Projektengagemang: Still an uphill battle as market worsens - ABG
• Weakness in Architecture behind negative growth • Long-term negative EBIT revisions of 9% • Needs help from a better construction market
ANNONS
Q2: -3% organic sales y-o-y, adj. EBITA margin of 2.7% (8.9%) Projektengagemang (PE) net sales growth turned worse again in Q2 as it had to fight both calendar effects and a weaker market, especially for Architects. The positive trend in the average number of FTEs reversed and the utilisation rate dropped to 72.8% (77%), down from 73.5% in Q1. Underlying cost control was good with higher prices more than offsetting wage increases, but because of the sharp decline in the utilisation rate the company still reported adj. EBITA 23% below ABGSCe. Net sales of SEK 235m (245m) was 2% below our expectations. If we are to find any positive from the report we would point to the continued successful turnaround in the Systems division that saw y-o-y improvements in profitability coming from low levels.
