Anora Group Oyj ($ANORA)
Earnings Call Transcript · May 6, 2026
Earnings Call Speaker Segments
Milena Haeggstrom
ExecutivesOkay. So it's 11:00 a.m. So good morning, and a warm welcome to the presentation of Anora's Q1 results. My name is Milena Haeggstrom. I'm the Head of Investor Relations here at Anora. And our presenters today are our CEO, Kirsi Puntila; and CFO, Stein Eriksen. And after their presentations, we will start with the Q&A session. Please be reminded that you can also post questions through the chat throughout the call. And please note that this presentation will be recorded and published later today on our website, anora.com. And now, please, Kirsi, go ahead.
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesThank you, Milena. Good to see you all online. Yes, the first quarter is now under our belt, and we continue our determination to deliver the turnaround strategy called Fit, Fix and Focus. We will soon show you some more details on that, but we are very proud of the many results it has already brought us. Despite the hard balls that the unstable geopolitical environment is trying to throw at us left and right, we are very pleased to say that we are proceeding with our defined work streams, and we have shown agility to adjust to changing environment. Overall, if we look at the monopoly channels only, this was the 20th consecutive quarter of decline, but not as dramatic as before. And this means we need to run even faster to beat the trend and accelerate our strengths. So what is our biggest strength? It is the fact that we, Anora, are the strongest player in wine and spirits in the Nordics and the Baltic region. Our model, with a balanced portfolio of own and partner brands, together with this sort of a multichannel distribution machine, is something that we continue to believe in and seriously, in hard times like this, is now proving to be a winning model. And looking at our pipeline for future, both own innovations and partners, it is starting to show some results. And what makes me hopeful is that we no longer wait for the market to fix our problems. We are fixing them ourselves. Things will not be perfect overnight. So you need to be a little bit more patient with us. But looking at the areas where we have now improved already, I remain confident in our ability and confident in our people to turn around the company. Although the monopolies have been stretched lately, yes, it's not like the alcohol beverage business as a whole is dead, far from that. We see more exciting innovations and versatility of beverage offerings than probably ever before, and that is hugely inspiring. So I would summarize the quarter in 3 words: discipline, execution and progress. And the reason I remain so confident is that we have accomplished exactly what we promised in our Capital Markets Day in November, if you remember. Our #1 priority has been profitability, and we are now at historic high gross margin levels. We have shown disciplined cost and OpEx management throughout last year and now also in Q1. Our inventory levels have been reduced substantially, supporting strong cash flow generation. We successfully finalized the last bit of our ERP unification when Norway started using SAP in February. And the wine shares keep on growing in Sweden, further strengthening our #2 position in the Swedish monopoly market. And then, we're also launching new innovations in our core portfolio, which shows the strong brand equity of our own brands. Now I hear echoing somewhere. Maybe it's one of our teams. Good. Then, in the middle section, here, you see the areas that are so-called work in progress. Obviously, our FFF strategy work streams are very much on our agenda every single day. And together with the dedicated transformation officer, Mikkel Pilemand, who is in the E&P, he is pushing that we proceed with them as planned. And then, the new sales and marketing organization is shaping up and in action in all our operating markets. But what needs to be our priority moving forward then? The one area that we are still struggling with, like many of our peer companies, is the top line. We have strong plans towards the end of the year, but getting new launches and tender wins take a little bit longer time in the monopoly environment than it does in fully open markets. Simultaneously, we need to become better in winning market share, sure, which we already do in many products -- with many products in both beverage segments, but not in all of the big categories yet. And finally, as already mentioned, we ourselves have a strong belief in our current so-called dual model, which is to be the best Nordic and Baltic operator in both wine and spirits and maximizing the addressable market with both own and partner brands. Luckily, many global partners already choose us when they want to seek growth in this area. So here, you can see then the Q1 numbers, which admittingly is a mixed bag. There is continued pressure on top line, but improvements underneath. Strong operational progress despite market and top line headwinds. So net sales came down by 4%, equaling EUR 135.8 billion (sic) [ EUR 135.8 million ]. And why was that? It was due to 3 things: lower wine campaigns -- lower