Good morning, and welcome to our Q3 presentation. I am happy to be here. The weather is not fantastic, but our numbers are. Let us dig into those immediately.
If I sum it up, it is clear that when we have Q3 2026 behind us, it is the best quarter that we have ever done. Looking at the top-line business, we are bigger than ever. With that said, of course, we are still not happy with only growing 3%. Our plans are to grow a lot more. Hopefully, of course, we will continue and improve that even further. Nevertheless, the best quarter when it comes to sales. We had a very strong margin, as we will talk about a bit later. Of course, finishing off with a record profit. Almost 17% in Q3, which is fantastic. Just above SEK 53 million. That is very good. A massive improvement versus last year. But again, we will dig into the details and explain a bit why it looks so good.
First, of course, as I said, net sales SEK 308 million. That is up 2.8% versus last year. A bit below our plans and our ambitions. Here, of course, we can do a lot better. There are some highlights, things that are going really well, and a few things that we simply need to focus even more on. The gross profit, very strong. Here, of course, a combination of a number of different things. One is the channel split. As we will talk about in a while, e-com is doing fantastic. That is high gross margin. We also see underwear as growing 5%, and of course, that is our biggest category. We see sports apparel slowing down a bit, even though we see strong growth. Footwear declining.
But if you throw all those things together, including that we are reducing discounts at own e-com, we are reducing discounts at wholesale, and also still, even though that is changing a bit to the end of the quarter, the currency is working with us. That leads then into a very strong gross profit at 54.6% in the quarter, leading into record profit of 53%. Good improvement versus last year. Again, just shy of 17% in profit margin for the quarter, which is very good and something that we are proud of course.
With that said, our plan is clear, and of course, this I have been talking about since 2014 and are repeating it over and over again. We have a very clear mission, and that is to inspire you and everyone else that you can become more. The idea behind training is not to win gold medals or become good in a sport. Training is simply much too important for that. We believe that training is the key enabler for you to become better at whatever it is that you want to become better at.
Smile a bit more, laugh a bit more, live a bit longer, be a better father, whatever else it is. Training is really key, and that is why we talk so much about Train to Live. We want to inspire you to move. Even though it is raining outdoors, training today is going to make this day a bit better than if you are not training. That is as simple as it is.
Our financial objective stays the same. Of course, there are two highlights here. We want to grow double digit, and of course, we want to earn at least 10%. We can conclude that we are delivering quarter after quarter on our profit ambitions. However, sales are not performing according to our ambitions. Here we simply need to speed up.
The strategy has been set, and it is clear we want to focus on online business, we want to focus on sports apparel, and we are digging where we stand. It is about growing where we already exist and adding Germany as our number one growth market.
If we then look into the development over the years, SEK 308 million, that is 3% versus last year's quarter. On a steady progression, if we wrap up all the quarters, we are just behind last year. At least we are catching up a bit versus our Q2 result. Again, if there is something that is poor in the quarter, it is the sales development. There is a lot of other things that are really good.
Looking at our categories, I think the main highlight is definitely underwear. Here we really see a strong rebound. We are growing at 5% in the quarter, which I think is very strong. Sports apparel is also growing, however, slowing down a bit. Of course now the apparel collection and apparel business is very big. Here we simply need to take more steps forward to continue the growth. Our ambition for sports apparel is to have at least double-digit growth.
Footwear is still not delivering according to our plan. The team is in place. The products are looking much better. We see growth on own e-com. We see growth in Sweden. We see that the Nordic markets are really recovering, but we still are having massive challenges in both Netherlands and in Belgium. Of course, we need to turn all those things around to see growth overall. Very clearly, looking ahead, where the biggest potential for the brand is to get the footwear going. That, of course, will be the key driver in terms of us delivering on our double-digit sales growth.
Socks and some of the smaller categories are doing really well. Socks is up 48%. Also, swimwear has been developing fantastic. Of course, that is reassuring. Again, the main highlight, I think from the quarter is apparel growing, underwear strong performance, footwear still a challenge.
With that said, we have then Jens digging a bit into the markets and of course, also our balance sheet. With that said, Jens, why don't you fire away?
