last week we started change negotiation in buildings. which may lead to a reduction of even 40 employees. This is very unfortunate, but we strongly believe it's a necessary step towards restoring profitability. At the same time, temporary layoffs will continue where needed alongside recruitment in selected growth areas. And next, lead to our solutions. The image here comes from the city of Kuopio, where our Forest Assistant helps the city manage its own forests, plan work, and track daily operations. The photo shows restoration work to block the drainage ditches, and this is an example how our digital products support customers' everyday work. And now let's see the Digi's Q3 performance. As already mentioned, digital solutions operated in a very, very challenging market in Q3. Net sales declined by 3.4%. to €8 million because of the lower project volumes and slower growth in recurring revenue. Long save. Cycles and postponed investment decisions by municipalities continued to slow growth in our software subscription business. Foresta's major market position also limited growth in ARR business. Overall ARR increased 2.3%, and SaaS accounted about one-third of the whole net sales in Digi. The good news is that Digi profitability was strong. That thanks to the seasonality and higher share of SaaS sales. The personnel reduction completed in Q2 and improvements how we work also helped the profitability. These changes improved the utilization and consulting rates and reduced costs. We made good progress in using AI in product development during the quarter, including wider use of AI tools. and can carry out development tasks. However, order intake was modest, bringing Digi order book down to a level closer to normal. We expect the demand to remain weak on the rest of '26 and into '27. Some of Digi's long-term IT consulting agreements expire this year— next year. And this may add pressure on the business if demand doesn't recover. AI is changing customer needs and software development services across all our businesses. The change is faster in Digi business, which brings additional challenge we need to be aware of. But I'm pretty confident in our capabilities in these areas. In the market, our focus is protecting profitability and our market position. We are looking for the opportunities in energy and industry. We are also aiming growth our project business by selling it. More projects to our existing customers and expanding internationally. Over time, projects that can be scaled together with our expertise in IT geospatial data to build environment and forestry support the development of our new digital solutions. And now, Sanna. It's now your time to tell about our group figures. Thank you, Jannis, and welcome on my behalf also. Before we dive into the 3rd quarter financials, let's then briefly revisit the divestment of our Swedish technical consulting business first. which was completed at the end of July. The assets and liabilities of Sweden business area are presented as discontinued operations from the Q3 reporting onwards. The earnout potential of €2 million related to the long-term lease liabilities will be recognized in profit and loss in 2027 to 2029. The year-to-date loss of €-5.7 million is including a reclassification of cumulative foreign exchange losses of €2.8 million. from other comprehensive income reclassified as part of net result of the sale. Related to the sale, Sitowise recognized the write-down of the remaining book value of Sitowise's variable pay shares of €19.4 million in the group parent company in the 3rd quarter. The divestment enables a sharper focus on the key performance of sustainable growth and on improved profitability for the group. Then, the group's 3rd quarter order intake. €32.3 million was burdened by the weak market demand in DG compared to the reference period. Both infra and buildings have stronger order intake than in the corresponding period, and we are very pleased to see the improved performance. Data center contributed positively to buildings order intake, and ongoing phases of previously won rail and road projects continue to provide positive support in infra. The group's order book amounted to €140 million at the end of September and remained at a healthy level, slightly above prior year. Adjusted for the write-down of parked projects, the active order book, which we started following also in the slides in the previous quarter, continued to strengthen year on year. At quarter end, the suspended projects in the order book amounted to €5 million, and as earlier, they relate mainly to the buildings business. Then looking at the development during the 3rd quarter, group's continuing business net sales increased year on year, and adjusted organic growth was plus 8%. 