campaigns and volumes in Denmark, which should be mitigated now in May, so it's more of a phasing thing; but then, earlier losses in filler volumes; and then portfolio changes in spirits last year, which we have been talking about here as well, and they are burdening us still for a while. But what we are pleased with is, of course, the earnings improvement. Gross margin improved again in both Wine and Spirits segments. In Q1, Wine reached 31.2% of net sales, and Spirits, a remarkable 47.5% of net sales. And then, the comparable EBITDA. If you look at what we have promised, we overdid it. We improved by 10%, EBITDA being at EUR 8.8 million. And then, the leverage was lower than last year at 2.1x. It is important to note that the cash flow is also supporting the good development. We ended the quarter with improved cash flow, leading to a very healthy financial position with net debt being EUR 150.4 million. So while the top line is under pressure, the business is clearly becoming more efficient and more profitable. And when looking ahead at our guidance for this year, our comparable EBITDA is still expected to be within the range of EUR 74 million to EUR 79 million. So, no changes there. Let's then look at some highlights for us in Q1. The first on the left is our continued wine market share gains in Sweden. It is really a good signal and shows that our portfolio is working. On top of that, our partner wine team, they've been very busy and active this season in all European wine fairs, and we, of course, hope to get some new partners on board soon. Secondly, in the middle section [ of the year ] is our strongest growing spirits category, liqueurs, which is growing double digit. We have some exciting novelties such as a brand called BuzzBallz, which is coming from our big global spirits partner, Sazerac. It is a worldwide success amongst younger consumers. And then, our own -- very own innovation, a new brand called F.FWD Fast Forward, which is an energy drink that combines caffeine and 4.5% of alcohol. With F.FWD Fast Forward, we've launched 3 variants: which are called Lemon Lover, it's sugar-free; Berry Bliss, also sugar-free; and Mango Mayhem. And the third highlight of the quarter is that we announced in March that we will outsource our logistics operations in Sweden in Brunna. And we signed a contract with a third-party logistics operator called Nowaste. This is, in fact, very much according to our strategy of focusing on our core business. I will then finish off by elaborating further on each of our segment performances. So let's start with the Wines. Here, total net sales declined to EUR 57.6 million, which is down by 11%. And the key reason for that was, as mentioned, lower campaign volumes in Denmark, lower filler volumes from before and softer demand in the Finnish monopoly. But what matters more is the profitability improvement. Comparable EBITDA improved to EUR 1 million. Comparable EBITDA margin improved to 1.7% of net sales, and gross margin was 31.2% of net sales. So this improvement is directly coming from our Fit, Fix and Focus actions. We continued to strengthen our #2 position in Sweden, and we also maintained our total market leadership in Norway, Finland and Denmark, even including the grocery trade. So top line pressures, yes, but structurally improving profitability, absolutely. Next, then, let's go to the Spirits. In the Spirits segment, net sales declined to EUR 42 million in Q1, which is down by 6%. And this is largely explained by earlier partner losses in 2025, which we have talked about before. And then, there were some softness in the monopoly channels in Q1. But again, as with Wines, looking below the surface, we have a lot of positives. Gross margin improved to 47.5% and the gross profit amounted EUR 19.9 million. So the mix effect and pricing were clearly improving. And looking at individual markets, the Baltics is doing really well and growing strongly. So the Spirits comparable EBITDA came down to EUR 6.1 million from EUR 7.2 million, mainly due to this volume decline. To sum up the Spirits segment, we're still working through portfolio changes, but the underlying profitability quality is improving. And then finally, let's look at the Industrial. With Industrial, our story is a bit different, and it's a positive one where the arrows are moving to the right direction, i.e., upwards. So external net sales increased nearly 15% to EUR 36.2 million, while the total net sales amounted to EUR 51.9 million. And that growth was driven by contract manufacturing, ethanol and starch sales, as well as logistics services in Norway, that is Vectura. Comparable EBITDA improved slightly to EUR 3.3 million of net sales. And the Industrial gross margin increased to 55.8% of net sales in Q1, gross profit amounting to EUR 29 million. Unfortunately, before you ask, we do also see some higher energy costs, especially due to the past winter conditions and lately also due to higher fuel costs because of the crisis in Middle East. But overall, Industrial continues to be a stable part of our business, and we're very happy with the development in Q1. Yes, with this, I now give the word over to Stein, who is going a bit more detailed in the financial review.
