Nobia AB (publ) (NOBI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

May 5, 2020

Nasdaq Stockholm SE Consumer Discretionary Household Durables earnings 50 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Tobias Norrby

executive
#1

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this presentation of Nobia's Q1 2020 results that we preannounced already back on April 14. We will go the usual way today, start with the presentation by our President and CEO, Mr. Jon Sintorn. And then Kristoffer Ljungfelt, our CFO, will dig into the numbers. And then we will have a Q&A session at the end. With that, over to you, Jon.

Jon Sintorn

executive
#2

Thank you, Tobias. Welcome, everybody, for this call. Looking at the first quarter of 2020, this is a very strange year. You already seen, as Tobias said, we have already released our preliminary numbers. And as you've seen on the report, this is very much in line with the preliminary report that we released. Looking at Slide #2, highlights for the first quarter. Obviously, health is paramount, health and safety first. We've taken significant measures to make sure that we create a safe working environment. Vast majority of headquarter staff, for example, working from home in the various countries, among different regulations, restrictions. We are adjusting our procedures to safe procedures and safe working environments, et cetera. It's an important job that we have done the last couple of weeks and months. Needless to say, the coronavirus have had a tremendous impact on our business, and the governmental lockdown measures have created such significant negative market impacts. To start with, all factories and stores in the U.K. and Austria were closed at the end of March, by the second half of March. But we also had restrictions in the Nordic countries, even though that our market performance or the markets were not as impacted as they obviously were in the U.K., in Austria. Our order book has been postponed. Focus has been on short-term business and cash flow. The key message has been sell, sell, sell; deliver, deliver, deliver as much as we can, even though circumstances in several markets have been very, very difficult. On the good side, we have had sites opened in the Nordics. Pretty much all the sites have been opened in the Nordics. That has been the main propulsion of our business, the project business that we have in the Nordics have been positive. On the more severe situation, obviously, coming back to the U.K., that has been -- a company which has such exposure to the U.K., obviously, that has had a very negative impact on our performance. So to deal with this lockdown and, let's call it, unusual and strange situations, we've taken an abundance of measures to reduce cost, improve cash flow and find new ways to reach customers. We call it the cost and cash process that we were very swift. And as I was saying in the previous call, while releasing the preliminary numbers, I'm very proud and impressed by the performance of the entire staff and with the spirit that managers and employees, coworkers, associates have taken on this daunting task. We've had 3,000 out of 6,000 people on various furlough and temporary leave program. We have reduced just about all -- discontinued just about all consultants and discretionary spend. We have reduced all not short-term, very necessary CapEx spend. And we found new ways of digital and online selling tools put in place with -- at a very rapid, swift manner. And as you've seen, management reduced salaries for 20% on a temporary basis. And the dividend proposal from the Board was withdrawn. All in all, to primarily protect cash and cash flow, which has put us in a fairly good position in terms of liquidity and cash. But as you see, obviously, EBIT's taking a hit and that looks quite poor, driven by the U.K., obviously. All in all, the last bullet point on this slide, it's been a solid performance in the Nordic region, driven by predominantly open project sites, but also still some consumer demand. Very difficult in the U.K. and Austria. And then we have put measures in place that we can say firmly that we have a continued stable financial position for the group. Going forward into Slide #3 we have on Nobia Group Q1 -- the Q1 performance and results on group level. Organic sales declined by 2%. However, we did have organic growth by 1% in the Nordic region. And then, as I was saying, the U.K. region lost a lot of sales due to the corona lockdown measures. In average -- depending on brand, but in average, about 6 trading days were lost in the Q1. And then obviously, since then, it's been just about a complete lockdown. We have solid earnings in the Nordic and Central Europe regions, but then obviously offset by the decline in the U.K. And the U.K. region's earnings were impacted by the temporary store and factory closures. And, which we will get back to a little bit more, we were showing in the previous call from the fourth quarter call that we had in February, but then also supply chain footprint changes that had an impact on this quarter. And then we had a currency headwind of about SEK 35 million. And again, saying that the financial positions with the measures that we've taken are stable. Net sales, SEK 3.445 billion. Organic growth, minus 2%. Our gross margin dropped to 37%. EBIT, SEK 134 million versus SEK 260 million last year. And EBIT margin then 3.9%. Shifting