5.3%, overall mixed, despite overall mixed market environment and persistent price pressure. Net sales was supported by strong organic growth in infra and buildings, while the top-line development fell below prior year. Profitability in the quarter was on solid level at 9.8%, driven by solid performance in infra, a balanced portfolio mix, and an improved sales execution. In buildings, the profitability improvement remained as our key focus, with a higher utilization rate contributing to performance above the comparison period. Low project volumes weighed Digi performance, but thanks to seasonality related to the profitable SaaS business, also Digi had a strong profitability in this quarter. The quarter didn't have any calendar effect as the number of working days was unchanged year on year. Then the operational performance. Our headcount declined slightly year on year, while our FTE development, reflecting our operational capacity, trended up during the 3rd quarter. Thanks to higher FTEs in infra driven by solid organic growth. Otherwise, our FTE development was impacted by the personal measures taken earlier in the year. in buildings during 2025, and the change negotiation executed in Digi in the 2nd quarter of the year. As Jannis mentioned earlier, buildings continues optimizing resources to meet the polarized medium-term demand, while at the same time recruitments on selected growth areas continue. The utilization graph here on the right side is providing further insight into the development of our operational efficiency and capacity productivity. The group-level utilization rate in total was brought in line with the comparison period, supported by improving utilization in buildings. Digi's utilization remained at a healthy level. With the actions taken on Q2 starting to show results, utilization in infra remained on moderate level. Improving this utilization rate of course remains as our key priority and an important driver of our profitability and scalability. Then, as a reminder, following IFRS 5, our comparison period balance sheet figures have not been restated with the Sweden business area. And looking at the cash flow development, our operational cash flow before financial items and taxes landed at minus €0.3 million. Mainly impacted by net working capital changes and the sale of Sweden business area. Liquidity remained stable during the quarter, providing sufficient headroom to navigate the continued challenging market environment. Solid cash flow generation supported the positive net debt development. Partly offset by an increase in our IFRS 16 lease liabilities. Our leverage, net debt to adjusted EBITDA leverage improved to 4.1. The €89 million secured financing agreement is still running until June 2028. The covenant compliance remains under close review with a continued focus on maintaining adequate headroom and a solid financial position. Then looking at the total picture, our net sales improved to €37.6 million in the 3rd quarter with organic growth 5.3%, which we have year on year, which we have mentioned already a couple of times. And the adjusted EBITDA margin for the continuing business landed on a solid level at 9.8%. percent. Here I want to draw your attention to our operating profit for Q3, which was ahead of the comparison period. However, when looking at the 9 first 9 months, we were behind the reference year, and this is due to higher items affecting comparability. We also expect these items to increase towards the end of the year. During Q3, we entered into discussion to resolve a legacy matter, and these discussions have continued after the review period. We are seeking to conclude these discussions during Q4 and avoid a more prolonged legal process. Any financial impact from potential resolution would be treated as an item affecting comparability. And in addition, the change negotiations in buildings mentioned by Jannis may result in further cost. Taking these factors into account, we currently expect items affecting comparability in 2026 to be more than double the 2025 level. stated in our report. Then, um, Taking, um, Look at our overall performance and outlook. Our current performance level, as stated already during the presentation, remains varied. The slide here is providing the overview of each business area, including its share of quarterly net sales, the 12-month market outlook, and the current profitability. And as a summary, we expect infra market to remain stable. Infra continues to benefit from healthy demand related to green transition, security, and digitalization, while demand for the municipal infrastructure projects will remain modest. In the buildings business area, growth in the data center market is creating new demand, while broader construction market is expected to remain on low levels in '26-'27. The market environment for digital solutions is anticipated to remain constrained both in Finland and in Sweden. The infra continued to deliver adjusted EBITDA above our target level of 12% for Q3, whereas the buildings and ditches profitability was below target levels during the quarter. And with this financial overview, I will then let Jannis to continue. So now, now we are seeing the future outlook. In the long term, megatrends continue to support demand for our services, but the market outlook for '26 and '27 remains mixed. For infra and buildings, we see opportunities in critical AI infrastructure, including data centers and the energy infrastructure and power grids. They need the green transition, and security investments also support demand. At the same time, several major public sector alliance projects are coming to an end, with only a limited number of new large municipalities projects. Together with the slow recovery in new construction, this is limiting demand. A moderate recovery in renovation construction is expected, to generate slight growth. In digital solutions, the market remains challenging. Public sector budget