Kid ASA (KID) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. Welcome to this Q2 presentation from Kid. We have Anders and Mads with us today. The way we'll do this is that Anders and Mads will present the numbers. When they present, you are free to put questions in the chat function in the Teams, and they will read up at the end of the presentation. So by that, I give the word to you guys.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Petter, and good morning to those of you who are in the audience, also who follow us on the webcast. I will go quick through this slide, but we have finished a very strong quarter in terms of footfall and basket size that resulted in double-digit growth and an all-time high EBITDA for the group in Q3. The revenues, as reported earlier, increased by 13.1%. In constant currency, the increase was in 12.1%. Like-for-like revenue increased by 12.9% and the online revenue increased by 26.8%. The gross margin increased by 6.6 percentage points, resulting in a strong EBITDA increase of NOK 98.6 million to -- sorry, NOK 241.4 million. The EPS ended at NOK 2.23, with a strong cash flow and also a dividend, and we will get back to details in with -- on the forthcoming slides. Okay. So what happened during the quarter? Together with our customers, we celebrated Hemtex 50th anniversary during the quarter. The Hemtex 50 Years campaign in August and September was an important driver for the revenue development. We saw a strong growth in established product categories as a result of constant product and assortment development. Revenues from new categories introduced since 2017 amounted to more than NOK 93 million in the third quarter, which represents a growth of approximately 30% compared to last year. The limited and exclusive high-end collection, “Atelier”, was successfully launched in May and contributed with a revenue of approximately NOK 10 million in the quarter. Revenue from the Extended assortment was NOK 16.6 million in the quarter, and we observed that stores play a crucial role to success of the concept and fuel the like-for-like growth. The sales comprised of a right mix of assortment, including sofas, carpets and bed. And so far this year, we have sold more than 1,000 sofas and 1,000 beds. And keep in mind that the larger furniture program was launched late November last year. In addition to growth in new categories, we experienced that increased inspiration and expansion of a solid existing assortment contribute to strong sales growth in the large Extended stores. The growth in Extended stores outperformed the rest of the store base. And based on this, we have decided to increase the number of Extended stores from current 5 pilot stores to a total of 10 stores in Norway. And we also have decided to open 2 -- sorry, 3 Extended stores in Sweden. As previously communicated, we plan to launch the Extended assortment online and in selected large stores in Hemtex in the beginning of 2024. So with that, you can follow up, Mads.

