Sales down 20% y-o-y in Q2
More restructuring in the quarter
Overall market has likely trouged
Q2: New CEO immediately starts cutting costs
PION Group reported Q2 revenues of SEK 424m (-20% y-o-y), which was 9% below ABGSCe. The deviation was broad-based over the three business units, with QRIOS having the largest deviation in percentage terms and Uniflex the smallest. Adj. EBITA was SEK -10.5m (-0.3m) versus ABGSCe at SEK 13.8m. The lower sales volumes with less revenue from recruiting was too much to bear, with QRIOS and Poolia in the red in Q2. The company took IAC costs of SEK 12m in Q2, which is aimed at bringing yearly savings of SEK 30m. According to Almega, PION Group lost some market share in Q1 and management believes it is in line or slightly behind the overall market in Q2. We think the market has likely troughed, as the Swedish NIER is giving a positive reading for the service sector in general, and we have also seen expectations rising for staffing in recruitment companies of late.