Translation: Original published in Finnish on 8/18/2026 at 8:05 am EEST.

Source: Inderes

Solwers will publish its H1 report on Tuesday, August 25. In June, Solwers issued a profit warning, withdrew its guidance for the current year, and announced that it would not meet its current covenant condition. We expect the company's revenue to have grown moderately, supported by acquisitions, but with weak profitability, particularly due to challenges in Sweden, as highlighted in the company's profit warning. In the report, we will pay particular attention to the company's financial situation, the progress of covenant negotiations, and management's comments on the prerequisites for an earnings turnaround.

Acquisitions keep revenue growing moderately

We forecast Solwers' H1 revenue to have grown by just under 60% to 43 MEUR (H1'25: 42 MEUR). For the second quarter, we expect revenue to have grown by just over 2% from the comparison period to around 22 MEUR. We estimate that growth will mainly be supported by acquisitions completed in Poland and Sweden at the end of 2025. Our expectations for organic growth are very cautious given the profit warning issued in June stating that the beginning of the year had developed weaker than expected. In the current market, challenges are particularly pronounced in architectural design and Swedish industrial services, where price competition has remained tight. On a positive note, in June, the company announced that East Railway Ltd had selected Finnmap Infra to design the East Railway. Finnmap Infra is responsible for the general planning of the East Railway from Porvoo to Kouvola together with Sweco. The general planning phase, which began in summer 2026, will continue until 2028. While the value of the order was not disclosed, we believe that winning this major public infrastructure project demonstrates Finnmap Infra’s competitiveness in demanding rail design work and will strengthen the subsidiary’s order book for the coming years. However, we consider Finnmap Infra's impact on Solwers' overall development to be limited.

Challenges in Sweden push profitability to exceptionally low levels

We expect adjusted EBITA to have decreased markedly from the comparison period to 0.8 MEUR (H1'25: 1.2 MEUR). In the second quarter, we estimate adj. EBITA to have been around 0.5 MEUR (Q2'25: 0.7 MEUR). In connection with the profit warning in June, the company stated that the weak performance of its subsidiaries serving the industrial sector in Sweden has a negative impact on profitability development. Previously initiated corrective actions have not had the desired effect, and Solwers announced that it will further increase its efforts to improve profitability. We believe weak demand and intense price competition will weigh on billing rates and margins. Reported EBIT was burdened by non-recurring items in the comparison period, which is why we expect it to improve slightly. To turn the result around, a recovery in market price levels and an increase in utilization rates are urgently required, but we do not foresee any rapid relief for now.

Ingredients for an earnings turnaround under scrutiny

In June, Solwers withdrew its guidance for the current year. For the full year of 2026, we estimate that revenue will grow by about 4% to 84 MEUR, and that adjusted EBITA will be 1.5 MEUR (2025: revenue 81 MEUR, adj. EBITA 2.0 MEUR).

In our view, the report’s most important takeaways relate to the company’s balance sheet position and the concrete steps outlined by management to achieve a turnaround in earnings. At the end of June, Solwers received a temporary waiver from its main bank for breaching the net debt/EBITDA covenant, which we believe has eliminated the most pressing short-term financing risk. However, in our view, the balance sheet position remains tight, and we estimate that reducing indebtedness specifically requires operational earnings to resume growing. We expect the management review to include a credible plan, particularly for addressing the problems in Sweden. If a turnaround in earnings is not achieved in the coming quarters, we cannot rule out more drastic balance sheet strengthening measures, such as a dilutive share issue.