Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Tokmanni Group's half-year financial review and this webcast. My name is Sampo Päällysaho, I have started in this position as a Group Chief Executive Officer July 6th. Of course, it's my fifth week, which we are closing today together. During my first weeks, I had the privilege to visit our stores and DCs here in Finland, as well as in Sweden and in Denmark. It gave me a good understanding how do the stores, markets, and customers look like. Of course, that will be also one part of my presentation today, and it has been noted in the release earlier today as well. Our today's agenda, like usually, is actually covering Q2 in brief, our key figures and performance, as well, our view about the future. We are closing the session together with questions and answers.
By the way, this photo is from Sotkamo, which I took on Tuesday this week. This store is actually started to be renewed, and it will have one of the EUROSPAR stores in the near future. When we look today at Tokmanni Group of companies, we do see that we have a strong footprint here in Finland. While we have 208 Tokmanni stores, 34 Click Shoes stores. When we look further to Sweden and Denmark, we can see that Dollarstore already has today 142 stores. It is a remarkable store network from south to north. We have entered to Denmark, where we today have 12 Big Dollar stores. Out of those 12 stores, I have already had a chance to visit 10 stores, both from Copenhagen to Esbjerg and also the central part and northern part of Jylland.
In this slide, it's remarkable to say that our shared product is already today 6,700 compared to previous figure 2,800. We can see that this common offer is well introduced in all markets. We can also see that our private label share grew from 25.1% up to 26.3%. This is also something which I consider a big step in our assortment and offer. When we look ahead about from this map, we can also see that we are almost reaching 400 stores in Nordics. Out of which 242 stores in Finland, 154 stores in Dollarstore segment, which then covers Sweden and Denmark. On the bottom right corner, you will also see that in Q2, compared to previous, we have opened five new stores. Tokmanni Group as a group of companies and consolidated performance is also something which we wanted to share this morning.
Our revenue grew by 3.3% up to EUR 457.7 million. This is actually thanks to low price program in all markets, as well as good successes in spring and summer season. Sales has been increasing in both segments, Tokmanni as well as Dollarstore, this is thanks to higher footfall and higher average basket size. We do see that our comparable EBIT is in line with the comparison period. Of course, you also see a modest decline. This is because of Dollarstore segment's operating expenses increased. They increased due to the new store openings and ongoing various development projects. Cash flow for the quarter was EUR 45.7 million. When we look to Tokmanni segment, it's also a pleasure to present the figures from Finland saying that revenue continued to grow. Revenue grew up to EUR 329.6 million, which also means 2.3%.
As mentioned earlier, customer visits continued to grow, and this is also what we can see that customers are looking for a value-for-money shopping approach, which Tokmanni gives a strong position and strong opportunity. Seasonal demand, especially garden products, supported our revenue growth. What we can see when we see the market comparison, our non-grocery products, especially apparels, continued to grow faster than the market in general. We can see that our digitalization gives us a room further improvement. This is actually getting to know the customer even better, giving tools to the employees, and decision-making is strongly supported by data-driven information, which also gives a further improvement in operational development. Our customer loyalty club, Tokmanni Klubi, grew in Finland. Now already today, we have 1.6 million registered members. These members for us are actually really valuable. They visit our stores more often and they also buy more.
Of course, we are willing to develop Klubi even further. In Finland, our operating expenses were very well in control, and we do see that our comparable EBIT continued to grow additional EUR 1.5 million up to EUR 22.3 million as a sum. Of course, this is something which we should be all proud of. Let's have a look for the next title in my presentation. When we look to Finland, of course, it's also with a curiosity to follow how EUROSPAR is performing. Already today, we have opened six stores according to our plans, and we are continuing to open new stores. Those new stores will be actually vital from our perspective. Because then we are actually reaching 10 stores or even 11 stores by the end of the year, which gives us a room to study about the development activities.
As well, we do see that these EUROSPAR stores have actually given a chance for the stores to grow in footfall and also in average basket. This week, I also visited Iisalmi store, which is northeast Finland, and the store actually was really ready to meet the customers. One of the products which I could see customers came to seek were hamburgers. Hamburgers are sort of a well-known product according to EUROSPAR concept, and we've been treating people in Iisalmi, especially during the lunch hours, with a huge amount of hamburgers sold. Looking back to Sweden and returning back to Sweden and Denmark, we also can see that revenue grew pretty strong, 7.7%, up to 130.2%. Also we can see that the common assortment gives us a top-line sales growth.
