Itera (ITERA) Q4 2021 earnings summary

Executive summary

• Core digital revenue grew 17% YoY to NOK 158.7m in Q4 and 19% to NOK 593.0m for FY21; EBIT margins were 11.5% and 13.0%, respectively.

• Core digital Q4 EBIT rose 34% to NOK 18.3m; Q4 book-to-bill was 1.5 and FY book-to-bill was 1.1.

• Data centre operations continued to wind down; discontinued-business reporting was expected from Q1 2022 after the transition, while the core business added 113 employees during 2021.

Financial highlights

• Core Q4 revenue was NOK 158.7m, gross profit NOK 147.3m, EBITDA NOK 24.5m and EBIT NOK 18.3m; FY revenue was NOK 593.0m, EBITDA NOK 101.5m and EBIT NOK 77.1m.

• Total-business Q4 revenue was NOK 167.8m; FY revenue rose 2.9% to NOK 633.1m, while FY EBITDA was NOK 87.1m, EBIT NOK 58.6m and net income NOK 44.1m.

• Personnel expenses rose 18.4% YoY to NOK 109.8m, including higher variable compensation; other operating expenses increased 14.1% to NOK 12.9m.

• Data centre Q4 revenue fell 71.5% YoY to NOK 9.0m; segment EBIT was negative NOK 4.6m versus negative NOK 0.6m.

• EPS was NOK 0.11 in Q4 versus NOK 0.13; FY EPS was NOK 0.55 versus NOK 0.60.

Outlook and guidance

• Strong demand was expected to continue; resource availability was the primary growth constraint and added salary pressure, with distributed delivery teams in Slovakia and Ukraine supporting capacity expansion.

• Priorities included profitable growth, cash flow, long-term customer relationships, broader project delivery and operational efficiency; no formal market guidance was provided.

• Nordic regional expansion was planned to improve proximity to customers and talent; the pipeline included large-enterprise opportunities.

• Remaining data centre migrations and transfers were planned for completion by end-Q1 2022, with residual exits before end-Q2.