Good morning, and welcome to this quarterly presentation. My name is Trond Straume, and I'm the CEO of Volue. Together with me today, I have Arnstein Kjesbu, who is our CFO. There will be opportunity to submit questions throughout the presentation, and we will hold a Q&A section at the end. Let's move to slide four and start with the highlights of the quarter. Looking at the financial performance in the fourth quarter, we delivered revenues of NOK 240 million, representing 17% growth compared to fourth quarter in 2019. Please note that the 2019 figures are based on IFRS with continuity and not pro forma figures as presented in the Q3 report. The EBITDA margins were at 23%, which is also an improvement compared to the same period in 2019. We continue to grow our recurring revenues to NOK 170 million in fourth quarter, which is 17% higher than the same period in 2019. Our cash balance is strong at NOK 411 million and is improved from operational activities. From an operational perspective, we saw sales closing above targets for the period, and we believe the market outlook for Q1 in 2021 is good. In fourth quarter, we acquired the leading algorithmic power trading software provider, Likron GmbH. Likron is based in Munich, Germany, and will form the basis for Volue's center of excellence for trading solutions. Looking at the subsequent events, we rebranded the group subsidiaries to Volue at the beginning of January, dropping the Powel, Scanmatic, Wattsight, and Markedskraft brand. This is important to enable a joined-up and laser-sharp focus on sales and marketing across all product lines and across all the territories we operate in. On the 19th October last year, we listed the company on Euronext Growth whilst being open about our ambition to move to the main list on Oslo Stock Exchange. This process is progressing well, and we are planning for listing during first half of this year. Moving to slide five. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we launched our first Volue cloud offering, Volue Intraday Cloud. We had 420 participants from over 200 companies attending the digital launch event. Volue Intraday Cloud consists of three existing solutions from the group companies, but packaged in a new way for friction-free adoption in the cloud. Volue Intraday Cloud helps our customers solve some of their greatest challenges, intraday and high-frequency trading. Let's play a video to tell you more about the solution. On slide six, we see Volue in brief. Volue, with its heritage, has been pioneering green tech for decades, with focus on industries critical to society. Our research work started in the power industry more than 50 years ago, and we're now one of the largest software companies in Norway. Slide seven, please. Our deep domain knowledge is an intrinsic part of our DNA, which makes us perfectly positioned to help our customers master disruption through digital transformation. Creating Volue last year has given us an unrivaled coverage along the clean energy value chain, from monitoring using sensors to realizing cash in trading. Building from success in the Norwegian home market, we have now earned the trust of more than 2,000 customers across 44 countries. Moving to slide eight, we'll look at our segments. Volue is active in three segments, all with relevance to the transition to renewable energy. For the energy segment, we decided to expand from a dominating Nordic position in 2013 and into continental Europe. We soon found out that we'd solved the most complex optimization problem, being hydro. Since then, we've worked to expand our platform into thermal, solar, wind, batteries, et cetera. This is important to our customers as they continue to operate their existing assets while expanding their capacity in new asset types. For our power grid business, we enjoy a strong market position in the Nordics. With decades of experience supporting our customers, building probably the strongest grid in Europe, and now tested through the EV revolution. We believe we can expand on our footprint on the back end of our market position in the energy segment. With our infrastructure business, we have so far focused on SaaS transformation in our home market, with 900 customers in the infrastructure construction business and covering 84% of the Norwegian population with our water and wastewater business. Combined with ongoing expansion to Sweden and Denmark, we believe in further increased profitable growth in Scandinavia. Let's move to slide nine. Now it's time to have a look at some of the key developments in the Volue group in the fourth quarter. Let's dive into it on slide 10. First, some words on the listing. Listing Volue on Euronext Growth on the 19th October was an important milestone to accelerate organic and structural growth. Looking at Volue's revenue base, combined with our industry experience and market position, we believe we have the right metrics for a full listing on Oslo Stock Exchange, and we are progressing well with our plans for listing in the first half of 2021. Moving to slide 11. We continue to grow our footprint in the energy market. Last quarter, we won two significant and strategic