Good morning from a sunny and warm summer day here in Oslo. Welcome to the presentation of Komplett Group's second quarter results. My name is Kristin Hovland, and I am Head of Communication. Our CEO, Jaan Ivar Semlitsch, and CFO, Thomas Røkke, will take you through the latest events and financials for the second quarter of 2025. The presentation will take approximately 25 minutes, and we are happy to answer questions via web and from the audience and answer them at the end of the presentation. Today, Jaan Ivar will take you through the highlights from Q2 and provide you with an operational update. Thomas will then discuss the financials before Jaan Ivar summarizes the quarter and outlook. Jaan Ivar, over to you.
Thank you, Kristin, and welcome to our Q2 results. Kicking off with an update on the development of the key markets in this quarter reflected improved market dynamics in both Sweden and Norway. As you can see, looking on the left on the screen, you will see improved market dynamics across both Sweden and Norway, with a particularly positive development in Norway. That said, the growth stems from the market gradually recovering from what has been a challenging few years. As mentioned in the previous quarter, we have forecasted positive sales effects from new product launches. To name a few, we have seen a significant rise in sales with the launch of new graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, as well as the successful launch of Nintendo Switch 2 consoles.
We expect this trend to continue and increase into the months to come as we eagerly await the launch of additional volumes. Overall, the market is headed in the right direction, and the outlook is supported by consumer fundamentals. By that, we mean that the financial forecast for the average household in our key markets remains positive, despite consumer sentiment remaining cautious in Norway and Sweden. Since we last updated the market in April, global uncertainty has remained a source of uncertainty, which we face by maintaining close dialogue with our suppliers and transparency in our communication. To date, there has been no significant impact from this uncertainty. However, it means that business remains more unpredictable with less certainty when it comes to consumer behavior.
Now, moving on to the financial highlights of the quarter, I'm pleased to report that we've had a steady sales period with a marked uplift in our margins, continuing the positive momentum from Q1 2025. Operating revenue for the period has remained stable compared to last year, with sales rising 0.4% in the second quarter. The group's gross margin has also seen an uplift from 13.1% in Q2 last year to 14.6% in 2025, largely explained by a rebalanced campaign and price policy in combination with positive mix effects. Looking at the group's expenses, costs are being actively managed but were impacted by commercial expansion measures and marketing investments in the period. As a result, operating expenses ended at 15.2% compared to 14.2% last year. Working capital has continued to improve year over year, despite a temporarily elevated inventory position due to the warehouse consolidation in Sweden.
This reflects our consistent effort to improve commercial terms. We have continued to work on the group's liquidity, which remains solid alongside our financial position, being in line with our covenants with the group's leverage ratio ended at 3.8. Looking at operational updates, we will take a closer look at our three consumer brands, then starting with Komplett. I'm excited to share that Komplett.no once again has been rated as one of Norway's top 10 brands with the most satisfied customers, regardless of industry, for the third time in a row. Needless to say, we are thrilled to be recognized by our customers. This is a result of hard work over many years to create a really consumer-centric brand. In this period, we have also experienced strong momentum from having an expanded supply range and, in turn, product offering for both our core and adjacent categories.
We believe this is part of what makes our customers some of the most satisfied, as we strive to deliver a strong range of products consistently, combined with excellent logistics. The B2C growth in Norway alone was 18.8% for the quarter, and a lot of that driven by B2C Komplett. During the first quarter, we completed the cost program we set out earlier this year, including the workforce reductions. We'll see full effect of these changes from the second half of this year. Lastly, for Komplett, we have seen good growth among smaller enterprises. That has been driven by our B2B loyalty program launched August last year, and that continues to provide customers with the very best offers. Looking to Webhallen, which caters to all gaming enthusiasts, I'm pleased to report that the warehouse and back-office consolidation is progressing as planned.
As for the back-office functions across Webhallen and NetOnNet, the process is expected to be completed during Q3 this year. In the period, we successfully relocated our Solna store back in April, which now has an upgraded store concept, and you can see that pictured on the right side of the screen, and a very good location at the Solna Centre. During the quarter, Webhallen had great success with the launch of Nintendo Switch 2, with night opening demonstrating the importance of new product launches in our industry. The two Stockholm-based warehouses for Webhallen were closed during the quarter and have now been moved and relocated to NetOnNet's central warehouse in Borås, meaning that all logistics and return handling functions will be conducted from Borås. This move is expected to deliver significant savings with regard to rent, facility management, and administration moving forward.