Thank you, Anders. So the group revenues that increased by NOK 96.2 million in the quarter, representing an increase of 13.1% compared to previous year. The like-for-like growth was 12.9%, representing both our physical stores and online sales. The double-digit growth is driven by the increased footfall we see and the basket size increasing as Anders mentioned. In terms of online revenues, I'm very pleased to point out that we had strong growth of 26.8% and that comes on top of a record high growth last year. The group online share was 11.7%, up by 1.4 percentage points from last year. In Kid Interior, the like-for-like revenues were up by 12.7% compared to previous year, including the online sales growth of 45.5%. Excluding the like-for -- excluding online sales, sorry, the like-for-like growth in our stores was 9.9%. New categories, as Anders mentioned, continues to fuel the growth and extended assortment piloted in this market impacted the revenues positively by NOK 16.6 million. For Hemtex, we experienced strong like-for-like growth of 13.3% measured in constant currency compared to previous year. That includes an online sales growth of 11.2%. The revenues in Hemtex is highly fueled by the Hemtex 50 Years campaign, driving traffic to both our stores and online sales in all 3 markets. Worth mentioning is that we had Hemtex [Foreign Language] revenues, which decreased in this quarter by NOK 10.3 million in constant currency compared to previous year. And I refer to the Q1 report this year for more details about the termination of the ICA -- the termination of the agreement with ICA-Group. In terms of gross margin, the gross margin increased by 6.6 percentage points to 62.1% for the group, and that is driven by both segments. The strong improvement to the gross margin is attributed to fully effective price adjustments implemented in the first quarter this year. And that is to meet higher currency hedge levels going forward, combined with an inventory on pricing lower freight costs compared to previous year. In addition, I would like to add a couple of other highlights related to the gross margin. The high level of sales that we see in the revenues has reduced the need for clearance sales this year. Furthermore, I want to highlight that Hemtex [Foreign Language], we had lower revenues, and that also contribute with an improved margin for Hemtex of 0.8 percentage points. Regardless of the strong Extended revenues that we see in Kid Interior, we are happy to present a robust margin for the quarter. And please note that the margin last year was unusually low as the price calculation model insufficiently did not take the volatility of the freight rate levels into consideration. This has been resolved. And that said, I'm very pleased to present our year-to-date gross margin of 60.4%, which is in line with the historical levels of the group. The OpEx base increased limited by 3.3% in the quarter, and OpEx to sales ratio when excluding the IFRS 16 effects, decreased from 46.1% to 43.6% this year. This demonstrates high cost control despite the high activity level and revenue within the group. The increase in employee benefit expenses of NOK 17 million is due to general salary increases and bonus provisions to our employees, partly offset by the cost control we have in the group, and one initiative is that we haven't used a number of working hours. And in terms of the working hours, I want to express my gratitude and saying a big thanks to all our employees in our stores and operation team for their great efforts. The other operating expenses is subject to general price increases, but decreased overall by NOK 8.2 million in the period. And it's -- some drivers is electricity costs. We have a reduction of 2.8% in the period. In addition to that, we have the effect, as explained previously, that we're now taking the Hemtex logistic operations in-house from external. So this the shift from other operating expenses to employee benefit expenses. And I refer to the table in the appendix for more details about the logistic cost for Hemtex. Okay. So to summarize the development in the third quarter. We have increased revenues by the double-digit growth. We have strong gross margin improvement and a decent OpEx base with tight cost control, this resulting in an all-time high third quarter EBITDA of NOK 241 million. And then the cash flow. I would like to comment on some of the items. The cash flow from operations was a record high this quarter, and that is following due to the profit for the period and more like constant net working capital. The cash flow from the investments mainly relates to capital expenditures to our store portfolio. Cash flow from financing is explained by lease payments following the IFRS 16, a change in net debt and net interest expenses. This gives us cash and cash available credit facilities at the end of the quarter of NOK 271 million. So all in all, a very satisfactory financial position for the group.

Thank you, Mads. Well, let's have a look at the store portfolio activity for the quarter. The quarter has again been a very busy quarter. We have signed 2 more new stores, one in Oslo City, where we will close the store at the neighboring mall Gunerius. And then our second new store in Estonia after the acquisition of Hemtex. It's located in Nautica shopping mall in Tallinn City center. In Norway, our store at [indiscernible] was refurbished and expanded from 350 square meters to 650 square meters during this quarter. This follows our strategy to expand our existing stores across all markets to a new format of approximately 600 square meters. Expanded stores allow for a higher degree of inspiration and widened product offering, including new categories. In stores of about 600 square meters, we can accommodate 3 to 5 furniture environments. Together with our omni-channel functionality, this will contribute to increased sales going forward. In Hemtex, a total of 4 store projects were finished during the quarter. All stores have been expanded or relocated and refurbished. The sales after reopening of these stores has been promising and positively contributing to the strong growth in the quarter. In Q4, this quarter, a total of 3 stores will open new stores in -- 1 in Norway, 1 in Sweden and 1 in Estonia as mentioned. The first part has already opened, that was in Rørvik Norway and the 2 remaining stores are to be opened at the end of November, of course, before Black Friday. In this quarter, there are a total of 8 store projects, which with 4 in Kid and 4 in Hemtex. 6 of these projects have already been completed. The remaining 2, which are located in Sweden will be completed before Black Friday. And all of these projects involves increase in store base -- store space sorry and in addition to refurbishment. And I would like to highlight one of the store project, and I'm thrilled to announce that the grand opening of our newly renovated and expanded store at Sickla shopping center in Stockholm. One of Stockholm City's most important commercial hubs, will open at the 16th of November. Our new and relocated Sickla store will be the largest Hemtex store, boosting an area of over 800 square meters. Here we will showcase a large selection of our furniture from the Extended program, which will be available for sale during the first quarter of next year. They will already be in the store from the opening in November. And we look forward to welcome you all to our store in Sickla. I will be there at the opening, and I hope you will enjoy our enhanced shopping experience, see you there. As mentioned earlier in the presentation, we are now starting to search for the first 3 Extended stores in Sweden. The good start in Norway means that we already have several opportunities for Kid, and we expect to enter into more leases -- lease agreements for both Extended stores and expanding -- expansion of existing stores in the near future. We are well prepared for the next 6 weeks, the most important period in retail. We have contacted Santa Clause on our own hotline, and he confirms that this year too gifts from Kid and Hemtex are high on the wish list across the Nordic region. These 6 next weeks will be extremely interesting, and we look forward to the retail action we will see throughout Black Friday and also Christmas sales. And at the end, as earlier communicated, the Board have decided to pay a half year dividend of NOK 2.75 per share. So with that, we open up for questions. So I think we'll start with questions from the audience present here at Oslo.

