Good morning and thank you for joining us for Rusta's presentation of the first quarter of the financial year 2026/2027. My name is Cathrine Wigzell, I am the CEO of Rusta, and I am here together with our CFO, Sofie Malmunger. Rusta delivered a solid start to the new financial year, and we are pleased to take you through the quarter today. Looking at the agenda, I will begin with a business update and the highlights of the first quarter. Sofie will take you through the financial performance in more detail. After that, I will share a few words on the outlook ahead, and we will finish by opening up for questions. Let's start with the business update. Rusta delivered a solid first quarter with sales growth and improved profitability across all segments of our business.
We welcomed more customers to our stores, we saw higher conversion and increased sales per customer. Great combination for driving growth. We opened five new stores in the quarter, and the expansion continues at the high pace. Only for this fall, we have 14 stores in the pipeline. Our store concept renewal continues to support like-for-like growth, and we are rolling out the next phase, Health & Beauty, starting now in September. The gross margin continued to develop positively, driven mainly by our assortment renewal and by positive currency effects. Finally, we have started the tuning of the automization project at our central warehouse. Capacity is increasing step by step as the system is calibrated and the ramp-up is progressing according to plan. Looking at the quarter in figures, net sales grew by 9.9%, and like-for-like growth, excluding currency effect, was 2.2%.
Sales increased in all segments with other markets in the lead, with a growth of 13.2%, excluding currency effects. The gross margin increased by 1.7 percentage points to 44.3%, driven by our successful assortment renewal and supported by currency tailwind in line with the previous guidance. EBITA amounted to SEK 330 million, compared to SEK 280 million last year, an increase of 17.6%, delivering an EBITA margin of 9.5%. We also saw strong cash generation. Cash flow from operating activities increased by almost 61% to SEK 758 million. Growth, margin expansion, and cash conversion are all moving in the right direction at the same time. Taking a closer look at our store network and our expansion plans. We now have 248 stores across our markets, 129 in Sweden, 57 in Norway, 52 in Finland, and 10 in Germany.
On top of that, we have a solid pipeline of signed and approved locations with new stores planned in all our four markets. We expect to open 14 new stores this fall, of which three stores were opened in August and one store was opened now in September. We maintain our guidance of 65 to 80 new stores over the coming three-year period. Our expansion potential grows as our brand recognition increases, which makes it possible to open in smaller cities than before. As an example, we had a really strong start for our new store in Vagnhärad in Sweden, which opened in the first quarter. This is a really good example of us being able to drive traffic and high sales in a smaller community.
A softer real estate market also gives us opportunity to good locations on attractive commercial terms, and our strong financial position allows us to act when the right opportunity appears. As always, our bar of entry remains high and the quality of the pipeline is good with a large share of locations in or around major cities. A few words on the renewal of our store concept, which is an important driver for like-for-like growth. Phase one of the updated concept was launched in the autumn of 2025, and the rollout has continued since then. The results are encouraging and support our guidance of an uplift in sales growth for the updated rooms following implementation. The next step is the Health & Beauty area, where rollout has started now in September with great engagement among our colleagues in the stores.
The concept renewal is a key part of how we grow sales in our existing stores. It makes it easier to shop, it improves efficiency, and it strengthens the customer experience. I will now hand over the word to Sofie to go through our financial performance in more detail.
Thank you, Cathrine. Turning to the financial performance, Rusta delivered a solid first quarter with profitable growth across all segments. Net sales increased by 9.9% and excluding currency effects by 8.7%. Like-for-like sales, excluding currency effects, increased by 2.2%. Growth was supported by more customers, higher conversion, and more items per customer. Gross profit increased by 14.5%, and the gross margin improved by 1.7 percentage points to 44.3%. The improvement was driven by strong results from our assortment renewal and positive currency effects. EBITA increased by 17.6% to SEK 330 million, corresponding to a margin of 9.5 compared with 8.8 last year. This reflects the combination of strong gross margin development and continued good cost control. Looking at the segments, all three delivered sales growth, positive like-for-like growth, and improved profitability in the quarter. Starting with Sweden, net sales increased by 6.6%, and like-for-like growth was 2.4%.
