Good morning, welcome to Komplett Group's Quarterly Presentation. My name is Vebjørn Torsetnes. I'm pleased to be here, to present the group's first quarter results. Joining me this morning is our CFO, Thomas Røkke. Today we will review the highlights of the past quarter and give an update before presenting the group's financial performance in more detail. We'll go shortly through the operational update, the financial performance, and summary and outlook before we opening for questions from the audience here in Oslo and for you following online. My first week as CEO in Komplett Group has been very interesting.
I've been traveling around both in Sweden and in Norway, visiting our offices and warehouses, talking to people, and I have to say that I'm very confident with the competence within the Komplett Group. Great people, great brands, we have a lot of opportunities across the Komplett Group. Priority has been the continuity and to keep the focus on the ongoing business through the leadership transition. The strategy and the operative things that we are working with is going forward, this will remain unchanged. Shortly about me, I've been working in retail nearly all my career.
I have some years in bank and insurance, but mostly retail and retail success requires strong customer focus and focus on sales and margin, and have a good sales and margin discipline is important. To have a structure and clear processes are essential. Great category work is very important and how you combine famous brands with private label was important more than 20 years ago when I start working with the private label and this combination. The last 10 years has been even more important for all retailers. Alignment across teams is critical. Retail moves fast, so precise precision is vital for earning money. It might sound simple, but it takes hard work for the whole organization, regardless which company you're working for.
All organization have their challenges, I really enjoy challenges. I enjoy working with great people, I love pace. Pace is also important for retail because it's a branch that is moving fast. I'm looking forward to work with the great people and great brands in Komplett, and I've also worked with great people and great brands in other companies before. Back to Komplett. We will focus on unlocking synergies and gaining market shares. First quarter performance impacted by headwinds, particularly in the gaming and components. Continued supply constraints and pricing pressure create some uncertainties. Global uncertainty may affect customer spending, but impact has been limited so far. Group is better positioned due to the structural and operational improvements that have been done lately.
Strengthen group-wide efficiency across sales, category, tech, back office, and suppliers, remain focus. Focus ahead is also accelerating benefits from scale, simplification, and closer group collaboration. Aim to drive more efficient, scalable operation will be important. Now moving to the financial results. We have a stable revenue despite market challenges. Impact from a weaker innovation cycle and higher memory chip prices. Gross margin remained relatively stable despite changes in sales mix. Operating costs reduced through cost and restructuring programs, and we are on track on these programs, and it's important for the structure, and we also gain NOK 13 million in a better EBITDA because of this structure. Net working capital increased modestly, and leverage ratio improved by 2.8 from 3.4 last year.
Financial performance remained resilient, and the financial position remains sound with controlled working capital. The strength of our brands, customer satisfaction, and loyalty provide a solid foundation for building our market presence. Now let's go through the most recent operational development in our key customer brands and starting with Komplett. Komplett as a gaming destination is most impacted by higher memory prices and a slower innovation cycle. Effects mainly seen in gaming components and partly offset by growth in non-computing categories. Disciplined assortment, sourcing, and pricing has been protecting the margin. Consequently, we are also working with how to get our, strengthen position in the gaming segment.
We have a cooperation and a partnership with Skagerrak Technologies and we will now join the Good Game-ligaen that is changed to Komplett-ligaen. If you are into those gaming segment, stay tuned. It's going to happen a lot of fun things. F or us that are very interested in how to make operation more smooth, efficient, and cost-effective, the third robotic arm in Sandefjord is under development. Due to the process, it will be soon up and running, and it will take care of medium-sized boxes and letters from the AutoStore. NetOnNet is also have some headwinds in the gaming and computing offsets. Growth is in other categories. Strong development in domestic appliances, seasonal goods, and telecom.
Cost base improved following the cost reduction program. They will still work with the cost reduction program during the year. They're working with simpler processes and more efficient operation. They have also been working with the checkout and the digital journey for our customers. This have led to increased conversion. That is good for the business. It's also a very strong brand in Sweden. That we can see by the customer index that gave NetOnNet the highest score of all low-price retailers in Sweden. Now moving over to Webhallen. Webhallen serve dedicated gaming enthusiasts. Global sales growth across both online and physical stores. It's also have a growth in the share of private label.
Warehouse consideration, enable a broader product assortment that's going positive for the sales. They have a positive impact also for the cost programs that starts running last year and will be running all this year as long. It just will remain a strong focus on cost. Now handing over to Thomas for the financial results.
