Nobina Interim Report 1 March – 31 May 2021

First quarter

• Net sales amounted to SEK 3,274 million (2,509), an increase of 30.5 percent compared with the prior-year quarter, of which +29.1 percent was organic growth, –0.8 percent currency effects and +2.2 percent acquisitions.
• EBITA amounted to SEK 255 million (89).
• EBIT amounted to SEK 236 million (70).
• Profit before tax amounted to SEK 191 million (31).
• Profit after tax amounted to SEK 147 million (21), and earnings per share totalled SEK 1.67 (0.24) before dilution.
• Cash flow from operations was SEK 469 million (568)

Significant events during and after the first quarter

• New 10-year contract won with Västtrafik in central Gothenburg worth SEK 2.1 billion.
• An agreement was entered into in May for the strategic acquisition of Telepass AB, market leader for service traffic in Skåne.
• New 8-year contract won with Skånetrafiken in north-western Skåne worth SEK 1.6 billion.
• Nobina has been awarded a new 10-year contract with Sydtrafik in Kolding, Denmark valued at DKK 480 million.
• Renewed and expanded 2-year contract with the City of Stockholm won by Samtrans worth SEK 240 million.
• Nobina was awarded a new 7-year contract by HSL in Helsinki worth SEK 2.1 billion.
• The Annual General Meeting adopted a dividend of SEK 3.77 per share, corresponding to 75 percent of net profit or 63 percent if expressed according to our current dividend policy. Malin Frenning was elected as new Board member while John Allkins declined re-election.
• After the end of the quarter, a new 10-year contract was won with Västtrafik in Vänersborg and Trollhättan worth SEK 1.7 billion.

Statement from the CEO

Nobina’s strong financial performance continued during the first quarter of 2021/22. We improved profitability, won five public transport contracts and continued to build on our leading position in service traffic, both organically and through acquisitions. Sales for the period, adjusted for currency effects, rose 31.3 percent to just below SEK 3.3 billion and adjusted EBT amounted to SEK 210 million (50).

The strong earnings improvement was primarily due to continued high demand for Samtrans’ testing stations, the renegotiation of public transport contracts, a general streamlining of operations and weak comparative figures. Earnings were also adversely affected mainly by the revaluation of buses that are available for sale due to reduced commercial traffic related to Covid-19.

Virtually all public transport agreements in Sweden have been renegotiated and adapted to the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in some retroactive revenue during the quarter. We continue to report lower profitability in public transport services compared with 2019. Nevertheless, through active management we have managed to maintain profitability at a good level despite the current situation, achieving new pandemic-adapted agreements and opening up new sources of revenue and earnings, not least in Samtrans' testing stations. Travel by our buses rose 20 percent compared with the previous quarter, from about 50 percent in the fourth quarter to 60 percent in the first quarter, compared to the corresponding periods in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

During the quarter, we once again demonstrated strong competitiveness in our tendering processes, despite our stringent profitability requirements. We won almost half of the tendered contracts for a total of 719 buses, with some of the contracts worth more than SEK 2 billion. In addition to a number of new and renewed contracts in Skåne and Gothenburg, we secured a total of four contracts to operate services in Helsinki, of which one is completely new for Nobina, and to operate and develop city transport services in Kolding and the surrounding areas in Denmark.

Samtrans also continued its strong performance during the quarter. Although the number of Covid-19 tests fell during the quarter, society wishes to retain a high level of testing capacity for the near future and Samtrans is paid for each station, which means the financial impact is limited. In view of the above, the second quarter is also expected to be strong, though it is difficult to predict developments in the longer term.

During the period, Samtrans won an important contract in its core business with the City of Stockholm, which chose to renew and expand its collaboration for another two years, with two optional extension years.

During the quarter, we also took further steps in our strategy to consolidate the service traffic market in the Nordic region, through the acquisition of Telepass AB, which is market leader in Skåne. Nobina is thereby the leader in service traffic in Sweden and has the opportunity to continue growing and broadening its offering in Sweden and Denmark.

The transaction has been approved by the competition authority, which means Telepass AB, with sales of SEK 350 million in 2020 and EBITDA of about SEK 60 million, will be consolidated into Nobina as of 1 July this year.

During the quarter, Nobina’s Mobility innovations operations signed an agreement with Voi to become more closely integrated into the Travis travel planner app. We thereby took another step in building the Travis ecosystem of different mobility solutions, most recently through the agreement with the green car-pooling service Kinto Share and earlier agreements with operators of electric scooters, electric taxis, and so forth. By offering access to a cluster of logistics service operators linked to Nobina’s bus services, we increase both our revenues through Travis and environmentally friendly travel by bus over time.

In March 2021, Nobina issued new green bonds in an amount of SEK 200 million within the framework of the earlier green bond loan. During the quarter, net debt fell to 2.3 times EBITDA, which is significantly lower than our financial target of 3–4 times EBITDA. The equity/ assets ratio amounts to 18.2 percent and our cash funds to SEK 1.1 billion before the dividend for the 2020/21 fiscal year. We are therefore well prepared for sustained green growth – organically and through acquisitions.

John Allkins has, in connection to the Annual General Meeting, decided to step down from the Board of the Company and we would therefore like to express our sincere gratitude to him for his services.

With these words, I would like to thank our employees, clients and passengers for the good cooperation and mutual trust shown during this challenging time and wish you all a pleasant summer with hopefully some well-deserved time of

Magnus Rosén,

President and CEO

This information is such that Nobina AB (publ) is obligated to publish in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was published, through the agency of the above-mentioned contact persons, on 2 July 2021, at 8:00 a.m.