Company announcement 2/2020: Financial report 2019 and Annual General Meeting 2020
Revenue increased 1.7% and operating profit margin before special items was 7.8% (8.0% in constant currencies) in 2019
Performance highlights for the fourth quarter of 2019:
Revenue decreased by 2.7% in Q4 2019 compared to Q4 2018 driven by a 27% decline from the Novo Nordisk Group. This was partly countered by growth from international life sciences (35%), finance (24%), public (18%) and Danish life sciences (5.9%)
Excluding business from Novo Nordisk Group, revenue increased 13% (8.4% organic) in Q4 2019. The share of NNIT’s revenue from clients outside the Novo Nordisk Group increased to 70% in Q4 2019 from 61% in Q4 2018
Gross profit decreased by 13% in Q4 2019 following the significant decline in revenue from the Novo Nordisk Group where costs could not be adjusted at the same pace. This led to an operating profit margin before restructuring costs of 10.1% and an operating profit margin of 9.1%
Net profit was DKK 58m in Q4 2019 compared to DKK 85m in Q4 2018
Order backlog for 2020 at the beginning of Q1 2020 was DKK 2,039m, a decrease of 6.1% compared to the same time last year negatively impacted by a decline of 26% from the Novo Nordisk Group partly countered by other clients which grew by 6.3%
NNIT’s revenue growth of 1.7% and operating profit margin before special items of 8.0% (constant currencies) in 2019 were in line with the most recent guidance
To drive growth and support margins, NNIT implements new go-to market strategy which focuses on high growth areas where NNIT can leverage existing strong capabilities or has the potential to build strong capabilities
Guidance for 2020:
Revenue growth of -4% to -8% in constant currencies
Operating profit margin before special items of 6-8% in constant currencies
Level of investments (CAPEX) is 5-7% of total revenue
The Board of Directors proposes to pay out DKK 4.00 per share corresponding to DKK 98.5m which includes the interim dividend for 2019 (DKK 49.2m) paid in August 2019. This corresponds to a pay-out ratio of net profit of 54% a dividend yield of 3.6%
Per Kogut, CEO at NNIT comments: “Regarding Q4 2019, it is encouraging that we ended a challenging year on a strong note with revenue growth of 13% outside Novo Nordisk Group driven by life sciences, finance and public clients. This partly mitigated the decline in revenue from the Novo Nordisk Group of 27% and ensured results in line with the most recent guidance. I expect 2020 to be a tough transition year with a declining revenue due to loss of business from our two largest clients as earlier announced. For other clients we expect to see strong growth and with our new focused go-to market strategy I am confident that we are well positioned for the future.”
Conference call details
NNIT will host a teleconference January 29, 2020 at 10:30 CET about the financial report for 2019. Please visit the NNIT webpage at www.nnit.com to access the teleconference, which can be found under ‘Investors – Events & presentations’. Presentation material will be available on the website approximately one hour prior to the start of the presentation.
Conference call details
https://nnit.eventcdn.net/2019fy/
Participant telephone numbers:
Denmark: +45 3544 5583
United Kingdom: +44 20 3194 0544
Sweden: +46 8 5664 2661
United States: +1 855 269 2604
Financial Calendar 2020
March 5, 2020 Annual General Meeting
March 6, 2020 Dividend ex-dividend date
March 9, 2020 Dividend record date
March 10, 2020 Dividend payment date
May 6, 2020 Interim report for the first three months of 2020
August 13, 2020 Interim report for the first six months of 2020
October 29, 2020 Interim report for the first nine months of 2020
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of NNIT A/S will be held on Thursday March 5, 2020 at 2 pm at the NNIT head office, Oestmarken 3A, 2860 Soeborg, Denmark.
The Board of Directors intends to propose re-election of Anne Broeng, Caroline Serfass, Carsten Dilling, Christian Kanstrup, Eivind Kolding, Peter Haahr. The Board of Directors also intends to propose re-election of Carsten Dilling as Chairman and re-election of Peter Haahr as Deputy Chairman.
The Board of Directors intends to propose re-election of PricewaterhouseCoopers Statsautoriseret Revisionspartnerselskab as the Company’s auditor.
Proposed dividend
Due to the strong underlying cash flow generation, the Board of Directors intends to propose to the shareholders at the annual general meeting that dividends of DKK 2.00 per share be distributed for the financial year 2019. Including the interim dividend of DKK 2.00 per share in August 2019 this brings the total dividend for the financial year 2019 to DKK 4.00 per share (2018: DKK 4.60 per share), equal to a dividend pay-out ratio of 54% of the 2019 net results compared to 48% in 2018. For 2019 this corresponds to a dividend yield of 3.6%.
Implementation of a supplementary share-based incentive program to a selected group of employees
NNIT has decided to offer a share-based retention program to a selected group of employees who are not already part of a retention program. The objective is to ensure retention of key employees and motivate focus on long term value creation.
The retention program comprises a self-investment element and a matching contribution component. Each participant must accordingly acquire NNIT shares corresponding to a value of DKK 500,000. In return hereof, NNIT shall grant each participant up to one Restricted Share Unit (RSU) for each share acquired by the participant. Each RSU will upon vesting give the right to one NNIT share without consideration.
RSUs granted will be subject to a vesting period of three years and fulfilment of certain performance criteria for each of the years 2020-2022 relating to organic revenue growth, operating profit margin and individual objectives for each participant. If criteria are not met, the number of RSUs will be reduced or lapse entirely.
The NNIT shares purchased in connection with the retention program and RSUs granted will be subject to a lock-up restriction of at least three years from the grant date until the release of the annual report 2022 in 2023, at which point in time each vested RSUs will give the right to one NNIT share. If the employment of a participant is discontinued in the vesting period the RSUs will, under certain conditions, lapse.
No new shares will be issued to cover allocations under the retention program.
Contacts for further information
Investors:
Carsten Krogsgaard Thomsen
CFO
Tel: +45 3075 1415
ckth@nnit.com
Media relations:
Helga Heyn
NNIT Communications
Tel: +45 3077 8141
hhey@nnit.com
About NNIT
NNIT A/S is one of Denmark’s leading IT service providers and consultancies. NNIT A/S offers a wide range of IT services and solutions to its clients, primarily in the life sciences sector in Denmark and internationally and to clients in the public, enterprise and finance sectors in Denmark. As of December 31, 2019, NNIT A/S had 3,207 employees. NNIT has approximately 350 clients of which around 150 are located outside Denmark. More than 30% are international life sciences clients (December 2019). For more information please visit www.nnit.com.