contracts for reinventing the intraday trading process. One customer in the Nordics and one in Continental Europe. Volue's number one focus is growth in the European markets. Over the years, we've got some accounts in South America, and it is encouraging to see that we continue to win analytics contracts in the U.S. with our insight business. Europe remains our priority. It is very useful for us to start learning more about the Americas, which is likely to become a focus for us in the future. The infrastructure segment continues to perform well. We've managed to shift our sales and marketing activities to digital. At a recent digital conference for the construction industry, we welcomed more than 550 participants from Scandinavia. The first solution we launched as Volue was, as mentioned, our Intraday Cloud offering. Also this at a fully digital event with 420 participants from more than 200 companies attending. We also completed the acquisition of Likron GmbH, the leading algorithmic power trading software company in Germany. Let's move to slide 12 to see more details about Likron. Likron is a strategic and significant acquisition for Volue, cementing our position in an increasingly important intraday power trading market. With background from high-frequency financial trading, Dr. Henryk Pinnow founded Likron in 2010 to become pioneers in algorithmic power trading. Likron holds an impressive and dominating market share, peaking at 2/3 of the ISV traded volume on the European Power Exchange, EPEX. Beyond being a highly competent team and having world-class technology, they bring an impressive customer list, expanding our footprint in the European market. Slide 13, please. Likron is a spearhead for further internationalization of Volue in the energy market. The acquisition significantly increased Volue's market penetration in the DACH region and strengthens our presence in Germany, which is considered to be the leader in the energy transition. Likron has, over time, demonstrated strong revenue growth, winning market share in a disrupted energy industry. They bring deep trading expertise, state-of-the-art technologies, and unmatched quantitative analysis for short-term power trading. Combined with Volue's position in algo trading in the Nordic region, Volue has now become market leader in Europe. Slide 14. Following the creation of Volue in 2020, we decided to fully integrate the group companies. During the fourth quarter, we completed the integration project, preparing for the launch of one joined up and consistent brand. In January, we decided to consolidate the group brands into Volue, leaving Powel, Wattsight, Markedskraft, and Scanmatic behind. This will further accelerate sales and marketing activities and realize synergies across our portfolio through cross-selling to existing customers. Moving to slide 15. For the section of results for the fourth quarter, I will hand over to Arnstein, our CFO. Thank you, Trond. I will now go through our financial performance for the fourth quarter, and then we move on to slide 16. First of all, I would say that the fourth quarter has been a very strong quarter for Volue. We have seen a growth in revenues on 17% compared to Q4 2019. This is above our targets, and the growth is driven by European expansions. A strong contribution from the energy area with an 18% revenue growth in Q4. The main drivers for growth is sales on large international customers, combined with scalable SaaS solution from our insight portfolio. This quarter, we have seen a very strong growth for the infrastructure area. Our Gemini portfolio is delivering an impressive development in our Nordic home market, and we especially see construction market giving us an uplift in our sales through our Gemini Terrain solutions. For our grid area, we have been focusing on increasing our margins in our home markets, and that has given us an uplift in our adjusted EBITDA margins for the segments. When it comes to financial impact from COVID-19, this has been very little, and we are delivering an impressive results in a challenging time. We have been able to run our business as normal, keeping our projects with full effort. Impressive work from all working in Volue to adapt and change to new working routines in 2020, and at the same time delivering upon our goals. This, combined with the shift towards a digital sales process, has led to a closing of sales above our targets. Looking into the features for full year 2020, we see an impressive growth from 2019. Our adjusted EBITDA margin in Q4 was 23%, an uplift from Q4 2019. Our margin has improved in 2020 towards 2019 for the entire year through an uplift through all our three segments. Growth and scalability is core for Volue. We will keep on investing to strengthen our product offerings and our SaaS platform. We expect the R&D CapEx level to be at 10%-20% out of total sales going forward. In the fourth quarter, we have seen a growth in recurring revenues and software as a service that we will show more details in the next coming slides. We move on to slide 17. Growing our recurring revenue base is core for Volue as a software company. Our growth journey is