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesThank you very much, and good morning, everyone. Let me then walk you through the financial performance for the first quarter of 2026. So this quarter reflects a combination of continued market headwinds, but also clear progress on areas within our control, particularly margin, cost and balance sheet strength. So then, we start with the key numbers. Net sales came in at EUR 135.8 million, down 4% year-on-year, driven by lower volumes in both Wine and [Technical Difficulty]
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesYes, we are noticing the same, Sanna. So I think Stein is so excited about his numbers that he is pressing wrong buttons here now. Do we hear him now?
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesSorry about that, guys. And I was [indiscernible] out. Yes. Thank you. So yes, let's go straight to the Q1 numbers. Net sales came in at EUR 135 million, down 4% year-on-year. It was driven by lower volumes in both Wine and Spirits. Despite this, profitability improved. Comparable EBITDA increased to EUR 8.8 million and EBITDA margin to 6.5%. And this was driven by improvements in the Wine segment and also impact of our Fit, Fix and Focus program. Gross margin continued to strengthen, up 70 basis points, supported by both better price and mix, as well as a more stable cost environment in the quarter. From a balance sheet perspective, net interest-bearing debt decreased to EUR 150 million, and our leverage improved to 2.1 from 3.1 last year. And importantly, we continued to see strong progress in working capital and especially in the inventory that was reduced to EUR 129 million. That was down EUR 29 million compared to last year and with positive contributions from all segments. So despite the weaker top line, we are strengthening both profitability and the financial position of the group. Let's then move into looking at the net sales development. So like I said, net sales were down with 4%. And if we move a little bit more into the segments, in Wine, we had continued lower filler services volumes, combined with somewhat lower campaign volumes in Denmark, as well as softer demand in Finland. In Spirits, the main driver remains the early partner portfolio changes still impacting the first half of 2026. And on the positive side, Industrial continues to perform well, where external growth were close to 15%, driven by increased volumes in contract manufacturing, ethanol, starch, as well as logistics services in Norway. So, top line remains under pressure. However, when looking at gross margins, we continue to see clear progress. And I think gross margin is a key highlight this quarter where the reported gross margin was up with 70 basis points, but where the underlying gross margin was up by 180 basis points, ending at 46.6%. And the key drivers here are very clear. First, like I said, the input cost did stabilize in Q1 2026. Second, we have significantly improved our revenue management, as well as mix management. And third, we are seeing better efficiency, particularly in Industrial. And I think also importantly, this is not cyclical. This is structural improvement driven by our actions, and we are now moving back towards more attractive historical margin levels. And this margin improvement is directly then flowing through to our comparable EBITDA. So comparable EBITDA increased by close to 10% year-on-year. And the key message here is simple: we are expanding profitability despite declining net sales. And looking by segment, Wine is improving, driven by cost actions and impacts of the FFF program. Spirits is down mainly due to lower volumes. And Industrial is stable, although impacted partly by higher energy and transportation costs. However, the Fit, Fix and Focus program is now clearly delivering, and we see tangible savings, both in operating and personnel expenses. Then let's move over to another highlight I believe it is in the quarter, namely the cash flow and net debt. As expected, Q1 is seasonally weak from a cash flow perspective, and operating cash flow in the quarter was negative with EUR 34 million, mainly then due to payment of excise tax payments following the Q4. However, the underlying development compared to previous year is positive, where we see strong contribution from working capital, which is, of course, partly affected by timing of Easter with higher excise tax duties and sales receivable compared to previous year, however, also good underlying improvement in working capital, and I'll come back to it later. Net debt has decreased significantly compared to last year, and that leads us then naturally to look at Anora's overall financial position. Like I said, operational cash flow improved with SEK 41 million compared to the previous year, and our financial position remains strong, where liquidity reserves, as you can see, are solid, giving us flexibility, both operationally and strategically. Net debt is down, and leverage has improved to 2.1, and this is a meaningful step towards our target of being below 2.5. So overall, we are strengthening our balance sheet. We are reducing our financial risk and increasing resilience in a challenging market. Let's then take a closer look at working capital, which is a key part of this. We mentioned it in the Capital Markets Day, and of course, we are mentioning it now. Working capital continues to be a major focus area, and we have now reached a negative working capital of around 7% of net sales, which reflects the significant inventory reduction, supported by broad-based improvements across all segments and stronger operational discipline. Over the years, and if you look back to the earlier quarterly reports, you will notice that we have reduced the inventory substantially, and we're now operating at much more efficient level, and this is a key enabler for both cash generation and balance sheet strength. And of course, as a CFO, we are never 100% happy, but at least I can say we are definitely moving into the right direction. So with that, Kirsi, I give the word back to you for some outlook and some final remarks.
