Dear all, welcome to KESSCO's Q2 twenty twenty five release call, and also welcome to warm Helsinki, at least virtually. Today's headline is Steady Profit Development, Turnaround in Construction Cycles Slower than Previously Anticipated, and it describes the Q2 and also our guidance update well. Our agenda today is the following: President and CEO, Jorma Raukhala, will give the Q2 presentation. We have here together with us our business division presidents Ari Akseli for Grocery Trade Sami Kieski for Building and Technical Trade and Johanna Ali for Car Trade as well as CFO, Anno Hammerleinen. After Johram's presentation, it is time for questions both by phone and via chat function.
All the materials related to Q2 can be found at our website, kesco.fi, under Investors. My name is Hannah Jakola, responsible for IR at Kesco. I will be at your service after the presentation for your questions discussions. But now, Jorma, the virtual stage is yours.
Thank you, Harna. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome also on my behalf to this release call. I am Jorma Rauholle and I have now the pleasure to present KESCO's Q2 results. Steady profit development, turnaround in construction cycle slower than previously anticipated, is our headline. Q2 was actually better than we expected for grocery trade and cart rate, but construction cycle improvement has been slower than anticipated and billing and technical trade was comparably slightly below our expectations.
Now I will give you an overview of our business performance and open up elements behind the result. In the end, I'll present updated guidance and outlook for 2025 and we are ready for the Q and A. Summary of Q2 twenty twenty five. Net sales increased, profit improved by nearly €5,000,000 in comparable terms, meaning excluding share of results from Kesco Senokai from both Q2 twenty twenty five figures as well as from comparison period. In grocery trade, net sales increased and comparable operating profit decreased slightly.
Profit improved in chain operations, meaning food retail operations, but decreased in Kespro and K City markets non food operations. In Billing and Technical Trade, net sales increased, especially supported by the acquisitions. Comparable operating profit improved slightly, excluding share of result from Kesco Senokai. In car trade, net sales increased in new cars and used cars. Comparable operating profit grew clearly.
In Denmark, CF Peterzens acquisition was completed at the April and Tomercaden acquisition at the May. Profit guidance for 2025 specified. KESCO now expects its comparable operating profit for the current year to be in the range of $640,000,000 to €700,000,000 Net sales in Q2 totaled over €3,200,000,000 It was up by €95,000,000 Net sales increased in all businesses. Rolling twelve months net sales increased to over €12,000,000,000 In Q2, comparable operating profit was €176,700,000 and operating margin was 5.5%. Comparable operating profit increased by €4,800,000 excluding share of result from KESCO Senokai, which was €6,300,000 last year.
This time, KESCO Senokai did not report its financial as scheduled and therefore, in KESCO's Q2 twenty twenty five reporting, the share of result from KESCO Senokai is zero. There was a good KESCO Senokai Board meeting last week and we received preliminary Q2 figures. KESCO Senokai figures were at last year's level. This time, the official figures were not reported on time, but going forward we will receive figures normally. Comparable operating profit increased in billing and technical trade and in cart rate and decreased in grocery trade.
Rolling twelve months operating profit was €645,000,000 and operating margin was 5.3%. Return on capital employed was 10.7%. Return on capital employed increased in card rate, was down in billing and technical trade and in grocery trade compared to the year end. Financial position. Cash flow from operating activities increased year on year and was €324,000,000 Capital expenditure totaled €317,600,000 I'll open up Investments on the next page.
Net debt to EBITA was 1.8. It increased, but is still well below our maximum target of 2.5. Interest bearing net debt increased year on year as a result of investments in acquisitions, grocery trade store side network and logistics. Capital expenditure totaled €317,600,000 We continued the investments in growth and the main CapEx in Q2 was to acquisition CF Petersen and Son as well as Tomergarden, store site investment in grocery rate and the construction of Onnella, Oninen and KAutoset Logistics Center in Huvingka, Finland. Expenses.