Great. Thanks a lot, Henrik. From me as well, welcome to this Friday morning. If we continue this quite strong quarter and looking into the markets, I am very pleased to see that all our own subsidiaries are growing in this quarter with super strong growth in Germany, and also in Denmark that continues with a strong momentum. In terms of the distributors, I can see that our biggest one in Norway is bouncing back and is growing with 5%. Very pleased to see that as well.
If we look at the channels that we measure upon, we can see that the wholesale is on a growth path as well. Here is the online players mainly that is growing with 18% in the quarter. So online players mainly only selling their wholesale stuff online then.
In terms of own e-commerce, very strong quarter with +16%, as you heard before. Very pleased to see that as well. However, our own retail is continuing to decline -13% in the quarter overall. However, if we look at the comparable stores, meaning stores that exist the last quarter, last year as well, we see a decline of 3%. Distributors are holding flat, whilst, as I said earlier, Norway, the biggest one, is growing with 5%.
Looking at the margin, you heard slightly before from Henrik. So it is growing 2.1 percentage points versus last year. That is made out of a lot of stuff, obviously, the channel mix being one that is a main driver for the growth here, but also positive effects development is helping up even though we see a slight change in this area at the moment.
In terms of profitability, 18% up versus last year to SEK 53 million. Super strong EBIT, very happy with that. We can see that we have something that is working for us at the moment. If we simplify this into a P&L, we can see sales SEK 308 million +3% versus last year. Sales record in a quarter in the company history. Gross margin, as I said, 54.6%, 2 percentage points up. Operating expenses, more or less where we expect them to be. Then profitability of SEK 53 million, 18% up versus last year with a margin then of 17.2%. Very solid and very strong P&L for the quarter. I am really happy to see that we can deliver this.
In terms of the balance sheet then, more or less all KPIs are on good levels and happy to see that the net debt is decreasing with SEK 38 million to just shy of SEK 100 million. The solidity is strong, even though it is dropping 2 percentage points to just below 50%. Then the working capital or the core working capital is declining. So that is good, where the inventory level mainly is really stable. So, good KPIs on the balance sheet as well.
Yeah, with that, I think we have been through the main items on this, and I leave it for Henrik to close this presentation.
Yes. Thank you, Jens.
Sure. Thanks.
And very clearly, of course, looking at the quarter, it is the best quarter that we have seen so far. So very strong underwear performance, growing 5%. That is one of the highlights. The second one, of course, own e-com continuing to grow, +16% versus last year. We see also that the Sports Power Collection is working really good. Also, footwear is growing in e-com, so we see that the brand is getting stronger and stronger. We are winning consumer. We are taking market shares, so I think that is very reassuring.
And of course, last, it is a record profit. The quarter is a record profit. Year- to- date is a record profit. And again, close to the quarter above 17% in profit margin is just very strong. It is clear that our challenge is getting the growth going. We have been showcasing now on a number of quarters in a row that the profit is really under control with good improvement versus the years before. But it is really sales that we need to focus on.
Now with that said, of course, not something that we should talk about because I am not leaving today, but again, this will be my 49th quarterly report. I plan to do another one, and that is to close this year, hopefully with records and on a very good note. That will be my 50th quarter report. At one point, I have simply felt that there is someone else that can do this better. So I am happy to hand over this to a new CEO. Of course, who that is will be determined in the future. I will still be around to, again, close this quarter, also close Q4, and close Q1 next year. That's the plan.
Looking back, of course, I've been a shareholder just as you, and we have about 600% increase since I joined. I think that's fantastic. Of course, looking back, on one hand, creating shareholder value has been important, but I think what I would remember and take with me is really Train to Live and the whole idea behind the thought of building a strong brand that really have a meaningful message, and a message that is really corresponding well with end consumers out there.
I can clearly conclude that one of the main highlights, and probably my biggest learning, is that in order to move something, again, this was a colorful underwear brand back in the days, and we really moved the entire brand into a completely new arena. The only ingredients you really need to do that is to have faith and not to give up.
There were a number of occasions throughout this journey when things pointed in the completely wrong direction, and at those points, we were always surrounded by strong owners, a very committed board, and a super engaged team that said, "We're onto something here. It might not show right now, but let's continue." We did, and I think looking back the last four or five years, we've really seen the fruits of all that hard work in our sports apparel growth and our ability to really reposition the entire brand. Of course, that makes me super happy.