slide to Slide #4. Looking into the kitchen market trends for the first quarter. It's not always easy to predict where market trends are going. And needless to say, in this particular situation, it's -- a difficult task is even more difficult. But overall, let's start on the positive. Often than not, people complain about politicians and whatnots. But I would like to express some gratitude. I think the state subsidies that have been put in place with swiftness and firmness have been very good. I think it's fair enough to pay tribute to the politicians in the markets that we are operating that they have put some good measures in place. The temporary leave and furlough schemes and programs in the various countries, they differ. But all in all, I think they have been a good measure and have significantly helped, not -- probably not only our company, but our company in order for us to safeguard the well-being of our company. And also, some tax and rent government-backed programs have been good. That has, for example, in the U.K., been very helpful for us. So then let's look into the U.K. market. It is estimated to be down on prior year. The lockdown measures in March had an immediate impact on demand. In terms of regulations and restrictions in the U.K., all in all, there hasn't really been any changes from the initial restrictions that were posted. However, Boris Johnson's speech had a significant immediate impact on -- in the U.K. and on -- for the U.K. market with immediate closures of stores and -- all across segments -- stores and sites all across segments and only across industries and businesses in that country. I think it's a fair -- our assessment is that now people are trying to find ways, trying to find -- with these same restrictions still in place, what does it really mean? What does it mean? What can we do? What can we not do? To come back to what we already said in the previous call on the preliminary numbers, the closure -- for example, the closures of our factories was not driven by governmental restriction saying that we had to. It was because our customers did not want to have products because of they closed their stores. So that was the reason. And I think now it's fair to say that people are trying to find ways how to obviously still comply with regulations, but finding ways of how we can -- how they can do business. We are now starting not to -- at full speed by any means, but in the trade segment having some stores open for call and collect in a safe way of -- safe working environment, trying to facilitate some of the trade businesses as one example. But still, the lockdown in the U.K. market has a significant impact on our business in the U.K. As for the Nordic market, it's deemed to be slightly down on previous year. The growing market in Denmark is hampered by softer conditions in other countries. But all in all, market has held up quite well despite the corona situation. We have a more difficult situation in Norway, driven by restrictions and so on, but not only. We can see oil prices and other things having an impact on the Norwegian market. So everything is, obviously, not related to corona. So with that in mind, I think it's fair enough to say the countries are doing well. We can see footfall go down. Interesting is that the footfall -- consumer footfall going down. The interesting thing is that our conversion is better, which indicates that the quality of the people going into the stores are more further down in the purchasing, the buying journey, so to speak. They are more -- they really want keep shopping, and that's why they go into the store. So that's going to be very interesting to continue to follow and see the relation between footfall and conversion rates. On that, and this goes both for the U.K. and the Nordic, I think it's fair enough. These are still not big numbers in terms of revenue, but it's big numbers in terms of increase, which is our digital -- remote digital support for the customer journeys. I think that's worth mentioning as a highlight. The Central Europe region was estimated to grow -- to be almost on par with previous year until the lockdown in Austria in March. Obviously, Austria, very difficult to do business in Austria with the complete lockdown, probably one of the most locked down countries in Europe. Now slightly coming back, we reopening a factory on one shift and looking into what we could do if there could be -- if we need to do increase capacity a little bit more, where now customer demand is slowly but surely coming back. As for the Netherlands, it's the same, and I should mention that for the Nordic market as well. I think it deserves a -- it's not a round of applause. It's still a token of gratitude where construction sites have been opened all across the Nordics. They really are doing a heroic work, creating safe and working environment and keeping sites open. That's been really good, I think, for everybody in the respective countries, but obviously also for us. And the same goes for the Netherlands, where we are solely project-related business. Obviously an impact, but not -- by no means as severe as it has been in the U.K. or Austria. So overall, also the Netherlands doing quite okay, considering the circumstances. So that was Slide #4. Moving then to Slide #5, it's about our financial targets. They remain, and the world is upside down here and now. So with that, Kristoffer, please.

