Addnode Group Aktie

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Addnode Group report for Q3 2026. I'm Johan Andersson, CEO of Addnode Group. And with me, I also have our CFO, Kristina Elfstrom Mackintosh. Today, we're going to talk about our third quarter 2026, give an introduction to that and some further clarity, and then we'll end up with a Q&A. You will also see some supporting slides in the appendix. For those of you who are new to Addnode Group, I would like to start with a short intro. We provide software and digital solutions in selected niches.

Our 20 companies are organized in 3 divisions in order to support each other and take advantage of synergies. The 3 divisions are Process Management, Product Lifecycle Management and Design Management. Our software and digital solutions help build a more sustainable and efficient society from zoning and planning and building permit software for the public sector in the Process division to digital solution for designing, building, and managing infrastructure and products, including Lifecycle Management in our division Design and PLM division. We are building Addnode Group on 3 competitive strengths.

Our domain expertise in selected niches that we provide mission-critical software with high switching costs and that we are the trusted partner to our customers. Addnode Group has about 40,000 customers, net sales of SEK 6 billion, a business model with 62% recurring revenue, and we have a healthy EBITA margin of around 16%. We are active on 5 continents. The majority of our business are in Northern Europe and North America, and we have done 96 acquisitions since the inception of Addnode Group in 2003.

So looking at Q3. Q3, we had organic growth, acquisitions and cost efficiency initiatives that contributed to a significantly improved earnings in the third quarter. Net sales increased by 10%, of which 3% was organic growth adjusted for positive currency effects. EBITA increased with 68% to SEK 250 million. All 3 divisions improved EBITA and supported that EBITA margin improved to 17.4%. Operating cash flow improved with SEK 73 million. Please observe that the third quarter is the lowest quarter of the year as we get most of our prepayments in Q4 and Q1.

We also secured the largest single contract for owned software in Addnode Group's history in the quarter. We acquired SpaceIntel, an AI-enabled software for facility management and increased our investments in Bimify and InUse. When comparing with the last year's Q3 in 2025, please observe that renewals of some Autodesk agreements was made by customers in the second quarter instead of as expected in Q3. This boosted Q2 last year with roughly SEK 80 million in net sales with a corresponding negative effect in the Q3 last year with a zero effect for the full year. So it was just a change between the quarters.

But as you can see in the graph to the right, showing net sales and EBITA from 2021, the rolling year-to-date 2026, Addnode Group is now back to year-on-year growth for both net sales and EBITA. Rolling 12 months year-to-date, net sales was almost SEK 6 billion and the EBITA was SEK 970 million. I will now move to the performance of our 3 divisions. For you that are following Addnode Group regularly, we usually start with Design Management. But today, I'm going to start with Process Management to go. For Process Management, net sales increased by 6% to SEK 417 million. Organic growth increased by 4%.

As I described earlier, Sokigo, a company in the division Design Management, secured a strategic contract when the City of Stockholm selected our standard solution for building permit management. The contract has a total order value of roughly SEK 100 million over a period of 10 years. It confirms the division's strong market position. EBITA for the division increased by 16% to SEK 100 million, and EBITA margin increased to 24%. Acquisitions and improved operational efficiency contributed to the improved margin. The EBITA margin has improved for a ninth consecutive quarter, demonstrating the division's ability to combine both growth with increased profitability.

And now division Design Management individually on the slide. Net sales increased by 21% to SEK 595 million. Demand for both software and services remains strong in the U.S., where investments in data centers are a key driver of growth. The comparative figure for the preceding year, as mentioned, was impacted by renewals of Autodesk agreements. EBITA increased by 184% to SEK 122 million and EBITA margin increased to 20.5%. The improvement in EBITA was driven by a combination of easier comps as described, organic growth, acquisitions and efficiency measures implemented in both Europe and U.S. The efficiency program that started in the second quarter has been completed.

It will reduce the cost base by about SEK 100 million on an annual basis, with about half of that reduction expected to take effect in the second half of this year and the other half in the first half of 2027. And finally, division Product Lifecycle Management. Net sales were unchanged at SEK 436 million. Organic growth decreased by 3%. Strategically important customer segments such as aerospace and defense remained strong in demand. We had a solid quarter for Nordics, Benelux and the United States. The German market is still stagnant. EBITA in the division increased by 10% to SEK 46 million and EBITA margin increased to 10.6%.

We have a clear focus for the division to improve margins. This has been successful, and we have improved EBITA. For example, you can see that the full-time employees are 14% lower compared with Q3 last year. The aerospace and defense industry is an increasingly important growth market for the division, where TECHNIA's deep domain expertise, comprehensive offering and global service capabilities position us strongly to capture these expanding opportunities. And we are diversifying in Germany from automotive to aerospace and defense and other customer segments.

And just to stop for a few seconds, I mentioned this record deal with the City of Stockholm, valued at SEK 100 million. It's a clear testament that our customers are investing in software that we can support with them over time. It's our largest own software deal for the year. It also manifests the strong position that we have in the market for the public sector and the technical department municipalities in Sweden. It's also something that adds to our base of recurring revenue as this is a 10-year contract that meaning that we will have a recurring revenue of roughly SEK 10 million from this contract for the next coming 10 years.

So I think it's a good testament to the good work and the market position that we have in division Process Management. So we also made some investments in the quarter. We are investing in technology and AI to leverage our global market position. We have made some acquisitions in Design Management here. We acquired in the quarter SpaceIntel, it's an AI-enabled software platform for facility management. And we also increased our investments in Bimify and InUse. And in the beginning of the year, some of you might remember that we acquired a company called ACAD-Plus.

Together, these investments provide us with innovative solutions for the digitalization of building, smart property management and connected industrial environments. By combining these companies' technologies with the Design Management division's strong market position, extensive customer base and global sales organization, we have a good foundation to accelerate market penetration and boost our recurring revenue. And a concrete example and how we already can see the value of these investments is our solution for Technological University Dublin.

And that is my segue to our customer success stories for this quarter. The first example to the left in the slide is the one that I just mentioned. It shows how SWG in Design Management is supporting the Technological University Dublin. The university wants to support to create a scalable digital foundation for its campus operations and to support its 2030 sustainability targets. We did that by bringing it all together in SWG's Geminus platform, integrating facilities management systems, BIM, Digital Twins, IoT, and other data sources into an AI-powered environment that automates, monitoring, reporting, and building performance optimization.

This has enabled University Dublin to optimize campus performance, support sustainability and track decarbonization progress. It is a good example of how our industry knowledge and domain expertise, combined with AI and integrated data sources can create new opportunities to improve efficiency and further develop customer operations. The second example that you can see in the middle of this slide comes from TECHNIA in division Product Lifecycle Management. As ELECTRON Aerospace prepared for certified production of its electric aircraft, it needed a scalable cloud-based PLM environment to manage growing engineering and certification complexity. We supported ELECTRON by deploying the 3DEXPERIENCE platform in the public cloud, unifying design, simulation, product data and technical documentation into a single source of truth.

This gave ELECTRON a digital foundation to improve collaboration, reduce rework and accelerate certification and aircraft development. The last example comes from Decerno in division Process Management. They've been working with Fastighetsbyran for a long time, helping them and supporting them. It's a long customer relation. But they wanted to evolve this Internet into a central knowledge hub and to improve access to information on sales, administration and legal processes for the employees. We did that within Sweden called Byraassistenten and as Assistant for help. It's an AI-powered Internet assistant that delivers relevant answers and source-backed information through intelligent search and generative AI.

This enables Fastighetsbyran employees faster access to trusted knowledge while providing Fastighetsbyran with a scalable AI platform for future growth. These examples -- these 3 examples reflect a broader trend across our business. Customers continue to invest in solutions that improve efficiency, increase transparency and support long-term growth. Addnode strong customer relationships, deep domain expertise and the data embedded in our solutions position us to develop and deliver new AI-enabled solutions for our customers. So I would like to hand over to our CFO that will bring further clarity on the Q3 results.

Thank you, Johan. And I'm now going to take you through the development of net sales from Q3 2025 to Q3 2026. And you can see here on the graph that the Q3 net sales amounted to just over SEK 1.4 billion compared to just over SEK 1.3 billion last year. That's a total increase of approximately 10% and this growth is coming from organically, the currency adjusted organic growth was SEK 42 million, which was an increase of 3%. And the increase is mainly derived from division Design Management. And as Johan already pointed out, net sales in the comparable period was impacted by early renewals.

Acquisitions contributed by SEK 68 million, which is a growth of approximately 5%. And we had positive currency effects in the quarter of about SEK 17 million, and that is mainly relating to both Norwegian kroner and the U.S. dollar. And we also have another way of presenting the net sales growth from the divisions, which is the next slide. And this slide illustrates the division's contribution behind the net sales growth during the quarter. And looking at the Design Management contributed by SEK 105 million, which is up 21% in total compared to last year.

And it's worth noting also that the prior year comparison were affected by the early contract renewals that we talked about. PLM contributed by SEK 1 million, which is in line with last year's net sales. And here, we have a positive currency effect of SEK 2 million. So the organic growth was minus 3% Process Management contributed SEK 22 million, which is a growth of 6% compared to last year. And here, we have a positive FX effect of SEK 7 million. And therefore, the currency-adjusted organic growth was 4%. Now I'm going to talk about a little bit about the net sales by category.

And in this graph, we're presenting the net sales by category, and we emphasize that the offering consists of the mission-critical digital solutions, our deep domain expertise with a strong and recurring customer base, which reflects the high customer retention. And the majority of our net sales, which you can see here in the graph, representing just over 60% of own software and services, representing the value we bring to our customers. And our strategy remains focused, profitable organic growth supported by innovation, customer value and a strong recurring base.

And over the last 12 months, recurring revenue represents 62% of our net sales. And I'm going to go to next presentation about the EBITA development from last year to this year. And this bridge illustrates how we have delivered profitable growth in the quarter. We continue to drive growth through innovation, customer value and growing share of recurring revenue, while at the same time, improving operational efficiency across the group. EBITA amounted to SEK 250 million this quarter compared to SEK 149 million last quarter. The increase is about 68%.

And as a reminder, also, the EBITA was -- the comparison quarter was impacted by contract renewals that we talked about. Even taking this into account, the quarter reflects improved underlying profitability, supported by operational efficiency, restructuring initiatives and disciplined execution across the businesses. And let me take you through the EBITA development in the quarter. Design division was the main contributor, about SEK 79 million of EBITA was up 184% compared to last year's Q3. And the restructuring program that was initiated in Q2 has now been implemented, and we are starting to see the benefits of this coming through. And PLM contributed by SEK 5 million in EBITA.

And as you remember from last slide, the net sales were flat year-on-year almost, but EBITA increased by 10%, which was supported by the restructuring actions in which we implemented last year, primarily in Germany. And looking at Process Management, contributed by SEK 14 million of EBITA. That's an increase of 16% compared to last year. So overall, the EBITA improvement reflects our focus on profitable growth. While growth level varies across the divisions, we continue to strengthen profitability through operational improvements, recurring revenue and a disciplined execution of our efficiency programs.

And looking at the strong operational performance, we grew EBITA margin from 11.4% to 17.4% in the quarter. Now let's have a look at the cash flow. And starting with the cash flow from operating activities in the quarter improved by SEK 73 million, which is mainly driven by higher operating profits. If you look at the year-to-year cash flow from operating activities, the increase was significantly based on improving working capital. Investments during the quarter mainly related to software development and also M&A-related payments. And the investments last year in Q3 was included acquisitions of the Norwegian company and the Brazilian company. Financing activities in Q3 included new loans for financing settlements of earn-outs that are falling due in Q4.

And now I'd like to hand over back to Johan for the outlook and focus.

Thank you, Kristina. As you know, our financial target is to improve our EBITA with 15% year-over-year over time. If you look at the graph here, you can see from 2016 to 2026 rolling 12 months, the compounded annual growth rate is 20%. Our business model is based on a strong combination of organic growth, value-accretive acquisitions, recurring revenue and constant improvement. We work constantly to boost efficiency and the profitability of our companies. Our focus is on increasing customer value through AI, drive organic growth, increase recurring revenue and at the same time, enhance our operational efficiency and do value-accretive acquisitions.

As you know, our comparability between peers is affected by the renewal cycle of 3-year Autodesk contracts. 2026, the cycle has been negative for reported net sales. For 2027, we would like to highlight the 3-year cycle, meaning that we see that more 3-year contracts are expected to renew compared to 2026. This will support continued organic growth. We have proved that we can double our EBITA every 5 years, and we are going to continue that journey. Addnode Group is well positioned for continued growth, supporting our 40,000 customers.

With that, I would like to open up for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] The next questions comes from Fredrik Nilsson from Redeye.

Okay. Great. I take a few of my questions then, I guess. So regarding Design Management, perhaps I were a bit too defensive in my estimates, but I didn't expect the cost savings to impact this significant this early? Or is it driving the quarter-over-quarter improvement?

No, I wouldn't say that there are no sort of extraordinary things. We have growth in the quarter. That helps. And you have to remember that with the new business model, we have 100% gross profit on our Autodesk sales. We also had a strong [ server ] sales supporting it as well that you can see described in the interim report as well. So it's more of an operational performance and cost savings and a combination of that.

Okay. I see great. And, you mentioned strong demand from data center build-out. Could you give us a rough number of Design Management's exposure to data centers?

No, we don't have any exact numbers. So what we have is that -- what we mean by the exposure to data center is that these are buildings and infrastructure, and that is what we support with our software. Our customers are the architects or technical consultants who are involved in the construction, but also the owners of the data centers who want our help with structuring the data so they can build a digital model and have a good maintenance of that over time. So both services and software that we are exposed with to that. So it's a broad definition. It's both to our existing customers who are supporting the build-out of the data centers and sort of the new customers who are the owners, the hyperscalers.

Okay. I see. And regarding the margin in Process, I think it's the highest level seen in the last 10 years at least. Was it an exceptional quarter? Or should we expect the rolling 12 months margin to continue to expand?

I think it's a very strong quarter, supported by the acquisitions that we already had. So we have a good utilization in our business and a strong execution of it. So I think this is a good margin that we can -- we hope to maintain -- but I can't promise you that we can continue the journey on a sequential basis. So it's more that we're hoping to keep this margin as we move forward. And hopefully, we can do a little bit better, but I think it will be tough to sort of maintain the trajectory quarter-over-quarter. We can do still a little bit better, but it will not be plus 1%, plus 1%, plus 1%. That will be tough.

Okay. That's fair. And last question from me. I mean the news regarding the automotive sector is still quite negative as I remember, your exposure in Sweden is limited. But regarding the German market, are things getting worse? Or is it rather stable at a low level?

I think it's the latter. We are still doing business with them, and they're actually buying from us, but it's stable on a low level. I think that's the best way to describe it. And that's clear, but we are in line with our earnings there. So I think we have solid margins in our business that we are executing in Germany right now.

The next question comes from Daniel Thorsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

I'll start off with one on Design Management here. And as you said, you expect a higher share of 3-year deals in '27 and '26 supporting organic growth. Do you also assume anything on kickback levels potentially changing? Or are they already set for 2027 in that assumption?

Yes, we expect it supporting in 2027. We still have a fourth quarter left here in 2026. So I just want to remind you that I'm talking about 2027. 2026 and fourth quarter, we expect that we will be on par with what we delivered last year in Design Management. Has to do with that we had a very strong quarter last year with new sales in that. So I just want to point that out. And then with regards to Autodesk and margins, our expectation is that the setup we have this year will be valid for 2027 as well. So no changes in that.

Okay. Is that because you know it will be it? Or is it because you assume that it will be next year?

We have been informed that, that is what you expect.

Okay. And then secondly, on Process Management here as well, in line with Fredrik's question on the margin. SEK 100 million contract with Stockholm in Q3, did that include any like upfront license or implementation work worth highlighting as a driver for the strong margin in the quarter? Or is it just recurring of it?

