SmartCraft ASA (SMCRT) - Q4 2024: Continued growth in a challenging market

HØNEFOSS, Norway, Feb. 13, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SmartCraft ASA, the leading Nordic provider of mission-critical SaaS solutions to small and mid-sized companies in the construction sector, today reported its results for the fourth quarter of 2024, with a year-on-year ARR growth of 25 percent to NOK 482 million, positively affected by acquisitions. The organic revenue growth of NOK 8.2 percent was lower than anticipated as a result of soft macroeconomic development towards the end of the quarter 2024.

Fourth quarter revenue was NOK 136 million, a growth of 27 percent.

Adjusted EBITDA-capex was NOK 33 million in the fourth quarter, representing a margin of 24 percent down from 31 percent in the same period in 2023. The margin decline was a result of dilution by the acquisitions of Locka and Clixifix in the second quarter and increased investments related to the development of the disruptive solution for electricians, SmartCraft Spark, launched as a basic version in late 2024. Adjusted for these factors, the EBITDA-capex margin would be 32 percent, one percentage point higher than in the same period in 2023.

The operational cash flow in the fourth quarter was NOK 48.2 million, up from 31.5 million in the corresponding period in 2023.

"Many of our customers in the construction industry are facing the most challenging market conditions in decades. For us in SmartCraft, it is important to balance long-term growth initiatives with short-term optimization and profitability. While we keep very tight control of our operating expenses, we have chosen to invest in the SmartCraft Spark solution for electricians. With an increasingly joint tech stack across our solutions, we reduce complexity in development, unite our sales and marketing resources and make it easier to price optimize and upsell to existing customers," said CEO of SmartCraft Gustav Line.

SmartCraft continues to push for conversion of one-off revenue models to recurring revenues in the recently acquired businesses Locka and Clixifix. This has a negative effect on revenue and EBITDA in the short term but will create significant value in the longer term. As an example, Locka produced negative EBITDA in the fourth quarter, but saw a very solid ARR development, with a 42% annualized growth.

"Our sales engine works well even in a sluggish market. The gross number of new customers was 11 percent higher in the fourth quarter than in the same period in 2023, and 30 percent higher than in the third quarter 2024. In total, not including the recent acquisitions, the number of new customers added was the highest since the beginning of 2022. While new sales are very strong, this was currently offset by increased churn and downgrades driven by the macroeconomic environment," said Gustav Line.

While many businesses in the construction industry are reluctant to implement new software solutions during a challenging macroeconomic period, the potential for digitalization remains massive.

"We are enthusiastic about the opportunities and potential we see in this underpenetrated market. The timing of a macroeconomic recovery, however, remains uncertain, but forecasts for the construction industry indicates that a pick-up might start materializing in the second half of 2025. When the pickup eventually comes, we expect customer churn to decrease, customers to start upscaling their use of our tools, and organic growth to return to a higher level. Hence, we are well positioned to deliver on our medium-term financial targets of 15-20 percent organic growth with increasing margins," said Gustav Line.

The fourth quarter 2024 report and presentation materials are enclosed.

WEBCAST PRESENTATION

Investors, analysts, and journalists are welcome to join to an English language webcast presentation of the report on the same day, Thursday 13 February 2024, at 08:00 CET.

Webcast link:

https://channel.royalcast.com/hegnarmedia/#!/hegnarmedia/20250213_3 

Presenters:

• Chief Executive Officer Gustav Line
• Chief Financial Officer Kjartan Bø

Viewers are welcome to submit written questions through the webcast player during and after the presentation. A recording of the presentation will be available on the same link and at smartcraft.com/investor-relations/ after the live stream is concluded.

DISCLOSURE REGULATION

This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation, and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

CONTACTS

* Gustav Line, CEO, +47 952 67 104, gustav.line@smartcraft.com
* Kjartan Bø, CFO, +47 410 27 000, kjartan.bo@smartcraft.com 

ABOUT SMARCRAFT

SmartCraft is the leading Nordic provider of mission-critical SaaS solutions to SMEs in the construction sector, increasing their productivity, margins, and resource efficiency. The Group currently has more than 13 400 customers and 260 employees distributed across Norway, Sweden, Finland and UK. SmartCraft was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in June 2021.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/smartcraft-asa/r/smartcraft-asa--smcrt----q4-2024--continued-growth-in-a-challenging-market,c4104662

The following files are available for download: