Lindex Group Oyj (LINDEX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to our 2021 annual results webcast. 2021 was a year of a strong turnaround. Our revenue reached almost EUR 900 million, and it was up to 11.2%. Gross margin improved and our cash flow was strong and amounted over -- almost EUR 214 million. The full year adjusted operating result improved by almost EUR 81 million. And this is a result of our adaptability to the constantly changing environment. When we look at the Lindex results, the revenue was up almost 20%, reaching over EUR 607 million. Growth on the online sales was close to 50%. Our operating cost increased, but it is due to increased sales. And the operating results was almost EUR 75 million, which is almost doubled compared to 2020. And our operating adjusted result was EUR 80.3 million, which is the Lindex best results ever. Stockmann revenue for the full year was up almost 3%, reaching over EUR 290 million. It is clear that brick-and-mortar increased with almost 4%, and the online stores decreased by 2.2%. This is a sign of customers wanting to come back when shopping and visiting also the brick-and-mortar. Stockmann division's operating costs were down almost EUR 9 million, and the operating results increased almost with EUR 60 million to EUR 11.6 million. And adjusted operating result increased almost EUR 40 million, still being negative due to the slow start of the year in the beginning. When we look closer to our quarter 4 results, the revenue reached almost EUR 280 million, and it was up by 17.2% in comparable currency rates. Gross margin declined slightly and adjusted operating result increased clearly in both divisions. Lindex revenue was up over 27%, reaching almost EUR 180 million, and the growth continued on online, being 12%. Sales increased at Lindex in all markets and all business areas. And the operating cost because of the increased sales was also increasing, but operating results improved almost over EUR 9 million, reaching EUR 24 million. In Stockmann division, the revenue was up almost 8% and almost reaching EUR 100 million. The sales in brick-and-mortar stores grew in the fourth quarter over 14%, and it is a clear sign customers wanting to come back. Operating costs were down by almost EUR 14 million and Stockmann division's operating results improved almost EUR 24 million in quarter 4, reaching EUR 6.3 million. If we look now closer to the Stockmann division. The full year revenue, as said, increased almost 3%, and the revenue in Finland increased by 3%. And in Baltics, it was less than in Finland, but it's worth to remember that, for example, in Latvia, we had almost 190 days in lockdown last year. Sales in the brick-and-mortar stores increased by 4% due to the higher visit volume -- visitor volumes and larger customer average purchases. Online store accounted for the full year's almost 16% compared to 2019 with 6.6%. And adjusted operating results increased almost 80% and amounted, as a full year, still a negative EUR 9.9 million but compared to last year when we had almost EUR 50 million negative results. Stockmann division also, this year, started to work harder with the CSR strategy renewal, and this is part of our way of moving forward. And now we are committed to the SBTi initiative. If we look now at Stockmann division's performance in quarter 4. The revenue was almost EUR 100 million compared to EUR 92.4 million previous year, was up by 8% and still being 21% lower than 2019 and again, no tourist from Asia nor from Russia. Sales in brick-and-mortar stores grew up due to the higher visitor volumes and again, customers' average purchase were clearly increased. The share of online was 16.7% for the quarter and compared to 2019, it was 8%. Slight decline or minor decline in gross margin, and this is due to the clearance mechanism, which we changed a little bit last year. As said, our operating costs were down by EUR 14 million, and the operating result was EUR 28 million versus previous year, EUR 17.6 million. So the adjusted operating result was positive EUR 6.3 million and a second quarter when we are delivering positive results. From the restructuring program, we also completed our sales and leaseback of the properties, both for Tallinn and Riga. Stockmann division going forward. As you know, Stockmann division started already last year, an extensive renewal of our operating model through which the organizational -- organization will be concentrated more around or closely around the core processes. And this will improve our profitability, and this is what we are implementing fully this year. We will execute and continue executing our restructuring program as according to the program plan. Operating model renewal is to increase our customer satisfaction and also to improve our cost efficiencies. But it is -- the core of this enhanced operation is our renewing our commercial processes, which will help us better in our seamless omnichannel development. We have worked hard with the loyalty program. MyStockmann was launched in 2019. And last year, we interviewed a great deal of our loyal customers, how and what do they expect from our loyalty program. We launched our loyalty program this February this year. And the biggest change there is that you get from the app directly to our web store, which is increasing our customers' adaptability to the offer we have on our online. But it's also aiming for a better use of data in our customer communication so that we are better equipped with personalized messages. This year is still continuing to be investment in digital. We are launching Stockmann.com, both in Estonia and Latvia. And in both countries, we are also launching our food store, which I hear called the food.com. That is not the final name, but this will happen this year. This year is also our anniversary year, and we will be celebrating our 60th -- 160-year celebrations throughout the year. We started strongly in February with an amount of different limited editions, and this will continue throughout the year in stores, in web stores, and we will be celebrating the achievement together with our customers, employees and suppliers. And this will lead also that we will introduce new brands to the market. And the new strategy, CSR strategy, is to improve our CO2 footprint, and we will be more science-based to set within the SBTi time frame. With this, I would like to hand over now to Susanne. Susanne, please.

