Hello, and welcome to ECIT Annual Report 2023. As well, we are celebrating the 10-year anniversary of ECIT. Agenda of today is key financials 2023, performance in our divisions, acquisitions in the year, a financial comment from our CFO, and a few review comments at the end. First, a little about ECIT, marking the 10-year anniversary. What drives ECIT is that we integrate IT, accounting, and software. We buy companies, and we build a group, and we are mainly managed by the entrepreneurs coming into the group through our acquisitions. We aim to become a truly tech-driven services provider. Our 10-year performance, marked by the 10-year anniversary, is listed on the right-hand side of the slide, starting in 2013 from scratch and delivering NOK 3.45 billion, 14.5% margin 2023. Mid- to long-term, we aim to reach financial targets, whereas revenue growth should increase 15% per year, including an organic growth as at more than 5.5%. We aim to deliver an EBITDA margin at 17% and to acquire 10% of the last 12 months' revenue every year. 2023 results: a revenue at NOK 3.4 billion and EBITDA at NOK 500 million, or 14.5% margin, EBIT at NOK 267 million, and earnings per share at NOK 0.25, and free cash flow at NOK 308 million compared to NOK 221 million last year. The 10 largest companies in ECIT, as a result of the year's merger and previous years' mergers, represents 60% of the activity in the whole group. Our market cap year-end is NOK 3.5 billion, and outstanding shares is approximately 454 million. Highlights for the year is that we have delivered an overall growth at 22%, of which the 3.8% is organic, somewhat lower than organic growth last year. The lower organic growth, mainly affecting the, or affecting the IT division only, is coming from macroeconomic as well as local political conditions in combination. On the other hand side, the IT division has delivered not so good a growth, been affected by these conditions, whereas the F&A Division has done much better compared to 2022 and 2021 when it comes to organic growth. We expect also that growth, the macroeconomic conditions and the local political conditions will affect our growth for the next three to six months, whereas we, in a full year perspective, expect to regain the speed from last year. Our EBITDA result is affected by an increase in group costs at around NOK 25 million, and for that reason, we have initiated a cost-savings program aimed to save NOK 40 million in 2024, based on the cost base of 2023. In order to increase the group share of our cash flow, we have initiated a change in our subsidiary ownership coming out of Q3, at an average ownership share of 69%. We have, by year-end, increased that to approximately 74%. As we stand here, as process is ongoing, we are at close to 75%, and we expect by year-end 2024 to have reached the target of 85%, more or less. As a note, acquisitions after June 2022 is not affected for now, but it... The overall change is in line with our strategy, saying that we are building a group, not a group of companies. Performance in our divisions. The F&A Division, our largest division, is coming out of 2023 with a revenue of close to NOK 2 billion, marking a growth of 26%+, an EBITDA of NOK 336 million, with a margin of 17.2%, a little increase compared to 2022. The division has delivered a good organic growth and has had a reasonable M&A activity across the year. Six companies acquired, added to the division, and the five largest companies represents 50% of the activity in the division. 2024, and looking ahead, the main project is nearshoring, utilizing our nearshoring facilities in Poland, Lithuania, and partly in Romania as well. Coming to the IT Division, in 2023, the division has delivered a revenue of close to NOK 1.5 billion—a growth of +14%, and EBITDA of NOK 189 million, with a margin of 12.9%. Also here, a small increase compared to 2022. This division is missing NOK 50 million in consultants for hire revenue and NOK 175 million in specialized IT equipment sale compared to 2022. This missing revenue is mainly coming from macroeconomic conditions, as mentioned, as well as because the investment intent with our customers has been lower in 2023 than in 2022, as well as consultants for hire have been affected by a change in Norwegian legislation. The remaining business has performed not only as expected, but a little better. If we adjust for the missing NOK 125 million on an overall level, well, our organic growth would have been around 8%. In this division, the five largest companies represents approximately two-thirds of the activity in the group. Our Tech Division coming out of 2023 with a revenue of NOK 165 million, of which software as a service revenue is NOK 150 million, and attached consultancy services represents NOK 50 million, and an overall growth of 34%. Also has delivered an EBITDA of NOK 12 million, representing a margin of 7.3%, also here, a small improvement compared to 2022. We have adjusted our measurement of the annual recurring revenue, measured December 2023 versus December 2022, both figures multiplied with 12, so you get the run rate by the end of the