Per Lindberg
Hello, everyone, and welcome. This is Per.
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Hello, Fredrik. Welcome.
Hello, Per. Thank you.
Hello. Good.
Let us start then. There could be other joiners.
I will record this session for the convenience of possible reuse. I start with that now.
We plan to go through the financial results and operational achievements in the second half and full year 2025, and then, as usual, we will conduct a Q&A. With me today is George Wells, our CFO, and also Joyce Wu, our chief operating officer.
Good morning. Yes.
Good morning to you, also. I will now, relatively rapidly, go through the highlights of the second half and also the the full year 2025.
I hope you can see the screen. If not, please tell me.
In the second half and in the full year, if we zoom in on net sales, even in the stronger Swedish krona, we are actually seeing now an uptick, an increase, much more so, substantially, if we were to record everything in the principal currency for us, the US dollar. More on that soon.
Our operating income in the second half compared with the second half of '24 was relatively stable, slightly lower a loss. Again, I emphasize, we take all expenses as they incur: R&D, PCs, other types of services.
Everything is expensed immediately without any form of deferrals. Net income, as you can see here, substantially better.
The difference there, obviously, is the financial net. For the full year, or more correctly, perhaps, end of the full year, we have plenty of liquidity to navigate the business and operations in 2026 and, in all likelihood, also far beyond.
Aside from the gross cash, 1.8, what remains of the credit line is well north of 40 million SEK. Adding more insights here titled "Detailed comparisons", I think it's worth some inspection given the currency impact.
I start with net sales. Net sales relates to commercial products and services.
An increase in Swedish krona of 14%. Had we reported in US dollar, and 85% to 90% of our net sales are denom- denominated in the American currency, either directly, and that's the vast majority, and indirectly through currencies that are at least semi-pegged, like the Chinese yuan, for instance.
We can also say that the pound sterling is in between the euro and the United States in terms of its trading patterns. We are winning terrain.
We recorded now a record number of new customers in the second half and, by extension, also for the full year. We are absolutely, positively confident that we are strengthening our competitive position, which in many instances, obviously, is the leading indicator of what the future may have in store.
Other income, this relates to research projects. Here, the comparison is from a bumper period.
Second half of 2024 was the highest ever in the history of Ranplan. There is a very noticeable decline, one amplified by the FX, but also one that was largely predicted, as we announced six months ago in conjunction with the H1 interim, first half interim, namely that it's mainly because of completion of a very attractive project.
Sometimes, these projects are short in duration, sometimes they are longer, and we are now in the process of trying to rebuild the portfolio hereafter. We don't see any material change here, FX-adjusted in the near term.
We are starting some new projects. Many of them have have four-year durations.
That gives us more visibility. Other operating income, we tend to portray as the third line.
We think it makes sense. This is income, this is cash in.
This is a form of monetization of losses carried forward in the United Kingdom. We call it R&D tax credits.
Here, contrary to the prior line, here we actually compare with an artificially depressed one, because here we actually had an FX-induced one-off charge. Where we now stand is probably more more relevant and more representative of the going rate.
In total then, total income, as we call it, the sum of the first three lines, quite stable. A slight increase, 1%, again, in Swedish krona.
Bear in mind that on an FX-adjusted basis, it would probably have been an increase there to the tune of close to 10%, my immediate calculus suggests. Cost of sales, an important line item to understand the gross profit.
The gross profit is up 8% compared with total income, pretty flat. Why is this?
A much better mix, as far as gross profit grow- go, because in the year-earlier period here, we did resell a substantial amount of third-party technical services. When we now come to the gross profit line, the direction is the one we would like to see continuing.
It's an increase. OPEX, flat, more or less, actually almost identical year-on-year.
Here, obviously, had the Swedish krona not strengthened against primarily the pound sterling and the Chinese yuan—most of our costs are pound sterling denominated—then you would have seen or also portrayed here probably, say, something like 4%, 5% increase like-for-like. This is attributable and something we did project.
No surprise here. This is something we can control and navigate very well.
This is attributable to extra investments in certain R&D activities and, primarily, sales and marketing, where we are stepping up now in order to capitalize on what we know—it's not a guess, we know—we have the best product by a stretch for the use cases we address. Finally, an FX impact here, largely.
Some, tax, taxes, and administrative administrative issues, also. In the main, the swing factor here, the swing factor is almost 1 million SEK year-on-year.
This is FX. This relates to translation effects from balance sheet items, receivables, and and liabilities.
It's a big negative there. Something completely beyond our control, obviously, and something you may want to sweep out from the year-on-year comparisons.
