Hello, welcome on board to Harvia's first half review. My name is Tapio Pajuharju. I'm the CEO of the company, and next to me we have Ari Vesterinen, our CFO.
Hello.
I think I will share our view of the past, maybe share a bit about the future as well, and I think Harvia has been gaining market share in all of the markets. On the other hand, I think the impacts of the Ukraine war and then also the fading away impact of the advanced demand had an impact on our top line and bottom line, and I will dive deeper on that one. Not our best quarter. On the other hand, it's good to remember that we were fighting against our all-time high quarter in that respect. Popularity of sauna continues to increase. Sauna penetration is growing in all of the markets.
I think we're facing more challenges than we expected on the Q2, and then some of those do continue going forward, but I will dive deeper on that one. Most of you remember that Harvia had a business of 6.5%, slightly ahead of EUR 11 million in Russia. That has been now impacted both directly and indirectly, and then declining sales in Germany and especially on our e-commerce. Three large customers on the e-commerce, we were feeling some of that and experiencing some of that on the Q1. Unfortunately that continued on the second quarter as well, and it's spreading around on the adjacent markets, mainly on the DACH area. Market share, I think even with the softer number than expected on Germany and DACH area, we've been gaining share.
The same applies for Finland, Scandinavia, USA, and especially happy about the performance in the other markets. I would like to highlight especially the Arabian region markets, Asia markets, and of the Asia markets, maybe Japan especially doing good on that one. The sales force we have had on the Russia marketplace, we've been redirecting to new markets and to existing markets where we have been gaining speed, so very happy for that change. On the entry-level saunas and heaters, yes, the demand was weaker than expected, and I think the supply chain has been destocking and digesting the inventory. In the past, I think everyone in the industry was buying whatever because everyone was pushing a high order stock forward, and now that has a bit of a backlash on that one.
Having said that, very strong and solid on the premium and luxury categories, both on the heaters and equipment and saunas, and especially the professional is now gradually returning very strongly back on that one. I think our strategic ambition and impact is to sell the whole sauna. We've been very good in that. On the other hand the heaters took a hit. I think something we were not able to fully forecast and predict is that the Kirami still water hot tubs take a major hit, partly due to the economic and partly due to the travel, and that's something which we need to tackle and figure out how to do that.
Sales definitely had an impact on our profitability on the absolute terms. On the relative terms I think the sales mix was good in strategic terms. On the profitability in relative terms, unfortunately we book a very solid margin in saunas on the absolute euros or dollars. On the relative profitability it's clearly less than we book on the sauna heaters and other sauna equipment, and that's now fully visible on this one. I think the slower rotation of some of the Russia-related receivables, we've been preparing for that and took an extra reserve for a potential write-down or a write-off on this one. I will later on quantify that a bit more in detail.
Even though some of the cost inflation is also fading away, still, quite a bit of the core raw materials going up. We've been able to mitigate that, extremely well. On some areas there is a bit of a delay, and, for those ones we're gonna be fully in place for the second half of this year. I think on top of that, most of you may remember that we didn't have any own factory operations in Russia, but we were sourcing some of the steel componentry out of Russia. We've been now in-housing that, to the full main part to our own factory in Muurame and then part to a third party in the southern part of Finland.
That's also increased cost a bit, and now we've been covering with the incremental activities on the pricing also, that's for the second half. I think going forward, last year, we used to push a fairly heavy and high order stock in front of us, like all of our customers. That's now faded away, and we've been going more to the normal. The normal means that we have visibility for two-three weeks ahead, and then we see that some of our customers are still destocking even though the fundamental demand is good. I think that impact we cannot avoid. We are part of the same value chain, but I think the overall sales to the end consumer is good and solid.
I think the energy price, and that's maybe especially in Finland, it's been inflated to a level which may be beyond any means. But I think in general, all of these headlines may have an impact on some of the markets. At the end of the day, still the sauna use for a normal family, even if the cost would be double of today, then you would pay a maximum of EUR 4 per Sauna Session. When you divide that with three or four or five people, the cost is actually not that much. But I think the perception may still have a bit of an impact on the way forward.
