Comments to letter and peer update

Peer update - a good market and Crayon number 1

Since our last peer analysis 13.03.25. 4 peers have delivered Q4 figures including Bytes that also has shown figures including Jan/Feb 2025.

Tabel:

There are 3 interesting observations here;

1.  Q4 growth is healthy for most companies and results were better than expected (share price significant up)

2.  It confirms Crayons nr 1 position on organic growth last five years by far, and make SoftwareOne's organic growth and negative momentum look even worse

3.  Bytes figures, including 2 months with new Microsoft incentives do not show any deterioration of margins/profitability

Syvertsen and Rugseth letter - not very well written

Why such a letter now, 3 weeks into the bid period? Simply because shareholders do not sell 😃 which we understand very well.

We have 3 reflections on the letter;

1.  We still don't think Crayon have seen all the skeletons (in the closets) in SoftwareOne. Honestly, I don't think we have either.

2.  There is obviously industrial logic but both SoftwareOne (after a series of M&As) and Crayon (post Rhipe) have only diluted values post mergers - it's probably not "different this time"

3.  We disagree on the necessity of "going global". Our peer study tells us a different story - regional players with necessary capital discipline do better. Bytes, the UK player, is very strong on organic growth (nr. 2 after Crayon last five years), and very good on EBIT development (nr. 2 after Crayon last five years)

Walk away at once after deadline and focus on your organic growth path. You are more than big enough to be important for Microsoft and others.

Our target at 195 NOK/share is based on rather conservative growth 2025e (12% Hvaler vs guided 15-20% guiding). Now could be a decent buying opportunity?💪

Stay tuned,

 David and Sverre

Hvaler Invest AS
Lillestrøm, Norway
07.04.25

Disclaimer:
Hvaler Invest is a significant shareholder so you cannot trust us (or perhaps you can?)