Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Alligo Interim Report Q1 2025 conference call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Alternatively, you may also submit your questions via the webcast at any time by typing them in the question box and click submit. Please also know that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker, Mr. Clein Ullenvik, CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Ralph. Welcome to Alligo Q1 Report 2025. The presenters, as always, will be Irene Wisenborn Bellander, our CFO, and myself. As usual, we will focus on the highlights. It's a report busy today and yesterday, so we'll keep the speed up and focus on the relevant things. This time, we will bring up, you know, we normally take up a couple of themes, and this time it will be one growth area, which is ReCare, which is being launched right now, and then we'll touch upon the turnaround project in Finland. This is Alligo: SEK 9.4 billion turnover, 2,500 employees, and 243 stores. The number of stores has increased quite a bit thanks to the acquisition of a Batterilagret that added 27 new stores to our group.
As you know, Sweden heavy in turnover, even more Sweden heavy in result and own brands as it looks, 18%. As you know, the more companies we buy, which mathematically will have zero own brands when we acquire them, will mathematically then reduce the share of own brands into our group. We increase sales of own brands, but that is a mathematical effect when we add companies to our group. If we take the two different models we work with, we have the integrated business with the Swedol brand in Sweden and the Tools brand in Norway and Finland, and that business, our group as such, is 48% through stores, 39% of direct sales, and 13% of the non-integrated companies. We believe in this scalable platform with the Nordic functions, shared functions. It could be purchasing, procurement, logistics, finance, and so forth.
That's a scalable platform, but when the market is shrinking, it's difficult also to reduce in a similar way as the volume is going down. It's a brilliant upside when business is going up, but it's also more challenging when business is going down. We have this scalable platform, and now all the pieces are in place. To touch upon the non-integrated companies a little bit, we have this group of product media businesses, 13 in number, SEK 500,000,000 in turnover. We have the welding, as you know, another competence area, technical area, six companies with SEK 400,000,000 in turnover. Battery, we sell battery in the integrated channel as well, but we also acquire Battery Lager, adding some SEK 275,000,000 to our turnover. We have other areas. Mercus is one standalone workwear business.
These two in Finland, HTP and RTP, I'm not even trying to pronounce it in Finnish, added SEK 175 million to our turnover. We have five other businesses which are a bit separate, some of which could be included into the integrated channel at a later stage. Last year, nine signed acquisitions added 42 stores. We acquired a growth of 4.5%, 200 employees, SEK 750 million in turnover. We are especially happy that we could add some competence areas in battery and in welding. We really took the grip of the welding business and also have a nice footprint now in battery. Highlights: still a bit annoyingly slow development in the market, and things which are happening around us are not perhaps pushing the turn to come quicker. We have still been facing some weak demand in Sweden. Norway, still the same story as always.
Oil and gas is progressing nicely. We see some improvement in Finland, and we see positive market signals. We see more and more things which are in favor for us. The upcoming route of drawing in Sweden, interest rates are coming down. The dollar coming down is positive for us. The trade tariff war opens up opportunities for us. There are many things which are pointing in the right direction, but as of now, we do not really see it in the figures. We can also say that we continue to be very prudent in which project and which customers we do take. We want to safeguard the gross margin and not start to go for volumes and affecting our gross margin. That is also offsetting an organic growth potentially to a certain extent.
We think we are doing a pretty good job despite all in the management team. We are focusing a lot on sales. We have, during the quarter, identified, initiated, and finalized a cost reduction program, which will add or reduce, rather, SEK 100 million to the cost base at the end of the year. We've been focusing on growth by acquisitions. We are heavily focusing on inventories, even if we are adding more of own brands, which has a negative effect on the cash flow. Generally, we're focusing on our inventory situation and price adjustments, trying to adjust this market situation we are in. We have a good delivery capacity. Sweden and Finland since before, and Vestby has now been stabilized and in much better shape. More to be done, but it's absolutely good enough. The macroeconomic factors, you can read any magazine or anything on the web.
