Good afternoon, and warm welcome to Fodelia's Q3 webcast. Great to have you online today. My name is Riikka Wulff. I am the Group CEO, and together with me in studio is Janne Aalto, our CFO.
Hello.
I will start with the highlights on group level and then move into the business development and highlights on the company level. After that, Janne will continue with more detailed information on the financial development. We should have plenty of time for questions and answers at the end of the presentation. Let's start with the highlights. On the group level, net sales close to EUR 15 million, EUR 1.3 million growth from the Q3 2025, which means a bit over 9% change in our net sales. Operating profit remained on the same level euro-wise as in Q3 2025, which means that the operating profit percent was 5.7% compared to the 6.1% a year ago. I will get in more detail to that later on in the presentation. First, let's take the same figures on the first nine months as a whole.
Net sales EUR 43.7 million compared to EUR 40.5 million a year ago, which means close to 8% change in net sales. Operating profit grew when we look at the whole nine months of this year, from EUR 1.8 million a year ago to EUR 2.2 million this year, which again, ends up to improving operating profit of 5% this year compared to 4.4% a year ago. So when looking at the whole year, it looks better than looking at just on Q3. Let's take a look a bit behind the figures. As I mentioned, the group net sales increased by 9.3%, but actually if we look at the comparable net sales, the growth rate was over 13%. If we exclude the sold e-commerce from the comparison figures, we would end up with 13.3% growth. Feelia's share of this, as usually, was very strong.
Feelia's net sales increased by 14.4% on Q3, mainly supported by new customer wins, which we of course expect to bring growth also during the Q4 and during next year. The profitability was not as good as expected or maybe as hoped by the market, but among other factors, one main factor was the higher personnel costs on Q3 2026 compared to 2025. Here it is more about the level being extremely low a year ago instead of that being really high this year. If we look at back a year ago, the situation, we were in the middle of the restructuring of our organization. Instead of having three CEOs, we only had one. We had two other C-level executives leaving the company, and the Q3 amount of personnel costs was the lowest during the whole year since we did not have the new hires in yet.
We recruited more people, more professionals, and those new people, new professionals came in during the Q4 of 2025, which ended up us having a really low comparable figure on Q3 2025 compared to 2026. In addition to that, we have a group-level share savings plan. Every single person in Fodelia can take part on this program, where you can save your own money, and we buy the shares with that money and double that with the shares that Fodelia buys. We changed the structure of that program a year ago, which means that 2025 was sort of the first year when we didn't have any extra buyings on those share savings plan compared to 2024 or compared to this year. Now we had also those costs on Q3, and we'll have those in the upcoming years as well.
Another bigger factor was the ramp down of the Kokkola plant. During the Q3, we had basically almost no turnover on the Kokkola plant, but the cost level remained on the same level as on Q1 and Q2. Now the ramp down is almost concluded there. These were the biggest factors behind the profitability level on Q3. Then on the other hand, with Suomen Oikia, we had improving profitability there. When looking at the company level, the profitability improved by nearly 5 percentage points, which is due to the selling of the e-commerce site that we used to have, and then on the other hand, on the growing amount of our own branded products inside the sales of Oikia Snacks. Development of Feelia's production operating model continued, and our maintenance operations were outsourced after the reporting period.
We have a new partner there who started on the 1st of October. Those were the highlights on group level on Q3. Let's take a deeper look on the business in company side. Before we move into the highlights, just a reminder of our business areas. Feelia is the brand and the company that operates in the foodservice market where we provide ready meals under the Feelia brand. Then we have Delimax brand, which covers the juices, berry soups, purées, and such products. Our factory is located in Pyhäntä, and the Kokkola, which I already mentioned, is about to be closed now in October. Then we have Oikia, which now focuses purely on Oikia Snacks and on the private label products there, but only snacks since we divested our e-commerce business in May 2026.
