Q2 2019/Selvaag Bolig ASA Earnings Presentation
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14 August 2019/08.30 CET – Q2 2019/Selvaag Bolig ASA earnings presentation Translation from the original Norwegian, which remains the definitive version Corporate participants Rolf Thorsen, CEO, Selvaag Bolig ASA Sverre Molvik, CFO, Selvaag Bolig ASA Presentation Rolf Thorsen, CEO, Selvaag Bolig ASA A hearty welcome to everyone to this presentation of the figures for the second quarter and first half of 2019 for Selvaag Bolig. And a hearty welcome to those who are following us on the web transmission. This meeting is also being streamed directly to those who want to follow us on the web. My name is Rolf Thorsen, and I am the CEO of Selvaag Bolig. This is my first quarterly presentation. I was also present at the previous one, but I wasn’t allowed to do more than say my name on that occasion. This time I’m allowed to say a bit more. I hope I’ll be able to take you through at least some key figures and a little more than that as well. I will be giving this presentation together with Sverre Molvik, who is our CFO. In terms of the agenda, the plan is that I start by going through a few highlights and some sales figures. Sverre will then take over and talk more about operations and the key figures, and go into these in somewhat greater depth. I will then return to talk a little about the market and finally try to sum up. We propose that all questions are taken at the end in a form of Q&A session. It is also be possible to submit questions via the web portal. If there is anyone out there following us on the web, they will thereby also be able to put questions which we will read out and answer here. It is fun, I must say, to be able to show the kind of figures we’re going to present at my first quarterly presentation. The figures are generally good. All the key figures, after all, are strong and it is the strong sales which first and foremost characterise the quarter, as well as the first half for that matter. Based on this, and on the strong figures, the board decided yesterday afternoon to pay a dividend of NOK 2.00 per share, which will be paid later this autumn. We aren’t finding, of course, that we’re enjoying a bonanza market in any way. It’s probably more of a slog market, a “bread and milk” market. But it’s precisely in such a market that a player like us has its strength – where craftsmanship finds its just reward, where we must toil for each sale, where each sale must be worked through. That’s when a player like us really has a chance to stand out from the crowd. We’re also finding that it is Greater Oslo and our machines there which drive up our results and volumes. But it’s also important for us to be positioned in the other large cities. We are confident that Stavanger, for example, Bergen and for that matter Trondheim will also help to raise our results in the future. They are not contributing so much at the moment, but more will come. Looking at the key figures, IFRS operating revenues of NOK 1 035 million were primarily driven by deliveries in five projects – including three of our big “machines” in Oslo. The margin is fantastic, I’d say rather immodestly, at 30.5 per cent on the IFRS results for this quarter. The same also applies to the first half, with a turnover of NOK 1 144 million and a margin of 26.8 per cent. We are well satisfied with that – I’d actually say that we’re more than well satisfied. And we hope this won’t be where the expectations people have of us will rest for all time. We don’t believe we’re going to deliver margins in the 30-40 per cent range in perpetuity. We then have NGAAP operating revenues of NOK 868 million. The strong sales are actually what have pulled us up here. We talked about strong sales in the previous quarter and they continued during the second quarter. And it would be no exaggeration to say that we’re also selling well in the third quarter. An NGAAP margin of 24.4 per cent for the quarter and 23.6 per cent for the first half is very good. As I have mentioned, sales are what is driving us. We had a sales value of NOK 1.1 billion in the second quarter – almost on a par with our first-quarter performance, which was a record figure. So progress is really brisk where sales are concerned. It’s clear that the NGAAP result is a combination of sales and production in the projects, so both aspects are helping to drive results. But it’s sales which primarily stand out in this quarter and, for that matter, this half-year. If we look at numbers, we have sold 453 units net so far this year. Comparing that with earlier years, this is a very positive level and actually marks a return to the strong 2015-2016 figures. We are back to a very good volume. The same applies if we look at the rolling figures. All the curves are actually pointing upwards here. The Selvaag Bolig ship is making faster and faster progress – NOK 3.6 billion in 12-month rolling sales volume and 905 units sold. So sales are high on our agenda and the results board for this quarter. But it’s not only sales. We’ve also had fantastic IFRS results, which are the outcome of rather more than sales. So Sverre will now take you through the figures in a little greater depth, and I’ll return with both facts and opinions about the market, and we’ll then take questions at the end. The floor is yours, Sverre. Sverre Molvik, CFO, Selvaag Bolig ASA Thank you. I’ll take a rather closer look at operations and the financial figures. As Rolf said, the market has been very good so far this year. The first quarter witnessed good sales and the second was equally positive. This means that, for the second quarter in a row, we are starting construction of more units than we’re completing. That’s very positive, of course. It increases, you might say, the speed of the ship. We had four more construction starts than completions in this quarter, which means we increased the value of units in production even further from the previous quarter to NOK 1 538 million. Admittedly, the value of the completed units was a little higher in the quarter than for those starting construction, so that the total figure is down a little, by just over NOK 50 million to NOK 7 039 million. Seventy-one per cent of units under construction were sold at 30 June, which we’re well satisfied with. We have started construction of just over 800 units over the last six-nine months, and the fact that we’ve cycled out about half the number of units under construction during that period while still maintaining such a high sales ratio is good. In addition, as Rolf indicated, sales have been good during the first month and a half of this quarter, so that the sales ratio of 71 per cent is naturally higher now than it was at 30 June. The bulk of the construction volume – in other words, 82 per cent – is still in Selvaag Bolig’s core market, which is Greater Oslo. That has always been the tendency but, as Rolf mentioned, we will be expanding our activities in the other cities. We expect to get under way in Bergen soon, Trondheim is already making a good contribution and Stavanger is ticking over. Rolf will come back to this a little later on, but these are markets we expect to strengthen over time. If we look at forthcoming completions, our guidance is the same as for the previous quarter – 776 units for the full year. Of these, 83 per cent were sold at 30 June and far more by now. We have, of course, a fixed sales strategy which I can remind you of. This fundamental strategy is to sell 60 per cent of the units until the start of construction, generally at a fixed price. If the market is very good and we’re selling too quickly, we raise prices even in that period. We then raise prices and sell on a straight-line basis during the construction period until completion, and take out the market potential and optimise risk/reward in each project. That’s very important and is naturally a key factor in our ability to deliver the way we do, which we’re going to look at now – specifically a very good result with a very high margin. We delivered 246 units during the quarter, which was virtually the same as in the same period of last year – just three more. But you can note that the value of the units we’re delivered this year – the unit price – is far higher than last year, which naturally means that the volume is significantly higher. Total revenues of NOK 1 035 million compared with NOK 864 million, including some rental income and Pluss service revenues. Project costs came to NOK 705 million – I repeat, as expected. I can’t remember the last time we overran a budget.