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesI'm still muted. Thank you. Thank you, Stein. Thank very much. So we can now go -- I'll go through the financial targets, which do remain unchanged, if you remember this slide from our Capital Markets Day. We've filled some more information there. So we are targeting at 6% to 7% annual EBITDA growth, first and foremost. We are also looking at organic growth above the market. We will begin reporting this figure as of this quarter, which is in line with our midterm strategy. So market growth here is measured from the Nordic market sales volume change. So here, you can see the organic growth for Q1, which was unfortunately minus 5.5%, whereas the market was down by 1%, and the leverage being below 2.5. Dividend payout ambition stays at 50% to 70%. And for 2026, we guide comparable EBITDA to be between -- from EUR 74 million to EUR 79 million. Let me then wrap up Q1 in a simple way. The first positive effects of the FFF actions are now visible in Q1, especially looking at the comparable EBITDA. Comparable EBITDA was up by 10%, reaching EUR 8.8 million. Comparable EBITDA margin improved to 6.5%, and our gross margin rose to 47.5% of net sales. Net sales, however, declined to EUR 135.8 million, which is down by 4%. And this decline was due to, as mentioned a couple of times, wine campaign volumes in Denmark, together with the earlier lost volumes in the filler services and then changes in spirits partner portfolio stemming from 2025, and that's still affecting the first half of 2026. However, cash flow was very strong, and the balance sheet was clearly stronger, leverage now at 2.1. So the key takeaway from the first quarter of the year is that we are improving profitability and financial position despite a weak market, exactly as we set out to do. So looking ahead, we still expect the following outlook for 2026. There is some continued structural pressure on alcohol consumption in general, and there are volume pressures across our operating markets. But on our side, we continue executing on Fit, Fix and Focus. In fact, I'm very pleased with our progress in that. We are improving margins and the overall cost base, and we are increasingly focusing on growth, as we said that we will do at the back end of the Fit and Fix that we need to do first. So our guidance remains unchanged, comparable EBITDA of EUR 74 million to EUR 79 million in '26. So overall, yes, there is still a challenging market for sure, but we are building a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Anora. And with that, I guess, I hand over back to Milena and any possible questions that we may have.
Milena Haeggstrom
ExecutivesThank you, Kirsi and Stein. So let's open up for questions. And please be reminded that you can post questions through the chat, but we also now have 2 live questions. So let's go with Maria Wikstrom first from SEB.
Maria Wikstrom
AnalystsI had 3 questions, which -- first one is on the Swedish wine market. As I think -- I mean, you said many times that, I mean, this is a market where you want to win. So if you could describe your performance, I mean, compared to the Swedish wine market growth over the Q1 and a bit on the actions that you are currently making in the Swedish wine market to increase your share, please?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesOkay. We can start with that, Maria. And I think as you've seen now, we continue to gain market share from our competition in Sweden. And I think we did some very successful launches last year. And looking at the pipeline this year, we continue to do that. So basically, the key element of the Swedish wine success now is that we have been successfully able to utilize the so-called Danish Koge or, as we call, Globus Wine model and introducing our own wines into the Swedish market, and we see that continuing to happen. And it's still -- I think the opportunity is even bigger there. It's not that we are in every single segment just yet. So we hope that the development will continue very positively with our current and new launches that we have in the pipeline now.
