BRNL Brunel International NV

Amsterdam, 2 August 2024 – Brunel International N.V. (Brunel; BRNL), a global specialist delivering customised project and workforce solutions, today announced its second quarter 2024 results.

Q2 Highlights

• Revenue of EUR 346 million, up 6% (up 4% organically)
• Gross profit of EUR 65 million, stable vs last year (down 4% organically)
• EBIT of EUR 10.9 million, down 2% (down 20% organically)
• Conversion improvement plan to reduce annual costs by EUR 20 million

H1 Highlights

• Revenue up 8% to EUR 696 million (8% organically)
• Gross Profit of EUR 134 million (up 1% organically)
• EBIT of EUR 25.1 million, down 6% (down 2% organically)
• Free cash flow close to zero in H1 2024 (EUR 41 million negative in H1 2023)
• Earnings per share of EUR 0.30 (2023: EUR 0.32)

Jilko Andringa, Brunel International N.V. CEO: “During the second quarter of this year, we continued to deliver revenue growth in challenging market conditions. This led to growth of all global verticals during the first half year. We experienced some delays in key projects within the conventional energy sector in Asia, which have now been postponed to early Q1 2025. Our pipeline in the renewable energy vertical for the remainder of the year is robust. The capital investment commitments in our global markets continue to be very high. In Germany the market conditions remain difficult.

During the period, we have seen a decrease of our conversion. We responded with additional cost saving initiatives. We are able to do so because we have upgraded and will continue to enhance our unique global IT and digital infrastructure. This encompasses a full SAAS, cloud, market leading system and tools, enriched with AI, to further increase our speed, quality and efficiency. By investing in a 'lean methodology' of working, we have created an efficient 'flow' to improve the quality of our services to clients.This gives us the opportunity to become more efficient at all levels. As a result, the organisational structure is being aligned with the emerging internal and external opportunities. While we focus on investing in growth and sales capacity, we are also reassessing support roles, team sizes, and management layers. By balancing investments in value-adding activities with strategic adjustments to our organisation, we created a platform for further profitable growth to ‘The Next Level’.”

PROGRESS ON NEXT LEVEL TARGETS 2027

During our Capital Markets Day in 2023, we provided a status update on our targets for 2025, clearly showing the improvements over the past period. We set new targets for 2027, based on the momentum we experienced across all verticals. Our key value drivers diversification, specialisation, capability building and disciplined execution and strategic positioning against megatrends position us for the Next Level. While we continued to show high single digit growth, our conversion ratio is staying behind and we have started initiatives to further improve towards our 2027 targets.

GROUP PERFORMANCE

Revenue

Reported revenue was up by 6% YoY compared to Q2 2023. The organic growth was 4%, which excludes the impact of one additional working day (1.7%) in 2024 and a slightly negative FX effect (0.1%).

Gross profit

Reported gross profit was down 1% YoY in Q2 2024, or 4% organically, which excludes the negative impact of additional working day of 3.1% and a negative effect of FX of 0.04%. We saw continued growth of fees in conventional energy, mining and life sciences, while renewables stayed behind. Within the local verticals, future mobility and public sector, two of the larger areas, continued to stand out.

Operating costs

Reported and organic costs YoY were down by 1%. We managed to keep the costs down through operational efficiency throughout the organization, despite the inflationary pressure.

EBIT

Reported EBIT is down 2% YoY, or 20% organically, which excludes the impact of one additional working day of 18.8% and a positive effect of FX of 0.6%.

HEADLINE PERFORMANCE BY REGION
Summary (amounts in EUR million):

PERFORMANCE BY REGION

DACH Region
The DACH region includes Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Czech Republic. Revenue per working day decreased by 2%. The gross margin adjusted for working days was 27.7% in Q2 2024 (Q2 2023: 31.5%). Despite challenging market conditions in certain regions and supported by one additional working day, we managed to keep EBIT stable by leveraging strong operational efficiency. The headcount as of 30 June was 1,931 (2023: 2,084).

The Netherlands
Revenue per working day in The Netherlands increased by 2%. The increase was mainly the result of higher rates and higher productivity, partially offset by the lower headcount. The business line IT was the main growth driver. The gross margin adjusted for working days was 24.3% in Q2 2024 (Q2 2023: 25.2%). The EBIT in the Netherlands increased by 30%, with a significant increase in EBIT margin.

