Good morning, everyone. I am Susanne Ehnbåge, and I am the CEO of Lindex Group, and I would like to warmly welcome you to our webcast, where we will walk you through the highlights of January to March 2025. I have here with me our CFO, Henrik Henriksson.
Good morning.
Now, let's continue to the agenda. We will start with the highlights of Q1, 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. After our presentation, we will have time for your questions. Let's then begin with our business update, where we will first take a look at our key messages of the quarter. Our performance was impacted by the challenging market environment, which remained subdued throughout the quarter. The continued geopolitical tension and risks of unexpected global trade disturbances increased uncertainty in our key markets and also weakened consumer confidence during the quarter. As we can see on this page, the consumer confidence indicator fell during the first quarter in all of our three markets: Sweden, Finland, and Norway.
In Sweden, consumer confidence declined steadily throughout the quarter, as concerns about the general economic situation increased, as well as the uncertainty about personal finances increased. Also, persistent worries about future employment further contributed to the dampened confidence. In Finland, the consumer confidence also stayed weak throughout the period. The sentiment was very similar to Swedish consumers, but Finland's situation was more influenced by unemployment fears and inflation. In Norway, the consumer confidence remained subdued, reflecting ongoing uncertainty in the economy. Even though consumer confidence improved in January, the fall was significant in February, and especially in March. On the next page, what I just described maintained the fashion market volatility throughout the quarter and also impacted the performance of both divisions. I am pleased with Stockmann Division's continuous profit improvement. Successful operations and organizational efficiency measures have resulted in these improvement steps.
Stockmann has improved its result for the fourth quarter in a row. The rolling 12-month adjusted operating result currently stands at EUR 1.8 million, indicating significant progress towards our profitability target. It is also the strongest lever that we have achieved in the past five years. Lindex Division faced temporary revenue pressures due to supply delays during the ramp-up of our new omnichannel distribution center. Due to the complexity of the setup, the advanced implementation phase has resulted in some temporary disruptions, particularly the flow of products and stock availability on certain key products. These delays were further compounded by extended lead times from Asia. Stock levels have improved to a better level in our source channels at the end of April. At the same time, this important project is showing good progress. When it comes to Lindex Group's restructuring program, there is no update.
Still, one disputed claim is left in the program. 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. As communicated earlier, the assessment continues, and we expect to finalize the assessment by the end of June 2025. To sum up our Q1 result development, Lindex Group's revenue for the first quarter totaled EUR 186 million.
The revenue declined by 3% in local currencies, and in Euros, the decrease is 3.5%, as seen here on the graph. Both divisions' revenue was impacted by the weakened consumer confidence and continued fashion market volatility throughout the quarter. The absence of Leap Day this year, combined with a strong activity plan in the prior year, had a notable impact, particularly for the Lindex Division.
In local currencies, the revenue decreased by 2.5% in the Lindex Division. The Lindex Division was also negatively impacted by the temporary internal and external logistical challenges that impacted product availability in our sales channels. The Stockmann Division's revenue decreased by 3.9%, mainly due to lower sales in the fashion category. The Stockmann Division home and food categories performed well. The group's adjusted operating result decreased to EUR -8.7 million. The Lindex Division adjusted operating result decreased to EUR 0.3 million, negatively explained mainly due to decreased revenue, but also higher operating costs. The Stockmann Division's adjusted operating result increased to EUR -7.3 million, explained by lower cost. Looking at the highlights for the Lindex Division, I'm happy to share that we have continued our digital growth during the quarter, and we have also strengthened the digital share to 23.7%.
The launch of our new e-comm site for Sweden and Norway, along with the new customer app, have been important enablers in driving our online growth. Kidswear was our best-performing category for the period, and it was in this category we also had the strongest stock availability during this quarter. We continued the extensive ramp-up and transition phase of our new highly automated warehouse at full intensity during the quarter. About 70% of the central warehouse stock is now operating in Alingsås, which is now significantly increasing each week according to our ramp-up plan. All warehouse operations, except for the e-comm operation, are now being transferred to our new warehouse. The transfer of our e-comm warehouse operation is being carefully planned as a dual e-comm warehouse operation, with a gradual increase of e-comm orders handled in our new omnichannel DC .