based on uplift in our annual recurring revenues, ARR. Our share of ARR is 64% out of total revenues. Entering into 2021, we have. I think I will continue with the next section of the presentation at slide number 19, and moving to slide 20. The purpose of Volue is to help our customers succeed with the transition to renewable energy. There is a clear mega trend initiated by the Paris Agreement in 2015 and later accelerated by Angela Merkel's brave decision to phase out nuclear and later coal. Traditionally, energy production has been centralized in larger power producing assets, with the grid network being carefully planned around it. Renewable energy are being installed where climate and political conditions are being met and not followed by expensive grid expansion. The consumer side has traditionally been stable and predictable but with, for instance, EV charging becoming more popular, the load on the grid is creating problems. This leads to instability on the grid, threatening the stability of the frequency, which has to be exactly 50 Hz. Power used to travel in one direction from the producer to the consumer. The rise of batteries and solar panels transforms consumers to prosumers. This leads to volatility in the power trading market, often with negative pricing, where power producers risk losing money on what used to be a predictable demand and a profitable production. Our customers are now talking about the need for wall-to-wall digitalization across processes and disciplines to manage this transformation. For a company like Volue, who's been serving a conservative energy industry for decades, this represents a shift change. Helping power producers, distributors, and industrial consumers manage this transition is what we do. We know how to do it. Let's move to slide 21. Looking at the market trends, Bloomberg suggests growth in investments year-over-year for the energy industry. This translates to a doubling in power software spend, which is good for us. Let's have a look at the problems software must help to solve on slide 22. The increase of renewable, non-controllable production brings volatility into the energy system. By 2030, half of the energy production is non-regulated. On the right, you see the current process from planning to production and realized cash. Today, only the settlement part of a trade can take up to 20 minutes. The existing process was built for 24-hour planning cycles and is down to 60 minutes without much process optimization. A new 15-minute market is now being introduced, eventually this must be brought to real time. As a parallel, we can think of the rise of the robots in financial trading. It is now happening in power, only that it is not financial instruments, but power that is being delivered and consumed instantly. Let's look at an example on slide 23. This is a typical nightmare scenario. This is from Finland, week two this year. Due to differences in supply and demand, customers were facing imbalance cost of EUR 919 per megawatt hour, a disaster for the holder of the imbalance. The player with enough agility and advanced software solutions, however, is capable of analyzing, producing, and monetizing in these market conditions. This is what we help our customers to achieve. Let's look at what we offer to address this on slide 24. We created Volue as a response to our customers' ask for wall-to-wall digitalization of their business processes. We define the clean energy value chain through three steps: analyze, plan and operate, and monetize. On the level below, you find all the activities our customers must execute in order to monetize power production. Below again, you see an unrivaled landscape of capabilities Volue offers to its customers in pursuit of wall-to-wall digitalization. Slide 25, please. Our services are very sticky, as we are ingrained in the customer's business processes and value creation. Providing an integrated value chain in the cloud is the answer to our customer's ask for wall-to-wall digitalization of the value chain. For us, this also opens up opportunities to cross-sell our capabilities, fueling growth. Slide 26, please. To date, we are supporting 40% of the participants on the European Power Exchanges with one or more services. Our focus today have been with the larger players such as Uniper, Fortum, Statkraft, E.ON, Vattenfall, et cetera. Now we're seeing the shift to SaaS, and for us, wins with global players like Enel and EnBW demonstrates that we are trusted by the largest power producers in Europe. Enel has an annual turnover of EUR 80 billion, annual power production twice the total Norwegian consumption, and with 70 million customers. Enel is the world's second-largest power producer after State Grid of China. EnBW has an annual turnover of almost EUR 19 billion and five million customers. An important reason for choosing solutions from Volue is how we help increase top-line revenues and profit margins. Let's have a closer look on slide 27. It is interesting to hear from customers how Volue helps drive top-line growth. To date, we're focused on 5% improvement. To the left, we see a larger utility who recognized 5% improvement