The results will be presented by Pär Svärdson, CEO and co-founder of Apotea , and myself, Johan Mårild, CFO.
Hello. We have had a good quarter with stable growth and increased profitability, and all our projects are on track. Now, Johan, we look forward to hearing about the figures.
Yes, we had revenues in the quarter of SEK 1.826 billion and a growth of 9.9% in the quarter. As Pär mentioned, we increased the profitability and reached an adjusted EBIT margin in Q2 of 5.4%.
If we look a little bit at what happened during the quarter, we can see that, as we said, the growth was mainly driven by RX demand. We improved the profitability. I think we mentioned that in the last quarter, Q1, that we had uncertainty in the world with, I mean, we have a full-scale war in Europe and a trade war in the world and more conflicts. We haven't seen any problems in our business. I think our business is probably one of the most stable in all industries. We will continue to look at this because the world is a little bit problematic at the moment. We also launched a new RX hub in the south of Stockholm. We launched it in May and moved pharmacists from the other hubs in Stockholm.
We haven't really increased the capacity, but we have built the infrastructure for building RX capacity this autumn. In the following quarters, we will probably see how we can improve the capacity with this hub. We also had the inauguration of our fulfillment center in Varberg. Within a few weeks, we will start delivering our first orders from Varberg. That's a very big project, and it's very exciting for us. It's going very good. Now they have user acceptance tests. I think today they have performance tests. We see that we can reach all targets. It's an amazing facility, and we really look forward to start producing Varberg.
Absolutely. With the growth in the quarter, we are now approaching SEK 7 billion in rolling net revenues, rolling 12 months net revenues. We have, for the same period, an adjusted EBIT margin of 4.9%. If we look closer into the numbers, to the left, you see our revenue development. We had, as mentioned, a revenue increase in the quarter of 9.9%. The growth was driven by an increased RX demand. We have a continued underlying trend of more and more people wanting to buy the prescription products online. That trend continues. We had a growth in OTC and traded goods of 5.1% in the quarter. The growth was negatively impacted by the fact that Easter this year took place in Q2, and last year was in Q1, as well as we had a cold spring in Sweden.
Now it's sunny.
Exactly. To the right, you can see the gross margin development. We had a stable gross margin in the quarter compared to the same period last year with a gross margin of 28%. The gross margin was also stable if you look in comparison to the previous quarter. We had good cost control, continued high capacity utilization in the quarter. In combination with a stable gross margin, we managed to increase our profitability. As you can see on the left-hand side of this slide, we had an adjusted EBIT margin in the quarter of 5.4%, and the adjustments of $6.2 million related to a revaluation of the shareholding in Apomera , where we have a minority stake. That's an e-commerce company focused on the Finnish market. We had an EBIT margin in Q2 of 5.1%.
As we stated in the report and in line with previous communication, we expect to increase our costs related to the Varberg facility as we start production there. Initially, we can expect a somewhat lower capacity utilization. These factors will lie for like and have an initially somewhat negative impact on our margins. However, we expect to stay well within our financial target. Over time, as we scale up production in Varberg, we can expect an increased impact on our efficiency and our customer offering enables us faster deliveries to the southern and western parts of Sweden. To the right, you can see a breakdown of our operating costs. As you can see, personnel cost in relation to net revenue came down in Q2 compared to a year ago. That is also partly impacted by the fact that we today use more external staffing.
We had strong operating cash flow in Q2. We have a strong cash flow conversion or cash flow model supported by our profitability and high inventory turnover. We had operating cash flow in Q2 of $165 million. We had relatively low investments in Q2. As of today, we have invested, we have paid just over $300 million related to the Varberg investments, and the remaining part will be paid this autumn.
That's approximately 80, isn't it?
Yes. To the right, you can see a breakdown of our net working capital. As you can see, it fluctuates somewhat from quarter- to- quarter due to national variations. As of last June, we had somewhat lower inventory compared to March. We have a stable inventory turnover, and the inventory turnover was 8.9%. That was in line with the same period last year and also previous quarters. We increased the return on capital employed compared to Q2 of 2024 and achieved a return on capital employed of close to 34%, which is in line with the previous quarters reported. The increase was due to the uplift in our margins. To the right, we present the net debt. We had a negative net debt at the end of June, i.e., a net cash position of SEK 69 million.