The sales actually grew especially in drinks, coffee, toys, party, and I would be saying barbecuing, even though in my slide it says grilling. These were actually well-treated by the customers, as well our common campaigns, which have taken place every second week in Sweden as well as in Denmark. The common assortment, we have now taken up to 6,700 SKUs, which is a strong evidence from the customer perception, but as well also from the procurement perspective, that this is the right way to take the action steps also in upcoming months and assortment periods. Our pilot stores, which we were mentioning in the report, one in Gothenburg, that's called Kållered, and second store in Västerås called Erikslund, are both well-treated by the customers.
I have had a chance to visit both of these stores. I can see that the stores are highly maintained in a good commercial level. Employees really willing to meet the customers. Customer baskets are big, which is, of course, good news from our perspective. Our comparable EBIT, though, declined during Q2 in Dollarstore segment. Like mentioned earlier, this is mainly due to investments made for the new store openings as well as development initiatives, which increase the operating expenses. Pretty soon, Tapio, as our Chief Financial Officer, will be also coming here. When we were preparing this presentation for you, we actually thought that it will be essential to share with you that during past 12 months, we have opened 11 stores.
These 11 stores actually have contributed positively to our revenue. EBIT impact has been neutral, which is also good news as a retailer who has entered into a Swedish and Danish retail market. Those stores opened in Sweden being eight, additional three stores opened in Denmark are such, of course, which have been partially done at the early stages with the old store format. When we look to the latest store openings, such as Kiruna and Helsingborg Väla, they already have the extended assortment. Therefore we also treat and follow them with a high interest. Especially in Kiruna, we can see that the store's coverage area is wide. We are there with another retailers in the same retail park. People in Northern Sweden are actually visiting this shopping mall or retail park with a high interest.
When the store was opened, huge queues took place. Of course, now when the summer season is ending, we have a high interest to see what will be our store's coverage area. I assume it will be more than an hour's drive to the store. It might be up to 90 minutes. What else? Actually, all the photos what we have here, I have taken personally during my trips. I can actually see that we are well-known. We had a nice footfall during the summertime. All kind of people were visiting us. It might have been mom and daughter, it might have been a worker, it might have been a whole family. In many cases, people were still having a summer holiday mode.
People were also buying all seasonal articles, not only in Finland, but as well as in Sweden and in Denmark. In the previous quarterly reviews, Miika, as my predecessor, and Tapio have been talking about Dollarstore turnaround. I think it's good for you to know where are we today. We really can see that the concept and assortment renewal has actually boosted our top-line sales. The pilot stores, especially Kållered and Erikslund, are showing even higher performance. When we look to the marketing efforts, instead of just opening the stores, we are also inviting customers to visit our stores, which has highly increased our footfall and campaign effectiveness. Common assortment makes really sense. While we can see that it brings in sourcing efficiencies, but it also gives us a further improvement for gross margin in the near future.
Like-for-like customer visits turned positive in June, and our basket grew by 4.2%, and that's Dollarstore segment, meaning Sweden and Denmark. As further we look, it is essential that we continue to work with harmonized systems, harmonized processes, ways of working, which also brings us a good understanding how we can support from Finland our operations in Sweden and in Denmark, but also vice versa. We are definitely learning about the seasonalities, and we are also learning that it's not only four seasons like in Finland. Southern part of Finland, southern part of Sweden, as well as Denmark, hardly have any winter nowadays, which we also need to balance in the upcoming seasons. When I look to Sweden and store network development, I also want to highlight that we have started, and we will actually concentrate that each and every store in Sweden will concentrate for productivity and profitability.
When we are opening new stores in Sweden, we will pay attention that they have a good match to our existing store network, and we also give them a room to improve. Necessity to point out, productivity and profitability in each and every store in Sweden. We also do see that there's further room to open new stores in Denmark, which we are also taking into our agenda. Opposite direction. Now, this is the slide which I was looking after. It's actually the leaflets which I have carried in my backpack to Finland. It shows well that we have a common leaflet procedure. Why do we have a common leaflet procedure? We also have a common steering for commercial calendar. This commercial calendar takes into account common seasonalities in each market, but it's essential that we also pay attention for the local seasonalities because markets do differ.
When there's a common season, it can be sourced together, it can be negotiated together. We can have the volume and logistics together, giving us a room to have even more competitive retail pricing, but further to improve our gross margin in each and every store as well in each and every market. This procedure is definitely giving us good figures already today and in upcoming weeks. Now I think it's time for Tapio to join me. When you join me, I have chosen you a photo. This photo is from Frederikshavn in Denmark. It's yours. Here you are.
