Last close As at 05/08/2026
NOK99.00
▲ −1.50 (−1.49%)
Market capitalisation
NOK2,192m
Research: TMT
Zalaris reported a good quarter for new business in Managed Services and a stable revenue quarter for the group as a whole. Adjusted EBIT declined due to lower Zalaris Consulting revenue and business development activity in both divisions. Lower interest costs and a lower tax rate resulted in a small year-on-year increase in net income and EPS. The company maintained its medium-term revenue and margin guidance. Zalaris is currently in an offer period, with investors offered a cash price of NOK100 per share.
| Year end | Revenue (NOKm) | PBT (NOKm) | EPS (NOK) | DPS (NOK) | P/E (x) | Yield (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/24 | 1,346.3 | 80.7 | 2.70 | 0.90 | 36.5 | 0.9 |
| 12/25 | 1,503.2 | 114.9 | 3.61 | 0.00 | 27.3 | N/A |
| 12/26e | 1,616.2 | 190.1 | 6.50 | 0.00 | 15.2 | N/A |
| 12/27e | 1,747.5 | 217.4 | 7.36 | 0.00 | 13.4 | N/A |
Zalaris reported revenue growth of 0.5% y-o-y in Q126 (2.1% in constant currency (cc)), with growth of 6.6% in Managed Services (7.9% cc) and a decline of 18.0% in Zalaris Consulting (-15.5% cc). Group adjusted EBIT was down 18.8% y-o-y, with the margin declining from 14.1% in Q125 to 11.4% in Q126. Good cash generation in the quarter resulted in net debt reducing from NOK216.7m at the end of FY25 to NOK190.7m at the end of Q126. Now that the company is under offer, a dividend for FY25 is no longer proposed. Managed Services contracts with annual recurring revenue (ARR) of NOK75m were signed in the quarter and the company closed Q126 with live ARR of NOK1,054m (+7.1% y-o-y).
Despite the weaker performance of Zalaris Consulting, management is confident that it is on track to hit its FY28 revenue and margin targets. The main routes to achieve this include: becoming the preferred partner for multi-country payroll and transactional HR services to the mid-market, driving combined Managed Services and Consulting capabilities, and improving efficiency and cost-effectiveness through automation, AI and near/off-shoring initiatives. Other than removing dividend payouts, we maintain our forecasts.
On 15 April, a voluntary offer was launched for the acquisition of 100% of Zalaris shares at a cash price of NOK100 per share. The offer period runs from 16 to 30 April and requires a minimum acceptance of 90% of outstanding shares. At the offer price, this values the company on a P/E multiple of 15.4x FY26e and 13.6x FY27e.
Zalaris reported revenue growth of 0.5% y-o-y in Q126 (2.1% in cc), with growth of 6.6% in Managed Services (7.9% cc) and a decline of 18.0% in Zalaris Consulting (-15.5% cc). We discuss divisional performance in more detail below. Adjusted EBIT declined 18.8% y-o-y, with a 10.8% decline in Managed Services and Zalaris Consulting moving to a loss, partially offset by lower overheads. Helped by the refinancing of debt in H225, interest expense was NOK5m lower year-on-year, and the company reported net finance income of NOK3.6m versus a net finance cost of NOK7.4m in Q125. This helped reduce the decline in PBT to 4.1%, and with a tax rate of 21.6% compared to 25.7% in Q125, profit after tax was 1.2% higher year-on-year. In light of the offer for Zalaris, the company is no longer proposing a dividend for FY25 (it had previously proposed a dividend of NOK2.5). The company closed the quarter with net interest-bearing debt of NOK190.7m, down from NOK225.6m at the end of Q125 and NOK216.7m at the end of FY25. This resulted in gearing (net debt/EBITDA) of 0.67x at the end of Q126.
The Managed Services business signed new business worth NOK75m in ARR. New contracts won in the quarter included:
The company has a strong pipeline with an increased number of deals with a target signing date within three months.
ARR at the end of Q126 was NOK1,054m, up 7.1% y-o-y and 0.4% q-o-q. Exhibit 2 shows the expected timing of the conversion of contracted ARR to live ARR. Net revenue retention (NRR) was 103% for the quarter in constant currency. Contracted ARR at end-Q126 was NOK1,107m, with the difference between live and contracted ARR of NOK53m the net of new contracts and known churn in future periods.
Adjusted EBIT of NOK48.8m was down 10.8% from the NOK54.7m reported in Q125. The adjusted EBIT margin decreased from 19.7% to 16.5% over the same period. The company noted higher sales commission payouts from the contracts signed in Q1 in addition to the costs of opening a Benelux office.
The reduction in Zalaris Consulting revenue was mainly due to the completion of significant projects in Poland and Germany in 2025 that have not yet been replaced by new contracts. Adjusted EBIT fell from NOK8.6m in Q125 to a loss of NOK0.7m in Q126. This is slightly smaller than the losses of NOK1.1m and NOK1.3m reported in Q325 and Q425 respectively. The loss was mainly due to the lower level of revenue, exacerbated by investment in business development to drive new business.
On 13 March, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with Kona BidCo on the terms of a recommended voluntary cash tender offer to acquire all the listed and outstanding shares of the company except for the shares owned by the rollover shareholders (who hold 13.8% of outstanding shares) at a price of NOK100 per share. Kona BidCo is a newly established acquisition vehicle owned by Norvestor IX SCSp and the rollover shareholders include Hans-Petter Mellerud (CEO), Gunnar Mannum (CFO), Halvor Leirvåg (CTO), Øyvind Reiteb (chief commercial officer), Richard E Schiørn (EVP Solution & Delivery) and Hilde Karlsmyr (chief HR officer). The offer period runs from 16 to 30 April and requires 90% acceptance by shareholders. The offer document is available here: arctic.com/offerings; Norwegian shareholders can accept the offer here: Digital sign; and details for overseas investors are here: arctic.com/offerings/ecm/2026/zalaris-asa.
Combining the rollover shareholders and other shareholders who entered into separate pre-acceptance undertakings, 30.9% of outstanding shares had been tendered prior to the opening of the offer period.
The company maintained its medium-term outlook of a NOK2bn revenue run-rate with an adjusted EBIT margin of 13–15% by Q428. While it targets an average revenue growth rate of 10%, it noted that this will not necessarily be linear.
We leave our revenue and EBIT forecasts unchanged. We have removed the FY25 dividend and set forecast dividend payouts to zero, which results in lower net debt forecasts across FY26–27.
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Research: Energy & Resources
bp reported Q126 underlying replacement cost (RC) profit of $3.2bn (Q125: $1.4bn), a beat versus company consensus of $2.7bn. This was driven by higher customers & products earnings, exceptional oil trading and a lower underlying effective tax rate of 32%. Operating cash flow was flat year-on-year but fell quarter-on-quarter to $2.9bn (Q425: $7.6bn) due to a $6.0bn working capital increase driven primarily by seasonal inventory builds and pricing. Net debt rose to $25.3bn from $22.2bn at FY25.