Fourlis Holdings S.A. (2FH.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I'm Constantino, your Chorus Call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Fourlis Group conference call and webcast to present and discuss the first half 2025 financial results. We have with us today Mr. Vasileios Fourlis, Chairman; Mr. John Vasilakos, CEO; Ms. Tessie Latsou, Finance Director; and Ms. Elena Pappa, Investor Relations and Corporate Affairs Director. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to management. You may now proceed.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the presentation of our first half 2025 results. This is a special call for us as it is the first results presentation with our new CEO, Mr. John Vasilakos, who joined the group on July 1. On behalf of the Board, I warmly welcome John and wish him every success in his new role. First half 2025 revenue growth with accelerating momentum, stronger gross margins and improved net profit. The first half of 2025 was a period of important progress for Fourlis Group. We delivered revenue growth with accelerating momentum, stronger gross margins and improved net profitability compared to last year. We successfully completed the deconsolidation of Trade Estates, a key structural step that enhanced our financial flexibility and allows us to sharpen our focus on our core retail operations. We also enhanced shareholder returns through a higher dividend and the cancellation of treasury shares. Strong Q2 and Q3 trading trends reinforce confidence in achieving 2025 target. We continue to execute our strategy with discipline and consistency, investing in our growth. The strong trading trends in Q2 and Q3 give us confidence in delivering our 2025 objectives. Let me walk you through some of the major milestones and initiatives that shaped the first half of 2025 across our business units. In IKEA, we continued our strategic network expansion. Following the new store in Patras in October 2025, we opened a new IKEA store in Heraklion, Crete in April 2025, further strengthening our presence in Greece. We launched a new Plan & Order studio in Pernik, Bulgaria, enhancing our accessibility and service offering. We remain on track for the flagship IKEA in Hellinikon set for 2028 and are also preparing for the rollout of new generation urban IKEA formats that will bring the brand closer to consumers in city centers. In Sporting Goods, in April, we finalized the acquisition of Foot Locker operations in Greece and Romania, adding 6 stores in the Greek e-commerce channel. Since then, we have already opened 2 additional stores. This builds on the 3 Foot Locker stores launched in Bulgaria in late 2024, reinforcing our exclusive rights to develop the brand across 8 Southeast European countries. INTERSPORT expanded with 6 new stores in the first half, 3 in Greece and 3 in Romania, and we completed the full renovation of the Mall Vitan store in Bucharest. A highlight was the global debut of INTERSPORT Football Club in Athens, a 1,200 square meters flagship dedicated entirely to football. The second store will open in Thessaloniki in September 2025 with further rollouts planned from 2026 onwards. In Health & Wellness, Holland & Barrett now operates 11 stores with strong consumer response and high loyalty rates. In logistics, we expect the full operation of Inter IKEA's 46th International DC spanning 50,000 square meters around mid-2026. This partnership with Inter IKEA will strengthen Fourlis Group position as a strategic supply chain partner for the region, supporting supply chain operations across the Eastern Mediterranean. The successful deconsolidation of Trade Estates was a major milestone this year, further simplifying our structure and allowing us to focus on driving value from our core retail businesses. In February 2025, we completed a private placement of 16% of Trade Estates share capital, which generated EUR 29 million in proceeds. This transaction played an important role in deleveraging the