year. The run rate in this core software has increased with 32% throughout the year. Acquisitions in the year, we have made 14 acquisitions that had added NOK 372 million to our yearly revenue, actually meeting our target of 10% of the run rate revenue. We have, throughout the years, throughout the year, entered the Icelandic market with our F&A Division, as well as we have re-entered Sweden, going into the IT consulting area as a new thing for us. With that, over to you, Mads. Thank you very much, Peter. Comments to our full year results and Q4, and starting with our Q4 figures. We had almost 18% in total revenue growth compared to 26% last year. As previously communicated, the organic revenue growth performance has been heavily impacted by lower IT spending, coming from both macroeconomic and also local political headwind. Our M&A growth of more than 18% was significantly higher than last quarter, as a result of high M&A activity. Full year, we have achieved a total revenue growth of almost 22%, which is more or less on par with last year. The organic revenue growth ended at modest 3.8%, compared to 10% last year. Although a certain part of our IT business were impacted, actually 25% lower than last year, the remaining business of ECIT performed according to our expectations. Our full year EBITDA result ended at roughly NOK 500 million, representing an increase to last year of almost 19%. Despite our divisions improved our margins, we ended the year with a slight margin decrease due to higher group costs coming both from projects and investments. To secure our profitability going forward, we will now initiate a cost saving program, where a minimum of NOK 40 million in costs will be saved in 2024. The cost-cutting program will impact ECIT across its business lines. Earnings per share and our adjusted earnings per share for the year ended almost 21% better than last year, which is mainly explained by both increased ownership share in our subsidiaries, as Peter just illustrated, but also improved performance in general. Cash flow and financial position, which looks quite strong for the year. Coming out of 2023, we ended with an operational cash flow of NOK 423 million, compared to NOK 327 million last year. The increase is partly explained by improved EBITDA result, but also an improvement in our working capital. The solid cash flow generated from our operations is also reflected in our free cash flow, which has increased almost 40% compared to last year. The outcome of the increased ownership share will lead to higher share in the cash flow to the group, and we also believe that the leverage ratio remained low at 1.2x EBITDA. Key financial target measured on mid- to long-term basis. As mentioned previously, our organic growth of 3.8% is a result of the macroeconomic downturn impacting certain part of our IT business. However, given our resilient business model, we are confident that we, going forward, will be able to meet our organic revenue growth of 5.5% as a minimum. This also applies for our EBITDA margin target of 17%, and despite that, our result for the year was a bit lower than last year. We expect the margins gradually to improve over time as we continue to consolidate our business, alongside with optimization of our operation and cost controlling. Therefore, we maintain our commitment to achieve the financial targets we have made. With that, back to you, Peter. Thank you. A few review comments regarding 2023 results, touching a little on our 2024 expectations. Focus in 2024 will be on cost management, as we have decided to reduce our 2023 cost base with NOK 40 million in going through 2024. The macroeconomic conditions, we are feeling that a little headwind towards our business, including the local Norwegian legislation conditions, will affect our growth, organic growth, the next three to six months. I think throughout the year, and we will regain our speed and regain our growth. We are delivering an acceptable EBITDA margin and 14.5%. We are delivering a strong cash flow with 40% increase compared to last year, and as well, a reasonable earnings per share, 20%, following the overall growth in our activity. Nearshoring and increasing subsidiary ownership share in our subsidiaries, in order to increase the group share of cash flow, will be the main projects for 2022, in combination with a cost focus. We have had a reasonable M&A activity in 2023, acquiring 14 companies, reaching our target to always add 10% of our run rate revenue. Looking into 2024, the pipeline is strong, and we have the financial headroom to do the acquisitions that we would wish to do also for as long as we can see into the future. Overall, 2023 is acceptable, given that we are missing NOK 125 million in IT revenue, and we have spent NOK 25 million more on group cost compared to 2022. If we adjust for these, which we intend to do during 2023, through mainly our cost focus, we would have delivered exactly, not an acceptable result, but a satisfactory result. We aim to deliver a satisfactory result in 2024. With that, thank you for your attention.
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