Long-term growth outlook, and I think the market penetration is unchanged, and especially when stating that the market will grow double digit in value, that's very foreseeable. Then in the volume and pieces, maybe for the short term, there will be a bit of an impact longer term also on the volume that will prevail and we'll be going forward on that. I think the Harvia team and our partners have been doing a very good job despite the extremely challenging situations on the supply chain and on the market. Our cost base and operations, we've been addressing that to a certain extent. Net working capital, we've been also addressing.
Unfortunately, the softer top line did not bring the full impact of our activities visible, but we continue monitoring and acting very agile on both the cost and the net working capital going forward. On our capital investments, which used to be on the very high side last year, for this year, we've been only doing fill-in investments, mainly improving our efficiency in the operations, something also in the logistics. Going forward, we will only increase automation to certain factories. For this year, we're gonna be substantially below prior year in that respect. Having a look on the second quarter, I think it's good to remember that we are now comparing to our all-time high quarter. Revenue decreased unfortunately slightly, and then the mix changed a rather big way in that one.
Operating profitability took a hit and went down due to the sales volume as well as on the sales mix. On top of that, the potential reserve for the write-off of some of the Russian receivables, I think, had an impact. I think now we are booking a 19% operating profit in relative terms. If without that Russian reserve, we will be having 20.5 or 20.6, depending how you count. This time also the currency was luckily favorable. We got a bit of a tailwind on that one. Earnings per share slightly down from prior year, almost EUR 0.50. Now we're at EUR 0.40. Then the net working capital did have an impact on our operating free cash flow.
We were not able to boost as much as we had in our plans. Net debt has been increased, and Ari will come back on that one. Equity ratio is still very healthy, and we are at 44% as we speak. When taking a look for the first half, then we are still on a growth mode and are having a decent top-line growth and beating the market on that one. Then on the operating profitability, unfortunately down from prior year all-time high numbers. Then on the earnings per share, we are also slightly below. I think all in all, very solid performance in a very challenging market situation.
By the way, for the ones who've been wondering what is happening in Asia, the picture on the left-hand side, that's from a very recent project in Tokyo. It's called Spa Metsä Otaka, very close to the Tokyo center, equipped with very nice Harvia equipment over there. Very happy for the performance over there. Our three strategic paths for the continued profitable growth. We've been increasing value of the average purchase, and this time maybe even ahead of the plan because our share of the complete sauna rooms taken a big step forward. Unfortunately then taking a hit back on the equipment sales, which is highly profitable for Harvia, but that's mainly and only related to the German and DACH area in that respect.
Premium and professional, it may be hidden behind the numbers, but over there we've been having very solid and strong performance of all of the brands, and especially on the EOS, they've been doing a good job on the luxury and professional in that respect. I'm very happy to see that the professional channel is coming back after the COVID effects, and most of the markets are opening or reopening the facilities, and there are only very few markets where there are lockdowns on the saunas as we speak. On the geographical expansion, we continued solid gain in the U.S. In Finland also extremely good growth and a good extension on our distribution. Scandinavia remained extremely solid and strong.
Maybe on the Asian and Arab countries, they don't get the spotlight because they are the other markets, but over there we've been performing very good. On the Japanese market, together with our partners, it's very systematic, solid way. The showrooms we've been building together with Bergman, it's now up to five showrooms. I think the quality of the showrooms, the customer contact and route to market is improving as we speak. The EOS launch, now we have the Finnish, Scandinavian working. For the U.S., we have approvals for the heaters. We are still pending on the control unit approval, but they will be in the pocket very soon, and then we can do a full-blown launch in the U.S.