The effect of that contract, you will probably see more, if any, for the project will probably be more in Q3. So it's not that the explanation for the strong Q3 is not in that contract. It's more that we will get a SEK 10 million recurring. And there will be some services in the beginning always with implementation, but that's sort of a small part of the total value as this is actually a standard software that we deliver to the Swedish municipality markets.

Okay. Perfect. That's clear. Finally, then on Q4 here, you touched upon it already here, but you have said that a more flattish development organically year-over-year is reasonable and with the cost program realizing in design here already in Q3 and the record margin in Process, is this enough to drive a positive EBITA growth year-over-year despite, for example, a flat organic sales growth in Q4?

There are room for that, as you said, that with regards to -- we're talking about the flat organic growth that we could sort of expect at best in the Design Management and there so there are room for that, yes.

The next question comes from Erik Larsson from SEB.

I just have one question on cash flow. So we've seen some improvements here for about a year in line with what you said in the beginning of this transition. So when we conclude Q4, would you say that we're done with this transition? And is all Autodesk licenses paid on a yearly basis now? Or is there any other product or what have you that could still -- where you could still receive payment for your upfront? Or is that door completely shut now?

Yes. Thank you, Erik. Just to remind the rest of the audience also that this is related to the period before when we were considered as -- we were selling the Autodesk contract to the customer, and then we would receive a supplier invoice from Autodesk. That has mainly gone through the balance sheet as of now. And it was mainly coming from the United States and for Europe for in Design Management Symetri. And we see that, that liability is almost all out now, very minor on the balance sheet. So -- and as Johan also mentioned in Q3, that is normally the lowest quarter for our cash flow from operations, and that's because of the maintenance agreement that we normally invoice in Q4 and also in Q1. So that we are pleased to have gone through that full cycle with the Autodesk contract and coming back to a more stable cash flow situation.

The next question comes from Fredrik Lithell from Handelsbanken.

I'll start with one question on the 3-year contract comment regarding 2027 then I mean, we have the last year talked about 3-year contracts and where customers have moved from 3-year to 1-year contracts because they haven't really the discounts on the Autodesk side there. So what makes you optimistic that they will sort of renew a 3-year contract into a new 3-year contract in '27? Is the discount that Autodesk back or anything like that?

Thank you for the question. No, to be clear, has nothing to do with discounts. There are no discounts available for choosing any type of contracts. What we have is that one -- the total bulk of our 3-year contracts that we have signed with our customers that are active today, 1/3 of that total bulk has been on a more preferable plan for the customers, meaning that -- and that plan ends in 2028.

So that means that we are -- we have less than 3 years left until 2028. So they can't renew on that preferable plan. But they want to stay on that plan. So they renew for 1 year. So that means that 1/3 of our 3-year contracts makes more sense for the customers to renew for a 1-year contract to stay on that. So that means that we know how many 3-year contracts we have, and we know the cyclicality of that. And you remember the 3 year of that. So then we can see that how many contracts will be renewed in 2028.

And we know from historical pattern, how many is expected to renew. With that as a basis, we feel comfortable to say that we will have an organic growth in that business if we have some sort of normal business as we are having today. That's nothing to do with any new sort of renewals. It's more that what we can see in the contract base and what is expected to be renewed on a historical pattern.

Okay. That clarifies it for me. Just a few housekeepings also then. Did you -- in the efficiency program that you have implemented in Q3, did that drive any redundancy costs that are treated as items in the quarter or anything like that?

Yes. Thank you for the question. And we presented last quarter in Q2, the amount that was relating to the restructuring program, and that was taken in Q2 already.

Okay. All right. And then a final one, just also housekeeping, the revaluation of contingent consider in the quarter. Is that something you could sort of elaborate a little bit on what drove that figure?

Yes. Yes. What we do normally every quarter, we look at the earn-out restructuring. And we have about over SEK 500 million in earn-outs in the balance sheet, and we do that revaluation on a month -- on a quarterly basis. And this effect is -- you will see this effect normally quarter-by-quarter. So it's not a major impact on the current profit and loss...

[Operator Instructions]

Great. Thank you all for your patience with the Q&A session and sorry for the technical issues there, but some great questions anyhow, and I know you all have a busy day. So thank you all.

Welcome to the Addnode Group Q2 presentation.

[operator instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the CEO, Johan Andersson; and CFO, Kristina Mackintosh. Please go ahead.

Welcome to this report presentation for the second quarter 2026. We will guide you through the quarter. With me, I have Kristina Elfstrom Mackintosh, CFO of Addnode Group; and myself is the CEO of Addnode Group, Johan Andersson. We will -- the agenda for today is that we will talk about Addnode Group, our divisions, the cash flow and balance sheet, and we will end with a Q&A where you can ask your questions to me and Kristina. And you will also find an appendix in this presentation.

So we start by describing the quarter.

During the quarter, our business continued to develop steadily, and we have executed cost savings. So what are the key highlights in Q2 2026?

Adjusted organic growth was minus 5%. Reported growth and earnings of Design Management were affected by the renewal cycle of 3-year Autodesk contracts. As expected, this affects comparability between periods, but does not impact the underlying stable development of the business. The underlying organic growth for Design Management was flat in the quarter, as Kristina will explain later more in detail. Acquisitions made in 2025 in Brazil, Canada and Norway continue to perform well. The Process Management division continues to improve. EBITDA is up 26% and EBITDA margin has now improved 8 consecutive quarters. The Product Lifecycle Management division continues to deliver improved profitability and EBITDA was up 24%. Cash flow from operating activities improved to SEK 62 million, primarily driven by a positive development in Design Management.

To increase focus on new sales and fully realize synergies from our expansion, we have done an efficiency program that is expected to reduce annual cost by approximately SEK 100 million. Excluding costs for the efficiency program mentioned and early renewals in the comparative period, EBITDA amounted to SEK 176 million this period compared to SEK 168 million last year. I will come back to more details on the performance of each division, and Kristina will give you more details on cash flow and balance sheet.

Thank you, Johan. I'm going to take you through the net sales development from Q2 last year to Q2 this year. And net sales amounted to SEK 1.449 billion in Q2 2026, and that compares to SEK 1.457 billion last year. And the organic growth, as you just heard from Johan, amounted to minus 11% and the decrease was mainly related to division Design Management. And I will come back into more details regarding the organic growth in Design Management. Also important to see here on the graph is that early renewals of SEK 80 million is included in this graph. Contribution from acquisitions amounted to SEK 158 million and the integration is performing well and the acquired businesses are delivering in line with our expectations. And currency effects in this quarter amounts to minus SEK 7 million, and that's mainly related to U.S. dollar and also lies within Design division where the majority of the USD-denominated business resides.

So I will now hand back to Johan for net sales by category.

Why do I believe that Addnode Group has a solid business and a strong position to grow? Addnode Group provides mission-critical digital solutions with high customer retention. We are positioned in a market where digitalization, AI and increasing demands for efficiency are driving demand among our 40,000 customers. We have long-standing customer relationships, deep domain expertise and a high level of trust from our customers. Let me remind you that the majority of our net sales is owned software and services, representing the value we bring to our customers. 62% of our net sales last 12 months was from recurring revenue. We have significant opportunities to deepen our engagement with existing customers and gradually increase the share of recurring revenue. We are already seeing how AI creates value, both internally and in the solutions we deliver.

And our partners are also investing substantially in AI capabilities. I would like to highlight 2 customer examples. They illustrate how we support customers in their digital and AI transformations. The first example comes from Symetri and how they support the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The hospital was looking for better ways to handle compliance and ensure quicker patient call response times. And how did we do that? We did that by upgrading the system IBM Maximo and developing an AI-driven portal with a customized chatbot. This made operational information more accessible and actionable. And it's a good example of how we help customers use AI in a practical way. The second example comes from Technia.

We supported Rosenxt to connecting its PLM and ERP systems with our own technology. Rosenxt is a developer of robotics, sensors and physical AI. The integration improved data sharing and standardized product structures. It also created a scalable platform for future growth enabling cloud-based upgrades. Both of these examples reflect a broader trend across our businesses. Customers continue to invest in solutions that improve efficiency, increase transparency and support long-term growth. Addnode's strong customer relationships, our deep domain expertise and the data embedded in our solutions position us well to develop and deliver new AI-enabled services. A recent Look into our broader shareholder base. Two things that I would like to highlight. One thing is that we can see that the number of shareholders has increased during the quarter. We have moved from roughly 8,000 to 10,000.

We also had a change in our top 10 shareholders. As we can see, if you compare the graphs is that Robur is now no longer part of our top 10 shareholders as they have sold the majority of their shares during the period. So going through our 3 divisions, Design Management, Product Lifecycle Management and Process Management. As you can see in this graph, our 3 division is that the biggest contributor this quarter is Process Management. So division Design Management. Symetri is the biggest company in the division. It is the world's largest Autodesk partner and a leading global provider of design and asset management solutions. We are serving more than 30,000 customers across Europe, Latin America and North America. What are the key highlights in Q1 -- in Q2. Net sales decreased by 11% to SEK 560 million compared to SEK 627 million. Sales of partner software were affected by the timing of Autodesk contract renewals and also by the new incentive model.

Our own software and services continued to generate positive organic growth, plus 7% in the quarter. The big acquisition of Autodesk Partners in Brazil and Canada continued to perform well. What are we focusing on now? Symetri has had a strong and rapidly grow since 2021. It is now time to set the foundation for the next step in our growth journey. We are deploying a new organization in Europe and U.S. with even more focus on new sales. We are realizing operational synergies of SEK 100 million in a cost reduction program. To make these synergies happen, we have one-off costs in the quarter of SEK 28 million. No additional costs related to the program are expected. The cost savings will have effect from Q3 2026, and we will have a full run rate effect in 2027. I would now like to hand over to our CFO, Kristina.

Thank you, Johan. And I'm going to take you through the Design Management, the movements of the net sales from Q2 2025 to Q2 2026. And why also explain a little bit why the underlying business remains stable in Design division, while the reported net sales is substantially impacted by the renewal patterns of multiyear Autodesk contracts. And that pattern includes the timing of the renewals and also the mix between 1- and 3-year agreements. So this slide describes how the reported net sales has evolved comparing to Q2 '25 to Q2 2026. And in Q2 2025, net sales amounted to SEK 627 million. And now this year, Q2 amounted to SEK 560 million. And I will describe the 4 parts, the organic and the adjusted early renewals after the acquisitions and the currency effect.

In summary, organic growth was negative by approximately SEK 145 million for the period. However, the year-on-year comparison is significantly affected by approximately SEK 80 million of early Autodesk contract renewals. And a number of contracts that was originally scheduled for renewal in Q3 last year were renewed earlier already in Q2 last year, and that creates a favorable comparison base in the prior year period. And excluding this timing effect, the underlying business development was more stable than the reported growth figure suggests. And I'm now going to explain the minus SEK 65 million that you can see in this graph. And the negative organic growth of minus SEK 65 million consists of 2 major parts.

Firstly, we have a positive organic growth for our own software and services. And secondly, we have negative organic growth from third-party software. And the SEK 17 million positive organic growth equals the 7% organic growth quarter-by-quarter. The remaining minus SEK 82 million is relating to organic growth for third-party software. And that minus SEK 82 million consists of 3 main parts. Firstly, we have a margin effect on the Autodesk partner, the new incentive model that amounts to minus SEK 20 million. We also have minus SEK 12 million coming from a product mix change where we have more 1-year contract compared to 3-year contracts. Also other third-party sales is included in this amount. And the additional SEK 50 million is regarding the renewal effects from a 3-year cycle. So that means that contracts renewed 3 years ago can only be renewed 3 years later. That is minus SEK 50 million the effect.

And we can also see that the big transformative acquisitions, Brazil and Canada mainly added SEK 86 million to net sales. The currency effect was minus SEK 8 million, mainly relating to U.S. dollar. To summarize, our assessment is that the underlying performance of Design Management remains stable with flat organic growth, looking into the own, our own software and services. and considering the timing effect excluded from that. And I will now hand back to Johan to talk more about the PLM division.

Thank you, Kristina. Division Product Lifecycle Management. Technia, the company in the PLM division, is one of Europe's largest providers of design and PLM platforms to the engineering community, and North America is also a growing market. The portfolio consists of our partner Dassault Systemes, market-leading platform and our own unique products and services. What are the key highlights in Q2? Net sales decreased by 1% to SEK 438 million compared to SEK 444 million last year. Organic growth decreased by 4%. We have had a clear focus in the division the last 12 months to improve margins. This has been successful, and we have improved EBITDA. Sadly, 8% of the people in the organization has had to left us as part of the process. This has affected service net sales as planned.

Strategically important customer segments such as aerospace and defense remain strong in demand. We had a solid quarter for Nordics, Benelux and U.S. German market is still stagnant. EBITDA increased by 24% to SEK 41 million, and EBITDA margin increased to 9.4% compared to 7.4% last year. Last year's cost savings has contributed to a higher operational efficiency and leaner cost structure. So looking forward, the aerospace and defense industry is emerging as an increasingly important growth market where Technia's deep domain expertise, comprehensive offering and global service capabilities position us strongly to capture expanding opportunities. Process Management. Process Management compromising 16 subsidiaries is a leading provider of digital solutions to the public sector in Sweden and Norway, holding strong market positions in urban planning and development, case management and geographic information systems.

Key highlights in Q2. Net sales increased by 18% to SEK 463 million compared to SEK 394 million last year. Organic growth increased by 2%. There is a solid demand from the public sector. We have strong market position in the public sector, long-term experience and solid references helped us win new contracts. EBITDA increased by 26% to SEK 93 million compared to SEK 74 million, and EBITA margin increased to 20.1% compared to 18.1% last year. Acquisitions and improved operational efficiency contributed to the improved margin. The EBITDA margin has improved for 8 consecutive quarters. The strength of the division is a highly efficient business model driven by recurring revenue and resilient demand from the public sector. So with that, I would like to hand over to our CFO, Kristina.

Thank you, Johan. And I'm going to take you through this graph about the cash flow and the operating activities. And what you can see in Q2 now is 2026 cash flow from operating activities improved to SEK 62 million compared to minus SEK 33 million last year. And this increase was mainly attributable to changes in working capital and also mainly from Design division. And this graph illustrates -- you've seen it before, it illustrates the cash conversion over the past decade, which is calculated as free cash flow in relation to EBITDA. And the pink trend line show the average cash conversion around 70% up to 2023 when we know that Autodesk changed the payment terms.

Before that time, all the 3 years under sign a 3-year contract, we were paid also upfront for all the 3 years. That changed in 2023. So now even if you sign up for a 3-year contract, we take the income or the revenue for the full 3 years still upfront, but we only get paid 1 year at a time. So after that temporary headwind caused by the shift in the payment terms, we are now seeing a clear upward trend in cash conversion in line with what we have previously communicated. And I would also like to remind you, it's typical for our business that working capital movements and cash conversion fluctuate between quarters. and we expect this seasonal pattern to continue with Q2 and Q1 typically generating the strongest operating cash flow and where Q2 and Q3 are historically been the weaker quarters.

And let's have a look at the balance sheet. So in this graph, we are showing our balance sheet, the net debt and the leverage. And we can see that as of 30th of June 2026, net debt, including leasing amounted to SEK 2.45 billion, which is supported by around SEK 700 million in cash bank. The leverage amounted to 2.5x, which is a result of the acquisition activity and the leverage remains within the group controlled range, about 2.5x ceiling. During 2025 and into 2026, we completed 11 acquisitions, which have resulted in a temporary increase in leverage. And we are focusing on integrating these acquisitions in the business as well as deleveraging and on our balance sheet resilience. We also expanded the facilities and currently have around SEK 800 million in available unutilized capacity.

And also to add on to that, liabilities related to acquisitions amounted to SEK 620 million, of which contingent considerations are around SEK 540 million. And I would just like to hand back to Johan now for one of the final slides.

