Lindex Group Oyj (HEL:LINDEX)
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Apr 28, 2026, 6:29 PM EET
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Earnings Call: Q4 2024

Feb 7, 2025

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Good morning, everyone. I am Susanne Ehnbåge, CEO of Lindex Group, and I would like to warmly welcome you all to our webcast, where we will walk you through the key highlights of our October to December and also the full year 2024 financial performance. I have our CFO, Henrik Henriksson, also joining me in our webcast today. Let's continue to the agenda on the next page. We will start with the highlight of Q4, business updates for our two divisions, Lindex and Stockmann, and then look at the financials more closely. We will finish with an update on our way forward, and after our presentation, we will have time for your questions. We can now move on to the next page, please. Let's begin with our business update for Lindex Group, as well as for the Lindex and Stockmann divisions.

Here we can take a look at the key messages of the quarter. I would like us to pause here for a short while and go through a couple of key messages related to the fourth quarter. We will come back to these topics later during the webcast as well. During the fourth quarter, the fashion market remained challenging and volatile. We have market data indicating from double-digit minus to plus 6% in our three main markets during the fourth quarter. Despite the challenging market, Lindex division improved its adjusted operating profit significantly. I'm also pleased with the Stockmann division's continuous profit improvement, both during the quarter and also year to date. Successful cost efficiency measures have resulted in these improvement steps.

Our ongoing initiatives progressed well during the quarter, and the initiatives that I would like to mention here is, of course, the successful launch of the Lindex division's Omnichannel Distribution Centre that took place in November. And I will talk more about these topics later. When it comes to Lindex Group's restructuring program, we have one disputed claim remaining. And finally, I would like to state that our strategic assessment, where we aim to crystallize shareholder value by refocusing the group's business on Lindex, is still ongoing. Lindex Group continues to investigate strategic alternatives for the Stockmann department store business. We communicated in December that the assessment continues and is expected to finalize assessment by the end of June 2025. We can then move on to the next page, please. To sum up our Q4 revenue development, Lindex Group's revenue for the fourth quarter was EUR 273.7 million.

The revenue declined by 0.3%, but increased by 0.8% in local currencies. Lindex revenue developed well towards the latter part of the quarter due to improved stock availability and well-received commercial offerings. In local currencies, the Lindex division's revenue increased by 2.3%. The Stockmann division's revenue decreased by 1.4% due to lower sales in the fashion category. The Stockmann division's beauty and food performed well, and home remained at the comparison period level. The group's adjusted operating result increased clearly to €36.1 million. Lindex division's adjusted operating result increased due to higher gross profit and also good cost control. Stockmann division's adjusted operating result increased due to lower costs and also improved gross margin. Let's then take a look at the next slide, please. To sum up our financial performance in January to December 2024, the Lindex Group's revenue was €940.1 million. The revenue declined by 1.2%.

Regarding our full year performance, weaker purchasing power and low consumer confidence continue to affect the demand on our main markets and impacted the group's revenue and result. The Lindex division's revenue was on par with previous year. The lower stock availability that was caused by logistical challenges in the third quarter was mitigated during the fourth quarter. The Stockmann division's revenue decreased slightly due to continuous volatility in the fashion market, which negatively impacted sales within the fashion category. The Lindex Group's adjusted operating result decreased to €74.9 million due to mainly lower gross profit and continued investments in the Lindex division related to future growth projects. Stockmann division's adjusted operating result improved due to successful cost savings and improved gross margins. Let's take then a look at the next slide, please. Here you can see the Lindex Group's revenue split by division, markets, and categories.

The share of the Lindex division is two-thirds of the revenue. Sweden remains the Lindex Group's biggest market with 35%. The third chart tells clearly that fashion is our key category. It generates 79% of the group's revenue. Beauty is the second biggest category with an 8% share of the revenue. The Lindex Group has a strong market position in the Nordics and the Baltics as well through global partnerships. In 2024, the number of Lindex stores grew with three stores to 442. During the year, Lindex opened 11 stores and closed eight stores. Share of the digital sales increased by one percentage point to 18%. In addition, the Lindex division's physical stores and own digital channels, the company also sells its products on third-party digital fashion platforms like Zalando, Boozt, and ASOS.