It is what it is. We have not been—we do not sell products from the U.S. We import a lot from China, and we sell to the Nordics. From our perspective, this is actually not negatively impacting us. If anything, it should positively affect us going forward. First quarter in brief, growth by 2.5%. As I said, oil and gas in Norway is still stable. Irritatingly enough, still negative organic growth. The gross revenue growth we see is acquisition-driven. Cash flow of SEK -38 million, more or less on the same level it was in 2022. We had 2023 and 2024 in between when we reduced stock levels at this time of the year heading into slower markets. That is also a little bit of effect there.
We have an adjusted EBITDA of SEK 74 million to compare with SEK 84 million last year, one trading day less, which ends up in an EBITDA margin of 3.3%. The gross margin is in line with what it was last year if we adjust for the acquisitions made. They have a good net margin, the acquisitions, but in most cases, they have a lower gross margin. When you add those volumes to us, we have a little bit of an effect on the group gross margin. It is stable. Highlights focused on sales. Haven't they said that for a long time at Alligo? Yes, of course, we have. We also had things ahead of us we needed to fix first: Westby in Norway, Jeeves in Norway, you know, all the other grips we have done throughout the years. From now on, we do not have many other excuses.
It's brutal focus on sales. We launched ReCare. I hope you've seen it in press and other places, which will be interesting to follow. And the 1832 is a super powerful weapon for those customers who are more price sensitive. Battery Lager we mentioned, we can skip that. The additional cost program we have launched of SEK 100 million is already close and done. It's not just a wait for the cost to run out. ERP implementation in Norway has gone well, as you know, but a little bit of a hiccup during the quarter when it comes to the actual invoicing to make sure that people do the right thing. The salesperson should mark an order if it's ready to be invoiced, and the finance function should do their part. That process had some hiccup.
We have had an unnecessary effect on the cash flow based on that. The TTA, as we call it, the turnaround project for Finland, is started up and ongoing. A little bit on prioritized growth areas. I think we have shown this picture before. We say we focus on services, we focus on our store sales, we have a special focus on one customer segment, which being the construction industry, and we focus on own brands. If we take the services part with ReCare, it is now—we mentioned it many times, but it is now launched. We have a team working with it, visiting customers. We feel it is a super competitive offer at a lower price point for the customers. We have already signed some 5-10 contracts. We have a good pipeline of customers coming in.
We need to fine-tune it in Sweden and make it up and running. Then it will be launched in the second half of 2025 in Norway and Finland. Our Norwegian and Finnish colleagues are eagerly waiting to launch this. Of course, it's a little bit of a process to setting up with the laundry service, sewing and repair, reuse, and then the whole process around. It takes a little bit. We need to do it in a structured way. It is now in the market, and we are marketing it and selling it. Tools turnaround project, as you've seen, it's not a new thing. It's an old problem we've been fighting with. It's that the tools part of the Finnish organization has a profitability level which will not assist in bringing us to the 10% EBITDA margin we've set for the group as our strategic target.
We need to address it. Nobody has been able to fix it in the past. We for sure have taken the challenge and said we will be the ones that fix it. We're closing shops. We are reducing costs. We are looking at the customer base. Are we overservicing some customers? Do we have unprofitable customers? Could we find new customers that appreciate the offer we have? Finland, in order to contribute to our group target, needs to be on 6-8% EBITDA level. That is not the tools business as such. It would be enough if it is a little bit above 5%. It is not that we try to achieve something totally impossible.
If the tools business is about 5%, then we can make the Finnish part of our organization profitable enough to add to the big puzzle of the whole Alligo group. A little bit lower, substantially lower, own brand part, 11%, and only 27% in store sales. You know that we are focusing on increasing the share of own brands and increasing the number of small and medium-sized customers, i.e., store sales.
Financials, Irene.
