Wirtek A/S
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Welcome to today's event where we have the pleasure to present Wirtek. Today's event will cover the Q3 interim report that you just released this morning, fresh from the press and of course your strategy update you came out with last week. So that is kind of the topics for today's presentation.
So joining us from the company and to answer questions and taking us through the presentation, we have CEO, Michael Loh; and CFO, Mads Greiffenberg. As always, in the box down below, you can ask questions. We have already gotten some in, but do feel free to ask more questions. I think that is how we get best through the presentation by a lot of conversations.
So do feel free to do that. But for now, I think I will hand the call over to you, Mike -- Michael, Michael and welcome to you, Mads, first time joining here.
Thank you, Michael. So next slide, please. First, I'll address a few key operational highlights. Q3 shows a shift that we actually wanted. We see revenues up 7% quarter-on-quarter as utilization has further improved and new clients was onboarded. EBITDA is up 162% versus last quarter, reflecting both cost discipline and higher activity level as we have achieved thus far. Year-on-year, we are not yet where we want to be, but the direction is clear. Each quarter is better than the previous one and the actions taken during the spring and summer are now visible in the numbers.
Momentum in new orders is healthier. We are winning a steady flow of projects across the services division, expanding with existing clients as well as onboarding new international accounts. The quality of sales pipeline has improved with a better mix, with stronger pricing and firmer start dates. This gives us confidence that the Q3 progress and carry into Q4.
On November 6 last week, we announced a new strategy that sets a clear direction for the future growth in Wirtek. Our Services division remains profitable while we modernize how we deliver and build our services. Our solutions division will scale on the Wirtek IoT suite with targeted investments to build recurring revenue streams. The aim is simple, stabilized, execute and return to organic revenue growth from next year. I'll come back to the strategy later in this presentation.
So our CFO, will now present the financial highlights. Over to you, Mads.
A Thank you, Michael and Michael. Happy to join today. I would like to start to have a look at our Q3 financial performance. Revenue came in at DKK 16.6 million, which is a 7% improvement compared to Q2 but still 12% below year-over-year. The quarter confirms that revenue is stabilizing after a soft first half of the year and that our commercial pipeline is starting to convert.
EBITDA improved to DKK 0.7 million. This is driven by cost optimization, better utilization and stronger project execution. We are still 48% below year-over-year, though. EBITDA margin improved to 4.3%, again showing improvement quarter-over-quarter, but 41% behind year-over-year. The financial turnaround we promised earlier in the year materializes quarter-by-quarter as planned.
Earnings per share are still slightly negative at minus DKK 0.04 but significantly better than the previous quarter. Our balance sheet remains strong with an equity ratio of 43% on par with last year and liquidity ratio is 102%, unchanged from Q2, but down 31% year-over-year.
In summary, Q3 shows continued quarterly progress, and we are delivering on what we said stabilizing revenue and rebuilding our profitability quarter-by-quarter. And I'm very satisfied that we remain on track to meet our full year guidance.
Next slide, please, Michael. So let's have a look at what's driving the improvements. Revenue is stabilized above DKK 15 million and now DKK 16 million per quarter, and Q3 shows a clear uplift versus the first half of the year. More importantly, EBITDA continues to improve quarter-by-quarter from minus DKK 1.1 million to plus DKK 0.3 million and now plus DKK 0.7 million in Q3. That proves our cost optimization and utilization efforts are working. So the turnaround is visible and profitability is improving.
U.S. is now our largest region with 39% of revenue. Denmark is at 29%, which is down from previous period, meaning our business is less dependent on the domestic market.
The Netherlands, Portugal and the remaining EU markets are quite stable. All in all, the revenue foundation is stabilizing. The margins are improving slightly, and I do believe we have a good revenue split for now.
Next slide, please. And lastly, I would like to look at our '25 outlook, which, as I said before, remains unchanged. For '25, we expect revenue in the range of DKK 64 million to DKK 69 million. We are seeing positive impact from new orders won earlier this year. So we have stabilized the business, and we are building a healthy revenue mix for now. We also keep our EBITDA guidance unchanged in the region of DKK 1 million to DKK 5 million. We are back to positive EBITDA, and we expect further improvements in Q4 with the cost optimization taking full effect and with the rising and stable revenue. '25 is transition year for Wirtek, but we are stabilizing the business we're integrating last year's 2 acquisitions, and we are preparing the business for scalable growth in '26 with our new strategy.