On the next page, looking into the Lindex division, we achieved increasing profitability and the sales growth in the fourth quarter. I think you can take actually the next page as well here. Thank you. And I'm pleased with our strong digital growth of 14.9% during the quarter and an increased digital share. We deliver a strong commercial assortment with kids' wear as our best-performing category. And during the autumn, we in Sweden introduced StyleMe, a StyleMe pilot. And this is a unique online service helping customers to build a long-lasting wardrobe that reflects their personal style. We received very positive response to the pilot, and we will offer a new program starting in the beginning of March. The launch of our new highly automated Omnichannel Distribution Center was, of course, a highlight for the quarter.

I will provide you with more detailed status update on our new warehouse a bit later. We have made further progress in our digital transformation, where we during the quarter completed the rollout of new mobile devices to all of our stores. By the end of 2024, we had also transformed all stores in Sweden and the U.K. with our new POS system, and where we in the beginning of the year had continued with Finland and also started with Norway. To drive our continued online growth, our upgraded digital platform is a key enabler, allowing us to respond faster to our customers' needs and adapt efficiently to support our growth. We have also implemented a new data platform. It not only gives us real-time access to data across Lindex, but also provides deeper insights into key areas such as customer behavior, sales trend, and operations.

This enabled us to make faster, more informed decisions and identify opportunities for growth. During the year, we have continued to grow both with new and active customers, and we have expanded our market presence through partnerships and entered new markets with marketplaces. We can also summarize a good progress in our major investments and in the digital transformation, as well as in our sustainability and circular transformation. Within the material transformation, one of our material targets is to transition 1% of our virgin cotton to regenerative cotton by 2030. This means that the cotton is grown in ways that maintain soil health and benefits both people and nature. To increase the availability of regenerative cotton, we support farmers in adopting regenerative farming practices, and we have taken further steps in sourcing farmed cotton.

In the end of 2024, we also celebrated Lindex's 70th anniversary around the Lindex organization, and it is fantastic to see the joy and pride among all Lindex employees. The employee engagement is one of our greatest strengths, and we remain a strong employee net promoter score at 60, which is among the top 5% in the consumer industry in the world, which we are pleased with. On the next page then, the launch of our new Omnichannel Distribution Center took place in November last year, and that was a significant milestone, marking an important step in enabling our future growth. By the end of the year, €96.3 million had been invested. We are right now in the transition phase, which is planned to continue during the first half of 2025.

About 20% of the central warehouse stock is now operated in the new warehouse, and the volumes are increasing each week according to our ramp-up plan. The second half of 2025 will be an optimization phase to gradually increase the efficiency of operations. Meanwhile, we in parallel are closing our old warehouses. We plan to be fully operational in line with our business case by the end of 2025. With our new highly automated warehouse, we have streamlined our sales channels into one efficient stock operation, enabling sales and e-commerce orders for all Lindex channels. It will reduce transaction costs for e-commerce orders compared to the existing manual warehouse operation, also lower rents and positive effects on our margins. We have a short film of our new highly automated facility highlighting the key advantages of our new logistics platform moving forward. Let's have a look.

Welcome to Lindex's highly automated Omnichannel Distribution Centre. This state-of-the-art facility is more than just a warehouse. Let us show you around. It's the beating heart of a global operation. 40,000 square meters of pure efficiency. From receiving goods to shipping them out, every square meter is designed for precision and speed. Built in line with the environmental BREEAM SE certificate, with a rating of very good and completely powered from solar panels. This facility not only runs on 100% renewable energy, it gives back to the grid. Innovative technology. One common warehouse and seamless operations for all sales channels will significantly increase stock availability, overall capacity, and reduce costs. The result? Quadrupled e-commerce capacity, faster delivery times, a scalable operation ready for growth, and completely new possibilities for the future. Each movement calculated, each process perfected. This is the future of logistics.