Thank you, Vebjørn, and good morning to you all. It's my pleasure to lead you through some of the details of the financial performance in Q1. As usual, we'll just start off with an overview. As Vebjørn alluded to, the development on the sales line have been resilient but slightly mixed in terms of the underlying developments. On the positive side, we have seen, you know, continued good underlying market development in the sense that all kind of macroeconomic headwinds and consumer sentiment developments has not changed market developments in the first quarter. But as Vebjørn alluded to, it is a risk for the coming period, but so far we have not actually seen any effect of that. I think also the most macroeconomic projections still see a positive development throughout the year.
That is good because it has helped us to compensate for the quite difficult development we have due to both innovations and also the pricing of memory chips. As you may recall, Q1 last year was the quarter in which NVIDIA launched its 5000 series and which benefits us obviously both directly through selling of the cards, but also through demand of components and associated products. This year has not seen anything of the sort, you will already see, you know, headwinds from that development through the quarter. I think we alluded to that both in Q4 and earlier presentations.
On top of that, as you also may have taken from the press, the development in the microchip, for, memory, but also slightly in other segments, have substantially risen, as we discussed during the previous quarterly discussion. It has therefore also impacted quite a lot of the component demand directly. The memory chips themselves are obviously not declining given their high price increases, but that has an indirect effect on other components which are, you know, falling accordingly and much more price sensitive. That has been kind of the major driver, the combination of those two. On the good side, the market has helped us driving through some of our growth categories.
We've seen quite a good development in all categories we have prioritized in the past and also discussed here, and also through some rebalancing on campaign and pricing activity, also gained some traction in the telecom segment, which has been a weakness, as you may recall. Overall, the combination of those factors have led to a fairly stable sales, depending on if you look at in constant or Norwegian kroner. The gross margin also remaining relatively stable, at 14.7%, has declined 0.3% year-on-year, where the decline is mainly due to mix between both categories of products but also within the service categories.
The underlying product margins though, apart from the ones where we have deliberately chosen to rebalance, are positive, and there's no sign of a major change in the market participants' activities for the time being on that front. That combined a slight decline in the gross profit, which we managed to compensate through a better operating cost base. The operating cost declined 4.4% in nominal terms and 5.6% in real terms versus the same quarter last year. The combination of those two, i.e. the cost compensating for the minor fall in gross profit, led to an increase in the EBIT of NOK 13 million. At the same time, we also reduced the expenditures on one-offs.
You may recall that last year we pulled off the large restructuring in the Norwegian entity and also financed that. This year, the efforts and the activities have been reduced, which also reduced the one-off cost down to NOK 6 million. The improvements across these segments have been slightly varied. As we'll go into on the other pages, the distribution business has been fairly stable. The B2B business has seen a very positive development while the development in the B2C segment has been more stagnant and also obviously the one being more exposed to the innovation cycles and the microchip developments. That has also led for this business to remain fairly stable. As alluded to, we compensated some of the weakness in the computing/component and gaming segments through other product categories.
Due to the exposure of the Norwegian business to the tech categories, obviously, as opposed to previous quarters, the development in the Norwegian market has been slightly more constrained than we are actually seeing in the Swedish market, which stabilized overall. In Norway, we also see, you know, the effects of the pro-profit protection plan of the NetOnNet stores in Norway, which contributes to a decline in sales, but not in profits. The gross margin pressure here comes from, you know, the mix effects we already discussed previously. On top of that, this is obviously also the segment where kind of the price rebalancing in some of the segments is more pronounced.
The net effect of that is that we are relatively stable year-on-year, slightly down with NOK 3 million as the cost savings in this segment does not entirely cover the reduction in the gross profit. Would also like to refer to that. If you look historically here, you can also see that the margin in the quarter is more in line with the previous quarters, whereas the Q1 2025 was, you know, above the normal level. The B2B segment has seen a strong development both in sales and in profits. While the underlying market has remained relatively stable, as you would also see from some of our competitors in this market, that's not been that positive for the smaller customer segments.
We are in this segment seeing also some fruits of the efforts done previously by hiring the sales team, and we've seen a growth in mid-sized customers supporting the underlying growth. We've also seen the advantage here of being able to use some of our stock positions to sell out to customers in need of those components. That has also supported the gross margin, which reached 20.4%, which is higher than the normal level. This is, you know, due to the sales mix in the B2B segment. It is easier here to see some of the benefits of a good stock position. You know, the future development of that will depend on the rotation of stock and how our position evolves over time.