Australasia
Australasia includes Australia and Papua New Guinea. Our strong performance in the conventional energy and mining sectors has maintained growth momentum leading to a 24% increase in revenues. The decrease in gross margin to 10.0% (Q2 2023: 10.8%) was mainly attributable to a shift in our client mix. Additionally, operating costs rose as we scaled up to support the accelerated growth, leading to a decrease in EBIT margin and conversion ratio.

Middle East & India
Middle East & India includes Qatar, Kuwait, Dubai, Iraq and India. The 15% revenue growth in this region was mainly driven by infrastructure clients win in Qatar and Dubai. Qatar remains a steady and significant contributor to the region’s performance. The gross margin declined to 12.7% (2023: 13.7%) due to shifts in the project mix. Additionally, a slight increase in operating costs led to a reduction in EBIT margin and conversion ratio.

Americas
The Americas includes Brazil, Canada, US, Guyana and Surinam. We continued to see growth in our key markets, US and Canada, within the conventional energy and mining vertical. This led to an increase in revenues of 6%. The rapid expansion of the market for permanent placements in the US has contributed to an increase in gross margin and improved the conversion ratio.

Asia
Asia includes Singapore, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. In China and Singapore, we faced delays in new projects related to fabrication yards. An unfavorable shift in our client mix resulted in a slight decrease in gross profit, EBIT, and conversion ratio.

Rest of World
Rest of World includes Taylor Hopkinson, Belgium and our other energy activities in Europe. Delays in project financing, particularly in Taiwan, have affected quarterly revenue for Taylor Hopkinson, leading to an overall decrease in revenues for this region of 2%. The decrease in gross margin and EBIT are mainly the result of the lower perm activity level.

Gross profit (net fees) per vertical

Tax and net profit

The effective tax rate for the six-month period ended on 30 June 2024 is 33.1% (2023: 33.3%). For the full year we expect the effective tax rate to come down to around 30% (2023: 35.8%). Net profit came in at EUR 14.9 million (H1 2023: EUR 15.9 million), resulting in earnings per share of EUR 0.30 (H1 2023: EUR 0.32).

Risk profile
Reference is made to our 2023 Annual Report (pages 60 - 75). Reassessment of our earlier identified risks and the potential impact on occurrence has not resulted in required changes in our internal risk management and control systems.

Cash flow and cash position
The free cash flow was close to zero in the first half of 2024, compared to EUR 41 million negative in H1 2023. The net debt balance at 30 June 2024 was EUR 12.1 million (EUR 31.8 million net cash per 31 December 2023), of which EUR 15.0 million is restricted (EUR 20.1 million per 31 December 2023). The decrease in cash was mainly the result of the dividend payment in June and the seasonality in our cash flows.

Outlook
We expect the current trends to continue in most regions. Asia will see the impact of the delay in the starts of new projects, whereas the automotive market in DACH remains challenging. We are aiming to achieve at least EUR 20 million in cost savings to improve our profitability and conversion. This project will be largely executed in Q3, and the related cost savings in this year will exceed the related one-off cost in 2024 (approximately EUR 4 million).

Update on CEO succession
Our CEO, Jilko Andringa, announced his resignation early July. We will provide an update on his succession in due course.

PERFORMANCE BY REGION

WORKING DAYS AND HEADCOUNT DEVELOPMENT

Working days

Germany:

The Netherlands:

Headcount development

• Headcount in the DACH region as of 30 June was 1,931 (2023: 2,084)
• Headcount in The Netherlands as of 30 June was 1,676 (2023: 1,748)

ESG UPDATE

As a global company, Brunel take its social responsibility very seriously and has defined key commitments across its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) policy that contribute to a healthier planet and a better future for generations to come. All of its actions are supported by its global network of more than 11,000 specialists in 45 countries. With a sustainable business model aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, Brunel is committed to making an impact in several areas. These include, but are not limited to, ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns, taking urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, conserving oceans, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities. Below you can find a few of the activities carried out by our Foundation during Q2 2024:

ConsciousDress
Brunel Foundation created the ConsciousDress – an inspirational piece that’s all about shaping a sustainable future together. It’s been designed to provoke us into thinking and rethinking, using and reusing. Marrying the Brunel Foundation’s sustainability activities and Brunel’s focus on innovation, our colleague Amanda Linger has travelled the world – using the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to create images reflecting different aspects and initiatives of the Brunel Foundation.

