Puuilo Oyj ($PUUILO)

Good morning to you, and welcome. Thanks for joining Puuilo's presentation of the first quarter results for this financial year. I am Juha Saarela, CEO of Puuilo. And with me is Puuilo's CFO, Annu von Weymarn. In this presentation, we will go through the key financial and operational highlights for our first quarter. And after this presentation, you can ask questions by calling the line. Here is the agenda for presentation. First, I will go through the key numbers and events of the first quarter. And following that, Annu will provide a more detailed overview of the financial development during the same period. And third point is a refresh of the outlook for this financial year and including the forecast ranges. And after that, we will have a short overview of our growth strategy and long-term financial targets. And as I said, we have reserved time for questions at the end. Our first quarter is from February to the end of April. And here, you can see the key results. And first, net sales. Net sales for the quarter were approximately EUR 104 million, showing good growth to the same period last year and the total growth exceeded 16%. Like-for-like growth was good, and it was almost 8%. Customer traffic continued to increase in both old and new stores. And we experienced sales growth in all months of the quarter, even in like-for-like terms. Also, we experienced a slight increase in average basket size. Gross margin increased during Q1, and it was 39% and increasing almost 2 percentage points from same period last year. And especially sales growth in private label products had a positive effect on gross margin. Then adjusted EBITA, it was EUR 16.3 million, which corresponds to almost 16% of net sales and absolute EBITA grew by EUR 5.4 million compared to the same period last year. And earnings per share were EUR 0.13, approximately 45% higher than in the comparison period. We continued to expand in line with our plans and targets and opened new stores in Hollola and Jyväskylän Vaajakoski during the first quarter. Both store openings and sales development after opening have been in line with our expectations. And as a part of executing our strategy, we continue our internationalization and preparations for entering the Swedish market. and it is progressing as planned. This, alongside with growth in Finland is a key part of our current strategy. And geopolitical events and the crisis continues and the situation in the Strait of Hormuz has not changed significantly so far. However, the market tends to adapt and find alternative solution. And -- but in any case, higher oil prices have some impact on purchasing costs and the logistics costs, both for us and for other players in the industry. In Puuilo's case, these impacts are spread across a broad assortment. And due to the timing of purchases, the effects are not immediately visible or directly proportional. And in addition, we are able to pass on increased purchasing costs to sales prices to a fairly wide extent. Good. Annu, please, it's your turn.

Thank you, Juha. Net sales for the first quarter were approximately EUR 104 million, increasing by 16.3% compared to the previous year. At the same time, like-for-like net sales grew by 7.7%. We exceeded last year's strong like-for-like growth by 1.2 percentage points, which can be considered a solid performance. Customer traffic increased by 14.5% in total and by 6.2% in like-for-like stores. Thus, customer traffic continued to increase also in like-for-like stores. The average basket size also developed positively compared to the previous year despite continued low consumer confidence. Net sales development was very good during the first quarter, and growth was seen across all product categories. During Q1, we opened new stores in Hollola and Vaajakoski in Jyväskylä. Next, let's move on to gross margin. In Q1, Puuilo's gross margin was 39%, increasing by 2 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The increase was driven by private label products forming a higher share of total sales. Sales of these products grew faster than other sales with growth reaching approximately 28% compared to the previous year. Private label products are strategically important for us as they expand and differentiate our assortment and support profitability with higher margins compared to other products. The strengthening of the gross margin level gives us more flexibility, both for growth investments and for maintaining earnings development. The share of private label products has developed well in recent year, and we expect this trend to continue in the future. And next, profitability. In Q1, Puuilo's adjusted EBITA was EUR 16.3 million, increasing by EUR 5.4 million or by over 50% compared to the same period last year. Adjusted EBITA margin was 15.7% of net sales. Relative profitability was good and clearly higher than in the previous year. The most important drivers behind the increase in profitability were net sales growth, positive gross margin development and good cost control. The cost ratio improved by approximately 1.3 percentage points compared to the last year. As the figures show, growth has not come at the expense of profitability. Growth and earnings have developed in parallel, which is reflected in the strong earnings figures in Q1. Next, we will go through the development of inventory levels. Inventories increased by EUR 10.8 million, which is mainly driven by the expansion of store network. The increase originates in particular from inventories related to the 6 new stores opened during the past 12 months as well as private label products reserved for upcoming stores. In addition, as the share of private label sales has increased, the import volumes of these products have also grown as both the number of items and sales volumes have grown. Inventory turnover improved slightly compared to the comparison period. However, the company continues implementing measures aimed at accelerating inventory turnover. Our long-term goal is to further improve inventory turnover. However, in the short term, there may be variation between quarters and years, even though the target is to improve inventory turnover in the long run. And then we will move on to cash flow. In Q1, operating free cash flow was slightly above EUR 17 million, which means that it increased by EUR 3.4 million compared to Q1 in the previous year. The cash flow was driven by strong net sales development and of course, solid profitability. Despite the increase in inventory levels, we were able to maintain strong cash flow development, which we are very pleased with. The strong -- the spring season started to show during the first quarter, but the majority of the cash flow impact is typically realized in the second quarter. We consider that the cash flow development at the beginning of the year indicates both strong operational performance and that earnings are efficiently converted into cash. Company's net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio improved compared to the comparison period and was 1.2, which is well aligned with our long-term target of below 2.5. The middle chart shows the ratio of net debt to EBITDA, excluding the impact of IFRS 16. As you can see, the metric excluding IFRS 16, was 0.3, which is on the same level as last year. Puuilo's cash position at the end of the first quarter was slightly below EUR 41 million, and the company's financial position remains stable. Net debt, excluding IFRS 16, meaning cash minus bank loans was approximately EUR 29 million at the end of Q1. Our long-term loans from financial institutions were approximately EUR 70 million at the period end. In summary,Puuilo's financial position is strong and provides a solid foundation to continue executing our growth strategy as planned. To summarize, our first quarter was strong, both in terms of growth and profitability. Growth was of high quality as it was supported by both increased customer traffic and improved gross margin. The development of earnings, cash flow and balance sheet demonstrate that we are able to grow in a controlled and profitable manner. Our growth -- our strategy is progressing as planned, and this provides a solid basis to move forward. Next, Juha will go through the outlook for the financial year. Please, Juha.

