Good day, everyone, and welcome to Kamux's quarter two results information. My name is Katariina Hietaranta, and I'm Kamux's Head of Investor Relations. Today we have our CEO, Tapio Pajuharju, and CFO, Enel Sintonen, presenting the results. After the presentation, we'll have a Q&A session. Please go ahead, Tapio.
Thank you, Katariina. Welcome on board also on my behalf. I'm very happy to have Enel Sintonen over here. Enel is rather fresh, started August the 1st, but I think during the journey you've been onboarding quite well, and you will get a very good insight on the financial numbers today from Enel. I think the headline tells it all. We had a bit of a shift in the focus and started on the profitability. That had a toll on the volumes, but I think today we'll run through the actions, what we have done, what is in the pipeline, and then have a bit look on the future as well. All in all, we'll have a deep dive on the Q2, and we'll have the first half altogether, have a look on the market positioning, have the highlights and the lowlights, and then the network development.
We'll have a review by country, focus on Finland and the changes in Sweden, and then have a look on the German strategy. Nothing major on that one, just an update on that, and then the financial development. At the very end, we'll have a look on the long-term targets and the outlook. We have the time for questions and comments at the very end. Please bear with us. All in all, I think the profitability was the focus and the highlight, and that's something we improved, and I think that had a toll on the net sales. On top of that, we had a lower number of stores. That had an impact also on the development of the net sales.
On the development on the car margin, I think in all of the three markets, we see a good step forward on the profitability per car sold, both on the margin as well as on the integrated services. As a result of that, we slightly improved our adjusted operating profitability for the quarter. Cash flow improving quite nicely, almost a EUR 30 million favorable delta on that. On the integrated services, both on the Kamux Plus as well as on the financial services, penetration staying on a very good healthy level or improving. At the same time, the relative profitability delivered by the integrated services improving compared to the net sales quite nicely. On the customer satisfaction, which we measure with the NPS, we remain on a high level at the 58, which is good in our line of industry.
On the market, I think the market was unfortunately not helping us. It was mainly flat or negative. Even on the markets like Finland and Sweden, where the market had a slight growth, that's mainly driven by the consumer-to-consumer sales. The organized used car dealerships were either flat or declining. New car sales, I think we'll have a look on a later stage. I think on the number of cars sold, it's evident that we took a rather big dip on that one. Having a bit on the look market by market, especially regarding Finland, we had a very good turnaround on the profitability, had a bit of a dip on the volumes. On the other hand, Kamux remains the number one in pieces sold in Finland, with a quite nice lead compared to the other one.
Even though they may have, as you read the advertising, say they're the largest on the pieces, Kamux is clearly number one on that respect. Sweden, we were declining, but taking a step to the right direction, a decline is less than in the past, and we remain on the top eight. Germany, I think we need to do a bit of a restart of the game, and that's in the pipeline, but we are so small, didn't have a big impact on the position on the marketplace. I think the new car sales is an indication of the consumer confidence. When looking at both Finland and Germany, still negative numbers. Lately, I think we've seen a bit of a change on that one, but during the first half, that was the result.
If you eliminate the company cars on that, the actual consumer sales, the negative is actually rather deep, and that has an impact on the used car business, which means that the car park is aging, and at the same time, the import is a must, and the volume of the import needs to go up, not only for this quarter, and forward for a longer period of time, Finland and Sweden need to import cars. Having a look on the graphs and the pillars, on the left-hand side, you will see the development of net sales, clearly a dip on that respect. Having a look on the right-hand side, we're starting with the Q4, where we had a rather soft performance on 2024 last quarter.
We had the same, and we did a bit of a cleanup on the inventory on the Q1, and now we are back on track and focusing on the healthy business and doing the change on the profitability, and I'm very happy for the development. We have found a sustainable way how to eliminate most of the negative margin deals, do zero calories with low or no margin, and then focus on the profitability of the cars. I will share in more detail the four steps we've been doing on that one. This one is rather evident, and I think impacting all the markets, and we took down on the number of cars sold, and as I said, the number of stores had an impact of, say, maybe 5% of the 18 or 22 on that one is dependent on the number of stores in our network.
