Welcome! My name is Tapio Pajuharju. I'm the new CEO of Kamux, and next to me, we have-
Good morning. My name is Marko Lehtonen, I'm Kamux CFO.
Welcome aboard. Today, we will go through a bit of the performance during the first half. We'll also reflect bit about the market, and then I think at the end of the presentation, we have time and can entertain some questions and comments at the very, very end. All in all, I, I think we will have a good look on the functions and actions during the first half, and especially in the Q2. We'll have a bit of a deeper view on the market and how Kamux has been performing in the marketplace. Marko will have a deep dive on the financial performance, and at the end, we will have a bit of a reflection on the market outlook, our targets, and then have a summary at the very end. I think our vision is unchanged.
We continue working on this one. As we understand, a lot of has happened on the marketplace. We used to be number three. We've been now on the, on the position number five globally on the, the European marketplace, and I think we have some ingredients and actions to do to get back on the, on the podium. I have now been on the, on the steering wheel exactly about two months. Then I've Before that, I was two years on the board of directors, so I had a bit of an onboarding on that one. I have to give special thanks for Juha and the whole team of Kamux for onboarding me extremely well and the warm welcome I have had.
I, I think on the numbers, you will see that the team has done a good job, and we are gradually improving on the, on the performance, both on the actual sales but also, also gradually on the margin and profitability in, in that respect. I'm, I'm not equally good expert as Juha was on the, on the global industry, and I don't have exactly deep insight, but so far I think it's very clear and evident that I consider Kamux to be like a pre-owned car. It has had some mileage, it's been well-maintained, but it deserves some systematic maintenance and some of the upgrades. I think the first and, and the utmost important things are on the customer experience and on the omnichannel atmosphere, and I think that's where we already have had some initial plans.
We will speed up the execution of those. Then the other thing is that productivity is an integral part of, of the performance and the profitability, and we will tackle the productivity in, in a big way going forward. All of the efforts we have in the pipeline, they will improve Kamux's competitiveness in our marketplaces and potentially in the future of the new places as well. Then, at the end of the day, should be visible also on the, on the bottom line. That's what the Kamux team is, is now implementing and, and doing as, as we speak. Oops, take one, one back. I, I think on the top line, rather solid performance and slightly increasing, margins improving, operating profit adjusted at par with the prior year, slightly ahead, like-for-like sales growing.
I think later on we have a bit of a deeper look on the Sweden. Unfortunately, the SEK was not favoring us. We got a bit of a, I would say, headwind on that one. Then I think at the end of the day, we've been doing good on the integrated services, except the finance, which has been challenged due to the increased interest rates, but I think Marko will entertain you more on that going forward. I think after the turmoil, due to the war, inflation, energy crisis, now the markets are gradually stabilizing, actually starting to grow, especially on the used car marketplace. I think we've been gaining share, and we've been gaining momentum on that respect.
Still, it's good to remember that the actual prices, even though they've been stabilizing, they are not ahead. They're actually below the 2021 and 2022 in, in that respect, so still some work to do , on that one. On the Swedish, Finnish marketplace, we, we increased rather nicely and had a good, good game on that one, and I think we maintain our position and on the number of cars sold on the market share, we, we are rather solid, solid in our leadership in, in that respect. Sweden, very happy for, for the change on the game. I think the team in, in, in Sweden has done multiple good things, and now they're gradually surfacing on, on top of the agenda, and we see the results over there.
I think the challenge is that Swedish market, due to the weakening krona, has been emptied by multiple other markets. The Swedish car no longer end up in Sweden and Finland. They go in even in the southern hemisphere, in Europe, Czechia, Hungary, Germany, and all of the European marketplace. That's why the sourcing market has been extremely challenging in Sweden. Then in Germany, I, I think the market has been stabilizing before. I don't know even the exact reason, reason, the Schleswig-Holstein, the northern part of, of Germany, has been declining on the used car market sales. New car sales have been rather strong and solid, the used cars, especially in northern part of Germany, has, has gone down. We are investigating the main, main reasons.