On the productivity improvement, our operations, for sure we've been working on the productivity. At the same time, we've been adjusting our capacity to meet the demand and work on the net working capital, and the team has done a good job in a challenging environment to adjust our capacity accordingly. The expansion investments are now a bit muted. On the other hand, we've been doing a lot of small add-on investments to improve automation and productivity over there. The Lewisburg factory we acquired a bit more than a year ago, and then fully equipped that to be the factory of the future for the U.S. for the latter half of last year, is now in full speed and actually slightly ahead of the plans and doing extremely good job.
Also the offering and the versatility of the offering has been improving. Our capability in the U.S. both on the operational as well as on the offering has improved substantially. We are very happy for the performance, and the team has done an excellent job on the U.S. Marketplace. On the mergers and acquisitions, I think the Kirami, we are very happy for the acquisitions as such, adding value on our backyard paradise concept. It's a pity that it took a big hit on the domestic marketplace and some of the European markets mainly due to the economy and then the travel hit on that, which we have not been exploiting to the full is the capability on the saunas.
I think on the picture you see one of the saunas they also make. They are ready-made saunas which you can lift on your front yard or backyard, and this is something we're gonna speed up the sauna development on Kirami. Sauna-Eurox, we've been very happy and pleased with the cooperation and also adding value to Harvia's stone portfolio both on the premium as well as on the decorative, as well as on the professional pre-heat treated stones for the professional use, so doing good on the marketplace. It's a sad story on Kirami taking a hit on the domestic marketplace with the hot tubs and on the core markets, but it will come back when the travel is easing out.
Impacts of the war in Ukraine, I think this is partially already old news, and most of you have been experiencing what is happening. We got both direct and indirect hit. The top line we used to have in Russia was slightly ahead of EUR 11 million. Harvia has stopped the business in Russia in month of March. EOS is continuing the pre-agreed and pre-prepped projects where we still do have, whether fortunately or unfortunately, this time unfortunately, a lot of projects to be finished, and we will be finishing towards year-end in that respect. That's why when you look at the numbers on the year-to-date and the last year, Russia looks a bit funny.
We've been speeding up the progress of the EOS project in Russia and try to complement them as fast as we can. The situation, we still have some receivables from the Russian customers. They are in good faith and are paying as fast as they can, and I think we will get the money. To play safe, we took a reserve and precaution for roughly a value which Ari will disclose later on. Today, we are monitoring the situation extremely closely and try to stay agile and move. By the way, on the Ukrainian marketplace, even though they are badly suffering and are really in a difficult situation, I was pleased a couple of weeks ago to receive the first order from Ukrainian marketplace.
Sauna is back on the agenda in Ukraine, that's in a way good news in that respect. On the geographical split first, I think the impact on Germany is very visible on this chart. That's also highlighting the impact of Finland and then rest of the markets, and especially strong development on the other markets. Even though it's still a small share, it's been more than doubling from 3% to 7%, and the other markets is, in a way, hiding a lot of effort on the new markets, Asia, Arabian origin markets, some of Latin America where we have good inroads. Those are well hidden over there.
I think on the pie chart on the right, that's also very fundamental change on that one. The ones who remember the old history, heaters always used to be more than, clearly more than 50%. Last quarter two was a bit extraordinary. It was just 50%. Now the change on the saunas and heaters is really big. Saunas fell below 50%, now 42%. I think on the heaters and equipment, the beauty of Harvia is that we've been able to obtain a very solid profitability even on the entry-level heaters, and that's why our relative profitability has taken a bit of a hit. Very happy on the development on the saunas in terms of strategy.
In terms of the profitability, unfortunately our skill set and capability to obtain equally good margin in the saunas is not there yet. We've been improving it day to day, and then going forward, we get better. But to reach the exactly same profitability will take minimum 18 months, 24 months going forward. So that's there is no magic route. We just need to take baby steps on that one. The rest of the portfolio is clear. The other product groups is also increasing quite nicely. That also tells that we've been selling the whole portfolio, which is exactly according to our strategy book in that respect.