Excellent. Thank you, Sampo. Good morning on my behalf as well. Let's go through the numbers a little bit more in detail. As Sampo mentioned, we had good growth in a quarter, with total group revenue growing by 3.3%. If you take into account, especially the fact that last year Easter was in the second quarter and this year, most of the Easter sales, of course, occurred during the first quarter, this growth was actually very good. The total revenue added up to EUR 457.7 million. Our like-for-like revenue grew by 0.3%, which is always great to see. Our comparable gross profit also increased, albeit slightly, to EUR 158.5 million. Our comparable gross margin declined slightly to 34.6%. As Sampo already mentioned, our comparable EBIT was pretty much on par with last year at EUR 21 million.
Our cash flow for the quarter was also very good at EUR 45.7 million. If you remember last year, we had an exceptionally good cash flow in the second quarter due to the very poor cash flow last year in the first quarter. The EUR 45.7 million, although EUR 30 million less than last year, is actually a very good level in itself as well. Looking at the revenue composition. Of course, Tokmanni segment still makes up a large majority of the revenue. There we had a revenue increase of 2.3% in the Tokmanni segment. The Dollarstore segment's revenue increased by 6.4% in local currencies, so that's about a percentage, a little bit more less than in euro terms, and reached EUR 130.2 million.
When you look at our product mix, in the Tokmanni segment, the product mix was essentially flat compared to a year ago at 54.4% of groceries and non-groceries at 45.6%. Whereas in Dollarstore during the second quarter, the share of groceries grew slightly from a year ago, and that was really driven by the fact, if you remember, we were talking about the introduction of let's say new products into Dollarstore segment during the second quarter, and a lot of those were actually grocery products and high-sellers. That definitely helped our sales in the grocery side of Dollarstore during the second quarter, hence the increase.
Looking at our private labels, also there, very positive development, and this was again very much driven by the fact that on the Dollarstore side, the Tokmanni Group private labels sales increased, and that's again driven by the common assortment. Like Sampo mentioned, it was over 6,000 during the second quarter, up from slightly below 3,000 a year ago. You can see our private labels there. We have many private labels that we take good care of. When we look at our gross profit. In the second quarter, we managed to increase our absolute gross profit by EUR 800,000- EUR 158.5 million. This is of course important because it is the absolute gross profit that then pays for all our bills.
Even though the comparable gross margin declined slightly, we are still very happy that we had a positive gross profit development during the second quarter. Also if you look at it on a half-year basis, we managed to increase the gross profit by a little bit more than EUR 5 million during the first half. Good news, but of course the gross profit margin or gross margin declined slightly, and that's really due to the campaigning that we have been doing during the second quarter, this Cheapest in Finland and also similar campaigns in Sweden and Denmark. They of course have helped the footfall and sales but been of course slightly negative impact on the gross profit margin.
On our operating expenses, as Sampo said, we've had good control of our operating expenses, and I'm very happy to note that also in Dollarstore now we managed to decrease the ratio of comparable operating expenses to sales. This is a, let's say, a very good trend that we plan to continue also in the future. Growing the sales of course means that we can see this declining trend as we control the OpEx very carefully. The personal expenses, 14.1% of revenue, and you can see actually a slight decline to a year ago. This is also noting that we have in fact 11 more stores than we had a year ago. Also we've had the, let's say, statutory raises last year in the second quarter.
Those combined, the efficiency or the slight reduction in personal expenses is coming from the operating efficiency steps we have taken during the past 12 months, especially in the store operations, but also of course in the logistics and warehouses and also we've been very careful with the head office staff as well. On the Tokmanni segment side, the comparable operating expenses declined by 1.2 percentage points of revenue. That's a very significant decline. Actually they are now on a level of Q2 2023. On the Dollarstore side, still clearly higher, but again, down from a year ago to 26% of revenue and totaling EUR 33.8 million. A growth of EUR 2 million or EUR 1.9 million to be exact.
That again, given the fact that we have, I think, eight new stores in the Dollarstore segment, a very good result there as well. Look at our comparable EBIT. Again, the group EBIT pretty much flat compared to a year ago at EUR 21 million, Tokmanni segment managed to improve clearly our EBIT from a year ago to EUR 22.3 million, and the EBIT margin also improved to 6.8 percentage points during the second quarter. Whereas in Dollarstore, even though we did see very positive signs, especially towards the end of the quarter, driven by the increase in the assortment that we did, we were still clearly below last year, EUR 2 million below last year, and the EBIT margin was slightly negative at 0.3% for the Dollarstore segment.