This one, I'm very happy, and we're seeing the penetration numbers of the Kamux Plus insurance, finance sales, as well as the adjacent services like tires and tow bars in Sweden and tow bars in Finland. We are in the right direction, and our ability to earn with the adjacent services is improving. On top of the thing, I think in Finland, we are in a position where we can command the interest rate we ask from the market. We've been going to the other direction as the general market where interest rates of 1.49% or even 0% is available. We've been holding our margins on the financing extremely well. That will mean that not only for this half and this quarter, but going forward for the 24-36 months, we have something good in the pipeline. The same applies for the Kamux Plus.
Showroom development, we in Finland closed Savonlinna, no other major changes. We've been honing some of the works stores, and we've been honing some of the stores in the greater capital region. We are opening in Jyväskylä end of October, maybe beginning of November, largest used car dealership in the mid-part of Finland. That's where we have the state-of-the-art premises opening in the end of October, beginning of November. Sweden, no major change. We have gone through the lists of stores we have. Some of them have been improving profitability, not all yet, but I think all have a game plan to survive. I think during the fall, we'll then make a call how to go forward. We still have the need in the northern part of Sweden, as well as in the capital region, to improve our presence on the areas.
Germany, last year we closed two stores, and now we open one in Schwerin. That's the first store east of Hamburg, which is on the old eastern part of Germany, in an excellent location, in a good regional city, in the shopping area next to Aldi, next to Rossmann, on a roundabout and a crossroad. We had a team who had already been planning for that and half locals. We had a good flying start over there. That will be opening the first day of July. Finland, quite a major change on the way of operating. As I said, consumer market, and I think maybe for the ones who don't monitor the business in so detail, the consumer-to-consumer market is really focused on rather affordable EUR 1,000-EUR 3,000 value cars, all in combustion engine, and something we would maybe not sell in a normal case.
At the same time, we've been also changing our game plan. Our offering is closer to the market demand. I think in the past, we used to put quite good cars in the auction platform. We have opened our own Kamux outlet, which is only open for the professionals in the industry. That's the way we can mitigate the auction channel and improve our profitability even on the lower end of the value chain in that respect. Competition, especially on the sourcing market, has been really strong, and some companies have been beefing up the inventory. That's why import is extremely important. We've been also increasing our ability to do tradings, and we've been having good results on that one. On the four things we've been doing is the faster and more data-driven pricing. That's paying off, doing a good job on that one.
What we call demand management and sales and operation planning, our offering is now matching better the local demand and local needs. We are not perfect, but we are way better than we used to be in the past. On the inventory management, where we had a bit of a mixed bag, some stores doing a very good job, some not. Today we have a system where we are clearly more active, more centrally, and faster at addressing the inventory management. On top of that, we've been increasing the activity level. Now when we know that we have a solid background and we've been eliminating most of the negative deals, we have a very small part of low margin deals. We can step on the gas and improve the volume going forward. On the leadership, I think we had Joni Tuominen becoming the Interim Leader for Kamux Finland 16th of April .
He started in the company on the 1st, but took the new position in April. Joni and his team have been doing a good job, have been assisted also by Juha Kalliokoski, who assumed the role of COO, and improving our daily standards and daily operation, doing wonders on a daily basis, making that on a weekly basis, and then turning that into months and quarters going forward. I think some of you know that we had a competition authority addressing actually two of the best in the industry, Saka and us. We gave our response, but during the time when Kamux and Saka were headlines, that was visible on our consumer traffic and also on the amount of reclamations and complaints.
That's how it's now been going to normal, but I think we had a one week or 10 days where we had a bit of a tough time in that respect. Now it's normal, and whatever is the outcome on that one, we will implement according to the needs of the competition authority. It's a bit funny, we've been challenged by the competition authority on our ability to do quality, and our NPS is 59, which is one of the best in the industry. I think continue doing a good job on that one and try to still improve from the 59. All in all, lost on the top line, nice improvement on the car-related margins and the adjacent services, and then improving the total profitability of Finland in that respect. Sweden, and I think the journey we have over there, it's a declining market.