Finally, we have NetOnNet, where we have continued to reposition the brand and its commercial strategy, a bit back to the DNA of NetOnNet. As mentioned earlier this year, this means reducing campaign activity and adjusting our product prices across several categories. At the same time, we have revamped our MDA assortment and expanded the private label assortment to products in the home categories. Our Event brand is selling very well in NetOnNet. Overall, we have noticed strong momentum in seasonal categories, such as air conditioning, lawnmowers, and barbecues, with products driven by an expanded assortment coupled with a widened sales window. NetOnNet has also seen additional store openings, which are progressing largely as planned and, importantly, offering an improved customer experience for those shopping online. Lastly, we have initiated measures to accelerate the profitability of newly opened stores in Norway.
I will now hand over to Thomas, who will guide you through our financial results.
Thank you, Jaan Ivar, and good morning, everyone. As Jaan Ivar has been explaining, Q2 has been a very busy period with quite a lot of changes and things going on. That obviously also affects the numbers, and it's my privilege and pleasure to help you navigate a little bit through these complexities. To summarize it up, the sales are stable, measured also in constant currency, but contain quite a lot of underlying dynamics, as Jaan Ivar alluded to. It's partly driven by an improved market development, but it's also driven by an explicit rebalancing of volumes versus price, which I'll revert to a bit later. It has also partly been negatively affected by the warehouse relocation, which naturally affects the availability in the relevant brands. More importantly, though, is the effect on the gross profit.
As you can see, the volume rebalancing measures have improved the gross profit by 12.3%, 8.3% in real terms, and the gross profit is actually what pays the bills. So far, the income that actually contributes to covering our costs has been going up fairly substantially in the quarter. The operating expenses, though, still reflect a certain element of investments in expansion, i.e., new stores and marketing, i.e., marketing to support these stores. It also contains a very strong element of currency effects. More than 70% of our sales in the B2C segment is in Sweden, and more than 60% of our OpEx is in Sweden. Naturally, when the Swedish crown strengthens versus the Norwegian crown, it will affect how we report the costs. The underlying cost development is actually 3.5% in constant currency terms. If you look at it year to date, it's + 2%.
It is a modest, but more than we actually would like to see, build up in the cost base. At the same time, in this quarter, as Jaan Ivar has been alluding to, we have done quite a lot of cost reduction measures. We're seeing the effects of the ones we started in Norway at the beginning of the year, but we have also largely completed more back-office and warehouse consolidation in Sweden. Combined, these efforts will represent something like a 5% improvement in cost base, which will be counter-announced in the coming 18 months, obviously by cost inflation and the sort. It's a fairly substantial amount of cost savings, where the main impact will be starting as of the second half.
That has obviously not been without associated costs, and that explains the relatively high level of one-off items in this period, which reflects a combination of severance pay, restructuring, and also project-related costs, as some of these measures have been progressed through fairly quickly. We have a quarter where we're not yet seeing the benefits, but we have basically covered these costs. That translates into an EBITDA improvement of $22 million a year, sorry, $16 million year- on- year, -$22 million in the quarter, which is reflecting that we're still not carrying the entire amount of the gross profit down to the bottom line, which these measures are to rectify. As Jaan Ivar alluded to, we are also starting another round of this, where the effects will mainly be in 2026, but has a magnitude comparable to the ones we have already started.
Looking into the underlying segments, and I think when it comes to the B2C segment, it's quite important to stress that we have addressed improved market conditions in various ways. If you look at Norway, and you can look at the growth figures for Norway, it's been an extremely good growth. It's driven partly by new stores, obviously, but also our online business has been doing very well, supported by gaming and a general improved market. When it comes to Sweden, I think Jaan Ivar alluded to the repositioning of the NetOnNet brand, which is aiming towards a position more driven by a low-price destination and less campaign activity. A transition like that will obviously have effects on the financials.
