HusCompagniet A/S

HusCompagniet A/S

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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 28, 2026

Operator

Welcome to HusCompagniet Holding's first half of 2026 conference call. Today's call is being recorded.

If you have any objections, please disconnect at this time. All participants will be in a listen-only mode throughout the presentation, and afterwards, there will be a question-and-answer session.

I'll now turn the call over to your speakers. Please begin.

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

Thank you so much and welcome to the presentation of HusCompagniet's results for the second quarter of '26. I'm Martin Ravn-Nielsen, CEO of the company, and with me today, I have CFO Allan Auning-Hansen.

Today, we will begin with a brief update on some of our key strategic priorities before we turn to the market condition. Please go to slide...

Operator

Allan, can you please un-mute your telephone, and then we can hear you speakers again. Allan, if you can hear me, can you please un-mute your telephone so we can hear you?

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

...deliver on this point as well. Really, we are pleased that if a few challenges, projects progressed as planned in the quarter.

One project was delivered in July, and we still expect to deliver the other two projects in the first half of 2027. All in all, we are back on the right track.

We have become more asset light with the sale of the factory. We will engage as developer in selected low-complexity projects only.

We are very selective and focused on low-risk projects, execution frameworks, and counterparties. In addition, we will look for opportunities to build more on own land.

We will only offer our own standardized building concepts going forward on consumers' own land plots. Please turn to slide 3 for an overview on the current market conditions.

The economic indicators for the Danish market remain strong with low unemployment and inflation rates. This is, of course, positive for the development in the house building market.

Still, we continue to see volatility in consumer confidence. This is illustrated by our detached sales, which started in the first two months of the year.

This was followed by a positive trend with higher lead generation and sales in March and April. The end of the period and July then came in slower again.

It is safe to say that consumer remain cautious. We remain focused on maintain a good dialogue and staying top of mind when they are ready to decide for a new house.

This include that we have improved the customer experience for private house builder with several things, including the opening of new showrooms. We managed to secure largely stable material prices in the first half of the year, which was impacted by the situation in the Middle East.

We are focused on that and prepared to take any necessary commercial steps if the situation escalates.

Sorry to interrupt here. I just got a message that the people on the conference call might not be able to hear us from the beginning.

Could we please have a feedback on that?

Operator

It is correct that right at the very beginning of your presentation on slide 1...

Captivate, are you online?

Operator

Yes, Captivate is here. Lars, can you...

If you could please just hang on for a second if you can hear us, we are just trying to sort out the technical issues. I suggest that we start all over cuz there were some initial issues.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and let's start over again.

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

Then please, let's start and go to slide 2 again. We continue to execute on our strategic priorities in the second quarter, and I'm pleased that we made a really good progress on the efforts to recalibrate our semi-detached business.

We have ticked several important boxes at this point. We signed a deal to divest the factory in Esbjerg in April.

This was a key element in our reversed strategy to get back to the core activities in semi-detached and focus on improving performance and profitability ahead of growth. We have completed a full reorganization of the business unit in the past month.

This includes full implementation of new processes we introduced in the autumn last year. It also reflects that we have added experienced leadership resources with a solid track record and deep market and business insights.

In addition, we are focused on building stronger project management and procurement, and we have hired skilled people to deliver on this point as well. Finally, we are pleased that the three challenging projects progressed as planned in the quarter.

One project was delivered in July, as planned, and we still expected to deliver the other two projects in the first half of 2027. All in all, we are on the right track.

We have become more asset light with the sale of the factory, and we will engage as a developer in selected low-complexity projects only. We are very selective and focused on low-risk projects, execution frameworks, and counterparties.

In addition, we look for opportunities to build more on own land. We will only offer our own standardized building concepts going forward on consumers' own land plots.

Please turn to slide 3 for an overview on the current market conditions. The economy indicators for the Danish market remain strong with low unemployment and inflation rates.

This is, of course, positive for the development in the house building market. Still, we continue to see volatility in consumer confidence.

This is illustrated by our detached sales, which started in the first two months of the year. This was followed by a positive trend with higher lead generation and sales in March and April.

The end of the period of July then came in slower again. It is safe to say that consumer remain cautious.

We remain focus on maintaining a good dialogue and staying top of mind when they are ready to decide for a new house. This includes that we have improved the consumer experience for private house builders with several things, including opening of new showrooms.