We still had a negative development on our own net sales, but having a look on the margin per car sold, having a look on the adjacent services delivered per every single car on that one, and having a look on the inventory turnover and the inventory healthiness, we've been doing a big step forward. At the same token, I think Johan and the team have done a good job on bringing up the spirit, and if we were a bit not so upbeat, now people start to feel confident, and we will see the numbers going forward. I think also our management team is now complete. We have a good colleague in Enel's team. We have a gentleman starting as a CFO in Sweden with a car background and experience in that respect. We have a good way forward.
Not seen any numbers as of yet, but direction is very good and very healthy in that respect. Germany, a bit of a different story, and I think the ones who have been following us before end of last year, we were very systematically going to the right direction step by step, but then we failed on the last quarter, both on the number of cars sold and then the profitability of cars. Since then, we've been suffering a bit on the inventory, volume of the inventory, the quality of the inventory, and we need to restart the engine. Do exactly the same, eye on the ball, back on the details, make the inventory right based on the local demand, do the pricing the Kamux way, do it fair and do it fast, and then go forward with the way of Kamux operating. That's where we are now restarting.
We have Marcus Mezödi starting with us on the 1st of July. He's a car expert from the past and knows both new cars and used cars, and I think we can restart the engine quite, quite fast. The offering we have is clearly in a better shape, but maybe we need a more versatile offering. We have a bit too many of the same brands, same colors, same mileage, and when people are looking at that on the mobile from Kamux, instead of seeing 900 cars, they maybe see 400 cars because we have too many of the similar quality, and that's something we're going to change. Market is unchanged on the players of the game. Of the four big ones, I think AURAS HOLDING is not public information. We know that they have their own challenge, but also good marketplaces in certain areas.
Aramisa uto, who used to be a bit in a challenging position, they have got the game together, and they are both promoting a very healthy growth on the top line, as well as on the profitability, and the systematic condition of the cars is paying off, and they've been gaining share. Autoh ero, a bit of a mixed bag in that respect, and our own game, we are back to the profitability and then stepping on the gas. I think our vision is unchanged, even though we are far away from that one, but as you saw on the previous slide, yes, we are far away, but not that far, and with our efforts, we can do organic steps forward, and on top of that, we have opportunities on the MBTAR arena if they are appearing on the marketplace.
Going forward, I think focus on the one Kamux, do the same way of the data-driven pricing, and I think during the journey, we've been understanding data-driven is not solely data-driven. It's a combination of a human professional skill set together with the data we have in our own system, as well as on the marketplace, providing a lot of information in that respect, and a combination of 60%- 70% professional skill set, enhanced by the available data, doing it fast and doing it right on the first go, improves both the buying process as well as on the sales process, making the sale faster, improving the inventory rotation, and helping the profitability to come faster, and that's what we are doing.
On our management of the assortment, which is the SNOP process, we are not perfect as of yet, but I think we have the first signs that can be done, will be done, and Finland has taken a good step forward on that one. Sweden started to enhance and do the same process earlier this year, getting there, and in Germany, we have just started the SNOP process. We will have the benefits of that. Most of you know that we work with our own KMS ERP system, which is also a hybrid CRM, and I think we had a lot of areas where we can do better, and we can help with the system for people to manage better on the daily work, and that is what we have started.
We still have some issues on the backlog, and they will come into play for the second half, but a good step forward on that one. On the inventory management for the stores who have been doing that and enhancing the business, no major change, but for the ones who are mediocre or not so good, we are helping centrally, and we have a great system how to help people to perform, do tasks, and execute the task. If that is not working, then central will come and help, and we have the same system in all of the markets. On top of that, as the market is very hectic, very dynamic, the speed of activity and the clock speed is something we monitor on a daily basis going forward.