Yes, thank you. As Clein mentioned, the trends throughout 2024 continued into Q1, and we have further reduced the cost base while focusing on sales. Revenue increased by 2.9% in the quarter, driven by a 7.8% growth from acquisitions, but contracted by a negative organic growth of 2.5%, one trade a day less, and FX effect.
The organic sales development was weakest in Sweden, while Norway continued to be favored by a strong oil and gas sector. Sales in Finland have recovered, although from low comparables last year. EBITDA reached SEK 74 million, a decline from SEK 84 million last year. The result was weaker due to one trade day less, weaker demand for the integrated business in Sweden and Finland, and a decreased gross margin in Norway. Acquired results and cost savings have partially offset the declining gross profit, as illustrated in the EBITDA average. As you can see, the cost reductions have balanced the annual salary increases and inflation effects related to other expenses. Furthermore, as Clein mentioned, we have initiated an additional cost-saving program to reduce the cost base by approximately SEK 100 million, with a gradual impact starting from mid-year. You recognize this picture as well.
As you can see, Sweden has the highest shares of SMEs and own brands, followed by Norway, while Finland has the lowest. This directly correlates with profitability in each market. The higher the shares, the greater the profitability. The integrated business in Sweden faced challenges in 2024 as the weak market primarily impacted small and mid-sized customers. However, the decline related to SMEs is now less significant, partly due to low comparables, and the share of SMEs has increased from 65% to 70% in the quarter. In addition, the share of own brands in Sweden has increased from 26% to 28% of sales of our own brands since the main part derived from the store channel. The share of SMEs and own brands has improved slightly, as you can see in Finland and Norway.
The gross margin decreased slightly in the quarter, driven by negative country mix, and a higher share of acquisitions with lower gross margin, and also a continued positive sales trend within oil and gas in Norway. However, this was somewhat offset by Sweden's increased share of SMEs, which positively impacted the group's gross margin in Q1. Moving on to some highlights of each market development in Q1. The market remained weak in Sweden, with organic growth declining by approximately 7%. The decrease is primarily related to larger industrial customers and the reduction in one-off orders within the public sector, implying a more favorable shift in customer mix and an improved gross margin. Cost savings and acquired results have a positive impact on the overall outcome, but they cannot fully offset the weak organic sales.
The oil and gas market has remained strong in Norway, as said earlier, but the sales have also suffered from the ERP change in the quarter. The result is behind last year due to slight drop in gross margin. There was a sales recovery in Finland. However, it was from weak comparables. While our recent acquisitions have contributed positively to the results, the old Tools business is still struggling. As Kathleen mentioned, the project initiated in Q4 to reverse the negative profitability trend is progressing, but it will take some time. Operating cash flow was lower than last year because of reduced EBITDA and inventory buildup of our own brands and temporary challenges in the invoicing process related to the ERP change in Norway. The investing activities primarily relate to the completed acquisition of Battery Lager, our largest acquisition to date.
The organic investments have been deprioritized in favor of acquisitions and are lower than last year. The CapEx to depreciation ratio was 4.9, which aligns with our long-term target level. If we look into the financing activities, that relates to the amortization of leasing liabilities and the increased utilization of our project facilities explains last year's positive cash flow from financing activities. The net debt at year-end was SEK 2 billion, an increase from last year due to higher acquisition pace and decreased operating cash flow. The ratio of net debt to EBITDA was a multiple of 2.9, while 2.7 was reported to Handelsbanken as we can consider the full year expected profit from the acquisitions. The ratio is higher than last year and year-end due to a combination of lower EBITDA and increased net debt.
Our covenants relate to interest coverage and equity asset ratios, and they are fulfilled at the end of the period, and there is still good headroom before reaching the thresholds. Despite the increased leverage, we maintain a solid financial position. Leverage remains within the financial target range and will decrease gradually. Handing it over to you, please.