Again, this is not my last quarter. You will see me again closing Q4, and again, I will close Q1 as well, and I'll be around to support the brand given, of course, that I spent most of my working career here, and it's been an incredible journey. So I'm very, very grateful and thankful for having been a part of the journey here.
I think with that said, I'm sure that Hjalmar has tons of questions. If you want to take one thing with you from Q3, it's record. With that said, Hjalmar, fire away.
All right. Yes, thank you so much. Like you mentioned, it has been a journey, and congratulations on the strong share price performance. I figured let us start with some of the gross margin here in Q3. You mentioned the growth in underwear and the right channels, but there is also, I am guessing, some FX there as well. Many retailers right now are talking about some inflection point in terms of US dollar and so forth. Could you elaborate on maybe the currency impact in the third quarter and what you saw there on top of the product and channel mix?
Yeah. No, but if we start with the currency, we have had a positive impact throughout the entire year. I think especially at the end of Q1 and in Q2, and of course, at the beginning of Q3. Of course, it is due to the development with SEK, euro versus the US dollar. I think as we have said, most of our purchases is done in US dollar, and we are selling in all other currencies. Of course, that means that we have a big impact on our gross margin when it comes to currency changes.
Currency is a bit, of course, like guessing the weather. Depending on who you are asking tomorrow, a few will say that the krona will be stronger, US dollar is going to be weaker. Others will say the opposite. Who knows?
I think what we have said is that we need to be able to drive a profitable business independently on how the currency is developing, and I am confident that we have a very, very solid base for that. Our ambition has been to operate this business with a 50%-55% gross margin, and I believe we can do so with fairly big swings when it comes to the currency. Of course, it is very clear. With a very strong dollar, it will become tougher to uphold margins around 55%. That is clear. Then we need to work with other lines in the P&L to continue to drive profitable growth.
For the quarter, however, we are simultaneously, of course, working with lowering the discount. That, of course, also has a very big impact on our gross margin. We can see in own e-com that we are growing 16%. At the same time, we are reducing our discount, and of course, if we look at the channel contribution, it is also record high.
Looking at wholesale, we are also here being a bit more selective in terms we approached some of the bigger customers. Some of them are changing a bit business model that actually leads to us giving away a bit less discounts. On top of that, of course, if you have a strong brand and we see super strong sell-through numbers from Zalando, then of course we do not need to work with markdowns to the same extent. Of course, all those things together is also improving the gross margin, and I think that is in our control.
The currency will be what the currency will be. Our job is to build a strong brand, push full price sales, and then we can mitigate currency swings.
Yeah.
It is a mix of that that you see in the quarter. Exchange positive, but also discounts that is being reduced, leading into a fairly strong gross margin in the quarter.
Yep. Yep. You mentioned their pricing, of course, and I know since you tracked that and we spoke of that previously, can you connect maybe Q3 to sort of the long-term view of the pricing? How has the development been in terms of percentage of full price sales and so forth? What is the pricing trajectory right now?
There is two different components, of course. One is when we entering each season, when we present the 2027 collection to the market, of course, it is all about setting the right recommended retail prices. Of course, the stronger the brand gets, the higher the recommended retail prices can be. Of course, here we are season by season, slowly pushing up the brand, especially around the apparel and the footwear and the bags collection, and simply by investing more in the product. So they are becoming better, and by becoming better, we can also charge a slightly higher price premium for those products. Of course, that is one way of improving the gross margin.
Then, of course, when you come into the season, it is all about how can you then sell those things at full price? For own e-com, of course, that is within our full control. It is all about building a strong brand. Do not be lured into driving top-line growth by having too high discounts, and instead holding back and investing into the brand so people really want to buy it at full price.
With wholesalers, it is, of course, a bit different. They could sell for whatever price they want, and I think that is the way it should be. But of course, in our dialogue with them, it is all about, of course, not just giving away discount for them to buy high volumes from them or us, but having a strong partnership so we together could discuss, "Okay, you want to buy these products? How can you make sure they are selling out at full price so your margin is also being improved? With actually us perhaps giving you more margin, but actually more enabling you to sell out at more full price.