If you look underneath the hood, though, you will see that in the traditional core segments of this brand, i.e., consumer electronics and also home appliances, they are doing very well, partly from own initiatives when it comes to expanding the assortment and also the season for home products, but also from new momentum in the MDA segment. Last but not least, our own private label series in the MDA segment. The only segment here which is relatively negative is obviously a telecom segment where you have a fairly high proportion, but there's a very low margin. If you look at the underlying business, we have actually increased the gross profit across all product categories, despite the volume changes. Corrected for the telecom segment, it would also have been the positive growth in Sweden.
Last but not least, and I think that is the one hurting the most from the warehouse relocation, would be the Webhallen brand. Jaan Ivar explained that there has been fairly extensive restructuring work going on there in the quarter. While benefiting strongly from the gaming segment, it has obviously been hurt by lower availability in its products in other areas. The product or the kind of development in the B2C business is relatively uneven, but it has one common denominator, and that is a significant improvement in the gross margin, which we can see across all our brands. That also leads to an uplift in the EBITDA versus last year. As we explained previously, some of the investments have been necessary to expand this business. We do expect to be needing further measures to compensate for continued investments.
The B2B business has been fairly stable, and that reflects a stabilizing market, as we alluded to in the previous quarter presentation. It is driven by an aging installed base, which seems to be coming to fruition. While we do see that maybe some of the larger companies are shifting quicker over to new PCs, we do see that the demand is now picking up also in this segment. We are also reinforcing the sales organization to be able to reap this development and also to address some of the larger customers. Overall, if you look year to date, it's a growth by 2%. It's fairly stable, and it's not affected by currency effects. That's actually the real underlying development and also a steady improvement versus last year. In the distribution segment, it's actually one of the segments where we see the largest fall in revenue.
As you may recall, we discussed this in the Q1 report that the numbers were affected by Easter, and they are partly affected by Easter, but in this quarter then negatively. What we're also seeing is that some of the demand is shifting over into Q3. This is a business segment where we are driven very much by large customers and large contracts, and that may then influence this rather randomly. However, the last part of this, maybe one third, is related to a still weak market in this segment. What we're seeing there is that the resellers that we serve are starting to gain traction and interest, which, according to our management, indicates a certain stabilizing and revival of this market as well.
Looking into the cash flow and the working capital, you can see that the warehouse consolidation and the increased inventory have negatively affected the cash flow in the period when it comes to the operating activities. Normally, we would have a build down in this period, as we had last year, and we have not seen this this year. At the same time, we have been able to counteract the build up through trade payables. We have also, in the period, phased down our factory usage to NOK 315 million, which also has increased the working capital in the period. The latter has been a deliberate move to simplify the processes and to increase our closeness to the customers in the B2B segment. The net cash flow from investing activities is mainly driven by IT investments.
Not mentioned by Jaan Ivar, but we have also invested very actively in the customer journey in several of our companies to improve the experience by our customers when they come to our websites. In the financing activities, we have the usual repayment of leasing agreements. We have the interest costs, which are in line with both previous quarters and last year. We also have a repayment of the extended Swedish repayment scheme of NOK 39 million in the period. As you can see, the inventory levels increased NOK 266 million year- on- year, but that is mainly related to the warehouse consolidation in Sweden. We obviously aim to normalize that in the coming period. Overall, if you look at it, we have increased the working capital slightly versus Q1 due to this.
Given the extensive renegotiation of supplier contracts, we have managed to reduce the working capital, even taking account for the reclassification of the Swedish tax extended repayment plan last year in Q3. That means that we have the same level of liquidity as we had last year, slightly better. We have a slightly higher net debt, and that is including the NOK 193 million, which is long-term Swedish debt repayment. We have compensated that by other operating working capital measures. The leverage ratio of 3.8 is in compliance with the agreements we have with the banks. As you may know, we will have to reduce that significantly into Q3, where we normalize these covenants. We do expect to have a meaningful deleverage both by a reduction in working capital, but also by an improvement in the underlying performance.
It is needless to say, this is an area that we have monitored and managed carefully, and we will continue to do so. Our equity ratio is 35.3%. We are well positioned. We have lots of things going on and going into an active Q3. On that note, I pass the word on to you, Jaan Ivar.