Customer footfall and conversion continued to improve while the updated store concept supported sales, particularly in home decoration. EBITA, excluding IFRS 16, improved by 2.4 percentage points to 21.4%. In Norway, net sales excluding currency effects increased by 7%. Like-for-like growth, excluding currency effects, was 3.2%. Strong campaigns increased footfall and conversion, and the updated store concept again contributed positively. EBITA, excluding IFRS 16, increased by 1.8 percentage points to 13.7%. Other markets delivered the strongest net sales growth of 13.2%, excluding currency effects, and like-for-like growth excluding currency effects was 0.7%. Growth was driven by new stores and the positive development of Rusta Online. EBITA, excluding IFRS 16, increased by 2.5 percentage points to 6.2%, supported by effective cost control and strong overall sales growth.
Overall, the quarter shows profitable growth across all segments with strong performance in our mature markets and progress in other markets, despite continued challenging marketing conditions in Finland and Germany. If we look at the profitability drivers, the improvement reflects both stronger gross margin and continued cost discipline. Sales KPIs developed positively across the board. We had more customers, higher conversion rates, and more items sold per customer. The gross margin increased by 1.7 percentage points to 44.3%, and the main drivers were strong results from our assortment renewal and positive currency effects. Operating expenses as a share of net sales decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 32.9%, reflecting good cost control throughout the value chain. This is particularly strong given the five new store openings in the quarter compared to none last year.
The negative contribution from other reflects mainly negative currency translation effects on balance sheet items compared with last year, together with higher depreciation. Despite this, EBITA increased by 17.6%, and the EBITA margin improved to 9.5%. Turning to cash flow and the balance sheet. Starting from the middle in the picture, cash flow from operating activities increased by 60.7% to SEK 758 million compared to SEK 472 million last year. The improvement was driven by stronger profitability and a positive development in working capital. Net working capital decreased to SEK 1,243 million , reflecting a good turnover of our summer assortment. Our financial position strengthened further. We ended the quarter with a net cash position of SEK 587 million . This strong balance sheet gives us continued ability to invest in new stores, in the supply chain, and in other long-term growth initiatives.
Let me finish with a few words on our financial targets. Our medium-term target remains unchanged, and we are well-positioned to deliver on them. We aim for an annual average net sales growth of around 8%, like-for-like growth above 3%, and an EBITA margin of around 8%. Our dividend policy is to distribute 30%-50% of net profit each year, taking our financial position into account.
Thank you, Sofie. A few words on the outlook before we move over to the Q&A. Our expansion continues in a high pace. So far this financial year, we have opened nine new stores, and we have an additional 11 new stores in the pipeline for the fall. The store expansion is complemented by the continued development of Rusta Online that is now available in all our markets. We also continue the rollout of the updated store concept, and as mentioned, Health & Beauty is the next area for renewal. On current trading, we see stable sales development in August.
We expect the continued geopolitical uncertainty to lead to higher freight costs and cost of goods by the end of Q2. We expect this to be mitigated by currency tailwind. As you might have seen, this year, Rusta celebrates 40 years, and we will continue to meet our customers with very strong offers throughout the anniversary. With that, I would like to open up for questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. If you wish to withdraw your question, please dial pound key six on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from Alice Beer from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Starting off first on the gross margin increase you attributed to assortment renewal and FX tailwinds. If FX is the larger part and purchasing prices and freight rates rise to the end of Q2, what is a sustainable margin into H2? Could you quantify something with the FX?
If you look at our gross margin, it is built up from several factors. You have ordinary prices and the intake margin that we have there. Then you have news value, which in this quarter have supported on a very good level with home decoration in the lead. Then you have the positive currency effects that we had in the quarter. Out of these factors, that is how we decide how much price investments we can do and how much campaigns we can drive in each quarter. So it is built up from various factors.
Okay, great. Thanks. I will move on then. If we look back on last quarter, you opened six new stores in other markets, yet the EBITA, excluding IFRS 16 in other markets, it grew by almost 100% in Q1. One might assume that new stores should not weigh on margins. Have you done anything different with these new stores to boost initial profitability? How should we think about this going into Q2 with all the new store openings?
