Good morning. Welcome to the Q&A session. We have a number of questions today for both Jacob and Marius, so we're just going to get started. Firstly, we have received multiple questions regarding the new cash management project in Iberia. Firstly, to you, Jacob, you have previously stated that an announcement was expected in Q3, and this has not happened. Why is this?
That is true. We were expecting the announcement to happen within the quarter we just concluded on. But there's been a short delay, and I do want to emphasize that this delay is, you know, this is purely because of StrongPoint. This is, you know, the customer is more committed than ever to making this cash management project, this new cash management solution and project come through. So this is purely down to StrongPoint and the operational challenges that we have had thus far in getting the project running. But I expect also that we will be, we'll be having announcements regarding the project quite soon.
But again, this is purely down to StrongPoint, not like any other kinds of postponements that might have happened because of the macro environment we're in.
Okay. Secondly, related to this question, which countries do you believe this new solution will be applicable for?
So, I guess it pretty much goes without saying that it's the most cash intense use countries, like Spain, for instance, where this solution will be applicable. Firstly, now, you know, we have developed this solution that we are labeling CashGuard Connect to one specific customer case, a big specific customer case. But there are multiple customer potentials in Spain alone, number one. And number two, we have the, I would say, usual suspects when it comes to cash-rich countries like Italy, like Greece. You can even also add Germany, France, to this solution, and obviously, also in other countries where StrongPoint is not focusing its efforts to today, that the solution is absolutely applicable as well.
Focus now is getting the solution up and running with this one first major customer.
Next question. This topic, partner sales. What is the strategy going forward?
So first and foremost, at StrongPoint, we are now in eight countries. Soon, nine with Finland, but we're in eight countries, and our focus lies predominantly there, right? We should bear in mind that countries like the U.K. and Spain, which are relatively new countries in the StrongPoint sphere, you know, the opportunities are vast. If you were to consider getting to the similar kind of penetration of StrongPoint solutions in these two countries alone, like we have in the traditional stronghold countries like Norway, Sweden, and the Baltics, you know, we would have had a company size which is 20+ times bigger than what it is today. So that's the first and foremost focus.
Then there are, of course, some important partners that we have been working on with and will continue working with, in markets where we haven't seen that it makes sense for us to go in with own personnel, and this includes South Africa, it includes France, and it includes the U.S. So, we will continue working with these partners. But again, I would like to emphasize that the primary focus of StrongPoint is to really succeed in the eight, soon nine, countries that we are with own personnel.
Next question: What is the status regarding the expansion into Finland? Marius, do you want to start on this one?
Certainly, I can do that. So, we announced the potential acquisition of Hamari a few months ago. The due diligence process is currently ongoing. There will be a stock exchange notice when this is concluded, and we plan that this will be towards the end of this month. I'm sure, Jacob, if you have anything to add on Finland from a kind of strategic perspective.
Yeah, sure. I mean, so Hamari is the Pricer partner in Finland. So, you know, as the largest partner of Pricer, it's natural for us to extend our footprint. Finland clearly is also close to both the Baltic markets and our home turf in Norway and Sweden, and we see the market being ripe for a number of the solutions that we offer. So we're really excited about helping Hamari become part of the StrongPoint family and grow the business from their own.
... Next question to you, Jacob. What is the status of the first AutoStore installation with three temperature zones that StrongPoint is undertaking for delivery?
So, as stated, I believe also in the report, I mean, all hardware infrastructure is up and in place, and was that during this summer. What we have been experiencing is a slight delay on the software that is needed to make the solution properly work. What I can say is that we are working in close collaboration with AutoStore to make that happen, and are expecting to have the facility up and running within short. But, you know, again, really excited about the opportunity and not just opportunity, but the site and can't wait to have it up and running and showing this off to other customer potentials.
Next question, to you again, Jacob: When do you think we will see robots in stores?
So, well, first of all, we already have robots in stores. I think the question will be alluding to our financial investment and partnership with 1X. But we already have robots in store. However, that's a different kind of robot. So we have a partnership with another robot manufacturer called Shelfie. If you do go to our webpage, you will see that robot, which is able to scan shelves for stockouts. It's already in stores in Sweden. So that's happening. But when it comes to the very exciting 1X robot, there's still work to be done to get that to a stage where it's fully operational in store.
However, there have been numerous articles in recent Norwegian newspapers about the application of 1X. Aftenposten had an article about them. We're really, really excited about the partnership and the opportunities that represents going forward. But as for 1X robots, they're not yet in store. Still some work to be done to properly commercialize those in store.
Next question: Can you give an update about the order picking solution?
Well, it's a rather broad question, but update. So right now we are running on two different generations. We have a generation, which is an on-premise generation, which is the generation that our legacy customers in Sweden used to be operating on, and some still are. Whilst we have both created and started getting the first customers on the Generation Three, which is a cloud-based solution for our picking solution. We believe that even with you know, the somewhat setback in e-commerce growth compared to sort of COVID, that that solution will be and is in high demand.
Specifically for markets in which there is high penetration of e-groceries, then the need for highly efficient solutions to make the profitability from e-commerce come around is gonna be in high demand. So very positive about that as well. And, you know, I like to say to our team that now is the time to sell the strawberries we have. We have a fantastic solution, and it's about getting it out to the market.
Related question: Could you please talk about... The word that's in the question is actually use "challenges," but I think the word "opportunities" is the appropriate in this context. In the British market, specifically on order picking, but also regarding self-checkout and payment.