Thank you, Thomas. Before opening up for questions, I want to briefly go through what we have presented today around the summary and also some perspectives for the months and the years to come. The number one key takeaway from today is that several ongoing measures are progressing as planned, and the market dynamics are improving. Despite the negative impact from volume rebalancing and the consolidation measures, we have delivered stable sales. Gross profit growth is up 12.3%, and the higher operating expenses are a result of the impact of expansion measures, marketing, and project costs, which was amplified by FX effects and cost inflation. The consolidation of logistics in Sweden with Webhallen and NetOnNet is progressing well and will be completed by the third quarter this year.
Lastly, our liquidity position remains solid, which is reflected in the improved payment terms and the financial position being in line with our agreed covenants. As you can see, we are working across the entire group to initiate measures that will secure future growth as the markets continue to recover. With stable sales and solid margin progress in an improved market, we are moving forward confidently. We are excited as more volumes from recent launches are being made available from the suppliers and by additional new products that are expected to launch later this year. We also expect continued positive impact from ongoing cost and restructuring initiatives in Sweden and in Norway. Additional measures have already been identified and will be implemented over the coming quarters.
We have taken note of positive macroeconomic trends for consumer households, which we will expect to support the sales of new and innovative product launches. Many good Christmas presents coming up. Finishing off today's presentation, I want to leave you with the fact that despite the challenges we have faced over the last few years, our brands and our business model represent a solid foundation, which all enable us to deliver on our goals moving forward. I would also like to take the opportunity to welcome Ros‑Marie Grusén. , who has been appointed the new CEO of Komplett ASA, effective as of 1st of August . As I transition into the position of Chair of the Board at Komplett Group, I'm feeling both confident and excited about the future of the group, knowing it will be left with a highly capable and dedicated team. Thank you.
That's our presentation, and we'll now open up for Q&A.
Great. We'll first see if there are any questions in the room. No, OK. We'll move on to the online questions. Concerning the competitive landscape, how do you assess the current competitive landscape, and have you observed any notable shifts in market dynamics?
As always, the competition is intense and tough, both from global players and local players. We see perhaps a slightly better environment in terms of the aggressiveness. The margin uplift is a combination of internal work, but also a more positive market. I would say, in general, when the market is growing, that's a positive for all players in the market.
What was the contribution from new product launches in the second quarter?
Yeah, we don't split that in detail for competitive reasons. It has been positive in terms of our development. I think the availability, as that will increase going forward, it will be interesting to see Q3 and Q4, because if you take the Nintendo Switch 2, it's a Christmas gift. Now, perhaps, with increased purchasing power, the consumer households are also willing to take on the product launches.
Because the other question then is, how did product availability impact Q2 sales?
We sold everything we could in terms of what we got, in terms of AMD cards, NVIDIA cards, Nintendo Switch 2. Again, we don't go into the details on the allocation.
When do you expect any potential supply constraints to ease?
It is always hard to predict, but we see that the allocation has increased now during July. All the signals we get is that we get our fair share of that allocation, and we do not see any issues in terms of the global uncertainty from that perspective.
I think it's important to emphasize that this is deliberate policy from the suppliers in this respect. It's not general availability issues we have in the market or anything from the geopolitical uncertainty. This is commercial policy by the suppliers. You will have a shortage during the initial period, and then it will normalize in the subsequent period.
Looking at commercial initiatives, can you quantify the impact of your commercial initiatives in Q2?
We normally don't give all the details per commercial initiative, but we see that both for the core categories and the adjacent core categories, like the home category, it's developing well. Home is one strategic area. Another area is services, where we see a good momentum. We probably will do more general and specific updates on that when we have a full year behind us.
What should we expect in terms of impact for Q3 and beyond with regards to commercial initiatives?
First of all, we are working further on the cost agenda, both the costs that we have already taken out that will have full effects during Q3 and Q4. We're looking at some additional measures as well in terms of improving the profitability of newly opened stores, and we'll just continue the efforts on our key strategic initiatives.
You've kind of just answered this, but in any case, could you elaborate on the new initiatives that you are targeting?