translating to EUR 40 million increased revenues annually. Another example is a smaller utility who achieved a return on investment, in three months, and saw 3% improvement in the first quarter after go live. Now we're looking to find the next 5%, 10% in total. In conversations with executives in a European power producer, we were challenged if we could provide evidence upfront before commitment. Our answer is that we only need to realize 0.5% improvement to provide ROI in 12 months. In that way, it's an easy value-based sell. While we are always chasing new customer logos, the existing customer base is also a great growth driver, which we will talk about on slide 28. The creation of Volue gave us full coverage on the value chain. In the past, our customer had to sign contracts with five individual companies and integrate five different product stacks into a joined-up solution, absorbing both complexity and integration cost. Now we're able to deliver an increasing integrated solution offering where we can take end-to-end responsibility. We're now integrating our capabilities in the cloud to allow for friction-free deployment and scalability. Out of the 900+ customers in the energy segment, more than 800 customers are currently only buying from one of the group companies, representing a brilliant opportunity to grow in existing accounts. To give you a glimpse into what we deliver to our customers, I'd like to show you one of our products on slide 29. This is our trading platform and part of what we call Volue Intraday Cloud. In this solution, you can trade your portfolio of power in multiple markets on multiple power exchanges. One of the important tasks in the Intraday cockpit is to avoid imbalance cost and, if needed, trade yourself back in balance. Our customers are typically performing 100 trades every hour using this product. It is accompanied by an algorithmic software product where the trader can describe his or her own trading strategies and utilize the platform for automatic trading. We're seeing customers trading up to 2,500 trades per hour using this product. With markets being very volatile 24/7, and only the largest companies have manned trading desks during nighttime, weekends, and out of season, algo trading is seen as an attractive alternative to staff increase. Transforming to a Software as a Service delivery model is important both for us and the customer. To better understand what SaaS transformation means in financial metrics, let's take a look at our infrastructure segment on slide 30. For infrastructure, we've been primarily focused on SaaS transformation in our home market. We've taken our solutions to Denmark, and we're now looking to Sweden. We're now selling six subscriptions, and to the right, you can see the accelerating user adoptions since the early beginnings in 2014. What we've learned is that completing SaaS transformation generates EBITDA margins north of 30%, which is an important learning and motivation for the rest of the Volue business. Let's move to slide 31. That concludes industry development and strategy. Now let's shift our focus to outlook and 2021 priorities. Slide 32. In summary, we see the shift to green, non-controllable energy sources lead to increased volatility and complexity for our customers, requiring more advanced software solutions. We in Volue help our customers with wall-to-wall digitalization of the clean energy value chain. Our ongoing SaaS transformation leads to growth in recurring revenues and uptick in EBITDA margins. To see what that looks like in terms of metrics, let's move to slide 33. Our goal is to create a NOK 2 billion revenue company by 2025. To achieve that, we laid out some financial ambitions that were shared prior to the listing on Euronext Growth. These haven't changed. Over time, we believe in organic revenue growth of about 15% per year. There are three reasons why we believe in growth. First of all, our end market is growing. Our customer spend on advanced software solution is growing as a consequence of the green transition and market changes. Second is European growth. We now have a solid footprint in the European market, and we continue to invest in sales and marketing outside the Nordic region, which still represents our largest source of revenue. Lastly, we believe Volue has a great opportunity to increase the share of wallet through cross-selling. We have over 900 customers in the energy segment, where more than 800 customers are currently only buying from one of the Volue group companies. Looking at recurring revenues, we see that SaaS contracts hold double the amount of recurring compared to a traditional contract. This is because we take a larger responsibility compared to traditional contracts when operating software with an associated SLA or service level agreement. As we progress with SaaS transformation, we believe in an uptick in margins with an EBITDA level towards 30%. An important driver for listing Volue on Euronext Growth was the opportunity for structural growth and using the Volue share as currency. We operate in a highly fragmented market of smaller specialized players, which not necessarily can fully support