Thank you, Kristina. Addnode Group's growth journey. What is the strength of our business model, making it possible to deliver a compounded annual growth rate of 19% over a 10-year period. Addnode Group's business model is based on a strong combination of recurring revenue, organic growth and strategic acquisitions. We work constantly to boost efficiency and the profitability of our companies. Our financial target is to improve EBITDA with 15% yearly over time. Comparability between periods is affected by the renewal cycle of 3-year authorized contracts, but it does not impact our underlying performance year-over-year. We have proved that we can double our EBITDA every 5 years. Anode Group is well positioned. We have a solid foundation for continued growth and long-term value creation, supporting our 40,000 customers.

With that presentation of Q2, we would like to open up for Q&A.

[operator instructions] The next question comes from Erik Larsson from SEB.

I have 3 questions. So first off, just a clarification on the SEK 100 million in savings. When you say that half will be realized in 2026, does that mean SEK 50 million of savings in '26 or rather that the run rate heading into '27 will be SEK 50 million?

Yes. We expect about half of that as the program now was implemented now in Q2, we expect about half of that being realized from the H2 2026. And then the full effect will be from 2027.

All right. Perfect. And then this SEK 20 million in negative impact on net sales from the changed compensation from Autodesk, is it fair to assume a similar number roughly in the coming quarters? I understand you want to close the gap, of course, but can we roughly expect a similar number?

As I stated, the impact in Q2 is SEK 20 million, and that number is affecting our ability to do new sales and also to reach certain targets. So I think that is the best estimation as we have today. We don't really see it going up. It's rather -- so it's the best estimation that we have today.

Okay. And then just a final general question. I mean I appreciate the color you gave here in the presentation, and you're right in the report that Design has a stable underlying business with a growing customer base, et cetera. But obviously, it's very difficult for the market to digest that when you're just seeing top line and earnings. So how are your discussions in terms of increasing transparency here more -- even more like sharing the share of 3-year deals or number of customers, et cetera? Just any thoughts would be interesting.

Very good question. Yes, we will continue to work on that. And part of that we provided you with a flow chart today to see what the components were to make it available that we have a flat development in the comparison here. So we will definitely work with that going forward.

The next question comes from Daniel Thorsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

I also had a question on the SEK 20 million lower sales in design. I understand the mix between 1- and 3-year contracts, the timing of renewal and so on. But this changed incentive model, did this happen in Q2? Or was this known before?

The changes is from February because it follows the sort of the Autodesk year, so it starts in February. And going back to -- so we had 2 months in the first quarter. But as that was a new model, we needed another quarter to see the full effect of the program. So now we are in a position to provide you with a fair number.

Okay. And the practical effect is what -- is it a lower kickback fee? Or what is the practical effect?

Yes. It's a lower kickback. And it's dependent on several factors. It's not just a percentage. It's our ability in new sales, reaching different targets and then you get certain kickbacks, it's a [indiscernible] model.

Yes. Okay. I see. And then also on Design, comps get much easier now, of course, in Q3. But do you still stick to your CMD comments from September last year that '26 will deliver low single-digit organic growth in Design in '26? Or should we see that as history now?

I think we discussed this the last event as well. Yes, we still believe that we're going to have organic growth in Q4, and we're going to see that in Q3, and we're going to see that going forward. That has not changed with this change in margin. So we still believe that we are in a low point with regards to renewal cycles, meaning that from now, it should become better. And you will see that in Q3, and you will see effect in Q4. And you will also see that in 2027 as this is sort of a low turn in renewal rate. That means that 2027 we will see ourselves in a better position as well.

Okay. But there is a risk that '26 full year will be a slightly negative number, I guess,.

That might be, yes, for the full year. But going forward from now, you will see organic growth in [indiscernible].

Okay. clear. And then also the final one on the design, customers buying more 1-year licenses same as Q1. Is it because there is an Autodesk push pushing them to do it? Or is it because they want to do it for different reasons?

There are 2 reasons. One is that if you remember the discussion about the early renewals, that was driven by that the customer can't renew certain contracts as a 3 year. They must renew it as 1 year. So 1/3 of the 3-year contracts cannot be renewed as 3 years. So it will automatically be renewed at 1-year contract. So that's the driving force. I think that's sort of the most predominant force that we can see. who drives it. And then you don't have any sort of incentives. Historically, you have the financial incentive for renewing as a 3-year contract, basically meaning a discount. There are no discounts on 3-year contracts compared to 1-year contract. The benefit that you get is that you lock the price for 3 years.

The next question comes from Daniel Djurberg from Handelsbanken.

A couple of questions from my side as well. Starting off a question on design. Have you seen any implication on the revenues by any changes in revenue model from Autodesk going away a little bit from seat-based into more value-based models? Or is it too early to see anything from that?

We have a part of the -- when we sell to our customer, we sell subscriptions and we sell consumption-based tokens. So we already have that mix in our net sales. And percentage-wise, we can see a higher growth in the consumption-based token model. So that means that basically customer -- a normal customer buys a certain amount in a subscription and then they top it up with tokens, basically the consumption base for the less users of the systems. We had a good mix for them.

Okay. And would you say that the net effect there year-over-year is with regards to total revenues? Is it like down, flat or up or just to understand it.

No, it's not down. So we can see that it's moving and we -- so we can't see the negative effect of that from the model. Sometimes the customer can go up and down depending on how many users they have. So that follows more that [indiscernible].

Perfect. And also on the restructuring program or optimization here in design, how -- I guess you will need to reduce some people also. It will also impact the sales and the R&D organization some or it's mainly in admin, et cetera.

We're doing it for 2 reasons. So it's a very good question. One is the obvious that we have had a very rapid growth in Symetri for the last 5 years. I think we have almost tripled net sales in 5 years period. And if you go back 3 years ago, we didn't have any operation in the U.S. So it was time for us to realize these synergies. And you will -- those synergies, you will find mostly in sales administration delivery, not so much in R&D because that's a focus area going forward necessarily to drive organic growth. So it means -- and in that sense, the second part that we're doing is that we are transforming some of the sales operation moving from more of a renewal-based sales to more of an offensive, new sales.

So it's a mix of realizing the synergies from the rapid growth and also shifting some of the sales efforts, for example, to new sales efforts and making sure that we can also get our new products and services to the market.

Perfect. And my last question would be a little bit on communication, governance and so on. And we have, as you showed a really good EBITA CAGR of 90% last 10 years, but share is now down like 75% in 12 months and so on. And what -- could you have done something different to mitigate this effect and also how to improve market trust in your operations going forward?

Thank you, Daniel. It's a very good question. We can definitely do more of the communication and provide more data and more confidence for the future. So it's an ongoing discussion.

The next question comes from Thomas Nilsson from Nordea.

Looking at your balance sheet, you have SEK 2,450 million of net debt. You also have SEK 540 million of contingent considerations. Combining this, we would have net debt, including contingent considerations of about SEK 3 billion. And when comparing this to your rolling 12-month EBITDA of SEK 995 million, this would put net debt to EBITDA, including contingent considerations at around 3.0x, which is above your financial target of 2.5x. So could you perhaps talk a bit about what are the covenants on your bank debt? And do you see any scenario where you would perhaps need to raise more capital given the balance sheet and how it's structured?

Yes, I'm taking that question. So we have regular covenants in our banking facilities that we are aligned with. So that is not a problem. And also these contingent liabilities are to our -- the previous sellers of the companies. They are not interest-bearing in that sense, so not included in the reported net debt or EBITDA. So concluding on that, we are in line with our covenants and including -- also including the contingent liabilities.

The next question comes from Fredrik Nilsson from Redeye.

I wonder about your own software in Symetri. How closely connected is the sales process of your own software to the sale of an Autodesk license?

Thank you, Fredrik. Yes, it is connected because that also what brings value to the customers, seeing the customers see that we are able to use our knowledge to invest in software that provides value on top of the Autodesk platform that we are selling. So yes, it's very much connected. But having said that, we are also selling software separately as well to different customers. But it's connected, it's part of the offering, and it's usually bundled to our customers in the sales process.

Okay. I see. And I know you might not be willing to disclose this figure, but looking at the 3-year deals, and there's no major benefits of it left basically, is it approaching a very, very low share of sales? Could you perhaps give some flavor on that?

No. The short answer is no, it's not a low percentage. It's still a major part -- a big part of the sales that we are doing, but it's a portion that are decreasing over time, but it's still a significant part of the business, the 3-year deals.

I see. That's clear. And last question from me. Aerospace and defense in PLM continues to grow well. How large is it as a share of PLM today? And what's the growth rate approximately?

If you add aerospace together with defense, then you have to add what we're doing for the civilian part as well. It's almost 15% of the PLM division, 1-5, and it's a growing part. And we are providing both the platform and services. And it's also the base of Dassault Systemes, our partner. They actually started at the CA department in Dassault Aviation some 30 years ago and has developed from that. So it's a platform that is broadly adopted and used in the aerospace and defense, and we've been working with customers basically since the foundation of Technia in '94.

The next question comes from Mikael Laseen from DNB Carnegie.

I have a couple of questions. And the first one is if you can explain a difference between renewal-based sales and new sales, what changes do you need to implement to optimize that -- I mean, that organization and the focus on renewals -- or sorry, on new sales?

New sales is going after new customers, new selling them the new platform and also to existing customers, selling them new modules. So renewals, that means basically that what we sold a year ago or 3 years ago, we would like the customer to renew that. So that means that we are striving all the time to automate as much as possible of the renewal sales. Both in how we go to the customers and how we do the administration of that. So it's a constant effort to automate that. And if we automate, then we have resources that we can invest in the organization to drive new sales. So that's basically the move that we are going for.

Okay. And how long does it take for you to be aligned with this new incentive structure?

We are already -- most of the parts, we are up and running. So we are probably a little bit -- we have -- so we will see effect of this in the second half of this year.

Okay. All right. And I have a follow-up on this mix shift between 1-year and 3-year contract duration for the Design segment. Can you maybe repeat and clarify this underlying trend towards more 1-year contracts? How fast this could develop and the magnitude and if you can grow organically despite going towards more short-term contracts?

So I think just to add to what Kristina described earlier, you can see in the order flow between the quarters, you had roughly SEK 12 million of the negative organic growth that was related to the shift from 3 to 1-year contracts to give you a magnitude of it.

Okay. So that's this quarter. But going forward, is this the run rate that we should expect or will it accelerate? And what is sort of the end state here when this is sort of more in balance? What do you think?

We don't believe that the 3-year contracts in the near term will cease to exist and not be part of the offering. We still believe that it's going to be part of our offering. But what we can see is that there's a shift from going from one point of 3-year contracts to another. So it will not disappear. We can see the shift. And right now, we can see that 1/3 of the -- as I described earlier, we will -- 1/3 of the contracts will probably move away as they cannot be renewed. So we will see a shift on that going forward.

Okay. And this is sort of baked into your plan to grow EBITDA over time. And so you will manage this despite this dynamics.

Yes, we truly believe that. And we have shown over the year that we have a really adaptive organization who can handle these things that we have done a lot for the year. So we truly believe that.

[operator instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Thank you all for listening to our presentation and they're all good questions. And...

Thank you.

Welcome to the presentation of Addnode Group's Interim Report January to March 2026. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the CEO and President, Johan Andersson; and CFO, Kristina Mackintosh. Please go ahead.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of the Addnode Group Q1 report for 2026. I'm CEO, Johan Andersson of Addnode Group. And with me, I also have Kristina Elfstrom Mackintosh, our CFO of Addnode Group. So today, we will give you an insight on Addnode Group and talk about our divisions, a little bit of acquisitions, touch upon AI, and we will end with a Q&A.

So Q1 was a quarter where we improved earnings and we can see stronger cash flow. We delivered solid earnings growth. The companies acquired in 2025 performed well and combined with cost savings contributed to our favorable earnings performance. EBITDA was up 26% to SEK 274 million, and EBITDA margin increased to 17.9% from 14.9%. Earnings per share increased by 24%. We can see the increase in cash flow from operating activities increased to SEK 363 million compared to SEK 203 million in the previous quarter in 2025.

We can also see an acquisition. Technia acquired a customer contract base in Germany. We continue to lay also the foundation for future earnings growth by continuing to implement AI, develop new offerings and optimize organizations. If we look at from a longer perspective that you can see in the graph to the right here, we can see that from 2025 to the rolling 12 months ending this quarter, the EBITDA has doubled from SEK 461 million to SEK 960 million.

I will later walk you through Q1 by divisions, but I would like to hand over to Kristina, our CFO.

Thank you, Johan. And I'm going to take you through the net sales development from Q1 last year to Q1 this year. And we can see that net sales increased by 5% to SEK 1.531 billion, and the growth is mainly supported by acquisitions. And from the organic position, the currency adjusted organic growth amounted to minus 6% and the negative organic growth was attributable to mainly Design and PLM divisions.

And in the Design division, Symetri saw a slower market in Europe and U.S. and lower share of 3-year contracts compared to the same period last year. And as we have previously communicated, 2025 last year was one of the years where there's a lot of volume -- high volume of 3-year contracts being renewed. Also, the market situation in Germany, where PLM is operating remains challenging.

Looking at the acquisition, they contributed to plan and with SEK 223 million. And the integration of the new acquisitions are progressing well and the acquired businesses delivered in line with expectations. But currency movements had significant impact during the quarter and mainly the weaker U.S. dollar had a negative impact of minus SEK 61 million in the quarter. And that relies mainly in the Design division, where a majority of the U.S. dollar-denominated business resides.

And we're going to have a look at the cash situation and cash flow. In Q1 2026, cash flow from operating activities improved by 79% to SEK 363 million compared to SEK 203 million last year. And this increase was mainly attributable to stronger earnings and changes -- positive changes in working capital. And this graph that we have shown in past meetings show the cash conversion over the past decade, where we calculate the cash -- free cash flow in relation to EBITDA for the rolling 12 months quarter-by-quarter.

And you can see in the pink line, we have had cash conversion rate about 70% up to the time when Autodesk contract allowed us to obtain the 3-year payments upfront for all the 3 years. That changed in 2023, and now we are getting the payments yearly in advance, year-by-year. And you can also see the graph now reflects an upward trend in the most recent quarters and in line with what we have previously communicated. And also historically observed the working capital effect and the cash conversion tends to vary between quarters, and we expect such volatility to persist going forward.

And we're going to have a look at the financial position also. And as of March 2026, the net debt, including leasing amounted to SEK 2.2 billion. It was also supported by around SEK 900 million in cash balance and the leverage amounted to 2.1x as a result of the recent acquisitions activity. And from the facilities we currently have, we have about SEK 800 million in available unutilized capacity. And during 2025 and now in Q1 2026, we have completed 11 acquisitions, which have resulted in a temporary increase in the leverage.

And we're also going to look at the return on capital employed in next slide. And return on capital employed amounted to 14.6% as of March 2026. And the many and large acquisitions that we completed last year temporarily impacted the reported return on capital. And while the results of the acquired companies are included only from the time of acquisition, and that's, if you remember, it's SolidCAD came in by the end of October last year, FF Solutions in Brazil in the beginning of August and Genus in Norway from beginning of July. The full amount of the capital employed is added immediately at the point of acquisition. And this timing effect creates a short-term dilution of return on capital employed, which you can see in this graph.

And now we're going to go into more details about the divisions. I'm going to hand back to Johan.

Thank you, Kristina. Some of you may know, we are organized in 3 divisions. We call them Design Management, Product Lifecycle Management and Process Management. And I'm going to walk you through the development in Q1 for each of our 3 divisions. Before we do that, you can see that the 2 bigger divisions, if you look at the share of EBITDA, you will find it's the Process Management and Design Management and then we also have Product Lifecycle Management.

So let's start with Design Management. And before we do that, I just want to remind you that as of January 1, 2026, Tribia has been transferred from the Design Management division to the Process Management division. All the comparative figures you will see today have been restated to reflect the scenario which Tribia has already been transferred in 2025. So the numbers are like-for-like. So there are no effect on the transfer in the numbers that you can see here.

