Good morning, and very welcome to the live stream and teleconference of Embellence Group Q3. Before I hand over the floor to CEO, Olle Svensk, and CFO, Karin Lidén, I will remind you that there's a possibility to ask questions after the presentation. If you are calling in, please follow the instructions given by the operator, or if you're live watching the live stream, please use the questionnaire in the box below. Thank you. Before further ado, please g o ahead.
Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Q3 report of Embellence Group. My name is Olle Svensk, and together with me today is Karin Lidén, who will present the financials. So first, a couple of words about Embellence Group. We acquire, own, and develop strong brands in interior decoration, and in our beautiful bouquet of brands, we have Boråstapeter, Cole & Son, Wall&decò, Pappelina, and Artscape, but also Borås Tapetfabrik, where produce wallpaper in south of Sweden. Moving on to the quarter then. We deliver a strong quarter here in Q3. Looking at the geopolitical situation we have in the world, we are quite proud of the numbers that we are delivering.
We achieve organic growth in all three months during the quarter, but also in all three segments that we have. So net sales amounted to SEK 183.2 with an underlying organic growth of 4.3%. Moreover, all the work that has been going on for a long period to lower our fixed cost base, it creates a good leveraging effect during the quarter, so our EBITDA amounted to SEK 26.5 during the quarter, which is a good improvement compared to last year, and we have no adjustment during this quarter at all. Looking a little bit ahead, I mean, focus is to continue to prioritize organic growth, to get a better cash flow, and a robust profitability.
But moreover, also to further strengthen our offering and reducing our cost base through digital initiatives, which can be our direct-to-consumer channel, but also our production footprint. Over to you, Karin.
Thank you, Olle. And as Olle just said, we are proud to present the total growth of 8.4% this quarter, of which 4.3 was organic growth. The sales of SEK 183.2 million, and the EBITDA of SEK 26.5 million, leaves us with a margin of 14.4%. Also, this is an improvement compared to last year, and as Olle said, we don't have any adjustments to EBITDA this quarter. Net profit in the period was SEK 13.2 million. It is down compared to last year, but one need to remember that we had a write-down of an earn-out debt in the comparison period of SEK 16.9 million. The operating cash flow was SEK 13.2 million, which is lower than last year.
During the quarter, we had an increase of account receivable following the very strong sales in the period, and one need to remember that the sales in Q2 was significantly lower. So the account receivable increased significantly, but also accounts payables decreased. I can also mention that we are reducing our leverage. The net debt to EBITDA is 2.2 this quarter, compared to 2.4, end of June. Looking at the trend charts for net sales and EBITDA, we are increasing the rolling twelve trend for sales again, and the margin is recovering. We can see in the margin chart that when the sales return, the lower cost base provides a good opportunity for leverage. Looking further on to the different segments we have, starting with the Nordics. We had sales of SEK 64.9 million Swedish kronor.
This is just above prior year, and the i t's driven by the demand that returned in the Swedish market this quarter, and it's also supported by the launch of a new collection of Borasan, which is the professional assortment in Boråstapeter. The EBITDA margin has strengthened to 12%, despite the increase of product cost, and the main reason for this is the lower cost base in the companies. Nordics represents a bit over one-third of the sales in the group. Moving on to Europe, we saw a growth of SEK 9.5 million, 9.5%, and report the sales of SEK 58.7 million. Several markets contributed. The growth was especially strong in U.K., Italy, and France. Germany continued to struggle somewhat. An already strong EBITDA margin of improved.
It's now 19%, thanks to the increase in sales and our implemented savings. Europe represents around a third of the group sales in this quarter. And finally, Rest of World, which actually reports a record quarter with SEK 59.6 million in sales. This is a growth of 16.7%. All major market contributes, but the growth is driven by the U.S. We also see a positive impact of single larger deliveries within hospitality to a number of smaller markets. Adjusted EBITDA is 13%, which is lower than last year. It's negatively impacted by the sales mix. However, it is a step up compared to the recent quarters. And Rest of World, this month, is actually stronger than Europe and represents 33% of the group sales in Q3. Over to you, Olle.
So as a summary, again, repeating myself, we deliver a strong quarter. We deliver organic growth of a little bit more than 4% in a market that is challenging for us. We have the majority of our sales in typical retail sales, but thanks to, from a low number, good performance of our direct-to-consumer sales, but also hospitality, we overall compensate that and more. So the net sales, as we said here, in total, up 8.4%. The hard work with lowering our fixed cost base is delivering this month. Now, when we have a good organic growth, we deliver a strong profitability, as you can see in the month or in the quarter. So focus ahead, further focus on generating organic growth.
We need to improve our cash flow and deliver a stable or strong profitability. So the work that we have been doing for several years will just continue to strengthen the offering, reducing fixed cost base, and deliver on different digital initiatives. So as I have said now, several quarters, we are building a high-quality company fueled by passion and professionalism. Thank you.
Now it's time for the Q&A session. Let's start with the questions by phone. Operator? Over to you.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial star five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial star five again on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Benjamin Wahlstedt from ABGSC. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Olle and Karin. Congratulations on what I think is strong results in the quarter. Could you talk a bit more about Rest of World performance, please? You know, the number of larger orders in the quarter, is it possible to elaborate on what share of Rest of World sales these larger orders might contribute, please?
That was a good question. I don't honestly know exactly how much it contributes with. I hand over to Karin, who knows everything.
Hi, Benjamin. I think the sales in Rest of World is still dominated by our traditional sales channels, and it's still dominated by the U.S. It's. We have spoken around our efforts in hospitality for a number of quarters, and now we can see that we have a number of projects which contributes to the growth, but it's still the sales is still dominated by our traditional sales, I would say.