Also there, our production is located in Pyhäntä. Besides these two business areas, we have a joint venture between Fodelia and Bravedo called Fodbar, which provides comprehensive outsourced food service solutions. There, of course, our part of that operation is the food, naturally. That's how we report our business. I will now cover Feelia and Oikia, and Janne will take a short look on the Fodbar business as well. Let's start with Feelia. Net sales EUR 12.2 million on Q3 compared to EUR 10.7 million a year ago. So EUR 1.5 million growth in Feelia, over 40% when looking at the percentages. Operating profit slightly lower compared to the comparison period, which is mainly due to the issues that I already explained a few slides ago, meaning that the operating profit in Feelia was 7.6% compared to 9.4% a year ago.
Then the same figures on the whole first 9 months, 36.1 million EUR net sales compared to 32 million EUR a year ago. So over 4 million EUR growth there. The change in net sales 12.6%. Operating profit remained on the same level as on 2025 during the first 9 months, meaning a 7.6% operating profit compared to 8.5% a year ago. Then highlights on Q3 or behind the figures. Well, as already mentioned, the net sales was increased quite nicely, which was supported especially by new customer wins. Something that affected both Q3 and actually the whole year was the fact that the public sector tendering activity was lower than usual during the whole reporting period of Q3 and the whole year. The procurement law reform is expected to increase tendering activity in the future, and sort of the market was waiting for those reforms to take place.
Due to our expectation to have increase in the tendering activity, we are strengthening our public sector sales team to have one more professional to join our sales team here. Something that I'm really happy about is our entry into the Swedish market. We progressed, as we've been telling, we've been telling that we've been really active with the Swedish market and looking into the entry in Sweden. We have now actually received the first order, and we'll expect to be shipping that quite soon. We have had very good discussions in the Swedish market and looks very promising. At this point, we don't count that much EUR on the Swedish market for this year, but hope to see growth when going toward the end of the next year and of course, in the upcoming years as well.
Well, I actually already commented about the profitability quite deeply in the previous slides, so no need to go back into that. Our maintenance operations were outsourced as part of the renewal of the production operating model. This is something that I expect to help us to improve our efficiency in the future at our production plant in Pyhäntä. Something that I'm also very happy about is our development with our FERP system. We have now our FERP mobile application almost ready to be launched. Let's take a look at that. Almost half of the all web traffic in Finland already comes from the mobile devices. That's all, of course, very dependent on what type of traffic we are talking about.
But when we think about our customers and how we can help our customers with their everyday life, some key highlights on what the mobile app will bring to our customers is, first of all, the information is reaching the customers instantly as when we or if we have need to inform something for the customers. The camera is, of course, in use when you use a mobile app. For example, complaints are easy to file since you have the camera in your pocket. Of course, we aim at not having anything that you need to complain about, but it's food. There's sometimes something that you need to report to some place. So having a mobile app and camera in your pocket helps quite a bit. For example, you can do order on the spot when checking the stock levels, for example.
It will help our customers in many ways in the future as we will get the app launched. A look at the change in net sales during the first 9 months. The growth from EUR 32.2 million to EUR 36.1 million was mainly due to new customers. A bit over EUR 3 million is because of us having new customers joining us. New customer is defined by having a customer that has no purchases in the previous year on the same period. Also good growing sales for the continuing customers, a bit less than EUR 1 million growth there, ending up with EUR 36.1 million sales in first 9 months. Let's move into Oikia Snacks. This is only snacks since we sold the other part of Suomen Oikia Oy already in May.
We are now reporting just the figures with Oikia Snacks, which is the continuing business here. Net sales about flat compared to last year, minus 0.3% change in net sales. Operating profit grew quite nicely from EUR 0.1 million to EUR 0.15 million, and an operating profit of 5.8% compared to 3.9% a year ago. The same figures for the whole first 9 months. Net sales of EUR 7.3 million compared to EUR 7.8 million a year ago. There, looking at the whole 9 months, we have a bit less than 6%, minus 6% change in net sales. Operating profit almost doubled, ending up in 5.7% operating profit compared to 3.2% a year ago. Quite nice results for Oikia Snacks here. Let's take a look of Q3 highlights for Oikia as well.
