April - June 2026 (compared to the same period last year, Upsales group)
January - June 2026 (compared to the same period last year, Upsales group)
CEO LETTER
This is my final letter to you as CEO of Upsales. On 31 July, after 23 years, I hand over to Johan Kallblad. I do so with the company in the strongest position in its history.
Net sales for the second quarter were 41.4 MSEK, up 10.8 per cent year over year, the third consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. More importantly, this is the quarter where the underlying earnings power of Upsales becomes visible. Excluding Aira and the one-off separation costs, the EBITDA margin exceeded 35 per cent, approaching an annualised EBITDA run-rate of 60 MSEK. A pro forma income statement at the end of this report shows the adjustments.
This is not a one-quarter effect. Two things landed at once: the full run-rate benefit of last year's reorganisation and the removal of the Aira cost overlay. Both are structural. The separation of Aira was completed during the quarter, and it now trades as its own listed company. For Upsales shareholders, the effect is simple: full focus on the core business, and profitability no longer obscured by the cost of building a second product in-house. Aira's story will be told separately.
ARR returned to growth after a flat first quarter. As we explained then, the flat reading was renewal timing, not customer behaviour. We enter the third quarter with lower churn, which sets us up for accelerating ARR growth in the second half.
On 12 May, we launched the AI Agent Workspace, the largest product release in our history. It is winning new customers and deepening adoption in the existing base. It is also changing our customer conversations. More customers want our help putting AI to work in their revenue processes, and services revenue is growing as a result. Upsales remains a high-recurring-revenue software company, but this demand matters: customers who solve more problems with our platform stay longer and expand. Service growth pulls ARR growth along.
Johan Kallblad spent 15 years building Exsitec from around 30 people into a profitable, listed B2B software group with more than 650 people. That is precisely the journey ahead of us, and there is no one I would more confidently hand the role to. I am not going far. I remain on the Board with more than 10 per cent of the company. I am moving my executive focus, not my belief.
After the quarter, the Board convened an EGM on 7 August. The main item is a warrant programme for the incoming CEO. The Board considers alignment between the new CEO and shareholders to be of utmost importance, and the programme is on market terms. The meeting will also consider a standard buyback mandate, following a change in Swedish law taking effect in December. This gives the Board the same flexibility most listed companies have.
Twenty-three years ago, Upsales was a desk and an idea. Today, it's a profitable, debt-free software company built without a single krona of external capital. I want to thank our shareholders for their support throughout every phase. Our customers, who challenge us to be better every day. And above all, the team at Upsales. You are the company. Building it alongside you has been the privilege of my career.
This is a great company, and it's in excellent hands.
Daniel