Thank you, Jari. So it is time to summarize and present Lindex then for the fourth quarter and for the full year of 2021. And I would like to start by saying that I couldn't be prouder of what at Lindex have accomplished together during this continued challenging time. So today, we reported Lindex' highest sales ever and the best adjusted operating results in Lindex history, fantastic achievements, thanks to the amazing engagement and hard work throughout our organization and at the same time, keeping colleagues and customers safe and delivering a great customer experience. For the full year of 2021, although we had challenges with local restrictions and temporarily closed stores, as a result, we managed to reach our highest sales ever. Our total sales increased by 19.8% and in comparable currency rates increased by 16.8%. And also compared to 2019 before the pandemic started, our sales have now increased by 4.1%. We also continued to gain market share in the Nordics. We increased our sales in all channels and in all business areas, where lingerie was our strongest business area with an increase of 20%. We had a very strong digital growth, both in our own channels and also in collaborations with our partners. And our online sales increased by 47%, and our digital share of sales was 20.6% of our total sales. During the year, we strengthened our margins, thanks to both lower markdowns and better stock margins and also a high currency effect from a stronger SEK versus U.S. dollar compared to previous year. So this, together with a good cost control and strong sales, has contributed to our strong results. Our operating result for 2021 increased by 93% and amounted to EUR 74.6 million, which is almost twice as much compared to 2020. This is really an exceptional strong full year result. And when we exclude nonrecurring items, our adjusted result amounted to EUR 80.3 million, which is Lindex' strongest result ever. We have also made important progress within our sustainability promise and our circular transformation. Climate has been in focus throughout the year, both in reviewing emissions in transportation and in own operations while, at the same time, continuing to transform towards a circular business model. We will now, during Q1, released Lindex Sustainability Report, which summarizes the year 2021 and describes our progress in more details. So if we then instead take a look at the fourth quarter. Our revenue was EUR 177.8 million, which is an increase by 27.4% versus 2020. And in comparable currency rates, it's a sales increase by 25.5%. Compared to 2019, our revenue in local currency rate increased by 8.8%. Sales in our stores increased by 29% compared to the same period previous year. Growth in our online sales during the quarter was 12%, and our digital share amounted to 19.8%. For the fourth quarter, we increased our sales and profitability in all markets and all business areas. Lingerie was our strongest business area also for the fourth quarter and increased by 35%. Our gross margin decreased to 64.6% due to increased freight prices and high currency effect that was, although, partly compensated by lower markdowns. Operating costs increased by EUR 15.2 million to EUR 74 million, and the cost increase compared to the previous year's strong cost cuts and due to also strong -- also due to costs related to increased sales. Our operating results for the fourth quarter improved by EUR 9.1 million to EUR 24 million. If we then instead take a look at all the possibilities in the future. We have, in line with our strategy, great ambitions going forward on our journey as global, branded and sustainable fashion company. Our long-term target is to drive significant growth and have high profitability. And at the same time, we should reduce our CO2 emissions in our entire value chain with 50% until 2030. To be able to reach our ambitious targets and continue our global, digital and sustainable growth, we need to make extensive investments in the coming years. To enable the sales growth and secure a continued high efficiency in our supply to all our sales channels, we will invest in a new omnichannel distribution center. To reach new markets and continue to develop our existing markets and channels, we will also make digital investments. We will make investments to reach our sustainability goals and to fulfill our promise for future generations. For example, we will continue to develop sustainable recycled fibers. We will invest in renewable energy and circular business models. We will continue developing new businesses and growth opportunities. And in the beginning of this year, we announced our investment in femtech. Femtech is a very exciting market that creates new sustainable growth opportunities on Lindex' core strength and assets. And it is in line with our high purpose to empower and inspire women everywhere. Our new brand, Female Engineering, offers innovative products designed to improve women's well-being throughout various stages of life. And as a further step in our femtech investment, Lindex has acquired a majority stake in the start-up company, Spacerpad, and their innovation within menstrual protection. We have an exciting journey ahead and -- where our existing and also coming investments will create long-term resilience in our ever-changing industry and makes us well positioned for the future. By that, I would like to say thank you for listening to me, and I would like to hand over to Pekka.