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#3

Yes. Thank you, Jon. Yes, the financial targets, obviously, are over a cycle. And currently, we're in a difficult market position. I think the positive thing to mention here is that the debt-to-equity target to be -- to have a stable financing is well within the target as you will see later on in the presentation there as well, which is quite promising. So I think we move into the next slide, which is Slide #6, where you have the sales split by country. And as Jon was alluding to, we have 2 very different situations in the group, where U.K. and Austria, as you can see, representing 46% of sales together, have been more or less closed since the end of March, while the Nordic region and Netherlands had stable production throughout Q1 and continue to build order book to be delivered in Q2. And then on a positive note, the Danish market, which you can see is 20% of our sales, continue to be quite strong in the quarter, where both project and retail sales continue to grow. And as we have improved our proposition of HTH and Invita brands, we have also strengthened our #1 position in the country, and we have probably been growing some shares in this country as well. Sweden, 12% of the sales, was more or less flat in Q1, whilst the Norwegian and Finnish business units had a bit tougher market situation, and especially down in the project business, and thereby declining between 5% and 10%, respectively, in Q1. And I should add also that, in general, the Nordic products market was quite soft in the quarter, while the retail market was, in general, a little bit better and growing somewhat. Then moving onto U.K., you see on the right-hand side, the breakdown of the different segments we have. And to first mention, retail sales, 44% of the sales in U.K. It was a slow start of the year in this channel. And then, as you know, it came to a full stop by the end of March, which is normally a quite strong month for us. Our trade push, however, continues to be very promising with quite high -- or I should say, very high growth in trade kitchens during the period. And it's now also generating positive contribution to the investment that we have done in this channel, which is also very promising. The U.K. project business was flat up until the lockdown and then obviously hit by the lockdown as well. We have, in the quarter, completed a few larger luxury projects in Central London but have been very restricted to deliver to the low-end social housing segment throughout the corona epidemic. All in all, the organic growth in U.K. was negative 6%, but adjusted for the lockdown, growth would have been somewhat positive and driven then by trade, whereas retail was declining. Moving over to the Nordic region, on Page 7. The growth in Nordics ended up at plus 1%, but adjusted for franchising of our store network in Denmark, growth would have been about plus 4%. And as I just mentioned, the retail segment has been strong, but growth was mostly happening by the good performance we have had in Denmark. And as I was alluding to, also the concepts price share to Invita have shown to be quite good, but we have now also refurbished most of our Danish flagship stores during the -- during last year, which has clearly also improved our position in the market. And we have added the business with some new franchisees, which we are also happy to have on board in the company. Gross margin was in line with last year, but burdened to some extent, the gross margin, by the weak currency. And as you see, on an EBIT effect, the currency was very hard hit -- sorry, the EBIT was very hard hit by the currency losses, especially on the back of the weak Norwegian krone, but also, to some extent, on a weak Swedish krone. And all in all, it was negative SEK 40 million together. We believe that currency will continue to burden results in Q2, but to a lesser extent than what we saw in Q1. EBIT came in at SEK 198 million, which is then below last year. But here, we would like to also mention at least that if we adjust for the currency impact, the underlying results were quite improved versus the same period last year. Moving on to U.K., on Slide 8. Again, sales came in at negative 6%, but adjusted for corona, sales would have been slightly positive. As Jon mentioned, there were 6 days of lockdown, in general, if you average up the different brands and factories and stores. And unfortunately, it's hit a very big month in the kitchen industry, which is March. We, as a result of the corona, estimate the corona effect impacted the result by roughly SEK 50 million, which is foremost related to volume decline and in -- which is then an effect of the inability to dispatch the kitchens. On top of that, we also had high cost in the quarter related to the manufacturing footprint changes that are being carried out, which we will explain more in detail on the next slide. So the gross margin was basically mainly burdened by the footprint changes but, to some extent, also impacted by channel mix as we saw a decline in retail, but growth in trade. EBIT came in at negative SEK 21 million. And here, I'd like to say also that, for the future then, when keeping the operations closed in U.K., we estimate that to have a cost of about SEK 50 million to SEK 100 million per month as we also alluded to in the last call we had earlier in April. We now believe that we will be on the upper side of that span. And to Jon's earlier point, we believe that manufacturing will not be able to run at full scale until somewhere in mid-June. Next slide, and I hand over to Ola.

