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View All NewsSweden – Wise Group first quarter revenue and profits increase, growth led by Swedish and Finnish operations
Wise Group (WISE:SS), the Swedish staffing firm, reported revenue for the first quarter ending 31 March 2018 of SEK 227.5 million (€22.0 million), an increase of 16.3% compared with the same quarter last year.
In comparable units, sales of SEK 10.7 million (€1.0 million) have been eliminated attributable to Bright Relation AB, which was acquired and consolidated in June 2017. For comparable units, sales increased by 11%.
| (SEK millions) | Q1 2018 | Q1 2017 | Change | Q1 2018 (€ millions) |
| Revenue | 227.5 | 195.6 | 16.3% | 22.0 |
| EBITDA | 13.8 | 9.5 | 45.5% | 1.3 |
| Operating Profit | 10.5 | 7.3 | 43.6% | 1.0 |
| Profit for the period | 8.0 | 5.1 | 56.6% | 0.7 |
During the first quarter, Wise Group announced a number of key personnel changes:
On 16 January 2018, Lisen Agnevik took over as CEO of the subsidiary Wise Consulting AB.
Ingrid Höög, former CEO of the subsidiary Wise Professionals AB, took over as CEO and CEO of Wise Group on 16 February 2018. Boel Sjöstrand was appointed new CEO of the subsidiary Wise Professionals AB, with effect from 1 September 2018.
Niclas Smedberg took over as CEO of Edge HR AB on 16 March 2018.
Johan Segergren, CEO of the subsidiary K2 Search AB, and a member of the Wise Group's management team, at his own request, decided to resign with effect from June 2018.
Wise Group stated that Sweden’s strong labour market has led to high demand for the group’s services.
Revenue by business segment was broken down during Q1 2018 as follows:
| (SEK millions) | Q1 2018 | Q1 2017 | Change | Q1 2018 (€ millions) |
| Recruitment & Consultancy | 137.7 | 122.5 | 16.3% | 13.3 |
| HR Consultancy and Leader Development | 49.0 | 43.9 | 12% | 4.7 |
| Digital HR Services | 40.7 | 29.1 | 40% | 3.9 |
Geographically, revenue was broken down as follows. Wise Group has operations in Sweden and Finland. The previous operations in Denmark are largely discontinued and the remaining operations are reported separately below.
| (SEK millions) | Q1 2018 | Q1 2017 | Change | Q1 2018 (€ millions) |
| Sweden | 220.0 | 188.8 | 16% | 21.3 |
| Denmark | 1.2 | 3.7 | -68% | 0.1 |
| Finland | 6.2 | 2.9 | 112% | 0.6 |
“I am pleased with how the year started and with a good mix of experience and new energy in management, I have great confidence that we will continue to grow in growth and profitability in the coming quarters,” CEO Ingrid Höög said. “Our employee involvement, good leadership and our combined skills, together with the good customer and candidate relationships, make a difference. Against this background, I estimate that we will be able to show continued positive earnings performance in the coming quarter.”
As of last trade Wise Group traded at SEK 63.20 (€6.13), up 5.33% on the day and 10.35% below its 52-week high of SEK 70.50 (€6.84), set on 8 June 2017. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of SEK 445.87 million (€43.2 million).