balance sheet of our retail business. Following the transaction, Fourlis Group retains a 47% stake in Trade Estates and will remain a significant shareholder, supporting Trade Estates continued growth and development. In our full year 2025 financial statements, Trade Estates is still consolidated as a subsidiary and is presented as a discontinued activity. Starting from 2025, however, Trade Estates is consolidated as an associate company using the equity method of accounting. This move is fully aligned with our strategy to focus on our core retail businesses while maintaining upside exposure to Trade Estates value creation as a separate growing listed entity. Thank you for your attention. And I now pass the floor to our new CEO, Mr. John Vasilakos.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for participating in the presentation of our Half 1 2025 results. I'm honored to be here and represent Fourlis Group in the position of the CEO. Let's start wrapping up of what Mr. Vasileios Fourlis described, and let's outline what Fourlis Group looks like today. We are a focused retail-driven group operating across 3 core business pillars: Home Furnishing through our IKEA operations, where we continue to strengthen our presence through expansion and market share gains. Sporting Goods, which now includes both INTERSPORT and our newly established Foot Locker partnership, a significant development that broadens our offering, our customer reach and our geographical footprint. And of course, Health & Wellness, which is a sector we believe has significant growth potential, and we remain committed to establishing a successful and profitable structure going forward. Alongside our retail business, we have, as already described, Trade Logistics, our in-house supply chain platform. It is a key enabler, of course, of our retail operations and is going to evolve to a profit center, offering third-party logistics services and of course, unlocking operational efficiencies across the group. And finally, the Group participations. After the private placement, we maintain a strategic participation in real estate investments through our 47% stake in Trade Estates. While no longer consolidated in our subsidiary, Trade Estates continues to represent an important value component within our portfolio, and it will contribute in the Group through its high dividend payout and of course, its strong profitability. And last but not least, our participation of 50% in Bulgaria largest commercial mall, South Sofia Ring Mall that we will for speed reason, we will call it SSRM in the following slides of the presentation. But now let's turn to our financial performance for Half 1 2025. The figures we will discuss here reflect the performance of our core retail business following the consolidation of Trade Estates in February 2025. From that point, that is end of January, February 2025 and onwards, Trade Estates is consolidated as an associate under the equity method, contributed EUR 5.7 million to half 1 2025 results. Now turning to the numbers. Revenues reached EUR 264 million, that is up 7.7% compared to the first half of 2024, with momentum accelerated in Q3 to 13% from 1.7% in Q1, supported by accelerating growth in both IKEA and Sporting Goods. Gross profit grew by 11.1%, reaching EUR 126.4 million with the gross margin improving to 47.9% from 46.4% last year, reflecting supply chain efficiencies, improved product mix and lower cost of goods due to higher purchases this year and a good closing end of last year. EBIT came at EUR 6 million compared to EUR 8.4 million in the prior year, but this is mainly due to the phasing of expenses and investments early in the year, which are in line, of course, with our initial budget. We expect this to normalize in the second part of the year. And I have to point one more that this was already budgeted in the full year budget. Profit after tax stood at EUR 1.9 million versus a loss of EUR 0.8 million last year. Net profit attributable to shareholders