Our inventory management, obviously inventory is our largest asset if you exclude the IFRS 16 lease agreements. We've been able to take very good care of that also during this quarter. The total value of inventory is about EUR 20 million, less than a year ago. Of course, you need to remember that that does include the extra EUR 12 million inventory write-down that we did for Dollarstore that is not included in the comparable figures. Even if you add that back, we're still below last year's level. If you look at the, let's say, figures, you can see that, let's say over the past six quarters, we have seen a sort of declining trend in the total inventory, which is, of course, we're very happy with that trend. That obviously helps also very much with the cash flow.
On the Tokmanni side, again, we are EUR 16 million below in inventory, and that's a very good achievement. The total inventory value was EUR 312.3 million. On our Dollarstore side, it is also below last year, but again, that is including the EUR 12 million write-down. Excluding that, it would be some EUR 10 million above last year. Still, if you take into account all the increase in the assortment and the new stores, it's a pretty decent achievement. Looking at our financing, again, a large part of our total net debt is this IFRS 16 lease agreement. If you look at, let's say, the bank loans and the existing bond, over the last five quarters, we've been able to quite steadily pay down the actual bank debt and the combination with the bond loan.
It peaked in the first quarter of 2025 at EUR 365.3 million. Now we're down to below EUR 300 million of that debt, at EUR 293.4 million. Of course, as we continue to expand, the lease liabilities continues to creep up. We are, at the moment, at EUR 617.7 million in the lease liabilities. Our net debt-to-comparable EBITDA, which is our only bank covenant. We are, let's say, managing it quite well in my mind. At the moment, the EBIT to, or the debt-to-comparable EBITDA, including IFRS 16 lease liabilities, is 4.11x, and excluding, 3.26x. If you remember our long-term target, which is to keep that ratio below 2.25x at year-end. Of course, there's still some way to go, but I do see that we will be quite close to that figure.
We might not quite get there, but we will be very close to that figure in any case. About our cash flow. As mentioned, the first quarter cash flow was quite good. If you, let's say, last year was quite exceptional due to the first quarter poor performance. If you look at it on a half-year basis, you can see that we're still clearly ahead of last year and the year before that, at EUR 31.9 million of positive cash flow for the first quarter, and that's a very good result. Again, that has been driven by the efficient management of net working capital, both the accounts payable as well as the inventories, obviously. Finally, my part concludes with the capital expenditure.
As you can see here, we have about EUR 8.2 million in the second quarter of capital expenditure, well in line with last year. Also, if you look at the first half in total, EUR 13.6 million in total. We are well on track to, let's say, reach roughly the EUR 30 million, give or take a few million euros in capital expenditure for the full year. With that, I invite Sampo back on stage to talk a little bit about the plans going forward.
Thanks, Tapio. Pleased to see you presenting the figures. When we look ahead, I think you have already changed my slide, which is good. It is actually really important to see that the actions taken already first half of this calendar year and second quarter has been delivering higher footfall, stronger average basket. As well as you can see, we have stores in a pretty good or even in excellent commercial shape, which gives us a really steady situation to continue. We have stores, we have commercial standards, we have employees who are willing to meet these customers. That's from my perspective as a retailer. It's a strong statement. No matter if you go to northern part of Finland, central part of Sweden, middle part of Denmark, these are the concept criteria they should be filing. Nice to visit.
You tend to have a shopping list, but you also bought something more. That makes us, as a retailer, happy. One of the topics which we have pointed out and sent a separate release also this morning concerns cooperation with SPAR. Last week, I had the privilege to meet our counterparts in Netherlands. We can really see that there's a fruitful discussion and a real retail understanding in Netherlands, which is in our advantage. SPAR has multiple store concepts, and we have decided to work under EUROSPAR trademark. That concerns Finland. In Finland, we have already introduced approximately 200 SKUs of different SPAR private label products. Starting latter part of the autumn, we will be introducing SPAR products also in Sweden. When we do that one, actually, we also will be increasing frequency for a customer visit.
Instead of only having the seasonalities, investment articles, but we also will be bringing in products like you see here, spaghetti or olive oil, which you need on a weekly basis. This will be actually something very big for our Dollarstore operation as well. Planning has started, and I would be saying before the Christmas trade, or even hopefully already October, November, these SKUs will be launched and introduced for the Swedish customers. When we look to the top sellers in Finland, of course, it's granulated sugar. It's quality pasta. It's biscuits, hand soap, canned tuna overseas, as well as chocolate products. These are not in a volume order. They are just in a sudden order. I would be saying that Finnish customers tend to buy these products on a weekly and bi-weekly basis. Photo on this slide is one of the most tidy distribution centers.