Maria Wikstrom
AnalystsOkay. Then this is more just like a household question that the organic sales growth, I mean, what you reported 5 -- or negative 5.5%. I mean, this is, I think, on comparable FX rates, right? Or what is the definition?
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesIt's correct, Maria, so it's including -- as you can see, our reported net sales decline is 4%, but then we have positive currency translation effects of 1.5%.
Maria Wikstrom
AnalystsYes. Perfect. So that's what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure. And then thirdly, whether you have any updates on the Finnish government process of possibly [ deliberating ] the alcohol legislation and allowing wines to grocery stores. If you have heard anything, I mean, where is that process going on currently or if there is any progress?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesYes, we have heard as much as I guess everybody has heard. I think the government has -- I don't know if there's even an official statement out there, but they basically say that they will not proceed towards the end of their -- I mean, the parties in the government at the moment are not proceeding. So they are keeping it as is. And then, I think it's then up to the next government to take a viewpoint on that. But right now, there's nothing coming. I mean, the only area where the government has mentioned that they are working on this spring is not the liberalization, but reviewing of the marketing regulations, but not the actual grocery law. That won't change as far as we have been told.
Milena Haeggstrom
ExecutivesAnd then, we have a question from Sanna Perala from Nordea.
Sanna Perälä
AnalystsI have a couple of questions, starting off with the Wine segment and the lower sales in Q1. I understood that the lower campaigning was kind of a one-off impact. So can you quantify how much of that minus 11% was due to this impact?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesDo you want to...
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesYes, I guess -- sorry, I just -- when it comes to -- like we said, the filler business explains around 40% of the decline in Wine, Sanna. And then, I would say the rest is related to partly then the lower campaign volumes, especially in Denmark. And then, also, I think also it's fair to say, as you probably know, we are the market leader in American wines in Denmark. And there, we see, I would say, also a decline in our sales. So I guess, the rest is divided between lower campaign volumes and also lower sales of American wines, especially in Denmark.
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesAs you can imagine, the Danes are not the biggest fans of American products at the moment, thanks to all the discussions about Greenland and all that. But it still doesn't mean that we don't do things to mitigate that, obviously. I mean, we have worked tirelessly, obviously, with minimizing the impact of the American wines. And we are, as we speak, looking for obviously other origins. But maybe to be transparent, I think, we have contracts. And obviously, then we have stock. And then, of course, we are also bound to some American wines for a while, but, of course, that will change in future, but it will take some more time.
Sanna Perälä
AnalystsThat was very clear. Then, continuing on wines, at least in my local supermarket, I have seen that the wine shelf seems to be a little bit smaller and partially replaced by, I don't know, cider and other nonalcoholic products. So what I'm asking is, are you seeing any adjustment in trends in the grocery channel after the initial excitement of this launch?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesYes, I think it's a super good question, Sanna. And I think maybe I'm not the best of the best person to answer you everything correctly. I see similar phenomenon in my stores, but the total shelf space in grocery is actually growing. And I think it may depend a little bit on the geographics, where you are, where in Finland are you, whether it is a wines or the so-called ready-to-drinks and canned products. Luckily, we have a very vast portfolio already in the grocery channel also outside the wines. So not only do we have the 8% wines, but we have more and more of these ready-to-drink canned products, which are spirits-based products in the Finnish grocery. But the fact of the matter is that, sure, there is more competition now in the wine segment, which obviously we were by far the quickest to enter this channel, and we're a market leader. And then, of course, the competition is now hitting us back. And that's, of course, just natural when you are [ deliberating ] the channel. So -- but we're ready. As I said, we have the pipeline filled with not only wines, but also other spirits-based and wine-based RTDs.
Sanna Perälä
AnalystsGreat. Then, on the lost partner and filler service volumes, which you mentioned are weighing on H1, what kind of mix impact between the stabilizing volumes in H2 versus the margin -- lower margin of that business should we expect to see kind of H1 versus H2, if you understand what I mean?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesStein, do you want to take that?