That was due to our strong operating cash flow and also relatively low investments in the quarter. We continue to have a solid balance sheet. If we sum up the first half year of 2025, we can conclude that we have had a solid growth year to date, June, of 12.5%. The growth was driven by a strong RX growth of 16%. As you can see, RX now accounts for approximately 38% of our net revenue. Historically, RX has had a stronger growth than non-RX. We expect this trend to continue, meaning that RX over time will gradually increase its share of net revenue. To the right, we present the adjusted EBIT development for the first six months. We had an adjusted EBIT margin of 5.4%. The adjustment for the first half year is related to the revaluation of the shareholding in Apomera .
We had an EBIT margin for the first six months of 5.2%. The EBIT is slightly above our financial target.
If we look a little bit ahead, we want to continue to build the pharmacy of tomorrow. What does it mean? When we say we want to build the pharmacy of tomorrow, we want to strive to make it a little bit better for our customers in the automation, in the financials, everything a little bit better. We can never reach that goal because tomorrow we will have another tomorrow. We will continue to strive, and that's our main focus. We will continue to do that forever. If we should pick two focus areas for the next quarter, it will absolutely be to start production in Varberg. Now they are testing, and in a few weeks, we will start delivering orders. After that, we will ramp up the production as soon as it's safe and we can see that we have a very high quality.
We will start delivering more and more shipping methods, more and more areas on the West Coast, and continue to build. As Johan mentioned, to reach all these high efficiency goals we have for Varberg, that's our main focus. The other focus going forward is AI. I think at least that AI is going to change the e-commerce business big time. Now we're going from seven developers in the AI team to 14, so we can have twice as many projects in parallel. I think that's very important because we have a lot of use cases. We have a lot of projects we want to build, and we can see that it's very good projects and very good for our customers, for our sales, for our efficiency, and so on. Now we have to deliver, and we can see that it's a very important area.
That will be our main focus. With that, I think we, yeah, we're open up for questions. Thank you.
The next question comes from Johan Fred from SEB. Please go ahead.
Good morning, guys, and thank you for taking my questions. A first one on the sales development, if I may. You reported 5% growth in OTC, which is, of course, against a tough comp and the cold weather backdrop. However, I've noticed many of your peers having reported improved sales towards the end of the quarter. Did you see something similar or any color on the sales development in OTC throughout the quarter would be much helpful? Thanks.
I think this with the cold weather, it was quite stable over the quarter. The impact of, I mean, of course, the Easter was in April. As mentioned, the Easter then has like for like a negative impact. Yes.
Yeah, and RX was a little bit higher demand in the end of the quarter compared to the beginning. It's not no big changes, I would say.
Okay. Got it. On that topic of the strong sales growth in RX, are there sort of any strategic initiatives from your side, such as marketing, etc., behind the strong sales development in the quarter?
I think RX is mainly driven by capacity. We have opened a new hub, and we will continue to hire more pharmacists to the hubs in Stockholm. That will continue. I think we have a lot of initiatives to increase growth, both these AI-driven initiatives, the Varberg project, and so on. We will continue with that.
Just to clarify then, you didn't sort of expand marketing or push your RX offering more than usual during the quarter?
No, not really.
Thank you. If I may continue here, on your sort of gross margin development, roughly flat but improved slightly year over year despite what I assume is a negative mix effect from higher RX sales. Could you elaborate on the drivers behind the slight increase in gross margin that helped offset the negative mix?
I think it's both contribution from suppliers. I mean, we negotiate with our suppliers, we have better prices from them and better terms. Also, we sell more of our own products with higher margins. It's a combination. From my perspective, we have a stable margin. It's not increasing that much. It can go a little bit up and a little bit down.