We managed to secure largely stable material prices in the first half of the year, which was impacted by the situation in the Middle East. We are focused on that and prepared to take any necessary commercial steps if the situation escalates.

I am ending on a positive note in Sweden, where new mortgage regulations came into effect in April. The initiatives are expected to support activity in the housing market and have a positive effects on Swedish new-build market.

For our part, we already now have seen and noted a pick-up in the number of leads in the first half of the year. Now, pass the baton to Allan for financial guidance and highlights on slide 4.

Allan Auning-Hansen

Thank you, Martin. Overall, we made good progress in Q2 with revenue growth of 16% across segments after good execution on our order backlog.

The detached business contributed with higher average selling prices based on increased pricing and customer demand for larger houses compared to last year. In the semi-detached business, progress was driven by delivery of 43 housing units against none in Q2 last year and increased work-in-progress.

In Sweden, the market was stable, and growth was modest. Gross profit amounted to 125 million compared to 136 million in the comparison period.

The development reflected progress in semi-detached after comparison period, which was impacted by unsatisfactory low margins on a few projects. The improvement could not fully compensate for the impact of the unusually cold winter on detached, which continued into Q2, as mentioned on the Q1 conference call.

In addition, there was a slight decline in wooden houses, where the comparison period was positively impacted by reversal of provisions from two projects. All in all, the gross margin declined from 18.4% to 14.6%.

After the divestment of our prefabrication plant, we are reporting on EBITDA before loss from divestment of subsidiaries, which came in at 12 million against 23 million last year and a margin of 1.4% compared to 3.1%. The decline reflects the lower gross profit.

This is also the case for EBIT before loss from divestment of subsidiaries, which amounted to 1 million, down from 12 million in the same quarter last year. The divestment of the factory entails a preliminary accounting loss of 71 million, which was recognized in the second quarter and largely on par with the 68 million expectation we stated when the transaction was disclosed back in April.

Free cash flow came to 36 million compared to an outflow of 12 million last year. The development reflected that working capital was negatively impacted by delayed deliveries in detached due to the cold winter, while the divestment of the factory had a positive impact.

Let's go to slide 5 for the financial highlights for the first six months of 2026. Revenue grew by 20% to 1.645 billion in the half year, driven by all segments executing on the order backlog.

We saw a positive contribution from higher sales prices in detached as well as more deliveries and higher work-in-progress in the semi-detached segment. Gross profit decreased by 2% to 255 million for a margin of 15.5% against 260 million and 18.9% last year.

The drivers were the same as for second quarter. Improved performance in semi-detached could not fully compensate for the decline in detached after the cold winter.

The underlying performance in the wooden houses segment was stable. EBITDA before loss from divestment of subsidiaries amounted to 30 million for a margin of 1.8% compared to 39 million and 2.9% in the same period last year.

The decrease was mainly due to the lower gross profit. EBIT before loss from divestment of subsidiaries came to 6 million against 18 million in the comparison period.

Free cash flow came to an outflow of 61 million against an outflow of 26 million in the first half of 2025. As mentioned on the previous slide, this was primarily due to working capital changes and the factory divestment.

At end June, our net debt was 283 million for a leverage ratio of 5.4 compared to 304 million and 3.2 at the end of June 2025. The decline in net debt was mainly due to the divestment of the factory, which offset the changes in working capital that I have already covered.

Let's go to slide 6 for an update from Martin on sales.

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

Thanks, Allan. Sales in our Danish business were lower than last year.

Detached sold 203 units against 228 last year, which were positively affected by a temporary increase in consumer confidence. We still pursue opportunities to build on own land, and we have secured two attractive land plots for the future development of our private housing areas.

This is fully in line with our strategy, and we look forward to pursuing these good opportunities. Semi-detached sales declined 17% to 77 units.

This was in line with the revised strategy, which is seen to entail fewer contract signings for a period. In July, we signed an unconditional turnkey contract for the construction of 21 semi-detached houses units in Stenløse on Zealand.

Sales increased by five units and 21% in wooden houses. We see an increased activity level after the implementation of the political incentives to boost new private houses, as mentioned earlier.

More consumers has already acquired a land plot when contacting us. These are good signs from the Swedish market.

Let's get to slide 7 for an update on deliveries. The number of deliveries increased 17% in Q2.

