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Sweden – Wise Group reports strong Q3 revenue and profit growth

21 November 2014

Swedish staffing company Wise Group AB (WISE: SS) reported revenue for the third quarter ending 30 September 2014 of SEK 114.5 million (€12.3 million), an increase of +16% from SEK 99 million (€10.7 million) during the same period last year.

The company reported operating profit of SEK 1.6 million (€172,476), a marked improvement against an operating loss of SEK 986,000 (€106,288) a year ago. Net income for the period was SEK 1.4 million (€150,917), against a net loss of SEK 797,000 (€85,915) in Q3 2013.

Roland Gustavsson, CEO of Wise Group, commented: “The third quarter is generally out weakest quarter, and it was again this year. This is mainly due to the summer months of July and August, which means lower revenues than other months in the year. 2014 was no exception, but we can still say that we continue to increase growth and improve performance, compared with the previous year. We reported turnover of SEK 114.5 million, operating profit of SEK 1.6 million for the quarter, representing organic growth of +12% and a significant improvement in profitability.”

“The first nine months have shown continuous improvement in terms of both growth and profitability. Contributing to this is a slightly better market position and improved efficiency in our Recruitment Services segment and good sales growth in the Consultant Recruitment Services segment. Earning declined in the HR Services segment, as a result of non0recurring revenue relating to a dispute from last year.”

He continued: “In September we launched operations in Finland, through a partnership between our subsidiary K2 Search and Finnish recruitment company, Oy people Management, we formed K2 Search Oy. This is another step in our long-term goal of expanding our operations beyond Sweden. Our Danish operations are expanding rapidly and next year we are aiming to achieve revenue of more than SEK 10 million (€1.1 million) and to be profitable.”

Broken down by business segment, Wise Group’s Recruitment Services segment reported revenue of SEK 20 million (€2.2 million) during Q3 2014, an increase of 25+% from SEK 16 million (€1.7 million) during Q3 2013.

Revenue from Consultant Recruitment Services rose by 19+% to SEK 54.2 million (€5.8 million), up from SEK 45.4 million (€4.9 million) last year.

HR Services reported revenue growth of 7+% to SEK 40.3 million (€4.3 million), up from SEK 37.6 million (€4.1 million) during the same period last year.

Looking forward, Mr Gustavsson concluded: “Having invested heavily in building our organisation for continued growth, we have now found a better balance between growth and profitability. It is clear that our past investments in growth are now having an effect. Most of our companies are growing and will probably increase their market share. It is with great confidence that I look forward to the end of the year and 2015.”

In trading today, the company’s share price rose by +7.5% to SEK 1.07 (€0.11), a decrease of -7.2% compared with a year ago. Based on its current share price, the company has a market value of SEK 158.8 million (€17.1 million).