Kamux Oyj (KAMUX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello. Good morning, and welcome to Kamux's Q1 results presentation. My name is Juha Kalliokoski. I'm Founder and CEO of Kamux.

My name is Milla Kärpänen, and I'm Kamux's Group Controller.

Unfortunately, our CFO, Marko Lehtonen, was unable to attend due to travel restrictions. Table of contents. Firstly, we check Q1 in brief, financial development, outlook and financial targets, and then we summarize these. Kamux vision is to be #1 in used car retailer in Europe, and I'm happy to show our results in this [ Foreign Language ] -- an unusual situation where we are. If -- we think that we can see how well our concept works even this current situation, our revenue increased by 17% to EUR 167.4 million. And our gross profit increased by 10% to be EUR 18.3 million and adjusted operating profit declined by 15.2% to EUR 4.0 million. And last year, it was EUR 4.7 million. And still like-for-like, showroom's revenue growth was 1%. And last year, it was negative minus 4.4%. Our internationalization proceeded very strongly. Total revenue increased in Sweden by 34.1% to EUR 44.8 million. And in Germany, by EUR 41.3 million -- 41.3% and EUR 15.2 million. And we opened a new car showroom in Niittykumpu in Espoo. The market situation in the market was very different in our different countries. And the corona pandemic and measures related to it affected people's mobility, behavior and purchase power. New passenger car registration in European Union declined by minus 25.6%. And if you compare the new car business and used car business, we see how big the differences are with these businesses. And used car sales, the volume effects varied by operator. And as we know, in Germany, had a complete lockdown 2 weeks in March, and also our stores was closed in last 2 weeks in March. And meeting with more than 2 people were prohibited in Germany. And in Sweden, the market was very open. And of course, it is more than mentality what the customers think and how they buy the, for example, cars. And in Finland, we have Helsinki metropolitan area travel restrictions the last 2 weeks in March. And we estimated that in Finland and Sweden, the used car market increased in quarter 1 and in Germany it's declined. The used car market is very large and fragmented and also, for example, in this kind of situation where we are in this pandemia, is more stable than the new car business. Because, for example, in March, it was over 50% minus the new car registration in March. And it's very volatile. And used car market is very much bigger and at the same time also a very much more stable. And in these 3 countries where we are, Finland, Sweden and Germany, the market size is about EUR 100 billion. And what we made in this current time, we're ensuring firstly our safety to our customers in our showrooms. Of course, our employees’ health is very important for us and very open communication to our employees. Of course, we're balancing supply and demand by managing closely purchases and managing supply chain. We cutted costs, not on strategic level, but those things which are not so important for us, we cutted this and save our cash. And also, we're securing our cash reserves and Milla will talk more about that and ensuring a good financial position, and we are very good position at the end of Q1. We didn't lay off any people. And we -- so we see that at the job market, we have good possibilities to hire new people, and we hired 51 people in this corona time. The digital -- the role of digital was highlighted in Q1. And of course, this is the core area for us and our business model. And the customer made decision -- we offer different types of things, how the customer can buy a car. And the customer might decision -- make decision what channel she or he want to use. And for example, we started video presentation straight to our sellers and customer and WhatsApp calls straight to sellers and home delivery, what we started since 2005 was very success also in this time. And of course, we know how it works because we used it 15 years. And of course, in our homepage, we changed very rapidly how we now pushing the sales or buying new car scheme. And this is -- thank you very much to our cricket team that you made a great job. Our revenue strong was very growth -- grew very strong 17%. And our adjusted operating profit was EUR 4 million and minus 15% if we compare same period last year. The gross profit and operating profit was impacted by an exceptionally large write-down of inventory related to market situation caused by corona pandemic and the profit impact of EUR 1.6 million. And it's -- if we compare EUR 4 million and EUR 5.6 million EBIT, it's big differences, and it's a safety to do this in this situation. And integrated -- number of cars we sold 16.7% more than a year ago, 2,100 cars a little bit more than last year. And integrated services gives steady cash flow, and it's very important to our customers use our integrated services but also the company. If we compare last year, it was 5% from revenue and EUR 7.1 million. And in this year, Q1, EUR 8.9 million and 5.3%. Openings by country after the reporting period, we opened in Finland, Tornio, at the end of April, new showroom in Stockholm if I remember right last week and Kaltenkirchen in starting of April and there in Stockholm and Kaltenkirchen is like very soft opening. We don't have just now a full employee these stores. And we published openings in Sundsvall in Sweden and also Värmdö in Sweden and in Germany, Lübeck. And then Milla here you are. You can tell more financial development.