increased to EUR 9 million, up 24.8% from EUR 7.2 million in half 1 2024. And this, of course, includes a EUR 6.3 million gain from the sale of the group's participation in Trade Estates. Turning to the third quarter. Trading has continued on a strong trajectory, building on the improvement we saw in Q2. Group sales are up 17% in Q3 year-on-year and up to date. And when I say up to date, I mean including July and August and we grow faster than the market. This number is impressive and the breakdown, we will see it later on. In Home Furnishing, sales are up 10% in Q3, reflecting solid customer demand, market share gains and operational normalization after the slow start at the beginning of the year, mainly due to the after effect of the cyber incident. In Sporting Goods market, sales are up 32% in Q3, supported by higher traffic and rich product offering, stronger brand partnerships and the contribution from network expansion in both INTERSPORT and Foot Locker. Overall performance so far in Q3 is fully in line with our expectations. And if we want to break it down more, at least in Sporting Goods, INTERSPORT is performing in the 2 months of Q3 at a pace of 17% versus last year, and the rest growth is coming, of course, from Foot Locker that it's not on -- it's a new turnover. And of course, it is not -- has nothing to do with like-for-like sales. Let's go to the next slide. Let me now explain our EBITDA metrics. Starting from Q1 2025, we are presenting EBITDA adjusted as an additional profitability measure. And we also provide you with the formula that led to EBITDA adjusted derived from the reported EBIT. The reason we start using EBITDA adjusted, we have already explained is straightforward. It gives a clearer view of our underlying operational performance by reinstating lease expenses into the calculation, thus giving a realistic picture of our cost structure. And you know that leases are very important in retail business. This is also the metric we use internally to manage performance and track progress against our full year guidance. In the appendix of the presentation, you will find the same analysis per business unit. Turning to some elements regarding cash flow and balance sheet. We continue to fund our expansion, maintain a solid and flexible balance sheet, and we enhanced the EPS of our shareholders through dividends and the cancellation of treasury shares. In July 2025, we paid a dividend of EUR 0.15 per share for full year 2024. That is a 25% increase compared to the prior year and equivalent to a payout ratio of approximately 38%. In August 2025, we also canceled 2.6 million treasury shares, equal to 4.9% of our share capital, further increasing earnings per share. At the same time, we invested almost EUR 13 million in CapEx, EUR 12.9 million during the first half, of which EUR 3.4 million related to maintenance, EUR 2 million related to our digital transformation and EUR 7.5 million to expansion projects, primarily supporting the store network development of IKEA, INTERSPORT and Foot Locker. Our net debt declined to EUR 87.6 million at the end of half 1 2025 from EUR 95.2 million a year earlier. I would like to highlight that the group is firmly on track to achieve the goals that we have set for 2025. The strong momentum we have seen in Q2 and as already explained and you have seen for the Q3 year-to-date, so far confirms that our strategy is delivering results. In other words, and as such, we reiterate our full year 2025 guidance, and we expect revenues to grow about 13%, at least I can say, to reach around EUR 60 million -- EUR 600 million and adjusted EBITDA to increase by 20% and reach around EUR 38 million end of year. In addition, our participation in Trade Estates and the South Sofia Ring Mall, SSRM continued to represent significant value with estimated NAV of EUR 330 million and EUR 70 million, respectively, by end of the year. And that is with that results in a group basis, we will move to the analysis of our business units. Elena?

