Qt Group Plc Interim statement January-March 2024

First quarter 2024: Net sales growth slightly weaker than estimated, operating profit (EBITA) increased by 40.5 percent

January-March 2024

• Net sales increased 12.8 percent to EUR 45.1 million (EUR 40.0 million). The effect of exchange rates on the comparison period's net sales was EUR 0.4 million, and at comparable exchange rates, net sales increased by 13.9 percent.
• Operating profit (EBITA) was 11.0 million (EUR 7.8 million) or 24.3 percent (19.5%) of net sales.
• Operating profit (EBIT) was 9.0 million (EUR 5.8 million) or 19.9 percent (14.5%) of net sales.
• Earnings per share were EUR 0.30 (EUR 0.17).

The figures in brackets refer to the comparison period, i.e., the corresponding period in the previous year. The percentage of change in net sales at comparable exchange rates is calculated by translating the net sales from the comparison period of 2023 with the actual exchange rates of the reporting period of 2024 and by comparing the reported net sales in 2024 with the calculated 2023 net sales at comparable exchange rates.

Key figures

[][][][][]
EUR 1,000 1-3/2024 1-3/2023 Change, % 1-12/2023
Net sales 45,078 39,971 12.8% 180,743
Operating profit (EBITA) 10,961 7,800 40.5% 55,379
EBITA, % 24.3% 19.5% 30.6%
Operating profit (EBIT) 8,954 5,792 54.6% 47,349
EBIT, % 19.9% 14.5% 26.2%
Return on equity, % 6.0% 4.9% 33.9%
Return on investment, %  6.9% 4.7% 35.6%
Interest-bearing liabilities [1] 4,463 28,271 -84.2% 20,513
Cash and cash equivalents[ ][1] 34,436 23,071 49.3% 33,595
Net gearing, % [1] -23.1% 5.7% -10.7%
Equity ratio, % [1] 71.6% 54.2% 64.4%
Earnings per share (EPS), EUR 0.30 0.17 73.5% 1.40
Diluted earnings per share, EUR 0.30 0.17 73.4% 1.39
Personnel, on average 797 699 14.0% 732

[1] At the end of period

Juha Varelius, President and CEO

Qt Group's net sales growth in the first quarter of 2024 was slightly weaker than estimated despite the fact that, due to the strong comparison period, moderate growth was expected in the first months of the year. Net sales for January-March 2024 amounted to EUR 45.1 million. At comparable exchange rates, net sales increased by 13.9 percent.  Net sales growth was weaker than estimated due to the sales of distribution licenses being weaker than estimated. Otherwise, the license base has continued to grow at a steady rate.

Operating profit (EBITA) in the first quarter was EUR 11.0 million, or 24.3 percent of net sales. This represents year-on-year growth of 40.5 percent. 

In January-March 2024, our number of personnel increased by 31 employees and stood at 806 at the end of March. The number of personnel has increased by 14.1 percent when compared to the end of March last year. We will continue to recruit personnel and invest in research and product development, focusing particularly on key strategic growth areas.

We announced two significant partnerships at the beginning of 2024. We joined the Software-Defined Vehicle landscape on Amazon Web Services (AWS). Qt is one of the only Human-Machine Interface (HMI) development platforms available in AWS Marketplace. We also started a collaboration with Infineon Technologies AG, the world leader in automotive semiconductors. Infineon's graphics-enabled TRAVEO™ T2G Cluster microcontrollers are now available with Qt's lightweight and high-performance graphics framework and easy-to-use developer toolkit. The new solution further increases efficiency in the development of graphical user interfaces (GUI).

Our view is that we are in an excellent position to grow our position in the software development tools and the quality assurance markets, both within the Qt ecosystem and beyond it.  We are continuing to execute the growth strategy we published last fall, and we are confident that our growth will accelerate particularly in the latter half of 2024, and that our full-year net sales will grow in line with our previously published forecast.

Outlook for 2024

We estimate that our full-year net sales for 2024 will increase by 20-30 percent year-on-year at comparable exchange rates and that our operating profit margin (EBITA %) will be 25-35 percent in 2024. 

News conference

Qt Group will hold an English-language news conference on April 25, 2024, at 15:30-16:30 EEST at Itämerentorni in Helsinki, Finland, and as a webcast at www.qt.io/investors. CEO Juha Varelius and CFO Jouni Lintunen will present the results at the news conference. Analysts and investors can participate in the news conference in person or via conference call at https://palvelu.flik.fi/teleconference/?id=50048456.

Further information:
President and CEO Juha Varelius, tel. +358 9 8861 8040

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key media
www.qt.io