Thanks, Juha. Before we jump to our key figures for the first quarter, I would like to point out for the shareholders and for the investors some important measures that we made during the first quarter to secure our result and also to secure our cash reserves. About the improved cost and inventory management, Juha just told already to us. And during March, we renewed our credit facility agreement. And this renewed agreement secures the financing of Kamux for the next 5-year period and also the renewed agreement will decrease our financing costs. Also in March, we took into use a revolving credit facility amounting to EUR 10 million and that we made to -- or as a precautionary measure related to corona pandemic so to secure sufficient amount of cash. Due to revolving credit facility taken into use, the equity ratio decreased compared to last year. But still it remained strong and was 44.9%. Relating to equity ratio, our accounts receivables are mostly from financing institutions, and they are having a solid financial position. So almost not at all credit risk is included in our accounts receivable, which is very good in this exceptional situation caused by corona pandemic. Return on equity remained strong and improved from last year, and it was 23.6%. Kamux' strong financial position made possible to distribute the first installment of the dividends. And we paid the first part of the dividends as planned in the end of April. And the dividend that was paid was EUR 0.12 per share. Let's then have a look on our key figures. And because Juha was mentioning several operating key measures already, at this point, I would like to point out or highlight some important figures. Our gross profit and EBIT were significantly impacted by the inventory write-down, which we made due to the exceptional market situation caused by coronavirus. Without that inventory write-down, our operating profit would have increased strongly compared to last year. Our like-for-like showrooms sales grew by 1%, despite of the exceptional situation. The inventory turnover days came down from last year, and they were 44.8 days. Our equity ratio decreased a bit due to revolving credit facility taken into use, and it was 44.9%. During the first quarter, the number of cars sold grew by 16.7%, and our revenue grew by 17%. As a new element in the revenue increase included the sales increase of Autosilta business that we acquired in the beginning of January. Let's then have a look on our segments and Finland first. In Finland, revenue grew strongly by 12.5%, and we can be satisfied to that. But the inventory write-down had a negative effect on the gross profit and also operating profit. In Finland, integrated services revenue developed well and amounted to EUR 7.7 million. Our like-for-like showroom sales remained at previous year's level. During the first quarter, we opened the new showroom in Niittykumpu in Espoo in the former Autosilta premises. In Sweden, the restrictions related to corona pandemic were the most lightest. And revenue grew strongly by 34.1%. The inventory write-down impacted also Swedish gross profit and the operating profit. And the EBIT decreased compared to last year. It amounted EUR 0.1 million. Revenue of the integrated services increased to EUR 0.8 million, for which we can be satisfied. Like-for-like showroom sales remained also in Sweden at previous year's level. Among Kamux countries, in Germany, the corona restrictions were most heaviest, and our stores were closed almost 1 month total time, about which in the first quarter included 2 weeks period when our stores were closed. Despite of that lockdown, the revenue grew very strongly by 41.3%, and we are also very happy that the like-for-like showroom sales increased in Germany. Inventory write-down impacted also the gross profit and operating profit in Germany. And the operating loss increased from last year and amounted to EUR 0.7 million. Integrated services revenue improved and amounted to EUR 0.4 million. Let's then have a look on the balance sheet side. Our net working capital decreased due to decrease on account receivables and on the other side a decrease in accounts payables and inventory growth. The purchases were closely managed as the corona pandemic started. Compared to the previous year, inventory grew since the number of stores grew, but the growth in inventory was lower than the growth in revenue. And I could say that during the first quarter, we succeeded well in our inventory management. Cash flow from operations decreased and amounted to minus EUR 3.8 million during the first quarter. And as a biggest single items that had an effect on the decrease on cash flows from operating activities were the growth in inventory as the number of stores growth -- or increased and also the effect of corona pandemic on the sales. Our investments during the first quarter amounted to EUR 1.1 million. During the comparison period, they amounted to EUR 0.4 million. The increase in our investments included the business acquisition of Autosilta. And we also continued to invest strongly in our digital functions. And what is important to mention is that we have not reduced the strategic investments in corona situation, but we proceed to invest in these as planned because we will seek to gain a significant competitive advantage by investing in leading with knowledge as well as digital customer and business processes. And our target is a seamless integration of supply and demand in European level. Let's then have a look on our outlook and the financial targets. Kamux does not publish a short-term outlook. Our midterm annual financial targets for years 2019 to 2022 are revenue growth of over 10% annually, EBIT margin of at least 4% and to distribute dividends of at least 30% of net profits. And as we published on 20th of March, it's not likely that Kamux will reach its medium-term targets in 2020. No changes have been made to the medium-term targets set by the Board of Directors because of the situation. AGM approved -- or decided to distribute dividends in 2 installments during 2020, totaling EUR 0.23 per share. The first installment amounted to EUR 0.12 per share was paid according to plan at the end of April. AGM authorized the Board of Directors to decide later on about the payment of the second dividend installment, and it is planned to be paid in the end of October. If the dividend distribution will realize according to plan, the dividend would increase by 43.4% from previous year and would be 48% of the net profit. Let's then have a look on the summary of our first quarter. Our revenue increased by 17% and amounted to EUR 167.4 million. Our gross profit increased by 10% and amounted to EUR 18.3 million. Our adjusted operating profit declined by 15.2% and amounted to EUR 4.0 million. Our very strong international growth continued during the first quarter, and our financial position strengthened during the quarter. I would like to thank you. And now we are happy to answer to your questions.

And it seems we don't have any questions in English. So thank you.

Thank you, and have a nice Friday.