Good afternoon. My name is Anna Tuominen. I'm the IRO of Marimekko, and it is my pleasure to welcome you to our Q1 Result Webcast. With me, I have our President and CEO, Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, and we also have our CFO, Elina Anckar, in the room. We will first hear Tiina's presentation about the results, and after that, we'll have time for Q&A. You can already use the chat function on the website to post your questions during the presentation. Tina, please go ahead.
Thank you so much, Anna. Good afternoon, everyone, also on my behalf. It is again my pleasure to walk you through our first quarter interim report. Let's get going. How did we do on the first quarter? At Marimekko, we continued scaling up our business and brand phenomenon, and our profitable growth continued in the first quarter. For example, our retail sales grew in all market areas, really showcasing the competitiveness of the Marimekko brand as well as our agility in this prolonged, challenging general market situation. In total, our net sales increased by 5% to EUR 39.6 million, and our net sales were boosted in particular by the growth of wholesale sales in Europe, as well as increased retail sales in Finland. What is good to note is our net sales development was negatively impacted by timing-related factors.
Namely, in the comparable year, a large amount of non-recurring promotional deliveries in Finnish wholesale sales occurred exceptionally in the first quarter, as well as a significant portion of the licensing income for the year. When it pertains to our profitability, our comparable operating profit in this seasonally smallest quarter was at a good level and totaled EUR 4.4 million, equaling 11.1% of net sales. Overall, I must say that this was a good, strong start for the year, despite the challenging general market situation. At Marimekko, we believe that our original mission of bringing joy and optimism to the world probably feels more relevant and meaningful than ever, and our strong financial position, paired with our scalable, low-risk, low-capex-requiring business model, really provides us the means to continue our success story also this year.
When it comes to the general market situation, of course, we all know that the tensions in the global trade policy and the increases in tariffs, for example, do create uncertainty in the business environment, but at Marimekko, we work actively on many fronts to mitigate the negative impacts on sales or profitability. What is also good to remember is that in the exceptional circumstances that also we have experienced in the world in the past years, at Marimekko, we have found new ways of working and learned how to quickly react to changing conditions in a very agile manner. We see that our desirable and wide-ranging lifestyle assortment, paired with our loyal and constantly increasing and growing customer base, as well as our geographically diversified business and value chain, do bring stability in these different kinds of economic conditions.
Let's then have a closer look to the factors impacting our result in the first quarter. Starting actually from the net sales, as mentioned, our net sales in the first quarter increased by 5%, boosted in particular by the growth of wholesale sales in Europe and increased retail sales in Finland. In our important domestic market, Finland, our retail sales developed very well and grew by 9%, which I have to say is a very strong outcome in these uncertain general macroeconomic times. However, due to an estimated decline in non-recurring promotional deliveries in domestic wholesale sales, our total net sales in Finland decreased by 3%.
When we look at our company's second biggest market, the Asia-Pacific region, both our wholesale sales and retail sales developed positively, but our net sales were decreased by licensing income being significantly lower than in the comparison period, as estimated earlier. If we exclude the licensing income from the Asia-Pacific region net sales, we would have grown by 6%. Solid development overall in the market. It is good to remember that when it comes to licensing income, there can be also a seasonal and annual variation, and we have also estimated earlier that this year, on a full year level, our licensing income will be significantly smaller than the year before, which was a record level. In the first quarter, when we look at the development of our international sales in total, very good development on that front.
In total, we grew by 14%, with both our wholesale and retail sales developing well in all market areas. As said, positive development in international sales, and that is also visible in our breakdown of net sales by market area. The share of Finland being a little bit down compared to the previous comparable period, and then at the same time, we have been growing the share of our sales for Europe and Scandinavia. When it comes to net sales by product line, in terms of the split, no significant change, but maybe something to note is that the highest increase in net sales we saw in the first quarter from the ready-to-wear. Of course, the constant development of our omnichannel store network plays a really important role for us, understanding that direct-to-consumer retail really sits at the heart and center of our business model.