It's from Örebro. I'm really proud to see how our DC operations in Mäntsälä as well and Örebro are driven. We have highly skilled people, highly driven efficiency, but also we have happy employees. This is something which gives us a room to take additional action steps. When we have DC and our value chain in our hand, we can also work on customer's behalf. We are there to provide low prices, wide assortment, and easy shopping experience, no matter in which store, in which country you are visiting our stores. Our preparations for Christmas trade are well progressing. Autumn trade is already here. Next week schools are starting in Finland or has even started in central part of Finland this week, and same applies to Sweden and Denmark.
It's really important that we are ready to meet the young boys and girls who are entering to the school who want to buy the accessories, but also are looking for a backpack. We have a continued focus on strengthening the market positions for Tokmanni, Dollarstore, and Big Dollar. Today, we do not see that the geopolitical uncertainty would be making any hurdles for us. We have a good position when it concerns product availability, maintaining supply chain, and we are well upfront with the seasonal preparations. From that perspective, we don't see any clouds in the skies. We rather see a pretty bright skies for our sake. We have also started our strategy process, this strategy process involves all of our three markets, and it's also important for me that it's not only the executive management team working in this manner.
We are involving our markets, in two weeks time, no, in a week and a half time, we are also meeting with our leaders here in Finland. It's actually a group of 80 persons, even 90 persons gathering together, seeing where we are today, what kind of challenges we have had, what do we want to achieve. Then we are really rolling our strategy process, which we will be sharing with you then later, not yet in August or in September. Did we have something else to mention here?
A few things.
Let's move ahead. Yes. Good. We are delighted to inform that we have new members joining group's executive team. Ulrika, a Swedish citizen, is joining us already 1st of September. Ulrika will take a role as a Strategy and Transformation Officer, and in the past, she has worked, for example, for OKQ8 as well as Mekonomen, and I know her well from the Clas Ohlson times. We are really welcoming her to take over this really important role, not only for the strategy process, but also executing, implementing, and following that the most important milestones will be fulfilled. We are also inviting Martin to join us. Martin will take over role as a Managing Director for Dollarstore segment, meaning Sweden and Denmark, and he will be joining us from Flying Tiger. He will be here on the 1st of November onwards.
With these two new members, we are actually also in a milestone from the Finnish sake. Instead of having Finnish as the language spoken, it also means that we are shifting into English in the group's executive team. Both Ulrika and Martin will have their offices in Kista, but at the same time, I do believe that especially Ulrika will be visiting headquarters in Mäntsälä, if not on a weekly basis, on a biweekly basis. Will you take the guidance or shall I take it?
You can take it.
I can take it. Okay. As noted already, we do keep our guidance for 2026 unchanged. We do expect our revenue to be in between EUR 1.78 billion-EUR 1.86 billion, or EUR 1.78 billion. Isn't that correct? Good. Comparable EBIT, we also expect to be in between EUR 85 million-EUR 105 million. Closing this session being prepared for the Q&A, you can also see the Klubi sign, which I mentioned earlier. 1.6 million members, registered members already here in Finland, which makes us happy. Time for a question-and-answer. Please raise your hand and we will try to give a momentum for each and every one of you. I can see that, Arttu Heikura, you are the first one, so please.
Yes, good morning. It's Arttu Heikura from Inderes. Nice to meet you, Sampo, for the first time. I have a few questions. First off, can you quantify how large was the impact of Easter to your revenue growth in Q2?
Yeah, there's, of course, not exact science. There's weather and everything else, we estimate it to be between one and two percentage points in the, let's say, shift between Q1 and Q2. As I said, again, there's no scientific right answer there. That's the best estimate we have.
All right. I guess that your plans on expanding the Swedish network, it has somewhat changed. How many stores are you planning to open in Sweden during the next few years?
It's a really good question. Annual planning for 2027 has started, if I give you a precise figure, it's not the reality. I can see that our store network today is fulfilling most of the populated cities and towns in Sweden. Therefore, I was also saying that any new store in Sweden needs to be carefully calculated, because we do not have a situation that we open a store next to already existing store, and the cannibalization effect turns to be too big. There will be new stores, but limited amount of new stores in Sweden.
Okay, a question about the Dollarstore concept and assortment renewal program. Compared to your previous plans, have you made some changes in the amount or characteristics of SKUs that you will be renewed in the Dollarstore?
Thanks, Arttu. I think the biggest topic in the presentation today was actually to show that we have gained already 6,700 common SKUs in between segments, which gives us a room to improve logistics, room to improve purchasing terms, and also room to improve gross margin, not only in Dollarstore segment, but also in Finland. We look for the periods behind an upcoming seasonal periods, there is a clear plan to introduce new SKUs also now during the autumn time in Sweden. It might be small domestic appliances or electric articles. It might be spare products, like mentioned earlier. Yes, it will be hundreds of new SKUs for this autumn time. Third wave also taking place right after the Christmas trade.