The left hand on our strategy is customer promise. That is where we have been doing rather good, and we are maybe even a step ahead of the game over there, but we are never going to be perfect on that one, so we still have room to improve. On the operational efficiency, yes, we were lacking a bit behind. Now we are catching up, and I think most of the things we have stated are now happening in real life, and doing that already in Finland to a high degree. Sweden is starting to pick up, and Germany has a bit of a restart in some of the areas, but all known, all what is favorable but unknown to us, and we will be doing going forward.
On the MBTAR track, I think for the time being, we fixed the own game, and when we are ready, then we have an eye for that traction as well. Management team, very happy to have Enel on board. Enel is having an excellent background on the financial world, learning the retail and the car industry, and I said you will be learning on your holidays and at time off, and you hit the ground running. In Sweden, we have the pleasure to have Johan on board with an experience in both used car and new car business, already starting to make change. Germany, we have Marcus on board, now started and doing the things together with the central team over here.
Joni has been a fast learner, taking the Finland big step forward with his team, and as we are in the people business, we are happy to have Joanna in the HR role. I think on the training, motivation, and building up the spirit, Joanna's grip is more than fundamental, taking us forward. Aino continues in our Chief Marketing Officer role. On top of that, she's been taking a major step on the sales and operation planning process and working that in the central team, bringing it to the marketplace in Finland, now in Sweden, and later on in Germany as well. Juha has been very helpful in the Chief Operating Officer role, changing the way of daily routines in each individual market on the store, and I'm very happy to have Juha helping the country management team.
Jarkko is having an eye on the ball on our digital development, and now especially on the ERP, and then having a bit of an enhanced capability from the AI, both on the car flow, where we are better, but we are not perfect as of yet, and then the data. As you may remember, we have a lot of data, but to make the data in an understandable, factual way that people can make decisions based on that, we've taken a big step forward, and now we have visualized most of the data, so it's easy for the people to understand where we are, what is the pulse of today, what is the pulse of the week, what is the pulse of the month, and what is the trajectory where we are going.
I think it's time to give room for Enel and have a look at the financials in more detail. So welcome, Enel.
Yes, thank you, Tapio. Let's dig into the numbers and the key developments of the quarter. As I said, our revenue declined, and there were three key drivers impacting our volumes and revenue. First, we had a strong focus on pricing and margins, and we were selective on deals. As Tapio already said, we said no to zero margin deals, we said no to negative margin deals, and also to certain low margin deals. Second, despite the actions taken during Q1, our inventory was not optimal in the beginning of the quarter. We took proactive actions on purchasing, inventory management, and towards the end of the quarter, we had made a good improvement there. Third, we have in total 10 showrooms less than in quarter two 2024, and this accounted for about a fifth of the volume decline. These were the main reasons.
Again, our focus on profitable business paid off. We had a clear gross margin improvement in Finland and in Sweden, and a slight improvement in Germany. Gross profit per car was +25% higher than in the comparison period. In addition to margins, we also focused on cash flows and networking capital, and in the first half of the year, we generated EUR 28 million more cash compared to the previous year, half one. Once again, proactive purchasing and inventory management were the key drivers. The financial performance of the quarter demonstrates that we are directing our focus and efforts in the right areas. Here are several numbers. Yes, revenue declined substantially, 18.7%. At the same time, when we look at the profitability measures, many of those have increased. Gross profit as a percentage of revenue was 11.7% compared to 9.8%, a very nice improvement here.
Operating result was 0.8%, same as last year. Adjusted operating result was 1.4% to net revenue compared to 1.1%. Revenue from integrated services as a percentage of revenue has increased, 6.3% compared to 5.4%. I would like to point out inventory turnover. We were slightly behind last year, half one, so it was 54.1% to 53.1%. However, when looking at the whole year last year, we are slightly in a better position. A significant revenue decline, but major improvement in relative profitability. Here we have graphs. We can see here that our networking capital has improved 8.2%, and the major impact has been in lower levels on inventory, which was 12%. Operating cash flow, as I said, major improvement. When looking at the H1, we had positive cash flows from operating activities, 14.3%, and it was +EUR 28 million compared to the previous year.
Here were the financials, and back to you, Tapio.