And on that, back to you, Michael and the new strategy.
Thank you, Mads. So our new strategies drive the future growth rests on 2 growth pillars, services and solutions. So our Services division is Wirtek's core business, and it continues to be profitable. So our Solutions division is Wirtek future driver of recurring revenue streams. It is built on the Wirtek IoT suite, which originates from the technology assets that Wirtek acquired through the Seluxit acquisition last year.
So we've introduced 5 strategic tracks to support our new strategy. The third strategic track is called build out services. We will modernize our profitable services division to deliver faster without lowering quality. We will standardize offers with clear deliverables and service levels. We will use AI-assisted execution to raise productivity, and we will move repeatable work from time and materials to fixed price and managed engagements. The expected outcome will be shorter delivery times, stronger margin mix and consistent client satisfaction.
Moving on to the second strategic track. The Wirtek IoT suite is a secure EU-based cloud platform that currently connects more than 500,000 IoT devices across 93 countries with very high availability. Platform powers the Solutions division and is focused on being reliable, simple-to-use and quick to deploy.
On this foundation, Wirtek will offer standard solutions for common energy-related, needs the energy consumption reporting, solar performance monitoring and energy optimizations that reduce electricity use and CO2 emissions. This increases annual recurring revenue and strengthens the margin mix. The Solutions division will see elevated investments in '26 and '27 in order for us to fast track the business scaling and annual recurring revenue.
The next strategic track, AI-native solutions makes intelligence and built-in feature. Over time, we will add features like forecasting normally detection and predictive maintenance into our solutions for energy and industrial clients, benefits is higher client value, faster releases and better unit economics for our clients. Strategic track security and compliance burns trust into a reason for clients and from Wirtek. We currently progress towards an ISO 27001 certification, and we will align our services and solutions with recognized standards to meet key EU rules on data, cybersecurity, energy and AI. This reduces sales friction and it actually also supports our pricing.
The last strategic track, partners, focus countries and strategic M&A expands our reach and capabilities. We will grow through partners as well as clients. We will focus geographically on Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands as well as our delivery hubs in Romania and Portugal.
In addition, we will pursue smaller strategically aligned acquisitions support our growth. I'll bring it all together, that strategy improves revenue quality. It protects services profitability and it builds a scalable solutions engine. Target is a return to organic growth from 2026 with a steady increase in recurring higher-margin revenue and fewer volatile time and material engagements.
So this concludes our presentation. So back to you, Michael.
Perfect. Let's jump into some questions. I'll start with the first one. Could you elaborate on your recruitment plans and expectations for '25 and '26, I guess, is on the recruitment plans. You mentioned yourself now we've been through a cost capacity exercise. But you also want to invest in to your Solutions division. So I don't know whether you want to give away or elaborate a little bit on your recruitment plans for, I guess, '26 maybe is the most interesting.
So what I can say is, yes, we are, of course, going to invest in solutions. That means also bringing the needed capacity in order both to develop and further improve on our platform as well as implementing those solutions that are going to be on top of the platform towards our plans. But that, of course, is going to require that we man up these initiatives.
On services side, it has historically been a one-on-one, one-to-one kind of business where we have to put in a consultant every time we have to deliver, and it has been very much tied to levels of revenue that are pretty predictable. Now we're going to bring AI in as a factor here in the way we want to deliver in order to increase productivity and also increase our margins. So that also means that the number of employees is not really a key number for us as we see forward here because for sure in solutions, it is not important for us or it's a target for us to grow a lot in people. We want to grow the recurring revenue streams, which often impairs that you don't grow the number of people there at the same level as the revenue is generated there. And in services also, yes, it is a little unpredictable yet exactly how much that is going to entail in manning up because we want to improve that productivity.
And I guess, do we want to give the same question to the next one. What is the employee count development during the last 3 quarters. I don't know whether you want to give out those numbers.
Well, what I can say is that the number of employees we have today is approximately the same we had beginning of this year. But our revenue is higher now than it was beginning of the year. So that kind of says that we have -- we've improved our efficiency.
