Nobia AB (publ) ($NOBI)

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Nobia Q1 Report 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speakers today, Kristoffer Ljungfelt, CEO; and Robert Belkic, CFO. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to Nobia's Q1 update. Let's take the first slide, please. Q1 has been a really defining quarter for Nobia as we reached several key milestones that strengthen the company and set a clear direction going forward as the #1 kitchen powerhouse of the Nordics. During the quarter, we completed the divestment of our U.K. operations and carried out a share rights issue with strong support from our shareholders and main owners. In addition, we also put our cost saving program into action with benefits expected to start coming in through from Q3, and we signed a new loan facility with our lenders and long-term partners. These achievements required a great deal of effort. And on behalf of the company, I would like to sincerely thank our employees, our shareholders, our main owners for their support in the rights issue and our lenders for their continued trust and long-term commitment. Performance for the quarter was largely in line with expectations against the backdrop of continued soft market conditions. Demand remained at historically low levels with volumes broadly flat year-over-year. However, and importantly, we saw a shift in dynamics during the quarter with growth finally starting to pick up in the B2B market, partially offset by was a temporary softer B2C market. Despite this flat market, we delivered an organic growth of 2%, driven by an improved product mix, higher average order values in line with our stated priorities. This represents then our third consecutive quarter of organic growth. Adjusted gross margin improved by 1 percentage point compared to last year, supported by improved average order values and better product mix, as I was referring to, but also due to lower manufacturing costs. Over recent years, we have simplified and harmonized our product range, improved discipline around pricing and reduced exposure to the lowest end of the market, which now is giving us a slight headwind. However, there is much more to be done on this end. Reported gross margin is temporarily affected by the ramp-up cost at our new Nobia Park facility, which is driven then by double staffing during the transition from Tidaholm to Nobia Park, and we will come back to that a little bit later in the presentation. As a result of this, the non-adjusted gross margin was somewhat below last year's level. SG&A increased slightly in the quarter, mainly due to timing effects between periods. Our focus on cost efficiency remains unchanged, and we are currently executing on our cost reduction program in connection with the carve-out of the U.K. business. This program that was launched in Q4 2025 is expected to generate run rate savings of about SEK 80 million starting from third quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBIT came in at SEK 73 million, slightly ahead of last year with an adjusted EBIT margin of 5.1%. We also reported solid cash flow from operating activities compared to last year, mainly driven by improved working capital performance, and Robert will give some more details on this later on. Then please moving over to the next slide, which is a deep dive of the kitchen market in the Nordics. And again, the market conditions remain challenging with low housing starts and subdued transaction activity. That said, we are seeing early signs of improvement, particularly in Sweden and as before, in Denmark, with B2B activity showing a more noticeable pickup. However, it is still a bit too early to conclude whether this represents a sustained recovery or a continued volatility. Following the divestment of the U.K. business, around 80% of our sales are now B2B related, meaning that even the modest improvement in this segment, which we are probably about to see, can have a meaningful earnings impact. Finland, however, remains extremely challenging market, but our factory closure in Finland in Q4 has reduced our exposure to volume swings and increased our flexibility to step away from low-margin, high-price precious segments. In B2C, the market declined slightly during the quarter, as I said, but this was mainly related to a soft start in January, February. Activity improved modestly in March, reflected in higher web traffic for our sites and an increased design appointments in our stores. However, also here, it remains a bit too early to draw firm conclusions on the underlying demand, particularly given the continued flat level of housing transactions. Over to the next slide, please. And just to give you some highlights on the major strategic initiatives that have just been completed. And as we stand on the other side of these activities and after a very intense period of time, we are very pleased with what the organization has managed to do in a still trying to operate in a challenging market while also ramping up one of the most advanced kitchen factories. So a brief summary of this. First of all, we have, again, divested the U.K. operations and closed the accounts in March for this sale. This reduced our debt liability for leasing of about SEK 750 million. The transaction may result in a consideration of up to 20% of the valuation, and we strongly believe that this business will prosper over time, but the synergies with our Nordic business are very few, and we believe it needs another type of ownership while we can then focus on our strong Nordic position instead. We also deleveraged our financial profile by closing an oversubscribed share rights issue amounting to SEK 1.5 billion. So thank you a lot, again, all shareholders and main owners for guaranteeing this transaction. Thirdly, we have refinanced a SEK 2.5 billion revolving credit facility with our current lenders with improved terms because of the considerably lower leverage that we get down to now, but also normalized market-based covenant structure. And fourthly, then, we have launched the cost reduction initiatives to carve out the U.K. operations, which we are in the midst of with the expected run rate savings coming through in Q3. So let's move on, on our updated priorities going forward. Next slide, please. Well, the first 3 blocks here are representing our strategic priorities, and then we have 2 blocks representing our strategic enablers. Going out first with extracting HTH full potential. HTH is a very strong pan-Nordic brand with deep roots in the Danish kitchen design, and it operates through a scalable asset-light franchise model across the Nordics, supported by highly professional partners. As part of our strategy, we intend to further expand this franchise model and continue to capitalize on the strong momentum within this brand. Secondly, our country-leading brands, primarily Marbodal, Sigdal and Invita hold valuable -- very valuable positions in their respective home markets. Also, they have limited -- although they have limited recognition beyond national borders. These brands are core to our strategy, where we combine franchise expansion with increased penetration in the builder merchant segment. That's particularly true in Sweden, where we now have more than 200 sales points in the builder merchants. We also aim to further harmonize these 3 brands in the coming years, and we think they have a lot to learn from each other than both when it comes to IT infrastructure, marketing and campaigning, et cetera. The third pillar is to realize the potential of a consolidated supply chain centered around Nobia Park. Our target is to leverage industrial scale of automated manufacturing to deliver high quality, excellent sustainability, lower conversion costs and higher delivery precision. With this, we can also drive a harmonized Nordic product range, which allows for more efficient centralized sourcing. We have, in our strategy, 2 enablers, the first one being the efficiency through complexity reduction. And obviously, this would entail then reducing complexity through harmonization of product range, systems and processes, but also on the back of cost reduction programs that have been launched. The second one is to be well positioned to capture any eventual growth as the market will start to recover. And just to deep dive on one of our most important investments of all times in Nobia is to realize the potential of a consolidated supply chain network. And the first step in this has been to harmonize the Nordic range to enable factory assembly data and sourcing benefits. And this has now been completed. Further on, we have consolidated the Finnish operations into Denmark in Q4 2025, meaning that we have closed the Finnish factory, and we now supply the Finnish market from our Danish factory in Olgod. We inaugurated Nobia Park in October 2025, and Nobia Park is now operating as the main internal supplier of components and flat pack kitchen, which is still a limited amount of kitchens for us, the flat pack, and they do so across the entire Nordic network. And currently, during spring here, we have an ongoing transfer of kitchen volume from our factory in Tidaholm to Nobia Park. And with this highly automated factory, we will, of course, over time, further optimize the machinery and the processes in the factory. We have a remaining CapEx of approximately SEK 200 million during 2026, of which we have spent roughly SEK 50 million in Q1 and therefore, remains another roughly SEK 150 million. And the target of this facility and the consolidated supply chain is to reach an EBITDA uplift of 3.5%. Let's move over to a new slide for us, but a very important one as I was very proud to present on the behalf of Nobia, our first sustainability report prepared in accordance with CSRD. And here, we were demonstrating that we continue to outperform our science-based targets for Scope 1 and 2 emissions. We also have a strong and well-defined road map going forward, particularly linked to our modernized manufacturing processes at Nobia Park. Strengthening our sustainability credentials remain a strategic priority, not only from a climate perspective, but also to reinforce our position as the leading B2B supplier and to help drive the industry forward. Leveraging our new technology in Nobia Park, we have launched 2 new trademarks that we are very proud of, TONETECH and PrimeShell, which represent genuine step changes in sustainable surface treatment and deliver exceptional durability and quality for long-term use in demanding environments. And with that, I hand over to Robert to shed a bit more light on the financial performance and the balance sheet.