Already today, in the existing climate, our assortment in Sweden is the widest when we compare us to another variety discount retailers, we will make it as our competitive advantage in Sweden.
Are you planning to do this in the all Dollarstore stores?
At least partially, Arttu. There might be situation where there's a even wider assortment in chosen stores, but each and every store will be asking and will be requiring new SKUs to be better to meet our customer expectations.
Okay. A question regarding Dollarstore's inventory write-downs. What kind of products have you or you will be write-down? Yeah, that was my question.
Tapio.
Well, the write-down, it's a one-off item, and it really allows us to, let's say, going forward, allows us to show the true underlying profitability. Because, as Sampo said, we are introducing a lot of new SKUs, and therefore, we have to clear out some of the old stuff as well. When we clear that old stuff out, whether just probably not removing that much, but it's mostly selling in a very low price to get rid of it or maybe even selling to some third parties part of that. Whatever we decide to do, we can use the, let's say, 12 million write-off to offset that so that we can show the underlying profitability going forward for Dollarstore.
Yeah. Sure. What gives you confidence in achieving the current guidance given that your EBIT is approximately EUR 3 million behind last year and the Dollarstore's like-for-like footfall was still in decline?
Will you take that one, Tapio?
I can take and you can fill them.
I can fill, yes.
Of course, we have several positive signs both in the general economy as well as in our own operations. When we did the enlargement in the May timeframe of the Dollarstore assortment, we clearly saw a pickup in sales, and that gives us confidence that the more we add to the product assortment, the more sales we can generate from the same amount of customers. Also, we're doing a lot of marketing activities in Dollarstore, trying out different things, whether it's radio commercials or the leaflet and so on. That has resulted in improved footfall. Also, as Sampo said, the basket size at Dollarstore has clearly increased.
We do see several levers that are pushing up the sales, which again, is the number one thing we need to improve in the Dollarstore stores is the sales per square meter or sales per store or whatever you use the metric. That's the key thing we're trying to achieve, so increase the sales of the existing store network. We do have positive signs there. Also in Finland, we do see positive signs in general economy. Also people might be willing to spend a little bit more, so you see that in the marketplace with, for example, the K Group now doing slightly better than the S Group. That's really showing that consumers are willing to spend a bit more money.
Of course, it's good for us as well that consumers are willing to spend more, we plan to take more than our fair share of the wallet opening for consumers.
Okay, my last question.
Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead, Sampo.
No, you. I was just about to say that I'm not going to fulfill anything more because you also took the Finland into account. That one I was curiously following, that you also remembered our biggest market and segment in this discussion.
Yes.
Arttu, you had one more question, please.
Yeah. My last question is regarding Tokmanni segment. Do you still see room to improve segments fixed cost structure during the H2?
As noted, we had a tight cost control for Q2 and of course, we are following the performance. While it's a necessity that we actually run the top line, strengthen the gross margin, and also have a tight OpEx control. Especially in the momentum where we've been opening new SPAR stores to see that the footfall is growing. At the same time, visit frequency is growing. This combined, we expect also to fulfill the guidance question from your perspective.
All right. Thank you very much and good luck for the last part of year.
Thank you so much. Next who has raised his hand is Joonas. Joonas, please.
Yes. Hi, good morning. It's Joonas from OP Financial Group. A couple of questions regarding the gross margins in each of the countries. Firstly, in Finland, gross margin weakened apparently due to campaigning, even though sales of seasonal products increased. Can you comment how was the margin in seasonal products this year versus last year? Maybe overall, what type of products or product groups were sold through campaigns, groceries, non-groceries, or both? Perhaps also, what kind of expectations do you have for the Finnish gross margin in the second half?
If we take the Q2, like I mentioned, we were happy to see that the non-grocery items and non-grocery categories actually continued to grow. In those categories also, we have a stronger margin, of course, than in groceries or fast-moving consumer goods. Therefore, it's an essential part from our businesses that we are extremely good and we meet our customer requirements in those categories. That gives us a room for the further gross margin percentage improvement. When we take the gross margin in EUR, we have also used grocery products to bring in customers. Of course, when we are saying Suomen Halvin as a campaign title, those Suomen Halvin articles are both important from the branding perspective, important for the customer promise, but important for also our customers who are seeking for the cheapest possible articles and cheapest possible buying positions.
From that perspective, it's constant balancing in between seasonalities, in between footfall, and also successful Suomen Halvin campaign. Did you have something else, Joonas?
Yes, maybe another question regarding Dollarstore's gross margin that weakened also in the second quarter. How was the campaigning level in Dollarstore in the second quarter versus last year? Did you still have clearance sales related to Dollarstore's old inventory?