We have also continued our international expansion and strengthened our brand positioning in key European markets. Our new establishment in early March at the Magasin du Nord's flagship department store in Copenhagen, Denmark, is an important step in reinforcing our physical presence and brand visibility. In addition, we have localized our site and app for the Danish market, making it easier for customers to shop with us. The opening of our new kids store at Battersea Power Station in London at the end of March is also an exciting establishment. The U.K. remains a market with great potential as we continue our ambition to reach even more customers, something we look forward to building on together with them.
As part of our digital transformation and after completing the POS rollout in Sweden and in the U.K., that is, point of sales equipment, we are finalizing the implementation in Finland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. We are currently focusing on Norway and Lithuania. During the quarter, we have also expanded our product offering in our Femtech brand Female Engineering, and we have continued exploring growth opportunities throughout circular business models and services. We have added new stores with our second-hand offering, and we have launched a second round of Style Me pilot, targeting to help customers to create a long-lasting wardrobe with a personal style.
Last but not least, we are pleased to see that the number of Lindex active customers continues to grow during the quarter. In the Stockmann Division, the efforts to improve operational and organizational efficiencies continue to pay off, and the division's first quarter result improved.
At the same time, we continued developing Stockmann's strategic omnichannel approach, making the interaction of digital and physical channels as seamless as possible for our customers. Stockmann.com grew in both revenue and in gross profit. The e-comm delivery efficiencies kept improving. We expanded the well-received in-store parcel lockers that allow a convenient pickup from store and continuously improved the profitability in the omnichannel model. We also continue to develop and pilot ultra-fast delivery capabilities in the Helsinki flagship store. Crazy Days e-comm site was nominated as the online store of the year, and the winner will be introduced in May. In line with Stockmann's strategy, we will continue to elevate and differentiate our offering through launches of inspiring new brands, collections, and partnerships. In Q1, we welcome premium and luxury brands such as Marina Rinaldi and JC Sophie for women's fashion to our offering.
They are a good company with 150 other brands with exclusive or very limited distribution. Not to forget Louis Vuitton operating at our Helsinki flagship store. At the same time, we carefully follow our customers' needs. The flexibility in our wide offering allows us to stay competitive in all market conditions. Stockmann's own brand selection complements the premium offering in an excellent and competitive way. As an example, last year, Stockmann researched the wishes of plus-size female customers and responded in Q1 by introducing, under its own new brand, a plus-size collection designed with Henna Lampinen, awarded Young Designer of the Year 2023. Stockmann complements and elevates its own offering through collaboration with trusted concession partners and tenants, offering unique products, services, and experiences. During the quarter, we announced an important cooperation with premium design furniture company Vepsäläinen.
The number of active and new loyal customers also increased during the quarter, and the share of revenue from loyal customers grew as well. After the reporting period, the Crazy Days campaign was held in April, as in the comparison year. The campaign performed in line with the previous year. For the guidance, we keep our guidance for 2025. We expect the revenue in local currencies to be in the range of 0%-4% compared to 2024. The group's adjusted operating result is estimated to be between EUR 70 million-EUR 90 million. Of course, foreign exchange rate fluctuations may have a significant impact on the adjusted operating result. With these words, I would like to hand over to Henrik, and he will now continue with the financial update.
Thank you, Susanne. Now, let's now look more closely into the fourth quarter, and we can jump to the next page.
Current slide is we're trying to visualize how Lindex Division's revenue and adjusted operating result for the first quarter came out. For the Lindex Division, the revenue decreased to EUR 126.3 million. As Susanne already mentioned, the revenue was negatively impacted by weak consumer confidence and continued fashion market volatility. We also had a comparability of the revenue that was negatively affected by the Leap Day previous years, and that was fueled by extraordinary campaign tactics last year. In addition, revenue decreased due to temporary supply delays related to the extensive ramp-up process of the new omnichannel distribution center, combined with delays in international logistics, which had a negative impact on product availability on key product types.
As Susanne already mentioned, we continue to increase our digital sales for the quarter with an increase of +0.6% for the Lindex Division's digital channels, and now digital revenue accounted for 23.7% of the division's total revenue. Gross margin increased to 63.7% versus previous year 62.7%, and this is due to improved sourcing and the offering development. Comparable operating cost increased approximately 3% to EUR 62.6 million, and this is due to increased site expenses and especially higher cost for freights for the quarter.
The division continues to focus on cost efficiency and process automation to mitigate future cost increases. This all led to an adjusted operating result decrease of EUR 0.3 million, and this is due to lower revenue and slightly higher operational costs. We can then move to Stockmann Division's first quarter. This slide tried to visualize the Stockmann Division's performance. Here, our revenue decreased slightly to EUR 59.8 million.