Okay. Got it. Very clear. Thank you. A final one, if I may, on your operating margin trajectory, you mentioned that you expect costs to increase as you ramp up Varberg, but still staying well within your guidance range. However, given your current margin of 5.4%, the lower end of your guidance range is some 2.4 percentage points lower than that. Quite a spread here. Could you help us give any color or indication on what we can expect in terms of the margin development in the coming, say, two quarters besides the quite wide margin range of 3%- 5%, please?
I think we have said that we want to stay with to guide in this 3%- 5%. We will decrease a little bit, but not that much. We will still guide you with this 3%- 5% to be sure. That's why we say we will stay well within.
As mentioned, over time, we expect the increased efficiency and the improvement in customer offering coming from Varberg as we scale up will be a positive impact and outweigh the initial lower capacity utilization from the facility.
Got it. Got it. When you say not that much, is that sort of less of a percentage point, or how should we think about it?
Hard questions. I think we shall stay with the guiding 3%- 5% because we will try to make it as small as possible, but we don't want to promise something that we might not be able to deliver. Yeah.
Got it. If I may, a final one then, perhaps an easier one. You mentioned the timeline on ramping up Varberg briefly in the presentation, but could you sort of delve into the details on your timeline for your ramp-up in Q3, please?
I think within a few weeks, we will start delivering orders. As soon as possible, as soon as we can see it's stable and so on, we will ramp up. I think especially when we see, okay, now it's stable, then we can probably ramp up quite fast. That will probably be in late August, beginning of September. I mean, again, we don't know. For us, it's a long-time project, and it's more important that it's stable and it's very good if it's two weeks more or less.
Got it. Thank you. Those were all of my questions for now. Thank you so much for taking the time.
The next question comes from Benjamin Wahlstedt from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Hello. Sorry for dwelling on the Varberg expansion, but a follow-up on previous questions. Could you clarify when you will start depreciating the Varberg warehouse, please? Is that when you sort of fire away the initial orders, or is that when orders ramp up, so to speak?
From an accounting perspective, we start depreciating the assets when they are complete and finalized. That means it will be during, I mean, in conjunction to starting the production. However, yeah.
The sign-off with the supplier.
We expect that to start during Q3, following sign-off with the supplier.
Right. In a couple of weeks then, is how we should understand it.
Yeah, probably.
Halfway through Q3 is a decent estimate. All right. I was wondering, could you say anything more qualitatively about your progress in Varberg? Any hiccups so far or anything like that?
I think you have like 20 or 30 every day, but no major ones. The reason for testing is to find all these small errors. We have the supplier, and they are fixing small issues every day, but no major things. Everything is going according to plan. I think it's a very big project, and it's quite rare that it's going according to plan, but it's going according to plan. We're very happy about that.
Perfect. Thank you. Turning to your top line, you outlined a number of factors that negatively impacted your top line growth in the quarter. I was wondering if you could be more specific on what you estimate the impact to be from Easter and/or a cold spring, maybe in terms of, I know it's a difficult question, but maybe in terms of percentage point impact or SEK million impact.
It's hard to say a specific number for Easter and also for the cold spring. Of course, we can see that we have had a clearly negative impact. We highlight in the report some of the product categories that are especially impacted. Also, if you don't buy sunscreen, you maybe don't buy painkillers, etc. The effect then becomes bigger than just for the sunscreen, so to say. I think if you aggregate several quarters, it's not an effect. We will always have one quarter affect the next one and so on. I think if you look at top line, you need to look a little bit for more than one quarter.
Yep. Loud and clear. You also speak about doubling your AI capacity. I was wondering if you could give us an idea of the costs that this will entail and perhaps a bit more, like in concrete terms, what is this? Is it added headcount, new licenses, or what is it?
Yeah. I mean, you have the cost for salary. I mean, it's quite low cost. I mean, it's more you need to find the right person. You need, so the problem is maybe not the cost. The problem is to find the right person and find the right project for that person and train them. I think if we are like 800 and hire seven people, it's not a big cost compared to the rest. It's very important that we find the right person.
Perfect. Are sort of AI-skilled people also significantly more expensive to hire than the other 800?