Well, I think-
What was the main driver for the-
Yes, again, we did introduce, for example, dry goods, dry foods in the second quarter. We had, let's say, quite heavy campaigning on, for example, drinks and dry foods. That obviously drives down the margin a little bit. Also, you saw the grocery part increasing at Dollarstore from a year ago, that has also an impact to mix. As Sampo said, the gross margins on the fast-moving consumer goods are of course, clearly lower than on the non-grocery products. I would say those two were a mix or were the main factors driving down the margin slightly. We do, let's say, expect the margin decline to slow down at least, if not reverse, during the second half. We do have lots of actions in place to support the margin.
Like we said at the beginning of the year, that is something we focus on. We have also had to balance it on the footfall because that is also super important for any retailer to have enough footfall. We will continue this Suomen Halvin and similar campaigns in Dollarstore as well. It is, like Sampo said, it's a balancing act to maintain the margins. Of course, we need to remember here it's the absolute margin in the end that brings the profit and pays the bills. The relative margin is also important to follow, but the absolute margin is something that we try to optimize always.
We have three more persons asking for time for a question. Maria, you will be next, please.
Yes. Thank you. This is Maria Wikström from SEB, nice to meet you, Sampo.
Good to meet you.
Yeah, I had three questions. First, I wanted to touch upon your view on the Finnish consumer as I think earlier companies that have reported, namely Kesko and Verkkokauppa.com, I think people have been talking about early signs of a stronger Finnish consumer. If I read your report, I think you talked about the uncertainty and I think the like-for-like of close to 0% for the Finnish market was a clear disappointment given very warm early summer weather. Can you little bit describe your views on the Finnish consumer and why it was such a low like-for-like growth for the Finnish segments during the Q2?
Thanks, Maria. I think it's a necessity to say that Finnish customers are from one perspective fast movers. We also want to believe that the positive news, especially from the Kaupan liitto, Finnish Retail Association, is such that we'll be also moving into a retailer's advantage in general. This might already take place for the Christmas trade this year. Past years, people have a tendency to buy the Christmas gifts no matter how much money you have in your wallet or if you do not have. When we have these positive signs that concerns employments, investments, we also have a firm belief that customers will be stronger in upcoming Christmas trade than in the past Christmas trades.
Of course, Q4 from our sake is by far the most important when it concerns turnover and EBIT, which is also one part of the guidance kept from our sake. It's not only about Q1 and Q2, which have a minor role in the EBIT development, but Q3 and Q4 do really pay attention. Is there something what you would like to say about the like-for-like development here in Finland, Tapio?
Of course, it's not great. Of course we will work hard on improving that. As said, I think we've said it several times that competition has been quite tough in Finland. We continue to see that, but like Sampo said, early positive signs in the consumers spending. I don't know if you say want or wish or ability, I think there is more ability to spend now than there definitely was a year ago or two years ago. Whether that spending actually materializes, that will be now very interesting to see because again, if you look at the bank account data, for example, I think we're at all-time high in Finland at the moment. Also, quite a lot of money goes into investment. Hopefully we will see in the second half more spending from the consumers also on consumables and also durable goods.
Of course, from a customer's sake, just briefly saying that there were uncertainties in customers' mind during end of Q1, beginning of Q2, and that mainly applied to the uncertainties in Iran, uncertainties due to tariffs for U.S. I do see and I do hope that these uncertainties will have no impact during the autumn time and will have no impact for the Christmas trade because of course, we want Finnish customers to visit each and every of our 208 stores in Finland, and also to have a confidence that they can treat their families and closest ones well. Did you have, Maria, also a second question in your thought?
Yes, I actually had third question. I go to my second question.
Okay, please.
When you have had a chance to look through the Dollarstore operations, which have been the Achilles heel over the last quite few quarters now, I wanted to ask if you see a need for store closures or relocations. How different are the profit performance across the store network in Dollarstore?
Thanks for the question, Maria. I think it is about productivity and also profitability. Each and every store we need to follow. It is in our favor to have this wide network without any store closures. We will definitely take each and every situation individually. At today's situation, we do not have any decisions for store closings. Yes, every store will be steered profitability and productivity steered as well.
Thank you. My final question is given that you've been now officially five weeks into the job, what has surprised you either positively or negatively when you came inside Tokmanni and not just looking it on a consumer perspective.