Thanks, Annu. We repeat the same outlook for this year. We forecast that net sales will grow and be between EUR 480 million to EUR 510 million. And we also expect adjusted EBITA to be between EUR 80 million to EUR 90 million. There are uncertainties related to the outlook, such as the development of the still uncertain general economic situation in addition to changes in purchasing power and consumer behavior. Additionally, there are other unusual uncertainties in the outlook such as geopolitical crisis and international tensions that may have a direct or indirect impact, especially on the availability and the price of goods, which can affect sales and profitability. As I earlier mentioned, for now, the crisis at the Strait of Hormuz has not dramatically impacted Puuilo's sales or profitability. And at the moment, we are in a good spot. And lastly, the outlook includes the budgeted setup expenses for Puuilo's international expansion at the cost amount of approximately EUR 1 million. And then a reminder about our strategy and our targets. 6 key elements of our strategy are: first one, opening new stores and continuing our expansion in Finland. And our target for this period is to reach over 90 stores nationwide. Then entering the international market, starting with a pilot in Sweden. Continuing like-for-like sales growth where there is still significant potential. Strengthening our current position by increasing private label sales and being one of the most cost-efficient operators in the industry. And fifth, providing an omnichannel customer experience, shopping experience that is easy, affordable and fast. It is one of the key factor for both current and potential customers. And then sustainability work and its development. We have responsible retailer that covers the key elements of our sustainability efforts. And working towards these 6 objectives will support us in achieving our long-term financial targets and presented in the lower half of this page. Our sales growth target is to achieve average annual sales growth of over 10%. And by the end of the strategic period, we aim to exceed EUR 800 million in net sales. And profitability, our target is to reach an adjusted EBITA margin over 17%, corresponding to more than EUR 136 million in adjusted EBIT. We aim to distribute at least 80% of the company's net results to shareholders. And regarding net debt, our target is to keep the ratio of net debt to adjusted EBITDA below 2.5x. Then our expansion in Finland. This year, we have opened stores in Hollola, Jyväskylä Vaajakoski and Espoo Espoonlahti. Next stores will be in Lahti Holma, Kangasala and Raasepori. The store in Vantaa Virkamies will be closed on Sunday, and it will move to Vantaa Tammisto. The store in Tammisto will open Wednesday next week. And if all goes according to plan, during this year, we will open at least 8 new stores. Growth continues and the future looks promising. Then about entering to Sweden. As we told in connection with our strategic update and also in March, we are preparing for international expansion into Sweden alongside our continued growth in Finland. All preparations are going as planned. Our Sweden country manager started at the beginning of this month. And negotiations for several store locations are ongoing, and this project is progressing well. The budgeted setup costs for this year, I mean, 2026 are approximately EUR 1 million, and they are included in our outlook for the year. With these measures, we will be fully prepared to open the first pilot store. The setup costs cover IT, legal and organizational costs, including the country manager role in Sweden. This is a small and defined investment to assess the potential of a new market. Our international expansion is based on organic pilot store openings rather than acquisitions. Expansion will be executed with the same operating model that requires only limited capital and that our shareholders are familiar with from our Finnish business. And we will apply the same good cost control to our international expansion as to all other areas of Puuilo's operations. We will provide updates as we reach the next concrete milestones in the pilot process.[Foreign Language] Thank you. And now we move on to questions. So moderator, please open the line.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Maria Wikstrom from SEB.