With that as a start, we can see that the Design Management division's net sales increased with 7% to SEK 659 million. As Kristina mentioned earlier, the weaker U.S. dollar had a negative impact and adjusted for currency effect, organic growth was minus 12% in the division. However, EBITDA increased by 7% to SEK 158 million, and the EBITDA margin increased to 24%.

The acquisitions in Canada and Brazil have developed according to plan and contributed to improved net sales and earnings. In Brazil, growth was driven by continued investment in infrastructure. And in Canada, we can see that customers continue to show renewed confidence in us as their partner. Looking at Europe, we can see that net sales in Europe and U.S. were negatively impacted by a few things.

We had a lower volume of the subscriptions that was up for renewal. And out of those that were up for renewal, we can see that more customers than historically has chosen a 1-year subscription over a 3-year when they renew. And we can see that, that trend is continuing. So it means that there are still customers with us. But with regards as we explained earlier on that, as we are considered an agent, we are reporting the full value of the contract at the time of the sale. So if we sell a 3-year contract, we boost the sales. And if we sell a 1-year contract compared to having sold a 3 year before, it has a negative effect in that quarter compared to that. But it means that we are still having the same underlying business value. So that's important to have with you.

We can also see that there are some geopolitical changes in the world, and we have some effect also from the market. And that has probably also affected the choices from the customers because you could imagine that in a more uncertain world, you're probably going for more for a 1-year compared to 3-year if you have the options. But the number of customers have increased in Europe and U.S. during this period.

So we also have service providers globally in the division who are more focused on facility management solutions has delivered a stable earnings performance compared with the preceding year. So if we look at long term, this is a division that if you look at the graph to the right, we have moved from net sales in 2021 of around short of SEK 1 billion to the plus SEK 2 billion that we are today and we increased the profit. So the trend is long term. We can see that in this quarter, acquisitions performed really well. And as I mentioned, net sales in Europe and the U.S. are a little bit lower than we would have liked, but the results and the margins are with us.

So looking at division PLM. You can see we have a decrease in net sales to SEK 420 million in the first quarter. If we adjust for currency effect, it's minus 4%. Here, we can also see that we have a trend of customers choosing subscription solutions rather than perpetual licenses. That has sort of had effect also on the top line. But the demand for PLM systems, design and simulation software and related services from strategically important segments such as aerospace and defense remains strong, and we have expanded several customer engagements, particularly in the Nordic countries. The market situation in Germany is still challenging, and there are investment decisions regarding major projects are still being approached with caution from our customers.

EBITDA has increased to SEK 33 million compared to SEK 4 million last year. But those of you who were with us last year know that we had some restructuring costs last year. Those have had a positive effect, and we can see the positive of that margins going up. And if we add back the restructuring costs and compare, we can see that still that we have a growth in EBITDA of 18% compared to the comparable quarter last year in the run rate. So it's a good performance, and we can see that the cost-efficient measures taken have had an effect in the business.

We have made an acquisition here in Q1. Technia acquired a customer base in Germany of the Dassault Systemes software, added 80 new customers to the 6,000 that we already have here. And net sales on that customer base is roughly around SEK 18 million, and it's something that we can add to the organization that we already have in the German part of the business of Technia.

Looking at Process Management, continued their positive streak that they have for 7 quarters in a row right now. Net sales increased by 15% to SEK 466 million in net sales. EBITDA was up 27% to SEK 104 million, and EBITDA margin increased to 22.3% from 20.3%. This was the seventh consecutive quarter in which the EBITDA margin improved year-on-year.

Along with good efficiency and effective cost control, margin-enhancing acquisitions such as Genus in Norway have contributed to this earnings improvement. Sales to public sector is still stable, but we can see that there is an uncertainty in the world and those larger projects that we probably did more of a couple of years ago are still being approached with some pressure.

And as we mentioned earlier on, the Tribia has changed to this division and all the comparative figures have been addressed with that. And we think this is a good change. It's in line with the group strategy, and it aims to strengthen collaboration between companies focusing on the public sector and digital case management and will create conditions for further growth and efficiency improvements. It also means that division Process Management will have a stronger node in Norway with the companies Genus, Decisive and Tribia.

We have touched upon acquisitions. And as we mentioned, we had a really strong year in 2025, adding at least SEK 700 million in net sales and strengthen the group. Had a good effect of that, meaning that we were able to build, for example, Symetri to be the world-leading global Autodesk partner, with presence in Europe as well as North and Latin America. We also strengthened Process Management with a strong Nordic footprint and acquisition of Genus in Norway.

In Q1, we can see that the acquisition climate has been characterized by greater uncertainty in valuation discussions, mainly driven by AI concerns and a more complex macroeconomic geopolitical environment. But as I mentioned earlier on, we have made one acquisition of the customer base here in Germany. And we are still continuing to look at acquisitions. But with our -- as we did so many acquisitions in 2025 and with the uncertainty in the world, we probably will see a slower acquisition rate this year, and we expect to pick it up by the end of the year.

Just to touch upon AI. AI is something that we're all talking about, something that will have an effect and is having an effect on all of us. It's an important focus area for Addnode Group. We believe it enables continued innovation. It will increase customer value and our internal efficiency. We are, as a group, focused on a few nodes around software and digital solutions for engineering, design, asset management and public sector workflows, and we think that's an important assets.

Our strong customer relationships and our in-depth knowledge of the processes paired with the data created and stored in the digital solutions we provide represent a strong platform for development of new AI-based services. What is core in all our domains and the nodes that I mentioned is that we have a deep domain expertise and provide software for entire workflows. We provide mission-critical systems that are embedded with our customers.

We are a trusted ecosystem partner in regulated environments. We are supported by strong partnerships with, for example, Autodesk, Bluebeam, Dassault Systemes and Esri, that means that they are able to invest in things that we are able to provide to our customers. We also embrace AI because we believe that it's something that will make us stronger in our customer value. So I believe we have a good starting point where we are.

And just to give you some examples, we have -- if you look at the last, I think it's 3, 4 quarterly reports, we have presented some new AI products that just to give you a flavor of what we are talking about. And if you look at what we're presenting in this quarter is, for example, with the Inuse Connect IoT platform, one of our customers, the machine manufacturer, ALPMA has been able to increase its production efficiency, cut costs and reduce its service costs.

If we look at the other example with AI simplifying and streamline inspections, then we are in Sweden, and then we have a demand that you need to do ventilation controls and report it to the local authorities and the local authorities are our customers. So with the software Vinga and ATOM, you can automate and create an end-to-end digital workflow that enables Swedish municipalities to fulfill their statutory responsibility for mandatory ventilation inspection. This has resulted in shorter lead times, lower energy consumption, improved public health. These are 2 very good examples where we can infuse existing solutions with AI to provide more value to our customers.

So AI is definitely enabled for increased customer value, its innovation, efficiency. The technology which is being integrated to our customer solution internal process is an important aspect of how we create value. We, as a group, do believe in decentralization, but it means that we push through a few things to make things happen within our group. All these different companies in the group are doing a fantastic job. But what we specifically push and help each other with is to make sure that we continue to develop AI-driven customer solutions. And we are doing that by ourselves. We are doing that with our partners, and it's a constant development.

An important thing is leadership and how we make these things happen because it has an effect. So we try to work together. We push it through our executive summits. We have different meetings within our divisions to make sure that we have the right leadership to make things happen. And then also on a more subject matter level, looking at development, sales, marketing, example, there are different networks within the group that goes to our group level, but also in the different divisions to push this to make this happen.

And then we try to promote by showing good examples, for example, Addnode Innovations. I think this is -- we have 60 very good applicants, and now it's down to 7 in a final. And most of them are actually in production because you can see the potential in AI. We started by coding a couple of months ago, and it's already now happening. So it's a lot of things happening, and we're trying to push for it. But we are a decentralized organization that means that we have a lot of things happening in the group.

So trying to sum this up, we can see that we are delivering on our growth strategy. We are combining organic growth with a value-creating acquisition strategy. If you look for a full year perspective, even though we have a quarter with lower inorganic growth. Our financial target is to grow EBITDA with 15% year-on-year. That means that we aim to continue to double EBITDA every fifth year. Since 2016, we have a compounded annual growth rate EBITDA of 19%, and we are increasing EBITDA margin.

With the presence in various regions and industries where our digital solutions are mission-critical, we have built a robust business that remains strong even in a challenging economic climate dominated by geopolitical turmoil. Looking forward, growth and improved earnings will continue to originate from the development of new offerings, the implementation of AI and acquisitions. We will continue to optimize our organization as technology, market conditions and economy changes. Addnode Group has shown and will continue with the creativity, perseverance and commitment needed to generate value for both our customers and our shareholders.

So with that as an introduction, we would like to open up for Q&A and questions.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Erik Larsson from SEB.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes. We can hear you.

Okay. Sorry for that. Great. I have a few questions. So first off, if you look at your customer base for the rest of the year, do you see fewer agreements that are up for renewal? Or was that more isolated to Q1?

What you can see is that we had here in Q1, yes, [indiscernible]. And then looking at -- we would probably see that we go back to more of a historical sort of normal activity over the year is that Q2 is usually slower. Q3, okay and Q4, better. So we will probably have seen that pattern during the year as well, what I would believe.

All right. And then I wanted to ask about the M&A contribution, which was strong here in Q1. And if you could just give some flavor if that also reflects the seasonality in like SolidCAD and FF Solutions or to what extent we could extrapolate this to Q2, for instance?

I mean it's a very good question. And yes, there's a seasonality in that because these are more -- the Q1 are to be very strong. So yes, there's definitely seasonality in that. So you cannot extrapolate it for Q2. You should probably expect more, like I mentioned, that is Q1, yes, very strong, and we are proud of that. And then we will probably see that Q1 is the slowest quarter during the year. And then Q3 will be sort of okay and Q4 will -- but that's -- we're talking about the full design here.

So if you look at the guidance, as we said that we are probably around SEK 700 million plus on the run rate for the acquisition we did for in 2025 and then you compare it with a very good contribution in Q1, you'll see that we -- there's a sort of an overachievement compared to that in Q1, and that has to do with some expectation that Q1, it should be better. So there definitely is some seasonality there.

Okay. Perfect. And then the final question on cash flows. I think you talked about it a bit, but we've seen now 2 strong quarters and this normalization that you mentioned several times is currently taking place. But then historically, we have seen limited cash flows in Q2 and Q3. So the question is, should we assume that in '26 as well? Or is there still some catching up to do, so to say?

Yes. If you look at the cash flow from -- we have the strongest cash flow quarters in Q4 and Q1. And based on historical patterns, Q2 is slower and the lowest pattern in cash flow is in Q3. So we expect the same pattern going forward as well.

The next question comes from Thomas Nilsson from Nordea.

You mentioned a lower share of 3-year contracts in Q1. When it comes to the negative 12% organic growth we see in -- we saw in Design Management, how much of this 12% negative organic growth comes from a lower share of 3-year contracts in Q1?

We don't have an exact figure for that, but just to help you to give you some guidance is that we start off, and this has to do with the way the base of the business that we -- for example, the contract that was sold 1 year and 3 years ago, those are the contracts we expected to be renewed this quarter. So that means that we had a lower base that was sort of previous sold to be renewed compared to the last quarter last year. So we expected a slower net sales compared to that.

So we have an effect of that, and that was expected. And then of the contracts that we renewed, the customer chosen more to go with a 1-year contract, and we expect that pattern to continue going forward. So we'll see that. The good thing is that the customers are increasing. The number of customers are increasing. So we can see that we are at least sort of flattish on the underlying customer value of the contracts if we try to sort of annualize the value of the 3-year contracts.

So we are sending a signal that it's not 12% organic down. It has this effect on the -- for the [ 1 or 3-year ], and you can see the strong cash flow as well. So you will not get a sort of a full number of that, but we are saying that we are more on a flattish on the growth rate of the underlying business.

Okay. Okay. And in terms of organic growth at group level, when do you expect we will return to organic growth for the group? Will it be in the remainder of 2026?

I think best guess is that we expect that we will not, as a group, have organic growth this year. It has to do with -- if you look at it, we will always -- it's more -- also has to do with us. We will continue to protect the bottom line. You can see that, for example, we are increasing our EBITDA, and we are increasing our earnings per share with 24%. We'll have a focus on that. But I wouldn't expect us as a group to have organic growth in this year. It has to do with -- we started with this quarter. You can see that we will not be able to sort of catch up that during the year. And we are not planning -- I think we said going back to our capital markets in last autumn, we said that we expected low digital organic growth for the next year.

And now we can see that there are some -- definitely the sort of the geopolitical situation and the market has not probably expected as we are -- as we expected at that time. So it's now we are probably saying that, that low sort of organic percentage growth has probably turned around to say, let's be -- strive for organic growth, but we are not planning for that.

Okay. One final question. Do you see any risk on the horizon of AI native start-ups in your business areas?

We shout-out, of course, we see risks because we also see all the opportunities by ourselves what we can do. So there -- and the next question is probably have something of that materialized? No, because there are the things that, as I mentioned, what we are -- we are very much still embedded in our systems. It's more -- we are working in regulated environment. So the sort of 2, 3 man start-ups are not relevant options for our customers to handle this.

But having said that, we are also seeing what so many things that you can do. So of course, there are risks, and we try to address them as -- we address them as best as we can and we develop ourselves. So there are always risk in running a business. And within the risk also like the opportunities.

The next question comes from Daniel Thorsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

Yes. I also have a question on Design Management here in Q1. Do you think that the 1- and 3-year agreement changes here is, to some extent, explained by some AI uncertainties as well, both because customers may not know what competition and pricing may look like 2 years out, but also that they may face headcount reductions internally themselves. Is that something you hear in customer discussions?

We are not hearing that saying that, okay, this is because we are looking at AI. We're also hearing some customers saying that what do you think about changing your system? That's not an option because we're also heavily embedded in our processes and routine. For example, if you are an architect or technical consultants, all the new development that you are doing, all the historical and everything is so heavily embedded. So it's a very sort of long and painstaking process. It's like trying to change SIP for [indiscernible]. It's a lot of things. But having said that, it's quite tough to understand what is sort of normal GO things affecting business and what is AI.

No, I understand the businesses are embedded by the customers and they may not change it. But I also think that some of the customers that consider a 3-year agreement now, they may think that...

Yes. It should be.

Prices for this will be lower 2 years out or our 100 architects today may be 90 architects in 2 years because of internal efficiency and productivity. So it's better to go with 1 year now because we don't know how we will look like in 12 months' time. We haven't really heard that.

We haven't really sort of had those type of discussions saying that because of this, we are -- because I think our customers are still trying to sort of in the face of -- you are a little bit ahead of the curve compared to our customers. We have also customers saying that we want you to ensure that you are not implementing AI in our solutions because we cannot do that for regulatory. So we have all those type of discussions. And let's see, you should say ask me that question again the next quarter, and then I will sort of probably reevaluate that. But so far, we haven't had those sort of big discussions with our customers say that, you know what, we're going to decrease with X percentage of numbers so be prepared for that. I'm not saying that it's not going to happen. I'm saying that we have not had those discussions.

Okay. Cool. I understand. And then a second question here on Design Management. You answered partly to Thomas's question here on organic growth guidance for this full year. Did you refer to Design Management or on a group level? Because on the Capital Markets Day, you said that you expect low single-digit organic growth in Design Management for '26. And now you say not on a group level.

And then I think it goes with -- sorry, if we are not able to do organic growth in Design Management because it's roughly half of our business, then we're probably not going to be able to do organic growth on a group level because for PLM, for example, we have took the sort of the decision to discontinue some business to improve our profit margins. So we can't really expect to do organic growth in PLM for the full year. And if we are saying that we can't expect organic growth in Design, then the organic growth that we would hopefully be able to generate some percentage in Process, that will probably not be enough to compensate for the sort of entire group.

