Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the MEKO AB Q3 Report 2022 Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll 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. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to our speaker today, Pehr Oscarson, CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the presentation of the third quarter 2022. Together with the CFO, Åsa Källenius, I will guide you through the results. We continue to deliver organic growth, which proves our resilient business model, and this is a sign of the strength of our strategy and long-term profitable growth. We are growing rapidly in the strong Polish and Baltic markets. We have increased our market shares along with increasing profitability in a successful way. In Sweden, we experience a stable market, while we experience a weaker demand in Norway and Denmark, especially when we compare to the same quarter last year, which was very extremely good quarter, so especially Norway. The acquisition of Koivunen that we conducted during the summer enables a stronger position and significant growth potential for the group going forward.
We will get back with more details around the integration work in Finland shortly, where we are well on our way to extract the purchase synergies and synergies from streamlining the backbone of the operation. Our strong cash flow are a benefit for executing on our strategy. If we move on to page three, we here see our strong position in each market, where we, after the recent acquisitions, are number one in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Estonia, and with significant operations in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. In our markets, there are over 70 million people and 35 million cars. The average age of the car fleet in Northern Europe is old and right in our target group.
All markets offer large potential to further organic growth, and we are confident in our ability to transform our business in line with the electrification and digitalization of the industry. When we now have learned more about Koivunen and operation in Finland, and the Baltics, we are also very confident on that potential. In order to explain our markets better, we decided to adjust the business areas somewhat. As we see on page four, business area Denmark, previously called business area [FTZ], remains unchanged when it comes to the financial reporting. Business area Finland includes our recently acquired operation Koivunen Finland, as well as our previous operation in Mekonomen Finland. Mekonomen Finland was previously included in the reporting of Sweden, Norway, Mekonomen.
We decided to add the operation in Poland and the recently acquired operations in the Baltics as joint business area Poland and the Baltics. These markets are growing rapidly, and we see potential for collaboration that will gain the group. Business area Sweden, Norway includes the previous operation in Mekonomen, and the operation in Mekonomen Finland is now excluded. Otherwise, there has been no changes in the business area. I will now hand over to Åsa to take us through the results.
Thank you, Pehr. Moving over to page five, we see great volumes and organic growth in the group. As Pehr stated, we had a very positive growth in Poland and the Baltics, while Norway and Denmark are weaker due to weaker consumer purchasing power in the quarter. Sweden is stable. We are confident that we are in an industry that rapidly recovers. The demand will be delayed but not canceled in full. Service and repairs are necessary in order to retain the need for mobility. EBIT has been on a stable level past quarter. Our cash flow is strong, which is crucial to enable us to continue to execute on our strategy going forward. The stock levels are stable. We see that we can uphold availability without further increases, which benefit cash flow going forward.
Looking at page six, as stated, we are comparing to a very strong quarter in 2021, especially in Norway, where the results last year were partially affected from positive COVID-19 effects. I will come back to the respective business area in a short while. Excluding the transaction from the acquisition Koivunen, we are on the same level individually as last, same quarter last year. Our development is stable over time, where a single quarter rarely tells the whole story. The long-term trend is positive for us, and we continue our journey to drive our strategy forward and reach the long-term profitable growth. I now turn over to page seven. The gross margins are slightly lower in the third quarter, though we continue on a very high level.
As you can see, gross margin is somehow diluted by the acquisition of Koivunen, who has lower margins than the rest of the group on average. The gross margin in Koivunen will increase over time as the purchasing synergies will kick in. We are successful in compensating the increase in purchasing prices in the market, as you see in the graph here, where we in general have adjusted prices on all markets. Year to date, we have increased our gross margin compared to last year. We move over to page nine and the business areas. First, on page ten, Denmark. We are able to deliver a low organic growth in Denmark in the quarter, where we, as I said, are facing tough competition and weak consumer purchasing power in the quarter.