Thank you very much. Let's start with the performance and strategic developments in our Home Furnishing segment, IKEA. We have made very good progress in expanding and optimizing our IKEA network across the region. In April of '25, we opened the new IKEA store in Heraklion, Crete, the seventh large-format store in Greece, located in Trade Estates Top Parks, Heraklion, the 10,000 square meter store replaces the former pickup and order point, now offering a fully integrated IKEA experience with over 6,000 ready-to-purchase products, full assortment ordering and services such as planning, delivery and installation. It also features the Swedish deli restaurants and incorporates sustainability solutions, including rooftop solar panels and EV charging stations. The store in Heraklion follows the opening of the 7,000 square meter IKEA store in Patras that opened in October of '24. Again, this is part of the Trade Estate Top Parks concept, bringing a greater reach and accessibility to the region. In Bulgaria, we expanded through a new format with the launch of a 500 square meter Plan & Order studio in Pernik, dedicated kitchen, wardrobe and bathroom solutions, offering consultation, installation and ordering services. Looking ahead, the IKEA flagship store in Hellinikon remains on track for opening in '28 as part of Greece's largest mixed-use development. Finally, we are preparing the rollout within '26 of new generation IKEA stores, compact 2,000 square meter urban formats designed to bring the full IKEA product range and convenience closer to city centers. Turning to the financial performance of our Home Furnishings business in the first half of 2025. IKEA continues to be one of the best-performing regions within the Inter IKEA Group. maintaining a leading market position across our countries of operation. Revenues reached EUR 166.7 million, up 3.9% versus half 1 of '24. Sales showed a clear acceleration during the semester, performing faster than the market with Q2 up 8.1% year-on-year following a modest start in Q1. Gross profit increased by 7.2% to EUR 79.6 billion, with the gross margin rising from 46.3% to 47.7%, reflecting continued supply chain efficiencies and a favorable product mix. EBIT declined to EUR 8.3 million compared to EUR 11.6 million in the first half of '24, mainly due to the phasing of operating expenses within the year and higher upfront investments in the first half. These investments were designed to support continued future growth and are in line with the budget. Profitability is expected to normalize over the second half, and we remain confident in delivering full year EBIT objectives. In our Sporting Goods business, we continue to build a leading multi-brand platform across the region. A key milestone in April of '25 was the completion of the acquisition of Foot Locker operations in Greece and Romania, which added 6 stores and the e-commerce channel in Greece to our portfolio. Since then, we have further expanded the network with two additional store openings, one in Larissa in Greece and one in Iasi Moldova Mall in Romania. This builds on the successful introduction of Foot Locker in Bulgaria in late '24 with 3 stores in top-tier retail destinations. Partnership with Foot Locker significantly broadens our sportswear offering, strengthens our geographical presence and enable us to capture a younger trend-driven customer base in Southeastern Europe. Alongside the launch of Foot Locker, we continue to strengthen our position in the sports performance specialist INTERSPORT. In the first half of '25, INTERSPORT expanded with 6 new store openings, 3 in Greece, including the Football Club store in Renti, 1 in Ioannina and in 1 in Heraklion, Crete and 3 in Romania. We also completed the full renovation of the Mall Vitan store in Bucharest, enhancing the shopping experience in a key location. A major highlight was the global launch of the first INTERSPORT Football Club in Athens in March, a 1,200 square meter flagship store entirely dedicated to Football culture, product innovation and immersive customer experience. Building on this success, a second store will open in Thessaloniki in September of '25 this month with further rollouts in Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria planned for '26. Moving to the key financial figures of our Sporting Goods segment. Revenues grew by 14.9% year-on-year, reaching EUR 95.9 million with strong acceleration in Q2 of plus 22.1% year-on-year after a solid Q1 that showed a 6.1% growth. Growth was supported by the enriched product offering, network expansion, higher customer traffic, resilient demand and strengthened brand partnerships. Our gross profit margin improved to 48.1%, up from 46.4% last year, reflecting optimized inventory management, a favorable product mix, lower cost of goods due to higher purchases and the synergies arising from the enlarged platform combining INTERSPORT and Foot Locker. As a result, EBIT increased significantly to EUR 1.8 million compared to EUR 0.4 million in the first half of '24, with the EBIT margin improving to 1.9% from 0.4%. Moving into the Health & Wellness business unit, Holland & Barrett. We now operate 11 stores across the country, complemented by a fully operational e-commerce channel. Customer loyalty is high at 60%, reflecting the relevance of our Health & Wellness proposition. We are taking targeted actions to further increase brand awareness, while at the same time, we are actively evaluating our stores and channel mix, aiming to move towards profitability. In terms of the financial performance of our Health & Wellness business unit, revenues reached EUR 1.5 million in the first half of '25, up nearly 60% year-on-year, driven by customer loyalty and high conversion rates. More than half of the sales now come from loyalty members. Holland & Barrett also received the Gold Award for its Rewards for Life loyalty program, a further recognition of the deep trust we are building with our customers. Like-for-like store sales grew above 25%. Gross profit margin remained stable at 51.3%, highlighting a favorable product mix. E-commerce continues to show a dynamic presence, accounting for 15% of total Health & Wellness sales with particularly high penetration outside office. Operating loss stood at EUR 1.2 million, in line with our investment phase as we continue expanding the network and infrastructure. With that, we'll now conclude our review, and we can now move to your questions. We are at your disposal. We will first take questions -- audio questions, and then we will turn to the written Q&A, the online questions.