Taking a first half look picture is roughly the same, but I think the volatility is less on the six-month perspective. I think the core message is exactly the same. Diving deeper on the markets, individual markets. Even though the numbers like in Finland is not very strong, we've been gaining share with our number in that respect. Same applies for Scandinavia. Even though the German market number looks awful and is soft, with this number we are ahead of the game. In the German marketplace, there has been a lot of destocking and net working capital actions by our customers. In this stormy water, we've been sailing rather well.
What has been evident in Germany in Q1 has now been spreading to some of the other European markets, mainly in the DACH region and then Russia, as said, the EOS impact and speeding of the project is visible on this number. North America, sauna sales doing an extremely good job on the heaters, bit of a destocking impact visible over there. The other markets doing a very good job. Unfortunately, still too small, but we've been increasing the efforts and actions on the other markets to basically offset and mitigate the Russian impact in that respect. Having said that, it's very evident we cannot immediately replace the lost Russian volumes, but we can gradually gain new business.
I think in the months and years to come, we're gonna be easily replacing the lost Russian business, but not in a month, not in a quarter, not in a year, but in a midterm that's very doable. On the first half, picture is roughly the same. The Germany impact is less drastic, but overall the picture remains the same. Having a look on the product groups, and this is maybe where first of all very happy for the sauna room. When you keep in mind that the Scandinavian hot tubs has taken a major hit, the sauna rooms has been really selling well. Then unfortunately, the sauna heaters, due to the Germany and DACH region mainly has taken a hit.
For sure, Russia is also part of that impact. Control units tend to follow sauna heaters, but I think this is also a good indication that it's mainly been hitting on the entry-level heaters, and the entry-level heaters are usually with the integrated control unit. With the separate control unit has taken a lesser hit than the heaters in general. Steam generators unfortunately suffering from the Russia and the ex-Soviet Union impact. The other categories doing very good job and growing nicely. The same picture on the first half, it's a bit muted, but roughly the same core message on the first half.
Having a look on the revenue, this is maybe the ones who've been longer on board may remember that the sauna business we've been describing, it's seasonal business. Quarter one and quarter four used to be the strong ones. Now for last year, we've been pushing a bit of the high order stock ahead of us. It's been becoming more, I would say, evenly split. I think on top of our geographical expansion, the split will be more even. I think due to the pandemic, the split has become even a bit too even. We foresee that the pattern to return a bit more seasonality is there. We estimate the Q1 and Q4 to be stronger in the future as well. I think that's part of the normalization we foresee.
On the adjusted operating profit, a big step down. On the other hand, we are still roughly on the 20% profitability. Going forward, we have good activities to bring it back to higher level than that. On our strategy, we remain extremely loyal on the chosen path. As we speak, we are actually very strong on the traditional sauna. We've been gaining a bit speed on the infrared saunas, but not to the extent we wish and we have in our plans. On the steam rooms exactly the same. On the project business, steam is very essential part of that. That's where we still have lot of ideas and lot of action and ammunition to improve Harvia game plan on the infrared and steam.
Not to mention maintaining the good speed and momentum on the traditional sauna. Our strategy remains extremely loyal also on the three paths for profitable growth and on increasing value of the average purchase on top of the heater, on top of the sauna. I think on the accessories, and especially going further away on the new markets, we realize that the accessories play a bigger role, and then also the infrared and steam plays a bigger role. On the geographical expansion, I think on top of the emerging and reopening Asia, we have good inroads in the Americas. On top of North America, i.e. Canada and U.S., the Latin America is waking up.
Lately, even though it's very, very small, but saunas is gaining speed on the northern part of Africa, then also on the southern part of Africa, so we'll also focus on that. It's good to remember when opening a new market, the first year is maybe EUR 20,000-EUR 30,000, but thereafter it starts like a snowball impact going forward. On our productivity improvement, we will stay very loyal to the action plans we have taken. On the output and on the agility of addressing and adjusting the output, I think we've been increasing focus on that one. When market goes up, we are ready to make it, and if it goes down, we are ready to adjust our capacity in that respect.