Though we have initiated actions to balance costs as well as activities to increase sales. In the quarter, SEK 12 million related to distribution of personnel costs is burdening the EBIT compared to the same quarter last year. Going forward, we are confident in a recovery in the market together with our action, and that will give result in the profitable growth. We go over to page 10 and Finland. Through the acquisition of Koivunen, we have improved conditions for profitable growth in also in Mekonomen Finland. Integration work around synergies are ongoing according to plan of the acquisition. We see a great potential in many areas in line with expectation during the acquisition. In addition to purchasing synergies, we see a large upside in Mekonomen Finland using the logistic backbones of Koivunen.
This includes closing of Mekonomen's regional warehouse in Finland and use Koivunen's central warehouse going forward. The Finnish market is similar to the Swedish market when it comes to maturity, which we grow around 1%-2% yearly. We expect stable demand and development over time. The acquired operation Koivunen contribute with SEK 294 million in sales and SEK 26 million in EBIT in the quarter. Over to business area Poland and the Baltics, page eleven. We are pleased with the first quarter in the Baltics. It is in line with our expectations during the acquisition. The acquired operation in the Baltics contributes with SEK 159 million in sales and SEK 14 million in EBIT in the quarter. We have a successful development in Poland in line with our strategy of creating profitability.
A strong turnaround case for the group since the acquisition in 2018. We increase market share in both Poland and the Baltics on domestic markets as well as in the export business. We work hard with maintaining gross margin to keep EBIT margin on high levels. Here, customer focus and availability are important keys. We see clear synergies potential between the markets, why we choose to set a new business area structure together. In this market, inflation is a common challenge and has been for a long time. Poland is now facing 17% inflation and the Baltics even higher, over 20%. The operations are well equipped to handle the challenge and have proven that our industry can exist and be profitable despite high inflation. Moving over to page 12 and Sweden, Norway.
We have a very strong performance in Sweden, where previous actions of balancing cost structure and sales action has given effect. In Norway, the consumer purchasing demand is low. Low organic growth is compensated by currency, smaller acquisition, and price increases. We have taken strong structural action this past month in Norway to balance costs and streamline our operation further. Along with a significant sales action to improve sales, we are confident that the market demand will stabilize and that we will improve profitability in line with the improvements in Sweden. Sørensen og Balchen in Norway on slide 13. We continue our great cost control and have a result on high level. Extremely profitable in the record Q2 2021 during COVID.
Comparison quarter we compare with is tough. It's difficult to maintain this high EBIT level each quarter when facing record quarters. The consumer market in Norway is slow, as I said, also in Mekonomen, Sweden, and Norway. Post-COVID trend that is clear is most of retail companies report in the past quarters after an extreme demand during the pandemic. As stated, we are confident that we over time will see more stable demands in Norway and operation in Sørensen og Balchen is successful, shifting focus on the B2B business during weaker consumer demand. I will now hand over to you, Pehr.
Thank you, Åsa. We will move over to page 15 and the footprint. We have added Finland and the Baltics as main markets from the third quarter. For Finland, you see that we have increased by around 150 branches and 240 workshops with the acquisition of Koivunen. We have a stable number of branches. Here we ongoing optimize availability by merging, adding, and closing in line with the market demand. Still, the size of workshops and the number of mechanics is the most important both for the workshop profitability as well as ours. Looking at page 16, strategic new revenue focus involves collaboration outside the core business. As we communicated a few weeks ago, we have partnered up with Mobivia. Mobivia, a similar company to us operating in Southern Europe, head office in France.
Together, we are developing a combined offer that will build the corporate car owners, new electric car makers a complete partner for all European markets. We have initiated a pilot customer case, and we see several opportunities ahead within this area. Over to page 17 and more around the importance of focus on corporate car owners. In Sweden, 20% of the cars are owned by companies, and in Norway the number is 9%, in Denmark 15%. The number has been stable for the past years, where we still have a large potential to attract larger parts of that market. Here we are in the forefront in Sweden while we have not started in large scales in the other markets. Over to page 18 and sustainability that are one of the most important strategic areas going forward.