I think so far, the reason we have come up is that it's an extremely wealthy area. It's actually the one of the wealthiest areas around Hamburg, and maybe the new cars have gained more attention than the, than the used cars. Our own game on the used cars has been rather good and solid. On the marketplace, as, as you can see, we are no longer on the top three, but we are hanging in on the, on the, positions number five. I think during the time on the top three and also the fourth one, they've done a lot of actions, opening new markets and also some M&A activity in that, that respect, whereas Kamux has been rather stable in our, our markets and in our way of operating.
Jumping into the actual performance on the top line and on the profitability, sold prices increased very nicely. The prices, as said, were slightly lower than on the 2022 and 2021. Forex impact, especially the SEK , and that's the only currency we have, did a bit of a hiccup on our top line, roughly on the magnitude of EUR 5 million. Constant currencies, we would have had incremental EUR 5 million on the top line. Finland, after a bit of a struggle and hiccups, we are finally steady.
Now we've been doing good, game change on that, that respect, and I think the team Finland has, in a way, built up a sustainable way how to operate the game, and also the spirit of the team is, is on a very, very good, good mood on, on this respect. Sweden, I'm very happy to see the results over there. Finally, the game is surfacing on the top line and also on the bottom line. Sad news is that Kerim Nielsen, who's been with us already sometime, he's leaving us. He is leaving us at the year-end. He got an offer he couldn't refuse, and we are very happy for him.
We have started recruitment. I think the current car business in Sweden is in such a transition that we will have a good pool of good candidates, but they will be maybe towards the end of the year, Q1 of next year, before we have a succession over there. Meanwhile, we are beefing up the organization in Sweden and helping Kerim to perform until year-end in that respect. Germany, it was not an easy game, especially on the northern part of Germany. The market was declining. We had a bit of a, I can say, maybe not so relevant inventory, which we were cleaning up at the end of the Q2 for the professional channel. At the same time, we opened the new Düren shop.
It's doing extremely well, but I think the marketing expense we put on that one was rather heavy, and it was focused mainly, mainly on the Q2, so that's visible on the German, German numbers in, in that respect. On the profitability, you can see that we adjusted level. We were roughly at par, and now we are on the right trajectory, and we'll, we'll do a good job on that respect. Maybe the years are not alike, and last year, the second half was rather challenging. This year, still not easy, but we see it easier than, than prior year in that respect, so we should have rather good comparable numbers ahead, ahead of us. On the pieces sold, we did a good job in Finland.
That's very important because most of our incremental services are based on the pieces sold, so that's helping, helping on that respect. Sweden, good but still below prior year, Germany, good, but it's good to remember that it's including some of the cleanup we did for the professional channel. I, I think on the Finland integrated services, we will entertain that in a bit more in detail during Marko's, Marko's presentation. On the Kamux Plus, we have done very good job with the new upgraded version.
The penetration rates are solid and increasing with the finance fees in the new environment, with the higher interest rates, which in the car industry have gone from 0.99%, 1.99%, 2.99%, 4.99%, and today we are trading at the 7.99% or 8% and a change. Our margins have been squeezed even though we're very good in selling the financial services, our margins have been squeezed. We've been able to push all the increased interest to our customers, but still our margins have been challenged on that respect. On the store openings, no major news on that respect. Some closures, as you have heard.
The Düren shop in Germany is in a very good location, been doing a good job, that's, by the way, our first shop outside of the northern part of Germany. It's close to Cologne and Bonn, close to the Dutch and Belgian border, we've been learning during the journey. That's also a major area where people are exiting big fleets on the car industry, we are on the prime location over there and most likely can build, build on top of that, other things. I think recently, maybe one week ago, 10 days ago, we announced about the new opening in Tampere, where we will have a tailor-made shop very close on the entrance, on the road number three, going north just before entering into Tampere.
That's where we're gonna be building a new shop and opening that on the, on the next spring, in the month of May, so to speak. It's tailor-made shop for us in a very, very good new Kamux concept to be available over there. Even currently, if you have time, please visit our Tampere shop. That's one of our strongholds in the, in the portfolio, so extremely good basis over, over there. On the, on the strategy, I think that's something we're gonna be reviewing together with the management and the board. This one is still intact. Growth is in place, but I think we pay more attention to the profitability as we speak. Growth is very important, but at the same time, we improve the profitability.