Okay. Thank you, Kristoffer. Let's look into the financial position of Nobia in the quarter and just reiterating what Kristoffer just alluded on when it comes to investment in Nobia Park in Jonkoping. In the first quarter, we invested -- the investment amounted to roughly SEK 50 million with a corresponding cash outflow of SEK 68 million. And also then for the remainder of 2026, as Kristoffer said, roughly SEK 150 million of investment with a corresponding cash outflow of about SEK 190 million. If we then also look beyond 2026, what we are looking at then is really coming back to the historical levels, investment CapEx in relation to sales of around 2% to 4%. So that's the estimate for the period ending or starting in 2027 and onwards. If we look at the balance sheet, what we are singling out here is following the U.K. divestment, there's a substantial decrease of our leasing liabilities of roughly SEK 750 million, which is then evident if you're scrutinizing our balance sheet. And then also looking at the net debt, the financial net debt following the rights issue, the net debt amounted to SEK 1.7 billion as of end of March, which is then a decrease from SEK 2.8 billion as of 31st of December 2025. So -- and then if we look at -- looking at the numbers in the chart, looking at the cash flow then. Cash flow from operating activities in the quarter, SEK 100 million compared to SEK 28 million. If we look at the free cash flow, minus SEK 54 million compared to minus SEK 157 million. And then you have the split of the underlying improvement, the decline in operating profit, the improvement in working capital and the less investments we did this quarter compared to the corresponding quarter last year. And then final remark on this one then, just once again, net debt in the quarter closing balance, SEK 1.7 billion versus SEK 2.4 billion, the corresponding quarter last year, which then gives us a financial net debt equity ratio of 0.8 versus 0.61 this quarter. So with that, I hand over and hand back to you, Kristoffer, to conclude the presentation.