It is a 3.9% decline, and this is due to weak consumer confidence and drop in fashion sales specifically. In addition, the Leap Day also affected Stockmann Division and the comparability to previous year. We continued to increase our digital sales for the quarter, and digital sales grew by 2.2% and accounted for 10.9% of total revenue for the quarter. Gross margin increased to 44.1%, and this is due to good inventory management and successful sales campaign tactics, especially in the digital channel. Our adjusted operating result improved by EUR 2.1 million to minus EUR 7.3 million, and this is due to systematic and successful efficiency measures that were carried out during the quarter. Let's go to the next page. With this slide, we would like to visualize how the divisions impact the group's revenue and adjusted operating result for the first quarter.
The left-hand side shows the change in revenue, which ended up on a decrease compared to the comparison period on group level. We can see that the Lindex Division decreased EUR 4.3 million, mainly driven from the consumer confidence and Leap Day previous year and temporary logistical challenges that impacted product availability. The Stockmann Division revenue decreased by EUR 2.4 million, and this is driven mainly by an overall decline in the fashion market in the division's key markets. Looking into our operating result, it decreased EUR 2.2 million on the group level, and the key reason for this is lower gross profit in both divisions. The Lindex Division operating result decreased by EUR 4.5 million, and that is due to lower revenue and higher operating costs. The Stockmann Division improved or increased by EUR 2.1 million, and that's explained by successful efficiency measures.
If we go to the Q1 and look at the group key figures for the first quarter, we can see that the revenue dropped compared to the comparison period previous year. Adjusted operating result decreased by -8.7 million. The currency rates did not have any material impact on the group's adjusted operating result during the quarter, and the operating result total -9.5 million, and net result decreased to EUR 20.2 million. The group's gross margin was improved to 57.4% compared to 56.3% in the comparison period, and earnings per share decreased to EUR 0.13, mainly explained by weaker net result. Jumping over to the profitability performance from a longer time horizon, we can see that the profitability of the division decreased in revenue and higher operating costs have caused a slight decrease in the Lindex Division operated profit.
However, looking into the long term, Lindex Division's adjusted operating result has more than doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels, and if we look further back, the improvement would have been even higher. The Stockmann Division has made significant improvements in profitability compared to previous year, which we are very happy about. We have to go back to the beginning of 2020 to find similar 12-month rolling adjusted operating result for Stockmann as we are currently delivering. We can then turn to the next page, and let's spend a few minutes on operating cash flow and capital expenditures. If we look at the first quarter, the group's operating free cash flow, excluding the investment in the Lindex omnichannel distribution center, was -57.4%. This is mainly driven by increased working capital due to lower accounts payable and higher inventories.
Inventories increased to EUR 202.6 million, and Lindex Division inventories increased mainly due to the intensive ramp-up phase of the omnichannel distribution and delays in the international logistics. Despite a higher total level of inventory, the division was impacted by lower product availability on product types, and that impacted both revenue as well as the total inventory levels for the quarter. The Stockmann division inventories declined due to good inventory management for the quarter. In the first quarter, capital expenditure totaled EUR 6.8 million, which is on par with previous year, and this was mainly used for digitalization projects and omnichannel development in both divisions. By the end of March, approximately EUR 97.5 million of the total omnichannel distribution center investment of EUR 110 million has been paid.
If we go and look at how the cash position has changed during the quarter, this graph bridge tried to visualize the cash position per item beginning of the year to end of March in relation to the comparison period. Cash and cash equivalents totaled EUR 52.4 million compared to EUR 83.7 million at the end of March 2024. The change in net working capital had a negative impact on cash flows, with EUR 39 million due to increase in inventories for the Lindex Division and a decrease in accounts payable.
Lease payments also slightly increased compared to the previous year, while investments remained on a similar level. For the first quarter, it generated a total cash flow of minus EUR 62.2 million compared to minus EUR 53.8 million in the comparison period. We can turn to the next page. On this page, we're trying to visualize the group's financial position.
