Interim report 01-09/2018

VMP Plc Interim report 1.1.-30.9.2018 (published on Wed 21.11.2018 at 8.00)

VMP’S INTERIM REPORT JANUARY 1–SEPTEMBER 30, 2018: PROFITABLE GROWTH CONTINUES

July–September 2018 in brief

• The Group’s revenue was EUR 31.1 million (EUR 27.7 million in July–September 2017). Revenue increased by 12.3%.
• The Group’s adjusted EBITDA was EUR 2.8 million (3.0). Adjusted EBITDA decreased by EUR 0.2 million or 6.0%.
• The Group’s earnings per share (EPS) was EUR 0.04[1]. The result was impacted by amortizations of goodwill amounting to EUR 1.8 million.

January–September 2018 in brief

• The Group’s revenue was EUR 91.6 million (EUR 78.1 million in January–­September 2017). Revenue increased by 17.3%.
• The Group’s adjusted[2] EBITDA was EUR 7.8 million (6.6). Adjusted EBITDA increased by EUR 1.2 million or 17.8%.
• The Group’s earnings per share (EPS) was EUR -0.231. The result was impacted by amortizations of goodwill amounting to EUR 5.1 million and listing expenses of EUR 3.0 million.

Outlook for 2018 (unchanged)

VMP expects its adjusted EBITDA for the financial period ending December 31, 2018 to increase clearly compared to the financial period ended December 31, 2017.

Key figures

VMP Plc Chief Executive Officer Juha Pesola

“VMP’s revenue continued to increase in the third quarter. Strong revenue growth continued in staffing and self-employment service areas. In my estimate, we have continued to grow according to our targets, i.e. faster than the market.

During the year, our profitability has been on a good level. In the third quarter, our adjusted EBITDA remained good, but did not quite reach the previous year’s level. The corresponding period was very strong due to exceptionally high demand for recruitment services.

During the third quarter, we continued to streamline our operations and completed the merger of Personnel and Romana operations in the recruitment and organizational development service area. From now on, we will operate under the Personnel brand in this service area. This change will enable us to serve our customers even better, more efficiently and more comprehensively.

We want to take an active role in the HR services industry consolidation and we have progressed according to plan in the implementation of our strategy. Through the consolidation, we aim to expand our service offering, which will also support our organic growth. Industry expectations for the future remain positive and the market is expected to continue its growth.

The Finnish working life is in need of reforms and I hope that decision-makers have the courage to make open-minded choices. The growth service reform aims to respond to the changes in working life by, among other things, making use of the private sector in service production. VMP’s growth service projects include for example the ‘Nuoret töihin!’ and ‘Nuoret kohti työtä’ projects. I believe that the growth service reform will proceed and we will invest strongly in future pilot projects. The private sector can provide innovative solutions for developing the job market and promoting employment. We are also piloting the production of growth services in cooperation with social and healthcare service providers to offer more comprehensive services to customers.”

Result publication event

A press conference for analysts and media will be held on Wednesday, November 21, 2018 at 11.00 a.m. Finnish time as an audiocast at https://vmp.videosync.fi/q3-katsaus. The conference will be held in Finnish. The conference will be hosted by Juha Pesola, CEO, and Jarmo Korhonen, CFO. During the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions.

The presentation material will be available at company website at https://eezy.fi/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/ before the conference.

A recording of the audiocast will be available at the same website later on the same day.

More information:

Juha Pesola, CEO
tel. +358 (0)40 307 5105

Jarmo Korhonen, CFO
tel. +358 (0)40 510 9336

Certified Adviser: Danske Bank A/S, Finland branch, tel. +358 10 546 7938

VMP is a Finnish HR services company with a comprehensive offering of staffing, recruiting and organisational development and self employment services. VMP is one of the leading HR services companies in Finland as measured by revenue. With its comprehensive services offering VMP aims to meet the changing needs of both employees and employers and is a holistic HR partner to its clients. In 2017, VMP’s revenue amounted to EUR 109.5 million and EBITDA was EUR 9.3 million corresponding to an 8.5 per cent EBITDA margin.

[1] In the calculation of earnings per share, the number of shares is 14,799,198 (registered number of shares as of September 30, 2018).

VMP Plc (“VMP”) was founded on September 8, 2017. The company acquired Varamiespalvelu-Group on October 31, 2017 through a share transaction. Due to this, the consolidated financial statement of VMP Plc for 2017 only includes operative business activity from a two-month time period. The share transaction had no impact on business operations, but it resulted in VMP Plc having considerable consolidated goodwill and a changed financing structure. The financing structure has also changed due to the financing arrangement carried out in spring 2018 as well as the public listing carried out in June 2018.

The interim report presents information about VMP Group from January 1–September 30, 2018. Comparable data consists of interim information on Varamiespalvelu-Group (“VPG”) from January 1–September 30, 2017 as well as information on Varamiespalvelu-Group from the financial period January 1–December 31, 2017. The interim information is not comparable concerning amortizations of goodwill and financing costs resulting from the share transaction.

The financial statements and interim reports of VMP Plc and Varamiespalvelu-Group are made pursuant to Finnish Accounting Standards (FAS).

[2] In January–June 2018, EUR 0.5 million in personnel expenses relating to severance payments and bonus payments related to the acquisition has been entered as items affecting comparability.