Well, order picking, I mean, I believe I somewhat mentioned. I'm positive about all the commerce solutions that we offer in the U.K. market, simply because there needs to be something done to improve the profitability. As for self-checkout, absolutely positive. We have, and, you know, several reasons for that. One is that the U.K. is such a highly penetrated market when it comes to self-checkouts. This is not a new technology that needs to be sold in. Whilst we feel that our solution is really the next generation, really incorporating item detection, which is very much needed when you want to reduce and eliminate fraud related to your self-checkout. We feel also that we are second to none when it comes to the solution we offer.
I mean, we recently, just after Q3 was closed, we recently then announced a win with, with Maxima for 1,000 self-checkouts. Maxima, for those that do not know the grocery retail chain, that's the biggest grocery retail chain in the Baltics. And we actually then, won against, majors like Diebold Nixdorf. This is not ours, us saying this, this is the customer, stating that. So really proud of, of the solution, and very positive about the opportunities that the UK market represent in that regard.
Question for you, Marius, now. The gross margin was better than expected. Can you elaborate on this, please?
Sure. The brief answer really is product mix. I think in if you look at the quarter-on-quarter compared to Q3 last year, there were a few large deliveries with lower margins, especially within the in-store segment on some of the bigger ESL deliveries. So from that perspective, we have been able to keep the gross margin higher and maintain a gross profit in absolute terms. So product mix, really, combination, obviously, as we continuously work to improve the gross margin, which is on the top three lists of our internal operational improvements.
Thank you, Marius. Back to you, Jacob. Regarding lockers in the U.S., do you have any updates?
When we have, say, proper updates for the market, of course we will be, we'll be announcing that. But what I can say is that the pilots that we have earlier announced are going well, very well. Their business case and performance is delivering as expected or even better than expected. So whereas the US market is clearly a sort of a huge market, it's also a difficult market. We should remember that US grocery retail is very different than a lot of the European grocery retail we see. But I feel confident that we still have a... as we still have a very satisfied customer.
We have a very strong partner in Peak Technologies, so very prosperous about what that opportunity can bring. And we'll keep you as investors up to date as soon as we have something new to report to the market.
Going back to a previous question asked, what is the status of the strategy going into Finland, but specifically regarding the StrongPoint's and market fit of its solutions?
So the StrongPoint solutions. Well, I think, you know, one is the sort of e-commerce solutions. That goes for both order picking for our lockers. We know Finland is a market in which lockers is being used much like much like Sweden as well as with AutoStore. So the entire e-commerce portfolio, I'd say, is is highly relevant. As for in-store, we know that electronic shelf labels is very much in demand. Pricer recently announced a major deal with SOK, so the Finnish cooperative. And we hope that we are able to play a role there. But also self-checkouts. I mean, again, so, you know, there's no reason why our self-checkout solution stands any weaker than anyone else in that market.
So we're very positive of that as well. And as always, we'll be prioritizing, but also pushing for the solution that we have into the Finnish market. And just have to be aware, I mean, it's Hamari is a, it's a 6-7-man company. It's a limitation to how much we can push on right away. But obviously, we wouldn't have gone into Finland unless we were positive about doing good business there.
Next question to Marius: The debt is increasing fast. What's the plan regarding this? Is there any covenants at risk?
Well, I think we addressed this quite clearly in our presentation. As far as covenant risk, we have a net leverage now as per Q3 of 1.6. I made it quite clear that it's important to exclude the IFRS 16 liabilities when you look at this. So that's fairly similar to the way we measure the covenants. So, the other question, whether there is a plan, obviously, this is monitored quite closely. We are obviously aware of the increase compared to the last quarters. And, this is the reason why we are doing some adjustments as such within the organization. And, we still maintain our you know positive outlook on the longer term, with these big projects that we are working on.
Okay, back to Jacob. This looks like to be our final question. Can you give any updates regarding the pilots in South Africa?
Yeah, so pilots in South Africa. Well, first of all, South Africa is a very important country for us when it comes to, to, to CashGuard. Our very long-standing partner, Bullion, have been doing well in that respect. And we also earlier announced that we have been doing or are doing pilots on Vensafe in South Africa. So, you know, South African market is, I would say infamous, unfortunately, for its need for protective solutions for both cash and other high-value items. So the market conditions are certainly ripe for that market. As for Vensafe, it takes time to get the solution accustomed to customers, so that's still ongoing pilot, not more than that.
As for CashGuard, there is, as always, a good inflow of orders coming there. We're not seeing the reduction in customer demand. If anything, it actually goes the other way around when it comes to protecting cash and the staff employees. So it's going well, but nothing new in that respect.
Okay. Just checking if there's any last questions. One just came in. Apologies for the slight delay. It's in Norwegian. Sweden is underperforming. How do you see this market going forward?
So Sweden had a really big hit on its top line in the quarter of more than 40%, which of course sounds quite severe and is severe. We had a fantastic quarter same time last year around, so we weren't expecting to uphold that activity level. But when it comes to sort of the longevity and attractiveness of the Swedish market, we're, as always, positive, very much so. So I most certainly do not believe that this decline in Sweden is representative for the outlook for Sweden both in the medium or more than long term.
One final question just popped in. Are there any updates on the pilots in the USA? I believe, Jacob, we've actually touched this point already. Is there any further—anything further you want to, you want to say on this?
No, I think we've said what we can say. We had, as earlier, we announced the 20 locker pilot in the U.S., and those are going well. I look forward to the day when we can announce something more.
Okay, well, then I think that's a wrap for the day. Wishing everyone a good day.