pressures limit demand, while recovery among private sector customers depends on the wider economy. Advantages, advantages in AI and agentic software development are also changing the market for software development services. and what customers need. Across all our business areas, AI and automation are reshaping services and customer needs. This requires new skills, stronger data management, and changes to our operating models. Beyond market development, our full-year '26 financial performance will also reflect cost inflations, including wage inflation, financing costs, and items affecting comparability. start with questions related to data centers. So first, have you seen changes in the data center market momentum? We expect items affecting comparability to more than double from the 2025 level, as Sanna already explained. And with this note, let us move to the first part of the questions. Thank you, Jannis. And, um, Let's, um, During the autumn, there has been a lot of public discussion, as we know. Maybe it's not affecting to our daily work. Of course, the new projects are started. Most of our existing projects are going on, and maybe these talks that have been in the news and in the papers have not affected us. So the market is still strong and growing. Okay, and then continuing on data centers, they drove the good growth in buildings segment, but buildings margin remained based on the communications between the 0 to 5 range. What is preventing stronger profitability in buildings and How much improvement can you deliver in '27 without the housing market recovery? Of course, we have to remember that not all our projects are data center projects. We have a lot of other projects going on, even small amount of the housing projects. So the strong demand of data center is helping us, but we are not doing totally those kind of projects. And what is What was the second question? How much improvement can you deliver? But I guess that's beyond commenting. Yeah, yeah, we are not disclosing that. Of course, we are seeing the better days coming, but But But we are not saying exactly amounts for the next years. Then there is a question about the expiring IT contracts mentioned. Will they expire in December? And how large share of DG business are those? Well, if we say that over here that we are following the situation closely and are negotiating with our current customer about the possible continuations on these projects, of course, as well as seeking new growth. And then a question about the items affecting Q4 profitability. Will those have a cash flow impact? Yes, they will. And while I'm speaking, at the same time, I would also like to correct what was visible already in the slide, that of course the reaches profitability in Q3 was above the target levels, not below the target levels. But slide showing the correct answer instead of me, but going further. Thank you, Sanna. And those were the questions at this stage. So let's move forward to the second part of the, of the, this this audiocast that is related to our strategy and the recent lovable partnership. So back to you, Jannis. on this. topic and then later on to Sami. Thank you, Mari. So next, next we want to say a bit more from our recently announced lovable partnership and its relevance to our strategic point of view. But before doing that, I want to highlight this Crownbridge project, also known as Kruunusilta project. We have not planned this bridge in the picture, but we have designed the tram that uses the bridge and runs all the way from Laajasalo to Hakaniemi. We have done this together with our alliance partners, and we have participated in almost all areas of expertise. that have been done in the projects. Example, from tramway design itself to street design, traffic arrangement during the work, to bridge designs and geotechnics, and also the environmental design, and of course many, many other areas of our expertise. Why I want to tell you this is that the official opening party for the public will take place next Saturday. So if you are in the town, please join and use this new tram line in Helsinki. But now to our strategy. We have shown this strategy one-pager to you many times this year. As a reminder, our mission is to engineer the foundation of Nordic resilience. And our vision is to be number one preferred technical consulting and digital partner for our clients. partners, and of course for our employers. We aim to reach this vision by focusing our selected 4 focus areas. That describe our strategic choices and where we will invest in going forward. They are empower people, grow with customers, scale digital, and work smart. The lovable partnership announced last week is linked especially to our vision to be a number one preferred partner and to our focus areas, grow with customers, and scale digital. And before I hand over to Sami, who will describe the partnership in more detail, I want to say I'm very pleased about it. I believe this is a necessary move. A great opportunity for us as a company and for our clients and of course for our employees too. I also consider that a great— this is a great reward to our digital solution team, high expertise, and also testimonial of Sitowise's strong position in the municipality sector that we have been selected as a solution partner. And this, to my knowledge, is one of the most