Great.

Thank you so much for showing the video. And if we then continue to the Stockmann division, in the fourth quarter, we continue to prove the profitability. And the key factors in this improvement were systematic execution of cost efficiency measures, as well as proactive offering and inventory management. Whereas fashion category faced market volatility, beauty and food categories were able to partly mitigate this impact. We saw a growth in our loyal customers' amount and share of sales, driven also by the successful campaigns such as the Crazy Days. For Stockmann, 2024 was about focusing in on strategy execution to build foundation for sustainable profitability. We continued to elevate offering by introducing exciting brands such as Mulberry and Little Liffner to our customers and investing in our department stores in Helsinki and Tallinn for great customer experience.

At the same time, we delivered systematic cost measures driven especially by continuous operational and organizational efficiency. The automated e-com packaging and introduction of RFID technology in the fashion category and data-driven staff planning serve as great examples. In addition, we have today, after the report period, informed that we are planning a change in the Stockmann department store fleet. The rental agreement for the department store in the Itis shopping centre in Helsinki will expire on the 1st of August 2025. We plan to close the department store and will start related change negotiations concerning the entire personnel of the Stockmann Itis department store. If materialized, the planned closure would not have a material impact on the profitability or financial position of the Stockmann division or Lindex Group. I would now like to hand over to Henrik, please.

Henrik Henriksson
CFO, Lindex Group

Thank you, Susanne.

Now let's look more closely at the fourth quarter. Please, let's go to the next page. On this slide, we present the Lindex division's revenue and adjusted operating result for the fourth quarter 2024. For the Lindex division, our revenue increased slightly to EUR 169.1 million. The revenue developed well towards the later part of the quarter due to improved stock availability and solid offering. We continued to increase our digital sales for the quarter, and I'm happy to share that we increased 15, almost 14.9% on the Lindex division's digital channels. Now the digital channel revenue accounted for 21.1% of the total revenue. Our gross margin increased to 66%, mainly by enhanced inventory management driven by successful digitalization projects implemented in the Lindex stores in combination with a well-balanced sales mix during the quarter.

The comparable operating cost decreased to €67.8 million, and this is mainly due to good cost control. Lindex continues to focus on cost efficiency and process automation to mitigate future cost increases. The adjusted operating result increased to €26.8 million, and this is due to higher gross profit and good cost control. Let's move to Stockmann's Q4 result. On this slide, we are presenting the Stockmann division's revenue and adjusted operating result for the fourth quarter. As earlier stated, the Stockmann division's revenue decreased slightly by 1.4% to €104.6 million. The digital sales accounted for 15% of the total sales. The main reason for the revenue decline, both in the department stores and the digital channel, was the sales decrease in the division's biggest category, fashion. The overall fashion market experienced a decline in the division's key markets.

In addition, a lowered volume of clearance sales, especially in the digital channels, affected the revenue, and the revenue in beauty and food categories improved compared to previous year, and home category remained at the level of the comparison period. Regardless of the decrease, Stockmann performed in line with the challenging overall fashion market during the quarter, and the gross margin increased to 45.4% due to better clearance sales margin and good inventory management. Stockmann continued its successful cost efficiency measures and decreased cost by € 0.7 million compared to previous year, and adjusted operating result slightly improved and is mainly driven by cost efficiency measures and improved gross margin. Then we go to the next page, please, and on this slide, we're trying to visualize the division-level changes and their impact on the group's revenue and adjusted operating result during the fourth quarter.

The left-hand side shows changes in revenue, which ended up on a slight decrease compared to the comparison period. Lindex revenue decreased by EUR 0.9 million. Oh, sorry, increased to EUR 0.9 million due to improved stock availability. And Stockmann's revenue decreased EUR 1.5 million, driven by the overall decline in the fashion market. Adjusted operating result increased by EUR 5.9 million on group level, and the key reason for the increase were lower costs in both divisions and improved gross profit. We go to the next page, and here we're looking into the group key figures for the quarter. We can see that the revenue decreased slightly compared to the comparison period level. However, in local currencies, the revenue increased by 0.8%. Adjusted operating result increased significantly to EUR 36.1 million. Currency rates didn't have any material impact on the group's adjusted operating result.