We have recently added competence to the group by a new head of sustainability for the group. We are now focusing further integrating the sustainability agenda in the overall strategy to reach next level in our ambition as a sustainable business. For example, we are implementing a new certification in Norway. The Miljøfyrtårn, as it's called, is a tool for working comprehensively, systematically, and long-term with improving environmental performance, reduced climate gas emissions, and contributes to a green future endorsed by the Norwegian authorities. In Denmark, we have started the electric transformation within deliveries, where we just received the first electric delivery vans, an example how we are building for more sustainable future. On page 19, you see the forecast of the EV transformation in some of our markets. We have shown this before and the development are still in line with these numbers.
We're still moving slowly. Issues like charging infrastructure, the range of electricity, the pricing are often pointed out as obstacles for a more rapid development. In the light of the recent EU decision around phasing out combustion engines from 2035, the pace will still be slow going forward. The car sales 2034 will still live for 50 years. Regardless, we look forward to the transformation, and we are well equipped through, for example, mechanic training, certification of workshops, and development of our assortment. Our initiatives also provide and create availability and meet the demand. That's why we are proud that we in many ways are contributing to the development of and the transformation. On page 20, we have another strategic area, digitalization. 90% of our sales are already digital, although we are determined to develop the customer journey further.
When it comes to digital bookings, we have a positive development. In our service, we see that the car owners want to book online, and this also creates efficiency for the workshops. Digital bookings are foremost offered in Sweden or in Denmark, but the solutions will also be offered in our other markets going forward, while we see a large increase in this area, going forward. We have a strong position surrounding the Baltic Sea. Despite challenging times, we see large potential both short and long term in all markets, with continued profitable growth. Over time, the demand in our industry is stable. Service and repairs are necessary in order to retain the need for mobility. We're able to adjust to the market development and expect that our initiated cost balancing actions will lead to gradual profitability improvement.
With our size, strong concepts, and proven strategy, we'll continue towards increased profitability. That concludes our report for the third quarter, and we now look forward to your questions.
Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Once again, star one and one on your telephone to ask a question. We will now go to your first question. Please stand by. Your first question comes from the line of Stefan Stjernholm from Nordea. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hi, Pehr Oscarson and Åsa Källenius. A question on the acquisition of Koivunen. In the report you say that you believe that you can see larger synergies than you earlier expressed of SEK 40 million. How much more do you expect?
That's it. It was not everything, but let's at least SEK 40 million. It sounds like we think that could be a bit more and also maybe.
Sounds good. A question on the inventory. I can see that it's up 45% to SEK 1.2 billion year-over-year. How much of that increase is Koivunen, roughly?
Roughly it's all of the increase.
Okay. Okay.
Kept the inventory levels in other business areas on a stable level. It has increased a little bit with the higher excess rates, et cetera, but volume-wise, we keep it stable.
Looking ahead, can you comment on the supply chain? Has that improved anything or do you expect it to improve? If so, do you believe you can take down the inventory level, to some extent, next year?
Yeah. It's a lot on ifs and buts, but we see that the deliveries are a little bit more predictable and on time from our suppliers, so that's good. It's a little bit too early to say that we can release some of the, let's say, the extra capacity which we have in the availability. It's going in the right direction, but I can't promise when we can reduce the inventory.
I see. A final question from me regarding Koivunen. There were some real estate in that deal. What's your thinking about real estate? Are they up for sale or is timing not good? Any comments on that?
That's at the moment in analysis phase. I mean, we don't have general real estate in our business, so it's obvious that we look into the possibility to sell off that. If it's the right timing now or later, that we'll see. It's something we are at the moment looking into.
Okay. Thank you. No further questions from me.
Thank you. We will now go to our next question. One moment, please. Your next question comes from the line of Andreas Lundberg from SEB. Please go ahead, your line is open.
Yeah. Good morning. Thank you, operator. To start with this Mobivia relationship, could you share with us the business model set up for MEKO?
I mean, we call it fleet business, when we go to companies who has a larger number of cars and we offer them a service repair solution. We have seen that lately, more and more international big companies wants to have European partners, and that's why we partnered up with Mobivia. They have very strong workshop concepts, so they have a good ability to service these kind of customers. Together now we can, let's say, move further into that customer group of corporate customers. We also...
