Eezy Plc’s Half-Year Report 1-6/2020: Quick adaptation to exceptional conditions

EEZY PLC  —  COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT  —  11 AUGUST 2020 AT 8:00Eezy Plc’s Half-Year Report 1-6/2020: Quick adaptation to exceptional conditionsApril–June 2020Revenue was EUR 39.0 million (EUR 32.5 million in April–June 2019).EBITDA was EUR 1.8 million (3.1).EBIT was EUR -0.5 million (2.3).Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 1.8 million (3.6).Adjusted EBIT was EUR 0.0 million (2.8).Earnings per share was EUR -0.03 (0.11).Corona crisis has affected the business negatively.January–June 2020Revenue was EUR 94.1 million (EUR 60.9 million in January–June 2019).EBITDA was EUR 4.6 million (5.9).EBIT was EUR 0.4 million (4.4).Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 4.6 million (6.4).Adjusted EBIT was EUR 1.0 million (4.9).Earnings per share was EUR -0.02 (0.20).Corona crisis has affected the business negatively.             Outlook for 2020Eezy has on 20 March 2020 cancelled the earlier guidance for year 2020 due to the corona crisis and has not set a new guidance for year 2020. A new guidance will be provided when the company has a better understanding of the duration and effects of the corona virus epidemic.Key figures (IFRS)CEO Sami Asikainen:Determined actions in a challenging quarter“Corona virus has significantly affected both us and our customers. Year 2020 has been characterized by changes due to the virus and the related restrictions for the whole society, customers and us. Corona has significantly weakened our revenue and result. However, we have been able to successfully serve our customers and employees during the whole crisis.Fast reaction to CoronaWhen the crisis started in March, we set clear goals for ourselves: we have to react quickly, customer service has to be ensured, and we must take care of our employees’ health and the profitability of our business in all situations.Corona started to impact our operations already in March. The most significant impact during Q2 was in the Horeca sector and in the importing of foreign labor. These businesses practically stopped in spring. We lost over EUR 20 million revenue in Q2 due to that.In the industrial, construction and logistics sectors the effects have hugely varied by region and customer. The widely-spread temporary layoffs and less than normal amount of summer jobs have affected the demand for our services. These sectors generate normally almost half of our revenue and the impact from Corona has decreased that by 10-15% during H1. The demand in the retail sector and rental doctors has grown and we have been able to increase the business on these sectors.Recruitment and organizational development business has suffered from Corona, as customers have postponed projects and recruitments, which has also decreased sales potential to new customers. The impact on self-employment business varies by the service sector, but has been negative as whole.To ensure our service ability and the health of our employees, we immediately started to encourage remote work and made a digi-jump in a record time to ensure our internal operations and customer service. To maintain our performance level we quickly accommodated the group function employees’ cost structure to match the business volume in each sector.Sadly our group employees and staffed employees have paid the largest price for our crisis actions. I am very grateful and proud for our employees’ fighting spirit and their eagerness to succeed together.Operational profitability during the crisisQuick reaction to the crisis has helped us to overcome moderately well the significant changes to our operations due to corona. So far the direct costs from corona, like sick-leaves, have been surprisingly small. So far also the payment difficulties by customers have not increased very much, but we have written down receivables by EUR 1.6 million in the second quarter (which we do not report as an extraordinary item).In the difficult second quarter, our revenue grew by 20% due to acquisitions and was EUR 39.0 million. EBIT was EUR -0.5 million and also includes EUR 0.5 million write-down of IT systems being retired.Naturally the figures do not match our original targets for the first year-half. But taking into account the huge changes in our environment and the one-time investments (e.g. Eezy brand) and the write-downs, we can be moderately satisfied to the profitability of our underlying business operations.Eezy integration progressesWe renewed our brand in the early part of this year, and the new Eezy is now visible to our employees and customers in all parts of Finland. I strongly believe that the spiritual unification to one Eezy has been made quicker thanks to the common actions to overcome the crisis. Entrepreneurial, positive and respectful culture has been further strengthened in our professional operations.We have progressed well in our synergy plans. The salary costs of employees in group functions have clearly decreased. The harmonization of our IT systems has also progressed according to plan. This creates us a reliable basis for our future profitable growth.Uncertainty will continueAlthough the restrictions have been gradually removed and we have been able to restart services for all customer sectors in June, although e.g. Horeca sector has recovered rather slowly. Outlook for the remaining part of the year is still unclear and we can’t yet give a concrete profit outlook.Our customers and markets are still characterized by cautiousness and uncertainty about length of the crisis and a possible second wave. We will continue to react quickly to changing situations, so that we can keep our business profitable while keeping our employees healthy and safe.”

Result publication event:A Finnish-language briefing for analysts and media will be held on August 11, 2020 at 12.00 in the company premises at Itämerenkatu 3, Helsinki, and can the followed as a webcast at https://eezy.videosync.fi/2020-q2-tuloksetThe briefing will be hosted by CEO Sami Asikainen and CFO Hannu Nyman. During the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. The presentation material will be available at the company website at https://sijoittajat.eezy.fi/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/ before the conference. A recording of the audiocast will be available at the same website later.
Attachment: Half-Year Report January–June 2020 in PDF format
Further information:Sami Asikainen
CEO
sami.asikainen@eezy.fi
tel. +358 (0)40 700 9915Hannu Nyman
CFO
Eezy Plc
hannu.nyman@eezy.fi
tel. +358 (0)50 306 9913Certified Advisor:
Danske Bank A/S, Finland Branch, tel. +358 (0)10 546 7934
AttachmentEezy_Plc_Half-Year_Report_Q2_2020_ENG