It has improved during the latest years, which has and will enable future growth. In the graph here, you can see the net debt has remained on a good level, excluding the IFRS 16 items. The interest-bearing net debt was negative at EUR -32 million. Equity ratio improved further, in which 62.6% excluding IFRS items and 30.1% including IFRS items. The lease liabilities under the IFRS reporting standard ended up at EUR 616 million. In the Lindex Division, the lease liabilities increased by EUR 19 million, and in the Stockmann Division, the lease liabilities decreased by EUR 6.3 million. The lease liabilities related to the Lindex Division were EUR 291.8 million versus EUR 272.8 million previous year. In the Stockmann Division, the lease liabilities were at EUR 324.1 million versus EUR 330.4 million. The interest-bearing liabilities stood at EUR 84.3 million.
If we can turn the page and just look at the financial highlights, we can summarize it by weaker revenue development for both divisions in a challenging market environment. We cannot be satisfied with our financial result except for Stockmann's division, who improved their operating result. We continue our determined work to serve our customers in the best possible way with our fantastic spring and summer collection, and at the same time, we will secure good progress on our strategic projects, including our new OCDC facility that will gear our operations for growth and improved profitability. With that, I hand over to Susanne, who will pave our way forward. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Henrik. Now, let's then look at our way forward, starting with Lindex on the next slide.
For Lindex Division, we focus on accelerating both organic and new growth while continuing our transformation into a more sustainable business and decoupling cost from growth by continuously improving efficiencies. Looking ahead for the Lindex Division, with our plan in place and growth as our top priority, we are focusing on leveraging the impact of our major investments that we have made now in the past and are still doing to drive our continued global brand-led and sustainable growth. We will continue the important ramp-up of our new omnichannel distribution center to reach full operational capacity and securing our long-term growth plans. The second half of 2025 will be an optimization phase where we greatly increase the efficiency of the operations. Meanwhile, we in the parallel close our old warehouses in Partille and Borås.
We plan to be fully operational in line with our business case by the end of 2025. Our focus is on growing both in existing markets and with current partners, while also expanding into new markets and bringing in new partners. Within our digital transformation, we are aiming to complete the digital store program and the POS system rollout across all markets during the summer. We will be building on our new digital platform and customer app to enhance the customer experience, strengthen loyalty, and accelerate sales. Digitalizing our supply chain and increasing supplier collaboration is also a key focus going forward. Continuing to explore and evaluate new services and also to scale up second-hand offering are also important parts of our strategy. We have scaled up our second-hand offering with six stores during the first quarter, and we plan for a similar expansion during the second quarter.
As part of our continued sustainability transformation and to reach our ambitious targets, we are focusing on reducing our CO2 emissions in line with our science-based target initiative, further driving our material transformation and continuing to strengthen women's position in the supply chain through our women empowerment program. Looking at Stockmann Division's strategy, our key target is to ensure profitability and future growth. The Stockmann Division has four strategic areas, which are to elevate offering by increasing focus on premium and luxury, grow and leverage loyal customer base, and optimize omnichannel performance and improve operational efficiency. All these contribute to profitability. When it comes to the Stockmann Division's way forward, we focus on strategic execution with the important target to continuously improve the profitability of the business. We will further secure the systematic progress in operational and cost efficiency measures aimed at improving the profitability.
We will continue further to utilize our processes and leverage technology and also continuously look for and execute opportunities in organizational and process efficiency to bring down costs and also to improve our competitiveness. We continue to develop our customer-centric offering with differentiation driven by premium and luxury offering, strengthening our competitive position on the market. At the same time, we invest in our own brands such as NOOM, Stockmann Essentials, and Villa Stockmann to drive profitability and differentiation within the competed value segment. We want to secure that they evolve and grow with time, trends, and customer expectations. We continue to deliver higher value to our loyal customers relying on our data. We continue to personalize and optimize our communication and campaigns. Within 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. As announced earlier this year, at the end of the second quarter, more exactly on the 28th of June, we will close the Stockmann Itis department store in Helsinki due to the termination of the rental agreement. Stockmann's Itis team continues to serve the customers until that day at the department store, and we warmly welcome the customers to all of our other stores, including the online store. Now, we open up for questions from you. We have got questions here. First, regarding the market situation, are you able to provide guidance on how much the fashion market declined for the quarter, please? Yes. As I presented, we see that the consumer confidence has developed negatively throughout the quarter.
Looking at market data as well, we can see that in Finland, the fashion market declined throughout the quarter with -1% compared to the previous year, while in Sweden, the data from HUI that we then use indicates a number from -4.1% to +6.5% during this quarter. We also have Swedbank Pay transaction data that gives us numbers such as -20% in a single month up to -14.5%. In Norway, we also have a quite big spread of data going from both a minus development to a plus development. I think we can say that it is still a very shaky market at the moment.
