ABO-Group Environment Annual Results 2024

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ABO-Group Environment – Results

Second half-year 2024 and full year 2024

Ghent, 27 March 2025 – 18:30 – Press release / regulated information

ABO-Group Environment doubles its turnover in four years,
one year faster than forecast

Highlights 2024

• With a turnover of 95.9 million euro and growth of 14.6% (+12.3 million euro) compared to 2023, ABO-Group Environment reaches its revenue target for 2024. Acquisitions in 2024 represent 4.7% of this growth, alongside an organic growth of 9.9%.
• Geographically, more than half of the revenue growth was realized in Belgium (+6.4 million euro), followed by the Netherlands (+4.8 million euro) and France (+1.1 million euro).
• Revenue by activity increased most in the Environmental division (+7.5 million euro), followed by ‘Monitoring and Infrastructure¹’ (+3.8 million euro) and Geotechnics (+1.0 million euro).
• EBITDA² increases from 11.2 million euro to 12.1 million euro.
• A solid balance sheet with a debt ratio of 2.1x EBITDA and a solvency ratio of 28.2% supports the further development of ABO-Group.
• With the full year effect of the 2024 acquisitions, the 100-million-euro turnover mark is achieved one year faster than forecast.

Outlook

• ABO-Group is further committed to the combination of organic double-digit growth and an acquisition policy focused on niche players. In that context, the acquisition of environmental drilling company Délo Boringen from Schoten, Belgium, was announced today.
• Strengthening existing areas of expertise, focusing on the growth pillars of Geotechnics, Ecology and the Mining Industry, which we expect to gain new momentum in Europe from the European Critical Raw Materials Act.
• With the effect of the turnover not yet taken from the 2024 acquisitions, the announced acquisition and the important recent assignments in geotechnics and environment for the Ministries of Defence in some of our home markets (over 15 million euro), we expect turnover for 2025 to range between 105 and 110 million euro.
  

Management report

The CEO’s perspective

Frank De Palmenaer, CEO of ABO-Group Environment, explains:

"This year, we again achieved strong revenue growth, driven by our focus on specialization, innovation and synergies within the group. Targeted niche acquisitions and knowledge development strengthen our expertise and position ABO-Group as a one-stop-shop for geotechnics, environmental research and monitoring.

The world is rapidly changing, presenting increasing challenges in terms of environment, climate and geopolitics. ABO-Group plays a key role in addressing these challenges through our expertise in soil investigation, risk management and sustainable water and soil management strategies. We are enhancing our monitoring techniques, expanding our PFAS expertise and contributing to Europe’s ambition for strategic autonomy.

Our progress is only possible due to the dedication of our employees and the trust of our customers and shareholders. Together, we continue to build a sustainable future.”

 

in 000€		FY2024		FY2023		% change
Revenues		95 856		83 620		14,6%
Total operating income		97 234		85 163		14,2%
EBITDA1		12 147		11 171		8,7%
Depreciation & amortization		-7 249		-6 482		11,8%
EBIT		4 898		4 689		4,5%
Financial result		-2 002		-1 154		73,4%
Profit before tax		2 896		3 534		-18,1%
Net profit		1 924		2 548		-24,5%
Total result		1 899		2 526		-24,8%
Earnings per share for the shareholders		0,18		0,24		-24,8%
Total equity		27 715		25 831		7,3%
Net Financial debt		25 868		16 226		59,4%
Balance sheet total		98.216		86.288		13,8%
1 EBITDA = operating result before depreciation and amortisation

Business Evolution

Strong revenue increase of 14.6% or 12.3 million euro, driven by both organic growth and acquisitions

In 2024, ABO-Group acquired 7 entities contributing 3.9 million euro (4.7%) to revenue in 2024. Together with the full-year effect of the 2023 acquisitions (+4.6 million euro), these acquisitions represent revenue growth of 10%. The Group’s existing entities achieved growth of 3.7 million euro, or 4.4%.