Nevertheless, as you can see here, we see a continuous positive development for the segment and, with an EBIT margin, now relatively high and profit going up by a significant amount in the quarter, contributing quite strongly to the uplift overall. The distribution business is more stable. What we've seen here is also a strength in the telecom segment, where, as you know, the distribution business is relatively dependent on launch schedules and availability of some of our larger distribution partners. While the development within the quarter was uneven overall, it came out with a fairly good development, and we're in line with the previous year.
I think also to notice that, you know, last year, both for the B2B segment and for the distribution segment, we had some Easter effect. We have not actually seen any material effect of this this year, given that the Easter shifts were in April itself. Here, despite, you know, telecom making up for weaknesses elsewhere, that also naturally affects the margin, this has been compensated by the commercial execution, and also a good underlying operating development. The result is a slight increase and stable profit year-on-year for the distribution business. Looking into the cash flow, which was relatively negative in the season, which is typical for the first quarter.
As you may recall, during the Q4 in the peak season, we build up a fairly high amount of trade payables, which have to be paid in the Q1. As last year, this was even higher, but was also reduced during this quarter in line with kind of the normal pattern. Given that the starting point was higher, the drag on the cash flow was larger than last year, whereas the other elements to it were compensating positively but couldn't kind of compensate for that.
That's why the operating cash flow is as negative as it is. On the investing side, we haven't opened any new stores, the investment is largely related to IT and IT infrastructure, development of our platforms there, but also as described by Vebjørn, in also including some of the logistics assets which are being automated. Net cash used in financing activities is in line with last year or the same period last year, and also again obviously includes a repayment of the Swedish tax extension program. Inventory levels are slightly up, that's where you see that the effect on the cash flow is mainly related to the ending position in 2025, not the position right now.
The inventory is slightly up, but this also includes quite a high level of protective and precautionary positions within critical categories, which have been compensated through management of stock in other categories over the time. The trade receivables are slightly up. As you may recall, we stopped using factoring on the B2B segment during Q2 last year, so we have the full effect of that in here, and also the phasing in the distribution business which I alluded to that came in a bit uneven during the quarter. Here basically came in relatively late, which means that quite a lot of it went into factoring. Trade payables are largely in line with last year and reflects obviously the improvement we have had in payment terms over time and also the seasonal development.
Overall, the net working capital has therefore remained relatively stable year on year. That gives us a continued solid liquidity. As you can see, the cash flow in the period has obviously reduced liquidity reserve slightly versus last year, where it was excessively high. This basically reflects both the stock positions but also the phasing of the supplier payments and does not actually constitute any other than that. That, however, obviously affects the net interest-bearing debt, which increases about NOK 70 million. Here the change in cash is basically compensated by lower debt elsewhere, including the repayment of the Swedish tax deferral scheme and also a reduction in the lease liabilities.
That enables us, in combination with a strong uplift in EBITDA to reduce the leverage from 3.4 to 2.8 in the quarter. This is complemented by a structurally solid liquidity position. Equity ratio, which is partly dependent on the quarter where, you know, the balance sheet volume goes up and down, is now largely up to 30% or 29.5%, leaving us with, you know, a solid liquidity position and also a very good financial position going into the next quarter. Thank you very much. Then on that note, I pass it all back to Vebjørn.
Thank you, Thomas. Before opening for a question, I want to briefly go through what we have presented today and leave you with an outlook for the coming period. Adjusted EBIT improved by NOK 13 million despite headwinds in core categories. Improvement driven by stable sales and disciplined cost management. Market outlook supported by improving economic conditions in key markets. Global uncertainty may lead to cautious spending, but so far the impact has been limited. There's also uncertainty for all us retailers into what happens with interest rates, but there's also some good signs for the economy this year. Higher memory prices affecting demand and potential adjustment categories. Innovation cycle in core areas expected to remain muted in the near term. Selective assortment approach focused on private label and resilient categories.
We will work closely with the suppliers and brands, with strict pricing discipline, tight inventory management to protect margin and cash flow. Operating costs, adjusted will be adjusted in line with the activity levels. Structural and commercial measures strengthen future efficiency scale benefits. The key priority will be sales, it will be margin, it will be cost, it will be to have a structure for stock, and also to work with the uncertainty of course in the market and how to cope with that, and extract benefit from scale, simplification, and group collaboration. This is going to be great work and great fun. Thank you for spending time with us this morning. Now opening for questions.