And then there's [indiscernible] have any new financial targets at the old one accelerate was postponed. So I think the question is, will there be some financial targets also following this strategy update at a later time.
So The first financial target we've tied up to it right now is the return to profitable growth, organic growth next year. So we are a little reluctant to give out tight long-term goals right now, also in relation to the accelerated '25 Accelerate 25XM strategy where we had to postpone the goal at one point here. We're playing it a little safe as we are starting the implementation of the strategy. And definitely, once we start getting traction in the strategy implementation, I will not say that we will not be coming out with some longer-term goals, that would be pretty realistic at some point.
Then there's a question at what share price would you consider dilution for acquisition purpose?
What share price would you use your share for in buying other companies? Is there a lower bar where you say it doesn't make sense to purchase anything.
It's difficult to say if there is a lower bar on that because it really comes down to if we can see that the risk-adjusted returns above our cost of capital. If I can see doing an acquisition improves the earnings per share, then even with the lower share price, that might still be quite a good deal.
So even if you can increase earnings even if share count goes up and you can achieve it, then there is many lower bar perfect.
What was the efficiency rate in the first 9 months of 2025? I don't know whether you want to go into such details that you have in a given market.
I'm sorry, I couldn't...
What is the Efficiency rate, utilization rate, billing rate, I would call it, probably the first -- during the last 3 quarters. I don't know whether you give out those numbers to markets.
We don't give out those numbers but what I can say is, and which is also kind of obvious with the fact that our revenues is significantly higher now than it was beginning of the year. Our margin is higher than it was beginning of the year, we have the same number of people in the company. At least you can assume that it's improving.
Is the full effect of the cost programs contained here in third quarter, meaning do you still need -- do we still expect to see some effects going into Q4 and, of course, the full year effect in '26. So is the full -- do we see the full picture here? Or is there still a little bit more to come in the coming quarters?
Maybe this is a question for the CFO, but I think we probably see further gains in cost efficiency in Q4.
We will, for sure. We saw a lot of the cost optimization in Q3, but there's more to come in Q4.
Perfect. Then there -- do you have financial capacity to do purchases through your balance with DKK 7 million in debt, meaning, if you can't use your share and you have M&A strategy, do you feel that your balance sheet is strong enough to do it without printing new shares or buying new shares?
This is not something I'll address it at this time here. We will, of course, as part of the strategy, look for interesting strategic acquisition targets there. And when the time comes, finding out how we want to finance such acquisitions, then of course, we look at what things look like at that time.
Perfect. Then that's a question the evolution of the last acquisition, do we consider they are successful in turn of their contribution to the company's revenue?
So for the Pragmasoft acquisition, definitely is really, really an important part of the revenue generation and having a sourcing platform also in Portugal as well as increasing our knowledge in energy, the energy sector even more.
Energy is such a big part of our company, I think it was in '24. We had like 34% of our revenue from the energy-related sectors. And now it's about 40%. Right?
So this is really important for us to get this on board. And the Seluxit acquisition was driven by the purchase of their platform, it was [indiscernible] it was called [indiscernible] we have now rebranded it as the Wirtek IoT suite. But that was -- this is a very, very strong platform that was developed over many years, and that is actually the foundation for our solutions division. Becasue the solutions we want to build and sell there are going to be based on top of this suite of this platform.
So that should be measured more in the future than right now where...
Exactly, you can mention now Seluxit is a main driver for the fact that we are going into the solutions direction as well.
And then there's a question here, you as your biggest market exposure. But the new strategy is not mentioned specifically. Do you see less opportunities going forward or even decline from the current revenue?
So we are very focused on the energy sector, the IoT sector. And Europe is a pretty big area here. And as everybody can also see that energy or renewable energy is not in high demand in U.S. right now. It's definitely a challenging market. So at least for now, we will be focusing closer to home with our strategy. It doesn't mean we're not going to sell to U.S. clients, as you can see, and also with a steady stream of new orders we've had still get plenty of orders from U.S. clients in here. But we are not going to target them directly because it is part of sitting in Denmark and target the U.S. market directly without have a local presence over there.
And it's U.S., is that a partner strategy has always been that you get that into partners. So how has that actually worked because you put extra focus on partners in your new strategy. So does that actually cover the U.S. market indirectly? Or is it -- am I looking for something that is not there?
