Projektengagemang: Impressive cost control in Q4 - ABG

Q4: 1% organic sales growth, adj. EBITA margin of 7.3% (5.5%)
Projektengagemang (PE) showed continued improvement in Q4. Net sales of SEK 252m was down 3% y-o-y, but up 1% organically, which was in line with ABGSCe. Profitability was clearly better than expected, however, with an adj. EBITA margin of 7.3% (5.5%) vs ABGSCe at 4.4%. This impressed us as we know that the real estate and construction market is challenging right now, especially for architects, and PE has a 90% exposure to that. The deviation to our numbers was mainly from better cost control, and we notice a decrease in personnel costs y-o-y despite similar amounts of FTEs. This tells us that either the turnover rate has decreased or that PE has hired younger talents with lower wage requirements. Another positive was that the struggling Installation business area saw a sharp improvement in Q4. The board proposed a dividend of SEK 0.40 (LY: 0.40), as the leverage situation is still hovering around its target.