Thank you. Let's first see if there are any questions from the room here in Oslo. No? We will then move on to the online questions. First one goes to you, Vebjørn. Congratulations on your new role. What excites you the most about this new role?
It's, it's great brands, and with great potential, and it's a good competence through the brands. I'm looking really forward to work with the people in the Komplett Group.
Thank you. With your retail background, what will you bring from your previous roles into Komplett?
It's the customer focus. It's all start with the customers and with the customers. Of course have a focus on how to run the business, the routines and how to increase the sales and take care of the margin. Of course, to have fun and work with all my colleagues.
Thank you. Then we have a few questions from Ole Martin Westgaard. He actually has six questions, so I will read them one by one. First one, Komplett appears to be underperforming both Elkjøp and Power. What do you see as the main reasons behind this gap?
I mean, the assumption is underperforming. I think if you look at the reported results or the ones coming out this quarter, I think you will see that there's been a fairly mixed development in the various players in the industry. I'm not quite sure if we can concur with the conclusion. Secondly, I think we're seeing that we are much more targeted towards the tech segment, which are, you know, heavily influenced by, as we said, you know, the innovation cycles, but also the memory chips. I think, you know, the phasing of, or kind of the split of our sales will definitely make us more exposed to these developments.
If you look at the market areas where we are, you know, investing and taking focus to compensate, I think we are seeing in our numbers a fairly good development. I think it's a fairly complex question to answer if you look at the facts.
How do you currently assess the competitive landscape in Norway and Sweden, and where do you see the biggest shifts taking place?
We haven't actually seen a major shift taking place. As we alluded to when it comes to kind of the pricing and margin development, I think we're seeing a relatively stable although quite competitive market landscape for the time being. That is normal for the industry as we have been, you know, stating for the last quarters.
How should we think about the strategic impact of Elkjøp's targeted acquisition of Epoq on the market and on Komplett's positioning?
I think we have as a policy not to comment on cases that are being processed by the competition authorities. We'll have to kind of reassess when that is complete. That said, we don't see kind of strategic implications of it, but it's definitely a customer and a material customer, albeit in a segment with very low margins for the company, and we will, obviously, you know, deal with that.
How would you evaluate the performance of Netonnet's store rollout in Norway so far, and what are the key learnings?
I think the key learnings, I think we already alluded to that during the last call that we are not satisfied with the developments and have also taken short-term actions to mitigate that. I think the key learnings is that, you know, we have to adapt to both the lower awareness among customers, a stronger need to focus on local areas to address traffic issues, but also to adjust the assortment and the brand to the Norwegian market. It's not entirely a one for one. We are kind of reassessing how to actually address that.
Back to you, Vebjørn. You have touched upon parts of this already, but, as a new CEO, what do you see as the most important priorities to drive a turnaround and to improve Komplett's overall performance?
It's, it's to continue the work that is started later last year and to make this transition go further. It's also to work with categories structure and also making the right priorities in brand and how to develop with the brands and the market.
Very well. How do you see availability of goods? Have you been able to secure critical components before potential price increases?
I think that is implied when we talk about stock positions. Yes, I think for the critical areas we need to address, we have made that, but that does not guarantee availability of that for the coming period. Coming into second half, obviously, you know, inventories will be run down, and there will maybe be need to an area to compensate.
Another question on the same topic. During Q1, have you been able to push the price increases from memory prices over to your customers to protect your margins?
It's actually been a fairly dynamic development of the pricing on those specific components. As we alluded to, you know, the weakness has actually been in other components being, you know, adjacent to the memory chips. Yes, I think as an overall, as a general trend, the industry as of such has actually been able to push price increases over to customers. Also during this transition phase, when quite a lot of the players in the market have had inventories from last year and some have had inventory from this year, it has been a fairly turbulent development in pricing to actually find the right level to match both, you know, customer needs and also the competitive situation.
Can you also give some flavor on the volume price effect that you see from the memory shortage?
It is substantial. I don't think we would like to quantify, but I think, you know, if you look at the underlying development, it has been a significant fall, but that can also be, you know, in the revenue terms, it's compensated by the price increases as such.
Thank you. There are no more questions online. Anything to add from the room? No. That concludes today's Q&A session. Thank you for joining.
Thank you. You're welcome.