The building blocks and the cornerstones, they're roughly gonna stay on the same level. Those we're gonna re-review in detail. I, I think, during end of the year, early next year, we're gonna come out with our updated strategy in that respect. Then we can share more news, news on this one. I think this was my wrap-up. Now we pass the word for Marko to have a deeper dive on the financials. Welcome, Marko.
Thank you, Tapio. Let's, let's move to the financial, and of course, after the slightly or quite challenging, start of the year. It is, of course, really nice to see that we are gradually improving the margins, and especially, if we look the performance, the, metal margins, so meaning so-called margin, what we get from the car trading, there has been improvement, when we compare to the Q1, and that has been, of course, very positive. There, as, as you saw, the units, sold units has been increasing quite nicely. However, the average prices have been slightly lower, and that is, of course, impacting the revenue.
On the gross margin level, we were almost on the last year level, even though the integrated services revenue was slightly down, that is really coming from the metal margin of the cars, there we had, of course, nice improvement in Finland and Sweden. Germany was a little bit different story, as Tapio was mentioning. The income on the margin level, in euros, we were improving, however, the costs were also increasing. We had some expansion cost in Germany when we went to the new region and the marketing effort, what we discussed. There is also what we discussed in the last quarter, we have now finalized our financial system upgrade or upgrade to the new version, that, of course, there are some costs, that is now done.
General inflation, we see, of course, the pinch there as well, so that has been impact the cost, meaning that then the adjusted operating profit was basically slightly growing, but not, not significantly on the line with the margin. Inventory management was relatively successful, and what I'm really happy is that the composition of inventory was healthier, and it was good. We, we were able to grow sales with lower inventory, and of course, it means that the structure of the inventory was better, so meaning we have been doing a better job in purchasing the cars. Balance sheet of Kamux is still very strong and continues to be strong.
Our equity ratio was 46.5%, and that is including also the IFRS 16 lease liabilities, which were at the end of the Q2, EUR 37.7 million. That is quite a significant amount. All in all, what I always like to underline is that our strong balance sheet is the backbone of our growth strategy. About the key figures, as Tapio was mentioning, the Swedish krona impact was quite significant. The translation effect was roughly minus EUR 5.2 million. If you think about on percentage terms, we would have been growing a bit over 5% compared to the previous year, Q2.
However, revenue was EUR 255 million, the gross profit, EUR 26.3 million, that was coming with improved margins, especially from the cars. In the adjusted operating profit, EUR 3.9 million, slightly down compared to the previous year. There we had a certain, let's call it one-off items. There was costs related to the CEO change in the group, there was also cost related to this financial software renewal, which were, of course, not continuing going forward. I would also like to draw the attention to the like-for-like growth. As you remember, the formula that is reflecting the revenue or growth from the older stores, meaning over 24 months, open stores, that was also relatively solid, 2.9% there.
The growth is not only coming from the expansion of the new stores, which is important for us. Inventory turnover, 58 days, slightly above the last year, but I like to remind here that we are measuring the period of 12 months rolling averages, so that figure does not reflect if there is changes in in the business, which are relatively sudden, so that comes always a little bit with a delay. As I was mentioning, we the inventory structure and the efficiency was in good level. If we go if we go then to the segments and start with the Finland, we were able to increase the number of sold cars, which was of course driving the revenue up, and also the operating profit was increased, so we had a solid performance there.
Finnish market was also turning slightly positive, which was of course good for us. All in all, in Finland, the revenue increased 10.8%, being EUR 173 million. The gross margin increased compared to previous year, was EUR 19 million, or 11% of the revenue, which was also more or less last year level. The operating profit increased by 8.1%, being EUR 7.3 million. Revenue from integrated services decreased.