The positive trend was driven by semi-detached with delivery on 40 against zero in the comparison period. Detached deliveries declined 4%, which was mainly related to timing, as the segment remaining impact by the effect of the extraordinary cold winter.

In wooden houses, the number of deliveries remained stable. Let's turn to slide 8 and our order backlog.

Our net order backlog amounted to 1.8 billion at end June '26, down from 2.1 billion in the same period last year. The decline reflected the lower sales in the Danish business in the second quarter of '26.

Detached accounted for 64% of the total order backlog, semi-detached for 31%, and wooden houses for the remaining 5%. On slide 9, Allan will end the presentation with a few comments on the outlook.

Allan Auning-Hansen

Thank you, Martin. Based on the development year-to-date, we maintain the 2026 guidance and expect revenue in the range of 3 to 3.3 billion, assuming that we deliver between 1,000 and 1,300 houses.

EBITDA is expected to reach 70 to 130 million, and EBIT 15 to 75 million. The earnings outlook is provided before loss from divestment of subsidiaries, which is currently seen to come to an expense of 71 million.

We continue to see the midpoint as the best representation of our current expectations, but there are still some timing and execution variables that can move the outcome within the existing range. In addition, please note that our guidance is based on no severe deterioration of the situation in the Middle East causing disruption of supply chains or significantly increased raw material prices from the level seen in Q2.

We continue to see reasonable macro trends, and we remain cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the housebuilding market. Still, we are operating with low visibility and impacted by continued volatility and a higher price sensitivity.

Thank you for listening in. Now please turn to the next slide for the Q&A session.

Operator

To ask a question, please press 5* on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, you may do so by pressing 5* again.

The first question we have is from the line of Sebastian Grave from Nordea. Please go ahead.

Your line will now be unmuted.

Sebastian Grave

Hi, Martin and Allan. Thank you for taking my questions.

Good call to redo the first part of the web presentation here. I think we all got the message.

For a start, I would like to talk about the activity levels. Can you talk us a bit through the activity levels you've seen in the detached segment in particular?

I should mention it's been quite lumpy over the recent months starting the year on a soft note, then improving in March and April just to dampen again, it seems in May, June, and July, where you're trending below last year despite investments in showrooms. I guess what I'm fishing for here is has anything structurally changed in the market from last year or has anything moved the needle here?

I noticed that the number of building plots available in the market is near record low. Is this an increasing constraint on the activity levels, or how do you see it?

Allan Auning-Hansen

Thank you for your question, Sebastian. As you said, the sales in the first half is lower than last year.

I think what we hadn't expected this year was the impact from the war in the Middle East, which we can see as an impact on consumer confidence. We have seen fluctuating leads and sales throughout the first half year and into July.

The way that we look at it now is that we are slightly more optimistic in our second half than what we have seen in our first half. I would say it is a very volatile market that we are operating in right now.

Clearly, as you can see, deliveries from own land is non-existing in this quarter. Own land is currently also impacting the total number of sales compared to where we have been historically.

Sebastian Grave

It appears when I look at public statistics available, the number of plots in the market remains very low as well. I guess customers coming to you with their own building plots may also be restricted due to this.

Is this something you see or, yeah, any observations here?

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

Hi, Sebastian. Of course, the very low number of plots for sale, it has an impact.

We still see that percentage that we have more tear down and build new in our business now that we have seen in the past years. Of course, where the municipalities and so on don't secure that there will be new plots for sales to private customers, it has an impact.

There's a lot of new plans going forward to 2031 for the municipalities all over the countries that have secured that I think that will be a pick-up in plots for sales going forward.

Sebastian Grave

Okay. No, thank you both.

I guess on that note, you stated in the report that you have received two attractive plots in Central Jutland for future development. Can you talk around the timing and the dynamics of this deal, the size as well, and how does it impact cash flows?

Allan Auning-Hansen

I would say overall, this is some very interesting land plots that we expect a positive effect on going forward. From a cash flow perspective, I think it's difficult to comment further on, but I think it's a deal that supports our growth in the market in Jutland, where we are focusing very much.

Sebastian Grave

Okay. No, that's fair, Allan.

Thank you. Allan, let me just maybe a last question, and then I will jump back in the queue.