Ola Carlsson

executive
#4

Yes. About the restructuring of U.K. supply chain. Again, coming back, this is a slide from the February call that we had, and that was the project started last year, initiated to restructure the U.K. supply chain and then activities to increase capacity, leverage scale and then will enable future simplification and product rationalization. That in itself creating the potential for, we call, mass customization. So what we basically did was to increase capacity, capacity expansion in the Darlington factory. The Duisburg site that today manufactured for the Rixonway collection has been transformed into assembly and distribution units for project market, where we see that Rixonway CKS can be assembled and distributed. And then we had a closure of a stand-alone distribution hub. All in all, that has had an impact of about SEK 30 million and then manufacturing benefits expected for the third quarter of 2020. Now obviously, that's pending at what time and at what speed we can do any manufacturing -- well, not any. But to what extent, to what level we will be able to have the demand and then to what level we would run the factories going forward, which is still very uncertain -- a very uncertain situation in terms of that.

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#5

Okay, Slide 10, some highlights from Central Europe. As you can see, the organic growth was negative 1%, with 2 different stories then, whereas in Netherlands, the sales increased by close to 10% on the back of a strong project market, and some of that was related to project delays we had from Q4. Whereas in Austria, where we had the earliest lockdown, mid-March, we had negative sales growth. And the lockdown, we estimated to have costed about SEK 10 million in the quarter. We continued the lockdown into April, where we believe April will be burdened by about SEK 15 million due to the lockdown. However, we should mention that underlying the Austrian business that is now somewhat stronger with slightly better margins. And we hope that we can be able to show that also when we come out of this corona situation. As for previous, we are still very pleased about the development. And again, they have performed well in the Nobia system, and we believe that for the future as well, of course. All in all, EBIT came in at SEK 18 million compared to SEK 5 million last year. Slide 11, our financial position. And I just reiterate that we are pleased about the financial situation we have in the company. As you can see that the operating cash flow was SEK 212 million compared to SEK 241 million last year, despite the decline in EBIT. It was positively impacted by working capital and some tax benefits, some related to timing for the tax, but also some related to government tax supports. Move down then to the balance sheet. We have currently a net debt of SEK 1.2 billion roughly, which is excluding the leasing liabilities related to the IFRS 16. And as I was alluding to earlier as well, you can see the net debt to equity, which is our financial target, is 27%, whereas the financial target is to be below 100%, so well within that. And promising as well, we have a strong cash and unutilized credit commitment of roughly SEK 1.3 billion. And if you see -- react on the borrowings that they amounted to SEK 1.8 billion, it's a fact that we are keeping more cash now on our bank accounts on the interest-bearing asset line, as you can see. So with that, Jon, over to you.

