Interim Report Q3 2022

CEO´s comment
Sales amounted to SEK 93.7 (89.6) million, corresponding to growth of 4.5 percent. EBIT amounted to SEK 8.7 (24.0) million. Sales for the first nine months of the year amounted to SEK 256.4 (224.5) million, which is the highest sales we have achieved for the first three quarters of any calendar year. EBIT for the year’s first nine months amounted to SEK 11.2 (28.1) million, and is a consequence of the product mix, with an increase in the proportion of hardware with a lower gross margin. The EBIT was also affected by an increase in sales and marketing activities as well as personnel costs. 

Demand, particularly in our strategic markets, is healthy. However, the Company is experiencing a challenging situation with transport problems and a shortage of components. Delivery disruptions have 
a ripple effect in the form of uncertain delivery notices and extended delivery times. With more secure deliveries, MSAB could have invoiced an additional SEK 18 million.

All restrictions entailed by the pandemic and which affected sales and marketing activities have now been lifted, which jump-started the number of meetings and events. We are visiting customers, participating in exhibitions, and executing training programmes at a significiantly higher level than during the pandemic years. This will lay the foundation for future growth.

It is crucial for our customers that our products are continuously updated to support all new versions of phones and apps, which are also continuously being upgraded. With recent product launches, MSAB now supports more than 42,000 phone profiles and more than 4,000 apps. 

Every quarter, there is a major release for each of our product families, along with smaller incremental updates. Every major release contains extensive improvements. The latest release included support for the latest version of Iphone iOS 16 as well as expanded support for tracing of crypto currencies. 

In a generally more troubled world, and especially in Europe, it is becoming increasingly important for the police, customs and defence to work with products that are on the cutting edge, and with suppliers that oeprate within the same region where they operate. Being the only digital forensics company with its headquarters office in Europe will be an important factor in the future. 

Many of our customers are investing more in various types of frontline solutions, which means they need products and services from MSAB. The most common services we deliver are configuration, training, installation, and support. We are seeing an increasing amount of this type of business deal, which means 
longer implementation times, but once these deals are done, the value of the business as well as the benefit to the customer is significantly higher.

We are entering into more in-depth collaborations with more law enforcement agencies, and through our unique Frontline offering, we are convinced that we will win more of this type of business in the future. 

The general unrest in the world and the uncertain economic situation means that the future is of course uncertain and can affect our customers’ investment capacity. Up until now, we have not seen any signs that this is the case. Quite the opposite. We are experiencing an increase in demand. 

I am convinced that MSAB will continue to grow, even if that growth varies for some quarters. 

Stockholm, October 2022,

Joel Bollö
Chief Executive Officer

The information in this report is such that MSAB, Corporate ID number 556244-3050, is required to disclose in accordance with the EU’s Market Abuse Regulation. The information in this report was submitted for publication on October 26, 2022, at 08:00 CEST.