Our own Oikia branded product sales increased by nearly 15% in Q3, further increasing the share of Oikia's own brand in total sales. That is something that I'm especially happy about. When looking at Suomen Oikia as a company, not just the snacks, but Suomen Oikia as a company, our profitability improved by nearly 5 percentage points, supported by the divesting of the e-commerce business and stronger sales of Oikia-branded products. We have some new contract manufacturing agreements signed, which will strengthen our sales in the future. Of course, still have some ongoing negotiations as well, but seeing some good progress there as well. Production efficiency at the factory was further improved, supporting our profitability and the ability to win new contract manufacturing customers in the future as well. One slide about our Oikia brand before I will let Janne to continue with the financial development.
Our brand performance has developed quite nicely according to the brand study 2026. Both our awareness and usage continued to grow, which is, of course, something that supports the sales of Oikia-branded products. We are especially associated with being Finnish, being high quality, being reliable, and being innovative, which are all factors that we are really working on and really happy about our brand image being as such. Our brand awareness was 55% in 2026 compared to 61% now in 2026. Giving a good possibility for us for also selling more. We had 26% users out of all people answering to the survey in 2024, and now 34% in 2026. A really great growth there as well. Something that delights me the most is that our recommendation rate, the net promoter score, was 25 compared to the seven in the category as an average.
We are the number one in our own category and way above the average figure there. The same thing with customer satisfaction index. Category average is 36, while Oikia's is 56. Customer satisfaction index in the category 38 compared to 56 for us. So very good result there. We are way above the average, and we are number one in our own category. So these are all things that give us a good base for the future growth. Now I am handing the stage over to Janne.
Yes. Thank you, Riikka.
Thank you.
Yeah. Let us start to go through our financial development. As normally, we start with the performance indicators. The operating profit in Q3, as Riikka already mentioned, was EUR 0.8 million, and EBITA was EUR 0.9 million. The difference there is due to the goodwill amortization according to the Finnish accounting standards. That resulted as a profit for the reporting period, EUR 0.6 million. As you can see, the profitability in euros is pretty much aligned with the comparison period. The relative profitability was commented by Riikka already. The earnings per share. It was EUR 0.08 per share in this period. Let us move on for the cash flow change. Our cash balance sheet, basically our liquid funds for EUR 0.6 million at the beginning of the Q3 period.
Then in Q3, we generated EUR 0.5 million operating cash flow, which was mainly used for the investments and also to pay back the short-term and long-term liabilities. So in the end, at the end of Q3, our cash and cash equivalents were EUR 0.6 million, so at a decent level. Then other key figures. Return on equity was 19.8% and the equity ratio 54.8%, so in pretty good level there, and the net gearing 29%. So basically, as you can see, our liability amount is pretty low because the interest-bearing net debt is EUR 3.6 million. So in overall, if we sum up together our cash equivalent balances and the level of liability and also our unused credit limits, we have really strong balance sheet, which supports the future growth. We have quite a lot of room to move if needed for the future investments or acquisitions as well.
Then our joint venture, Fodbar Q3 highlights. So in this Q3, there is not too much to tell about, but it is also relevant to comment that the most significant agreement of Fodbar business, called Oma Häme, also explained in the previous quarters, is continuing as before. So the temporary agreement is placed and valid until further notice. Then our outlook and guidance for the rest of the year. So the guidance for 2026. Basically, now we are already at the end of the third quarter. We have just one quarter to go in this financial year, so we have better visibility for the last months and hence we decided to specify our guidance within the original range.
So basically, our net sales, previously we communicated that it is approximately between EUR 59 million and EUR 65 million, but now we can mention that we are landing at the lower end of the specified range, so it is between EUR 59 million and EUR 61 million in 2026. And then the operating profit is estimated to improve significantly in 2026 compared with the previous year. And then no changes in the long-term financial targets. Then Q&A session, Riikka. We have here few questions, and let us start to go through those. So first of all, one question related to the Oikia. So Central Europe has had a weak potato harvest, while the Finland's potato harvesting levels have been fairly good. Do you see this supporting the competitive advantage of Oikia private label business during the next year?