Jon Sintorn

executive
#6

So on Slide #12, summarizing and somewhat -- repeating what we earlier said and summarizing the situation. Market update. Obviously, a high level of uncertainty due to the pandemic. And looking into the Nordic region, the markets for us, to a large extent, are open and campaigns and digital initiatives to mitigate lower footfall, and we see also a high quality of the footfall, if you will, in terms of conversions. The positive -- the really positive here is Denmark performing really strongly, Sweden as well, more challenging in the other countries. But all in all, doing quite okay. There is a solid project order book driven by most or all construction sites that are open. Having difficulties is not easy, but they are open and we can continue to deliver. In the U.K., full scale or even large scale, rather, manufacturing is not estimated to happen before mid-June. There will be some manufacturing, obviously, because of Magnet Trade partially open for call and collect. It's going to be interesting to see where that goes. But to see it come back to any, let's call it, full-scale or large-scale situation any time soon is not likely going to happen. The project order book is delayed as many construction sites remain closed. Few cancellations, but still it's a delayed order book rather than anything else. Then Central Europe region, Austria manufacturing gradually restarting, as Kristoffer was saying, at the end of April and retail stores are being reopened again with safety -- health and safety measures and procedures, face masks and stuff, being put in place. And the Netherlands on the back of project business functioning quite well. That's the market update situation as of now. And that is the end of this part of the presentation. So then we can move into Q&A. Right, Tobias?

Tobias Norrby

executive
#7

Yes, please. Operator, open up for questions.

Operator

operator
#8

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Carl Ragnerstam from Nordea.

Carl Ragnerstam

analyst
#9

It's Carl here from Nordea. First of all, can you comment on how many depots you have opened in U.K. currently?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#10

It's about -- sorry. So it's about 75-ish stores where we do call and collect.

Carl Ragnerstam

analyst
#11

And when did you open those? Or have they been opened during the whole period? Or...

Jon Sintorn

executive
#12

No, we had a complete closure of all stores immediately following Boris Johnson's speech and the announcement of the restrictions. And then gradually, we started about 25 fixed stores, and then about 25 stores, 1 or 1.5 week ago. And then gradually, we are -- we have opened. But in operations, it's not completely open stores by no means.

Carl Ragnerstam

analyst
#13

Okay. Perfect. And...

Jon Sintorn

executive
#14

And only for trade, actually.

Carl Ragnerstam

analyst
#15

Okay. Perfect. And I mean, if you compare the current situation during the lockdown with the last call we had, I mean, have you seen any changes in order intake or leads in your U.K. operations?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#16

Not really. What we have seen is there are no changes to the governmental restrictions. And I think Jon also was saying that before that we see that people are trying to find their ways on how to operate, et cetera, but it's very far from any certainty regarding that.

Jon Sintorn

executive
#17

And it's a combination, obviously, complying with regulations, and those are formal regulations, but also the sentiment in the country, what is doable or not. And some of our customers are -- some are more eager or open to be opened, and some are less. So it's a mixed picture.

Carl Ragnerstam

analyst
#18

Okay. And you also stated that you've seen postponement of orders rather than cancellations. But also here, if we compare it to the last call, have you seen -- I mean, have you seen a higher degree of cancellations since last call? Or is it more or less on the same level?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#19

No, it's not a significant change. There is -- we cannot see a trend shift, by no means. It's the same situation.

Operator

operator
#20

And the next question comes from the line of Mattias Holmberg from DNB.

Mattias Holmberg

analyst
#21

I was wondering a bit about also the project delays that you talked about. So basically, do you believe that there is a potential catch-up effect later on once the markets open up? Or is it rather that the sales have been shipped and forward -- and I mean, does not represent an upside opportunity, so to speak, once the deliveries come through?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#22

We believe that there are very few -- or we see that there are very few cancellations and that projects will restart after the restriction are eased a little bit. So as of now, we rather see that as a postponement of deliveries. But again, it's still a lot of uncertainties out there, and we are not sure how the market will evolve.

Mattias Holmberg

analyst
#23

Right. And just a clarification. When you talked about the SEK 50 million to SEK 100 million in costs to keep the U.K. operations closed down, is that sort of just reflecting the costs that you have? Or is it also reflecting that there is obviously no sales when you can't be open? So I mean, how should we compare that to the SEK 50 million headwind that you saw now in Q1?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#24

The SEK 50 million is just a year-over-year effect. So it's -- I think you cannot compare the 2. To have no sales in April, that's the amount we speak about. And again, we have had very little sales in -- close to no sales at all in April. We're, of course, not sure about when we can open up production again. That would change the situation. But the way we see it right now is that large-scale operations will not be until earliest June, at least the way the situation is right now. But then these things move very quickly, and it's hard to tell. Did that answer your question, Mattias? Because it's an important...

