Pihlajalinna - Profitability beats
Pihlajalinna’s revenue is in line, but profitability improved more than expected. Organic growth also now turned positive and was +1.1%, after being negative in H1. Guidance for 2018E is intact.
- Revenue was EUR 116m vs. EUR 117m/116m Evli/cons estimates. Revenue grew by 17.0% y/y, of which 15.9% was due to M&A, implying organic growth of +1.1%. Organic growth was -1.8% in H1.
- Adj. EBITDA was EUR 10.7m (9.2% margin) vs. EUR 9.6m/9.7m (8.2%/8.4%) Evli/cons estimates. Adj. EBITDA improved by EUR 1.7m y/y, of which EUR 1.6m came from M&A. Profitability was hurt by EUR -0.8m start-up costs related to new clinics, while we had incorporated EUR -0.6m. Profitability excl. the clinics’ impact thus improved more than we expected, supported by profitability improvements in occupational healthcare and higher volumes of diagnostics.
- Guidance for 2018E is intact: Revenue will increase clearly from 2017 level (2017A: EUR 424m) especially due to M&A transactions. Adjusted EBIT is expected to fall short of the 2017 level (2017A: EUR 20m).