EUR 4 million, last year, EUR 10.5, so not, not a big difference, and as we discussed also in Q1, so last year we had a one partner who had a little bit different revenue recognition model, or meaning that we were getting the revenue from the contracts much more forward-looking, that they were not spread in the longer period. In Sweden, market was also, let's say, stabilizing. However, as discussed, the sourcing challenges or challenges with buying cars were quite significant, and that had also impact to our top line.
The total revenue decreased by 3.8% and was EUR 79.2 million, the gross margin was EUR 5.5 million or 6.9% of the revenue, there we had a good increase, improvement compared to the last year. Of course, we can be satisfied with the car margins, as we discussed last time, we had this five-point program, what we have been implementing there, now we can really see some results already from that program in the Swedish numbers.
Operating profit increased compared to previous year and was EUR 0.6 million or 0.8% from the total revenue. The revenue from the integrated services was at the previous year level, being EUR 1.4 million or 2.4% of the external revenue. Really, this improvement of the results was in Sweden, coming from the car margins. In Germany, the market situation in our main areas was relatively challenging and varying a lot from the nationwide development. However, we were able to increase the revenue 5% to EUR 26.3 million. External revenue was also increasing 6.3%.
The gross margin was decreasing compared to the previous year, and was EUR 1.8 million or 6.8% of the revenue. That was really coming from the metal margins or car margins, and especially the cleanup on the inventory and selling to the professional sources, the cars. At the same time, also, operating income decreased compared to the previous year and was minus EUR 0.9 million. That was impacted by the decreasing margins and of course, our investment to the regional expansion. As Tapio mentioned, we had a quite significant marketing effort there as well as we were not really known in this area before. Revenue from the integrated services decreased to EUR 0.7 million, or 2.7% of external revenue.
Of course, when we are doing these kind of actions to, to clean up or straighten the inventory and put cars to professional channels, of course, to those cars, we are not able to sell any integrated services, so that is very visible there. Then, when we go to inventory, with inventory, we manage pretty well. I'm always happy or smiling when the inventory is growing less than the revenue, which means that our inventory is in good and efficient use. In the networking capital, we can see a little bit different, development there. We had with one, major financing partner in Finland, certain challenges, with the new system and, processing the new agreements, so that was a little bit increasing temporarily our receivables, but that is a temporary situation with them.
The purchasing market was working relatively well, excluding Sweden, where the weak krona is impacting the market, but also the new car deliveries, as you saw, the European wide levels, there has been relatively positive development. However, have to keep in mind that what we hear from the new car dealers, that the new orders, so meaning the new orders for future deliveries, have been relatively weak, so I wouldn't yet be super excited about the new car situation. When we look about the cash flow, cash flow was negative EUR 8.1 million, and that is that when we look compared to the quarter one, we were still we saw that the market is developing positively, especially in Finland, and we were raising the inventory amid the recovery market.
Investment side or cost in the central functions, in the Q2, the investments were EUR 0.5 million, and we invested EUR 0.4 million to tangible assets, so mainly to the store, store expansion or renewables the stores, and EUR 0.1 million, which is basically our digital environment. In the group functions, the costs were relatively high, and there, as I was mentioning, there were certain one-off or, let's say, one-time impacts. There was costs related to the CEO change, roughly EUR 0.6 million, also, there were costs related to the renewal of the financial system.
As I was reminding also before, that when you are investing or when you are renewing SaaS-based systems, so those costs are mainly expensed immediately. Those are not cap, those are not as investments, what you activate in the balance sheet now, according to the IFRS standards. Also, on the investments and group functions, you can see that we have been improving and in-enhancing our own digital capabilities quite significantly, and that you see that the group costs have been slightly increasing and the investments has been slightly decreasing. We are doing currently more ourselves. Dividend, the Annual General Meeting decided that the dividend is EUR 0.15 per share, and that the payout ratio is 55%, and we have now, in May, paid the first installment, which was EUR 0.05 per share.
I move to the outlook and financial targets. When we were creating the strategy for the period of 2021 to 2023, that strategy was made into relatively different situation in the world. We, we didn't really foresee the war in Ukraine, and of course, that's impact as well. When we look the results, so in the first half, the revenue growth was negative, so the revenue was declining 1.2%. Adjusted operating profit was EUR 5.4 million. Last year, same period, EUR 10.2 million. I would like to remind here what Tapio was also saying, is that the last year, the start was stronger, and the situation was getting more and more difficult every quarter when we went towards the end of the year.
