The IT services market is currently very strong, and eWork is capitalizing well on these trends. In addition, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, we assess that the demand for freelancing is currently stronger than ever, as people find remote work opportunities compelling. eWork’s Q4 sales grew 19% y-o-y to SEK 3,863m, which was 3% ahead of our forecast. All regions contributed well, whereas Norway remains the brightest shining star, growing 42% y-o-y. Encouragingly, Finland grew 8% y-o-y after 7 consecutive quarters with declining y-o-y growth. The gross margin of 3.69% (ABGSCe 3.69) was flat q-o-q, but up 0.46pp y-o-y, driven by a favourable sales mix (more matching-related revenues). Although the gross profit exceeded our forecast by 3%, opex was 5% higher than we had expected, leading to EBIT of SEK 42m (-2% vs. ABGSC SEK 43m).
Radar expects 6% growth for the Swedish IT market in ‘22e
The market strength was also witnessed in orders, which grew 31% y-o-y. Based on this, and recent market forecasts from Radar (expecting the Swedish and Norwegian IT services markets to grow 6% and 8%, respectively, in 2022), we remain optimistic about 2022. Therefore, we raise our ’22e-‘23e sales forecasts by 4-3%. Consequently, we lift our corresponding EBIT forecasts by 7-6%.
Poised for further growth
We now forecast eWork to deliver a ’21-‘24e CAGR in sales and EBIT of 9% and 10%, respectively, driven by its leading position in a strong market, together with its improved product portfolio on the back of high investments over the past years. On our new estimates, eWork is trading at 16x-15x ‘22e-‘23e EV/EBIT, coupled with 6-5% lease adj. FCF yields.
Läs mer på Introduce
Aktuellt
SENASTE