Thank you, Enel. Having a look on the long-term targets, I think we are still far off on the 100,000, and I think we took a bit of a step back, but go back on stepping on the gas when we now have solid ground under our feet. I think the adjusted EBIT, we show that we can deliver the targets when we have all the components in the right place. NPS we can do, and I think we have occasionally been already above 60. I think the change in the way of operating was not favorable for everyone in the team, and that's why I think our eNPS took a bit of a hit. I think where we have tweaked the most the Kamux way, that's where we have the most of the negative development.
Now, going forward, I think we're going to see favorable numbers on that one as well, and people do understand that what we have been doing does not only have an impact on the company performance, it has an impact on their ability to earn on a monthly basis, quarterly basis, and yearly basis. That will be more favorable going forward. On the outlook, I think we remain on our previous outlook. We know it's not a walk in the park and not easy, but it's very doable, and our current analysis and forecasting points in that direction. If and when something happens, definitely we'll bring it up to speed as soon as we know, but that looks now good.
On our dividend, as decided at the AGM, the board is subject to board approval later in the fall to distribute EUR 0.07 per share, and I think we are in a position to deliver that when the board so decides. Back on the repetition and wrapping it up, yes, declining top line, major improvement in the margin per car sold, together with the integrated services improving quite nicely, and having a good grip on the business and control, and Finland making a turnaround, very happy for that. Sweden pointed to the right direction, still working the process, and Germany having a bit of a new start, but nothing unusual, nothing unknown, something we have done in the past and can do it again. Now it's time for questions and comments, and I think we first take the ones on the phone line.
Yeah, we take first on the phone line.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Maria Wikström. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, this is Maria Wikström from SEB. I had three questions. I'll take them one by one. I would like to start with the gross profit per car trend, and my question is that, I mean, you seem confident on your full year guidance despite you are quite a bit behind after the first half of the year. My question is that, is your confidence based on a month-by-month improvement by gross profit per car, or what is basically your confidence built for the full- year guidance?
It's a combination of the totality, and I think we have simulated every single month, every single market, and analyzed that in a totality. It's a combination of the volume, gross profit per car sold, and then the penetration level on the integrated services, and then a management on the operational costs in that respect.
Thank you. My second question is on the Swedish business. You currently have 17 showrooms, and if I recall right, you previously had three bleeding showrooms. How does it look currently, the profitability per showroom in the Swedish market, and what are your plans in Sweden to bring it back to the black numbers?
The plan is progressing rather well. Some of the stores are ahead of the schedule, some behind, but I think during the fall, we'll make the calls on certain areas. The jury is still out, and I think now we have also proven that some of the ones we thought are in a way fatally wrong have been coming back with the right people, right actions. I think during the fall, we'll come with the final outcome.
Okay, finally, I wanted to get a bit more details on the extraordinary items, the EUR 1.2 million that you reported with the Q2. What is this consisting of?
Yes, we have presented line by line in our half-year report and other items. We have closed the showrooms, so part of the costs are from closings, and also part of the costs are making changes in the organization. Those are the main lines in other items.
Okay, thank you. I have no further questions at this point.
Thanks, Maria.
Thanks, Maria.
The next question comes from Pia Rosqvist-Heinsalmi from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Hi, Pia.
Hello, everyone, and welcome, Enel. I got a few questions. I mean, from start with the gross profit per car, which seems now to be on an all-time high level. I'm trying to understand the sustainability and the drivers behind the current level. Why should we expect this level, or should we expect this level to be sustainable going forward? Any more color on how much of this improvement is driven by the integrated services and how much from the car sales?
Once again, it's a combination of all of the parameters in the value chain, but the main focus has been on the metal margin to make a healthy metal margin, and then on top of that, not giving up on the integrated services. I think that has proven to be repeatable, systematic, and sustainable. Going forward, we can continue in the same manner. We've been exercising that now the longest time in Finland, have a proven track on that one, started to do the same practice in Sweden, and going forward, Germany is entertaining exactly the same systematics. It also means that we will, as I said, we will say no to certain deals, and we will not be equally hungry on low margin deals than in the past. Now we have a solid ground, and we have solid metrics how to follow it.