Mattias Holmberg

analyst
#25

Yes. No, I just -- I mean, as I understand that you mean that, in April, said -- say, assuming 0 sales, which sounds to be close to the reality, that would imply being in the higher end of that cost headwind range.

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#26

Yes.

Operator

operator
#27

And the next question comes from the line of Adela Dashian from Handelsbanken.

Adela Dashian

analyst
#28

My first question is on the digital initiatives that you've implemented to mitigate the lower store fall -- footfall. Could you give us some more information on how those initiatives are progressing so far?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#29

So we have double-digit increase or growth in terms of website views or, let me say, visits -- website visits, and also our book and appointment -- book and design appointment numbers have skyrocketed as well, more than high double-digit numbers increase in those. So that's been very, very encouraging to see. As another example, we have about 100 kitchen designers working remotely from home doing designs for people, which is very interesting to see. So that's the trend. So the trend line in the growth and the habits that are now being transformed or being put in place are very positive. But please remember, in actual value numbers, these are still quite small compared to our overall business.

Adela Dashian

analyst
#30

Okay. And then secondly, on Austria specifically. I mean, with manufacturing restarting as of the end of April, is it too early? Or can you give us any indication on how demand has changed if you compare to before the virus outbreak?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#31

The situation is -- in Austria is very similar to what we described in the other regions, whereas the underlying demand has been there, but our customers, meaning the kitchen retailers, have been unable to keep open. And as manufacturing, we can restart manufacturing now. We see that most of the orders have just been pushed forward. So they will be delivering -- be delivered in May and June. However, we have about a month in Austria where we did not have any open shops. So the quote bank has, of course, been somewhat diminished compared to before.

Operator

operator
#32

And the next question comes from the line of Kenneth Toll from Carnegie.

Kenneth Johansson

analyst
#33

I was wondering, you write in the report that you have covenants on your borrowings and so on. And if -- I was wondering on the net debt to EBITDA, how does the bank view the IFRS 16 debt? Do they just take a headline number, including the lease liabilities, or do they just take those out in their calculations?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#34

We use the covenant calculations as we -- they were written back when we wrote the OCF. So basically, it's a frozen period. So we're not adjusting the covenants. In that case, you have to adjust both sides for the covenants and adjust them upwards as a result of the IFRS 16. So we're calculating them as written in the contract.

Kenneth Johansson

analyst
#35

Yes. So that gives you -- although the sort of headline net debt to EBITDA looks high, that is not the case from a financing point of view, in other words?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#36

No, absolutely not. So we're keeping the same covenant calculations as before the IFRS 16. And then they will be discussed with the bank on -- then the covenants have to be adjusted to IFRS 16 new reality. But that's another story, yes.

Kenneth Johansson

analyst
#37

Great. Also then when we look into -- in Q1, there were some costs for strategic initiatives and also the supply chain changes in the U.K. and so on. Have you managed to stop those -- the cost for those strategic initiatives and supply chain changes in Q2 or will there be some of those costs in Q2 as well?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#38

Well, the strategic initiatives were deliberately something we wanted to invest in. And given the situation we're in right now, we have decided to postpone some of the projects and investments that we have in the strategic initiatives, albeit not saying that we will not do them. But this period, of course, was special action as well. So going forward, we don't foresee that we will have a higher group spend than what we have seen during last year.

Kenneth Johansson

analyst
#39

Okay. And for the supply chain changes in the U.K., are they done now or are you able to do anything in Q2?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#40

Most of it is done. The effect will be somewhat dependent on how much we can keep open because at the current stage, we -- and some adjustments still to be done in April have also been -- had to be postponed because of the furlough schemes. So I think it's a bit too early to say, but it's fair to say that we don't expect large amounts, negative amount, to happen because of this footprint changes.

Jon Sintorn

executive
#41

Vast majority has been, vast majority.