Expenses have increased mainly due to acquisitions. Expenses excluding the latest acquisition were up by only 0.6%. This is a great achievement, taking into consideration the salary increases. Now to grocery trade, where we saw stable sales and profit performance. In Q2, net sales totaled 1,600,000,000 and increased by €9,000,000 Timing of Easter supported sales development.
Gaspar's net sales declined by 0.7%. Rolling twelve months net sales totaled nearly €6,400,000,000 In grocery trade, comparable operating profit for Q2 was €111,300,000 and it declined by €3,200,000 Profitability was strong, 6.9%. Cash flow operating profit declined by €3,000,000 Rolling twelve months operating profit was €425,100,000 and operating margin was 6.7. In grocery trade, net sales increased and comparable operating profit improved in chain operations, but decreased in Kespro and K City Markets non food trade. K Group grocery sales were up by 2%, partly impacted by the timing of Easter, which fell on April and on March in 2024.
Kesper's net sales were down by 0.7%, still again exceeding the market growth. K City Market nonfood sales were down by 0.4%. Customer flows continued to grow, thanks to the price program and campaigns. Average purchase was also up. Online grocery sales were up by 10.1%.
Total grocery market grew by approximately 3.2%. General grocery price inflation in Finland was approximately 2.3%, but with our sales mix it was 0.6%. Market share loss declined and K City Market Chain gained market share in the hypermarket segment in Q2 and also for the first half year. I am very pleased with this development. We have emphasized the hypermarkets' role in our network strategy and we have also seen the market share improving in hypermarket segment.
In general, the growth in Finnish grocery trade is the strongest in larger store formats. Customers come to hypermarkets primarily for food shopping.
K City markets are large urban grocery stores with 80% food sales and quite compact non food part of 20% of sales. We have currently 82 City markets. Hypermarkets play a crucial role in the development of Kesco's store network. Five new and three replacement K City markets will open in upcoming years. This autumn, two will be opened: one in Ideapark Shopping Center near Tampere and another one in city center of Lahti, Southern Finland.
The focus is on growth centers and urban locations. Each case city market has a store specific business idea, which is tailored to local customer base and it is operated using an efficient chain operation model. Care retailers operate food sales, while Kefsko is responsible for non food items. Growth in non food sales has lagged behind the growth in food sales in recent years. So there is plenty of growth potential in non food parts. We have launched an extensive program to improve K City markets non food trade.
The objective of the program is to have a more store specific approach also in non food sales and to support the business ideas for food trade using data. The customer flows are in place, so our aim is to support regular convenient shopping. In terms of product categories, focus is on beauty, home and everyday clothing. New initiatives include, for example, expanding and modernizing flower departments. Also, we are aiming to increase the role of own brand products in the nonfood business.
The online stores for food and nonfood items have been merged to ensure better and easier customer experience. Now to Building and Technical Trade. The cycle is turning, but pace of recovery is slower than previously anticipated. In Pinnacle Technical Trade, net sales increased by €33,000,000 to €1,200,000,000 The increase was supported by the Danish acquisitions. Net sales decreased in comparable terms by 1.5%.
The trading days were negative compared to last year. Rolling twelve months net sales were over €4,400,000,000 Comparable operating profit for the Building and Technical Trade division totaled €50,900,000 and operating margin 4.1%. As we did not have QESCO Senokas results in our numbers this quarter, but they are included in the comparison period, operating profit increased by €1,100,000 in comparable terms. Rolling twelve months operating profit was €168,800,000 and operating margin was 3.8%. Comparable operating profit increased, thanks to positive profit development in Building and Home Improvement business.
In Building and Technical Trade, the Q2 result improved year on year excluding the profit impact from KESCO Senokai. In Building and Home Improvement rate, comparable sales growth was weaker than expected due to slow recovery in Building Construction. Sales for late cyclical technical trade fell short of last year. In Finland, Kerata sales grew in both the B2B and B2C segments, but Oninen sales decreased year on year. In Norway, sales were slightly down for both Wittmacher and Oninen, but profit improved clearly.