I think the compensation model we have in all of the countries is supporting the development.
All right, thank you. If I continue with your current network consisting of 67 showrooms, I think based on this showroom network, how or what kind of a volume uplift do you think you can achieve, I mean, with the current network, without growing the network?
I think with the existing premises and when also counting, we have a KPI, which is capacity utilization. We calculate the places, indoor, outdoor, we have room to grow, big time room to grow. I think currently we are in a capacity utilization of 60% or even slightly less. We still have areas where we want to beef up. Like I said, in Sweden, when we hit the black numbers, most likely we need to expand in the greater Stockholm region. In the north, we have nothing north of Sundsvall, which is still a very important part of the market. Gradually, when we have black numbers in Germany, we are ready to take the next steps in that respect. At the same token, the car trading is becoming more and more digital and more centrally driven. It does not always mean that we need to open a new physical store.
Some of the current stores are maybe suboptimal in the size or the micro location. We still have some development on the network.
All right, thank you. My final question is regarding Sweden and your comment earlier in the call that you are making some decisions later this year. Do I understand correctly that you make decisions regarding your expansion plans in the country?
I think first of all, on our journey to the black numbers, we need to make a final call which stores will be part of the journey. I think we still have a handful of stores which we need to show that they can deliver and perform. Currently, it looks that most of those have been improving quite a bit and are in a good shape, but I think the jury is still out. When we know that, we are ready for the expansion. Currently, we for sure look at the ideas how to expand, but first we need to fix it and then we are ready for the expansion.
All right, that's all for me. Thank you.
Thanks, Pia.
Thank you. We shall see if there are any further questions.
The next question comes from Joonas Häyhä from OP. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi, it's Joonas Häyhä from OP Financial Group. Thanks for taking my question. I only have one and it's regarding Germany. Your losses there deepened somewhat compared to the last year. Can you elaborate what kind of challenges have you been facing there recently and has there been some kind of a change in market conditions or is the result more about improving your own game? How should we think about it?
I think we, like I tried to entertain on the 2024, we had a rather systematic journey towards the black numbers and then on the last quarter something changed and that has continued in our Kamux way of doing things. It has not been 100%. We need to adjust that and that's why we also have a change in the management. Now we are restarting that.
I think on the store network, the way we work, just restarting the way we used to do. On the inventory management, we had a bit of a lack of cars. Now we have the cars, but maybe the offering is not versatile enough. The number of cars is roughly right, but the actual offering of certain cars is not ideal for the market. Take an example of, for example, Ford Kuga. We may have nine or 11 of the same year, same mileage, different colors. When someone is looking for cars, then you take 10 out. Our 800 cars on the mobile.de is not 800, it's maybe 400. We need to improve the versatility on that one. When the sourcing market is complicated and difficult, the trade-ins play a big role and those you get very fast in the inventory.
We need to improve the offering and the way we work.
Okay, thank you. Maybe a follow-up. Can you update us on how many of your stores in Germany are profitable at the moment?
That's something we don't disclose. We still have a mixed bag on that one. On the other hand, we know exactly what to work and how to make it happen.
Okay, thank you.
Thanks, Joonas.
There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers.
Thank you. I think that we shall now take a couple of questions from the floor here, and then there are a couple of ones waiting via the chat.
Good.
Hi, I'm Rauli from Inderes. A few questions from me. You mentioned some changes in the compensation model as well as the hit on your employees' satisfaction. Can you elaborate a bit what you have been doing on that side?
Actually, that was not the meaning to say. I was saying that it's enhancing and supporting the move on the margin. We think people are hungry to do that, and they are also benefiting. Going forward, we are considering fine-tuning, but no major changes in that respect.
Okay, good. On Sweden, you say that you have been progressing on the turnarounds, but looking at your numbers, you are still taking quite a big hit on volumes and market shares and continuing to do quite meaningful losses on a quarterly basis. Why is that not visible in the numbers if you are making some clear progress there?
