Pihlajalinna - Q3 EBIT not quite where estimated
Pihlajalinna’s Q3 revenue landed close to estimates, whereas profitability came in on the soft side. In our view the roughly EUR 2m miss in profitability could be at least partly attributable to capacity ramp-up costs.
- Pihlajalinna Q3 revenue was up 17.5% y/y to EUR 165.2m, compared to the EUR 166.8m/164.9m Evli/consensus estimates. Organic growth was 3.3%. Corporate customers landed at EUR 52.8m vs our EUR 51.2m estimate, while private customers amounted to EUR 23.9m vs our EUR 21.4m estimate. Public sector customers were EUR 106.3m, compared to our EUR 111.9m estimate. Private clinic customer volumes grew 47% y/y (16% on an organic basis), while remote services use increased by 34%.
- Covid-19 services revenue amounted to EUR 2.3m, a decrease of EUR 9.5m y/y. Organic growth would have been 10.0% without Covid-19 services.
- Adjusted EBITDA was EUR 18.9m vs the EUR 20.5m/20.3m Evli/consensus estimates, whereas adjusted EBITA was EUR 9.4m vs our EUR 12.0m estimate. Adjusted EBIT landed at EUR 7.3m, compared to the EUR 10.0m/9.2m Evli/consensus estimates. Sickness-related personnel absences caused operational challenges and cost some EUR 1.0m in Q3. The costs of public services within complete outsourcing agreements also remained at a fairly high level.
- Pihlajalinna guides FY ’22 revenue to increase substantially and adjusted EBITA to be on a par with 2021 (unchanged).