Yes. No, that makes sense. And then a question on Q2 here in Design Management. We know that we have a tough comp from last year. You had the positive boost from renewals before mid the year there. How should we think about kind of the magnitude in organic growth in Design in Q3? Will obviously be materially larger on the negative side compared to Q1 here, but like 20%, 25% magnitude, is that unreasonable given that you grew 50% last year?

I think that depends on what you compare with because we had a significant boost in Q2 last year of preordering of 3-year contract because that was the sort of the end of [indiscernible]. And that also means that we have less sales in Q3. So I guess it's not that easy to just answer because that depends on what base you're comparing with.

I was thinking year-over-year versus Q2 last year. I guess it will just be a large drop.

It will be a large drop, and that has to do -- it's a very good question. And I just want to remember everyone that Q2 last year was a significant boost from the preordering that meant that we had Q3 very much lower. So if you want to try to sort of address the magnitude of the changes, you need to sort of combine Q2 and Q3 last year.

Yes. That's clear. And then the final question on Process here. You had 1% organic growth in Process. So that means that either volume or pricing is negative year-over-year, which one was negative here in Q1, if you could...

I think it's volume. So we have some pricing. So -- and the pricing is that sort of -- that's probably we can do some. So I think it's a mix. But it means that depending on a little bit how we measure, we are having slightly volume negative or flattish. There's no growth in the volume to make that organic growth happen.

The next question comes from Fredrik Nilsson from Redeye.

I want to follow up on the movement from 3-year to 1-year deals in design. Have you seen a similar pattern before in more uncertain economic environment?

I think what is happening now is that, yes, we might have some uncertainty in that. But we -- I think just to be very clear, we have a move irrespective from the sort of uncertainties there that is going to 1-year contracts. And that has to do with that if we go back, for example, a couple of years ago, the customer had a discount from moving to 3 years compared to 1-year. And then it was moved to -- you can fix in the price. And now we can see that and they had still to pay upfront.

And then over the year, it has moved to that irrespective if you change -- if you fix the price for 3 years, you still have to pay yearly. So the trend has been going on for the last sort of couple of years that move to 1 year. So I think the majority of what happened is that there's a push to 1-year contract within the system. And then we have an uncertainty in the sort of normal sort of market things that are going to happen. So just to add some flavor to your question.

So -- and the question and the other one is that, no, we don't have any sort of a good historical comparable saying that in these times, customers choose this and that. But we are talking more from a -- it probably makes sense and I had a previous question that do you think the customer has done for them? It's hard to answer, but I also want to put out there that we have a trend moving to 1-year contract, and that will continue.

Good thing is that we will be able to show more sort of less volatility in our reported earnings going forward for the same customer base if we are able to sort of increase the number of 1-year contracts, if that makes sense.

Yes, yes, that's good. And let's move on to PLM. As you mentioned, the margin increased quite a bit year-over-year. But I mean, it was still below the second half of last year. I guess there might be some seasonality, but still there seems to be a slightly lower level. Has the market worsened somewhat? Or could you help us understand the number?

No, I think what you're pushing at that Q1 is always the best quarter for Design Management, but it's also the less best quarter for PLM historically, irrespective. If you look back over the years, you will find that Q1 is probably the quarter, and that has to do with some seasonality with sales of software and deliveries of projects. They have more services within themselves. So that means that January is probably a little bit slower because you need -- there's a sort of you start up for the year, you do more projects. And in Design, you end the year in January. So there's some seasonality in that.

Okay. I mean I agree to what you're saying to some extent, but still in 2024, 2022, the margin was quite strong also in Q1. Were those quarters exceptional then you would say? Or how should I understand that you don't really see that seasonal pattern in the numbers you report, I would argue.

You have better sort of data in front of yourself than me. So -- but I don't feel that -- the question is that do we feel that we are being less efficient as we go ahead, that's not my thing. So I expect that we will be able to continue to improve earnings over the year this year compared to last year, if that's sort of the underlying question.

Yes, that's clear. And last question, regarding the capitalized work, it increased quite a bit relative to sales. Is this the level we should expect going forward? Or was there something special in the quarter?

The special in the quarter is that we now have our company in Norway, Genus, who are providing own proprietary software, which have capitalized in the Q1. We didn't have that in the past. So that you can expect and that has not been depreciated or amortized over time yet. So for the companies that are providing own products and solutions, we will expect more capitalized R&D being put in the numbers.

The next question comes from Mikael Laseen from DNB Carnegie.

I had a few questions. And the first one is on Design Management and how Autodesk's increased focus on new sales versus renewals are affecting your business.

That's a good question. The short answer is that we don't have the full analysis of that. It's -- the things that you mentioned is that from February, so it's the first month of the Autodesk year, there are the sort of the incentives are slightly changed so that they are pushing for moving from more from the back end to new sales. And it's a little bit too early to say that because we have only had that process for 2 months. And so we don't have any sort of a good analysis of that.

But basically, what they're trying like everybody else is trying to promote new sales over sort of renewal and taking care of existing customer base. We are getting sort of incentivized for both, but in the new model, more on the new sales. So it's a little bit too early to do any bigger analysis of that. But basically, if we sell less, we probably will get less margin on that. That's the sort of expansion. And the margin that means that in an agency model, that's our net sales.

Yes. Okay. But you haven't seen any dramatic effects so far in Q2 then?

No, not yet. But -- so I would argue strongly advise you to ask me that question again in the next quarter, and then we will see because then we will have been able to go through a full sort of Autodesk quarter and then into next quarter, and then we will be able to see how this pans out.

Okay. Can you then give us some sort of background to the dynamics in new sales versus renewals for Design segment, how that works today? And yes, so we can sort of understand the potential changes if there are any.

I think you have to look at it by market by market. If you look at what we can see here in -- if you look at Europe and U.S., right now, we can see new sales were irrespective of it, it's a little bit slower. And new sales means that either we are selling new sort of seats could be to existing systems and modules or selling new models coming out of the new software. So it's a mix of that.

But then also if you look at the dynamics, you can see that, for example, in Brazil, we have a strong growth, and that is supported by all the infrastructure investments being made. And so that we have a strong position there. Canada, we have a very strong position as well. So we can see that's growing well. What we've been struggling shortly has been in Europe and U.S. of new sales this quarter. I don't know if that was sort of your underlying question, please ask again, I probably...

Yes. But just thinking about -- I mean, the renewal rate is, I guess, pretty high historic customer base renewal. And so it's just -- you will still get a fair amount of, I mean, revenue on that, but it's sort of a bit more towards new sales, so you get rewarded more for pushing more new sales is what's going on?

Definitely yes. The short answer is yes, we will sort of compared to a year ago, we will get sort of more percentage-wise margins, so to speak, on new sales compared to renewal of existing customer base.

Yes. Got it. And -- all right. So are you seeing any pressure on pricing here in the Design segment or volumes or partner economics in general and the underlying changes apart for this push for new sales?

If you're talking about pricing -- are we talking about pricing to customers?

Yes, I guess so. And you guys check with Autodesk.

Yes. Pricing to customer, we haven't seen that sort of pressure on that. We can see that we have sort of a normal more of a KPI level price increases. That's sort of in the system. With regards to the message is that if we continue to do our work, we will sort of get our -- still our share of the cake in the same level. And that goes back to your question, how has that panned out with sort of promoting more new sales compared to historical. We haven't seen how that pan out, but that's the message still, and we are going for that. So still they are pushing for the channel, and we have still some more work to do so.

Okay. Got it. And I was also thinking about -- so in general, the underlying trend for this type of [ CAD, EO, OC ] players is I mean to bundle more and sell more complete packages, I guess. Do you also benefit from that selling more to the customer base, upselling, cross-selling? So how do you work with that?

That's what you mentioned, yes, as these products are becoming more and more sort of adding more value to a customer, it also means that they are more complex to address with the customers. So that means that we, as a partner are investing more, having invested more in our service capabilities to be able to address that value for our customer. So that means that it has been beneficial for us as a bigger part or the biggest partner, for example, for Autodesk and one of the biggest, Dassault. So that we have the capabilities to bring out sort of the full platform. So it's -- that's definitely a trend.

So we believe that compared to other partners, we have an upside on that. So definitely. So that means that we are investing in people. Most of the people that are working with us, they have a history from the industry by themselves. They have been architects, technical consultants, been working in process industries and et cetera. So we sort of -- we would like to claim that we understand the processes that the software is about to be supported. So that's very important for us. So we believe that's something that will have a -- having a positive impact on us.

That's good clarity. And maybe if I may, a question on what you mentioned in the comment in the report that you talked about new offerings. Can you talk to us about what that means?

I think new offerings for us is both that what we are trying to -- some of the examples I mentioned here in the report today, we are able to bring some new IoT offerings to the market, helping our customers getting more productive within the maintenance. We are also been able to have sort of existing offerings, combine them, infuse them with AI and provide more value to our customers. Those are -- those types of -- we are probably not the type of company that's going to sort of greenfield investment of a sort of major investments.

So we are probably good at making things even better as we are. And we can also see that our product development is becoming more and more efficient by ourselves. So we are probably hoping that we -- and we're also working with our partners to bring new products into the market as well. So it's not the product. It's a lot of products that we're constantly developing to bring up to the customers. So as part of more of an evolving rather than revolution.

The next question comes from Daniel Djurberg from Handelsbanken.

Most questions asked, obviously, but I have a question coming back to -- you talked a little bit about the pricing trends with Autodesk and Dassault. Can you say something more on that like-for-like magnitude and also if we saw the full impact in Q1? And also if there has been any changes with regards to Autodesk, if they -- given the changes from renewals versus new sales and so on, as they take a larger share of these price increases themselves than in the past?

Okay. The first question, which can say anything about prices. And just to be clear, on the last one, I didn't sort of fully understand the question, last part of it.

Neither did, I guess. The first question then.

Yes. And about pricing, we can see that our expectancy is not that we are going to go like a 5%, 10% price increase in the [ press ]. It's more like do we -- can we expect to do 2%, 3% price increase. And then we -- on the sort of existing one, that's probably more what we can go for to expect in this environment.

Yes. May I ask you also since it is now Autodesk doing the invoicing themselves, and do you have easier to get the price increases through since it's Autodesk doing this and you will just go with the flow here, I guess.

Yes. No, I think the good thing is that we live in a world where we have sort of the help of Autodesk to keep the price up. Historically, when we were more of a direct sales organization, there was a competition on the price pressure. So with this new sort of agency model, it's easy to keep the overall prices up in the market from that perspective.

And yes, we can see that because we see the invoices that goes to the customers. And we send the quote to the customers. So we definitely see the end value. So we know sort of the end value to the customer more as we are the one sending the quote to them. And when they say yes to the quote, they get an invoice from Autodesk.

Okay. I understand. Another question, if I may. You talked twice, I think, in the call that you see a number of clients that has increased in EMEA and North Americas in Design, I think.

Yes, a number of customers.

Yes, a number of customers. Is this also excluding the acquisition of SolidCAD and FF Solutions?

Yes.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

No. Yes. Thank you for all the good questions and taking the time to talk about Addnode Group. So thank you.

Welcome to the presentation of Addnode Group's Year-end Report 2025. [Operator Instructions]

Now I will hand the conference over to the CEO, Johan Andersson; and CFO, Kristina Mackintosh. Please go ahead.

Hello, everyone. It seems like we had some technical trouble in the beginning. So it might be that you didn't hear me in the beginning. So, I just want to start over again and thank you for listening in and we show the agenda, and let's start from there.

So, Addnode Group's purpose is all about digitalization for a better society. We operate, acquire, and develop entrepreneurial companies that provide digital solutions. For innovation and continuous development in close collaboration with our customers, we create digital solutions for specific needs. The software and digital solutions that we provide design buildings, infrastructure and cities and also the products that we all use every day like cars and all the way to our life science instruments.

When things have been designed and built, it need to be maintained with a life cycle perspective. And the public sector has a responsibility for the design and maintenance of our infrastructure. Our digital solutions makes all this possible.

So, looking at 2025, it was a year when we have set the foundation for further expansion. As I look back, I'm proud of the efforts our employees made, and I truly feel confident about the future. We have landed new customers, strengthened our offerings, expand into new geographic markets. Acquisitions have added net sales of approximately SEK 700 million, and we have strengthened the EBITA margin.

We have defined new financial targets, secured refinancing on more favorable terms, changed to a new transaction model, adopted the reporting of third-party agreements. We also continue to invest in AI and product development, optimize our organization, and improve the EBITA margin. So, we increased net sales with 4%. We had an EBITA growth also of 5% and EBITA margin increased to 15.6%.

Looking at the 5-year perspective in the graph to the right, you will see that from 2021 to 2025, net sales has increased from SEK 3.5 billion to SEK 5.8 billion, and EBITA has increased from SEK 461 million to SEK 903 million.

So Q4, we saw significant improvement in margins and profit. Acquisitions and cost efficiency measures contributed to Addnode Group delivering its highest EBITA ever for a single quarter. Net sales increased by 5%, of which minus 4% was currency adjusted organic sales growth. EBITA increased with 20% to SEK 298 million, and EBITA margin improved to 19.1%. You can also see that our EPS increased with 45% if you adjust for revaluation of the consideration for earn-outs.

If you look at our 3 divisions, Process Management, thanks to organic growth supported by margin-enhancing acquisitions, increased EBITA by 34%. Product Lifecycle Management posted negative growth on sales, but EBITA was in line with the previous year, thanks to cost savings. EBITA in the Design Management division improved by 16% despite challenging comparative figures for the fourth quarter in last year. Margin-enhancing acquisitions in Canada and Brazil contributed to the improvement.

Looking at the 5-year perspective, in the graph to the right for Q4, Q4 in 2021, we increased net sales from SEK 865 million to almost more than SEK 1.5 billion in 2025. And EBITA has doubled from SEK 148 million to SEK 298 million.

With that as an introduction, I would like to hand over to Kristina, our CFO, who will give you further guidance on group net sales performance in Q4 2025.

Yes. Thank you very much, Johan. I'm going to take you through the net sales development from the same quarter last year to Q4 2025. And as you can see that net sales has increased by 5% compared to last year, and this growth was supported by the continued execution across core markets and acquisitions, although partly offset by the currency movements.

Looking at the organic side, the currency adjusted organic growth was minus 4%, reflecting tough comparison figures from last year, where we had a larger amount of 3-year contracts within Autodesk. In the Design division, in particular, we saw now in Q4 this year, a lower share of the 3-year agreements compared with the same period in 2024. And as we have previously communicated, the option to renew certain 3-year agreements ended after Q2 this year, and these contracts are now being renewed on a 1-year basis.

And also in PLM, system sales and related services remained stable in U.K., U.S. and in the Nordic, supported by a broad and diversified customer base. Demand in Germany continued to be weak in the quarter and the market shift from perpetual licenses towards subscription solutions further intensified during the quarter. Process division contributed with currency-adjusted organic growth of 4% and sales to the public sector remained stable during the period.

Looking at the contributions from acquisitions. Acquisitions continued to perform according to the plan and contributed SEK 236 million in the quarter. Integration is progressing well and acquired businesses delivered in line with our expectations. Currency, however, the currency movement had a significant impact during this quarter. And the stronger SEK, particularly against the U.S. dollar, reduced net sales by SEK 97 million. And it's mainly within Design division where the majority of the U.S. dollar-denominated business resides.

Looking at the cash conversion then on the next page. Our business model is characterized by the asset-light model with moderate working capital and R&D requirements. And we also have strong cash generation supported by the upfront payments that can give our customers.

In this graph, as we have been shown before, illustrate the Addnode's cash conversion over the past decade, and it's calculated as free cash flow in relation to EBITA. And the pink trend line that you see shows the average cash conversion of around 70% up to 2023. And as highlighted in previous communication, we have currently experienced a temporary working capital drag related to the changes in payment terms from Autodesk 3-year contracts. And since 2023, these agreements are paid annually rather than upfront for the full 3-year term. And this shift has reduced cash flow in the transition period.