I think this was for the first half and the second quarter. Towards the end of the quarter, we've been seeing what is happening, and we also see how the market is looking like. Even if you look at the local market statistics, where we used to be booking 30%- 40% losses on a monthly basis, we are still on negative, but the numbers are way better than they used to be in the past.
Okay, okay. Can you give any indication what kind of volume development you are expecting for the second half? What kind of volume development is your guidance based on, given the quite big negative swing now in Q2? What should we expect for the second half?
I think we're still going to have a bit of a hit on the net sales and the pieces sold, but the profitability per car is way better. Gradually, we are gaining speed also on the volume, but we'll be hurting for the rest of the year.
That's clear. Thank you.
Okay, we've got Jussi, go ahead.
Jussi [Mikkonen]. We have purchasing, and everything else is more or less sales. Looking forward, what's the most important development activity in purchasing and on the other hand in sales side?
We said smart buying is very important. You need to buy smart, and you need to be very good with the pricing, and then the quality and documentation of the car is utmost important. At the same time, the car flow, when we need to import more and more cars like everyone else, the time to market is crucial for the valuation. If you take an average price car, use an example of EUR 30,000, if the car is on the road for 30 days or 14 days, there's a big delta on the profitability. The faster you can do it, the better, and the more you can trust on the documentation and the quality, the better you are on the market when it arrives.
Thank you.
Calle has a question, please.
Yes, thank you. Calle Loikkanen from Danske Bank. Just a couple of questions left for me. I was wondering about the number of cars sold and kind of what you are seeing for the second half. I mean, the 20% drop in the second quarter was quite sizable. Are you expecting, I think you said that you are perhaps still expecting a bit of decline on that or pressure on that downwards, but do you think that the 20% is a bit too much for the second half?
I think gradually we have found a way how to step on the gas, and I think we're going to see improvement. Still, for the totality, we're going to be hurting on the top line, but the profitability per car will be improving.
That is kind of your expectations for the second half, a weakish top line and then continued strong gross margins?
Correct.
Okay, got it. I was wondering about Germany or the comments you said that you've been kind of failing in inventory and offering in Germany. I was just wondering what has led to this. I mean, has something changed during the spring, early summer, or what has happened really?
I think it started already a bit earlier, but I think the way we work and we have one Kamux, one Kamux was maybe not followed to the detail, and that's now what we are restarting to do over there.
Okay. Perhaps lastly, I mean, looking at Germany and Sweden, they've been challenging for a long time, and sometimes it's been looking a bit better and sometimes a bit worse. Now I think we are still in the kind of the more challenging situation. For how long, I mean, how long kind of game time do you give to these two countries before you make the decision that perhaps it's better to not be involved in these countries?
I think Sweden, we are now working on very diligently, and we have our own timeline, which we are not disclosing, but I think we will not continue with the losses for eternity. There is a timeline when we need to call the shots. Germany, I think we now need to give it the time for the restart, and we were so close to making black numbers, so it can be done. If that's not happening, then we need to do something else.
Okay, thank you. That's all for me.
Very good. Yeah, let's take a couple of questions from the chat. Given the restart in Germany, Germany's strategy in offering inventory management and efficiencies, presumably Germany's profitability will continue to trend negatively in the H2. Is the Q2 adjusted EBIT margin at - 5% to -6% level a good benchmark for the upcoming quarters Q3 and Q4?
Regarding Germany or?
Regarding Germany particularly.
No, I think Germany is having the game plan to improve, and I think we have a good understanding that that will happen.
Very good. Thank you. About KMS, you have said that KMS helps with inventory and purchases, but for this quarter, just like the previous one, you are saying the wrong inventory was a problem. Shouldn't you just trust your own knowledge and not KMS and its historical data?
Good question. I think the truth is in between, you need to have both the professional grip and the system. I think the KMS is very helpful and very productive when used the right way. If not, it's not helping anyone. That's why we have onboarding, training, and learning, and helping the system to make right decisions and the system to say no also when the system says no.
Very good. Thank you. There are no further questions via the chat. What about the audience? Have you come up with any additional questions? No, everybody's happy. I think it's time for us to say thank you.
Thanks for the attention. Wish you a good day. Good luck. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.