In this first quarter, a total of four new Marimekko stores were opened. Something exciting was also that during the first quarter, we launched a new partnership, a loose franchise partnership in Canada, with whom we are now starting to further develop our omnichannel sales in the market. With this news, also a Marimekko online store following our newest concept was opened in Canada. After the review period, we also opened a company-owned online store in New Zealand. Today, our online store serves customers in already 39 markets. In total, there are 170 Marimekko stores around the world, and the majority, in terms of the number of them, is already located in the Asia-Pacific region. In the first quarter, our brand sales increased to EUR 102.7 million, and 74% of the brand sales came outside of our home market.
Then, when we look into our profitability, so as mentioned, our comparable operating profit was at a good level in this seasonally smallest quarter, landing at EUR 4.4 million, equaling to 11.1% of our net sales. Our operating profit was decreased by weakened relative sales margin and higher fixed costs than in the comparison period, while then the increased sales, of course, supported the operating profit. What are then the factors impacting the relative sales margin negatively, especially the higher discounts than in the comparison period, but also the significantly lower licensing income? Then, on the other hand, the relative sales margin was supported by good margins per product.
When it comes to the fixed cost, the increase there was due to, in particular, increased personnel expenses that were again due to the kind of personnel cost increase to support retail sales, as well as some index increases in different markets. During the first quarter, we have been working determinedly, again, to scale up the Marimekko brand phenomenon and our business, and there are a lot of exciting events that took place in the first three months of the year. We started off the year in January with our presentation at the Copenhagen Fashion Week that attracted a large group of friends of Marimekko, influencers, media, and also buyers. In this Fall-Winter 2025 Fashion Show, the audience saw a nice, surprising composition of our prints and colors that really explored the relationship of art, fashion, and architecture.
We can already see on this slide the terrific results in terms of visibility that we achieved during this initiative. This really goes to show how important it is to constantly be present in some of these leading fashion forums in the world. This really allows us to increase our awareness and cement our positioning in the context of the international fashion world. Our omnichannel Marimekko store network grew by new stores opened, for example, in Kastrup in Denmark, with two stores in Finland, as well as one new store in Tokyo. In addition to that, we had three pop-up stores that were opened in the first quarter, and the renewal of the Canadian Marimekko online store, as well as, after the review period, also the opening of the entirely new online market for us in New Zealand.
A key to success for an international fashion brand and design brand is striking the right balance between global coherence, but then also local relevance. Participating in locally significant moments really allows us to strengthen loyalty and grow our customer community in each key city, in each key market, and this also allows us to support our sales. On this slide, you can see some examples from the Lunar New Year campaign, from the Sakura cherry blossom moment, and these, again, are great concrete examples of how, through marketing and product concepts, we are able to increase our local relevance and engagement. As it goes to reinforcing further our global thought leadership in art of printmaking, another wonderful way to do this is the Marimekko Artist Series.
These capsule collections are such a natural way for us to bring art into everyday life, and these really celebrate our tradition of over 70 years. The newest Marimekko Artist Series is a collaboration with a Swedish-born, London-based artist called Petra Böner, and this capsule collection arrived in stores in March and was very enthusiastically received by customers. At the beginning of March in Osaka, we saw the premiere of the Marimekko Field of Flowers exhibition and pop-up store tour. The Field of Flowers Exhibition showcases 25 new floral prints from our five designers, and this touring exhibition and pop-up concept allows us to showcase our newer kind of print design thinking, potential future classics, and allows us to really reinforce and further strengthen our relationship with our existing customers, as well as introduce entirely new customers to the enchanting world of Marimekko.
This touring exhibition will be going on around in Asia, in key cities, throughout the full year. After the review period in April, we were very excited to launch a new limited edition collaboration collection with the global footwear brand Crocs, which was enthusiastically received by customers around the world. Also, in the first quarter, new colorways and prints were launched in the third installment of our collaboration with Samsung, initially first time announced in 2024. Of course, the role of the global brand collaborations for Marimekko is to further increase our brand awareness and this way support our scale strategy. Moving on to the outlook for the full year. In general, of course, as mentioned, the uncertainties related to the development of the global economy, such as the tensions related to geopolitics and trade relations, have grown.
The indirect impact of these tensions, as well as other uncertainties, also the increasing tariffs on the general economic situation, may be reflected in consumer confidence, purchasing power, and behavior, and as a result, can have a weakening impact on Marimekko. Of course, also possible disruptions in production and logistic chains may also have a negative impact on us, but we are closely monitoring the development of the global trade policy and tariffs between countries, general economic situation, as well as the development of consumer confidence and purchasing power, and the impacts of possible exceptional situations and disruptions, and we will adjust our operations and plans accordingly if necessary. A few words about seasonality. Due to the seasonal nature of our business, a major portion of our Euro-denominated net sales and operating profit are traditionally generated during the second half of the year.