Now in Q4 2025, cash flow from operating activities improved to SEK 324 million from SEK 275 million last year, albeit still affected by the payment terms adjustment and the impact is gradually decreasing over the year. And reassuring, the graph now shows the first clear upward trend in the latest quarter, confirming that the working capital headwind is beginning to ease. But as you can see also historically, the cash conversion tends to fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter, and we expect this pattern also to continue going forward.

Now let's have a look at the financial position on next page. Over the past years, we have maintained a low debt level and leverage around 1.1 to 1.3. But during 2024, we have completed 10 acquisitions, which have resulted in a temporary increase in leverage. Ahead of the SolidCAD acquisition in late October, we refinanced and also increased our credit facilities, which now total approximately to SEK 3.7 billion, secured by more favorable terms than before.

And as of December 31, 2025, net debt, including leasing amounted to SEK 2.5 billion, supported by cash of SEK 625 million. Leverage has increased to 2.4x as a result of the acquisition activity.

From the expanded facilities, we currently have SEK 860 million in available unutilized capacity. And as we have communicated previously, we intend to maintain a controlled net debt position going forward. And at the same time, we will also continue to pursue strategic value-creating acquisitions, which may temporarily increase the leverage, depending on timing and scale.

Moving over to look at the return on capital employed. Addnode continues to demonstrate the characteristic of a compounder, and we are delivering consistent and strengthening returns to capital employed over time. And you can see that the acquisitions completed in 2025 temporarily impacted reported return on capital employed, while the results from the acquired companies were included only from their respective acquisition's date. And that's, for example, for SolidCAD by end of October, FF Solutions came in beginning of August and Genus, the Norwegian company in the beginning of July.

The full amount of capital employed is added immediately to the base at the point of acquisitions. And the timing effect creates a dilution of return on capital employed, which now amounts to 14.1% by end of December 2025. And as the acquired businesses continue to contribute to earnings, return on capital will progressively improve, reinforcing our long-term track record of a disciplined capital allocation and profitable growth.

And now let's have a closer look at the performance of our division. I'm going to hand over to Johan again.

Thank you, Kristina. So Addnode Group, we are reporting in 3 different segments, 3 divisions: Design Management, Product Lifecycle Management and Process Management. And if you look at the share of the net sales and the gross profit and EBITA from the 3 divisions, you will see that Design Management is the biggest division with regards to both net sales and profit. And then you will see that Process Management is second in size and third is Product Lifecycle Management. I'm going to walk you through the 3 different divisions and the progress during the quarter.

Starting with Design Management, that's where we help our customers with design software, product data management software and the maintenance of buildings and infrastructure. So, in the quarter, you could see that net sales increased by 6% to SEK 701 million. If you adjust for currency effect, reported organic growth was minus 8%. But as Kristina earlier told us that most of the effect of the lower organic growth has to do with this quarter. We have the lower portion of 3 years agreements being sold compared to last year in the Q4 when we had a higher portion. You can also see that we had almost 15% organic growth in Q4 last year on gross profit level. And this, it's minus 8%. So, the lower organic growth is mainly related to the mix of 1-year and 3-year deals being made.

But the weaker U.S. dollar also had a negative impact this quarter, as Kristina previously described. But if we look at EBITA, our profit increased by 15% (sic) [ 16% ] to SEK 169 million, and the EBITA margin increased to 24.1% Acquisitions in Canada, Brazil and U.S. have been successfully integrated and contributed to earnings according to plan. This is also the first quarter where we like-for-like, can report with regards to the reporting of our 3-year contracts. So, going forward, we will not be posting pro forma figures as much as we have done because now, we're reporting like-for-like with regards to our partner contracts.

Symetri, who is the world's largest Autodesk partner with a supporting offering of own tech and services, noted good demand from customers in infrastructure, construction, process and manufacturing industries. As I mentioned, we can see a negative impact on reported net sales from the 3-year agreements. And as previously communicated, the possibility to renew certain of these deals was ended in 2025. That only meant that the customers are now renewing them as 1-year contracts instead. We're not losing any customers. So, I know that we have some discrepancies here with the reporting net sales and the underlying organic growth, but our belief is that we do have an organic growth in the subscription base.

Service Works Global, who delivers digital solution for facility management; and Tribia, who provide collaboration platforms for the construction and infrastructure sector had stable earnings compared with the year earlier period. And if you look on a 5-year period in the graph, you can see that we had a growth going from almost SEK 1 billion in net sales in 2021 to SEK 2.5 billion that we are trailing right now in 2025, and we've been able to improve EBITA along that rise. So, it's been a good, progressing trend over the years.

So, if we look at Product Lifecycle Management, we're also providing design, simulation and product data management software to different customer group based on a very good partnership with Dassault Systemes, complementing with own services and products. We can see that we had a net sales decrease by 9% in the fourth quarter. If we adjust for currency effect, the organic growth was minus 5%. And sales and related show a stable trend in U.K., U.S. and Nordics, where we have a broad customer base spanning manufacturing, defense and life science industries. But in contrast, demand in Germany remained weak. But sales to strategically important aviation and defense segment remains strong with several new customers added.

We can also see that the trend with customers choosing subscription solutions over licenses with perpetual right of use is continuing to strengthen. EBITA decreased somewhat to SEK 48 million, but the EBITA margin was on par at 10.8% as last year. mainly related to the measures implemented to adapt the organizational cost structure, which were communicated in the first quarter has proceeded as planned and has been successful. These restructuring costs of almost SEK 24 million were charged early in the first quarter in '25, and we now see the benefit, and we are expected to generate at least annual cost savings of about SEK 45 million.

In Q4, we acquired a company, X10D Solutions in Sweden and has delivered according to expectation. And in January 2026, we also acquired a customer base in Germany. Looking at the 5-year perspective, you can see we've also been growing here, and you can -- but unfortunately, you can see the decline in the profit, and we've been addressing that, and we believe that we are trending on a higher level than we performed in 2025.

Process Management. Here we are predominantly active in Sweden and Norway, providing local and central governments software that makes it possible for them to do their job to both plan the infrastructure that we are all part of, but also case management and also high regulated industries like banks that we serve. Continued fantastic growth here and the division delivered yet another strong quarter with growth and improved EBITA margin.

Net sales increased by 24% to SEK 425 million. Adjusted for currency effect, the organic growth was 4%. EBITA was also strengthened by improved operational efficiency and positive contributions from acquired companies. Sales to the public sector remained stable. Large authorities are continuing to show certain restraint when it comes to investing in major projects. EBITA increased even more by 34% to SEK 94 million and EBITA margin increased to 22%.

The division's businesses are well positioned in public sector owing to their attractive digital solutions, in-depth experience and strong references. So, all in all, a strong quarter from the division.

So, moving on. If you look at acquisitions, we have announced 10 acquisitions in 2025. They are all expected to contribute to annual net sales of approximately SEK 700 million and to strengthen the EBITA margin. This has been supportive to the EBITA increase in Q4 2025. And as Kristina mentioned earlier on, when she talked about net sales that most of these acquisitions were made in Q4, so the majority of the SEK 700 million will have a positive effect in 2026.

But since the presentation of the last interim report, Q3 2025, we have announced 2 add-on acquisitions. The first one is ACAD-Plus, it's a U.S.-based provider of CAD-based space management and facilities optimization and software. Its product FMG-Plus, is a powerful AutoCAD add-on that seamlessly integrate with other third-party platforms. This will strengthen existing software portfolio in Symetri. We will have a strong footprint in higher education, almost 150 public and private university and a growing public sector client base. It has net sales today of SEK 12 million and 5 employees, and it's consolidated as part of Design division as of December 2025.

Encad is another example of an add-on acquisition, but this is for Technia in the PLM division. It will strengthen their presence in Germany. It's an asset deal, some 80 customers agreement for Dassault Systemes software portfolio, and it will add approximately SEK 18 million in net sales. Customers primarily within aerospace and defense, industrial equipment and transport and mobility, and it's consolidated as part of Product Lifecycle Management from January 2026.

So, what are we doing for our customers? If you look from an AI perspective, you can see that there were few cases presented in our interim reports. We also presented cases in our last interim report, and we will continue to present different cases as part of our interim report going forward. This quarter, we are showing 2 cases where we support public sector customers in both U.S. and Europe. Symetri has implemented an AI solution at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey to streamline infrastructure inspections of bridges, tunnels and buildings. The Port Authority needed a unified system to manage fragmented and inconsistent inspection data. Symetri delivered an automation platform integrating GIS, geographical information solutions, AI and natural language querying for intuitive data access. The solution improved data accuracy, eliminated silos, and accelerated real-time reporting. It achieved 100% data consistency and enabled faster data-driven infrastructure decisions.

Another example is Decerno, who has developed an AI-based solution for the city of Stockholm's city planning department to improve and streamline maintenance of the city's geodata system. Stockholm City needed a scalable solution to keep geodata accurate and up to date as manual inspections were too slow and costly. Decerno developed GAIA, an AI tool that compares aerial imagery with maps to automatically detect and update changes. The system delivered reduced manual work by up to 75%, while improving data accuracy and update frequency. GAIA provides a data-driven foundation for digital twins and sustainable urban development.

So, these are 2 good examples how we can enhance our offering with AI and increase their efficiency in uses with our customers based on our knowledge of the business that they are working.

So, going forward, Addnode Group, we are a decentralized organization, but with the benefit of being part of a bigger group where we can share experience as we move forward. But if you look at the group perspective, we are focused on 4 things to build and expand AI capacity. And one thing is, of course, to deliver business value because everything is that what we do for our customers. So, AI is an enabler for increased customer value, innovation efficiency. The technology which is being integrated into customer solution and internal processes is an important aspect of how we create value. So, all the things that we do is to how can we use AI to drive better customer solutions.

But we can also help each other by coordinating leadership and how to move things forward. As I mentioned, we are a decentralized group, but we have very strong teams who are moving things forward and we can share the experience. Our Executive Summit, where we gather all executive management teams is an example on how we can coordinate and share experiences. This year's event was fully dedicated to the theme of AI, focusing on practical applications, business value and the opportunities and challenges AI presents for operations.

We also have an everyday task of being more effective and structured when implementing AI solutions. One thing that helps in that is our AI collaboration network. It's a group that brings together employees from across Addnode Group to share experience, ideas and best practices within AI. It connects people working on similar initiatives and strengthen learnings within the organizations.

Innovation is always very important for us. It's something that drives us forward. And Addnode Innovations is the group's innovation program, where all employees are given the opportunity to develop ideas and potentially start companies within Addnode Group. In 2026, the focus will be entirely on AI. Participants will have the opportunity to elevate their skills, gain practical experience and tap into insights from industry experts in everything from idea development to applied AI. This year, 56 different teams within Addnode Group has submitted proposal to the jury as a lovable approach to the jury in January, and the winner will be announced in May. So, it's a fantastic opportunity to get all the great ideas that are existing in the organization. So, this is just some examples of how we try to build and expand AI capacity across the group.

So, to end, where are we in our strategy and moving towards our financial targets? We believe that we are delivering on our growth strategy, combining organic growth with the value-creating acquisition strategy. Our financial target is to grow EBITA with 15% year-on-year, meaning that we continue to double EBITA every fifth year. Part of this is that we aim to move EBITA margin to 17%. We are in Q4 showing that we are delivering on our targets.

If you look at the longer perspective, 2015, EBITA was SEK 160 million and 2025, we are reporting SEK 903 million, meaning that the compounded annual growth rate for the corresponding period has been 18%, and we have moved EBITA margin from 9.6% to 15.6%. The acquisitions that we did in 2025 will add to the EBITA growth in 2026 and expansion of EBITA margins.

While we are seeing good demand for our business in mission-critical digital solutions, the global economy and geopolitical situation is still uncertain. But given our combination of diversified business, not only in terms of technologies, but also industries and geographic markets, our leading market positions and our dedicated employees, we believe that we have a good reason to feel confident about the future.

With that as a presentation and introduction to Q4, we would like to open up for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Mikael Laseen from DNB Carnegie.

I have a few questions, and I'll start with them. One regarding the Design segment. That segment reported minus 8% organic growth in Q4. So, can you help us bridge that growth figure with FX, acquired sales and contract duration implications, so we can understand the different forces here?

Thanks for that question. And just to repeat the question, is that the growth in Design Management, how much is related to organic, how much is related to FX and how much is related to acquisitions?

Yes.

Yes. I think if you have a look at our report that we published, we have all the divisions included in the appendix. So, what you can see from Design Management, we had organic, we were moving up from SEK 660 million net sales. We had a negative organic growth of SEK 50 million. Acquisitions contributed with SEK 158 million and FX by minus SEK 67 million. And as we previously identified that in Q4 last year, 2024, we had the benefit of a larger amount of 3-year contracts in relation to the total sales. And this year, in Q4 2025, we had a lesser amount of 3-year contracts. But I would like to point out on Page 29 in the presentation, you have all the details from the divisions.

And that's a new thing. So, you will see, and what Kristina has related, in the appendix to the presentation that we are discussing are published, we are breaking down the different topics like you mentioned on the division level as well.

That's excellent. I was just curious about this mix effect -- contract duration effect to understand that...

One thing to do is that we do -- as we are reporting net reported organic growth in -- I think it was minus 8%, the underlying organic growth is not minus 8%, and that has to do with, like Kristina said, last year, we had roughly 15% organic growth in Q4, and that was due to that we had a higher portion of 3-year contracts. And this year, we have a lesser portion. So, it's more of a mix effect. So, underlying organic growth is more to what we said on our Capital Markets Day. It has a low digital growth, but it's on organic growth. I think that's the best way to sort of guide you into it.

Okay. Yes, that's helpful. And another one here on -- follow-up on that mix dynamic. You mentioned in the Q4 report that the possibility to renew certain 3-year subscription agreements ended after Q2. So, can you clarify which agreements and -- so we can understand this?

And I think it's for you who have been following us for a long time, it goes back to -- if you remember last year, we had an effect between Q2 and Q3 where we had a big push in Q4 for 3-year agreements and that we saw some -- and that has to do with over 10 years ago, take it all the way back when we moved from perpetual license to subscription models, the customer have a certain -- sort of locked in the price on those contracts, and those were promised over a 10-year period.

And as we are reaching the end of that 10-year period, the customers cannot renew within that framework to 3-year contract because there are -- it's just not 3 years left on that timing period. So, it means that they are renewing within that framework to 1-year agreements. So, the customers are renewing there, but they can't renew it to a 3 year, they can renew it on to a 1-year contract. So that's what we are trying to describe there.

Okay. So, this is really this Q2, Q3 temporary...

Yes, it's nothing new.

There's nothing new or nothing that -- Okay. So that means that you, I guess, still expect design to grow low single digit despite the lower share of 3-year agreements in 2026, is that correct?

Yes, that's what we are aiming for.

The next question comes from Erik Larsson from SEB.

I have 2 questions. First off, a follow-up here on the recent question with 3-year deal. So, I just wanted to hear how you think about Q1 '26 in terms of comparisons and mix. Do you see last Q1 as particularly good? Or, yes, just any flavor there would be helpful.

I think what we can say is that we are moving to -- as a portion, we can see that the 3-year contract is moving from a higher to a lower. But at the same time, the renewal rates that we're having also have an expectation. And I think the best guidance is that we ended the last question is that we still believe that we can have a low-digit organic growth in the underlying customer base. And then in design, you have to add the acquisitions that we did predominantly in Brazil and Canada by the end of 2025. That will also add to the reported growth in Q1. So, from organic, we're still thinking about sort of the low-digit organic growth. And then we have to add the acquisitions that we have done.