The profit improvement was nearly €10,000,000 thanks to our own actions to improve the business performance. Solving the issues we have had in Norway has been one of the clear priorities in BTT division. In Denmark, Davidson sales development was strong. Integration of acquired companies is proceeding as planned. In Sweden, the ramp up of converted K book stores is still ongoing.
It had a negative impact on sales and profit. The original K book network is performing well. Like said, the construction cycle is turning, but the pace of recovery is lower than previously anticipated, especially in new building construction. Credit risk is well under control. Write downs of overdue trade receivables totalled €900,000 And as I told you earlier, Geisko Seneca did not report its financial as scheduled, and in our Q2 twenty twenty five reporting, the share of result from QESCO Seneca was zero and last year it was €6,300,000 We have received preliminary information from QESCO Seneca and the figures were at the last year's level in Q2.
In this picture, we can see Krautas and Oninen's sales development in Finland since 2019. We have sold this picture many times already and here you can see the Q2 development too. Here it's clearly visible that the growth pace slowed down in Q2. We can also see the late cyclical nature of Onionne business lagging behind KeyRouter. Typically, late cyclical technical trade picks up some six months after a turnaround in building and home improvement P2P sales.
Krauta is the market leader in building and home improvement business in Finland and Onine in technical trade. This picture describes the Finnish building and technical trade market well. This is Buyukmakker sales development. Norway is our second largest operating country and Buyukmakker is among the largest players in the market and focused on P2P trade. Here we see the same type of development as in Finland.
Q2 sales declined, but as I said, profits improved clearly in Norway. Cycle is similar in Norway as it is in Finland. And now, let's look at our Danish operations after completing all the announced acquisitions. After completing a total of four acquisitions in just less than two years, we have now a nationwide building and home improvement trade network in Denmark. KESCO holds 90% of shares in Davidson and Davidson bought these three new players: Roslab, C.
F. Petersen and Tomer Karn this year. All these four companies used to belong to XLBUCHANE and all are focused on serving P2P customers. As you can see in the map, the store network covers the whole Denmark. This is important, since the building and home improvement rate is based on physical store network supported by digital services.
After all the acquisitions, Denmark is SKESCO's third largest operating country after Finland and Norway, with some €800,000,000 sales. Davidson total market share is nearly 20% and it is the number three in Denmark. Currently, the construction cycle is improving faster in Denmark than in other Nordic countries. In Cart Rate, in Q2, the profit improvement was significant. In Cart Rate, net sales for Q2 increased by €53,000,000 and were €352,000,000 Net sales increased in new cars, used cars and sports trade, but decreased in services.
Rolling twelve months net sales were almost €1,300,000,000 The comparable operating profit totaled €21,600,000 and increased by €6,800,000 year on year. Operating margin was 6.1%. Rolling twelve months operating profit was over €77,600,000 and operating margin was 6%. Market demand for new cars continued to be muted. Q2 first registrations of passengers, cars and vans were up by only 0.4%.
First registrations of KESCO brands were up by 32.6% in Q2. This is a great achievement, and we gained heavily market share in new car segment. The updated strategy with focus on three car trade business areas and continuous development of operation are now yielding results. Net sales and comparable operating profit grew clearly despite the challenging market situation, thanks to strong new car sales especially. Especially Volkswagen's EV model sales increased. Used car sales also clearly outperformed the market. Service sales decreased. Net sales and comparable operating profit increased in sports trade.
Strong model range have supported a good sales development, especially Volkswagen ID. Four and ID. Seven. Also Audi Q4 e trons demand has been good. And now, specified profit guidance and outlook for 2025.
Profit guidance for 2025. KESCO Group's profit guidance is given for the year 2025, in comparison with the year 2024. Operating environment is estimated to improve in 2025, but to still remain somewhat challenging. KESCO's comparable operating profit is estimated to improve in 2025. KESCO estimates that each 2025 comparable operating profit will amount to $640,000,000 to €700,000,000 KESCO previously estimated that the comparable operating profit would amount to $640,000,000 to €740,000,000 The profit guidance issued now includes the acquisition completed in Denmark in the first half of the year.