And the operating result came in at €33.1 million and net result improved to €19.8 million. And this is mainly due to higher operating result coupled with lower taxes than previous quarter, previous years. The group's gross margin was improved to 58.1% compared to 57.5% in the comparison period. And earnings per share increased to €0.12. And this is explained by stronger net result. Let's go to the next. And here we're trying to visualize the full year outcome and the division's impact on the group result. The left-hand side shows the changes in revenue. And here we can notice that the Lindex revenue decreased by €4.4 million, while the Stockmann decreased by €7 million for the full year. And on the right-hand side, we have adjusted operating result, and it declined to €74.9. And this is due to lower gross profit together with increased costs.

Stockmann division improved the result with €2.3 million, and that's thanks to successful cost efficiency measures and improved gross margin. Then on the next slide, we are looking at it from a more historical perspective. Looking at the profitability of the divisions, it is evident that the Lindex division continues to perform well. Lindex adjusted operating result has more than doubled compared to the pre-pandemic levels. If we look further back, the improvement would have been even higher. Also looking into the Stockmann division has made significant improvements in profitability compared to 2020 and 2021, although it still reports negative numbers. Then please the next page. Here we would like to spend a few minutes reviewing operating free cash flow and capital expenditures.

And for the full year, cash flow impacted by changes in working capital, mainly in inventory and accounts payable, together with lease payments. If we specifically look into the fourth quarter and we exclude the investment in the Lindex Omnichannel Distribution Centre, the operating free cash flow was landed at EUR 60.8 million versus EUR 67.9 million. And it's the same reason it's increasing working capital due to lower accounts payable and higher inventories. And investments in the quarter affecting free cash flow was EUR 13.3 million versus previous year EUR 18.2 million. A few words on the inventories. It increased to EUR 169.6 million compared to last year EUR 162.6 million. Within the Lindex division, inventories increased mainly due to the logistical challenges we had third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter. But we also have a higher value per piece factor to consider. And this is due to changes in product mix.

When it comes to Stockmann division, inventories declined due to good inventory management, and that's including proactive adjustments of intake levels for the quarter. By the end of December, approximately €96.3 million of the total Omnichannel Distribution Centre investment of €110 million has been paid. And it's in line with our financial plan and our project. Then let's go to the next page, please. And this is a slide showing our cash position. And it presents the changes in cash position per item from the beginning of the year to the end of December in relation to the same period previous year. And cash and cash equivalents total at €114.7 million compared to €137.5 million at the end of December 2024.

We can see changes in net working capital coupled with higher lease payments have had a slightly more negative effect compared to previous year, while CapEx and taxes have had a less negative effect. And the fourth quarter, if we just drill down to that, generated a total cash flow of € 48.8 million versus € 29.5 million in the comparison period. Let's turn to the next page, please. And here on this slide, we're trying to illustrate how the Lindex Group's financial position has improved during the last years, which has and will enable future growth. And in the graph here, you can see that the net debt has remained on a good level. Excluding IFRS items, the interest-bearing net debt was positive at € 32 million. Equity ratio improved further and reached 61.9%, excluding IFRS items, and 30% including IFRS items.

The lease liabilities under IFRS 16 reporting standard ended up at €603.1 million. In the Lindex division, the lease liabilities increased by €15.3 million. In the Stockmann division, the lease liabilities were on par. The interest-bearing liabilities stood at €82.9 million. We turn to the next page. Here, looking into a more broader overview of the performance 2024, we can draw the following conclusion. We have set the growth target, aiming for annual revenue increase of 3%-5% in the midterm, with a clear objective of reaching €10 billion in revenue by 2030. Looking into the performance 2023, Lindex achieved a growth rate of plus 2.7%, and it's followed by a drop, 0.9% decrease in 2024. If we look at the digital share revenue, its target reached 30% in the midterm.

