CEO comments: 

We reported a strong trend during the quarter, with clear growth in sales and earnings. A significant part of this growth was driven by Validia, which we took over on April 1st and is now included in our quarterly reporting for the first time. 

In Sweden, we acquired the care company AvAsta in the Gothenburg region during the quarter, consisting of a nursing home with 90 beds in Vardaga and four care units in Nytida with a total of 64 beds. Ambea has by far the strongest pipeline of new care places in the Nordic region, and it continues to grow during the quarter. We have opened three new care units and signed rental contracts for four new care units and further expansions including a total of 119 additional care places. We constantly strive to support the community by expanding care services and meeting the sharply increasing need for new care places in the coming years.

Vardaga delivered another good and stable quarter.

Altiden continues to improve and delivered a positive performance during the quarter.

Nytida is continuing to open new care units in areas with good demand, while work is proceeding to adapt operations to the new Social Services act in Sweden.

For Stendi the quarter was slightly weaker year-on-year, mainly because Easter fell in the second quarter, which as expected impacted profitability in Norway more than in the other Nordic countries.

The integration of Validia is on track, and we are actively seeking opportunities to establish new care units and to make bolt-on acquisitions in Finland for which we have allocated resources earlier than expected.

Second quarter April-June  

• Net sales rose 16 per cent to SEK 4,088 million (3,519). Organic growth was 5 per cent, acquired/divested growth was 13 per cent, and currency effect was -2 per cent. 
• Adjusted EBITA, which excludes items affecting comparability, amounted to SEK 311 million (271), representing a margin of 7.6 per cent (7.7).
• Items affecting comparability amounted to SEK -25 million and refer to transaction and integration costs related to the acquisition of Validia in Finland.
• EBITA amounted to SEK 286 million (271), representing a margin of 7.0 per cent (7.7).  

• Operating profit (EBIT) totalled SEK 274 million (248), representing a margin of 6.7 per cent (7.0).

• Profit for the period totalled SEK 95 million (95). 

• Earnings per share were SEK 1.13 (1.10) before dilution and SEK 1.13 (1.09) after dilution. 

• Cash conversion was 93.8 per cent (102.5).
• Free cash flow totalled SEK 425 million (458). 

Webcast/telephone conference 
 

In connection to the announcement, Ambea will host a telephone conference at 10:00 (CET) today. The presentation will be held in English and available as webcast on www.ambea.com or direct link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/za7im36z  

Telephone conference 
To participate the conference call, register before the call using the link below (registration opens up one week before the event). Upon registration you will receive a dial-in number and a unique personal PIN code. To ensure that the connection to the conference call is working, please call ten minutes before the conference call is due to start. 
 
Telephone conference registration: 
https://register-conf.media-server.com/register/BI61614bf233c04765a5b2ecc69812c777  

The quarterly earnings report and associated presentation will be available on https://ambea.com/investor-relations/reports/reports-and-presentations/