Their impact on KESCO's 2025 comparable operating profit is estimated to amount to less than €5,000,000 due to costs related to integration and the completion of acquisitions. KESCO Senokai did not report its financial figures for the first half of the year as scheduled. The profit guidance is based on the assumption that the share of result from KESCO Senokai will be at the same level as in 2024. The updated profit guidance is based on developments in the first year half and updated estimates regarding a slower than anticipated cycle recovery in Building and Technical Trade. Key uncertainties impacting QESCO's outlook are developments in consumer confidence and investment appetites, as well as geopolitical crises and tensions.
Outlook for 2025. In grocery trade, P2C trade and the foodservice market are estimated to remain stable in 2025. The comparable operating margin for the Grocery Trade division is estimated to stay clearly above six percent, despite the investments in price and the store side network in accordance with GESSCO's strategy for twenty twenty fourtwenty twenty six. In Building and Technical Trade, the cycle is expected to improve in 2025 from the historically low levels. Profitability in the Building and Technical Trade division is estimated to improve on 2024, but the cycle turnaround in new building construction in Particle will be slower than previously anticipated.
In card rate, the market for new cars is expected to stay at the low level. Demand for used cars and services is estimated to remain good. Profitability for the car trade division is estimated to remain at a good level in 2025 despite weak demand for new cars. Thank you. This was my presentation.
To summarize, the performance of the second quarter was good despite the slower pace of cycle recovery in Building and Technical Trade. It is recovering. The pace is just lower than we originally expected. We see positive development in grocery trade. The Q2 profitability was very strong.
Our strategic actions like the price program and new hypermarket openings are working well. We see signs of recovering market share development, but it takes time to see the full effect. KartRed is doing very well. We are the only operator with the entire KartRed value chain new and used cars, services, leasing, charging and the strategic choices based off now. I see the market situation in all three division better this year compared to last year. I guess it's time for questions now.
Thank you, Jorma, for your presentation. So let's take the questions. First, we turn to the conference call line, and then I will ask the questions that you are typing to the chat function. Please note that there is a slight delay in the chat function system, so I will see the questions a bit delayed there. So be fast when typing these questions, but conference call line, please.
The next question comes from Fredrik Ivarsson from ABG. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, team. Two questions from my side. First, you mentioned that grocery trade performed, I guess, above your expectations in H1. And in your guidance, I wonder what do you assume in terms of market share as you look into the back half of the year?
Do you expect to grow above, below or in line with the market?
Okay. First part, it comes to cross territory market share, as we mentioned, second quarter was better than first quarter. And especially, we are very pleased that in hypermarket sector, which is a very competitive sector, we gained market share in Q2, but also first half of the year. I believe that quarter by quarter we improved our performance. But still after half of year we are still behind the market level.
So most probably we won't gain market share this year, but latest next year. But Ari, do you have something to add?
I totally agree with that. We have three points how to traverse market and it takes time. Price program is of course important part of that. And quality, we are improving the quality level in the auto stores and also store network. It takes time, but we are very pleased that in the biggest market, most growing market, hypermarket market, we are already gaining market share.
That's huge change. And also we can see promising development in other chains.
Yes. And of course, it's very important to remember that also profitability is very important for us. And as we have mentioned that clearly above 6% it should be. And yes, it's very nice on that level, even better now.
Yes, that's clear. Thanks. And second one on these Danish acquisitions. How have these three companies performed during the first half of twenty twenty five, I guess both in terms of sales and adjusted earnings, if you could say anything about that?
Yes. We have to remember that, if I remember right, one of those has been only month in our figures and one is two months and one maybe four months. So they are performing now as we expected. Also the first always the first months are quite difficult because we have to remember that there is a quite heavy integration of what we are doing. We changed the whole ERP system for example.
We changed the whole brand and things like that. But it was the same when we acquired DAVIDs here. First months, we're not so strong, but we are I would say that very pleased how we are performing there now. And of course, after we have completed this integration then we start to get also synergies. But Sami, do you want to add something about?