Yes, this is Petter from ABG. I can start with one question, impressive sales growth in Q3. Can you share some light on development between the months in the quarter?

I can start. We see a strong -- yes, not like a general strong months through the quarter, like both July, August and September. So it's no specific months.

Second -- strong throughout the whole quarter. It was, as mentioned, the campaign celebrating the 50 years of Hemtex contributed extra to the strong growth in August and September. But we must say that there's no specific month that points out. The sale was strong throughout the whole quarter.

Second question. I mean consumers are definitely, to some extent, under pressure from higher interest rates and also inflation. Have you seen any change in the product mix that you're selling? Or is it fairly stable?

That's a good question, Petter. Yes, we have seen a change. It might not be what you think we will answer, but we have seen a change that actually people -- our customers choose higher priced goods and higher quality. So we see that we -- we believe we do not have the exact figures that we recruit new customers into high-quality products. So we do not see a shift that customers only trade down to cheaper products. Actually, one of the largest increases in revenue are on higher price levels throughout the quarter. So we don't see any mix well going only towards cheaper products that maybe on the retailers experience now. So that proves our value from a proposition in all qualities and price levels that we have a good position. I think then we open up for questions from the webcast, are there any questions? Maybe [ Shashti ], if you can help us to read them out?

Hello? Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yes.

Yes. It seems we unfortunately have some technical issue with the Q&A function that some listeners are not able to use it. But if you have any questions, you're not able to ask, please send this directly to management or to [email protected], [email protected] and I will forward at management, and we worked as soon as possible. But we do have a couple of questions. Any new development in the market dynamics?

I wouldn't say that we see any new -- any changes in the quarter, no.

And do you see any material differences between Norway and Sweden?

I would say that retail, in general, is much tougher in Sweden than in Norway. We see not only within our niche, but in retail in general. We had a strong campaign expanding some of our growth in Sweden, although we are very pleased with the performance of Hemtex. So that's the major difference between Sweden and Norway. The Swedish consumer tend to be a bit more cautious than what we experienced in Norway.

And can you share some light on your expectations for Q4?

We will give you a look into all details in February. So we'll not comment on that. But keep in mind that the next 6 weeks are extremely important, not only when it comes to Q4, but year in total. So actually, I am -- not even we can predict the outcome of Q4 now. So we have to get that back with the sales update in the beginning of January and the P&L in February.

And is it possible to divide the 12% LFL in the value and volumes?

So the volume and price effect, I guess, they are asking for. Yes. We have the numbers, but we are not sharing that.

It's -- of course, we have the price increase that has been done that drives revenue. But it's hard to have exact figure. We do not focus on that as well. So we will not share that figure. We can't -- we won't do that.

Okay. Thank you. That covers the questions we have at the moment. And if we get any more written to our e-mail I will forward it to you right away.

Thank you very much for those of you listening in and for those of you in the audience. And if there are any questions, feel free to contact either Mads or myself. Have a nice day.

Thank you.