All right. And then a second question on Process with the strong margins we saw here as well as in Q3. So, I assume this is mostly due to recent acquisitions, but I guess you've also sort of improved margins on an underlying basis for quite some time now. So, I just want to hear around these levels, are you comfortable with maintaining margins here going forward?

Yes, is the short answer. And like you said, it's a mix of the existing organization performing and being more efficient and also adding acquisitions that by themselves are growing after they have been part of Addnode Group. And that adds to the high growth for this group and the improved margins.

The next question comes from Thomas Nilsson from Nordea.

I would like to ask about the sustainability of the record EBIT margin reported, 19% this quarter. To what extent was this driven by one-off favorable product mixes or timing of license renewals versus cost efficiencies that we should expect to persist throughout 2026?

I think one thing is that there are differences in margin. We have between -- Q4 is sort of a good quarter. Q1 is a strong quarter. Q2 is almost a little bit slower compared to the rest of the year. So, there's a difference between the quarter. But having said that, as we are performing now, we have done a lot of focus on cost efficiency measures. So, we're in better shape there. We have added acquisitions that by themselves has a higher margin than the group by themselves.

So, there's no special effects in any way that we have. In any cases, in mixes like we have mentioned in the sign is that we do have a sort of a negative mix effects in the quarter, if any. And then we also have SEK 20 million negative in the U.S. predominantly against the sales. So I wouldn't say that there's sort of a boost in that. The boost is that we have done some acquisitions that are adding on top of it. The underlying business, we still -- we are pushing towards our target of 17%, and we believe that it's sort of a feasible target to go for.

Okay. And one last question regarding Germany and the PLM division recovery. With the cost savings program you have in Germany, do you feel that the division is now rightsized for the current macro environment? Or will there be further restructuring ahead here?

I mean, I think yes, we are sort of rightsized for the things as we have enough water under the bow to steer the boat going forward. But we are always focused on trying to be more efficient. So, we can't promise you that we won't do anything more. This all depends on the macro. But for the current situation, we are earning money in Germany. So, it's not a matter of that we need to do something to earning. It's more of what do we feel a good operation should perform and at what level. So, short answer, yes, we believe that we have the organization in sort of in rightsized to face the macro environment, but we will always continue to improve our efficiency.

The next question comes from Fredrik Lithell from Handelsbanken.

Maybe if I could start with sort of a clarification. Kristina, you in your prepared remarks, you talked about the move from perpetual to subscription intensified in Q4. Is that the same discussion as the 3-year and 1-year contracts? Or is this sort of another angle of something that likely took down the organic growth base than year-over-year? If we could sort of split that out a little bit.

Yes. Thank you for the question. Let me clarify that within Design Management, that's where we are talking about the 3- and 1-year contracts. When we're talking about the perpetual licenses, that is mainly within the PLM division, where we are moving away, or the customers are moving away from perpetual licenses to subscription rather. And we saw that was -- we have been communicated that throughout the year, and we saw that continue in Q4 as well. So, it's 2 different divisions that we are talking about.

Yes, that's fine. And how far on that journey are you? I mean, do we still have most of it in front of us so that most customers are still on perpetual? Or have you come a very long way on this so that organic growth ultimately will start to improve?

Yes, we have come quite a long way. This has been visible through the last 2 years that customers are moving away from perpetual to subscription. We could also see that Q4 last year, we had more perpetual licenses in the quarter than we had this year. So, it has an effect on the comparison from Q4 to Q4 this year. So, we have come a long way. And I will also bring your attention to that we are reporting this in our report in the segment section where we specify the licenses, that is the perpetual licenses.

That's very clear. And Johan, if I could ask a question to you. When you now have SolidCAD and FF Solutions being the bigger sort of acquisitions inside your organization and gotten to learn them better and all that stuff, have you discovered any sort of positives that you didn't see in the due diligence processes and everything or something that shed some more light on these acquisitions?

I think in -- what it has done is to confirm our assumption why we would like them to join us and be part of Symetri Group that they are great teams in the different organization. They have strong positions in their respective markets, and they have a culture of growth and taking on the system of the customer. So, if any, it's just confirmed and that we believe that they are -- will be a good part. And the one you mentioned will be a good part of the wider Symetri growth as the [indiscernible]. I think it's more of a confirmation of what we thought about and what we hoped about that they could deliver. So, we're happy.

The next question comes from Daniel Thorsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

Yes. A question on central costs here on EBITA, SEK 13 million in Q4 looks quite low to me. Are there any one-offs in there or any guidance comments into the coming quarters? I would rather guess slightly above SEK 20 million.

Yes. You're absolutely right. We had an effect on the OpEx this quarter on the central cost. And the majority of that is based on the bonuses that we are target -- the bonuses is targeted on growth. And as you can see that the growth has been very moderate from the quarter, we had to release some of the bonus reserves. So that was an isolated effect in the Q4.

Is that around SEK 10 million or...?

The majority of that is relating to bonuses, yes.

Okay. That's fair. And then on cash flow based on your graph that you follow up with now every quarter, do you expect full year '26 free cash flow to EBITA to be back to your 70% line on a reported basis? Or should we think more of the beginning of '27?

Yes. I think what we also communicated in the past is that we still have this year 2026, we will see the upward trend coming by the H2 2026. But we're not expecting to be up at the full level by the end of Q4 next year.

Okay. That's clear. And then final question, how do you see your internal organic net recruitment activities ahead, given improved productivity from AI on your software engineering side? Should we expect a slower personnel ramp in the coming years due to that compared to historically?

I think we have been slower on recruiting for the last 2 years, I would imagine. So -- and I guess that will continue as we are becoming more efficient in the way we are operating and doing things, partly with the help of AI, but also, we don't expect any higher sort of total organic growth. But within that, there can, of course, be changes when you look at new capabilities and things. But on an overall level, we don't expect any high recruitment rates.

Okay. That's fair enough. And then final question on the Nordic public market outlook for kind of IT investments in 2026 here, Process grew 4% in Q4. What's kind of your outlook view? What do you hear from your customers on planning investments in '26?

I think we expect a little bit what we have had this year. We can see some organic growth related to new sort of function futures, deliveries. There are some price increases which are related to our maintenance agreements, roughly about 40% plus is our maintenance agreements in this section, and those are KPI related to prices. So, there are some possibilities to increase prices. Will it be 2%, 3%, 4% organic growth? Let's see, but there are some opportunities to organic growth as well.

The next question comes from Fredrik Nilsson from Redeye AB.

I want to start with a question about SolidCAD there. As far as I understand, you have the ambition to add consulting services over time. Are those initiatives ongoing? Or could you give us some kind of time line for that?

I do appreciate your sort of thoughts about our abilities to implement the changes, but they have only been part of us for 2 months. So, we haven't seen any effects of it yet. So, we are discussing, of course, and this has to be handled with the local management of SolidCAD because they are the ones who know the business. So yes, it's happening. We are discussing growth plans and things going forward. But no, we haven't seen an effect of it yet. So, it's still to come.

Great. And also, one question regarding AI. I mean it's interesting to see your customer solutions and initiatives and so on. But if we look at the risk side, I mean, it's a big focus right now on software companies in general. So, I mean, do you see any risk of customers developing in-house software rather than buying from you? And I guess perhaps smaller add-on point solutions might see the highest risk.

Everything that is sort of, like I said, smaller point solutions where we can't add any value, they are always at risk because we need to prove for our customers that we can help them with both the software and the processes and the routines to make that happen. So, short term, we don't see the risk sort of in reported net sales.

Long term, we need to always be proactive, making sure that we are helping our customers with the needs that they have. Like the examples that I have shown you today, our partners are also investing quite heavily with regards to bigger partners like Autodesk, Dassault Systemes also Esri in the U.S. So, yes.

But I think the way we look at it is a continuum of what we have always been doing for the -- as a group for the last 20 years. And a good example, I mentioned Decerno there, who has done the solution for Stockholm [indiscernible]. In the '80s, they started Decerno AI already, working with neural networks. So, from that perspective, there are some capabilities. And now it's all in a connection where everything is happening with the databases, language model, et cetera.

So, for us, it's still an opportunity. But we are investing. Our customers are investing, and we are all hoping that really, we'll get the benefit of better improvement going forward. But most of the benefits we've not seen yet. So, I think it's a learning process. We think that we are positioned, and I think we're still important to be the one that connect the customer demands with the software and gets the benefit out of that. So yes, it's a risk, but it's also a very big opportunity for us.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So, I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Thank you for taking this time to listen in to our presentation and some very good questions. And with that, we would like to say thank you from Addnode Group.

Thank you.

Welcome to the presentation of Addnode Group's Interim Report January to September 2025. [Operator Instructions]

Now, I will hand the conference over to the CEO, Johan Andersson; and CFO, Kristina Elfstrom Mackintosh. Please go ahead.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the presentation of the interim report for the third quarter of 2025 with Addnode Group. I'm the CEO of Addnode Group, and I also have with me our CFO, Kristina Elfstrom Mackintosh, who will help me out today.

Looking at the agenda, we will spend some time on Addnode Group, looking into Q3, talk about the divisions, spend some time on the financials and the balance sheet, and then we will open up for Q&A.

So Addnode Group, our purpose is all about digitalization for better society. We operate, acquire and develop entrepreneurial companies that provide digital solutions. For innovation and continuous development in close collaboration with our customers, we create digital solutions for specific needs. The software and digital solutions that we provide are used to design buildings, infrastructure and cities and also the products that we all use every day like cars and all the way to life science instruments.

When things have been designed and built, it needs to be maintained with a life cycle perspective and the public sector has also responsibility for rules and regulations. Our digital solutions make all this possible. Talking about our third quarter, before we go into the highlights, there are -- there are a few things that we're going to discuss earlier.

But the highlights first, we can see that we have a stable market. We had a high rate of acquisition activity and improved efficiency. Our EBITA, if we adjust for the early contract renewals that we already disclosed in the second quarter, we have had a positive effect on that, and now we have a negative effect of SEK 70 million. If we put -- add that back to the results, you will find that our EBITA was SEK 290 million compared to SEK 200 million, so an increase in underlying results.

We have published new financial targets that will confirm our existing strategy, and it sets also more ambition aims in terms of growth and profitability. We have done 6 acquisitions and SolidCAD, the biggest one is expected to contribute to EBITA with SEK 120 million. We have also extended our credit facilities on more favorable terms to support our future growth.

So, when we look at our highlights, Q3 2025 from a financial perspective, there are a few things that we would like to add as well. For those of you who have followed us for a longer period, you know that we had a year with new transaction model for partner software and reclassification of third-party agreements. This has benefited our business, but the changes have made it more difficult to follow our performance of net sales.

In this presentation, we will compare our performance with pro forma figures that have been adjusted to reflect the scenario in which the new transaction model for partner software and reclassification of third-party agreements have been in place already in 2024. This is the same pro forma that we presented at the Capital Markets Day, and that you also can see in our interim reports.

The good news is that, this is the last quarter that we have to compare with a pro forma to better evaluate our performance. When we present Q4 2025 and compare it with Q4 2024, it will be like-for-like.

Starting this quarter, we are also presenting distribution of net sales on own software, third-party software and services. So, with that as an introduction, let's look at the financials for Q3. As I already mentioned, looking at EBITA adjusted for early contract renewals increased to SEK 290 million. But you can see the EBITA of SEK 149 million, you add the SEK 70 million and then we end up with SEK 219 million to compare with SEK 200 million.

And as previously communicated, as I discussed, a number of the 3-year deals that would normally have been renewed in the third quarter were renewed early in the second quarter. These early contract renewals increased EBITA in Q2 with the SEK 70 million that I mentioned, but it has reduced EBITA by the corresponding amount in this third quarter. However, the net impact over the year is neutral.

Looking at the market trend, we have a stable business in Nordic countries, U.K. and the U.S. The German market, however, remains weak. We are still in a position where we don't have push from our customers. We have to work with our customers to make things happen. Our business model with 60% recurring revenues is a strong foundations for our business. If you to look to the right, you can see that we still on a 5-year progression are having a significant growth.

So, to sum up, it's a stable quarter. We have done a lot of acquisitions, and we can see that the market is quite stable in the areas where we are.

So, with that as an introduction to the Q3 results, let's move to the things that we have done in the quarter as well. And one of the things that we have done is that we have held our first Capital Markets Day at which we presented new financial targets that confirm Addnode Group's existing strategy and set more ambitious aims in terms of growth and profitability.

The new targets are that we will have an average annual EBITA growth that will amount to at least 15%. That corresponds that we would double our EBITA every fifth year. The EBITA margin should be at least 17% every year. Net debt shall not exceed 2.5x our EBITDA. We have an unchanged dividend policy.

To achieve our financial targets, we are now pursuing a plan consisting of an increased focus on business development, clear prioritization of investments in our digital solutions, more measures to improve our internal efficiency, and we increase our capacity to make value-creating acquisitions.

So acquisitions. We have announced 9 acquisitions so far in 2025, which are expected to contribute total annual net sales of approximately SEK 700 million and it will strengthen our EBITA margin.

In the third quarter, we closed the acquisition of Genus in Norway, whose net sales for 2024 amounted to approximately SEK 165 million. Genus offers a no-code platform for case management and business applications. The company is now part of the Process Management division from Q3 and has strengthened our position as a leading player in mission-critical case management systems in the Nordic region.

The acquisition of the Dassault Systemes' partner X10D Solutions with a net sale 2024 roughly around SEK 40 million will strengthen Technia's offering to the Nordic manufacturing and defense industry and increase the market position. This transaction is subject to conditions and is expected to close in Q4 2025.

In Q3, we have also done more acquisitions. And the 3 you can see on this slide is acquisition that will strengthen Symetri in the division design management. Symetri has successfully grown organically and by acquiring and integrating other Autodesk partners, supported by a strong portfolio of proprietary software and professional services.

And during the third quarter, we announced several acquisitions for Symetri. FF Solutions is the fastest-growing platinum partner in Brazil, providing an entry to the dynamic Brazilian market. SolidCAD is the largest Autodesk Platinum partner and the market leader in Canada and is expected to contribute with an EBITA of SEK 120 million. We expect to close this transaction in Q4 2025. FF Solution is already included in Q3. We also made 2 asset deals of customer bases in the Q3 that is recognized as part of Symetri in Q3.

The combined net sales of these acquisitions to Symetri are expected to amount to approximately SEK 420 million. These acquisitions together strengthen Symetri's global footprint, provide a platform for further growth in North America and Latin America, and will contribute to increased profitability and margins. We still have several active acquisition process underway, and acquisitions are an important part of Addnode's growth strategy and our ability to reach our financial targets.

So, with that as an introduction to Q3, we'll later come back to our divisions. I would like to hand over to Kristina to introduce our new credit facilities.

Thank you, Johan. And as we announced now in October, this week, we have refinanced our current existing credit structure, which consists of 2 parts. We have a term loan, which was increased from SEK 1 billion to SEK 1.7 billion. We also have a revolving credit facility previously at SEK 1.6 billion, which is now SEK 2 billion. And we also announced that this refinancing was conducted in a more favorable interest terms. And these 2 loans, the term loan and the RCF has a tenure of 3 years with an extension of 1 plus 1 possibilities.

We're also very pleased to announce that the Swedish Export Credit Corporation SEK has joined the current bank club, which consisted of Nordea and SEB in the past. And also, this extension of our credit facility supports our growth plan going forward.

And I'm going to hand back to you, Johan.

Thank you, Kristina. So Addnode Group, 3 divisions, Design Management, Product Lifecycle Management and Process Management. There you see the distribution of net sales, gross profit and our share of EBITA in the 3 divisions.

So, looking more in detail to Design Management. Synergy, the biggest company in the division, noted stable demand in Brazil, U.S. and U.K. for customers in the infrastructure, construction and manufacturing industries. In the Nordic countries, demand from the manufacturing industry was somewhat weaker. The other 2 companies in the division, SWG and Tribia delivered a stable earnings performance compared with year earlier period.