Considering the full year impact of the 2024 acquisitions, the turnover increases further to over 100 million euro.

Turnover per activity

Activity - in €000		FY2024		FY2023
Geotechnical		43 904		42 943
% total		45,8%		51,4%
Environment		45 181		37 734
% total		47,1%		45,1%
Other		6 772		2 943
% total		7,1%		3,5%
Total		95 856		83 620

The geotechnical division recorded a revenue of 43.9 million euro, representing 45.8% of ABO-Group’s total revenue. This equals a 2.2% revenue growth compared to 2023 (42.9 million euro). Belgium and the Netherlands both recorded a 22% growth, compensating for a decline of 5% in France, due to project delays and unforeseen machinery maintenance, putting pressure on the margins.

The main acquisitions in both 2023 and 2024 were within environmental activities, and resulted in an increase of 19.7%, growing from 37.7 million euro in 2023 to 45.2 million euro.

Monitoring and infrastructure services, reported as "Other activities” contributed 6.8 million euro to revenue in 2024 compared to 2.9 million euro in 2023, an increase of 130.1%. This growth primarily results from the full-year effect of acquisitions made in 2023 (+1.4 million euro) and the 2024 acquisition (+1.2 million euro).

Turnover per Geography

Geografical - in €000		FY2024		FY2023
Belgium		33 579		27 206
% total		35,0%		32,5%
Netherlands		17 048		12 279
% total		17,8%		14,7%
France		45 230		44 136
% total		47,2%		52,8%
Total		95 856		83 620

The Belgian activities grew by 6.4 million euro to 33.6 million euro. Acquisitions in 2024, together with the full-year effect of acquisitions from 2023, represent an increase of 4.8 million euro. Existing Belgian operations realized strong growth in the geotechnical market but also experienced reduced demand for asbestos-related laboratory services.

Dutch operations also experienced substantial growth, from 12.3 million euro to 17.0 million euro, representing an impressive increase of 38.8%. The year 2024 was primarily characterized by larger multidisciplinary projects around smart urban cities development, such as those in Lelystad and Almere.

The previously unconsolidated part of SEGED and the contribution of the newly acquired Eau & Perspectives resulted in revenue growth of 2.0 million euro in France, partially offset by 0.9 million euro due to the aforementioned delays in mining activities and decreased demand for monitoring services. Consequently, French revenue amounted to 45.2 million euro in 2024. Due to the strong growth of the Dutch and Belgian divisions, the contribution of French activities decreased from 52.8% to 47.2% of total group revenue.

Margin and net results evolution

As mentioned in our ‘half year 2024’ press release, we noticed a delay at Geosonic in France and decline in demand at DynaOpt temporary impacting our EBITDA margin, which equaled 11.7% as at 30 June 2024. In the second half, the EBITDA margin is restored to the level of 2023, being to 13.2%, resulting in an overall full-year EBITDA of 12.5% or 12.1 million euro.

Depreciation and provisions increased slightly from 6.5 million euro last year to 7.2 million euro. As a result, EBIT (operating profit) increased by 4.5%, rising from 4.7 million euro to 4.9 million euro.

Mainly due to M&A financing activities, ABO-Group’s financial loss increased from 1.2 million euro to 2 million euro.

Net profit decreased from 2.5 million euro (0.24 euro per share) in 2023 to 1.9 million euro (0.18 euro per share) in 2024.

Highlights of balance sheet and cash flow  

ABO-Group achieves a solid operating cash flow for 2024 of 7.7 million euro in line with 2023. Investment cash outflow for 2024 is 7.9 million euro, also in line with 2023. The largest components are the realized acquisitions with a net cash-out flow of 2.7 million euro and investments in property, plant and equipment of 4.7 million euro.

Net financial debt increases from 16.2 million euro at the end of 2023 to 25.9 million euro at the end of 2024 mainly due to an increase in leasing debt by 4 million euro and M&A debt by 2.3 million euro. Leverage³ thus increases to 2.1 (1.5 at the end of 2023) and remains healthy.