2024, we achieved a digital share of 20, almost 21%, and it's an improvement from 19% for 2023, and for Lindex, the target is to reach 15% adjusted operating margin in the long term, and in 2024, we reached an operating margin of 13.2% compared to 14.3% in 2023. We are progressing well towards achieving our financial targets, and the financial targets were announced in November 2023, and we will track this progress and these targets annually, and if we turn page, we can see the targets for the Stockmann division, and if we look at the revenue target for Stockmann, its focus for the midterm is achieving growth aligned with market trend, and by market trend, we refer to the addressable market in Finland, Latvia, and Estonia, and that's comprising fashion, beauty, and home categories.

Market statistics showed a decline of minus 1.5% for 2024, while the Stockmann division reported a decline of 2.2% in 2024. It is also, sorry, regarding the cash flow, the goal is to achieve a positive free cash flow in the midterm. And this objective will also be supported by the target of improving profitability to a 5% adjusted operating margin in the midterm. The Stockmann division decreased its positive free cash flow from minus EUR 12 million to minus EUR 19.4 million in 2024. Stockmann division improved its positive free cash flow from EUR 20.9 million in 2022 to minus EUR 12 million in 2023. And profitability was negatively affected by a lower result during the first six months of 2023, but was partly mitigated by significant cost saving in the latest six months. And for 2023, the profitability ended at minus 2% in adjusted operating margin.

If we jump to the next page and just summarize what are the financial highlights for the quarter, and I think we can summarize Q4 with a strong result improvement for both divisions, and it was accomplished despite challenging market environments. With that, I hand over to Susanne, who will pave our way forward.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Thank you so much, Henrik. Looking then at our way forward, starting with Lindex on the next page, please. We have established a solid foundation to accelerate our global growth efficiently. Aligned with our strategy, we have big ambitions focusing on accelerating our growth while continuing our transformation into a more sustainable business and improved the scalability and efficiency of our business. Looking at the next page and ahead to 2025, the Lindex division is geared for growth.

We will leverage the full potential of the important investments we have made over the past years to drive our continued global brand-led and sustainable growth. Our priority one will be on growth, with the ramp-up and the full operational launch of our new omnichannel warehouse serving as a crucial enabler. Our focus is to grow both with existing markets and partners, as well as growing in new markets. As part of our digital transformation, we plan to complete the rollout of our digital store program in Q1, including the implementation of our new POS system. We will elevate on our new digital platform and recently launched customer app for increased customer experience, strengthen loyalty, and to drive sales, and to digitalize our supply chain with increased supplier collaboration is a continued key focus for us going forward.

Continue exploring new business models and services, as well as driving our circular transformation, are important parts of our strategy. In January, we in Sweden released our new customer-to-customer platform for second-hand women's wear garments. This test will give us valuable insights, for example, to see which garments our customers choose to circulate further, at what price, and in what conditions they are sold. If this turns out to be successful, we can look into how to expand this further to more markets. We will also continue to scale up our second-hand offering from 10 stores to 16 stores during the first quarter of 2025, and we also plan for a similar expansion in the second quarter. To reach our sustainability promise and our high-set goals, we will proceed with our sustainability transformation.

Our focus is to reduce our CO2 emissions in line with science-based targets through continuous work with renewable energy in supply chain and also in our material transformation and circular business models. Within material transformation, our focus will be on increasing regenerative cotton and recycled materials. We will also continue to strengthen women's position in our supply chain through our women empowerment program. Then taking a look at the next page and the Stockmann division strategy, our key target is to ensure profitability and future growth. The Stockmann division has four strategic areas, which are to elevate the offering, grow and leverage a loyal customer base, optimize omnichannel performance, and improve operational efficiencies. All these contribute both to profitability and growth. On the next page, looking at the Stockmann division's way forward, we focus on strategy execution with important targets to continuously improve the profitability of the business.