The first question comes from the line of Draziotis, Stamatios with Eurobank Equities.

I have -- well, 3, if I may, please. Firstly, let me start with the cost side. So you mentioned the spike in costs at IKEA in Q2, about EUR 7 million, if I remember correctly. You mentioned this is a phasing issue. But could you just maybe elaborate a bit on what accounted for the bulk of the increase, for example, the extent to which this was due to opening costs associated with the new store? And maybe give us an idea about what sort of normalized cost inflation we should be anticipating in the second half? The second question would be regarding the EBITDA contribution from Foot Locker in the first half of the year. So taking it separately, cash after leases, so out of the EUR 4 million delivered by Sporting Goods in H1. And the third question, I think, you talked about how strong trading has been even on an underlying basis in the third quarter to date. I'm just wondering how are the comps in September? Was there anything extraordinary that creates a high base effect, let's say, for this September?

Let me address your questions. First of all, the extra cost that we saw because of timing beginning in the first half and is actually related to Heraklion store reopening of IKEA and some extra cost of some interventions that we did in Patras store in order to refit a little bit the mix and the customer joins inside and do some corrections, we will see later on are close to EUR 4.5 million max and include several costs that are directly related to the preopening of such a big store. So the timing plays a very important role. Such costs are preopening expenses, payroll, significantly big numbers of payroll of people hired quite early in order to be trained and be ready for the operation, higher third-party costs than expected and coming earlier and some middle and last mile costs higher than expected and budgeted for the first half. The store started with these costs budgeted in a different phase, and we do not expect, as we described, any inflation overall of cost in the second half. We actually -- we will see the normalization of these costs, and we will actually recover as far as cost is concerned, given on a full year basis. So it is timing and with -- over the year, things will normalize 100%. Seasonality of the store versus the cost created this pressure, early pre-expenses cost also. So it is a matter of timing, seasonality and will normalize. There were some ad hoc not expected for the first half intervention, say Patra store that started with a slower pace than expected, and it needed to do some corrections inside. These were also normalized given the recovery of the turnover of the store in the second half. And this is also part of the extra cost of the first half. And then we had some extra costs coming for remunerations and some internal restructuring that we did. Part of it we will see in half 2 as well, but it is fully budgeted. And the annualization effect of last year salary increases that we saw in half 1 and was not budgeted fully, and this was something that we will normalize again full year. So it is a matter of budgeting and timing and not [ Foot ] inflation over the year. So we will recover everything. Now regarding EBITDA contribution of Foot Locker, Foot Locker stores, if you remember, we have said that we will move faster, and we will open actually in full year '25 close to 20 stores, 19 stores, and we were expecting the numbers to be a little bit higher. We're going for 15 to 20 stores depending on the availability. And you know that the most important things in high-traffic stores like the Foot Locker stores that we're addressing high-traffic downtown areas availability of the property and attractiveness of the property is something very important. So we estimate with a minimum of 15 to try to go faster and most probably go to 17 end of the year. And we expect the sales to be a little bit lower than close to around EUR 30 million that we have estimated in the beginning. However, the effect of Foot Locker openings in our numbers regarding EBITDA and EBIT are very important because Foot Locker, as soon as you prepare the store and you close the hygiene -- hirings, trainings, stock and assortment, they have proved already that they move quite strongly. They perform quite well, and they contribute within EBIT margin, very close to a mature INTERSPORT store. So we are very happy with the performance, the bottom line of the business. I'm not sure if we will go to the -- in the initial 20 stores, we will try for it, but this is timing as well. We stay committed to the plan. It looks very promising, and we will go forward according to availability of properties, we will move fast to our next steps.

Got it. And the last question had to do with September, if there is anything creating a tough base effect for the Sporting Goods segment?

Okay. September, first of all, the numbers, you saw the numbers for July and August, very impressive ones. So we're getting significant market share, and we're getting significant market share both regarding -- as far as INTERSPORT is concerned. This 17% growth in 2 months is expected to continue in September as well. And we are quite fit and will perform. The market is growing in a single-digit number. Small stores across the country and across the region, I can say, are not performing. It is a game of big chains. And INTERSPORT is growing very fast, gaining market share, not only within the market, but also among chains. So we're very happy. Foot Locker, we're at the moment that we deploy the plan. And as we deploy the plan, it looks very promising, and we're getting share as well in the overall market, not only Sporting Goods, but sport equipment and sporting goods, but also sports style that actually Foot Locker is addressing with a bigger emphasis. And September, although it's too early to say because you know that the first half is always easier than the second half, it looks quite promising as well. So it looks that the Q3 is a strong performance. And we believe that along the Q4 that we expect to perform as well and anniversary itself also in numbers that relate to the slowdown coming from the incident end of year, it looks even more promising as far as versus last year is concerned. So overall, performance is strong. It's going to be even technically a stronger end of year. And that's why we say that we're confident that we will bring the number based on our guidance.

