CEO's Review
Financial Statements Release 2024
In the last quarter of 2024, Loihde’s revenue increased by 7% to EUR 39.8 (37.3) million. Adjusted EBITDA improved by 3% and totalled EUR 3.9 (3.8) million, or 9.8% (10.1%) of revenue.
Overall, the last quarter of the year was really good for us, although the weak market in IT consulting continues to weigh on our revenue and profit. In our other service areas, market conditions are more positive, and we did well especially in continuous services and projects related to security.
Security Solutions exceeded expectations
Our security and corporate network services continued to grow well. The growth in our Security Solutions business area towards the end of the year exceeded our expectations. Due to the introduction of a more front-loaded project recognition policy in 2024, the expectations for the last quarter of the year were lower than the actual growth. The strong growth shows that Loihde has a very solid market position in the Finnish security technology sector. One of our competitive advantages is our strong information security and network expertise, since also physical security solutions are digital and networked in today’s world. Nurse call systems and related maintenance services for hospitals and assisted living facilities also grew well towards the end of the year.
In cyber security services, identity and access management (IAM) consulting continued to grow significantly during the period. Our Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) and our Network Operations Centre (NOC), which both operate 24/7, have also steadily increased their customer base and revenue.
No turnaround in IT consulting yet
The difficulties in the IT consulting market have continued, resulting in lower year-on-year revenue for these service areas. However, our position as the supplier of our key customers has been strengthened, particularly in finance and manufacturing, and we have gained new customers in sectors such as energy and retail. Customers are particularly interested in improving their own operations through data, automation and artificial intelligence. The oversupply of bespoke software development relative to demand has increased price competition. Overall, we expect the IT consulting market to gradually improve during this year, but the early part of the year is likely to remain challenging.
Full-year profitability improved significantly
Full-year revenue saw a year-on-year increase of 5% and came to EUR 139.7 million. Adjusted EBITDA improved by 45% and totalled EUR 11.0 (7.6) million, or 7.9% (5.7%) of revenue.
Revenue from strategically important continuous services increased by 14% and came to EUR 36.9 (32.6) million, which corresponds to 26.4% (24.5%) of the company’s revenue. At the end of the financial year, the annualised contract backlog for continuous services amounted to EUR 38.7 (34.7) million.
As the market situation has been challenging in some respects, we are very pleased with these results, and I would like to thank Loihde’s employees for their great work and our customers for their continued trust in our services.