Thank you, Susanne, and good morning on my behalf as well. Before going in the group figures, I would like to briefly discuss our parent company restructuring program, which was approved by the Court of Helsinki roughly a year ago. Since then, we have done very many corporate finance-related actions. We have issued a new EUR 66 million bond. We have combined our share series, and we have issued also new shares. And with those actions, our equity ratio and a stronger balance sheet was enabled. Currently, our remaining unsecured restructuring debt is EUR 21.8 million and in line with the program. The repayment, we will begin February -- sorry, April this year. One important part of the program execution is that in December last year, we divested and leased back our Baltic properties and Helsinki department store property sale and leaseback transaction is progressing as planned. About the sale and leaseback of the properties in Tallinn and Riga, like I said, those transactions were completed in December last year. Tallinn was also closed and the money was transferred last year. And Riga was closed early January and the money was transferred thereafter. We will continue the department store operations in both locations and the long-term leaseback agreements made with the new owner, which is an industrial Estonian company named VKG. And the total sales price was approximately EUR 87 million. And in line with the program, that money was used to repay in full the secured restructuring debt. Now moving on to group figures. When you look at our consolidated revenue, you can see that we are truly a fashion company. More than 80% of our revenue is coming from fashion. In department stores, we have also in the Baltics, food, which is an important part of the Baltic operations. And in all department store countries, we have home and beauty. Part of our Lindex business is also beauty but -- that is cosmetics. But like I said, we are a fashion company. When we look at our operations by division, you can see that Lindex is clearly the dominant. It represents more than 2/3 of our revenue and Stockmann is roughly 1/3 of our revenue. Geographically, our biggest markets are Sweden and Norway together, Finland is 1/3 and Baltic and other countries represent 15%. And looking at -- on the right-hand side, you can see that in both the divisions, online has an important role, representing 20% in Lindex and 16% in Stockmann division. Now looking at the figures. When we look at the graphs on the right-hand side, you can see that revenue-wise, fourth quarter is always the biggest one, most important one, due to Christmas and also in Department Store division due to the Crazy Days campaign. And that is also visible in the results, which is on the bottom corner. You see that last year, we improved our operating result quarter-after-quarter from the negative results in the beginning of the year, which is typical in our industry, to very positive during the second half. So to repeat what Jari already said, our revenue for the fourth quarter was EUR 277 million, up 17%. Our operating result was EUR 50 million. Last year, we had impairment of Lindex goodwill. So that is not -- say, that's good to keep in mind. And the adjusted operating result was EUR 30 million, when it last year was negative EUR 3.3 million. And the difference between operating results and the adjusted operating result is mainly the capital gain, which we got from Tallinn property divestment. Then before going into balance sheet and key figures, let's have a look at the development of our interest-bearing net debt over the 4 previous years. First quarter 2018, we -- our net debt was 800 -- or even more than EUR 800 million. Since then, due to very many activities we have been doing and also last year with the improved profitability, we have been able to reduce our net debt -- interest-bearing net debt sizably. And currently or end of last year, it was EUR 230 million. And like I said, the divestment of Riga will be visible during first quarter this year. Then a look at the key figures. Start from the balance sheet total, we have EUR 1.4 billion capital tied in our business. Lease liabilities, which is important part of our assets and balance sheet, went down. And they amounted EUR 340 million. We were very strict in capital investment. That amounted EUR 16.9 million. Our inventories were somewhat up versus last year, EUR 155 million. And cash was EUR 214 million, up EUR 60 million from previous year, and very happy about that. Then looking at our result figures. Our operating result was EUR 82 million full year, and our adjusted operating result was EUR 68 million, when it last year was negative EUR 12 million. And our balance sheet in total is stronger than it year ago -- than it was a year ago. The equity ratio was nearly 19%. Then moving on. We are guiding growth for this year. The group revenue will grow and the adjusted operating result will be clearly positive this year. And Stockmann division will continue to execute the restructuring program. And like Susanne already said, Lindex is going to continue to explore new growth opportunities. With these words, I would like to welcome the Q&A session, so feel free. Thank you.

Yes. And the first one goes to Lindex. Susanne, Lindex of [Audio Gap] Is there a fundamental change in the company versus the past 10 years, which would support such high profits going forward?

[ Hannah ], I actually lost you for a while there in the beginning. Can you repeat the question?

Yes, absolutely. So Lindex has obviously had a very strong year. Comparing to historic levels, EBIT or EBIT margin was almost double. Is there a fundamental change in the company versus the past 10 years, which would support such high profits going forward?

As we said in the presentation, we continue to aim for high profit also going forward. At the same time, we will invest for future growth, and that will need to important investments. If I would talk about the gross margin, that is, of course, one important driver in this. We believe that we will continue to improve that compared to past year's gross margin. So that's good. And we will, of course, continue to have an overall good cost control. So to summarize it, we have -- continue to have good beliefs for Lindex moving forward regarding the operating results.