Thank you very much, Robert. So last slide here. So let's look at our priorities going forward and how to leverage our position as the leading Nordic kitchen specialist. Firstly, we have to deliver on our investments. We will unlock the supply chain efficiencies by ramping up Nobia Park, and we will do so at high speed. Secondly, we also have to, over time, invested in fantastic profitable brands across the Nordic, and we will capture share gains through these market-leading brands. Secondly, we will drive operation -- continue to drive operational improvements, improve gross margins through disciplined product mix optimization, customization and strong design. We will reduce SG&A by maintaining cost discipline and delivering the post-U.K. carve-out restructuring program. And last but not least, then we will continue to deleverage with improved working capital performance and reduced financing costs. So that concludes this presentation, and I hand over to any Q&A.

[Operator Instructions] We will take our first question, and the question comes from the line of Adrian Elmlund from Nordea.

Happy to see some organic growth here. A couple of questions from me. I think it's 3, if you will. First off, we did see quite an improvement here in the cash flow. That's good to see, of course. But could you guide us perhaps through what you expect in terms of working capital swings throughout the year? Like should we expect any systematically stronger cash flows here when you're ramping up production in Nobia Park? Or could you perhaps walk us through the moving parts here?

For the working capital, I mean, seasonality swings will apply. And we have often a little bit softer working capital quarter in Q1, a little bit stronger in Q2. We don't see any particular large changes from the supply chain consolidation. Perhaps, we have seen some benefits now when closing Finland, for example, as we have reduced the inventory and managed to kind of consolidate also the inventory positions there.

Okay. Very good. Second question regarding the items affecting comparability of some SEK 45 million. Should we start to see these reducing now by Q2? Or kind of what's left, if you will, for ERC during the year?

I mean we are in the midst of the ramp-up as we speak. And we have previously also announced that the most intense period will be during spring and then taper off somewhat towards the second half of the year. So I think for the upcoming quarter, it should be considered to be roughly at the same levels as we have done in Q1, and then again taper off slightly towards the back end of 2026.

Okay. Very good. Last question here regarding the reporting. Is there any possibility that you will change the reporting now going forward where you're basically reporting one single entity? Could we have any like contribution from the countries in the group and et cetera?

As of now, we don't have any plans to change the reporting structure. But we would like to give you also highlights, a little bit more in-depth highlights on B2B and B2C during the quarter and when needed, so to say.

No. So you can see -- you can see the change we've done in this quarter, just reporting one segment instead of the historical 3. So -- and also, as Kristoffer said, adding some flavor, adding some context, adding some more details on B2B, B2C. So more of that will come as we further refine the interim reporting during the year. But this quarter was a starting point, a new start for the one segment type of reporting that we are now planning to report under.

Okay. Fair enough. Maybe a last question here. I don't know if I missed this in the presentation, but kind of what were the main reasons behind the sort of softer business-to-consumer sales here?

Well, we just believe that the quarter started off slower and then gained some momentum towards March. It was clearly so that the end of ROT in Sweden in Q4 '25 had some impact with a slower start as well. But again, we see particularly Finland and Norway being extremely soft in the beginning of the year.

Okay. Yes, fair enough. And then maybe a follow-up on that. If we expect this to continue somewhat softer business consumer perhaps in relation at least to the business-to-business, should we expect kind of a head -- tail or a headwind sort of in the gross margin from the mix effect there?

I would say the swings are very, very small, what we have seen so far. And you also saw from our underlying gross margin improvement that we still have a solid improvement in gross margins, and we are pleased with that. Again, I think it was more of temporary nature that we had a slower start of the year as it picked up a little bit towards the end of the quarter.

We will take our next question. The question comes from the line of Sindre Sorbye from Arctic Asset Management.

Just a couple of questions from me this time. [indiscernible] from Tidaholm to Nobia Park, [indiscernible] SEK 45 million this quarter. And I think you indicated that most of the impact should be completed by second quarter. Is that a correct understanding that most of the kitchens will be delivered from -- which today are delivered from Tidaholm will be delivered from the new factory at the end of the second quarter?