Even with that, even with that hit, again, a delta here, year-on-year delta of 860, if I round it, we we we are still slightly better, even though we still incur a loss on the operating income line. That is shown here, excluding other.
Other, without other, then the loss level would have been reduced by 14%. Bear in mind, this is not the totality of the FX impact.
There are also FX impacts here on every line: net sales, other income, other operating income, etc. Obviously, there are also FX impacts on on all the OPEX elements, as well as cost of sales.
A more digestible material: the half-year performance net sales and the rolling 12 months. Here, I also add two lines, as you can see here.
Why do I do that? For H2 '23 and H2 '24, it is to indicate where we would have been in the absence of design services, third-party design services.
You can see that the software, you can say in the absence of that extra from that horizontal line to the top, we are on a slight growth trajectory in the last two half-year periods, even though there is FX headwind. The Swedish krona has risen formidably against, especially, the US dollar, as we all know.
Operating expenses, nothing unusual, nothing beyond plan. Look at the gray dotted curve.
That's the rolling, that's the annualized 12 months trajectory. It's quite flattish.
As I just said, absent FX, obviously, there are increases to the cost base for many reasons. Some, due to the initiatives we want to undertake, and in other cases, it could be negotiations that we carry out in our favor.
Sometimes, of course, we also accept higher prices from third parties. We are largely offsetting the underlying inflation, which by the way is much higher than the notional 2% that the central bankers wish to to dream about.
We are also able to alleviate that impact by streamlining our organization and also minimizing the amount of third-party services and products that we bring into our operations. Total income is quite stable in Swedish krona, as we already looked at, I don't add anything more to what is already conveyed.
Gross and operating profit here, graphically. We we are, in the last two years, in the last four half-year periods, on a much lower, i.e., on a much better loss level.
We are still incurring losses, i.e., we have higher expenses than we have income. That doesn't mean that at all that it will continue to be the case.
Ranplan's gross profit leverage is immense, given that additional sale of software typically adds close to 100% to the bottom line. I repeat, 100%.
It's like Qualcomm's technology licensing business and and Nokia's ditto. The reason for that, you may ask, and and you should ask, is that we When we sell software, everything literally is Ranplan's property.
We are not reselling third-party commercial products when it comes to our software. OPEX: R&D, sales and marketing, and general and admin.
There are some variations. Let me highlight them.
What has happened with respect to R&D, from the high base in the beginning of 2023, we are now on a materially and sustainably lower level. There have been some variations in the last three half-year periods.
It was due to a temporary hike in the second half—sorry, in the sec- in the first half of of this year, which now has been trimmed. Sales and marketing, intentionally, deliberately, we are participating to a considerably greater extent now in events and conferences.
I think north of 10 conferences in 2025, and we intend to keep that rate in 2026. We start to see that this is paying off in earnest.
We are building reputation in the marketplace, and there is positive word of mouth. G&A, general and admin, we are now at the lowest level on record.
It's largely, not only partially, because I have reduced, very significantly, my my salary. You will find more about that level in the annual report.
There is no loss of people. That I should say, also, we we have had very, very positive feedback from our employees and our contractors.
We haven't had no losses of of of people in 2025. No churn at all, to the best of my understanding.
There was one one departure in in China out of close to 50 people. I I think the organization is in very good shape, and the people are motivated, and I think they generally enjoy working for for Ranplan, the freedom we give them and the ability to learn and inspire and motivate each other.
Operating profit and cash flow: as I usually say, and I like to say this when it comes to Ranplan, there's a perfect match between reported operating profit and operating cash flow before working capital. As you can see here, they are identical.
Mamma Mia, you may say. Where Why is it not the case when I look at other companies reporting their interim reports?
The reason is that unlike almost all companies on Planet Earth, Ranplan has no fixed assets at all, neither neither tangible ones nor intangible ones. If you don't have any fixed assets, you don't have any depreciation or or any amortization, obviously, and then there shouldn't be any delta between these two two lines.
Again, operating profit is identical to operating cash flow before working capital. Working capital, as all companies must must be familiar with, there are changes between your recording, your registering a sale or a liability, and the cash movements of of these.
A reflection of this, there have been temporary delays. We are certain that the negative delta between operating cash flow after working capital and that before will reverse in the first half of this year.
Not dissimilar to the pattern we have seen before, if you compare the second two columns here, for instance. You can see that whilst the first two columns are exactly the same, for the reasons I alluded to, there are noticeable variations in comparing the second column with the third, i.e., before and after working capital.