Perfect question. I was hoping somebody's raising that one. I have actually spent a lot of time now to meet our stores and meet our employees, it has been such a positive, welcoming discussions with our store clerks and salesperson in the stores. We have actually high self-esteem by every store. They want to meet the customer, they are there for the customer. At the same time, when I look for the previous quarterly reports by Tapio and Miika, I also do see that there's room to improve when it concerns our offer. Offer meaning wider assortment. Therefore, this approach, which has already started, is essential. We are not taking it black and white, just introducing new SKUs. We need to understand to whom we are making this widened offer. This is part of autumn time work.
Already now in July, we have had an external partner to make a customer survey on our behalf to really understand who is our core customer in Sweden, who is our core customer in Finland, as well as in Denmark. Commonalities are important. We need to understand market differences. When we have the market differences, as an outcome, today we have differentiated assortments in Finland, but in Sweden there's more or less one assortment meeting each and every customer in all 142 stores. That's something which is in our development topics already today, how to be strong in commonalities, how to vary when there's a need for that one. Maria, you had one more question.
No, I actually finished all my three. Thank you so much.
Okay. Thank you. It is Miika, and last but not least will be Svante. Miika, your turn.
Thank you. It is Miika from DNB Carnegie. I would like to ask, as you mentioned in the slides, that Dollarstore like-for-like customer visits turned positive in June, whilst baskets grew by 4%. Were there any campaigns or something unusual that drove this performance? Could you please open up how July was for Dollarstore? Did this positive trend continue?
Thanks, Svante. Yes, the question is such that we have now a common steering for campaigning. Which also means that we had biweekly leaflets in Swedish markets, which gave us a stronger perception from the customer's perspective. It is also like Tapio mentioned earlier, we had plenty of social media activities to reach the customers who were having a vacation and getting closer to our stores. I haven't heard, though, the Swedish radio commercial, but what I am hearing from my friends, it has been enough annoying and making them to visit a store. It is also in my pending list to follow the radio commercials from the past season.
Okay. Thank you. That's all from my side.
Okay. Thank you. Svante, your turn, please.
Yes. Thank you, Sampo. Nice meeting you. Hope to meet you physically also soon. Thank you, Tapio, for the presentation. I just have one question left after the very long Q&A session. actually my question is regarding Dollarstore and the change of the concept with the like-for-like customer visits still being down, but not as much as in Q1. Have you seen any change in the mix of Dollarstore customers? You obviously probably want to get a bit more customers in with a bit fatter wallet. Have you seen any change in the mix of Dollarstore customers?
Now I'm staring to Tapio because you know the history. I've been only visiting the stores in past week. What would
Yeah
be your point of view?
Yeah. The fact is that at the moment we don't have a sort of loyalty program in Dollarstore, neither in Sweden nor in Denmark. We don't actually track the customers as individuals, unfortunately. It's very difficult to say exactly, but as Sampo said, we're now conducting a customer survey, and one of the main aims or goals of that is to really understand who are at the moment coming to our stores and what is the sort of customer profile. Really build then the offering around so that we can serve our current customers the best we can, but also then as we develop our strategy, we need to, of course, then make decisions on who are going to be the future target customers. Will we aim to enlarge the customer base?
In Finland, if you compare the Tokmanni customers, you could say that almost every Finn has visited Tokmanni during their lifetime. Whereas in Sweden when we bought Dollarstore, the situation was very different. A large part of Swedes had never visited Dollarstore. However, the brand awareness of Dollarstore is on a quite good level. We do know that. I don't know if that didn't exactly answer your question, but this
No.
is where we are today.
I think it's a good answer. At the same time, early remarks, what I have seen, if I take a parking lot in Sweden, it might have Toyotas, it might have Volvos, but there are also Porsches. That gives me also a clear sign that everyone who has visited a store has also come for the second time. When I've been visiting our stores during the summer time, and that's about the strong footfall, I have seen two cashiers open when competitor only had one, which is very positive from our sake. We want to gain from this momentum. Therefore this common commercial steering, common commercial campaigning is extremely important. We really want to seduce the Swedish and Danish audience who are there to meet our stores. Stores are in great shape. There's no reason for them not to visit.
I rather see them visiting us for the first time, second time, and also become loyal friends of Dollarstore and Big Dollar. It's 11:01 A.M. I think it's from our sake, time to say thank you for your participation. It was also really nice to meet you via Microsoft Teams, also I'm waiting for us to meet face-to-face in upcoming weeks and upcoming months. I would like to see you also visiting our stores and also give us a feedback. What did you find? What did you buy? How was your customer perception and customer understanding? Every customer point, every feedback is important for us when we develop our operations here in Finland, but also in Sweden and Denmark further. Thank you for your time and have a great Friday, end of the day, and sunny weekend.
According to weather forecast, it's time for barbecuing, which we have all the tools still available. Thank you.
Thank you