The gross margin performance in Q2 in the detached segment, 16%, down from 20% in Q2 last year, how much of this margin decline is winter headwinds, and how much is pricing or lack of own land deliveries, roughly speaking?

Allan Auning-Hansen

I would say without getting into the exact details of that, margin is lower than what we have seen historically and has been impacted by the very harsh winter conditions. We do expect margins to pick up during second half year as the impact from the winter conditions will decline gradually.

We do expect margin pick up in second half, but as we also commented on the first quarter, the harsh winter conditions would have an economic impact on us in the year.

Sebastian Grave

Is the margin decline here, is the majority from winter impacts or is roughly half or?

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

The majority is from winter impacts, yes.

Sebastian Grave

Okay. That's very clear.

Thank you for taking my questions, guys.

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

Thank you for your question. Welcome.

Operator

The next questions are from Kristian Tornøe from SEB. Please go ahead.

Your line will now be unmuted.

Kristian Tornøe

Thank you. Two questions from me.

First one is on the land plots you have and where you have some projects lined up, and just if you could give an update on the building permit process, and hence, the probability of these land plots coming to the market?

Allan Auning-Hansen

Hi, Kristian. We are working, of course, with the municipalities, but often it is rather difficult to say when it will hit the market, but we hope that in the coming period of the next half year that we'll see that we can go to the market with the plots.

Kristian Tornøe

Maybe phrasing it slightly different because I know the exact timing of when the permit will be there is obviously difficult. Since we spoke last time in May, how would you describe the progress of these land plots?

Is it as expected or better or worse?

Allan Auning-Hansen

It is as expected, and it is not, you can say, the permits is more the local plans that the municipalities will allow the local plans. After there, there will be a period also for the permits.

We have more than one or two projects that we are looking into for now, it will be over the coming year that you will see that we expect more from that side.

Kristian Tornøe

Okay. Understood.

Then my second question is on financial leverage. You report 5.4 times net debt to EBITDA in Q2, and then you also highlight that your covenant goes down to 3.5 times by Q4.

Doing a bit of math, simply just taking your EBITDA guidance for the year and assuming the net debt remains the same, that would bring down your leverage to between 2.2 and 4.0. Hence, hitting the lower end of your EBITDA guidance without lowering your debt would be too high, essentially.

In the lower end of your guidance, can you just elaborate a bit on how you should reduce your net debt to avoid a covenant breach?

Allan Auning-Hansen

I would say that overall, we have a higher leverage in Q2, which was expected and therefore also in line with the agreement that we have with the banks. In terms of full year, we are confident that we are going to reach or be covenant compliant.

Based on the cash flow and the expectations in deliveries, combined with our expectations in EBITDA, we do expect to be well within our covenant thresholds.

Kristian Tornøe

Okay. You are confident in improving the net working capital as well in the second half?

Allan Auning-Hansen

Yes. We are confident overall that we are going to be covenant compliant and that we're going to go towards the 3.5.

Kristian Tornøe

Very clear, Allan. Great.

That was all for me. Thank you.

Allan Auning-Hansen

Thank you. Thank you, Christian.

Operator

Let me just remind you, if you wish to ask a question, please press 5* on your telephone keypad. We have a follow-up from Sebastian Grave from Nordea.

Please go ahead. Your line will now be unmuted.

Sebastian Grave

Hi again, guys. On the conversation around the leverage and your balance sheet, it looks like you've received 35 million cash related to the factory divestment here in the quarter.

As I recall, you previously guided that the deal should entail a 56 million reduction in net interest-bearing debt. I was just wondering if we should expect more to come here in Q3, or how does that work?

Allan Auning-Hansen

Okay. Thank you for your question, Sebastian.

When we look at net debt, it's a combination of leasing debt and bank debt. If you take the overall or the total of those two, it's very close to the 55 that we have previously communicated.

I would say we are on par.

Sebastian Grave

Okay. I suspected so.

No more tailwinds from the factory divestment?

Allan Auning-Hansen

No, and in line with what we have previously communicated. That's correct, yes.

Sebastian Grave

No, that's pretty clear. Thank you so much.

Allan Auning-Hansen

Thank you.

Operator

As there are no further questions from the telephone, I will hand it back to the speakers. Then

Martin Ravn-Nielsen

Allan and I will say thank you all for listening in. If you have any follow-up question, please reach out to us, and have a nice day.

Allan Auning-Hansen

Thank you.