Thank you, Susanne. A question related to the distribution center. Are you able to quantify the revenue impacts of the distribution center disruption, please?
Yes.
We have, of course, calculated on that, and we can conclude that the logistic issues that we have experienced during the first quarter, together with this Leap Day impact, those together stood for more than the full revenue drop versus previous year for the Lindex division. Both of them together had a huge impact on the revenue.
Thank you, Susanne. How about what is your view, or does this go to Henrik? What is your view on the direct impacts to the group of tariffs? What's about the impact of group suppliers? Okay, it's regarding the possible increases of tariffs. What is the possible impact on group and possibly on suppliers and customers?
Yes. Rising geopolitical risks, including the potential of a global trade war among major economies, are, of course, contributing heavily to the macroeconomic uncertainty.
While we are not directly exposed to these recent tariff changes or these global movements, these developments are, of course, adding the volatility to the global supply chains and financial markets and, of course, impacting consumer confidence. No direct effect, but indirect, we are, of course, impacted as everyone else in this area.
Thank you, Henrik. Speaking a little bit about the product mix, the negative product mix regarding the inventory, can you elaborate regarding this problem?
One more time, Magda, sorry.
The negative product mix regarding the inventory, I think that this refers then to that all product types were not available. Can you elaborate this a little?
Yes.
The situation has then been that we are in a phase that we are in a transition phase for the new omnichannel distribution center, that we are getting more and more of our products to the new center, and that is doing good. At the same time, we have experienced some software issues, and those issues have led to that it has taken longer time for us to send the goods out to our different sales channels. The situation has improved a lot now during April, and at the end of April, we can say that we have a sufficient product mix availability in our stores and e-comm. We have had more significant impact here on women's wear and lingerie that we were able to get kids' wear products out quite early in the quarter. That category has not been that impacted.
I do hope that that answered the question.
Thank you, Susan. We have a question related to the restructuring program. Regarding the restructuring, from your comments in the report, I got the feeling that you were prepared to pay the last disputed claim after the latest decision since it would have been a mutual benefit. If I understood correctly, the supervisor of the restructuring made you appeal the decision. Can we thus expect any kind of settlement during 2025?
As we have said earlier, when we have received questions regarding the restructuring, we will, of course, give input and information as soon as we can. We want to have a constructive dialogue and find a solution that is good for our company, both short term and long term.
Thank you, Susan. A question to Henrik regarding cash balance.
Is this quarter expected to be a seasonal low in cash balance? Is this consistent with previous years?
Looking into previous year, you can also see that Q1 is normally a season or a quarter where you have negative development in cash flow. That's a normal seasonality. However, due to the inventory level that we currently have, the networking capital increase, we can see it's been more negative than last year.
Thank you. We have questions related to the warehouse. What can we expect related to warehouse costs in this transitional period? How will this affect internal efficiencies going forward in 2025?
Yes. The transition costs that we will have, they are included in our financial planning for 2025 and, of course, also in the budget. We also have a CapEx budget that we have informed about earlier of EUR 110 million.
Regarding the effect of these internal efficiencies, we can see improvements day by day in the new omnichannel distribution center. Of course, this is a significant and a huge project. We are experiencing some negative parts throughout in this early stage. I think that is maybe natural. Again, the situation is looking much better at this time.
Thank you. We have another question related to the Lindex warehouses. What is the rough annual rent for the two old Lindex warehouses that you plan to close towards the end of the year?
Yes. Approximately EUR 3.5 million in rental costs will be eliminated once the warehouses in Partille and Borås have been closed down and moved to the new OCDC warehouse in Alingsås.
Thank you, Henrik. We have one question related to the Stockmann Itis department store and closure of it, whether it will have then a financial impact.
The question is how much operating profit and lease cost savings are expected from the closure of the Stockmann store in Helsinki.
Yes. This we commented a bit in the Q4 reporting here in February, and we do not expect any financial impact from the closure of Isti on the profitability for the Stockmann division or the group.
Thank you, Susanne and Henrik. These were the questions that we have received until now. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to pose another question still? No. We are not getting any further questions. Thank you for my part.
Thank you, Magda. Thank you also for your good questions. Please be in touch with our investor relations email if something comes up later. We will also publish our Q2 result on the 18th of July. I wish you a nice day. Thank you so much.
Thank you.