EEZY PLC  --  COMPANY ANNOUNCEMENT  --  12 MAY 2020 AT 8:00

Eezy Plc's Interim Report 1-3/2020: Adapting to Corona crisis has started well
  
January–March 2020

• Revenue was EUR 55.1 million (EUR 28.4 million in January-March 2019). Revenue increased by 94,3%.
• EBITDA was EUR 2.8 million (2.8), decreased by 0.4%
• EBIT was EUR 1.0 million (2.1), decreased by 53.0%.
• Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 2.8 million (2.9), decreased by 3.6%.
• Adjusted EBIT was EUR 1.0 million (2.2), decreased by 55.7%.
• Earnings per share was EUR 0.02 (0.08).
• Corona crisis has affected the business negatively.

Outlook for 2020
Eezy has on 20 March 2020 cancelled the earlier guidance for year 2020 due to the corona crisis and has not set a new guidance for year 2020. A new guidance will be provided when the company has a better understanding of the duration and effects of the corona virus epidemic.

Key figures

CEO Sami Asikainen:

Active development despite Corona virus

"We have started the year 2020 in strong development mode to build new Eezy. During the early part of the year we have achieved a lot, although the Corona virus has started to affect us and our customers negatively.

The effects of the Corona virus started to appear in early March, but the magnitude of the effects grew significantly in mid-March when the restrictions by the government started to have impact on our customers. Corona will significantly weaken our financial performance this year both regarding revenue and result.

The impact from Corona is felt especially in the Horeca sector that formed about one quarter of our pro forma revenue last year. As the restaurants have been closed by government and large events have been cancelled, our Horeca business has decreased very significantly. In the industrial and construction sectors the effects have been smaller, so far, but the longer the crisis continues and economy contracts, the more we may see impact also there. On the other hand, in the retail sector we have seen occasional demand spikes from groceries.

We have accommodated to Corona by encouraging remote work in order to ensure continuous operations with as little disturbance as possible. In order ensure our financial performance we are conducting temporary layoffs of all our employees in order to match our cost structure to the current business volume in each sector.

We do not yet know how long this crisis will continue, how deep slump or recession it will cause, and how quickly the economy recovers after the crisis. However, we want to be in full speed once the economic growth starts again.

Corona has not stopped our development actions, and we will develop Eezy in many ways during the year.

At the end of the last year we initiated our brand renewal and have progressed with it during this year, which will be gradually visible to our employees and customers in all parts of Finland. We have also progressed well in harmonizing our IT systems and aim to unify our core systems during the year. We have progressed in our synergy plans and e.g. the salary costs of employees in group functions have clearly decreased.

We have launched new services in the staffing business, e.g. a staffing unit Eezy United, focusing on sportsmen. We will also launch new digital services for our staffed employees.

In the first quarter, our IFRS revenue grew by 94% due to acquisitions and was EUR 55.1 million. EBIT was 1.0 million Euro. Despite the growth, we are not satisfied with the volume and profit development. Market has slowed down in all our businesses, and we did not reach our goals. The first quarter is normally the weakest in the staffing services. Some of our high-margin businesses, like organizational development, have emphasis on the second half of the year. During the quarter we invested in the brand renewal work and initiated actions for accommodating to Corona.

The spring and summer will certainly be difficult, as our customers' businesses have been disturbed due to Corona. Ramping up the Horeca sector from almost standstill may take time, and the negative effects may increase in industrial sectors during summer and autumn. Importing workforce may continue to be difficult.

However, the situation will also create opportunities for us. Corona may change consumer demand in ways that we do not yet know. General uncertainty and the "new normal" may increase customers’ interest in flexible workforce. The weakening employment rate will increase the number of potential employees for staffing, and the possible employment-oriented actions from the public sector may increase demand of employment, change management and career coaching services. We will invest in developing these businesses.

Corona will have impact on almost all activities in year 2020, but we aim to overcome this year as a stronger company. The crisis has helped our integration thanks to increased unity. We are actively looking for new business. We will develop our services and practices to serve all our customers even better and more efficiently than earlier in the new business conditions."

Result publication event:

A Finnish-language briefing for analysts and media will be streamed on May 12, 2020 at 10 a.m. as a webcast at https://eezy.videosync.fi/2020-q1-tulokset

The briefing will be hosted by CEO Sami Asikainen and CFO Hannu Nyman. During the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. The presentation material will be available at the company website at https://eezy.fi/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/  before the conference. A recording of the audiocast will be available at the same website later on the same day. 

Attachment: Interim Report January–March 2020 in PDF format

Further information:

Sami Asikainen
CEO
sami.asikainen@eezy.fi
tel. +358 (0)40 700 9915

Hannu Nyman
CFO
Eezy Plc
hannu.nyman@eezy.fi
tel. +358 (0)50 306 9913

Certified Advisor:
Danske Bank A/S, Finland Branch, tel. +358 (0)10 546 7934

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