This is Maria Wikstrom from SEB. I have 3 questions, and I will take them one by one. So I'd like to, I mean, start from a very good like-for-like growth that you reported in the first quarter. If you could specify a bit that what product categories were selling well during the first quarter?

Maria, thanks for the questions. All product categories has grown and are growing. Of course, there are some differences and variations between them, but all product categories have grown. And so our growth has been very wide, and there are no, let's say, issues or problems with product categories growth.

And is there a possible, I mean, to be -- to get a feeling that how much of the growth is benefiting from the warm spring weather in Finland compared to a very cold spring weather last year and versus then the improving, I mean, consumer sentiment in Finland?

Our comparison numbers from last year were quite strong. But as we know, there are variations. I mean, weather variations between years and quarters. Sometimes we can get a bit benefit of good weather and sometimes we don't get. But in a big picture and in longer term, we think -- and we have proven that we are not depending or our sales growth doesn't base on the good weather. But there are many things behind the good like-for-like growth and good weather is, let's say, minor factor in those. There are other drivers also better brand awareness, maybe there are more activities in consumers -- and our availability is better. Our preparations for the high season has gone better than last year. There are many, many things behind of good like-for-like growth.

Okay. And then I wanted to touch on the gross margin expansion. So the gross margin was up some 190 basis points during the Q1. And do you see this kind of gross margin expansion sustainable in the coming quarters? Of course, I mean, the -- we already had the Hormuz situation, I mean, during your Q1, but do you think, I mean, you are still able to expand the gross margin in the coming quarters despite, I mean, the situation that is currently going on in the Middle East?

Our gross margin improvement is not surprised of us because that has been happened many, many quarters in line and it is improved many quarters in line and because our private label program is running well, and we improve it and our tactical pricing is better than before and so on. And so it was only a bit higher than Q4 last year. And if you check our past quarters, you can see that gross margin is growing quite continuously. What is coming to future? -- we think -- and we are quite sure that, of course, higher oil price affect to our purchasing prices in some extent, but because our assortment is so wide and there are the limited amount of products where -- or which the oil price is affecting, we think that the effect of higher oil price will spread to our large assortment quite nicely. And of course, we can put or pass the higher purchasing prices to our selling prices quite nicely and widely also. We are quite confident about the future from that perspective.

Perfect. And then finally, on the Swedish expansion. So just that I understand it correctly that you are currently thinking of entering the Swedish market with another brand, I mean, not Puuilo brand. So you're going to have a local brand that you expand in Sweden. And in that respect, I mean, do you really think that the EUR 1 million as a setup cost will be enough as it seems, I mean, quite low if you are going to enter the market with a new brand?

We have not decided that what is our brand name in Sweden, but let's say that Puuilo could be the nice and different brand name it is in Finland also. What is coming to the setup cost, EUR 1 million, we are quite confident that it is enough. And it seems -- it seems that our estimation is that it is a good amount and amount enough to do everything what we need to start the business in Sweden, I mean that in this cost in this year. But everything is going as planned, and we have many negotiations, I mean, a store premises negotiations ongoing. And our country manager is onboarding here in Finland, and we are going as planned.

The next question comes from Svante Krokfors from Nordea.

Svante from Nordea. I hope you can hear me.

Yes, we do.

Very good. A couple of questions. First, I'll start with the private label growth. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you mentioned 28% like-for-like growth in private label sales. How do you expect the share of private label sales to develop in 2026? Will it be in similar increases as we saw last year?

There have been variations between quarters and the years of the speed of improvement or -- and sometimes it improves or growth faster and sometimes lower because there are certain timing differences and how many new private label products we can launch quarter-by-quarter and year-by-year. So there is variations. But in longer term, we are confident that we can increase the number of private labels and share of the private label sales -- share of the total sales also. We have a huge amount of work to do. We are bigger and bigger, and it opens the new possibilities. To the -- to start of new private label programs. And so future on that -- from that perspective seems to be also quite good, and we will continue the development of private labels.

And then regarding the Swedish setup costs which Maria addressed earlier. Did you record any significant costs in Q1 already that I guess you include the costs in adjusted EBITDA and don't take them as one-offs.