This year we have so far seen a little bit different pattern. Adjusted operating profit margin, 1.1%. Return on equity, 5.9%, and the dividend payout, 55%. Outlook for the 2023 is unchanged. I would like to remind that there is still, in the car markets and of course in the consumer business, a lot of uncertainties. Consumer confidence is still relatively low, interest rates are high, inflation is also still running high, and lately, there has been also more concerns about the employment in the society. There we will hopefully not see too dramatic things, but that has been also a concern for the people.
Therefore, our outlook for 2023 is unchanged, that we are growing from the year 2022, when we had EUR 17.5 million adjusted operating profit. Now I will summarize then the whole quarter. The revenue was increasing 3.3% to EUR 355 million. Gross profit was increasing 7.5% to EUR 26.3 million. Adjusted operating profit was at previous year level and was EUR 4.5 million, or 1.8% of the revenue. Like-for-like showroom revenue grew by 2.9%, and revenue from integrated services decreased and was EUR 12.4 million, or 4.9% of total revenue. The market of used cars grew moderately in Finland and Sweden, but declined in Kamux operating area in Northern Germany.
The prices of used cars were stable, but a lower level than 2022. Thank you for your attention, and we are now happy to answer your questions.
Hello, my name is Katariina Hietaranta from Kamux Investor Relations. We'll open for Q&A. We'll first take questions from the teleconference, if there are any. Please.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Calle Loikkanen from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you. Thank you, gentlemen, and for taking my question. Just a couple of questions on the integrated services. The integrated services have decreased now for a couple of quarters. How do you see this developing, going into the H2 of the year?
I think on our main services and products, we've been doing still increased penetration, and that's looking rather good. Then on the financial services and the margin we book on that one, we've been passing all the increases to the customer base, and I think gradually, when people get more used to the new interest rate levels, and when they start to be backing again, we have great ability to increase that. For the time being, we're fully focused on our Kamux Plus, and the insurance, and the other services we sell. The finance, we try to maximize our, our share on that one, but there is not lot of leeway to improve the share on that one for the time being. Marko, maybe you have a different view.
Yes, maybe I just. Not a different view, but maybe I just also remind that we have this revenue recognition topic there, which is with mixing the comparability of the numbers.
Yeah.
Okay. Okay, but the, the, the kind of the, the pain point here has been really the financial, financial side, rather than Kamux Plus. Is that correct?
That's correct. Very correct.
Okay, okay. Then, then perhaps continuing on the, on the, on the financing, financing side, are you willing to elaborate on, on how much you have been forced to squeeze your margins in, in, in these products?
It's a rather complicated question, and we work with multiple partners in, in trade markets, so I, I even don't know exactly on that one. We've been maximizing our efforts to minimize, minimize the challenge on, on that one, if, if that helps in understanding what we do.
Okay, okay. All right. Yeah, I think, I think that's it for, for me. Let's, let's let the others, others ask some questions as well. Thank you.
Thank you.
We begin with questions from the audience. Maria?
Thank you. I have a few questions. Maria Wikström from SEB. Firstly, on the car margins, that in the Q1, you commented that the like, the metal margin was up month by month during the Q1. How has it looked like now during Q2?
We have paid a lot of attention on that one in all of the markets, and we see gradual improvement on the metal margin, but underlying gradual improvements.
Good. A question maybe because I think, if I look at the numbers right, in Finland, for the 1st half of the year, actually, SAKA was able to report slightly higher sales than Kamux. Do you think, I mean , why do you think, I mean, the, your biggest challenger is now reporting higher numbers than yourself?
We've been analyzing that on our own competitiveness. Don't know SAKA in detail, so cannot comment on, on their behalf. What we see, there are certain regions in the, in the country where they've been doing extremely good. I think also the portfolio they've been putting on the market has been slightly different than ours. Maybe, maybe around the capital region, they've been, they've been rather active and... You can rest assured we will come back.