Yeah. Thank you. And like Jorma already well and rightly pointed out, it's like the picture is like that, but we need to also remember always that it has been only one or a few months these new acquired companies in our numbers. And of course, there has been a lot of integration done, but we see positively also last part of the year that we get the whole engine running now with the new companies or new areas also and we are national wide player, so we are well positioned. And also, of course, we know the quarter one numbers and there we can clearly see that we are performing with the, let's say, current or old Davidson, we are performing better than the market. So we are very happy about that one. We believe that we have a good setup there. Now it's just to accelerate and performance, yes.
The next question comes from Maria Wickstrom from SEB. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. This is Maria Wickstrom from SEB. I had a few questions as well. I could take them one by one. I would start with the grocery trade market share development.
And as you said that I mean still after the first half, you are below the overall market. And my question is that is there more measures, I mean, you are planning to take in order to boost your market shares in the coming quarters? Or are you happy with the price program that you initiated in January?
Yes. We have implemented the price program what we started on January as we planned, and we will continue that one. But of course, it is a good situation what we have now because the Q2 profit was so strong. So we have good possibilities to continue and even use more money if needed when it comes to sales increase. But like Ari already said, it's not only price program.
It's also a quality program. It's our store site network. And for example, the store site network, there will be two new hypermarkets this year and a couple of new also next year. So those will support also that one. But Ari, anything to add? But I think
I think that's the case.
Yes.
We are planning opening these two new hypermarkets and they are very important to how to gain market share. The impact of the one single hypermarket can be as big as from 0.1% to 0.2%. So they really are minimal.
Really, I'm so happy about what about K City market. As we know the competition in this hypermarket sector mainly K City market and Prisma who are operating there. And in that area, we have gained market share. So I think that's a good start. And then we just have to continue with the other segments also.
Yes. Thank you. And then the second question, you showed the sales trends in Kerala and it slowed down in the second quarter. Do you think this is something weather related? Or is there more to it?
So is the expectation the trend will continue in the second half? Or is this just like a Q2 blip in the sales trend?
Yes, very interesting question. Very difficult to answer. Of course, like we said, the sales growth, the whole market's growth, we have to remember that all the forecast company has decreased their forecast when it comes to building construction market. And of course, we believe that Q2 would be a little bit stronger when it comes to K Route and On and On sales, I would say that not so many percent units when it comes to sales growth. It's some 1% or 2% or 3% maximum.
But we still believe that the latter part of this year will be stronger. And I think there is no reason why we shouldn't believe like that. We know that although things are there, interest rate is okay now, consumer purchasing power has increased and all of those. It's mainly consumer confidence, what's the question about. But we believe that latter part of the year will be stronger.
I don't believe any, let's say, double digit numbers this year and next year will be stronger, but some growth.
Thank you. And then my final question is also on the P and T and on the different construction market trends. So if you could describe a bit that, I mean, how does the market trends differ in your markets, so in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark? It looks from the figures that the Danish market is performing much better than the other Nordic markets, but if you could give a little bit more color.
Yes, you are right. Danish market is the strongest one, our figures and also the market figures. And I would say that the Danish Denmark is the strongest and maybe Finland is the weakest now. And Norway, Sweden somewhere between there. In Sweden, the consumer business is better than B2B business.
But like you said, Denmark is the best Finland, weakest than other countries, somewhere between there.
Perfect. Thank you so much. I have no further questions.
Thank you, Maria.
The next question comes from Svante Krukfors from Nordea. Go ahead.
Morning, Swan Tefran from Nordea. Thank you for the presentation. And I have a couple of questions. First one on grocery trade. Have you had any issues or problems in controlling the margin that you have promised to keep clearly above 6%?
Has that had any impact on negative impact on your top line? Or could you elaborate a bit around that?
Maybe, Hari, you can take this one. But yes, a strong quarter. And of course, there were maybe some last year, for example, Neste K was of kind of loss making. It supported our figures this year. Also there was something like store side maintenance costs.