It was a little bit difficult to hear the line, but I will try to answer and please fill in. The transition from Tidaholm to Nobia Park is in a very intense period for the moment, and we keep basically high staffing in both factories during the spring time. We will gradually towards summer or actually starting also from now, starting to phase out some of the manufacturing in Tidaholm. And for that reason, I think the most intense period for this double line cost will remain now. We're probably at the point where we have the most staffing in the system as of now. We have some -- yes, we will still have activities to transfer things during the second half, but it will be a lesser extent and gradually lower extent, so to say.

Okay. And secondly, this 3.5% EBITDA margin uplift from the outside, what time is the kind of starting point for that?

I think the best way is to look at it over a business cycle. I mean we also have almost halved our volumes in the whole organization -- sorry, throughout the market, so to say, halved in the segments where we're present. And this should be seen over a business cycle. We still have a way to go to get there, obviously, and also to do further consolidation to get there.

Okay. But leaving the business cycle, I mean, if I exclude this SEK 45 million in items affecting comparability when, let's say, in the first half next year when everything is up and running 100% that at par. Could you give some indication of the delta on profitability given unchanged volumes from where we are today until a year from now?

Well, some of it -- or a lot of it will also be related to how the market has evolved and the further consolidation we do into Nobia Park. So I'd like to not give any exact statements on that. But obviously, we are very committed to also roll out these double line costs as the year continues. So that will be, in a way, a benefit from a cash flow perspective. And then obviously, we expect to -- we will not reach 3.5% EBITDA uplift by next year, but we will move towards that, let's call it.

Okay. And just finally, this double line costs, I mean, they are chartered items affecting company's EBITDA, they are not included in this 3.5 percentage points computation.

No, that's more one-off character. Yes.

[Operator Instructions] We will take our next question. And the question comes from the line of Sofia Sorling from DNB Carnegie.

My first question related to the organic growth. Could you give the split of volumes and price here?

Yes, we do not have any -- the volume is more or less, let's call it, flattish. I wouldn't consider the organic growth to be price, but rather a mix effect of mixing up higher average order value products, so to say.

Okay. And yes, you mentioned the underlying market is quite soft. But would you say that you have gained market share during the quarter?

We have not received the market statistics for all countries, but we are certain that we have in these 2 other countries made some inroads into market share gains, which we...

All right. And also, I was curious since you -- if I understood it correctly, that you have reached at least half of the ramp-up in Nobia Park. Would you say that you've been able to change your offering towards your customers now when it's up and running, so to say?

Yes. This -- for example, we have introduced this trademark TONETECH, which is an improved surface treatment and painted in water-based paint with very, very strong durability. And that has been introduced to some extent in the market through Marbodal. And again, I mean, the -- just to comment on the ramp-up here, we're in the midst of a significant ramp-up with basically having double line people in both Tidaholm and Nobia Park right now. So there will still be products coming out of Tidaholm for a period of time.

Okay. All right. And let's say, when you're 100% up and running in Nobia Park, how would you say that in terms of product offering towards your customers, how would you say that you are -- what is your competitive advantage, would you say?

Yes. I mean it's -- we have a lot of good things within Nobia Park. First of all, again, back to the 2 trademarks that we do. One is related to how we paint products with very good durability and very good sustainability credentials. And sustainability is extremely important for our position also in the B2B market. So we are strengthening that. We also have ISO certificate in Nobia Park. We have the energy getting from solar panels. So a lot within sustainability. We also have this other trademark, PrimeShell, which is using a new type of manufacturing process for the carcasses, which also creates a much better durability than what we have seen before. So we're happy to launch that. And lastly, but not least, is that our customers order huge complex orders for Big 3 production house projects and delivery performance and on time and in full is one of the most important USPs in this market. And I would say that we will be exceptionally strong with Nobia Park because we both improve it from where we stand today, but we also have digital tracking of everything we do from the smallest screw to the finalized product and where it's going. And that will be a huge benefit, which we haven't had before, and we can track the whole process over the whole flow. And I think that's something that our customers will increasingly appreciate also because the circularity importance for them to track the product throughout the circle, but also, of course, to be faster at installing the kitchens in people's homes and get whatever part that might break during installation to get that very fast replenished from the new factory. So we're very excited about this as well.

Thank you. There seems to be no further questions. I would like to hand back for closing remarks.

Okay. Thank you very much for listening in. And again, the Q1 was a very defining quarter for Nobia, and we look very much forward to continue this company in the shape of a Nordic kitchen powerhouse. Thanks for your time, and see you in Q2.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.