EBITA decreased to SEK 51 million compared to SEK 118 million, but having adjusted for the SEK 70 million related to the early renewals of Autodesk contract that was moved to Q2, the adjusted EBITA of SEK 121 million was in line with EBITA in Q3 last year. Doing the same adjustment for net sales, we see that the net sales in Q3 were in line with the same quarter last year. The division's acquisition in U.S. and Brazil has been successfully integrated into the division's operations and contributed to earnings according to plan.

If we look at product life cycle management. Sales of PLM systems and related services showed a stable trend in the U.K., Nordics and the U.S., where we have a broad customer base spanning manufacturing, defense and life science industries. Sales to the strategically important Aviation and Defense segment remained strong during the quarter. The market situation in Germany remains challenging.

EBITA increased to SEK 42 million compared to SEK 39 million, and the EBITA margin increased to 9.7% compared to 8.3% last year. The measures implemented to adapt the organization and cost structure, which were communicated in the first quarter, have proceeded as planned and had a positive impact on earnings in the third quarter. And that meant that EBITA increased by 8% year-on-year.

The trend towards customers increases in fixed-term leasing models rather than licenses with perpetual rights of use remains firm and is continuing. Process Management division delivered yet another strong quarter with growth and an improved EBITA margin. The division's net sales increased by 24% and EBITA by 34%. This marks the fifth consecutive quarter in which the division's EBITA margin improved year-on-year.

EBITA margin increased to 21.8% in this quarter compared to 20.1% last year. EBITA was positively impacted by price adjustments, increased operational efficiency and contributions from acquired companies. The acquisitions, of which Genus was the largest, have been successfully integrated into the division's operations and are contributing earnings according to plan. And the climate for the division remained unchanged. We can see stable demand for case management and geographic information system for the public sector compared to last quarter.

So, with that as an introduction to our business and our division, I will hand over to Kristana, our CFO, who will walk us through the cash flow and the balance sheet.

Thank you, Johan. I'm going to go through the cash flow for the quarter. And you can see here from operations that we have improved the cash flow from operations from minus SEK 133 million last year to minus SEK 64 million in this quarter.

We can also see that the main impact was the changes in working capital that we still have -- we are still affected by the changes of the payment terms for Autodesk 3-year contracts. And we have already communicated this earlier and also highlighted this effect in our Capital Market Day. And it's just to rephrase what that is all about is that until 2023 for Autodesk payments, we received the full 3 years payments from customers upfront. That changed in 2023, and we are now receiving only 1 year at the time. So, we have a temporary working capital drag. And we can also see that we -- the impact of the cash flow is gradually decreasing, and we expect it to normalize by the second half of 2026.

Looking at the cash flow from the investment activities of SEK 615 million mainly relating to the acquisitions that we have done, also earn-out payment was made during the quarter. And from the cash flow from financing activities in the quarter amounted to SEK 298 million in comparison to minus SEK 25 million in the past quarter, and that is mainly relating to new loans drawn for the acquisitions, also have a small impact on the leasing of minus SEK 27 million.

And then we're going to go and just look at the highlights of the consolidated financial positions. And I would just like to highlight a few areas in the consolidated balance sheet. And just please pay attention that this is the operational balance sheet and not the balance sheet presented in our report. And we continue to operate supported by a resilient balance sheet. It's an important foundation for our continued growth organically and through acquisitions. The increase in the balance sheet since the beginning of the year is primarily driven by the acquisitions, which have contributed approximately SEK 600 million in intangible assets and goodwill and it's mainly derives from the acquisition of Genus and FF Solutions.

Provision taxes and other liabilities remain at approximately same level as in December. And included here are the provisions for earn-out and other liabilities to sellers, approximately SEK 505 million in total, of which earn-outs are SEK 440 million.

Net debt has increased to SEK 1.9 billion, and the increase is by SEK 866 million is mainly for the new loans for acquisitions. And the cash position amounts to SEK 339 million compared to SEK 441 million last year.

Equity ratio amounts to solid 31% as of September and return on capital employed has decreased slightly to 17% from 18% in the previous year, driven by higher base on relating to acquisition. And as of September, we had a total available facilities in the RCF of SEK 1.6 billion and approximately SEK 1.3 billion was unused at that time. And as already explained, we had refinances in October, which we communicated and the facilities have increased after.

And I would also like just to explain a little bit more about the cash generation and what has happened during the year. And our business model is characterized by an asset-light operations with moderate working capital and R&D requirements. We have strong cash generation supported by upfront payments. But you can see in this graph, which we also presented at the Capital Market Day, over the past decade that cash conversion, which is based on the free cash flow in relation to EBITA has come down after 2023.

We used to be at around 70% cash conversion. And you can see a temporary drop, which is related to the drag of payment terms, mainly from Autodesk, when the payments in the past were paid -- were done all the three years in advance. But I would also like to emphasize that we're not losing cash. It's a temporary working capital drag. And we -- the impact of this cash flow is expected to normalize in the second half of 2026, which I previously also mentioned. And we also believe that we are now at the low point of the EU, which you can see in this graph.

And I'm going to hand over back to Johan now.

Thank you, Kristina. I'm going to end with a follow-up compared to our financial targets. If you remember, we are now an EBITA growth expected of 15%, EBITA margin of 17%.

So, I believe we are delivering on our growth strategy where we combine organic growth with value-creating acquisitions. If you go all the way back to 2015, you will see that we had an EBITA of SEK 168 million. And today, we are a rolling 12-month EBITA in Q3 of SEK 854 million. That means that for the last 10 years, the compound annual growth rate of our EBITA has been 18%, and we have moved EBITA margin from 9.6% to 14.9%.

Our financial targets now is to grow EBITA with 15% year-on-year, meaning that we will continue to double EBITA every fifth year. Part of this is that we aim to move our EBITA margin to 17% from the almost 15% that we are today. The acquisitions that we have announced lately will add to the EBITA growth and our expansion of EBITA margins.

There is good demand for the business and mission-critical digital solutions that we deliver to our customers in various industries, including construction and property, infrastructure, manufacturing, defense, aviation, life science and the public sector in both Europe and the U.S.

The economic and geopolitical situation remains uncertain, which is primarily affecting our customers' decision-making processes regarding major transformation investments. The market situation is considered from our perspective, stable for most of the group's business, although some regions and industrial segments may take a few more quarters to recover. Our business model with a large proportion of recurring revenue is a source from security in more uncertain times.

So, with that, I would like to open up for Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Thomas Nilsson from Nordea.

When it comes to the Process Life Management division, what is your current thinking on the German auto industry? Will it be stabilizing? And could you perhaps talk a bit more about the effects from the cost-saving initiatives as the division is performing clearly better with a 10% EBITA margin now in Q3?

Thank you, Thomas. I understand Product life cycle management we're discussing. And regarding the market in Germany, I think we are all trying to figure out when or how that will transform. We can see there are a lot of initiatives from both government and to sort of the funding drips out into the market. We haven't seen the effect of that yet.

So, if it's going to be the next quarter or the quarter of that in 2026, we don't know. But as we have mentioned, we are planning to make sure that we are able to make a healthy margin even in this market where we have today that we can see the effect of that in the cost reductions that we have done over this year, and they are playing out well in Q3 here. But we haven't seen the full effect of the cost efficiencies yet. So, will -- there are some more that we can sort of see hopefully in Q4 as well on that.

So, with regards to the market, we are making sure that we can be efficient in the existing market conditions. When will the turnaround be in Germany? I think your guess is as good as mine on that subject.

The next question comes from Erik Larsson from SEB.

I'll take my questions one by one. If we start on Design. If we adjust for the SEK 70 million in Q3 -- Q2, you grew EBITA by 17% year-on-year. And if we do the same here in Q3, you grow EBITA by 3%. So, it looks like a slowdown. Clearly, it's a lot of moving parts here, but has anything changed in the market or something there that could explain the difference?

No, it's not a slowdown if you sort of look at the growth. We have a higher growth in -- reported in Q2 than in Q3. So that's not a fact. The effect is more that we have a variation in our renewal -- underlying renewals of the subscriptions. I think that's more to the effect. So, like we mentioned, the only where we can see a little bit of a slower market now or if it's project related, we still don't know, we can see a little slower market in the manufacturing part in Nordic.

If you look at the U.S. and the U.K. was still an okay market. In the U.S., we can see that things like the construction of data center is affecting a slower residential market. Data centers is more they use our software to design it, but everything that goes in the data center as well for coding and et cetera. So, there are -- and if you add that together, the market is roughly the same. So, it's not a slowdown from 10% to 3%. It's more a variation between the quarter.

All right. And then on cash flows, you talked about it here just at the end, how you expect the cash flows to trend in the coming year or 2. But just to zoom in on the near term here, Q3 is usually seasonally weak. The Q4 is usually a big or a rather good cash flow quarter. So, are there any reasons why this should not be the case in Q4, kind of the balance between what's going on for the past year and the normal Q4, so to say?

Yes. Thank you, Erik. I think you're quite spot on that Q4 is normally a quarter where we have a strong cash flow. And at the same time, Q3 is normally the lowest cash flow from operation quarter. And we still do -- we still have the prepayments made for some of our major customers made in Q4. So, we still expect that to be the same case.

But as mentioned, we -- the cash flow will have this temporary drag effect from the working capital through 2026 as well, Q2 and Q1. And then in the half -- the last 2 quarters in 2026, we will see a positive effect. That's our expectation.

Okay. That's helpful. And just a final question on the back of the cash flow here and you're doing quite a lot of M&A recently. How do you think about acquisitions going forward in the coming quarters here? Will you be a bit more cautious or restrictive given the balance sheet, et cetera?

No. I think this -- from our perspective, we usually say that we are not opportunistic in what we would like to buy, but we are optimistic about the timing because most of the acquisitions are from entrepreneurs. And when they are ready to go, we need to be there. So that hasn't changed.

Having said that, we -- like I said, I think we added acquisitions today with net sales combined of SEK 700 million. And we are doing our biggest acquisitions so far with regards to earning capacity of SolidCAD. So, we probably need just a few months just to handle those. But that's more from an operational perspective, you need to bring them in. You need to make sure that they sort of get integrated in the things we want to do. We're still very much decentralized, but there are things that -- when you're into a new group. So, I think it's more compared to that.

So, we are still looking at bigger acquisitions, but we are now bringing on board the biggest one. So, we're probably not expecting a bigger acquisition from that perspective, the sort of 1, 2 quarters coming here, but we are still looking at acquisitions.

The next question comes from Fredrik Lithell from Handelsbanken.

I have 2, maybe, Johan, if you could talk a little bit on the last comment you had on acquisitions. Have you seen a trend that valuations have sort of come down a little bit for you? Is that making sort of tailwind for you in terms of those negotiations would be interesting. And then also the statistics, ABI statistics from the U.S. have been a little bit slow or weak. Is that something that you can relate to on pockets of your customers? Or is it something that you don't really see anything from?

We start with valuations. I can't really say that there are so much changes in valuation. What we can see is that, sort of the companies in a wider market perspective, so the information memorandums being sent from corporate finance sort of guys are probably a little bit less right now. It might be that that's a trend we can see. But we are much more focused on bilateral sort of discussions going out to partners that we have been working with or the competition that we are.

So that sourcing is still existing. And we are quite prudent on our valuation sort of metrics. So it might be that -- it's a hard question to ask, are the valuation going down or not. And this is a very more the private market is not as quick as the stock market to reflect changes in the world around us. So, the prices are usually the same, but the available companies can go up and down compared to anyone who wants to sell to those prices.

It's like when you are thinking about selling your own house and you have an idea about how much your house is worth. And even though your neighbor is selling at a less price, you sort of think that your price is still worth the same price like it was 2 years ago. And then you probably wait a year to sell it instead. So that's probably -- those sort of dynamics that we see in the M&A market where we act.

And then we had a question about statistics and macro data from U.S. And yes, we can see, for example, residential market in the U.S. is not a growing market. But on the other hand, we can see that, for example, we have a lot of customers who are building all the new data centers being used when they're going to harness the power of AI. So that means that those customers, they want to design it, they want to build it and then they need also help with services with regards to BIM coordinators, the guys who are going to handle all the big complex digital model is going to come out of it.

And also the guys who are delivering all the cooling systems into the data centers need to be part of that. So, you have sort of -- yes, residential market not growing in the US. But if you look at that type of infrastructure data growing and the mix of that is the reason why we can say it's still a stable market for us.

There are no more questions at this time. So, I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments. The next question comes from Fredrik Nilsson from Redeye.

All right. One more question...

I thought I was in the queue, but apparently, I wasn't. Sorry for that.

But now you are. So please go ahead.

Yes, yes. Regarding process and demand from larger authorities for larger projects, I note a slightly more positive wording. I think you changed it in the last report actually, but I noticed this time. So, I mean, is that correct? And is that something that could have a positive impact on growth over the next 2 quarters?

If you look at -- it also -- I think it's a combination in that we are now also more active in Norway with the Genus, and they have -- so I think the combination -- so it's not that we are saying that we have a much more positive market in Sweden. It's still a -- we have a market there. We are working with our customers. But we can't -- we can't say that we have much higher degrees of tenders available that we can sort of deliver on. That's not the effect. But I think it's more an effect that we are also adding more in Norway. So it means that we can be, if any, a little bit more positive on the whole.

Great. That's clear. And regarding the lower demand from Nordic manufacturing customers, could you just remind us of what kind of customers design management has within that industry in the Nordics?

It's a combination of both customers who are both using sort of design software, you will find -- it's a mix of reflecting the industries in the Nordic country. It means that you will find the OEMs, and you will find the big manufacturing companies. And they are using the software, both for design things, but also for keeping -- have a good definition of all the product data management, all the data being created when they're doing design.

So, I think our customer base here reflects the customers mainly in what you will find in discrete manufacturing and the neighboring OEMs around that. So, there's a customer base. And as I mentioned, we have probably a little bit of a fewer -- sort of the scope of the projects because we have services as well to handle the product data is probably a little bit less, and that has an effect on us. So that's when we're seeing less demand.

So the scope of the projects of integration and services when handling all the product data that they create in the design phase. It sort of goes back to the major sort of customers a little bit hesitant to do bigger transformation projects. So, it relates to that. So it's not a new trend, but we can see that we also have that trend in our customers.

On the other side, if you look at the Process division -- sorry, Product Lifecycle division, they can see that they are having a growth in the discrete manufacturing area this year. So it could be that it's an effect of our sort of customer base right there. So, it's a mix there. So, it's not that sort of big decrease, but we can see that we're doing less with existing customers in design management in manufacturing in Nordics, if that makes sense. Any more questions?

There are no more questions at this time. So, I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

We have one more.

The next question comes from Daniel Thorsson from ABG Sundal Collier.

Understood. It was in the final second here of the Q&A. I missed part of the call due to some coinciding calls here. But I have a question on the cash flow. I heard Kristina's responses here on the operating cash flow. But at least to my expectations, the investing cash flow was also a bit higher than I thought, excluding M&A, so intangible and intangible assets. Did you comment that? Did you say why? And should we expect this level going forward?

From investing activities.

Yes.

Yes. It was also -- apart from the new acquisitions that we made, it was also the earn-out payments for Microdesk that we've been talking about before. I was also….

Yes. I was thinking about CapEx.

Yes. Okay. Yes. We have done the asset deal in the U.S., which are included in that number.

Okay. So should we see that -- so should we see this level as a good proxy going forward then or slightly elevated this quarter.

Yes, it is increased by approximately SEK 60 million relating to the assets.

Okay. SEK 60 million up because it's up like SEK 80 million year-over-year or so. So, we should expect that to come down in Q4 already.

Yes, unless we do other asset deals that we have not communicated. But you should look at the level as in before.

[Operator Instructions] There are no more questions at this time. So, I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

So, thank you all for listening in today and very good questions as well. So, with that, we will close the presentation and keep on moving to Q4. Thank you.