Transcendent Group: Interim report January-March 2021

First quarter 2021 (first quarter 2020)

• Total revenue amounted to SEK 51.0 million (51.1), a decrease of 0.1 percent compared to corresponding period last year.
• EBITDA amounted to SEK 7.0 million (1.4).
• The EBITDA margin amounted to 13.6 percent (2.7).
• Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 4.3 million (–1.4).
• The EBIT margin amounted to 8.5 percent (–2.7).
• Profit before tax amounted to SEK 4.2 million (–0.4).
• Cash flow amounted to –4.3 MSEK (–4.4).
• Average number of employees amounted to 111 (132).
• Earnings per share amounted to 0.56 SEK (–0.09).

Significant events in the first quarter 2021

• Transcendent Group Norway is named a “Gazelle” company by Norwegian business newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.
• Transcendent Group Stockholm AB changes its name to Transcendent Group Sverige AB.
• Isabelle Colin is appointed CEO of Transcendent Group Belgium.
• In March Transcendent Group was ranked as Sweden's 8th best workplace on Great Place to Work Sweden's annual top list in the medium-sized companies’ category. Transcendent Group is also the highest-ranked company of all medium-sized companies listed on any of Nasdaq Stockholm's marketplaces. In 2020 Transcendent Group was ranked as Sweden’s 7th best workplace.

Significant events after the end of the quarter

• Håkan Berg is appointed CEO of Transcendent Group Regulatory Technology AB.
• In April Transcendent Group announced that the company is ranked as Norway’s third best workplace in Great Place to Work’s annual top list for small companies. It is the fourth consecutive year that the Norwegian subsidiary reached the top list. Last year Transcendent Group was ranked as Norway’s fourth best workplace.
• The merger of Transcendent Group Sverige AB and Transcendent Group Väst AB is completed.
• In April, Transcendent Group announced that it expects first quarter 2021 results to deviate positively from previous seasonal patterns.

Comments from CEO Martin Malm:

“For the first time in a long time, Transcendent Group begins the year with a positive operating profit (EBIT). We have previously communicated that the measures and cost savings initiated last year are expected to have a full positive effect in 2021. Combined with an increased billing ratio, we can now see the results of our work, and as early as April 20th we communicated that the result of the quarter was expected to positively deviate significantly from previous years' seasonal patterns. Our operating profit amounts to SEK 4.3 million, which corresponds to an operating margin of 8.5 percent. We can thus state that in terms of results, the start of the year is the best in the company's almost twenty-year history. Revenues in the first quarter were basically unchanged compared with the corresponding period last year (–0.1 percent). Our communicated focus for 2021, to ensure good revenues as well as a good margin for existing operations and the whole Group, has been met for the first quarter of the year with an operating profit that improved by SEK 5.7 million.

Despite the challenges from Covid-19 and the uncertainty that still prevails, our assessment is that the market is about to normalize, and we are experiencing strong demand for our services. We see a positive development of the segments Established markets and New markets, especially in terms of operating profit and margins.

During the quarter, we have successfully established our ESG offering, where we support our customers in integrating ESG aspects (Environmental, Social and Governance) in business-critical areas such as strategy, regulatory compliance, and risk management. Here, we believe that the market situation ahead looks good, driven by strong megatrends accelerated by regulations based on the EU's strategy for sustainable financing within the framework of the Green Deal, the Taxonomy Regulation, and guidelines from the European Banking Authority (EBA).

My assessment is that the second quarter will also be able to deliver an operating profit that significantly exceeds previous years' seasonal patterns. Given the demand we see for our services combined with an increasingly normalized market, I am convinced that we will succeed in building on Transcendent Group's positive trend and deliver sustainable growth over time.”

Link to the report

The report is attached in this press release and is available at https://transcendentgroup.com/investor-relations/