What is also good to remember is that the timing between the quarters of the non-recurring promotional deliveries in Finnish wholesale sales and their size typically vary on an annual basis. As mentioned earlier in the presentation, the licensing income in 2025 is estimated to be significantly lower than the previous year's record level. A few words about the net sales development. Starting from our important home market, Finland, despite the weak market situation, our net sales in Finland are expected to be approximately at the same level of the previous year or increase slightly. Here we have made a slight update after February. In February, the estimation was that the net sales in Finland would be expected to be approximately at the level of the previous year, but now we have updated this a little bit.
Of course, when it comes to Finland, it's good to remember that sales this year are impacted by the weak general economy and low consumer confidence, as well as the development of purchasing power and behavior, and in addition, the tactical operating environment continues. What is good to remember is that indeed, as already communicated in February in conjunction of our financial statements, in 2025, the non-recurring promotional deliveries in wholesale sales are expected to be significantly lower than in the comparable year and weighted clearly in the second half of the year. International sales estimated to grow in 2025, and also the net sales in the Asia-Pacific region, our second largest market, are expected to increase. In 2025, our aim is to open around 10-15 new Marimekko stores and shopping shops, and most of these plans' openings will be in Asia, similarly as in the previous years.
There's room to grow for us there, for sure. A few words about growth, investments, and costs. We, of course, develop our business with the long-term view and aim to continue scaling our profitable growth in the upcoming years. Our fixed costs are expected to be up on the previous years. Marketing expenses are expected to be up, and the general cost inflation continues to also affect Marimekko in 2025. When it comes to the topic of the tariffs in the U.S., they have a direct impact only on a small part of our business, as the entire North American market represented 6% of our net sales in 2024.
Based on the current information, the increases in tariffs are expected to increase the procurement costs of our products sold in the U.S. market, but we have, as mentioned, initiated diverse measures to mitigate the negative impacts of these tariffs. Something good to note is that the early commitment to product orders from partner suppliers, which is typical of our industry but partly further emphasized due to the different factors, weakens our company's ability to optimize product orders and respond to rapid changes in demand and supply environment. There are also uncertainties related to the global production and logistic change, but we are working very actively in various ways to ensure a functioning production logistic chain to mitigate the increased costs and other negative impacts, as well as to avoid delays and to enhance inventory management. We reiterate our financial guidance for 2025.
The Marimekko Group net sales are expected to grow from the previous year, and our comparable operating profit margin is estimated to be approximately some 16-19%. Rapid changes and uncertainties in the global trade policy, development of consumer confidence and purchasing power in the company's main market, as well as possible disruptions in global supply chains, among others, cause volatility to the outlook for 2025. With these words, I would like to thank you for your attention, and we're ready to start the Q&A. If I would ask and invite Anna and my colleague Elina also to join me on the stage for questions.
T hank you, Tiina. Maybe we'll start with the tariffs topic, as that was mentioned quite recently. We have a few questions around that. The first one being from where the goods to the U.S. are being delivered.
I could take that. Basically, as a Global company, we, of course, have a global supply chain as well. We have some 15 more important countries where products are coming, with the main countries being China, Thailand, Portugal, Estonia, and Turkey, and then Finland as well. A lot of different countries, of course, in that list, and the tariffs then vary based on what we know at the moment. Maybe overall, we could say that we have quite nicely diversified the supply chain and also in terms of distribution. Exactly. The question is, have you been passing on the tariffs to prices in the U.S., or what other means of mitigation have you been using? Elina, do you want to?
Yeah, I could take that. First of all, it is, of course, like understanding the possible impacts for your business.
You need to be able to simulate what it could be, and also there is a need to constantly follow up the situation, what is ongoing in the world. Maybe a couple of examples that what we are using or what we are considering. Of course, like utilizing the so-called tariff pauses by front-loading goods, and then of course we are seeking efficiency and savings elsewhere within the company to mitigate the possibly higher costs. It is good to understand that, of course, the higher tariffs would like, and the increased inflation is something that you could think like there is a pressure to raise prices, but at the same time we need to be very cautious about the situation that the uncertainty in the economy in overall will impact the consumer's confidence and purchasing power.
