Fourth quarter with >20% organic growth
Clavister delivered solid sales growth of 23% in Q4 (all organic), leading to sales of SEK 59m (+7% vs. ABGSCe) while the ARR grew 14% y-o-y and 8% q-o-q. Management said the growth was primarily driven by a general increase in the base business, which is encouraging. The main difference between total sales growth and ARR comes from growth in the defence business, where the norm is sales on a perpetual basis compared to the base business, where recurring revenue licences are the norm. Strong growth in the base business triggered higher costs for variable compensation, which had a negative impact on the EBITDA margin. The quarter also saw non-recurring expenses of SEK 2.5m, mainly related to the ongoing legal dispute with FortifiedID AB. Adjusted for the legal expenses, the adj. EBITDA was SEK 10m and in line with our expectations. The order intake was lower than last year, but mainly as a result of a record defence order in the comparable quarter, and adjusted for significant defence orders, the underlying order intake was solid, which is evident in the ARR growth.