Thank you, Irene. Summary and outlook. Q1 2025 in summary. Increasingly focus on sales and launching ReCare, as we've talked about, and 1832 and finding ways of meeting the customers in a better way. The added cost reduction program of SEK 100 million was also started. Outlook for 2025, we have very clear strategic priorities, what we need to do. We think we have good opportunities to win customers and increase sales even in a not super growing market.
We continue to refine our offer, but all the data that is more and more being visible looks more and more positive after an incredibly long and terrible time of only burdening terrible statistics. It all sums up that it should slowly start to turn in the right direction. Handing it back to you, Ralph.
Thank you, sir. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please type them in the question box and click submit. Thank you.
We are now going to proceed with our first question. The questions come from the line of Emmanuel Jansen from Danske Bank. Please ask a question. Your line is opened.
Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Kathleen. And Irene, thank you for taking my questions here. Thank you for a good presentation. I think it was very interesting that you displayed on how big part of the group, the, I don't know what to call it, the legacy business, Swedol and Tools business are at the moment. I assume then that the acquired companies at the moment are also achieving quite a bit higher EBITDA margins as well than the legacy business.
Just to be clear here then when talking about this group margin target of 10% EBITDA margin, should we expect that the legacy business should also be able to reach 10%, or is it the group as a whole?
It is the group as a whole. The legacy business should, especially in Sweden, should be well above 10% to make this equation. You said 12%, I think, for the Swedish legacy business. As you know, Emmanuel, the challenges in the legacy business have been the cost base. In our type of business, if volume goes down, it is difficult to mitigate to 100% in cost reduction. In personnel, you can do it to a certain extent. Other costs, you can only do it down to zero. You are stuck with the rental cost. We have rental costs of approximately SEK 500 million.
That is difficult to mitigate in a continuous volume drop. On the other hand, when the volumes come back, you get a good leverage on that when things turn up.
Yeah. Yeah, totally agree then. As I think you mentioned, Tools business then in Finland somewhere around 5% over time, right? Norway, I do not know, 5-7%, or is that the exact number?
Yeah, the countries are such. Finland and Norway need to be on 6-8%, and Sweden needs to be on 12%. We have all the opportunities in the world, especially when we have helped, especially Finland, with good acquisitions. We just, within quotation marks, need to get the Tools business to run on a decent profitability level and then add the good acquisitions we have done. Finland will add to the group financial target.
Thank you. That is very clear.
Just looking at the cost base, as you mentioned, it's quite difficult to mitigate the cost increase from store rental increase, etc. Going forward, do you think that it is reasonable to believe that the comparison base for the upcoming quarter will be, I don't know if this is the right wording, but easier, given the cost reductions you have made the last couple of years? In other words, should profit development become more stable if the market remains in the same manner as we have seen in this quarter?
Yeah. No, we will have the biggest effects of the program we launched this year come just before and after summer. We also froze down the cost base last year by approximately SEK 100 million during the year.
Yeah, month by month, we should see a lower cost base, but the last SEK 100 million package could kick in after summer.
Yeah. Could you maybe give us some more details on this cost reduction? What you're doing?
Yeah, it's a lot of different things. We are closing shops. We're even closing two in Sweden, which I wasn't really thinking that we should do. We are co-locating, as we did in the merger. We co-located 30 shops. That's nothing new for us, but we're co-locating some shops. We're even closing two shops in Sweden, which are not performing in line with what we have said. It's a 100-person plus after all these programs we have been running during the year. We had the plan B, C, D, E, F, and whatever letters we were at at the end.
We are making another program of 100-plus persons. This time, we need to start doing things differently. It is not savings anymore. It is taking away resources and doing things differently and really increasing efficiency. The personnel part is quite a significant part of the SEK 100 million.
Yeah. I assume that you are willing to add on extra sales personnel if the market allows it, right?
Absolutely. That is an opportunity we get when you bring down the cost base. When we see positive signals in the market, it is a brilliant opportunity to actually add sales resources and take advantage of the upturn when that comes.