In 2025, we will further secure the systematic progress in operational and cost efficiency measures aiming at improving the profitability. We will continue further to digitalize our processes and leverage technology. This means, for example, AI tools in product information enrichment and data-driven workforce planning. We'll also continuously look for and execute opportunities in organizational and process efficiency to improve our competitiveness. We continue to develop our customer-centric offering with clear differentiation driven by premium and luxury offering, strengthening our competitive position on the market. Another important area is our loyal customers. Relying on our data, we are able to personalize and optimize our communication and campaigns, which will continue to improve during 2025. And finally, we invest in our competitive omnichannel model led by our Helsinki flagship store and Stockmann.com.

With the Omnichannel model, we deliver great customer experience in an efficient and increasingly profitable way through the channel that the customers prefer. If we then move on to our guidance for 2025, we expect the revenue in local currencies to be in the range of 0% to +4% compared to 2024. The group's adjusted operating result is estimated to be €70-€90 million. Foreign exchange rate fluctuations may have a significant effect on the adjusted operating result. With these words, I suggest that we end the presentation part and move on to your questions.

Moderator

Yes, we have got plenty of questions, and we start first with that. You mentioned that Lindex's sales developed stronger towards the end of Q4. Would you say that this trend continued into the next year or this year, 2025?

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Yes, thanks, Magda.

Yes, as said, we had a stronger sales development towards the end of Q4. That is correct. But we do not, however, share the revenue development for the start of Q1 yet, but I'm happy to go back on this topic in April.

Moderator

Yes, thank you. Then we have a couple of questions regarding the strategic assessment. What is the reason for strategic assessment delay? Is there a reason to be worried as Lindex Group shareholder? Any comments on the disputed claim progress? So they were actually both about the strategic assessment and about the restructuring.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Yes, and regarding the strategic assessment, as we went out with here in December, this is an important project, and the board is putting a lot of effort into this.

But this is something that takes time, and that's why we also went out with this message that we will give it another six months into this year as well.

Moderator

Yes, and then we have another question related to the restructuring program. So Lindex has had the option to end the restructuring program simply by dropping the appeal that has been filed in the legal dispute with LähiTapiola. Why hasn't this been done? And does Lindex have the power to decide whether to continue the legal process, or is it the restructuring supervisor who is impacting Lindex to continue the dispute in court of appeal?

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Yes, we appealed on the resolution as we don't agree on the court decision, and it is against our claim.

We want, of course, to see a resolution that is according to the restructuring program and the current court practice and also fair to the other creditors as well, and ending the restructuring process also requires the cooperation with the supervisor.

Moderator

Yes, thank you, and then have you considered changing the listing of Lindex to Stockholm?

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

This is not a priority at the moment.

Moderator

Yes, and still related to the restructuring program, this is the last one we say here with you, Susanne. Has an escrow account been considered to be able to end the restructuring program earlier than the disputes are resolved?

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

We do not speculate on that, so no speculations regarding an escrow account.

Moderator

Yes. Just a moment, then we go to Itis. We have today released a press release regarding the Itis department store and a plan related to that.

Here's a question regarding Itis and its share of our business. Can you give a rough figure on what share the Itis department store represents of Stockmann division sales? If you cannot provide a rough figure, can you help us to understand if it represents more or less than a natural one-eighth part of the total department store revenue?

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Right.

Moderator

Do you expect material clearance sales in Itis? If so, would that fall in Q2? That's a follow-up question.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Good question. For Itis, this is the department store that is the smallest, looking at the square meters, and therefore naturally also contributes to a less part of the revenue, if I put it like that, thinking about the question regarding one-eighth. It is a smaller amount.

The planned closure of the department store would not have, as we stated, any significant impact on the profitability or financial position of the Stockmann division. Since this is a plan for closing in the end of the summer, we could expect some of this clearance sales to happen then in Q2.

Moderator

Yes, thank you, Susanne. We stay still a little bit in Itis. When do you think we could get an estimate of the extraordinary costs associated with closing of Itis, and in what quarter would you expect it to be taken? We are currently in the negotiation with Itis, so this is still in early planning. If we proceed with the plan, we expect to have more clarity on the extraordinary costs in the coming months. This would then be taken in the Q3 reporting.