As normally, pricing is a normal tool in terms of like when we are running the, when we are building our collections every season, and then we make sure that we have the pricing in place. It is good to remember, which was maybe mentioned many times today, that the direct impact to Marimekko in terms of the higher tariffs is for the North American market, which accounted last year for 6% of the turnover. That is a limited part of the turnover.
Exactly. Staying on the North American continent, you mentioned the new operations in Canada, the new Luz Franchise Partnership. Why Luz Franchise Partnership, and what expectations do you have for Canada?
Yes, great question. Why Luz Franchise Partnership for Canada?
As many of you might remember and know, already for actually more than a decade, almost two decades, we have been building our business in Asia based on the Luz Franchise Partnership Model, meaning that we have a Master Luz F ranchise partner for each market. This model allows us to build a globally coherent brand while at the same time scaling up growth in a way that is low risk and low CapEx requiring from Marimekko's point of view. Building on the expertise of the local market and the consumer of the partner really has proven to be a good scaling up model for Marimekko. For us, it has been a very natural choice to opt for this model also in Canada. As for why now Canada?
Of course, for a longer time, Canada is part of our North American figures, has been for a long time. We have already some wholesale distribution in the market and, for example, some 10-ish Marimekko kind of points of sale through EQ3, a home-driven department, specialty department store chain. Now we have also revamped together with the new partner and launched via the new partner the most updated concept of the Marimekko online store. We see this is a great natural opportunity for us to further develop our omnichannel business in the market.
Good. Maybe about the online. Someone is wondering that there seems to be an online offer campaigns quite often. Is this driven by stock-related reasons or is this more a strategic choice? And could it have an impact on the sort of premium lifestyle brand perception?
Of course the most important thing, no matter what kind of general market situation that we are in, is to have a desirable brand and products. I think that with the long-term continued positive development of the business, we can definitely see that we have found a good success recipe in how to build an even more desirable Marimekko brand and product that speaks to the wider customer audience around the world. At the same time, when we live in these uncertain and sort of more volatile times macroeconomically, it is always important for us to have the agility and be on the pulse of the consumer in each of the market. We need to always ensure that we are also from a commercial point of view competitive within the market context.
Good.
During the Q1, one of the product lines that sold very well was ready to wear. What was the behind this good development? Are there any hits or?
I think in general, of course when it comes to the development between like within the sales of different product lines, there might be various reasons. Also some sort of seasonal fluctuations that might link to that. I think that overall it just shows the kind of good resonance of our ready-to-wear collections with our customers.
There are a few questions related to inventory. The inventory grew year- on- year and compared to end of December. Why was that? Are you preparing for higher summer sales or is this related to certain types of products? Is it intentional? Can you elaborate on that?
A good question.
Of course, like when we're looking at now the actual number of the end of the Q1 inventory, during that time we weren't aware of this tariff announcement yet. In overall, as a big part of our business is based on continuous collection, we have been also taking into consideration that there might be different kinds of disruptions in the supply chain. More or less, we have been able to secure that we then have products to serve to the demand no matter what happens in a supply chain. A significant part of the inventory increases from those kinds of products.
Maybe a question related, a few questions related to Asia-Pacific. First of all, the sales excluding licensing income grew, like you mentioned, 6%. Still, 6% can be seen also as fairly small looking at the historical contexts. Sorry, contexts.
Are you satisfied with this development or do you think it should accelerate going forward?
Overall, we're happy with the kind of general development in the first quarter. When we look at the Asia-Pacific region, as mentioned in the questions, if we exclude the licensing income from the Asia-Pacific net sales, it would have grown by 6%. The 16% increase in retail sales, that's a strong performance, I would say. Of course, it's good to remember that in the retail sales, we have both our Australian omnichannel retail, so physical stores as well as online. It also includes our own operated China online business. In wholesale sales, 4% development, it's a nice growth. Good to remember that when it comes to wholesale sales, also there might be variations between quarters.
I think that overall we're very happy with the opening of a new store in Tokyo with the Field of Flowers touring pop-up exhibition in Asia. As said, Asia really represents the most important geographical region for our future international growth. Also this year on a full year level, we estimate the Asia-Pacific net sales to increase and most of the 10-15 new Marimekko stores being opening in that area.
