Good afternoon. My name is Anna Tuominen . I'm the IRO of Marimekko. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our Q1 results webcast. In a short while, Tiina will go through our latest results. After that, we'll have time for your questions. You can ask your questions during the webcast using the chat function at the platform, either during the presentation or shortly after that. We'll have Tiina and our CFO, Elina Anckar, to answer those. Without further ado, Tiina, please go ahead.
Thank you, Anna. Good afternoon, everyone. It is again my pleasure to walk you through our results now for the first quarter of 2026. How did Marimekko's Q1 2026 go? It went well. Despite the continued challenging market situation, our net sales grew, driven by growth in international sales, and our operating profit improved. Our net sales in the first quarter increased in total by 5% and totaled EUR 41.4 million. The net sales were boosted especially by the increased wholesale sales both in Scandinavia and in Finland. Our international sales altogether increased by 9%, as retail sales grew in all and wholesale sales in nearly all international market areas. Our net sales in Finland were on par with the comparison period.
As it comes to our profitability, our comparable operating profit improved by 19% and amounted to EUR 5.3 million, equaling to 12.7% of net sales. Our operating profit was increased by improved relative sales margin and the growth of net sales. Our cash flow from operating activities improved, and our financial position continued to be strong. Overall, the strong start for 2026 really demonstrates Marimekko's international competitiveness and puts us in a great position to continue investing in our long-term future, including investing in our brand awareness, in our digitalization, in our retail network, and sustainability, among others, despite the uncertainties in the operating environment. Let's have a closer look t o the drivers behind the Q1 net sales end result.
As mentioned, the net sales altogether increased by 5%, boosted in particular by the increased wholesale sales in Scandinavia and in Finland. The uncertainty in the operating environment continues, and consumer confidence, for example, is weak in many countries. Nevertheless, the net sales in our home market in Finland were on par with the comparison period. The retail sales in Finland decreased as they were impacted by the challenging market conditions, but the domestic non-recurring promotional deliveries increased wholesale sales. In our second-largest market area, the Asia Pacific region, our net sales were on par with the comparison period as retail sales in the region grew by 13%. As previously estimated, our wholesale sales decreased by 4% due to timing reasons. Overall, really nice growth in the international arena.
Our international sales grew by 9% altogether, as retail sales grew by, actually 20% and wholesale sales by 4%, which I think is an outcome that we can be very happy about. When it then comes to our net sales split by market area and our and by product line, no major changes here. In terms of the product line, the strongest growth was seen in the bags and accessories category. That grew 11% and therefore increased a little bit the share of bags and accessories out of our total net sales. Our omnichannel store network grew further, and today, as for a long time, the Asia Pacific region has the greatest number of Marimekko stores, and the online stores serves customers in 39 countries already.
In total, today there are 176 Marimekko stores all around the world, and 95 of them are located in the Asia Pacific region. Our brand sales totaled EUR 84.1 million, and in the first quarter, 67% of our brand sales came outside of our home market, Finland. As to our profitability, as mentioned, really nice growth in the comparable operating profit. 19% growth, and the comparable operating profit totaled EUR 5.3 million, which is 12.7% of net sales. The improved relative sales margin and the growth of net sales increased operating profit, while then, on the other hand, the increased fixed costs had a negative impact on the operating profit.
The relative sales margin was improved by the unrealized exchange rate differences, while on the other hand, the relative sales margin was weakened by discounts being higher than in the comparison period. The fixed costs increased in particular due to higher marketing costs but also due to increased personal expenses, and the personnel expenses increases are related to these kind of general salary increases in different countries. Moving on to key events in the first three months of 2026, a lot of activities, exciting activities in the start of the year. We really kicked off the year 2026, which is Marimekko's 75th anniversary year, in a big way through our Winter 2026 ready-to-wear fashion show that we hosted here in our hometown in Helsinki.