They were lower this year than last year. Ari can you add something, but there was some of those reasons that it was so strong the profit this year.
And also we have positive impact with the price program, because we was able to get quite good support from the supplier side, which is also supporting the price program. And to add also that the negative effect of the Neste K Zane, when we closed down the wholesale, it's improving the profitability of the whole division now. And I also would like to add that we have very strong database tools how to handle out gross margin. So we are very able to direct at the right direction all the time, even in the store level.
Also to add to the sales numbers or top line, you have to just want to remember that May and June were exceptionally cold. We could see also in our sales numbers that, for example, sales of barbecue products, ice cream soft drinks and well, sun protection or insect repellents sold really poorly. But of course, that's the same for the whole market, but that had a clear impact on sales. Even if we don't typically blame weather, but we have to highlight this.
Yes. And especially, you can see that also in your clothing categories, which are typically high margin categories. And of course, when you have no sun at all in May and almost same into June, it's very sad for also for the foodservice side of the business, especially with the steracies in the restaurants.
And now we can see the positive effect of warm weather now in July 6. Yes.
That's important. And if you look about the numbers in July, it's also supported with the berry sales. Berries are very important in the summertime.
Berries in July instead of June.
Thank you. That's helpful. Second on car trade, can you give some description about your expectations for H2 versus H1?
Jana, maybe you could take this one.
Thanks for the question. Yes, we like commented, we estimate the business to continue as it has started now. So the market will be for the new cars, it will be really like, let's say, slow or at least limited. But for the used cars and services, we expect to have quite okay market. And our performance is estimated to continue good, as commented.
Thank you. And on your guidance, the fact that you lowered the top end, is it correct? I think you wrote it also, but it's purely based on the on BTT slower recovery? Or is there I mean, trade has been probably a bit better than expected, but it's purely BTT that takes down
That's heart right. Of the That's right. BTT and yes. Yes, you are right. Yes.
Thanks. And then the last question on the Senukai issue. You said that you will get numbers again from Q3, but could you specify how will you report the will you adjust the Q1 and Q2 numbers backwards? Or will you report the full impact in Q3? Do you know technically how you will correct the Q1 and Q2?
Yes. As I mentioned, they have a good Board meeting last week in Keskoye and now we have agreed we will get those figures normally in the coming months and coming quarters. And I think that after Q3, we know Q3 figures and whole year after that. Is it Johannou? I think so.
It is exactly like that. I think that most probably we will report it in Q3 the numbers, but then of course give the comparable numbers so that you're able to match them.
The next question comes from Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Mainly on grocery for me. Firstly, I just wanted to confirm, I heard you say that your grocery inflation was only 0.6%, so around 150 basis points below the market in the quarter. Did I hear that correctly?
Yes. Yes, that's true, Anders. 2.3 was a kind of Finnish static figures and 0.6 is our sales mix. For example, that our those products that includes our this price program more than 1,000 products, the sales increase on those far are double digit. So that's the main reason about that.
Okay. So that would suggest to me that you maybe took a bit of share in volume terms. Could you confirm that that's correct? And maybe give me an idea where that volume share is coming from?
Did we take volume in
Yes, the it's very difficult to say.
It's difficult to say. In volume, yes, you can say that situation was better, but how to calculate it at the end of the day is too difficult to say.
And of course, we don't know our competitors' kind of sales mix and their inflation is. 2.3% is from the kind of Finnish statistics. How right is that? I don't know.
Okay. Understood, understood. And then just on the margin side. So am I understanding you correctly, you're saying that you think the margin could have been even better if it wasn't for some of the seasonal headwinds in the quarter? And for the back half of the year, how do we think about that grocery margin?
Is it going to continue to is 2Q a good reference point in terms of year over year decline? Or should we think of the first half? Well, That would helpful. Thank
I have to correct that Jorma said in the beginning that the grocery trade was a bit better than expected in Q2, Yes, not
it's better than what we expected. That's still what we have said that clearly, above 6% is our expectation about that one. And that's still very valid. And I say that this Q2 was a little bit better than we expected, especially in this kind of chain operations.