The same applies for our cost base, so we remain extremely active and agile addressing our cost base going forward if needed. I think on the acquisition of EOS, this is already also old news, and as agreed on the time of acquisition, now we have both the remaining shares and have become a full owner of the EOS company and all the assets of the EOS. We are extremely happy with the performance. The EOS team has done a good job, and they've been both growing the top line and the bottom line. We used the same multiple for the valuation of the remaining shares. I think the whole management team of Harvia and everyone on board is extremely happy and pleased that Mr.
Kunz will continue in his current capacity, both as a managing director of EOS Group as well as a member of the management team of Harvia, so extremely good step in that respect. The transaction does not affect the ownership of EOS Russia. We still own it 80%, and the remaining shares it is with Vasily Sosenkov, who is the CEO of EOS Russia. I think I would pass the word to Ari, and Ari will take a deeper dive on the financials.
Okay. Thank you. Actually, Tapio told already the essentials of the profitability of Q2 and H1. Probably you have noticed that the operating free cash flow has declined, and that's mainly due to the high level of net working capital. It's actually on a record high level, and that's mainly due to rather high inventories, which will go down during the next quarters. We have been serving our customers well, keeping high inventories, and now they are on the top level. Since the advanced demand faded away a little, we will reduce also the levels of inventory in next months. The leverage 0.9 is still under our, let's say, long-term financial targets.
As Tapio told, we acquired EOS majority with EUR 19 million at the end of July. If we would have had already that net debt or additional interest-bearing debt in our net debt, the leverage would have been on the level of 1.4, so still quite low leverage. The number of employees at the end of the period, it hasn't actually increased anymore. We are now looking quite, let's say, actively at our capacity and the size of the organization and reducing some work staff where possible and needed. Here we see the net debt and leverage development.
As I said, in Q3, the net debt will go up about EUR 19.3 million altogether, minus then what we can generate cash flow during the next quarter. The net financing costs, we have been quite successful actually in hedging our interest risks and swaps. The IFRS valuation of the swap derivatives has brought us value on paper. Fair valuation has been quite positive during Q1 and Q2, and that's why we are showing actually negative net financing costs during that time. As you see, with the dotted line, the cash interest, they have not gone down so much. They are also going down because of our new financing agreements at the end of the last year.
Of course, the EOS acquisition will increase the level of finance costs slightly. Anyhow, that's the story behind the negative interests right now. As said, the investments in tangible and intangible assets, they have been now substantially lower than last year, and this will be also the pace during this year. We have a lot of good capacity and machinery, but altogether, we always replace some machines and increase our production efficiency where needed. The amount of shareholders at the end of June, it was 45,600 almost. What I noted for July, it has been even going up.
Especially households, private investors are very much interested in having the Harvia shares, and that's nice. The share of the international nominal registered shareholders has gone down slightly compared to last year, but no big steps there. Our long-term financial targets, they are still the same as in the past. Now in the profitability, we were slightly under this long-term target in Q2, but we still believe in these targets, and they are intact. As Tapio said, we believe also in the annual revenue growth over 5%, it might be two-digit even, at least in value.
Harvia's dividend policy, we pay increasing dividends biannually, twice a year, and the next dividend payout will be in October, EUR 0.30 per share. Questions?
No, I think we are ready for entertaining questions. Operator, please go ahead.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press zero-one on the telephone keypad. Please hold until we have the first question.
While we are waiting, I think we can also activate the chat, and I think you can.
Yeah
Post your questions on the chat.
Yes
We wait.
I have here a long list of questions, and we can start to work on them too.
Unless the operator, how does it look?
We have no question at this time.
Yeah. We start entertaining from the
Yeah
chat.
Yes. There is a first question, or the most recent, let's put it that way. What is the value of the current outstanding receivables in Russia after the provision? We don't disclose that exactly, but we have substantial receivables there still and as you probably may can calculate, we made a reserve of potential write-offs based on the IFRS 9 rules of about EUR 670 thousand in Q2. There might come some other write-off reserves in future, but the fact is that our customers are willing to pay, and they will pay, but some payments are now overdue quite heavily. That's the current fact. Do you have a view of inventory situation of your customers currently?
