Clients with budget approved are not placing the order

Two companies with almost nothing in common reported on the same day and described the same problem: projects that already have budget are not starting, and neither company says money is the reason.

The bottleneck is the call-off, not the contract

Pivotree (PVT) builds commerce and master-data systems for retail and consumer-goods firms. Multiconsult (MLTCY) provides engineering design and consulting for infrastructure and building projects in Norway and the Nordics. Their revenue models are the same shape: sign a framework agreement, wait for the client to release individual assignments, then staff them. That release step — the call-off — is the switch that turns a contract into revenue.

The switch has stopped turning, and where it has stopped is unusual. The contract exists, the budget exists, the people exist; only the decision is missing. Multiconsult states it plainly: the delays come from customer indecision and limited customer capacity to advance projects, not a lack of allocated funding. Pivotree adds a layer — clients worry that a solution committed to today will be obsoleted by the next generation of AI, so they wait.

A two-year-high pipeline against a 13.5% backlog decline

Pivotree recorded its strongest pipeline growth in two years this quarter, while cautioning that pipeline is only an early leading indicator and converts to revenue with no guarantee. Demand is accumulating on one side while conversion is blocked on the other, and near-term revenue moves accordingly.

Multiconsult's numbers show the structure more clearly. Order backlog fell 13.5% year over year, and the company explains that part of this is not lost demand at all: framework agreements are a growing share of the book, and they are not counted in backlog until a call-off arrives. The conventional backlog measure is systematically understating what these firms are holding. Meanwhile revenue growth lagged a 4% annual employee cost increase, and the billing ratio fell on delayed project starts, most visibly in Norway.

Weak demand and deferred decisions leave similar traces

Both leave the same marks on a P&L — slower revenue, pressured margins — and they mean opposite things. Weak demand means budgets were cut and recovery waits on the macro. Deferred decisions mean the budget is still there and recovery waits on clients gaining confidence in a technology path. Both companies point at the second, and neither company's coverage separates the two.

If the deferral really is driven by technology uncertainty, two things are worth watching: how long the divergence between pipeline and booked revenue persists, and whether the conversion rate from framework agreement to actual assignment recovers. Multiconsult's backlog definition is a reminder that using backlog to gauge these businesses reads too pessimistically when framework agreements are growing. One boundary matters: Pivotree names AI explicitly, Multiconsult names only customer indecision and capacity. The claim that AI is the cause rests on one company's own evidence.

Companies exposed to the same change

• Endava (DAVA): an enterprise digital-transformation services firm whose revenue also comes from discretionary, deferrable project spend. If the deferral is driven by technology uncertainty rather than budget cuts, its pipeline and revenue should diverge the same way.
• Grid Dynamics (GDYN): provides digital-transformation engineering to large enterprises, with revenue equally dependent on clients committing to a new technology approach — the same decision point.

Sources

[1] Drillr · Pivotree (PVT) · 2026-08-18 · earnings call

[2] Drillr · Multiconsult (MLTCY) · 2026-08-18 · earnings call

This is only meant to surface industry changes and companies that may have been overlooked - it is not a stock recommendation.