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesYes, I believe it's a twofold question. So what I can say, Sanna, when it comes to the lost fillers and the lost partner business, that impacts the top line quite significantly in Q1. In Q2, you can expect half of the decline that we had in Q1. And in Q3, it's half of the decline that you have in Q2, if you understand, and then we should have 0 impact in Q4 from the lost partner and the filler business. When it comes to the gross margin improvement, the one I talked about with 180 basis point improvement, I think, like I said, that's a three-folded improvement. First of all, we have better operations in Industrial. That's around 1/3 of the 180 basis points. 1/3 is related to better revenue management. And the last 1/3 is related to positive mix effects, mainly related, I would say, to the lost filler and lost partner business because there, we have lower margins. So I don't know if that exactly answered your question, but I guess, you get some idea of [ what I'm ] talking about.
Sanna Perälä
AnalystsYes, for sure. That's a great clarifying answer. Then, moving on to the guidance finally. You saw a 10% EBITDA improvement in Q1. Is this run rate sustainable going forward? And I'm looking at this from the sense of -- from the point of view of tougher comparisons in the coming quarters.
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesIf I start, and then, Stein, feel free to jump in. One has to remember that Q1 is only 10% of our total yearly sales. But the fact of the matter is that, of course, this year, Easter happened to happen in March. Last year, it was in April. So then, of course, what we do internally here, we usually combine March and April before we analyze anything, and the same with June and July. So of course, the summer months as well as the Easter months are quite important. So, of course, the 10% includes then the Easter effect. Having said that, and this especially, I think, in Norway was quite visible that the Easter impact was quite big, whereas I think in Finland, for example, the Easter seems to be less and less prominent for the Finns. I hear that the Norwegians are taking a bloody 10-day holiday around the Easter. So there clearly, the Easter impact is bigger and probably continue to be so, good for you guys in Norway, whereas we are working [indiscernible] also during the Easter, sorry, [ joking aside ]. But of course, there is the Easter impact, which then will be not in Q2. But what -- where the confidence is stemming from is that we see the impact of Fit, Fix and Focus now delivering what we have promised to deliver. And on top of that, there are strong plans towards the end of the year. So there's nothing that would stop us being positive and determined in our guided level this year.
Milena Haeggstrom
Executives[Operator Instructions] And I see that we have also one question in the chat, but maybe we will continue with the live questions first and take the chat questions afterwards. So we have a question from Matti Kaurola from OP.
Matti Kaurola
AnalystsCould you a little bit open up the Spirits segment sales decline? So what we should -- maybe you answered it already and I missed it, but if you could just repeat like the -- what we should expect on this lost kind of partner sales decline for Q2, Q3? Or is it like similar size that we saw in Q1? Or could you just remind us?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesYes. First of all, I think the Spirits decline is pretty much all about the partner losses, but I think -- 90%. But Stein, actually, do you want to repeat what -- he just explained it 5 minutes ago. So maybe you want to say that again, so how much there is now in the Q2, Q3.
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesYes. So around 90% of the decline in Q1 is related to the partner losses. But of course, in Q2, then we will see around half of the effect in -- also in Spirits of what we saw in Q1. And then in Q3, it's half of the losses that we had in -- that we will see in Q2, if you understand. So it will eventually smoothen out, but we will also have some negative effects in Q2, but it should be around half of what we saw in Q1. And like I said, 90% of the decline in Spirits in Q1 was related to the lost partners. I hope that answered the question.