Of course, a little bit, but not that significant. It's not a big cost, but it's a very important project.
All right. Thank you. I think that's all I had for now. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Victor Hansen from Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Morning, gentlemen. Victor here. A couple of follow-up questions. I'll start with, you lowered the valuation of your Finnish enterprise in Q2 here. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
We had a small minority stake in Apomera AB, an e-commerce company, where we invested in 2022. The shares revalued in Q2 and are now valued at SEK 1.5 million from SEK 7.7 million. It's a small investment and a fairly low number on the balance sheet remaining.
Okay. Was the revaluation due to worse financial performance or effects, or what drove the revaluation?
I mean, yeah. We do a revaluation and value our assets every quarter. Now we decided to revalue the shareholding as a result of a communication regarding capital raising in the company. I guess underlying that is part of the performance of Apomera.
Okay. Understood. What about Norway?
What about it?
Is it going according to plan? Is it going according to plan, growing faster than the group? Is it approaching break-even?
It continues to grow. I mean, it is growing faster than the group. However, we are balancing on a kind of break-even level year to date. We are also focusing hard to improve the customer offering in Norway to accelerate that growth even further and implement new technology for the Norwegian company so we can continue to grow and grow much faster. It's a very interesting market and I think huge opportunities. We still need some more time before we can see it in the figures, I think. Yeah.
Okay. Understood. There was a previous question on the service segment and your gross margins. You have this relatively small service segment in terms of sales, at least, but very high gross margins. I'm wondering, is there anything particularly boosting it this quarter, or would you consider this your new run rate for the service segment?
The overall growth in the service segment is driven by our efforts to increase our purchasing terms. Part of that is our increased marketing contribution from our suppliers. That has been kind of visible in the figures for the past couple of quarters, I would say, and also in Q2. The effort to have better purchasing terms is something we do every day, but also have a long-term objective and work according to strategic themes to improve that even further long term.
Okay. Great. It seems like these levels are sustainable then. My next question is on your SKUs. They continue to increase. Is this an important goal for you in itself? How do you choose which products to add? There seems to be lots of new products, especially within beauty. Do you see any particular price competition in this segment also?
For us, it's very important to be a pharmacy. We want to stay within the pharmacy area, but we want to grow the number of skills within the pharmacy area. There are a lot of products in the beauty area. We will absolutely continue to grow, but we want to stay in the pharmacy area. Price competition, I think it's quite tough competition in all areas. I don't think it's bigger competition in that area, but we want to be the competitors. We want to compete with everyone. Absolutely.
Okay. Perfect. Perfect. Next question, a follow-up on your private label. There was a previous question on one of your answers. You spoke about private label. I was curious, out of your OTC and traded goods sales currently, how much is private label now? How has it developed to you today?
Last year, I think we mentioned it was 1% of total sales roughly. It's a small number. Even though it's growing, the share of total sales is likely to more gradually increase over time, we expect, rather than a large increase in the short term. It remains in that range, even though it's growing faster than the overall group. We're also about to launch and continue to launch new products in this area. In order to get up a larger scale in our own products, you first need to invent the products or come up with the products and then market them and get the customer to buy them, of course. It's, yeah.
Yes. A final question for me on AI and marketing. Now we have AI operators summarizing all the info from the web pages so you don't even have to visit them. This is reshaping SEO. I'm curious how you think this will impact you for the future.
Probably everything from ChatGPT to SEO and so on will probably be affected quite a lot. That's why we scale up our team so we can be in the front line and then we can be ahead of our competitors because I think it's a very interesting area. I think the AI team wanted to have a meeting with me to discuss what use cases you can find in that area. They wanted to have the meeting today, but I had some other things to do today. I think we will absolutely take a look on that and see how we can improve our customer offering through AI agents and so on. We can come back to that in later quarter updates, but it will absolutely be a focus area for us.
Perfect. That's all the questions for me. Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. That was the final question. We thank you for participating. We wish you all a pleasant summer. Yeah, happy to.
Thank you very much.
Yeah.
Goodbye.