This is also important when we talk to the new EV car makers that want to enter Europe when they can have one combined partner that can take care about the aftermarket for most of Europe. It's a strong argument for that as well.
You will basically deliver spare parts to this workshop system?
Yeah. We will hopefully by this partnership, we will have more corporate customers in our markets that enters our workshops affiliated or own. Of course, that triggers more parts sales from us.
Okay, cool. You mentioned streamlining operations in Sweden. Can you give some more color on that? What you're going to do?
It's an ongoing and has been going on for, I would say, a couple of years. We're working with efficiency. We look into the branch network, we look into logistics and all things and continuously try to make the business leaner and by that also more profitable without losing any market share, of course.
Okay. Sweden was much more stable than Norway and Denmark. I appreciate Norwegian comps and so forth, but why do you think Sweden has been more stable?
I think the demand is better in Sweden or more stable. I also think that we are doing well on the market, I mean, compared to our competitors. I mean, you remember we had. If we move back four or five years, we still were struggling with a lot of things and all that is far behind us, and we have a stable and good management who's doing the right things all the time. That's one thing. It is a big difference in the general market demand when we compare to Norway and Denmark.
Do you think? Do you know the reason for that?
I would say in Norway, I think it's more normal in Sweden and it's weaker in Denmark and Norway, and that comes from decreased purchasing power. When we look at the retail, and that's mainly in Norway, we have the same situation in all retail, so we just follow the same trends. We have a little bit lower miles driven in Denmark, which probably affect the market demand. We also see that probably a little bit of that consumers are more, let's say, they will let the service lamp be on a couple of more weeks until they book the service.
It's a little bit hesitant market, I would say, which is normal when we enter into this uncertain times. We have seen this before also, but it usually will stabilize over time.
Lastly, on your organic growth, I think it was 4% in the quarter. Is the bulk of that pricing or is any volume component as well?
I would say that it's mostly pricing.
Yeah, mostly pricing. Thank you so much.
Thank you. We will now go to our next question. One moment, please. Your next question comes from Mats Liss from Kepler. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Yeah, hi. Thank you. A couple of questions. First, in Denmark, you mentioned increased competition. Could you shed some more light on that one?
I mean, Denmark is a tough market. We know that by history. We have been there with other concepts and trying to compete, but it has again increased. We have especially when it comes to low price offers. That is something which we don't want to fight with price because we have so much value added in our distribution. That makes it a little bit tough, of course. It's not dramatic. It's nothing that has completely changed, but it is little bit tougher than it has used to be.
Okay, great. Well, Stefan asked about the synergies there in Finland, so I guess. The Koivunen related synergies and the integration there is one thing, I guess. You also talked about the previous Mekonomen Finnish exposure and that you have to perform with a loss there. The integration of logistical structure with Mekonomen there should reduce the losses, I guess. The losses in Mekonomen, are those disappearance of those are that included in the synergies as well or is it something?
Yeah, I don't know if I will answer your question correctly, but if you look at in the slides, you see that we have also said that we had an EBIT of SEK 26 million coming from Koivunen, and we report SEK 21 million. The difference is of course the loss-making Mekonomen. The ambition when we close the regional warehouse and get rid of the cost is of course to at least get Mekonomen Finland on zero level as a first step, and that should be achieved probably during next year. It depends on the rental contracts and so on, but during next year we should be able to get to zero. That was one of the synergies.
The change in business area structure towards a more country-like exposure there. Is this something that also creates synergies or is it a more, well, better way of just presenting it externally or do you see sort of internal efficiencies improving also that create synergies, so to speak?
Yeah. Not by just putting together the business areas in a different way. One of the reasons behind that we put together Poland and the Baltics is both because the markets is similar in the way they are behaving, culture and everything. We also think that there is possible synergies between Poland and the Baltics or at least between Poland and Lithuania as being neighbor countries. That is something to explore in the future.
Okay. Great. Yeah. That's good. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Sure.
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Okay. Thank you very much for listening and have a great day.
Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.