That's is a direct reflection of the the payment structures that can vary for a number of reasons. In 2024, as some of you may remember, then we had a bumper year after working capital, because then we recouped and converted big chunks of receivables.
If you look here in 2024, both the first half and the second half, the operating cash out or cash flow, the negative one was very, very mildly negative, in large, or at least in part, due to the conversion of excess receivables into cash. Then, very finally, as far as this section goes, the balance sheet summary.
One metric that I do like, that is very relevant for Ranplan, is net current receivables, net current receivables, which means all factors equal, it means Current means in the next 12 months. Net current means the difference between coming in and going out.
If that holds true, then there should be a net in, a net in, again, all other factors kept equal, because obviously in the course of this year, we will also have new receivables, and we will have new current liabilities. If we were to freeze everything now, then all else equal, we should then have an extra 4.671 here coming into our coffer, net.
That, compared with net cash of a negative 5.7, it means that the difference is slightly, ever so slightly, more than 1 million SEK, which in our case, again, for the reasons I alluded to, no fixed assets, is identical to the equity position of the group at the end of 2025. Any questions so far on the financials before we turn to, perhaps, operations?
Nope. This is a summary of the last few words from me in the annual statement.
Again, a potent reminder that Ranplan can very, very easily, I would say, with the stroke of a pen, not only break even, but also become very, very healthily profitable. How?
Why? It's a little bit similar to a pharmaceutical company.
For them, the stroke of a pen comes from the FDA in the United States: You got approval. You passed phase three.
You can proceed with the commercialization. For us, for Ranplan, in many cases, the gatekeepers are the big champions of the telecom industry.
Could be big operators, could be other names like the leading wireless manufacturers, of whom we have two great ones in the Nordic area. Just because this hasn't happened, these endorsements, these approvals, these, "Yes, you are allowed to go ahead," hasn't happened yet, that doesn't mean that it will not happen in the future.
Again, I emphasize, we are very, very confident in our competitive position, in the strength of our offerings, in the value proposition we represent. On that note, in 2025, in November, to be more precise, we managed to win the confidence of a major telecom operator in Southeast Asia through a request for proposal, i.e., a formal tender.
This is a government-owned operator in a heavily populated nation. In so doing, we displace the incumbent, which is quite a tall old order, to be honest with you, in in large part because of the history of this industry.
It used to be there's only one name to select, but more and more of our prospects understand that is no longer the case. There is actually a better alternative around, and that is Ranplan.
Finally, on some of the operational achievements and aspirations, we continue to spearhead, literally, the transition to openness with respect to file formats. Our main competitor, the one I indirectly alluded to here, is the precise opposite.
It represents proprietary file formats, something that increasingly frustrates and annoys its customer base. There's much more to do there, and you will see, hopefully, something pretty mesmerizing, to some at least, at Mobile World Congress in 10 days' time.
We also now employ lidar to automate, to the greatest extent possible, the building modeling. We can do this in full 3D, even capturing the furniture, as illustrated here in what seems to be a hotel or or something similar.
This is something, once it has been captured using lidar scanners, we can then very, very readily digitize this into a floor plan in full and we can also do this in full 3D before we carry out the wireless modeling and add the radio to the intelligence layers. Where our quality matters the most is also where we thrive.
Private wireless has been and remains our main pivot. This is where the caliber of our products and services make a distinctive difference.
Public safety and, for instance, railway connectivity is a good example of this. One of our most avid customers in the United Kingdom has shifted from the incumbent to Ranplan, and six months ago, it captured, seized, won a majestic contract with the UK Network Rail.
Far, today, 12 railway stations, and we understand 90 tunnels, and that's just the beginning. We hope we have been instrumental in making this customer successful in the marketplace.
We have no reason to think we have not. Finally, I think I've shown this before.
This is my last slide before the Q&A. When we say 3D, three dimensions, we mean three dimensions.
This, I think, our ability to handle the the height of buildings here with no difficulty is also something that positively sets us apart from the pack. Now, in the coming years, we have every reason to believe that drones will be deployed to a greater extent for emergency wireless services.
We already in the works of helping our customers control and navigate this, and also then portray the wireless connectivity using Ranplan. I leave it to that, but this is an arena where we see a lot of impetus in the lead up to and after the first launch of 6G.
With that, I'm complete, or I feel complete. We can now open up to any questions that anyone may want to have addressed.
Please. In any language, we can always translate.
If not, you can always call me separately if you have any queries about the the recent report or or any related thereto, anything related thereto. Thank you.
Have a good continuation of the day. Bye-bye.
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