We owe you on that one, Benjamin. I mean, what we see is that we have deliveries to Asia and also to some of the countries in North Africa, but also Middle East, that are contributing. But the exact number, we don't have right now.
I guess it's fair to assume then that you still, I mean, adjusted for these individual larger contracts, you still grow organically quite meaningfully then?
Yes.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. All right, perfect. I was wondering as well, could you talk a bit more about the lower share of premium sales in Europe and the Rest of World, please? What is this an effect of specifically, please?
Yeah, this is mainly coming from Boråstapeter, who have had a good quarter in general, but not the least in outside the core countries. So it's deliveries from Boråstapeter into Europe, but also Rest of the World.
Perfect. Thank you very much. And then also a question on gross margins, and I assume Boråstapeter's strong growth might be part of the reason, at least for the lower gross margin compared to Q2. Is there anything else you would like to add here on what might be driving this sequential decline in the gross margin, please?
No, I think you are right, Benjamin. I think that the gross margin is more a result of the sales mix than anything else in this quarter. You also need to remember that we have launched our professional assortment this quarter, which has a lower gross margin than our premium products.
All right. Thank you. And then, also, you talk, and you did in the Q2 report as well, about reduced input costs. Is it possible to give us a ballpark figure for the magnitude of these reduced input costs, going into Q4, please?
I don't have the magnitude on the top of my head, but we are talking reduced input costs primarily for the Swedish, for the Boråstapeter, for the Swedish companies. And we have seen significant reductions in prices on the same time. Purchases are primarily made in euros, and which compensate or which offset part of this price decrease. We, however, anticipate to see these lower input prices coming through in quarter four.
Perfect. One final question. You talk also about an increasing share of direct-to-consumer sales. Could you update us on roughly where you are as a percentage of total sales going direct-to-consumer, please?
We have received that question several times, but we are not disclosing on the level we are right now. What we can say is that we grow double-digit there in percentage, but it's still a fairly low number, so we will have to come back to that when it's a little bit better. But thanks for reminding me about that question.
I will keep asking that question-
Good
M any more times, I believe.
I trust you.
But that's all I had for now. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Karri Rinta from Handelsbanken. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Firstly, I think you already alluded to this, in terms of b ut just, just to double-check, did FX have any meaningful impact on your earnings in the quarter, or was it largely neutral? That's my first question.
The analysis shows that we are quite neutral in FX. It's not significant as far as we believe. That FX is rather neutral on the earnings level. It's positive on the sales level.
Great. Thank you. And then the i f you have any more details on how, how did sales develop during Q3 between different month, months? Did we have some months that were particularly strong, both compared to the second quarter and, and compared to last year? And because the reason that I'm asking is that some companies have, have commented that, their sales momentum started to, fade towards the end of the quarter. So did you see the same kind of development than that? What should we think about-
On the-
Q4?
Sorry, the best of the three months was August. So we didn't see that effect that you are mentioning, so.
Okay, so the August was the best month. Is that typically the case, or is September typically the strongest month in Q3?
No, I'm referring to the organic growth, if that was I mean, we recorded organic growth all three months, but August was the best of the three.
Mm-hmm. And-
All right. Thank you. Sorry.
Thank you.
Okay, thanks. And then, I think this was already partially answered, but just to double-check, the rest of the world's sales make the negative impact that you mentioned. Is it because of the large orders, or is it because the U.S. was the strongest market?
Can you repeat that question? Are you-
Yeah. Yeah, the negative sales mix in the Rest of World, is it country-driven?
It's not country-driven. It's rather between the different brands, which brands performed well and which brands did not perform well in the quarter. So I would say it's more a brand than a geography matter, the earnings in rest of world.
Okay. And then in general, I mean, you said that the professional assortment has lower margins. So typically, our business with hospitality customers, does that also carry lower gross margins?
No, when we refer to the professional assortment, Borasan, it's mainly a Swedish business, where we sell to professionals, to what do you call it? We-
To painters,
To painters. The hospitality segment-
Mm.
I s, the hospitality segment is, more geared towards our premium products and premium brands.
But to your point there, Kari, we have increased our efforts and aggressivity when it comes to hospitality project, but the larger ones that we took during the quarter, they are mainly direct ones that we are taking or we are winning, so to say.
All right, thanks. And then finally, anything worth mentioning about Pappelina or Artscape, both quarter on quarter, year on year? Any trend, trend shift there?
No, I think they overall are performing. We have a fairly stable situation across the brands, in relation to our overall performance. So, no, nothing, nothing worth mentioning there, actually.
We look at Cole & Son? The same comment applies there as well.
The answer will be the same, yes.
Yeah. All right. Thanks. Those were my questions.
Thank you.
Do we have any more questions? Okay, then let's take a look at the ones sent in. At the moment, we have one question. It's from Ellen, from EF Invest, and it goes as follows: Can you please elaborate and perhaps exemplify some of the digital initiatives and how they are expected to impact the results going forward?
Yeah, one of the initiatives is that we are, we have invested and are investing in a, in a new, platform for Boråstapeter's direct-to-consumer, business. Currently, Boråstapeter is only selling in Sweden, Norway, and Finland, but we are now, upgrading that to a, to a modern, up-to-date, sales platform. So we will be able to sell into other markets, but also more conveniently, have APIs towards logistic providers and payment providers. So that's one typical, investment. Another one, is also, of course, our production footprint, where we, look. We are considering to move in to have digital printing instead of traditional analog one. And no investment as such was done during the quarter, though, but it's, perhaps on the way.
Do we have any more questions, from you, operator? No more written questions. I would say thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you!