growing AI service companies in the whole world. But now, Sami, can you tell us more? So greetings on my behalf as well for everyone. My name is Sami Langenjärviänen. I work as a Senior Vice President of Digital Solutions here in Sitowise. So Lovable might not be familiar to all of Sitowise's followers, and to kickstart this part of the presentation, I just want to mention that Lovable is a software creation platform. That allows anyone to build websites, applications, and software simply by using natural language without the need for traditional coding expertise. So users describe what they want in natural language, and AI then builds the solution for them. Lovable, as the Swedish-founded company, has become one of Europe's most successful and fastest-growing AI startups, as Jannis just briefly announced. According to Lovable, 60 million projects have already been built on its platform, generating a total of 900 million monthly visits. We at Sitowise have now joined the Lovable Partner Program, becoming a solutions partner, helping us to combine Sitowise's geospatial and public sector expertise with Lovable's platform, and together we aim to accelerate the adoption of AI in Finnish municipalities and the public sector. So this is where our partnership starts. This new collaboration introduces a new way for the public sector to develop digital solutions. While we are talking about technology, this is not about a single tool or single technology. It is about transforming how quickly and flexibly we can turn ideas into practical services. So why did we start to work with municipalities and other public sector? Organizations here are under growing pressure to improve productivity and cost control. At the same time, they need to utilize data more efficiently, effectively, continues to increase, while large-scale software projects are often slow to implement and require significant investments. This collaboration between us and Lovable helps bridge this gap by enabling ideas to be turned into tangible solutions faster and developed further into practical services. So together we bring software creation closer to the practical needs of municipalities, making it possible for non-developers to build and adapt digital tools themselves. So AI will not replace expert knowledge or decision-making. It will not fully replace software development skills. Those are needed in future as well. But it will accelerate the development of new operating models and support people in their work. to a much wider audience. And since the launch of the partnership, we have started to pilot Lovable's software creation platform with multiple customers, including our own services and in our own projects. Now over to Jannis. Okay, now we are ready for the next Q&A. Yes, thank you, Sami. That seems to be pretty thorough as there are no questions on this topic, so maybe it's time for us to thank our audience for today's participation, and we would like to remind you that our Q4 results or full-year results are due on 11th of February next year. Hope to see you at the latest then. Thank you once more and have a good day. day. Thank you. Thank you. Good day everyone and welcome to Sitowise's Q3 results audiocast. My name is Mari Reponen and I am responsible for strategy and IR here in Sitowise. And today with me are our acting CEO Jannis Mikkola and our CFO Sanna Sormaala. And this time around we also have with us our Senior Vice President of Digital Solutions Business, Sami Lankinemi. Welcome all. Thank you. We will begin with our Q3 performance followed by the market outlook. And after that, we will take the first questions for the Q3 performance. And after that, Sami will give a brief introduction on our recently announced partnership with Lovable, and then we have another set of Q&A. And you can submit your questions through the chat below or by calling in. The instructions are available for it. And now I hand it over to Jannis, so please go ahead. Thank you, Mari, and good day from my side also. Let me begin with the main positive development in this 3rd quarter. Group net sales grew by 5.3%. With growth both in infra and buildings. Infra's net sales increased by 8.2%, with growth across the whole business area. Building grew by 7.6%, supported mostly by improving utilization rate. Our adjusted EBITDA margin reaches 9.8%, which we are quite proud. Infra's strong performance supported our profitability. In digital solutions, the seasonally higher share of SaaS also supported our group margin. Outside the topic, On slide, I could also mention the complementation of our technical consulting business in Sweden in August. That was also in important milestone for us, and that also shows very concretely in our quarterly financial figures. And now we are going to see the headwinds we faced during the quarter. The market environment remained polarized during the 3rd quarter. Weak residential construction continued to slow activity in buildings and in some parts of infra. At the same time, the economical pressure in public sector hold investments, and that is seen across our business areas. The market environment was especially tough in digital solutions and order intake in Ditsi was at the low level. This turned the group order intake as a whole to a decline despite infra and build.
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