I think it's very much around the initiatives we have already launched, like home, like services, like private label, like the cost agenda, and stay focused to our strategy and delivering on that. We will always spot new trends when we see them coming. Ice cream machines, it's very hot for the moment. Of course, we're pursuing that, but that's more on the tactical operational level. Same now during July with air conditioning and fans. We are, of course, pursuing that, but it's more the daily operational business.
Looking at working capital, how do you expect working capital to develop over the coming quarters?
That's an excellent question for Thomas. I've talked a lot.
I don't think we give guidance in general, but I think it will normalize during Q3 and into Q4. That doesn't mean necessarily that the inventory goes down, but it does mean the balance between payables and inventory will change as we have more new inventory in there.
Do you consider your balance sheet position to be sufficient and relative to the NIBD/EBITDA covenant?
As we said, there is an elevated covenant in this or EBITDA level in this quarter. We think it's higher than what we're actually targeting. We will have a meaningful deleveraging when we actually normalize the working capital and improve performance in Q3. This has been a topic for quite some time, and we're monitoring and managing this very carefully.
A question around the new stores. Are they underperforming relative to your expectations since you are launching new initiatives?
No, but I think we're working in Norway with continuing to increase the visibility of our stores, locations in Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger. It's great also in Oslo. We have done some changes on the Store Manager side to perform really well. It's also a balance between freight prices and what you charge for in terms of delivering to the customer. If you have a large TV or a big barbecue, sometimes it's meaningful to charge for that extra service, which is value for money for the customer. Really pinpointing also the P&L for each individual store, and NetOnNet Norway being one example around that. Having said that, we have had growth for NetOnNet in Norway, but it's a key focus area going forward as well.
For the distribution segment, you've noted that Norway's revenue drop was mainly due to timing and shifts in large accounts in sales, partly to public customers. Did the sales occur in Q1 2025, or are they expected in Q3 2025?
It's a combination. If you look at the Easter effects, those are obviously occurring in Q1 and will not be recouped. If you look at the shifts in the customer supply demand, that is already ordered and increased the backlog and will be delivered out in Q3. As I said, there's also an underlying weakness in the market, which I explained kind of the last.
B2C sales in Sweden declined by 3.8%, marking three to four consecutive years of decline in your largest B2C market. How do you view your current position there, and when do you expect to reverse this trend?
The NetOnNet position is very strong in terms of low price perception, and the customer base is strong. The top of mind of NetOnNet is also very strong. We have a very good foundation. We are repositioning the brand in terms of everyday low prices, mentioned also by Thomas, in terms of less campaign activity. No matter what time of the day, what time of the week you buy at NetOnNet, it should be value for money without all the 40% campaigns. That transition takes some time for the consumer to understand the sort of DNA of NetOnNet. We are very confident about that rebranding or repositioning, and it's progressing well now in June. We think that this is the right strategy. We see that NetOnNet also has a wider assortment than Komplett.
For example, in the seasonal categories like barbecues, like lawnmowers, air conditioning, where we also would like to step up and improve that position, and also around private label for NetOnNet. We also deliberately on some categories, for example, telecom, have been conscious about also having gross profit for telecom and not necessarily chasing volumes for NetOnNet isolated in that category.
I think I would also, as I alluded to during the presentation, say that in the core categories, they are actually growing. If you correct for this deliberate rebalancing in the telecom segment, they actually are growing across the board.
What is your current dialogue like with the bank, and do you expect to be able to renegotiate covenants again if needed?
I think that is a question we can't comment upon.
Fair enough. Another one on the covenants. Is it correct that the covenant for Q3 is 3, and is that something you expect to be at or below, or is negotiation needed?
I think we have commented on that already.
Let's see. Can you say anything about the risk for an equity issue?
I think we have commented on that as well.
Moving on. This is the last question for now. What would be the growth in Sweden if telecom had been excluded?
Yes, yeah, I guess that's a long shot given all the kind of the developments, but something like 3% - 4% would probably be the underlying growth in the other categories.
That concludes the questions online, unless there are any questions in the room. No? OK. That concludes today's Q&A session, and we will see you again in October. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.