Those things are, of course, working simultaneously. I think it comes down to you need to create super strong products that it's worth the recommended retail price. Of course, here we need to continue to invest and delivering on our product promise. Of course, at the same time, we need to build a strong brand, a brand that connects with people, a brand that makes you want to believe, that wants you to be a part of this entire journey. We can see that both those are constantly being improved year-over-year, and of course, that will give us a very strong pricing power.
Yep. Perfect. Thank you. Looking into the categories, of course, like you mentioned, underwear is growing very healthy here. We have some of the smaller segments maybe that should drive growth as well. If we look at the shoes, for example, maybe connecting back to what you said earlier is about having a very competitive product here. Are you satisfied with the product offering in the footwear segment? Or does the challenge lie elsewhere? Do you need to spend maybe additional resources into the product development here, or do you feel that you have a competitive offering in the footwear segment?
We need to invest everywhere. Of course, the one I'm wearing right now, they're absolutely fantastic. We have another footwear, we call it Classic. One of our best-selling products is also a very good shoe. Also, a part of the range still needs to be invested into. Our ambition is whenever you put on one of our footwear, no matter which model it is and which channel it is, you should simply feel that I don't want to take this off, that this is the best pair of footwear I've ever tried. We're not there yet. Here we need to invest even more.
One of the categories where we on one hand want to invest most in and also believe that there is biggest potential going forward is footwear. I think it's a category where you can only push it that far. There's no point in just squeezing things in if the stuff is not ready. A part of the range I think is absolutely fantastic and is matching our product promise. A part of the range, there's still works that needs to be done. We're constantly reviewing all the end consumer reviews that we're getting. We do test panels, and we can see that there are islands and pockets of perfection in footwear, but there's still room for improvement. Investing into the product is key. That's one thing, of course.
Secondly, of course, we need to also reshift a bit how we work with footwear in the past when we had a license partner. It was too much off-price business. It was not the right distribution. We need to rebuild that, and it's going more or less according to plan in Nordic and for own channels. We see growth in e-com, for example, we see growth in Sweden, but it is not working at all in Netherlands and Belgium. Of course, that is where we need to turn it around because, of course, those two markets are big footwear markets.
Footwear, a key priority. There are a few signs that things are slowly getting better. Some products are already great, but more needs to be fantastic. We need to invest into the product. We need to invest into the category, talking about footwear. We need to invest into the retail landscape.
Yeah.
All of those simultaneously. Then I believe that we can get footwear growing again.
All right. Perfect. Very clear. Lastly, on the cost side, seemingly, at least from the way I see it, you have a good cost control right now. Do you feel any particular maybe cost pressure, cost inflation in some areas, or how do you feel that you are controlling the OpEx right now?
I think on one hand, we are very good at planning costs. As an anecdote, perhaps, we did a business plan that stretched from 2023- 2026. That is the one that is now running out. When we looked at the cost items in the P&L that we set then in the beginning or at the end of 2022, all of them are almost matching to the order, what they actually end up being. We are very good at planning our cost, knowing where we want to invest.
Then, of course, the margin and top-line sales is, of course, more challenging. But overall, we have a strong cost control. We are, if anything, perhaps a bit too cautious. If you look at the development, we see that we have a very strong profit development and a not so strong sales development. We believe, of course, an easy way to drive more sales is simply to add more discounts, and we have said that let's not go down that route. Instead, of course, we need to simply invest into growth initiatives. But those, you don't really know whether they will actually drive growth or not. So it's a bit you first need to invest to see if it works, and we've been just very selective, and perhaps too careful, to invest in stuff that we weren't 100% sure would drive revenue.
Here, I think we need to review that and perhaps find a slightly different balance so we can simply grow more. That is our number one challenge. We are far away from our ambition to grow double digit. We are well above our ambitions of driving a minimum 10% EBIT.
Perfect. That's very clear. Thank you so much. That was all on my end, so I'll leave it to you for any concluding remarks.
Well, thank you, Hjalmar. It's been a pleasure talking to you throughout all these years. We have another quarter, you and me, so we're not done yet. But again, it's Friday. We're working out every Friday. We call it a compulsory sports hour. Again, I think we want to encourage you all, no matter where you're working, no matter where you are, training and working out is very clearly what we believe is the best enabler of making this Friday the best Friday ever.
With that said, have a fantastic Friday, and thank you for the trust in us and of course, for dialing in and listening to this Q3 presentation. Have a great Friday.