Well, yeah, I do see some effect on that. Of course, also the situation this fall has not been that easy for the farmers in Finland as well. I think they have had their moments of stress here. But yeah, it has been better here than in the Central Europe. But of course, that is only one factor as affecting our competitiveness. But yeah, I do see that as a positive ingredient in our being competitive in the market.
Okay. Then related to the payroll. Could you elaborate on where the strong headcount growth was focused, and do you expect further requirements to continue?
Well, first of all, we need to keep in mind that the headcount was especially low on Q3 2025. Now we are maybe more back on the normal level. And one part of that is we do have some more people, especially on our sales team, since we changed the structure of the company. Instead of having, for example, three CEOs, we have only one, and instead of that, we had invested on our sales team. I do see some need for hiring new professionals still, but not as strong as it has been during the past year.
Okay. Then there is also a question related to that one. Should we think about incremental profitability on the next EUR 5 million-EUR 10 million of Fodelia sales as closer to the current 8% EBIT margin, or materially higher because the current cost base has been built ahead already related to the revenue?
Yeah. We are, of course, all the time working to be more profitable, relatively more profitable in the future. Yes, that is the aim in everything that we do. We are building the organization, the operations, and the processes to make it possible to grow in the future, and also grow our relative profitability.
Yeah. A question related to the net debt and the net gearing. So what drove the increased net gearing compared to the year ago?
Maybe.
I will take that one. Basically, as already commented on, the net debt level for us is really low. What is the reason for the increase of the net debt? Basically, of course, we have investments there. Then we had, and now it is one stock repurchase program ongoing. We use cash equivalents for that one. Also we have issued capital loans to our joint venture company, Fodbar, what is mainly paid basically from the cash and cash equivalent balances. So that impacts there, but nothing abnormal there, and the balance sheet remains strong. One question related to Sweden. Now the first order came. Anything else you would like to add on for the future opportunities in Sweden or in other export markets?
Well, maybe I could repeat the same thing that I already said. I do see that as a very positive potential for us in the future. We are not counting on that having a high effect on our figures at the end of the year or in the beginning of next year. Maybe, and hopefully, having the impact the further we go into next year and the upcoming years. But of course, we have many satisfied customers here in the Finnish market who are part of the same group as the companies in Sweden as well. So it is always easier to enter a new market when you have recommendations from your customers in your current market. So that is something that I see very positively as coming toward next year.
One question. You mentioned new public sector sourcing law possibly having a positive impact in the future. But in the short term, is the impact negative if the tenders are delayed?
Well, I hope not. Because I think we've seen the same already during the whole year, since we have been expecting here the law change to come into effect. Now we know how it goes and what it means, and we are already seeing tenders coming in. Plus, the public sector is not our only customer. We are, of course, all the time working with the private customers as well. I would say that we have quite good balance between different customer segments, so I don't see negative effect on that at this point.
Yeah. Then also one question related to the Fodbar. Can you comment on Fodbar revenue growth and margins?
Maybe you will comment that.
Yeah. The Fodbar business, basically the current management is working heavily to improve the profitability of the Fodbar. At the moment, we see that the business profitability is improving, and especially, we hope to see better results during the next year. But Fodbar is still quite small company, and there are big agreements. Hopefully at the end of the year, basically the next quarter session, we are able to comment a bit more of the Fodbar business, and also the growth prospects and the profitability. Then, how do you see future investments and acquisition possibilities? Any plans there yet?
Well, let's just say that we are keeping our eyes open the whole time. If we see and find something that would support Fodelia's growth, we are open, but at the same time, we are concentrating on growing our current business with the way we have been doing it so far. Keeping our eyes opened, and if there will be something, we will of course inform you immediately.
Okay. It seems so that no further questions.
All right. Well, thank you for joining us today, and have a great day.
Thanks a lot