Good to hear. Finally, given that, almost 100 days, are now done, for you, Tapio, as a new CEO, so what will be the aspects that you focus on first, I mean, during the H2 of the year?
I think reviewing our strategy together with the board and the management is very high on the agenda. Continuing on the gradual improvement of the game in all of the existing marketplace and focusing on the customer in all of the channels we operate, so the omnichannel customer experience. To keep customer happy and exceed the expectation is high on the agenda.
Maybe finally that, can you remind us, I mean, what are your, your performance, metrics set by the Board, now as a CEO?
Have we disclosed all of that? They are focused on the, on the top line and bottom line and then some other KPIs in, in between.
Thank you.
Other questions from the audience? Pia, go ahead.
Yes, hello. Pia from Carnegie. I got the impression that you will focus on the profitability and that and improving that. My questions are around the costs now, and I start with Germany. You referred to the marketing costs, so should we expect them to stay elevated for long, or was this a Q2 issue?
I think it was more of a one-off for the, for the Q2, a very special occasion for opening the new store and building reputation on a different corner of Germany. Overall, I think our marketing efforts will maintain, but we would rather do it on our own and do it more on the digital platform than on other media.
Okay, thank you. You said costs... In the report, you said costs increased faster than revenue in Finland. What were the main reasons behind this, and how can you reduce this growth rate?
Increasing productivity is high on the agenda, and then we need to find ways how to tackle inflation and how to eliminate some of the inflated costs on that respect, and that's, that's what we are working on.
Okay, thank you. You also mentioned measures to enhance customer attention and improve service across channels. Can you remind me, do you publish NPS numbers, or do you plan to start publishing these?
I think we, we, we don't. Internally, we monitor very closely, and we have a, a rather good metrics on the, on the customer satisfaction and experience. I think the game has also changed. What used to be good in the past is no longer good, it's mediocre. We need to gradually step up on, on certain, certain parameters of the customer service.
Okay, that would be interesting to, to follow as an analyst.
Let's see, yeah.
Yep. Right. On the guidance for this year, so you're looking for an improving EBIT. When do you think you have the confidence to specify that guidance?
I think now we are in the middle of a peak season. I think after the Q3, we should have a good read how, how this year will be ending up. On the other hand, still there is one, one more quarter to go and always whatever can happen, both pluses and minuses, so towards the year end we will get more and more confident. Q3 is rather important in our line of business.
Right. Finally, your market position in Europe has deteriorated or you have maybe stayed flat, whereas your competitors have sped up their expansion. I assume that's something which will be in your focus during the strategy work, but anything you can share at this point, how to speed up and strengthen your position?
We have just started to work on the strategy. Cannot share any news because I don't have any news on that one. I think doing the things we do but better, do it faster. Now I think we have some things in the back pocket. We need to bring them to the marketplace, show them to the customers, and then automatically we will have something happening both on the top line and on the bottom line. Not gonna be big steps, but they're gonna be small, gradual steps to take it to the right direction. When we go through the history of Kamux, I think it's been more of an organic journey, and I think on our future strategy, most likely they will be, but it's most likely don't know it.
We'll review, and they most likely will play a role. Then on top of the pre-owned cars, maybe there are some services where the frequency with the customer will be higher than the actual change, change of the car. Let's, let's see what's gonna come up.
Looking forward to that. Thank you.
Thank you. I believe we have further questions from the audience.
Yes. Raul from Inderes. Hi, a couple of questions from me, me as well. Firstly, some details on the numbers starting from Sweden. How was the average prices developing in the Swedish market if we look in Swedish crowns to you?
On the comparable basis, in, in, in Sweden, we were basically, -1% on the units, and on the revenue, -3.8%. So slightly down, but there is, of course, FX impact. If I calculate that just on the top of the head, I think it was... would have been, in crowns, slightly positive.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. I was just wondering that if, you know, if the sourcing market is kind of crowded and the cars are being pulled to the Euro, that would lift-
Prices go up.
... lift the prices in, in crowns. Has that had any positive effect on your earnings in Sweden?