If materialized, the planned department store closure would not, as said before, have any material impact on the profitability or financial position for the Stockmann division.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Yes.

Moderator

Then we go over to Henrik. Just a moment. How much will the annual depreciation increase due to the new warehouse, and will that impact be fully from the beginning of 2025 or gradually during the year? How would you comment that, Henrik?

Henrik Henriksson
CFO, Lindex Group

First of all, we're super excited about this new warehouse. And if we talk a little bit about the warehouse in Alingsås, it will be fully operational in the end of 2025, and we expect it to be full power from 2026 and onwards. And there we will see annual savings of € 10 million.

During 2025, we will phase out the warehouses that we have in Partille and Borås, and we don't expect any major savings to be expected during 2025. So what does that mean? Well, it means that we expect the depreciation to start to impact the later part of 2025 when the OCDC is fully up and running. And it's been included in our financial plans and targets for the nearest future.

Moderator

Yes, thank you, Henrik. And then we go to cash and Stockmann division. So continuing with you, Henrik, are you able to explain the worsening cash losses in the Stockmann division? Let's see now.

Henrik Henriksson
CFO, Lindex Group

When it comes to cash situation, I think we have had the net working capital has had an impact. So we're talking about accounts payable.

Of course, we've had better inventory level, but on top of that, we also had additional lease payments impacting the division, and hence the impact on the cash situation on Stockmann.

Moderator

Yes. And actually related to this very same topic and when you mentioned the lease payments, so there is another question that are you able to explain the increasing lease liabilities and interest/cash costs more in detail?

Henrik Henriksson
CFO, Lindex Group

I mean, the leases are, of course, impacted by contractual reasons and lease negotiations, and that is kind of the main driver of the development of the lease payments during 2024.

Moderator

Yes. Then we have more opinion or comment. Maybe you take this, Susanne. How excited would you be to manage Lindex without the department stores if the strategic assessment would be successful and if the department stores would be divested? So a little bit of personal question here to the management.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

All right. Of course, this is not something I would like to speculate on, but my focus is super clear. I want to bring Stockmann division to profitability. That is the first step. And then for Lindex, we have done a great start here in 2024 and 2023 to set the foundation and now to really leverage on the growth. So for me, I have two focus areas, and I'm focusing very hard on those together with my great teams in both divisions.

Moderator

Thank you, Susanne. And again, a little bit personal question maybe to you, Henrik and Susanne. Are there some plans for the management to buy more Lindex shares? So you can only comment on your behalf, but maybe Susanne on behalf of the management. And there are, of course, some rules and regulations also on that.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Yes.

Of course, the management makes our own decisions when it comes to buying shares, Lindex shares. But we also need to align and follow the rules in the stock exchange. For example, during a closed window period, we cannot buy shares.

Moderator

Yes, thank you. We have a very last practical question related to Stockmann and gift cards. Why isn't it possible to pay with gift cards in the Stockmann online store? It's quite a significant negative customer experience to have a gift card and not being able to pay with it. Do you have their comment, Susanne?

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Yeah, I understand the comment. The Stockmann gift card is currently available in our department stores, but unfortunately not yet in the online store. We understand that a multi-channel gift card would be very useful for our customers, and it is under development.

So I do hope that we can provide an option into this in the future, but unfortunately not right now.

Moderator

Yes, thank you. Actually, that was the last question, and I can't believe this was this straightforward. Now you have an opportunity. We have Susanne and Henrik here. Are you sure that you don't have anything more to them? No? Then I think that we end the Q&A session here. Thank you.

Susanne Ehnbåge
CEO, Lindex Group

Thank you so much, Magda, for your support. Thank you also for your good questions. Please be in touch with our investor relations via email if something comes up later. As said, we will publish our Q1 result on the 29th of April. I will see you hopefully in April at the latest. Thank you, and I wish you all a nice day.

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