Synsam AB (publ) (SYNSAM) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome, everyone, to Synsam Group's Q&A session as we released the year-end report for 2025 this morning. My name is Frida Leim, and I'm Head of Investor Relations at Synsam Group and the moderator for this Q&A. Today, I'm joined by our CFO, Per Hedblom; and our COO, Jimmy Engstrom. Those of you watching this live, you can ask your question in the chat, and we'll try to answer as many questions as possible. We have our analysts with Citi joining us. I would like to welcome and hand over to Giang Nguyen from Citi. Hi, Giang, and welcome with your questions.

Hi, Frida, and hi, everyone. Thanks for having me on again for the questions. So I guess I'll start with the outlook for the year. I know you don't provide guidance for the fiscal year as always, but can you talk about the market conditions and trading trends that you have seen in the first 1.5 months of 2026? And any expectations for the rest of the year relative to your midterm outlook?

Well, the conditions are quite similar as you've seen so far compared to Q4. No major changes actually. What I can say is we hope for improved consumer confidence during the year, but that's a hope. I mean we have our financial goals, and these are the ones we go for.

And I want to focus on Denmark for a second, actually. The region dipped back into the negative territory in Q4 following a positive Q3. And I know that there's a lot of volatility still around the whole credit legislation change, but I want to ask what is your expectation for 2026 here specifically beyond the effect of having an easy comps? And more specifically, do you expect Synsam in Denmark to already deliver growth in line with the market of maybe around 3% already on a comp adjusted basis?

Well, we cannot provide guidance or expectations. But of course, our aim is to improve during '24 (sic) [ '26 ]. But one thing is to have aims, another thing is what is being delivered. So we cannot give guidance in that respect. But we do have very clear plans on how to upgrade our stores because that's the main element in Denmark for us to make the stores and the customer offering, the assortment as good in Denmark as in the rest of Nordics. That takes time, and we will move in that direction during '26. Do you want to add, Jimmy, to that?

No, exactly. And I mean, the best store in town strategy is always a pillar for Synsam and also, of course, in Denmark to continue to strengthen this in every single town in Denmark, we will continue, and that will be key forward.

Maybe just to follow up on this. Do you expect amongst initiatives that you guys are doing in Denmark, do you expect it to bring benefits already in 2026? Or is it something that will take a little bit longer before you can see recovery post the credit legislation change?

We don't want to use the word expect. But internally, our goal is, of course, to improve during '26, but a lot of moving elements. So we cannot say we expect anything. That's a quite specific word. But of course, we have goals and we have ambitions.

Okay. That's clear. And last question on Denmark, I promise. I noted in the press release, it says long-term investment to strengthen the group's position in Copenhagen had a slightly negative impact on earnings during the year. I just want to clarify whether this refers to the opening of the flagship stores a year ago or more than a year ago? Or is there anything else that this refers to?

We are doing several actions in Copenhagen, but one of the elements is the flagship, and we have great expectations for the flagship, but taking some time to move it in the right direction. Want to add, Jimmy?

No, exactly. And I mean, Copenhagen is a very big city, of course. And to have a strong network in Copenhagen and to gain the network benefits in a large town that we have seen, for example, here in Stockholm, also in Helsinki, Oslo, we want, of course, to do the same thing in Copenhagen. But a big store like the flagship in Copenhagen, it takes a little bit longer time for that one to fully ramp up.

That is very clear. And maybe now if I move to gross margins, the second half of '25 has been a period where increased campaigns were called out several times across most regions. What is your outlook for promotional activities or discounting or campaigns or whatever the right term is for 2026, are you looking to keep it at around the same levels as 2025?

We cannot give any comment at all on that one. What we can say, however, is that we are continuously aiming to upgrade the lens offering that customers choose better lenses. That's an action we are taking. If we succeed, which we hope for, then the gross margin would improve from that action.

Okay. And how about Norway? I think last quarter, we talked about the discounting -- the effect of discounting behaviors in stores in Norway. And I think in this quarter, margin came in ahead of consensus expectations. So can you talk a little bit about how the discounting specifically in Norway has been normalizing perhaps?

Well, if you look at -- well, Norway, I mean, it's encouraging that the EBIT margin and EBITDA margin has improved both during fourth quarter and full year, thanks to efficiency and the operations in Norway. We are not satisfied with the gross margin, though. The gross margin is something we need to work on in Norway, very much an effect of discounting.

And can you maybe give us a couple of examples of what's being done in Norway specifically to help with the dynamics?

It's very much due to internal routines. We need to improve internal routines basically.

Okay. And I suppose on that note, and we talk -- we were talking about gross margin. Now moving to EBITDA or EBIT margin. I think consensus expects to see some margin expansion in 2026. Maybe if you could give us some ideas of the building blocks that we should think about. I think top of my head, I could think of maybe lessening costs related to EyeView in Sweden, perhaps Denmark and Norway effect. Is there anything that we should be thinking about when we try to think of the profitability in '26?

I mean the main driver of profitability generally is operating leverage. I mean, when we grow and we have a growth focus, our aim is not to grow operational cost -- operating cost at the same level. So that's one of the main drivers. And then specifically, we look at the gross margin in Norway, for example. Over time, the reduced CapEx to sales ratio over time, that will help us regarding depreciation and amortization.

Okay. And how about the store openings effect on margin? Because I think in the press release, you are now tracking ahead of the 90 store plan by the end of this year, actually. Are you still looking to keep to this 90 store plan? Or is there a possibility that you could overshoot it?

We -- our aim now is to stick to that plan.

Clear. And maybe I just have one more, and I feel I might be running too many questions, but maybe this is a bit more for Jimmy maybe. Smart glasses, a lot of excitement around this topic. I think last quarter was a bit too early to talk about uptake, but perhaps could you give us an update on how you guys have been seeing the demand for smart glasses in your stores and especially maybe characterize where the demand is in big cities, in small cities, who are the type of customers that are coming in and buying those?

Yes. So what we did starting last summer was to start to roll this out throughout the network, and that one is completed. Of course, it's early days to see where this develops. But the first sales, one can say, is [indiscernible] expectations that we have had. And regarding the type of customers and where it is sold, we can see that the demand is spread out. And there is also, of course, some consumers that are more tech savvy that want to try this first. But we see a large interest among the Nordic consumers around these type of products. But it's early days. So we will see how it will develop over the year.

Understand. And remind us what generations or what versions are you guys having in stores at the moment?

We have the Ray-Ban Meta and the Oakley Meta and the latest versions.

Okay. Makes sense. Well, I think I tried to fit too many questions. I will pass it back to Frida. Thank guys.

Thank you, Giang. Thank you very much. So it's time to wrap up. But before we do so, anything you would like to add, Jimmy or Per?

No. But we can conclude looking back to this quarter that we have seen a strong growth, an organic growth of 11.4%, 9.1% like-for-like in a continued cautious consumer market. We are pleased to see that both our business model, the subscription business and the cash saw a solid growth in the quarter. and also that we are pleased to see that the growth is trickling down the P&L with an EBIT increasing 15.6% and net income 61.8%. And we see that our strategy with the best store in town and further greenfield expansion deliver results. And we look very promising on this year.

Great. That works. Big thank you to Per and Jimmy and to all of you watching this live. If you have a question, you may not have received an answer as of today, you are welcome to e-mail the question to the e-mail address below. I say thank you, and see you next time.