Great. You are also mentioning, I think if you are focusing on Sweden, which still sees kind of heavy negative organic sales development, I assume that besides trading days, etc., and maybe some weather effect, that this should not have the same material impact now in Q2. Could you also maybe give us some sense on how the market has developed so far in Q2? I know, for instance, that you are having a lot of sales initiatives. For historical reasons, you also have these Swedol days. Could you maybe give us some flavors on how the reception has been so far from especially the small-medium enterprise customers?
Exactly. As you said, in Q1, we did not even bring it up because it is so boring to talk about the weather, but it was the warmest January and February since the measurement started.
Q2, the signals from the market are increasingly positive. The Swedol days, as you mentioned, have been very, very good. It is a way that does not solve everything, but it is a good signal that you can activate the customers. If you have events in our shops and you have campaigns and you—yeah, for us, it is normally a signal because we have it every spring and every autumn. That is a little bit of a good signal of the customers still out there or how hurt are they. I can say that much, that it has been a positive response to the Swedol days we have had in Sweden this spring. Now, the Tools day will follow in May in Norway and Finland, but hard, hard work from the sales force in Sweden, mailing, calling, and really making the customers come to our shop.
That has had a positive effect on the sales this year, which has been incredibly good to see.
Interesting. Very good to hear. As you mentioned, I assume when the SMEs are maybe starting to grow again, the SME business, that they should also be very supportive for the margins going forward. How should we view the larger customers? It feels like you also mentioned that they maybe have become a little bit more unstable during Q1. I do not know if you can give us some flavor over there.
One part is probably market-driven as such, but we, as you know, we are very cautious on which type of contracts we take on. We are very, very, very strict in what level we can accept from a contribution point of view.
That has not helped the top line, but hopefully, it has helped the gross margin. Our experience is that the level of gross margin you accept in a slow market is a bit sticky. When the market turns up again, you are stuck with a lower gross margin. That is why we have been so brutally tough on not winning contracts on too low levels. When the market slows down, it is not only that it is less volume in the market. Everybody starts to act differently. The competitors, of course, act differently. The suppliers act differently. Also, the customers act differently. Even if you have a contract with the customers, they send out purchases on tender to all the players in the market, making the sales process so much tougher. We have been quite strict on that.
That's why we kept the gross margin on the same level. We have not at all doped the top line by getting unprofitable contracts. It is a combination of market and us being very strict on gross margin.
Is your feeling that you're being much more strict on the gross margin versus competitors as well?
Yeah. I probably only get informed with the worst cases, but there are some terrible examples out there with low single-digit gross margins. Luckily, our people step away when that's the level. There are examples like that out in the market. We do not do that. We think we need to take responsibility on keeping the market sane, not doing crazy things.
Yeah. Sounds fair.
Looking at the inventory levels now and the overall working capital in relation to sales, it's a bit higher now versus what it has been. Do you think that this is a more stable level that we should assume? We should interpret that the cash flow should improve just from earnings are recovering? Should we also see some cash release from lower working capital going forward?
We have more to do on the working capital side. That's for sure. We are a reasonably new organism with much more fine-tuning to do also there. Trade payables, trade receivables, inventory levels, all over the place. We are constantly looking over the assortment as such. Do we need to have own brands on all different products right today, or could we buy that externally? We have a lot to do. We have homework to do on capital efficiency.
We're aiming to get back to 24% of total sales in working capital. That was the level that we had in 2022. Exactly.
Now it is at 28%, right? Or something like that?
Yeah.
We have a homework to do.
Okay. Great. Maybe give us also, given that the Swedish crown strengthens that much versus the US dollar, could you maybe give us some direction on when this should start to impact your margins?
Yeah. It's a good question. For one, there are things happening in the world that is positive for us. It feels like everything which is happening in the world is to our negative side, but this is positive. Down to SEK 10 per dollar, we said, it's more or less in the channel that the SEK has been versus the dollar the last three years.