For some of the customers, we do keep thumb on the pulse, especially on the e-commerce customers which are rather transparent. For some of the smaller, like sauna builders in larger quantities, we don't have a call. For the do-it-yourself customers, we also have a good grip. For the wholesalers, we have a good grip. I think overall, what we see in the especially in the European marketplace, destocking, depending on the category or not, is just a maybe headquarters action. People are exercising and executing that in every category, even if there is need or not. I think unfortunately, we are part of the same theme even if there is no need on that.
I think that will ease out, and now some of the customers are returning back, but that's what we've been experiencing for some time. It will not fade away completely, but I think gradually fading away.
Is EOS doing business in North America yet? There was another question also about the EOS product approvals in the U.S.
Yeah. It first start with the product approvals. We have now the approvals for all of the heaters, but the EOS premium and professional heaters need to be operated with the control unit. The control unit is still pending, but we'll get it in the near future, and then we are good to start. We have met with the core customers. We are ready to launch and start. And as we speak, there are actually one very nice luxury spa which is already operating with EOS equipment. They've been recently opening that spa. Yes, we are in the market, but we have not sold a single heater as of yet.
When we get the control unit approved, then we can start business both in the eastern part of the U.S. as well as on the West Coast. Midwest, we are still negotiating with our customers.
Okay. What is the estimate for Russian sales during H2 2022?
For Harvia, it's very easy. It's zero. For the EOS project, we try to complete all of the projects which are prepaid and the amount was higher than we expected. It's EUR 2 million plus a change on that one. That's roughly the volume we need to complete.
Any chance that you have to buy the last 20% of EOS Russia due to the sales option?
I think there is no obligation, as we speak today, and we've been investigating what are the alternatives on that one. When we are ready, we'll come back with the way we move forward.
North American market outlook. Have you expanded your distribution partner network? What kind of plans you have going forward?
I think North American outlook remain strong and steady. I think what it would try to explain in most of the markets, North America used to be a bit seasonal and will be a bit seasonal now when the order stock is in a way normalized. We've been just going through our demands and plans for the fall, and our forward looks good.
When it comes to the infrared sauna, they are easier to install and all these advantages. You have mentioned many times that you need to improve that field. What is your strategy with infrared saunas? Is there something that prevents you to grow in that segment?
We are not known to be the player in the infrared, and an infrared market is, in a way, two-fold. One is North America, and they have three or four, I would say, mainstream brands on the infrared. To break through with our brand and history and distribution, not easy. We've been doing it gradually. Do it big way, very slow. We do that. On the European Marketplace, it's roughly the same, but the number of players is basically two. To break through and be at par with this, not easy and not fast. On top of our organic growth, we remain open for M&A actions as well. If and when they prevail, we are ready to do some action on that.
Electricity prices sky-high in many European countries, and future indicates it will stay on high level. How that will affect demand in coming 6-12 months? Will sales in Germany stop?
I think if the energy prices will remain where they are, it will not stop the sales, and still the cost of using the sauna is rather low. On a family sauna, even if the price would be double of today's market, then we talk about EUR 4, maximum EUR 5 per sauna session. When you divide that with the people who are enjoying the sauna, it's less than a bottle of Coke or glass of beer or whatever. In that respect, it's not, in a way, decisive. On the other hand, it may have an impact on some of the people who are having no savings and have been facing the increased fuel prices, increased cost of heating up the home and also increased grocery prices.
They may consider the sauna frequency. At the end of the day, it will not have a big impact in that respect. For the professional use, I think alternative heating methods will be considered. I think more, I would say, smart energy use is coming into play. For us, that usually means more expensive equipment, incremental features for the equipment, and that's improving the business. On the KUSATEK, we have a small division in Germany where we sell gas heaters. Those may suffer a bit with the existing gas prices. The ones who have access to biogas, they will continue operating normally. The ones who don't have access, they may need to convert into electricity, and converting into electricity is also good business for us.
