Sweden still affected by cautious hiring policy
Positive development in UK
Normalisation before next growth phase?
Q4: Net sales -7% y-o-y, adj. EBIT margin of 6.1% (6.7%)
Dedicare reported Q4 net sales of SEK 464m (-7% y-o-y), which was 14% below ABGSCe as we did not foresee the slower pace in Norway in the quarter. Denmark was also behind our expectations as a hiring freeze for nurses on long-term contracts was introduced. Sweden was still affected by the more cautious hiring policy in some regions. This might change for the better in '24 as the new national framework agreement has been passed after it was challenged in court. We think the regions might have waited for the outcome of that court decision before deciding their hiring policies going forward. UK had a strong Q4 and Dedicare announced a few framework wins in the region that should set it up for a solid '24 as well. EBIT of SEK 39.3m (31.3m) was better than ABGSCe but it was also positively affected by a write-down of earn-outs, which should be treated as an IAC. Adj. EBIT was SEK 28.4m, 17% below ABGSCe.