Ola Carlsson

executive
#42

There might be a little bit more in Q2, depending on when we can start production, but we should see some benefits later in the year around end of the fall.

Operator

operator
#43

The next question comes from the line of Sindre Sørbye from Arctic.

Sindre Sørbye

analyst
#44

Just 2 questions from my side. First, looking into your P&L, there's this line other operating income expenses, which usually tend to be positive, let's say, in the range of SEK 20 million, which is negative now. Is that associated with the strategic costs related to planning of the new factory? And should we expect that to revert to positive territory within the next few quarters?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#45

It's a tricky line to look at because most of our hedging contracts and currency adjustments for adjusting to the accounts receivable balances is put on that line. So basically, you would have a reverse effect in the EBIT elsewhere, mostly in gross margin, and to some extent, in SG&A as well. So it's -- yes.

Sindre Sørbye

analyst
#46

Okay. So that means that these planning costs are reported within the Nordic EBIT segment?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#47

The group common cost is reported separately, but it's in SG&A and not in the line other.

Sindre Sørbye

analyst
#48

Okay, fine. Just moving on to the U.K., have there been any discussions with landlords about rents?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#49

Yes, absolutely, and there has been some governmental-backed schemes as well for the rent and postponement of rents. It's a bit difficult right now to understand exactly what that scheme means, but we are working on it. And there are various opportunities for the rental cost as well. But in general, we believe that the landlords would also take part of this cost we have related to the coronavirus, and they are in -- mostly willing to do that as well.

Sindre Sørbye

analyst
#50

Okay. Just a final question regarding the geographical sales split. I mean, that's depicted in Slide 6, I think, where it says that Norway is 9% and Sweden is 12% and Denmark is 20%. Is that -- should we read that as sell-out numbers? Because according to my understanding, there's a lot of -- especially HDH being exported from Denmark to Sweden and then especially in Norway. But how should we look at those numbers?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#51

Okay. I see what you mean. But Denmark is Denmark, so it's not the Danish business unit that exports to other countries. Denmark is the Danish market.

Sindre Sørbye

analyst
#52

Okay. So those numbers are sell-out numbers?

Kristoffer Ljungfelt

executive
#53

Yes, sell-out numbers, you can call it, yes.

Operator

operator
#54

[Operator Instructions] Next question comes from the line of Christen Hjorth from Numis.

Christen Hjorth

analyst
#55

Just one question from me. I mean you've obviously pointed to some of your trade depots and branches opening in the U.K. I was just wondering what you would need to see for retail to start opening up a bit more. And how far away you think that could possibly be?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#56

We don't know. Just a simple answer, we don't know.

Christen Hjorth

analyst
#57

Okay. Fair enough. Perhaps even lockdown completely over then, that's the sort of time it would potentially be opening again?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#58

Excuse me, repeat, please?

Christen Hjorth

analyst
#59

I was just saying, perhaps when the lockdown is -- has been completely finished, that's maybe more likely to open nonessential retail?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#60

Yes.

Operator

operator
#61

And as there are no further -- oh, we have another question from the line of Julius Rapeli from SCB.

Julius Rapeli

analyst
#62

I hope you can hear me?

Jon Sintorn

executive
#63

Yes.

Julius Rapeli

analyst
#64

Yes, perfect. Regarding the Nordics, in mid-April, in the previous call, you mentioned the order book to be down quite significantly during the first 2 weeks of April. So have you seen any change in the run rate or any change in demand and activity among the customers?

Ola Carlsson

executive
#65

Well, what we said in mid-April was that it was filled to about 70% of what we delivered the year before. We can see that to fill up again after that call. So we're roughly up to 80% filled now in Q2 compared to net sales the previous year.

Operator

operator
#66

And as there are no further questions, I'll hand it back to the speakers.

Tobias Norrby

executive
#67

Very good. Thank you very much for calling in, everyone. And we welcome you all back on the 20th of July for our half year numbers. Stay safe, everyone. Bye for now.

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