We estimate none of these to be closed unless there is some kind of a governmental decision not to have the energy available for this type. If that would happen, then many other things would also be restricted.
Now you have plenty of new production capacity as you have invested in that. Are you going to now reduce the prices in order to get the capacity usage? Or what do you do with the excess capacity available now?
I think on the pricing tool, I think will remain untouched. I think we rather adjust the capacity and output. Then also now when we are eating up the net working capital, we will do it a bit in a speedy manner. I think the pricing tool and pricing mechanism, we'll try to not touch. I think the only thing we're gonna do is some of the tactical prices which are not psychologically on the right price point, we may address. We may have some. I just realized that I went through the market prices on areas where we have heaters maybe with EUR 712. Psychologically, maybe the better price is EUR 699, but we'll not do anything in big volume on the pricing tool and pricing mechanism. There is no need.
I think that's not helping us or anyone else in the industry.
There will be new emissions restrictions and rules in the near future. How is Harvia prepared for them in wood burning heaters?
I'm very pleased to inform that we are extremely well prepared. We are part of the standardization committee on the European level. It happens to be that our chief technology officer is the chairman of the board on this team, and I think we are well in the game.
Your commercial business is generating about 10% of the sales. This is, by the way, a little higher number. Do you see the share to increase in future given the reopening of fitness and wellness centers? Do you see this segment growing faster than the residential segment in the coming years?
On the new markets and on the professional, this is something where we've been mainly a component supplier supplying either the heater, some of the control units, some of the illumination, some of other wooden materials. Going forward, we are entertaining the opportunity to enter more on the project business. Currently, our skill set and capability to do that in a big scale is not there. We've been doing it on and off on certain markets to have our business cards available so that we can do it. We are beefing up our capability on that area, but it's something you cannot do in a snap of a finger. You need to do it systematically and also deciding where to play and how to play, and that's something we've been doing as we speak.
How much of your Q2 sales come from delivering the so-called excess order stock?
I think coming into Q2 almost no excess stock any available.
COVID is still an issue in Asia. Can you see advanced demand there, or is this presently growing sustainable?
I think the advanced demand in Asia, it's, and then taking maybe a step back, and that's what we've been also saying. Harvia used to enjoy maybe advanced demand mainly on the Alpine region and north of that and didn't enjoy any of that in Asia. Advanced demand mainly applicable for residential markets where sauna penetration is already high to start with. On the new markets, it's not prevailing.
The absolute purchase price for remaining 21% of EOS German operations was almost the same as for the original 29%. Given the acquisition multiple was the same, does that mean that EOS absolute profits quadrupled from 2019 to now?
If you've done the math, then that's the outcome. Then EOS has been performing extremely well both on the top line and on the bottom line, and that's the valuation.
The premium segment is selling extremely well in Central Europe still.
Elsewhere as well, premium is rock solid.
From what I understand, there is a high level of replacement in heater sales. Sauna rooms are more dependent on new builds. How do you explain therefore that heaters are less resilient than sauna rooms?
Sauna rooms, I need to try to go back. The rule of thumb we use is that of sauna room business, 60% used to be replacement and 40% new build. On a lifetime of a sauna room, people may change the heater 2-3 times, and that's why the sauna heater business is more resilient than actually more replacement than the sauna rooms is. I think that has not changed in the past and most likely will not change in the future either.
There is more question towards the board, but I will ask this anyhow. Let's see how we comment it. How you consider purchasing Harvia's own stocks rewarding the shareholders in that way? With the current share price, does that seem like a tempting option?
Now we are on an area which is not on my turf or my property. I think for the board and for considerations, for sure that's been on the agenda. One day either they will come out with a decision or they will not come out with a decision. That's beyond my command.
Okay. These are now the current questions we have in the chat. Anything else?