If it's over time staying at 9.5, 9.6, of course, that is positive. It will have a positive effect. We buy around SEK 600 million in dollars per year. Everything else is the same. You can do the math, what that could be as a positive effect on the results. We have also been quite successful in hedging. I think the most expensive hedging we've had is 10.3. Which is bad now because it would be better if we would have been lousy. Then the upside would have been bigger. We've been able to mitigate the worst peaks of the SEK versus dollar. The longer it stays on this level, the much more positive for us, of course. It will be positive.
Great. Maybe the last question from my side before I open up for other questions.
You have done a lot of acquisitions recently, and I think everyone is quite excited about this Battery Lager. Now when it will be fully consolidated in Q2, could you maybe give us some explanation or details on how the seasonality looks there? Because they have kind of promising profitability, at least, which contributes well to the group.
Oh, it is a super nice business. And batteries, as you said, there are obvious months where the battery sales is a bit slower, and there are obvious months where the battery sales is a little bit higher. Spring is typically one period when the battery sales pick up a little bit. It could be both and everything which is battery needs start batteries. Especially at the autumn, just as for us, that is our experience is before when it is below minus 8, then all start batteries start to suffer.
We normally have an uptick in sales in the integrated businesses. The same thing is for Battery Lager. Spring and late autumn are the typical high points of that business. They are included in the family, and it is a good cooperation started already.
Excellent. It will be interesting to follow the development. Thank you very much, Klas and Irene, for taking my questions.
Thank you, Emmanuel.
Thank you. As a final reminder to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. If you wish to ask questions via the webcast, please type them in the question box and click submit. We are now going to proceed with our next question.
The questions come from the line of Karl Johan Bonnevie from DNB Markets. Please ask your question. Your line is opened.
Yes. Good morning, Klas and Irene. A couple of more detailed things, digging into basically the same thing you have already been asked. If you look at Battery Lager to start, any contribution already in Q1, or is that neutral?
Actually, we normally complain. Continuing the discussion with Emmanuel, it actually had a positive effect in Q1, thanks to—and hold on, I am saying something positive about the weather. The early spring helped Battery Lager sell batteries, actually. March was, I guess, a little bit better than it normally is. For the first time in a long time, you hear me now say that we had a positive weather effect in that part of our business. That is for sure.
I like the trend. I like the trend. When you look at the 100 million program that you are now initiating, the 90 million you charged in Q1, is that what you see the full cost for that implementation, or should we expect more to come in Q2?
A little bit more will come when it comes to lease contracts, rental contracts for our shops. The payback time, if you do it quick and dirty, is tremendously good. The no record had this quarter was more or less 50/50 split of cost related to this and also cost related to another battery-related business. The customer losses in Northvolt.
Understand. Understand. What is coming in Q3 will be in addition to your restructuring reserve, basically. What you have seen now is straight cash cost going out, or?
Come again. We will take more costs. Sorry.
Yeah. Looking at the lease contracts, I guess that's going to be capitalization against your restructuring reserve. Or is that—I guess most of the costs in this quarter are purely more cash costs, or?
It will be. Exactly. It's more cost than cash because it's—exactly. Now I understand you. Exactly. No, we're taking the cost upfront for the shops we've closed now, but it has no cash effect. Exactly. That's true.
Excellent. Looking at what you're now trying to achieve in Finland, have you put any timeline for when you think what the different kind of things could be put in place so you can then see a net impact in the way you discussed it?
Yes. The timeline is yesterday. No, it's really—we have great respect for all the efforts that have been done over the years and have not really been successful.
It is a lot to do on the management side and getting people to do things a little bit differently. That normally takes some time. Closing shops goes quickly. Parting from some customers, if we do not find a good commercial common ground, could also be quicker. To change people's behavior in many geographical locations is a challenge. It is probably why it has not really succeeded before. In all honesty, the Finnish market, looking at all our competitors, all the players, has been very, very tough the last two, three years. If you look at the profitability, starting from a high point or a low point, they all had a sharp downturn in profitability.