Yes. And then both to Pekka and Susanne, earlier [ Rauley ], you are asking, are the investments we are referring to more CapEx or OpEx increase? And how do you see the fixed cost development during '22?

So the question was invested related -- regarding -- related. Yes, but CapEx or OpEx, well, the CapEx in Stockmann division, the investments will be, like Jari said, in digitalization and of course, partly in brick-and-mortar. But maybe, Susanne, you could comment on Lindex.

Absolutely. We will increase both investments as in CapEx compared to previous year, but we will also see an increased cost level. But we also believe in higher sales for the coming years.

Yes. Then [ Karri Virtanen ] asking, you stated that the sale of Helsinki department store property is going according to the plan. Is it likely that the sale will be pushed back to quarter 2?

At this point, I would say that we are progressing as planned and nothing further to say.

And then [ Ekka Bohela ] asking, have you considered changing the group's name from Stockmann Group to something that better reflects to the increasing role of Lindex?

It's a very good question, but that has not been on the table so far.

Yes. And then [ Karri Virtanen ], with the significant amount of cash Stockmann will have after the corporate restructuring, is the plan to return a majority of the capital to shareholders?

As a part of the restructuring program, Stockmann has, say, restrictions to dividend. As long as the company is in restructuring or executing in the restructuring program, we are not able to make any dividends. But then, thereafter, remains to be seen. It's up to the shareholders.

And the next question coming from [ Axel ]. How does invested capital split between Lindex and Stockmann division?

In Stockmann division, we can say group level, a big part of the cash or capital is in Lindex acquisition. So if we exclude to that, I would say that the capital is slightly more in department store division and slightly less in Lindex. When we look at the balance sheet, we need to keep in mind that the important part of the balance sheet is this lease liabilities. And Lindex is currently operating only in lease premises. And Stockmann, after the transaction in Helsinki will be completed, we are also operating in lease premises, which according to IFRS, is presented as a part of the balance sheet.

And then Jutta Rahikainen asking, does your '22 guidance include the divestment of Helsinki department store? And the second question, please describe how that real estate divestment will impact your income statement.

The guidance is adjusted operating EBIT and adjusted means that no capital gains included. Then the other part was how -- could you repeat the question, the other part of the question?

Yes. Please describe how that real estate of divestment will impact your income statement.

In income statement, when we are -- currently, when we are owning the property and presenting that as asset for sale, we have not done any depreciations according to IFRS. When we had divested the property in Helsinki, we will have, like I said, lease liability and right-of-use asset in our balance sheet. In income statement, it means that we will have a depreciation of the right-of-use asset and also in financing costs part of the lease payment that will be presented.

Then, [ Rauley ], you are asking, how do you see the recent increase in interest rates and/or overall capital market uncertainty impacting the divestment process of Helsinki property?

Well, I think it's a good question. At this point, the negotiations are ongoing. And currently, we see no, say, change in that, but remains to be seen.

And then [ Birko Tomelekta ] asking, how are the other Finnish department stores than the flag store performing in Finland?

Good. I mean we have a very different profile, for example, in the Helsinki area, Tapiola, where the loyal customer and the profile is quite similar to Helsinki. And then Itäkeskus, Jumbo clearly younger customer profile. Turku, Tampere performing like local flagships, good performance.

Jutta Rahikainen following up the investments on Lindex. What is the magnitude and what is the group CapEx guidance for '22?

We have not given any guidance yet regarding CapEx '22, but reading between the lines, which Susanne was saying, I think it's fair to say that in Lindex, the CapEx this year will be bigger than last year.

And then 3 questions coming from [ Martin Astrup ]. What net yield was the Baltic properties sold at?

I think that was not disclosed.

Is it a strategy to sell the properties below market value against low leases?

No. The aim is to make the transactions in line with the program based on bidding competition or auction. And that happened in the Baltics and will happen also in Helsinki.

And then [ Anabel Garcia ], are you able to provide our -- color on, one, how much of operating cost increase is related to normalization of one-off cost reductions; and two, the relationship between restructures, lease expenses and recovery in the revenue?

That's a lengthy question. So regarding the restructuring costs, they are treated as I say, we can say, nonrecurring items, and they are not included in the -- or they can be visible in the figures when looking at the, say, figures in detail and looking at the adjusted difference between adjusted operating profit and operating profit by division. Then what comes the changes in the lease agreements, if that was the question, they are where -- the new lease agreements, which we negotiated 2020, they are having a big impact on our Stockmann division's profit improvement, but that was part of the program execution.

Thank you. [ Emily ], we will come back to your cooperation proposal off-line. But so far, no more questions to annual results or the financials in this webcast. We'll wait a couple of more seconds or minutes so if any questions, please, now is the time.

All right. Then we say thank you. And again, as always, welcome and shop at Lindex and Stockmann. Have a nice weekend.