The next question comes from the line of Kourtesis, Iakovos with Piraeus Securities.

Again, on the increased costs we've noticed, especially on IKEA during the second quarter of the year. Does any part of the costs related to potential changes you've made related to the cyber attack you had at the end of the previous year? Is any part of these costs related to any investments?

That's a very good question. No, no investments because this have happened last year, but the annualization of some costs this year and the annualization also of some payroll costs, I said it before, of people related to security, related to payroll that has to do with security people is actually affecting this year. But as you can understand, we have given that this is here to stay, of course, there are optimization exercises regarding consumption as a service products that we will need to renegotiate because initially, you overbump in order to secure yourself. Now there is space for optimization. However, there is an annualization effect that it was not budgeted. And of course, we have done or have taken all the actions in order this annualization effect and payroll hit during first half to fit it properly in a full year basis by doing the correct things during the second half. So yes, there is some effect. But given that this effect is here to stay, we have already fitted in our plans for full year 2025.

And again, since you reiterated the guidance for the full year period with adjusted EBITDA of EUR 38 million, 20% up, which implies that in the second half of the year, you are going to bring EUR 29.3 million in terms of adjusted EBITDA. Is it -- you feel comfortable with this is what I want to understand.

This is a question that I answered the last 20 years in retail. This is typical omnichannel retail, meaning you work in the first half, in many cases, losing money which is not the case here. In my previous job, this was the case, and you're getting all the profits in the second or third -- in the second half or even the fourth quarter. This is typical retail. Yes, we feel -- it's not easy, but we feel confident. The top line is secured 120% because you see the growth and other things being equal and if something very extraordinary will happen in the market, it looks ultrasafe. Bottom line, we have taken all the actions regarding gross profit margin, which is producing the gross margin just a multiplication. So securing the gross profit margin percentage and handling very tight the OpEx part of the business, we feel confident that we will bring the EUR 38 million. So it's a mix of what we have to do in the second half, and we are prepared for it. We budgeted like this, and we will continue to go that way.

Okay. And last question from my side, sorry, about that many questions. How do you feel about the market in Romania and the recent VAT rate increases? Do you feel that this could present some risk on your business and which could affect demand in the second half of the remaining year and could drive you out of budget?

This is also a very good question. Romanian market is under pressure overall. It's not a matter only of VAT, which will affect, of course, the demand. There are many changes there, like, for example, the end of regulations around utilities and the cost of utilities in the country. And of course, there is politically -- political disruptions there. So there is pressure on footfall across the market. It's not only our industry, but it's across the market. And we have concerns around it. But the numbers for us, we have a long way to go there. First of all, we have to do things and we recover from -- we recover ourselves. So by gaining significant market share, at the moment, we are very close to flat versus last year, and we are gaining significant market share in a declining market. And we believe that there is space to even do it to go better. So yes, there is a concern in the market. The market is very fragile and the demand is significantly lower, translated to lower footfall in our stores. But we have enough space, both regarding performance, conversion, average retail price and of course, OpEx management in order to secure at least the bottom line that we asked the country this year until end of year. We actually monitor very closely the market, and we will have more news to discuss end of year, okay?

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further audio questions at this time. I will now pass the floor over to management for any written questions from our webcast participants. Thank you.

Yes. We have questions regarding both of them regarding like-for-like of businesses. Let me give you...

Let us read the questions first because they cannot read. Good afternoon, everyone. This is from Piraeus Asset Management. Could you please provide an indication of the like-for-like growth for IKEA and your outlook for the overall furniture market? Additionally, should we expect an improvement in EBITDA for this segment in the second half of the year? There is a follow-up as well, but let's first answer the first one.

