Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter of 2023

The transformation towards recurring revenues and Software as a Service (SaaS) continues. SaaS revenues were NOK 106 million in the quarter, an increase of 35 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Recurring revenue constituted 66 percent of total revenues and reached NOK 272 million in the quarter, an increase of 29 percent from the fourth quarter of 2022.  

“As we left 2022 a year ago, we pointed at non-recurring volatility driven revenues in the region of NOK 60 million that were unlikely to be repeated in 2023, leaving us somewhat cautious to the guidance of 15 percent long term organic growth for the year. With the fourth quarter report in hand, this effect for the year was approximately NOK 55 million and NOK 25 million in the fourth quarter. Bearing this headwind in mind, we are proud to report a quarter with record operating revenues, organic growth at 13 percent and growth including the latest acquisition at 21 percent. We achieved this through strong uplift in ARR, accompanied by dedicated operational focus leading to improved project delivery,” says Trond Straume, CEO of Volue. 

Volue’s next-generation optimisation suite, Smart Power, was launched April 2023, and the solution had great momentum in the quarter. Agreements were reached with significant customers in the Spanish growth market, the new Japanese market and the Nordic home market. Additionally, the solution was brought live at two major producers in Italy, making Volue’s position in the country unrivalled.  

“Having reached a sufficient base of Insight customers in Japan during the third quarter, we spent the fourth quarter following the Volue go-to-market playbook. In the quarter, we made our first deal for Smart Power in Japan. Our successful implementation of the Insight platform with the customer has already earned us trust, as we were scrutinised at a high level of detail, making the adoption of Smart Power a clear vote of confidence. To us, this is a proof point that Volue is delivering a product with global applicability for a global market, leaving us very excited for the road ahead,” continues Trond Straume, CEO of Volue. 

The Power Grid segment closed ARR of NOK 26 million during 2023, and the Spark ecosystem has attracted 16 smart charging service providers and four grid operators, introducing incentives for grid-aware behaviour. The Infrastructure segment closed 100 new logos in 2023, and the construction product line has reached 90 customers in Sweden. Furthermore, the segment now has customers from eight countries through incoming requests, fueling increased confidence in global scalability. 

“Our annualised ARR base has reached NOK 1,138 million, serving as an important metric for Volue. A key ingredient of that achievement is the work we’ve done in the Infrastructure segment since listing. The segment is transformed, and during the process, we’ve avoided the drop in top-line revenues, unlike most business model transformations in the industry. Now, we’re enjoying strong growth, healthy margins and robust recurring revenue, while still keeping customer churn at industry-low levels. Altogether, the segment is in a much stronger position now compared to listing. When we speak about business model transformation – this is what good looks like,” says Trond Straume, CEO of Volue. 

Volue received the verdict from a legal dispute, as disclosed on November 18th 2023. The verdict, which is final and cannot be appealed, requires Volue to pay a settlement to the counterpart following a dispute from 2021. The fourth-quarter impact was NOK 57 million, of which NOK 50 million was booked as other operating expenses and NOK 7 million was booked as other finance costs. The expenses booked as other operating expenses are classified as non-recurring. Consequently, there is no impact on adjusted EBITDA in order to reflect the performance of the underlying business. Interests from 2021 of NOK 7 million and legal costs of NOK 6 million increase the total impact from the announced NOK 44 million to NOK 57 million. 

"Our clear ambition is to be the number one software and software-backed service provider to the European energy system by 2030. The strong performance towards the end of 2023 confirms that we are on track," Straume concluded. 

Volue maintains the following long-term guidance to the market 

• Annual long-term organic growth of 15 percent  
• Target of NOK 2 billion in revenues by 2025, including M&A 
• Year-by-year increases of adjusted EBITDA margin, cash conversion, share of ARR and SaaS revenues 

*EBITDA and other alternative performance measures (APMs) are defined and reconciled to the IFRS financial statements as part of the APM section of the fourth quarter 2023 presentation on page 36.