It is frustrating for us because we do think we are convinced that we know what needs to be done, and we know that we have the tools, the fixed tools, that we need to have a more private label, higher share of own brands. It is just trying to get the work done. It is a long answer, and I did not answer your question. I understand that. We do not have a fixed date, but we need to see positive effects reasonably quick. It is run like a strategic project where we really ensure that all the activities agreed on are being done. I do not think we have had such a strict follow-up on any project, at least not since the merger. This is personal. We need to be the one that fixes it.
Good to hear. Just looking at the working capital head when you talked about, how big was the impact of the Norwegian invoicing kind of challenge? I guess that hopefully has already been reversed during Q2, or is that still an outstanding issue?
That situation will be solved, and we estimate that effect to approximately SEK 40 million.
It is a major part of that working capital, I guess, head when you sold Q1 then.
Yeah. Exactly.
This week, we finally got the last feedback that there is nothing wrong with the Jeep system. It is how you work with it and process-related, which is also good. It is a new system, and everybody does not necessarily need to know how things work from day one. There is no system problem going forward. It is fixed.
You have been very active of late in looking at acquisitions, although we have seen your peer Ahlsell doing some larger transactions. Were you ever interested in looking at Scheidler or the Rexel operation they now bought in Finland?
I mean, there have been many. Perhaps we have also teased it. Of course, installation material could be something for Alligo in the far future, but we have so much to be done where we are. Workwear and tools, we have such a strong position. Our conviction is that it certainly is easier to add new countries with assortments we know rather than new assortments to countries we know that we have an agreement with the management team and the board. In that case, I would rather move into a new country with our strong offer, especially workwear.
Scheidler would be a very difficult equation to—since they sell to—so you will lose such a big part of the business if anybody like us would buy it because we would sell to competitors, and they would not buy from us, of course. A little bit of that effect, I predict, will need to happen for ourselves as well. No, that was nothing for us.
Fully understand. Thank you very much, and all the best out there. We are looking forward to volumes coming back then.
We do. Thank you, Pauline. Take care.
Take care. Thank you. We have no further questions at the moment on the phone line, so I will hand back to you for any webcast questions that you may have.
We have a couple, but I think it has been addressed. There were many good questions from both Emmanuel and Corey.
Trade tariffs is perhaps one, which was only partially touched upon. I think I mentioned it a little bit quickly that. One little bit of a paradox will probably happen is that we have a strategic direction, as you probably know, that we want to reduce our dependence on China since we had expected that next world event would be that China enters into Taiwan, and then we would have difficulties. We have moved out a little bit of our production from China. In this current situation, a lot of the production that China does towards the US has already stopped and will be stopped. There will be free capacity in China. We will probably move some production we have moved to Bangladesh and Pakistan and Laos and Vietnam and so forth back to China.
The paradox in the short and medium-term range will probably be that we move back to China some of the production because the price levels are coming down. The price levels are coming up in the countries I mentioned, and the price level is coming down in China. In the medium-time range, that paradox will probably appear, which is beneficial for us for our cost, but a little bit different. Nothing else. Should I go for the closing remarks, Ralph?
Yes, please. We have no further questions on the phone line, so please go ahead with the closing remarks. Thank you.
Lovely, lovely. I think I wrote in the CEO section of the Q4 report that finally 2024 is over. Now we are into 2025. It is still not a booming market. I do not think we should need a booming market to perform on a high level from this.
The cost base is coming down. We're keeping a strict control over the gross margin, and we are fighting for the volumes that are present in the market for the customers that appreciate our offer. I think we have a good position. The platform is ready. We have now even fine-tuned the invoicing processes in Jeeves that we did not know that we had to do. We are in a good place to focus on one thing: sales. That will be the brutal focus for us going forward. Nothing else should cloud the vision. By that, the journey continues. Thank you, everybody, for listening in, and take care.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you and have a good day.