The next question comes from Artoo Haykura from Inderes. Please go ahead.
Good morning. It's Artoo Haykura, Inderes. Thank you for your presentations. I missed a couple of minutes from the start, but my question is, I guess, the Onlinen's profit improved outside Finland, although the revenue declined somewhat. So could you tell us what were the main reasons behind this profit growth?
Yes, it's clear. It was Onin and Norway, because as we mentioned earlier, we have some issues when we integrate the Electroscandia and Onin and NNATA kind of new ERP systems and two warehouses and things like that, but we have solved now those problems. And I'm very pleased about Norway and both Onin and Buyukmakker. Onin gained market share first half of the year and also the profitability increased quite nicely. So that's because of Onin Norway.
Okay. Thank you. It's Paul from me. Thanks.
Thanks, Artem.
The next question comes from Mika from Ihumaki. Please go ahead.
Hi, this is Mika from D and B Carnegie. Thanks for taking my question. My first one is on the slide you're showing that on Minen or technical trade usually follows the finished DIY by six months lag. That's what we've sort of seen adjusted for delivery days. Keralta picked early in the year, but Oninen was still sluggish in Q2.
You've seen now July, what do you expect H2, Q3 development for Onnen? Is it going according to your expectations in Finland, so on the slides as you show on the slides?
All in all, we believe that the latter part of the year will be stronger for both Keralt and on Oninen. And also we believe that Oninen will what will be the month that sales will be positive, I'm not sure, but not any big changes what comes to July, not any negative news I would say. So we believe that the third quarter will be better than first two quarters.
And then on your guidance still, so you delivered better than your expectations on car trade and grocery trade and sort of your commentary indicates that H2 will at least continue alongside along the same trends or lines. So hence, what is why the cautiousness on your guidance TRIM? Is it now stemming from really slower than expected Finland, although you highlight that it's stemming from all operating countries? But I was just wondering that is Finland clearly waiting biggest or most in the equation making you the most cautious here?
I would say that all countries. For example, if we look Euroconstriction forecast, what they delivered when the year started and now what they published in June, all the countries has decreased also And in their we have seen kind of same. And I think that's the case. So there are some differences, as I mentioned earlier, that Denmark is a little bit stronger than other countries. But also in Denmark, they a little bit decreased the forecast all in all.
So all in all, little bit weaker market than we expected and market expected not so much, but a little bit. And that's the case and reason why we changed this guidance because of pending a technical trade.
Okay. That's very clear. Thank you.
Thank you, Mikael. Any further questions? No more questions from the conference call line, but I have one question from the chat function. So that is about car trade. Any campaigns or marketing activities behind the strong sales of new cars in Q2? Or are there tendencies for stronger underlying demand?
Is it for Yes.
Thanks for the question. Maybe to start by commenting that this kind of strong performance is, of course, based on many things, and I'm really happy about the overall performance of the car sales team. And maybe the key is the systematic and continuous development already for a longer period and now it's yielding results. But like we know, market demand for the new cars is still muted, pretty low. And therefore, we can't see that kind of like an underlying increased demand.
Then coming to our sales, there are also, of course, campaigns like typical in new car trade, mainly or the most important to comment is the Volkswagen '75 campaign, what was fully Finnish operations and related that Volkswagen has been seventy five years in Finland, and that has worked really well. But yes, that's one campaign to comment. But overall, I think the performance is based on many topics and overall good performance in our team.
Yes.
Very well. That was all. No more questions here. Thank you for the comprehensive questions and a very good discussion. Any last thoughts, Jorma?
Yes. I want to thank those quite many questions. Summertime and holiday time, but very good questions. And I think I don't have any summerizing anymore. I wish you all very, very nice summer.
And at least in Finland, warm weather is going to do at least couple of days. We don't know what comes to next week. But thank you, and have a nice summer. Thank you.
Thank you.