Yes. Thank you for the question. Yes, we have had some costs also in Q1 because the preparations have been continued during the beginning of the financial year. But yes, as you can see in our figures, the costs have been, let's say, quite modest. And we -- as Juha earlier said that we are expecting the cost to be within that EUR 1 million for this year.

And then regarding the gross margin, which increased basically 2 percentage points year-on-year. Could you explain a bit apart from increasing share of private label, you have also mentioned earlier that lower price point products have higher gross margin for you? Have you got support also from there? Or I guess your basket -- average basket size increased slightly in Q1, but could you elaborate a bit on the impact on gross margin from the mix of low and higher price point products?

Well, that is a mix of both. So the share of private label products in total sales have increased. And yes, we have some products also with a higher gross margin. But that is a mix. That doesn't explain the whole difference.

And do you have any comments on the trading in beginning of Q2, i.e., from May forward?

Let's say that we are quite confident about the consumer behavior and trading in the future. There are no big differences or happenings, which can change to our estimations and near future. So this train is driving as before, and we are very confident about the near future.

The next question comes from Arttu Heikura from Inderes.

It's Arttu Heikura I have 2 questions. Your guidance seems a bit cautious after strong Q1. So we do think that your like-for-like growth and profitability improvements in the latter part of this year would be somewhat weaker than we saw in Q1.

It is too early to change our outlook. We are very practically and there have been and will be variations between quarters. So as I said, it is too early to fix our ranges just now. Let's see how our second quarter -- what is our performance then, and we will adjust and fix our ranges if needed.

All right. Then about profitability, which was strong in Q1. So were there any positive one-offs in your fixed costs?

There are no big extras or something comparing to last year. Our OpEx were a bit lower -- relatively a bit lower than last year and mainly for personnel costs. But as you know, in this business, the most important how sales is running, what is the sales growth because, of course, it helps to manage the OpEx is also. But no significant differences comparing to a comparison period.

The next question comes from Miika Ihamaki from DNB Carnegie.

This is Miika from DNB Carnegie. I have also a question on that strong gross margin development. So mainly on the timing, you mentioned that there's been some pressure on the oil-affected products in terms of sourcing costs, but the timing can be a little bit disproportional also to your assortment. So I was wondering that were you actually increasing the prices and benefiting also from sort of a positive spread that then flowed to your gross margin, which could be then somewhat at least lower in the coming quarters given that not all the purchasing cost pressure has flowed through yet to your P&L?

Our selling prices are not higher than before or if they are, there are some -- of course, we do price adjustments every day, but we have not done dramatical selling prices improvements or the adjustments. Our better gross margin is due for the better and the bigger amount of the private labels. And it is the biggest effect to it.

Okay. And then just on your underlying activity, I got a feeling that you mentioned that the activity might have actually improved. I mean we're seeing still very, very weak headline sentiment here in Finland. So I was just wondering that do you see that it's then the improved purchasing power that has sort of flown through to your customer base where the spending has improved or then just increased the customer base that now wants to return or just shop at your stores?

Difficult economic times suit to our business very well. And the past 2, 3 years have been quite difficult in Finland, but at the same time, our business and performance has been quite good. We are waiting for better times because it supports our sales growth and average basket size growth also consumer confidence is quite low -- is still quite low, but there may be signals or bigger or wider activations in consumers. And let's say that near future seems to be a bit better, but it is not time to make conclusions to longer period yet. Let's see what happens in coming months and Finnish economic situation and customer confidence.

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Mika Karppinen from Danske Bank.

This is Mika from Danske. Concerning your average basket size, you indicated it has increased slightly. Have you seen any improvement there? And then how big negative contributor this rapidly growing private label sales is to your average basket size right now?

Yes. Average basket size was [EUR 0.4 ]higher than Q4, but it is not fair to compare -- sorry, in comparison period, but it is it is very difficult to compare or say that is it growing or not. Now we have 2 quarters when our average basket size has been bigger than before, but it is too early to say what there is happening. What is coming to our private labels, yes, private label selling prices are a bit lower than branded products. And it may affect the average basket size in some extent, but same time because the gross margin is so much higher comparing to branded products. let's say that it is very important to continue that program and developing of private labels. Same time, it's good to know and see that because the private labels selling prices are lower and the gross margin is significantly better. By that way, we can get the pricing power and the competition advantage, and we can build our price image for the future and the possibilities to sell cheaper if needed.

There are no more questions at this time. So I hand the conference back to the speakers.

Good. Thank you for the questions and joining us today. I want to thank all our customers for trusting us. We have had a busy spring and early summer. At times, there has been more work than people, requiring flexibility and extra effort. So special thanks to all Puuilo's employees. Happy summer to everyone.