Atvexa: Organic growth of 6% in Q3 - ABG

Q3: Healthy organic growth but adj. EBIT lower than last year
Atvexa reported Q3 sales of SEK 576m (+23% y-o-y), 4% ahead of our forecast. However, SEK 14m was from other income in conjunction with a revaluation of the earn-out for ULNA. Adjusting for that, sales were 1% ahead of ABGSCe. The organic growth remained strong at 6.2% in Q3 despite a challenging environment in Germany following COVID-19 restrictions that have led to a slower intake of children than anticipated by the company in the country. Adj. EBIT excl. IFRS 16 was SEK 19m (24m), corresponding to a margin of 3.3% (5.1%). We were expecting SEK 24m and a margin of 4.4%. Part of the deviation was from a slight change in seasonality following an increased share of compulsory schools in the group as opposed to preschools. The other explanation for the lower adj. EBIT was higher opex due to a normalization of activities in schools, as last year had some cost savings due to COVID-19.