Matti Kaurola
AnalystsYes. Thank you for the clarification. Then maybe the second one regarding the cost environment. So if we just look forward -- I think right now, you are in quite a good position when it comes to the kind of the crop from last year, but for the next year, I think it's going to hit harder. So what kind of mitigation plans do you have for that or any kind of energy like distribution costs that would increase? Could you like -- how easily you could increase the prices, et cetera?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesYes. I don't know, maybe I'll start. Of course, I mean, like any industry who has anything to do with energy and like we do with our bottles and PET, the plastic bottles obviously use energy. So whether it's energy or transportation or anything else for that matter, of course, there's an impact for that, but that changes so much now. So that's difficult to say what exactly is the total impact of that. And of course, we're working on it every day. We have biweekly meetings internally where we are analyzing the possible impact of the energy or any of the Middle East crisis impact for us, for example. So it's quite difficult to say what -- where it ends up. But of course, like we're mitigating it by looking at different sources of our purchase partners, et cetera. So we're working on that. But we will need to come back to that later in the year when we see the real impact. And then, of course, as far as the pricing is concerned, I think we mentioned even last time that we are becoming more and more professional in our pricing mechanism and how we analyze the prices on our SKU levels. Of course, we're sort of -- we are the category captain in many of the categories, and we need to sort of -- but price is, of course, a key factor, what is in our control. But one needs to be careful with that as well because, of course, then increasing the prices very often leads to losses in market share. So we need to be balancing that out as well. But pricing is our key tool in terms of revenue management overall.
Matti Kaurola
AnalystsAll right. And maybe one more still about Denmark and the filler services there. I think it's been declining like -- now, I've been like following you like 5 quarters or something like that, and then it's been constantly decreasing. So where do you see it kind of bottoming out or kind of turning back to growth? What we should think about that?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesIf I would know that, I would not tell you, but -- I mean, we're working hard on that, of course. I think there's a lot of competition in Europe as far as the filler business is concerned, but I think we have put some more efforts on that as well. So we have a strong team in pushing to get more, also third-party business to our operations in the factory in Koge. But I don't know if there's anything you want to add, Stein. But when exactly is that going to turn around? We'll let you know.
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesWe're working on it, to put it like that.
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesWe're working on it.
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesBut the lost volumes, like I said earlier, that's starting to flatten out in Q3 and onwards.
Milena Haeggstrom
ExecutivesAnd we now have a couple of chat questions here. In the meantime, you can think of more live questions, but I will go through these now. So we have a first one coming from Maria Wikstrom. Do you think changing school holidays in Finland would be positive for you?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesYes. Well, I just saw it last night on the news that there's a discussion about extending the school holidays, whether it is then starting the Finnish school holidays in middle of June and then diminishing the total amount of holidays so that we would start then again mid-August. I mean, if we get international tourists, and so I would assume that is a positive thing, but I think -- I mean, we haven't really calculated that officially, Maria. So I don't know. I feel wrong to -- I'm in a wrong seat to say whether that's good or bad for us. It's usually that we don't recommend the school kids to drink alcohol. So maybe that's the official answer to that.
Milena Haeggstrom
ExecutivesThank you, Kirsi. And then, we have another question from Sanna Perala. What kind of initial feedback have you received for BuzzBallz and F.FWD Fast Forward?
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesSo building on my previous answer, I guess, this is obviously -- we are targeting younger generations, younger consumers with these 2 product variants. The BuzzBallz is crazy. I mean, the Baltics, I don't -- I actually don't have the numbers in front of me now, but how they are growing in the Baltics is crazy. So we're obviously looking forward to getting them into our other markets. So it seems to be -- I don't know, please go on Google. It's like a rounded shape sort type of a product, which seems to be very trending amongst the younger generation. So that's going really well. Then F.FWD Fast Forward, a bit too early to say because what we're doing now, it's been just distribution buildup now. And then, depending on how the sun is shining and how warm the summer is, we'll see how the F.FWD Fast Forward is developing. But as far as the liquid quality is concerned, I've only heard positives about that. But I don't have any facts to support that just yet.
Milena Haeggstrom
ExecutivesThank you, Kirsi. We don't have any more chat questions at the moment. Do we have more live questions? Please mark that by raising your hand. It seems that we don't have any more questions. So thank you to the speakers and for everyone joining us today and for all the good questions. And our next scheduled events are here. So they are -- tomorrow, actually, we are going to have a site visit together with OP at Rajamaki. And then, we have our half 1 interim report -- half year report on the 14th of August. So until then, I wish you all a pleasant rest of the week, and of course, happy holidays as well. Thank you.
Stein Eriksen
ExecutivesThank you.
Kirsi Puntila
ExecutivesThank you.
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