That is a little bit. This pricing dynamics is maybe a little bit different there because, in, in that sense, that if, the price is what the, what the competition from Europe is or other operators in Europe are buying, those would not be, anyway, valid prices for the Swedish market, so meaning that the people wouldn't buy in Sweden with those prices. Anyway, that impact per se would not reflect to the local prices there.
Okay, okay. Another number detailed on Germany, your EBIT was down EUR 1 million, I think, from the last year. Can you give some color on the magnitude of these marketing costs and inventory cleanup comparing to that drop?
I think we don't disclose that in, in detail, but the marketing costs for the size of our operation in Germany were substantial.
Okay, fair enough. Then finally, Tapio, you, you mentioned a few times that, that you need to work and improve the efficiency and productivity going forward. Can you give some color to kind of what kind of things are you referring to? That's a pretty generic thing to improve efficiency.
I start with the, with the customer interface. How do we serve the customers? What is the time to do something? What is the efficiency of each individual people who are dealing with that one? That goes throughout the whole process, how, how we actually finalize the transaction with our customers. We built some KPIs, and we already have some KPIs. We start to monitor them more closely and to set some targets and do some changes on, on, on that respect. Rather simple, but straightforward.
Good. Thank you. That's all for me.
We have more questions from the audience.
Thank you for taking my question. It's Matthias [Kjellman] from the family office Hafsorden. Just couple general questions at this stage when you're fairly new in the, in the house, Tapio. The market position in Finland has rather seldom been questioned. In Kamux, it's, it's great, and the Q2 report show signs of strength once again. The international business, I would mention, have maybe not yet been fully proven. The question here comes to Tapio. It's, it's been maybe seen as a rather brave move for a fairly national organization to move to Sweden and, and Germany with a, with a long industry in, long history within the car industry.
Based on your history, Tapio, in, in Harvia, and, and, you know, being part of internationalizing that business, what would you say are the must-do well or must win in order to really build long-term volume and, and profitable organization in Sweden and, and, and, and Germany, and, and maybe in the future, other markets? Have... Are you... I know it's early days, but can you leverage on something from the Harvia experience, and, and, and what's your thoughts around this?
Maybe not from the Harvia experience, but then based on common knowledge and another other background information. We already been building some science in Sweden, so I think we are one step ahead on that one. You need to define where you're gonna be excelling and excellent compared to your peers, and I think that way we have some good inroads where we can be different than the local marketplace. The same applies in Germany as well. The Germanic market, and especially the second-hand, or used car, or pre-owned car market, is, is rather versatile and a very, very, I would say, even colorful players on that one.
To deliver solid game on that one and, and make the customers happy and be transparent and being that in omnichannel, I think we can, we can do a rather good thing also in Germany. We need to work every step right, otherwise it, it's not gonna happen.
... Thanks. And then another one, regarding the business of a car retailer across Europe. To my understanding, it's been communicated before that it's, it's really a volume and data-driven business across the markets, and if I don't remember wrong, there's been quite some investments in the new ERP system. What's your view coming in after 100-plus days? Are you satisfied with the ERP system that works across markets right now, or, or will that also be an area of focus and, and, and improvement potential from, from your, from your point of view?
Very good question. And what I've seen so far in our, our ERP, it's a very comprehensive, multidimensional data available online immediately. The way we use it, I, I think we can still do much better, but I think the underlying system is, is state-of-the-art, and now we need to figure out how to really use all of the data we have on that one to make the right decisions and to make, make the right moves. Some people are really advanced on that one, some people we need to help to learn faster.
Okay, thanks. My last question, just a small one to Marko. You mentioned the SaaS, SaaS fees that. I didn't quite get that. You said that upfront they are larger and, aren't they annually recurring, or did I misunderstand that? A second part of that, can you give any flavor on, on the level of SaaS fees, you know, technology-driven SaaS fees, that you're basically outsourcing?