The event drew a large audience of our friends, influencers, and media and really gave a nice start for the year. As already mentioned, our omnichannel Marimekko store network continued in the first quarter, and four new stores and six pop-up stores were opened primarily in Asia. Something exciting is also the fact that in the first quarter we announced future expansion plans in Southeast Asia, namely, the launch in two new markets for Marimekko, Indonesia, and Philippines, where our plan is to open the first Marimekko shop-in-shops now in the summer of 2026. When the world outside looks grim, we believe that the right recipe is just to further inspire and energize our customers, and what better way to do that but in the Marimekko stores.
We hosted a lot of special activations in our stores in key cities. We brought a glimpse of the Marimekko print archive to Paris to the Matter & Shape design event, hosted an archive dress pop-up in our Paris flagship store, and actually launched an entirely new store event concept called Marimekko & Friends. Here on the slide you can see images from the first event with an artist playing in our flagship store window, and more to come in the later months this year. We also announced new brand collaborations. First of all, continuation of our collaboration with Kalevala Jewelry. We also unveiled a new limited edition collaboration collection, this time with global tech and lifestyle accessories brand, CASETiFY.
After the review period in April, in the leading design event of the world, the Milan Design Week, we hosted the Osteria Fiori di Marimekko . This was a very warm and authentic Marimekko lifestyle experience where we celebrated not only colorful Marimekko flowers and art of print making, but also togetherness through food and through bocce tournaments. Again, this event received significant attention at this very important industry event, supporting our awareness. In the early part of the year, we have also kicked off our new sustainability strategy term, whereby we will continue our consistent work on products, people, and planet throughout the value chain. The key focus areas of our sustainability work continue to include timeless and long-lasting design, advancing circular economy, developing supply chain transparency, and managing the social and environmental impacts of our business.
Of course, the long-term development of the working environment and leadership culture are key parts of our sustainability efforts. Marimekko is a value-driven company. We believe that when we feel well at work and when we enjoy work, that also transmits to our customers. So we measure employee well-being and gather feedback from our staff through a variety of ways. According to the results of our most recent comprehensive annual employee survey, conducted at the beginning of the year, the Marimekko overall employee satisfaction is at a good level and has further improved. Our leadership skills are assessed as strong across the teams and organization. Willingness to recommend Marimekko a s a workplace has increased and is at an excellent level.
Something that I really want to highlight is the high response rate, so 90% of the Marimekko personnel responded to this survey, which of course, gives us a great basis to further continue reinforcing our working community and culture as a key strength of Marimekko. Moving on to the outlook of 2026. Of course, there are significant uncertainties related to the development of the global economy, such as the tensions related to geopolitics and trade relations and the war in Ukraine. The rapid changes in trade policies as well as other uncertainties are reflected in consumer confidence, purchasing power and behavior, and thus can have a weakening impact on Marimekko. In addition, different disruptions in production and logistic chains, as well as changes in these chains caused by these uncertainties may also have a negative impact.
Of course, as always, we keep monitoring very closely the situations and developments and adjust our operations and plans accordingly if necessary. A few words about seasonality. Of course, due to the seasonal nature of our business, a major portion of our EUR-denominated net sales and operating results are traditionally generated during the second half of the year. Also good to remember 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. This year, in 2026, licensing income is forecasted to be approximately at the level of the previous year. Moving on to the net sales development. Starting from Finland, our important home market, despite of the weak market situation, net sales in Finland are expected to increase in 2026.
The sales overall in Finland are impacted by the continued uncertain general economy and the low consumer confidence, as well as the development of purchasing power and behavior, and the operating environment indeed remains tactical and price sensitive. Something good to remember is also that in 2026, the non-recurring promotional deliveries in wholesale sales are expected to grow from the comparable year and to be weighted clearly in the second half of the year, as in 2025. In the international front, the international sales, we estimate to grow in 2026. Also in the Asia-Pacific region, our second-largest market area after Finland, we estimate our net sales to increase in 2026. Our aim in the started year is to open approximately 10 to 15 new Marimekko stores and shop-in-shops, and most of these planned openings will be in Asia, similar to the previous years.