Could you describe a bit the sort of the operating environment or the consumer sentiment in the Asia-Pacific? Do you see the environment being challenging there as well or?
I would say that today with the increased tensions in the geopolitics and global trade relations, it's something that we can see increasing uncertainty overall in the world economy.
I think that this is something that we, of course, keep monitoring across our key markets and being very much set on the pulse of the consumer in different parts of the world. I think that understanding again the key value proposition of Marimekko being connected on and being all about timeless design to bring happiness and optimism to your everyday life. I think that this is something that really resonates also during these more uncertain times that we live in.
Perfect. A few questions related to coming months and the Outlook. One of the things that was mentioned in the report was the decrease in gross margin or actually relative sales margin. Could you tell what drivers, positive or negative, do you see impacting the margin during the rest of the year or in general?
Yeah, maybe I could elaborate more in detail what happened in Q1. As said, we talk about here with the relative sales margin as a percentage of sales and the factors impacted for Q1 were the higher discounting costs, understanding that to be able to be competitive in this very tactical environment, that is the result of being competitive. As the license fee was lower than the year before, that is impacting for the gross margin. We have mentioned regarding the lower license fee in overall for the rest of the year. Regarding the product margin themselves, they are at the good level. Of course, that is an important factor for us. It is a testament of the good work that our teams are doing in terms of securing the best product costing for our products as well.
You mentioned licensing income a few times. How do you see it developing in 2025? In Q1, there were no licensing income in Asia-Pacific. Will there be a change during the year on that?
As mentioned also in the presentation and since February when we announced our financial statements and as part of that our market outlook for the full year 2025, we estimate the licensing income to be significantly on a lower level than in the previous year's record level. We have two record level years behind us. As mentioned also earlier, when it comes to licensing income, there can be quarterly or even annual kind of variation.
When it comes to the first quarter, also in February, we already sort of lifted that our net sales development in the first quarter of 2025 will be sort of negatively impacted by timing-related factors. One of them was actually related to licensing income where in the first quarter of 2024, a big portion of the licensing income was already recorded in that quarter. This year it was different. When it comes to the kind of outlook of licensing income for the full year 2025, there are no changes. We're very excited and happy about the collaborations, brand collaborations, also the new collaboration that we announced with Crocs that has been very enthusiastically received. Brand collaborations and licensing continue to be an important part of our business model. You also highlighted that there was a slight upgrade in the outlook for the Finnish business.
What were the reasons behind this upgrade? Of course, when we formulate the market outlook, we always look at our kind of management best estimate on the outlook and the performance on the full year level. That is the reason why we now formulate it in this manner. We estimate our net sales in the Finnish market to be on the same level or slightly higher than the year before.
Exactly. A final question related to the great numbers in Scandinavia and Europe that we saw in Q1. What were the reasons behind this development? Is it more a seasonal variation or is this more sort of a sign of long-term growth in these markets?
Some of you might remember that we have been speaking about kind of modernizing and updating the perception of the Marimekko brand in India or now Europe, as well as in Scandinavia. In Scandinavia, we have started this work a little bit earlier on. We have some time back opened a completely new flagship store in Copenhagen, revamped completely our flagship store in Stockholm. We have been constantly kind of season after season showing and building our momentum and presence via the Copenhagen Fashion Week just to give you some examples. Of course, working with our wholesale partners in this Scandinavian region. I think that we're starting to see these long-term effects of the long-term work. Of course, we're also happy to see the development in India.
What is of course good to remember is that when it comes to these markets where wholesale plays a particularly big role in terms of the net sales accumulation for the whole region, there might also be kind of quarterly or seasonal fluctuations or variations. That is of course something to be also considered. Overall, we're happy with this development. Thank you. Those were all the questions.
Thank you, Tiina. Thank you, Elina. For those of you who are based in Helsinki, we would like to invite you warmly on this Friday to our sort of one of the most important events of the year, Marimekko Day at the Esplanadi Park, where we have four fashion shows during the day. Please stop by if you can. If you're not based in Helsinki, you can always follow that also from our Instagram.
We hope to see you there. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with us today. Thank you. See you on Friday.