Yes, I was maybe a bit too fast on this because I think I have been talking this topic couple of times and didn't want to maybe repeat myself so many times. If we are investing to our own KMS, so our own ERP, which is our own software, so that investment we are capitalizing, so putting basically the balance sheet and depreciating over the years. When we are investing, so meaning when we have a project, when we need to make modifications for the SaaS software, that modification work or investment, that we need to write off as a cost immediately, so that you are not anymore able to, to capitalize because the IFRS is looking it that way, or the, the judgment is that there is no own IP produced, and therefore it has to be capitalized.
When we talk about this whole system, we are talking about, of course, on hundreds of thousands EUR of these modifications. Then, of course, what comes the annual fees for the SaaS-based fees for the licenses and so on, those are, of course, much smaller what we pay.
Hello, it's David from eQ. Question about expansion in Germany. You have penetrated Finland in terms of stores. Sweden is not growing at the moment, but how will you grow stores in Germany now, when it's omnichannel and you are expanding there? What kind of expansion strategy do you see?
I think those who have been operating in Germany, they realize that Germany is not fully digital as of yet. I think we need to operate also on the brick-and-mortar stores. We've been in the process of relocating some of the stores, improving the locations, improving the presence, mainly in the same cities and same areas, but in different location. Then during the journey, where now the pilot is still out on the different part of Germany, seems to be starting extremely well. If that's in a way solid performance, then we consider also opening outside of the northern part of Germany. The pilot is now out, and now we are figuring what is the outcome of that. In Sweden, we do the same.
Even though the store count will most likely stay the same, we are gradually in a relocation process with at least two of the stores to be in a better position, more prime location, and to better serve the customers in Sweden.
Very good. We take a couple of questions from the webcast participants. You say your margins have been squeezed in finance products. What would change this? Do you think it will require rates coming down, or will it take time for market to adjust?
I think it's both. It's a psychological issue when people been used to buy 199 or 299 or even 099, to jump into 799 will take some time to adjust. Then when people get used to it, then, then you can maybe make a threshold up. At the same time, I think everyone anticipates the interest rates to level or even, even start to decline, so I think that may help, help, but it's, it's coming with the time.
Very good. Can you remind us what you did in Sweden to improve profitability in Q2, and where should we see margins in this country in 2-3 years?
I think the latter part of the question is easier to answer. I, I think the five-point program has been, has been delivered to, surface the improving profitability in Sweden. I cannot even tell which of the five did this and that, but I think we've been doing them all, all, all together. It's a gradual effort, and we will continue gradually on, on that respect. Going forward, I think when we have a bit of a volume more in Sweden, we have more presence, we should see, I would say, average or even above average margins in, in Sweden as well.
All right. How has the relatively low consumer confidence impacted the used car market so far?
... I, I think, if you see what type of cars are selling, what is happening with the average price. It is still polarized. People, people who have means, they will buy what they like. Then you have people who are, in a way, favoring or forced to buy more economical, more lower value cars, I think that's why the average price is not so easy to move upwards at, as, as we speak.
Very good. Any further questions from the audience here? Maria?
Maybe one question on, on sourcing and availability of used cars. I mean, you said that the Swedish market has been tough, I mean, given the very weak Swedish krona. If we talk about Finland and in Germany, how is the situation to source cars, I mean, which are not the so-called trade-in cars?
I, I think Finland and Germany, rather normal. I think no major, major impacts in that respect. Sweden is very, very unique, and I think the time to act used to be couple of hours, now the time to act is maybe 20 minutes, 15 minutes, otherwise you are late. You need to be very early on, on the, on the lead and make, make it fast. No room for negotiating. It's either you take it or you don't.
Maybe a final one on, on the guidance that you currently look for growth in adjusted EBIT. You are EUR 5 million behind for the first half of the year. What do you think would need to happen, you not being able to grow the profits for the full year?
I think if we continue on the, on the current path and trajectory, should be very doable. If something will happen with the consumer confidence, something will happen with the energy, something will happen with the inflation, then I think the latest one we started to monitor some time ago is the employment rate in all of our operating markets. They may have an impact, but I think nothing major should happen, but I think we need to monitor every, every single move on, on these, these levers.
Thanks.
Very good. Thank you. That concludes our, our Q2 webcast this time. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you!