When it comes to the growth investments and costs, fixed costs in 2026 are expected to be up on the previous year. The marketing expenses are expected to increase. Something to note is that due to timing reasons, the increase in fixed costs is expected to be significantly stronger in Q2 2026 than in Q1. The early commit commitments to product orders from our partner suppliers, they undermine our ability to optimize product orders and respond to rapid changes in demand and supply environment, and there are indeed uncertainties related to the global production and logistic chains, which may, for example, increase costs or cause delays. The ongoing war in Iran, especially if prolonged significantly, may increase, in particular, the logistic costs.
However, as always, we work actively in various ways to ensure our competitive and functioning supply and production logistic chains to mitigate the increased costs and other negative impacts, to avoid delays and to enhance inventory management. Today we reiterate our financial guidance for 2026. We estimate our group's net sales for 2026 to grow from the previous year. The comparable operating profit margin is estimated to be approximately 16%-19%. The development of consumer confidence and purchasing power in Marimekko's main markets in particular cause significant volatility to the outlook of 2026, and this development is strongly impacted by the rapid changes and uncertainties in geopolitics and global trade policy, among others. In addition, the different disruptions in the global chains, supply chains can cause volatility to the outlook.
With these words, I would like to thank you and open up for the Q&A and invite also Anna and Elina here with me on stage.
Thank you, Tiina.
Thank you.
I would just like to remind you to use the chat function if you have a question that you would like to present to Tiina or Elina. We have few questions here. First a question related Sort of detailed question related to the European sales. The retail sales in Europe in Q1 increased by 32%, and overall European net sales increased by 11%. Can you comment if the Paris flagship store was already visible in these numbers? It was opened at the end of October.
Yes. As Anna you mentioned, the Paris flagship store was opened at the end of October. Yes, the Paris store is indeed in the retail numbers. The retail numbers are of course omni-channel retail numbers, so they also include our online sales. Something good to remember is that actually last year we also opened two new language versions of our online store, so namely the French-speaking online store and the German-speaking online store to support our sales development also on the online front in Europe.
A lot of new things in Europe.
Yes.
Couple of questions related to the guidance or the market outlook. You mentioned the importance of consumer confidence and purchasing power, especially to Finnish market. The statistics at the beginning of the year have been quite gloomy. In just recent days we've seen some positive signs. Can you comment on the importance of the Finnish market or the sort of the outlook for that?
Yeah. of course, like looking at the Finnish market, so as Anna you just mentioned, overall when it comes to the consumer confidence, those numbers have continued to be very weak in the domestic market. However, there have been some glimpses of more positive news in the outlooks of Finnish companies. Of course, we hope to see an uptick in the consumer behavior.
It's something that we keep monitoring, and it's still important to remember that overall there is a lot of uncertainty in the marketplace, and the consumer confidence is still on a weak level, according to the statistics.
This time, in the market outlook, there was a phrase added to the fixed costs. From the start of the year, the estimate has been that the fixed cost will increase, now it was also estimated that the cost increase in Q2 will be significantly stronger than in Q1. Does this mean that your Marimekko's Adjusted EBIT could be lower year-over-year?
As I just mentioned, we reiterate our financial guidance. On the profitability part, we estimate that our comparable operating profit margin in 2026 will be approximately 16%-19%.
No changes there?
No changes there.
Last question related to the SCALE strategy and the end-to-end digitalization, namely the AI. What kind of strategic leverage could AI or will AI provide for Marimekko going further, and how is it being currently utilized?
Of course at Marimekko, understanding that in our SCALE strategy, the letter E as Anna you mentioned very well, equals to end-to-end digitality, meaning that, we are excited to adopt and, like, leverage the opportunities of new technologies and data and overall digitalization, and utilize them to boost our and support our sales as well as improve our efficiency. Maybe a few words when it comes to the use of AI. Again, AI we use both to support and boost and accelerate our sales as well as improve our profitability. Some concrete examples on the kind o f sales boosting front is, for example, the personalization of our online store. Also the same for when it comes to our marketing content.
Some concrete examples when it comes to boosting efficiencies, for example, the increased use of automation is a very concrete example. There are abundant opportunities that we're excited to adopt.
Thank you, Tiina. That was all the questions we had this time. Thank you for taking the time to be with us today. We hope to see you in August with the Q2 results.
Thank you