Q4 2026 AcadeMedia AB Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Record Q4 with net sales up 10.6% and adjusted EBITDA up 16.2%, margin improved to 9.8%.
- Full-year adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.4% within the 7-8% target range for the first time in years.
- Strong organic growth of 10.2% in Q4 and student numbers up 5.2%.
- International expansion into new markets (UK, Poland) and continued growth in existing ones, with 3 acquisitions in the period.
- Improved profitability across all segments, with preschool international and adult education as key drivers.
- Strong balance sheet with leverage at 0.9x, well below the 3x target, providing financial flexibility.
- Quality metrics outperform municipalities, including grading accuracy and socio-economic student results.
- Free cash flow in Q4 declined to $354 million from $532 million, due to acquisition-related payments and timing of municipal payments.
- Regulatory changes in Sweden (principle of publicity and profit regulation) will create significant administrative burden and require IT investments up to 25 million SEK.
- International preschool segment expected to be a consolidation year with no similar margin increases expected.
- Group costs increased by 10 million in Q4, partly due to restructuring costs and layoffs.
- Adult education segment saw lower capacity utilization in Q4 due to more completed courses, impacting profitability.
- Net debt increased to $1.9 billion from $953 million, driven by acquisitions, though still at low leverage.
- No disclosure of organic student enrollment growth, with total growth of 8% including M&A.
Welcome to Acade Media Q3 2026 conference call. For the first part of the conference call, the participants will be in listen-only mode. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad.
Now I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO, Marcus Stromberg and CFO Petter Sylvan. Please go ahead.
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So good morning everybody and welcome to this presentation of our Q4 report and we will also sum up the full year for Academia. And this time of the year is really fantastic for Academia. We have all the school starts in Sweden and we plan the school start international. And we have never had so many students, children, parents choosing our school. And when you talk about election.
There are election in different countries every 4th year. We have election every year and a lot of parents chose our schools. So I will just give a short summarize of the quarters. You can take the next page.
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