their customers on their much-needed transition to sustainable energy. When we look at the landscape, we see two distinct players at opposite ends. At the very beginning of the value chain, we find the hardware vendors or the OEMs, such as ABB, Siemens, GE, and Voith. They have some software, primarily focused on efficiencies for turbines and generators, and with some software for inspection and maintenance. On the very other end of the value chain, we find ETRM or Enterprise Trade and Risk Management. Their heritage is from risk and finance, not necessarily involved in the monetization of energy in a volatile market. Everything in between is attractive to us, and these players can be divided into two groups. One is established companies with a solid revenue stream, but maybe with a somewhat dated technology stack offered to a decent customer base. The other category is younger companies with great technologies, great people and ideas, but without a significant revenue stream and market penetration. We find these two categories of companies very attractive for M&A, one for market access, and the other to strengthen our capabilities along the value chain. We believe that Volue, with its size and market reach, can bring value to the industry by acting as a consolidator. Slide 34, please. An important goal for us this year is to reach NOK 1 billion in run rate sales. We want to achieve that whilst maintaining a healthy EBITDA margin exceeding 20%. At the core of our growth strategy is to grow recurring revenues through our ongoing SaaS transformation. The energy market is quite fragmented, and we believe there is an opportunity to take a leading position in a much-needed market consolidation. As we continue to pursue synergies within the Volue group, we see there are many opportunities for increased operational efficiency. We plan on moving to the main list on Oslo Stock Exchange during H1. That concludes our presentation this morning, and we will now move to Q&A. Yes, Trond. Now I'm back online again. There is some few questions that also have been in the chat. The first one is, you're talking about moving Volue from Euronext Growth over to the main list at Oslo Stock Exchange. What will this mean for our largest shareholder, Arendals Fossekompani? Are they planning to reduce their position in Volue? Well, in order for us to move to the main list on Oslo Stock Exchange, there is a requirement for a 25% free float of the shares. Currently, Arendals Fossekompani, our largest shareholder, controls north of 75% of the shares. They will have to sell some shares in order to be compliant. Eventually, it's down to them at what level. Thank you. There's one question related to growth rates. That's, given your current growth, do you think your target growth at 15% seems low? Also considering the industry's going and need for solutions like Volue's? Well, we believe in revenue growth for sure. We've said that a mid to long-term target is 15% organic growth, and we believe that is a pretty decent level given the complexities of our end market and the transition that our customers are facing at the moment. Yeah. There's another question comes to margins that is raised. It seems to be some seasonality with regards to margins within each segment. Can you please elaborate on the fluctuation through the year for each segment? Maybe I can answer upon that. Our business is very stable. The reason being so is that we have a high level of Annual Recurring Revenues. Mainly, there are few seasonal rate fluctuations in the segments. For the industry segments, we do see some slower sales when it comes to during late Q2 and Q3 due to seasonal fluctuations in the infrastructure area. For both the energy market and the power grid, there is usually little fluctuations, this is usually pretty stable. Some fluctuations do we have when it comes to running capacity in large project from month to month, planning on seasonal holidays. In all our models, through annual recurring revenues give us a relatively low fluctuations from quarter to quarter. There is a question, Trond, related to infrastructure growth, which is high in Q4. Do you see further expansion possibilities outside the Nordic region for the infrastructure area? For the infrastructure area, we definitely believe, and in fact we're quite confident that Volue, with this infrastructure offering, is a leader in what must be considered as a pretty slow-burning digital transformation in that industry sector. We have seen, for instance, banking and finance been fairly front runners in digitalization. Clearly, the construction industry is coming, and the offering that we are bringing to our customer base here in the Nordics are surely front runners in that digitalization. With our sophisticated and robust digital software suite, we are definitely seeing opportunities to take that to new markets that is shortly following on digitalization. Yes, we are looking at multiple opportunities to bring our infrastructure business to new markets. Thank you. There's one question related to mergers and acquisitions. You're talking about this as being an opportunity for Volue. How's this looking