June Upcycling Month
The Middle East region organised the Transform Waste Into Treasures (TWIT) competition, showing the region’s promise to upcycling and sustainable practices. It sparked a wave of enthusiasm and inventiveness among the Brunellers across the region to produce functional office marvels and set a new standard for eco-friendly innovations in the workplace. This challenge proved once again one person’s trash is another’s treasure.

OffshoreWind4Kids
Together with Taylor Hopkinson, the Foundation organised several OffshoreWind4Kids sessions, e.g. in Scotland and the Netherlands (collaborating with a.o. Stichting Petje Af). This quarter we’ve reached 330 children in total with the sessions. To create maximum impact and unlock the talents of as many different groups of children as possible, we also visited a special needs school in the Netherlands to provide children the opportunity to learn more about the world of wind energy.

April Autism Awareness Month
As part of Autism Month the foundation organized an interactive and inspirational session with Saskia Schepers, the Dutch expert on neurodiversity. She strongly believes in the competitive advantage of neurodiversity in the workplace.

Trash ‘n Trace
This quarter, several cleanup activities took place such as lunchbreak cleanups at our Headquarters in Amsterdam, a cleanup around our office in Bremen, as well as a cleanup day in Glasgow with our Taylor Hopkinson colleagues. In total, all colleagues that joined the Trash ‘n Trace cleanups prevented 159 kg of plastic, waste and forever chemicals from finding their way into our oceans. With Litterati we’ve reached over 540.000 pieces of litter picked in our Global Trash ‘n Trace challenge.

OTHER INFORMATION

Statement of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of Brunel International N.V. hereby declares that, to the best of its knowledge:

• the interim financial statements give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and result of Brunel International N.V. and the companies jointly included in the consolidation, and
• the interim report gives a true and fair view of the information referred to in the eighth and, insofar as applicable, the ninth subsection of Section 5:25d of the Dutch Act on Financial Supervision and with reference to the section on related parties in the interim financial statements.

Amsterdam, 2 August 2024
Brunel International N.V.

Jilko Andringa (CEO)
Peter de Laat (CFO)

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About Brunel
Brunel International N.V. is a global provider of flexible specialist workforce solutions. We deliver tailor made solutions like Recruitment, Global Mobility, Project Management, Secondment, Consultancy or scope of work for our clients, both on a global scale and on a local level. Our ability to help our clients beyond their expectations is a testament to our people and their entrepreneurial spirit, knowledge and results-driven approach. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. We connect the most talented professionals with leading clients in Conventional Energy, Renewable Energy, Future Mobility, Mining, Life Sciences and Infrastructure.

Incorporated in 1975, Brunel has since become a global company with over 11,000 employees and annual revenue of EUR 1.3 billion (2023). The company is listed at Euronext Amsterdam N.V. For more information on Brunel International N.V. visit our website www.brunelinternational.net.

For further information
Jilko Andringa - CEO        
Peter de Laat - CFO        
tel.: +31(0)20 312 50 81

Financial Calendar        
1 November 2024        Trading update for the third quarter 2024

Certain statements in this document concern prognoses about the future financial condition and the results of operations of Brunel International N.V. as well as plans and objectives. Obviously, such prognoses involve risks and a degree of uncertainty since they concern future events and depend on circumstances that will apply then. Many factors may contribute to the actual results and developments differing from the prognoses made in this document. These factors include general economic conditions, a shortage on the job market, changes in the demand for (flexible) personnel, changes in employment legislation, future currency and interest fluctuations, future takeovers, acquisitions and disposals and the rate of technological developments. These prognoses therefore apply only on the date on which the document was compiled. The financial figures as presented in this press release are unaudited.

Source: Brunel International NV

Attachment

• Press Release Q2 2024.pdf

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