Well, the partner part is actually the new thing here because historically, we've been going directly to the clients we also want to use partner channels. Both in services but also especially in solutions to actually go out and use them as sales channels as well.
Have you had any discussion with any partners -- as you said, in the service business. Normally, you don't use a partner strategy that would kind of dilute the value of that now more going to solutions. I guess the partner strategy is the most powerful one. So have you had any discussions with the with potential partners? Or is it maybe more some of your bigger customers that you are going to broaden it out with? So any thoughts, I guess, is a new part of Wirtek as partner.
So any certain initial comments on that development?
So in solutions, I can say this that we are talking with multiple potential partners. And some of that becomes fruitful, then you will read about it right...
That is going to be announced running if that is to market. So they get a view of that. Perfect. Then do we have any experience in how much AI can increase efficiency already? Do you have a feel for that? As you put it out as a part of your strategy, and I know it's still an open question for many companies. But have you -- have you tested in a real life and compared some projects maybe to kind of get a feel on not only the -- not only, of course, the efficiency, but maybe also on the precises in the delivery to the customers.
So have you any feels, any comments, I don't ask you about 12% or 15%, but just a ballpark on whether you have already tested this.
So yes, we have done multiple tests internally in the company and also looking into actually deploy it with certain clients towards certain projects here in order to actually start getting some traction in this area here. The actual percentage of improvements here is hard to say because it can vary from case to case. But there is definitely significant improvements possible here. But it's also something that you have to control really carefully because one thing is to get faster ahead at some level with something, but you also need to be able to continuously maintain and develop further on this. And that's where some of the challenges, of course, are to make sure that you still have full control over what AI is helping you develop.
And then regarding customers on this solution IoT solutions platform, have you tested something on it? Do you already have clients running on some examples. So maybe we could understand it better because for me, this is kind of looking at a lot of different companies. You're the only one who really has the IoT element, meaning in my world, that actually, you can put AI to the real world and not only to the Internet. I guess that's kind of my way of watching the IoT. So have you had any test any customers, any -- any examples that you maybe can give us to maybe understand what a customer could look like at this platform.
Sure. So one of those that we are working very closely with right now is part of [indiscernible]. It's the second largest tenant in our tenant handler in Northern Jutland. And they have a lot of vendors in there of big industries like Siemens and others that are using the port for transporting their goods. We are actually working on a big project with them in order to optimize their energy usage and also being able to build individual all the tenants. You have this directive from EU, as I also talked about before, these different things you have to be able to adhere to according to EU, it's called EED, European Energy Directive. And from January '27, you actually have to be able to provide all your tenants with individualized energy usage.
So this is what we're helping them with taking a lot of this information from our types of sensors, and pulling it into our Wirtek IoT suite. So it's available over there and can be used for generating all kinds of reports and also using if, for instance, for optimizing energy usage in general.
And that's -- and then on top of that, could you put some AI capabilities, some analysis of the data, some AI capabilities. Is that also the plan that the companies when they have those data, then can create some kind of, yes, something that can save them maybe energy in the future. Is that already a part of the project?
Well, there are as many things, right? But if you are collecting over time, a lot of different energy-related data then you can start maybe seeing some patterns and maybe start acting according to those patterns. Another example could be, for instance, an industrial producer of some equipment, then also have IoT in it. You can have all kinds of sensors there. If you collect data for those sensors, then you can maybe start seeing some patterns that could may be used for you for preventive maintenance when you can start seeing maybe it's time to maintain this before it fails, right, in a product, right?
And then you also mentioned a little bit -- I think you mentioned native EU platform. And it's more -- I hear that more and more from your sector that customers are requesting that the question, do we want to bring data out of the European Union and so on. It looked like it was also a little bit a part of your strategy. Are you already starting to get customer request for that. And is that a selling point for you already?
I'm sure that being fully hosted fully EU-owned cloud platform is a good sales parameter. There's a lot of reluctance in the market right now for these huge U.S.-based cloud platforms.
Perfect. That was the last question. Thank you to you, Michael and Mads for taking us through your strategy update and, of course, your Q2 results, and thank you for the audience for a lot of good questions, and thank you for everybody listening in.