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"Amid the ongoing transformation to a new customer-centric go-to-market model, all of Bisnode’s business areas except Sweden and Belgium showed positive organic growth. Bisnode continues to invest in areas which enable our customers to make smart decisions."
First quarter highlights
- Total revenue amounted to SEK 873 million (865) for the quarter and an organic growth of -0.2 per cent (-0.5). All business areas except Sweden and Other markets show improved organic growth.
- Q1 2015 EBITA SEK 38 million (58) is less than the previous year, and is mainly explained by the slow start in Sweden during January and February 2015.
- Sweden shows signs of improvement in March compared to January and February as well as compared to Q4 2014. Sweden reported anorganic growth of -1.3 per cent in March supported by growth in the Major Accounts segment. Following strong Q42014 sales, Germany’s development is stable given new product launches and increased customer prospecting.
- On 9 March 2015 Lars Pettersson resigned as President and CEO of Bisnode. Group CFO, Anders Berg, took over as acting CEO, and Chairman of the Board, Jon Risfelt, will strengthen the company more operationally for a period of time.
Comments from the CEO
”Bisnode’s reorganization to a customer-centric go-to-market model was finalised in Q1 2015. This shift is fundamental for sustainable long-term growth, and for this quarter all major markets, except for Sweden, are reporting positive organic growth. In Q1 Sweden faced lingering negative effects attributable to the Q4 2014 reorganization. However, the Group is working hard to leverage the new organizational model, and March is showing signs of improvement.”
The organic growth rate for Q1 was -0.2 per cent (-0.5 per cent in Q1 2014 and 1.6 per cent in Q4 2014). A continued decline in traditional direct marketing services contributed to overall unsatisfactory development in Marketing Solutions; however, the decline was offset by growth in digital marketing and data management services. Credit and Business Information Solutions showed positive development.
Sweden showed negative organic growth for the quarter. Part of the decline can be attributed to lingering effects of the Q4 2014 reorganisation, affecting performance at the beginning of the year. By the end of the quarter we see progress, with healthy March performance in the major corporate clients segment, which presents growth versus previous year.
Among the other Nordic countries, Finland and Norway experienced a good start to the year with good organic growth for the quarter. Denmark was off to a slow start due to the same sales reorganisation as in Sweden, but recuperated significantly in March with strong sales performance that counterbalanced the initial weak start. Thanks to this, Finland, Norway and Denmark ended with positive growth for the first quarter.
DACH continued its positive trend, now showing positive organic growth. A new compliance-related product was successfully launched, enabling greater insight into how businesses can meet and adapt to rapidly changing regulatory policies.
Central Europe continues to show strong organic growth, and is now focusing on more sophisticated customer segmentation and solutions. Central Europe continues to share and launch new products across all solution areas.
For central group functions, the centralisation of product management and IT is continuing with the objective of gaining operating leverage from products and platforms in order to re-establish positive organic growth at the group level. Investments continue to be made in areas which enable Bisnode’s customers to make smart decisions, for example in integrated customer workflow solutions and decision analytics.
During the quarter Bisnode divested its collection business, Credita, in Switzerland, and acquired two smaller businesses in Central Europe. All in line with Bisnode’s core focus.