Eezy Plc's Financial Statements Bulletin 2020: Good operational profitability, synergy goals achieved

EEZY PLC  --  FINANCIAL STATEMENTS BULLETIN  --  18 FEBRUARY 2021 AT 8:00

Eezy Plc's Financial Statements Bulletin 2020: Good operational profitability, synergy goals achieved

October–December 2020

• Revenue was EUR 43.4 million (EUR 65.6 million in October–December 2019).
• EBITDA was EUR 3.4 million (4.2).
• EBIT was EUR 1.5 million (2.3).
• Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 3.7 million (4.8).
• Adjusted EBIT was EUR 1.8 million (2.9).
• Earnings per share was EUR 0.02 (0.05).
• Deepening corona situation decreased business volume.

January–December 2020

• Revenue was EUR 190.6 million (EUR 169.8 million in January–December 2019).
• EBITDA was EUR 13.5 million (12.6).
• EBIT was EUR 5.6 million (8.0).
• Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 14.3 million (16.4).
• Adjusted EBIT was EUR 6.9 million (11.8).
• Earnings per share was EUR 0.11 (0.25).
• Corona crisis has affected the business negatively.

Dividend

Board of Directors proposes a dividend of EUR 0.10 per share and to seek authorization for the Board to later decide on a dividend of max. EUR 0.05 per share.

Outlook for 2021

Eezy does not give guidance for year 2021. The goal is to give guidance during the first year-half.

Key figures (IFRS)

EUR million, unless otherwise specified	10–12/2020	10–12/2019	1–12/2020	1–12/2019
Revenue	43.4	65.6	190.6	169.8
EBITDA	3.4	4.2	13.5	12.6
EBITDA, %	7.8%	6.4%	7.1%	7.4%
EBIT	1.5	2.3	5.6	8.0
EBIT, %	3.4%	3.5%	2.9%	4.7%
Adjusted EBITDA	3.7	4.8	14.3	16.4
Adjusted EBITDA, %	8.5%	7.3%	7.5%	9.6%
Adjusted EBIT	1.8	2.9	6.9	11.8
Adjusted EBIT, %	4.1%	4.4%	3.6%	6.9%
EPS, undiluted, eur	0.02	0.05	0.11	0.25
EPS, diluted, eur	0.02	0.05	0.11	0.25
Net debt / Adjusted EBITDA	-	-	2.9 x	2.7 x
Chain-wide revenue	67.9	93.1	282.6	285.6

CEO Sami Asikainen:

Great performance in difficult conditions

"During year 2020 both Eezy and our customers were tested. The corona pandemic early in the year quickly changed the world and our business conditions, and the situation remained challenging for the whole year. However, the year was not only about difficulties, but it will also be remembered for creating the foundation of the new Eezy, a quick accommodation to Corona and a successful defensive victory. We have reached the development goals set for year 2020 and we start year 2021 from a good position to again seek growth in the post-Corona world.

Fourth quarter profitability improved despite decreased volume

Corona pandemic accelerated and restrictions were again significantly tightened during the fourth quarter. For Eezy the effects were seen especially on the Horeca sector that lost the normal Christmas party season, and in importing foreign labor. We lost approx. 15 M€ revenue on these sectors, corresponding to approx. 70% of our total volume decrease. The impact on other sectors were more moderate, but still visible. In the fourth quarter we made 43 million euro revenue and 1.5 million euro EBIT, to which we are really satisfied. Despite the volume decrease we were able to maintain good EBITDA-% (7.8%) and EBIT-% (3.4%). The performance reflects both the good underlying profitability of our business, as well as the skills and functionality of our organization even in difficult conditions.

Year was a defensive victory

We managed to react well to the first Corona wave in spring. We reacted to temporary layoffs and saving actions to the close-down of the society and we were then able to operate actively during the recovery in late summer. Third quarter was the best quarter, quite normally. Our organization was made more focused and efficient during summer and autumn, which has enabled more profitable business in autumn. For the whole year we made 191 million euro revenue and 5.6 million euro EBIT. Taking the fluctuating demand during the year and the one-off costs into account, we find this as a really good performance.

Development and synergy goals were achieved

We have achieved a significant development leap during the year. We launched a new brand in the beginning of year 2020, and currently use that in all our businesses. Building the brand awareness has just started, but the journey has started well. We have also adopted a common ERP in our staffing services units, which enables increasing efficiency also in future. We have reached our goal of 5 million euro synergies on annual basis, set in late 2019, more rapidly than we originally estimated.

We have executed our growth strategy by strengthening our offering on the professional services area. The acquisitions done in autumn build the foundation both for expanding the recruiting services and the significant growth of personnel and business development services in the next few years.

Moving to the main list of the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange in September was a significant step for our shareholders, and also reflects our long-term growth strategy as a reformer of the working life services.

We have also simplified our group structure after the year-end by divesting our Swedish business. This enables us to focus to the Finnish markets that we believe to offer enough growth potential for us.

We start year 2021 from a good position

The first months will likely still be difficult as Corona continues to affect the society in many ways. As the vaccination progresses, we expect the economic activity to quickly recover starting from the summer. The last year has likely created pent-up demand in many sectors, which can lead to rapid growth in the demand for staffed workforce. We do not yet provide revenue or profit guidance on year 2021, but we target to give guidance during the first year-half when we have a more accurate view to the length of the Corona pandemic.

We have defined as "Back to the growth path" as the main theme for the year. Our primary goal is organic growth, which will be boosted by acquisitions helping us further on our strategic path. The significant decrease of our cost base will help us in positive profit development once the volumes again increase. Although the Corona worries are not yet over, I am pretty confident based on the experiences from 2020. Together with our employees we can react to all possible challenges and maintain our competitiveness."

Result publication event:

A Finnish-language briefing for analysts and media will be held on 18 February 2021 at 13.00 as a webcast at https://eezy.videosync.fi/2020-q4-tulos 

The briefing will be hosted by CEO Sami Asikainen and CFO Hannu Nyman. During the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. The presentation material will be available at the company website at https://sijoittajat.eezy.fi/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/ before the conference. A recording of the audiocast will be available at the same website later.

Attachment: Financial Statements Bulletin 2020 in PDF format

Further information:

Sami Asikainen
CEO
[e-mail]
tel. [phone]

Hannu Nyman
CFO
Eezy Plc
[e-mail]
tel. [phone]

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