The balance sheet total at the end of 2024 is 98.2 million euro, up 13.8% compared to year-end 2023. On the asset side, this is mainly due to the increase in intangible and tangible assets, contract assets and other short-term receivables driven by the acquisitions. The cash position remains quasi flat with 2023. On the liabilities side, the increase mainly results from the 7.9 million euro increase in financial debt.  The equity ratio equals 28.2% (versus 29.9% at the end of last year).

The full consolidated income statement and balance sheet, statement of changes in equity, and consolidated cash flow statement are included below.

Outlook

First acquisition of 2025 completed, turnover outlook ranges between 105 and 110 million euro

We are pleased to announce our first acquisition of 2025: Délo Boringen, a niche player, which will further expand our environmental division with high-quality sampling activities in Belgium. In addition, 2025 will focus on strengthening our internal organization to support further growth. This includes integrating legal entities according to our three revenue pillars – Geotechnics, Environment, and Other – as each requires distinct management approaches.

As a result of the current geopolitical situation, the group’s orderbook has recently expanded significantly, with over 15 million euro in geotechnics and environment contracts for the Ministries of Defence in some of our home markets. Furthermore, the mining activity in Europe is gaining a new breath supported by the European Critical Raw Materials Act. Alongside this and with the resumption of several large contracts, ABO-Group anticipates a further recovery of French geotechnical and mining activities, hereby improving its operating margins (amongst others, Geo+ Environnement, mining engineering and Geosonic France, drilling).

Through an active acquisition policy, the above-mentioned recovery and growth in geotechnics and important assignments in geotechnics and environment for Ministries of Defence, ABO-Group is confident that a turnover in the range of 105 million euro – 110 million euro will be achieved in 2025.

Auditor's statement

The auditor, Forvis Mazars Bedrijfsrevisoren BV, represented by Anton Nuttens and Jurgen Ostyn, confirmed that their audit procedures, which have been substantially completed, have not revealed any significant adjustments to the consolidated income statement, consolidated comprehensive income, consolidated balance sheet, consolidated statement of changes in equity, and consolidated cash flow statement included in this press release. The auditor also confirmed that the financial information reported in this press release is, in all material respects, consistent with the accounts from which it was derived.

Financial calendar

• 28/04/2025: Publication of annual report 2023 and notice of Annual General Meeting 
• 28/05/2025: Annual General Meeting 
• 18/09/2025: Publication of half-year results 2025

About ABO-Group Environment

Founded in 1995 as a consultancy for soil research, ABO-Group has grown into an international engineering firm specializing in all aspects of environment and soil: quality, reuse and remediation, geotechnics and monitoring, ecology, and cultural heritage.

ABO-Group operates through its semi-independent subsidiaries in Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. With more than 800 experts, the group offers the technology, expertise, and scale to deliver comprehensive solutions for the most challenging projects. Its clients span industries such as construction, infrastructure, mining and raw materials, energy, and water, covering every stage from assessment and design to execution and maintenance.

ABO-Group Environment is listed on EURONEXT Brussels and EURONEXT Paris.
For a more detailed description of ABO-Group Environment’s activities, visit www.abo-group.eu.

For more information

Frank De Palmenaer
CEO ABO-Group Environment NV
frank.depalmenaer@abo-group.eu
T: +32 (0)496 59 88 88

This press release is available on our website. *-

Disclaimer
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. ABO-Group is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release in light of new information, future events or otherwise. ABO-Group disclaims any liability for statements made or published by third parties and does not undertake any obligation to correct inaccurate data, information, conclusions or opinions published by third parties in relation to this or any other press release issued by ABO-Group.

¹ Reported under the category 'other'

² EBITDA defined as operating profit before depreciation, amortization, impairments and provisions

³ Leverage = "Net Financial debt/EBITDA”. Net Financial Debt = Long term financial debt + short term financial debt – cash and cash equivalents

Attachment

• ABO-Group Environment Annual Results 2024