Okay. Regarding like-for-like for IKEA and of course, INTERSPORT and Foot Locker, we gave some numbers, but let's see it on a like-for-like basis. Let's start from the first half, first half and per concept. IKEA concept, we said that total sales in first half were 4% higher than last year. The like-for-like there is 1% and why is 1% in half 1, mainly because it was affected from Q1 and the after effect of the cyber incident. As we move forward in the year and specifically Q2 in the second quarter of 2025, IKEA like-for-like moved to 103, so 3% increase -- 103, so 3% versus last year from 1% to 3% and the total sales from 4% to 8%. In the first 2 months of Q3, the situation became even better. Like-for-like sales were 4% and total sales 9% up versus last year. So we have more and more strengthening of our sales per Q, which has to do, first of all, because of the recovery of Q1 and the normalization of the business as we move forward. We expect Q3 to be even better because the trend is better, but also we will anniversary ourselves regarding the actual incident after end of November. So this is the situation regarding IKEA. Regarding INTERSPORT half 1 overall, total sales were 9% and like-for-like was 7%. Q2, the second quarter -- for INTERSPORT, like-for-like sales were 11% and total INTERSPORT sales 13%. So again, as we were moving to the second Q, we had better performance. And INTERSPORT Q3, the first 2 months of Q3, the like-for-like moved to 115 index, so 15% higher than last year like-for-like. And the total growth, as we already said, 17% versus last year. So again, we escalate and we perform better and better. And considering all these technical things of Q3, we expect this to go even higher. That's why you see performance overall going better and better. For Holland & Barrett, although the numbers are very, very small, but you can see the trend and how the business performed as we mature. Total sales in half 1 were 60% higher than last year. And like-for-like in half 1 was 26%. If you see it in Q2, Holland & Barrett like-for-like was 28% versus 26% and overall 50%, 53%. And the like-for-like of Q3 is [ 53% ] again onwards. So -- and of course, we'll have one more store. So again, as we move Q by Q, you see a better and better performance. And we expect, of course, end of year to actually go even better. So solid performance, both regarding like-for-like and new stores. And of course, regarding INTERSPORT, the Sporting Goods section, Foot Locker with this close to EUR 5 million coming in the business and not having them last year gives us the extra push within the overall sportswear market, which we have explained many times that is splitted in sporting goods and sports style and the combination of 2 and producing a 32% growth versus last year actually indicates that we have done all the correct strategic moves in order to get more of the total sports business in Greece. And this is what makes us very happy and the overall project quite promising.

The second question by Piraeus is answered. It was about sales growth of INTERSPORT and Foot Locker. The next one is from [ Mr. Luc Orsini ]. Can you tell us -- we've answered that the like-for-like sales in Q3 by division? Okay. The next question comes from [ Mr. Laberis ] Where will the first new generation IKEA stores be near regional urban centers? Where will they be located? The first one.

Vasileios, you want to address?

Yes. Well, as you know, IKEA is finalizing a very solid small store design, which measures around 2,500 square meters. This has been an ongoing process. You realize that such kind of projects take time to complete in relation to the omnichannel dynamics. So there are a number of cities in Greece. For example, Kalamata is one place that could take a larger new generation IKEA store. There are other areas also in Greece. So we are moving forward with this project.

A follow-up from [ Mr. Laberis ]. When will the construction of the retail hub in Hellinikon begin? And what stage is the project at right now?

Right. Thank you for that question. 2026 is a milestone year for the Hellinikon project. The construction is beginning during 2026. And already today, there are works being done, especially having to do with the real estate and the digging up for the foundation of the project. But 2026 is the important year when construction begins.

Next one from [ Mr. Luc Orsini ]. Shall we expect some extra cost in Q3? If yes, how much? I think...

We have already answered this. There is some annualization cost, but this is budgeted, 100%. And we do not expect any surprise that we have not, at the moment, not budgeted in the second half and fully accommodated within the full year estimation.

Operator, I don't see any more written questions. Can you please turn to the audio?

Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to management for any closing comments. Thank you.

Right. Thank you very much for your participation. I would like to thank our incoming CEO for this conference call, the first conference call. And I would like to reiterate that we are definitely on plan in implementing our 5-year plan. Right now, all our concepts are implementing their investment plans moving forward. The deconsolidation of Trade Estates, as mentioned, was a strategic milestone. And again, we stand behind our 2025 guidance for the full year. Thank you very much for your participation.

Thank you.