now ahead for 2021, and do you have working with an active M&A pipeline? We have a very active M&A pipeline, and we've been analyzing the market for quite some time. At the same time, we're quite picky. We want to find the right companies with the right value offerings and the right market position to deliver on the Volue strategy of growth. Yes, active pipeline. Always picky on the companies we're looking into. Thank you. There is also a question on what do you see as the greatest challenge on delivering on the high set goals? I think looking back to last year, we were obviously quite concerned about COVID-19. That turned out to work out quite well. We recognize that we deliver software and services critical to our end markets that is all critical to society. Ever more important now during COVID-19. I think also we do recognize that we're serving pretty conservative end markets, and that really calls for methodic sales and marketing activities across the territories we operate in. I think it's definitely achievable, and currently we're only focusing on the European market. Clearly, there's opportunity in Americas, and clearly there's opportunity in Asia. All in all, we're quite optimistic. Thank you. There's one question to COVID-19. Has COVID-19 had any impact on your revenue growth for 2020? Do you see any changes in the view/attitude towards digitalization due to COVID-19? I think in terms of digitalization, we've got lots of experience and stories from our customers that are just sort of starting to leapfrog on the use of digital as part of being manning trading desks, working remotely to securely operating their grid, or to collaborate better distributed in water and wastewater or the construction industry. Clearly, it is a leap forward in digitalization. Obviously, we're also seeing, from time to time, processes, sales cycles that is longer than usual because of all our challenges in terms of meeting customers face-to-face. Customers are spending more time on making decisions. There is somewhat a slowdown, but all in all, I think we've demonstrated in our Q4 numbers and the numbers for the year that we're able to maneuver that in quite a healthy way. Thank you. There is one question when it comes to in-house developed solutions. There is a question here is that it's an impression that a lot of companies have in-house developed proprietary trading solutions. Are you experiencing any pushbacks in your discussion with potential clients wanting tailored solution and not more generic SaaS solution like Volue's offering? We're definitely seeing customers with in-house solutions, and I don't think there is any customers that I've ever met that has only off the shelf. There is always a combination. What we are seeing is that we're seeing customers diversifying their assets, meaning maybe going from hydro to hydro and wind, or from thermal to wind and solar. They are diversifying their assets, exponentially increasing the complexity. The European Union is pushing harmonization across all the power exchanges and power markets, and that really lifts the complexity of our customers' operations. I think it's really a matter of being able to follow the development and being relevant in the market. I think there is a challenge for our customers to continue in-house development. I think it's a fantastic opportunity for us to tip in and replace in-house developed software. Thank you. I think we are moving towards the end. Here's more a question on the personal level, Trond. You obviously seem keen about Volue. Do you personally invest in Volue? Sure I do. I'm a long-term investor in Volue, I really believe in the growth that we're going to see in the coming years. Obviously, we've delivered a good 2020. Personally, I'm here for the long run, and I believe the future is quite bright as an investor as well. Thank you. I will leave one minute for any other incoming questions before we end the session. There is a late incoming question. The power grid area, which seems to be mostly in the Nordic. Do you have any plans for expanding the business outside of the Nordic territories? The short answer is yes, and let me add some color to that. Over decades, we've built an impressive position in the Nordics, really helping the power grid business become digital. I think it's fair to say that the Nordic grid companies are more digital than many other grid companies if you look down to continental Europe. There is, however, a new challenge that is becoming increasingly important to both Nordic and European grid companies, and that is the matter of flexibility. I talked a little bit about that in my presentation earlier today. Where there is more volatility and unpredictable production due to the solar and wind being paced into the system. There is more volatility and harder to predict the demand, given, for instance, EV charging. That really is creating lots of new challenges on the grid, and that creates lots of problems for our customers in order how to plan their investment cycles in the power grid. Really, this is an area where we believe we can add tremendous value to help our customers manage and operate.
Loading workspace