We have a high bar when we open new stores. It is a thorough process before we decide where to open. So we know that the stores that we are opening should contribute to positive, both sales and profitability to the group. If we look at the different quarters, it can differ both in segments, in cost and so on, depending on how many stores we are opening. So for this quarter that we are presenting today, the first quarter, we opened five new stores in our most mature markets, which is Sweden and Norway. That has a slightly different effect on the cost side if you compare to a quarter, if we would open in more immature markets. So there can be differences between quarters, between the years, depending on where we open the stores.
Okay, great. Moving on then to Norway. The profitability margin improved almost 2 percentage points. How much of that margin gain survives the weaker NOK?
The profitability development in Norway is supported by a stronger NOK. So the gross margin has increased in the first quarter in Norway.
Yes, but if the NOK was to turn, how much of the margin increase is organic and how much is effect?
Oh, okay. We don't comment on that for the specific markets. But it has a very positive effect, of course, especially if you compare to last year, which was heavily negative when it came to FX effect for the Norwegian segment.
Okay, perfect. Just one final question from me on the upcoming new ERP system. Do you have a guidance for costs on this and approximately the split of how much will be capitalized?
Yes, we have. Just as you say, we are transitioning to a new ERP provider, and the purpose of that is to gain access to retail specific functionality and more tailored system capabilities. Our current ERP provider will not support with these capabilities going forward, and this project is something we look very positive to. It's a way to unlock new potentials. When it comes to guidance, we say that the total investment is estimated around SEK 80 million, which will be a split between CapEx and OpEx. This is in line with our investment in future growth and expansion for the group, so it will not be of any effect. We're still targeting towards our financial targets.
Okay, great. But you don't have any specific guidance on how much will land in OpEx?
No.
Okay.
We have the total amount, and then it's a split.
All right, perfect. That was it from me. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Daniel Schmidt from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.
Yes, hello, good morning. A couple of questions. Maybe starting with other markets, where you did see a quite good EBIT margin development year-over-year. You also write that the Rusta Online gross margin had a positive development while the macro environment in Finland, Germany remains challenging. If you take out the online business, which is I guess a lot of Sweden, some Finland maybe, and some Norway, how much was the organic development for Finland and Germany in terms of EBIT margin improvement?
Just as you say, other markets is divided between our newest markets, so Finland, Germany, and online as a channel. We have a positive development in the profitability all over in that segment.
Okay. You do highlight Rusta Online as a big contributor, which makes you believe that the offlessness in Finland and Germany is not really progressing, but it is. That is what you are saying, in terms of profitability?
Yes, correct. Yes.
Yeah.
They are all progressing.
Okay.
Yeah.
Okay. Another maybe detailed question. When you state in your accounting the profitability by market, and then you have the central function cost below that, have you done any changes to your accounting on this particular line? That line is up 33% in a year, which is quite a lot, actually.
Yeah, it is the same accounting as before, but we have a different level on the dollar effects. What has happened during the quarter is that the dollar went from, this is very technical, Daniel now, but the payables that we have in dollar, when we ended last quarter, you had a dollar of 9.27, but when we ended this quarter, it was close to 9.60. In a period where all the Christmas assortment is coming in to our warehouse and we have a high share of dollar in our payables, you get a negative effect due to that change in the currency. So it is just a currency revaluation effect. But everything is the same.
Okay, good. Maybe coming back to the gross margin. You talked about how you prioritize your investments depending on a number of factors. You have previously talked about returning to a normalized gross margin. When I look at your rolling 12 months gross margin, it is very close to 44%, which is a number that you have mentioned before. Should one interpret your communication when it comes to effects, investment in price, freight cost, and purchase cost coming up and all that you are happy with the level where gross margin is and that you see better value creation by investing if there is any net impact from effects into price, simply?
I think as a company, we are never happy. We do not guide on the gross margin. But if we look historically at the Rusta margin, around 44% would be a quite normal margin for Rusta, also taking into account the financial goals that we have.
Yeah, okay.
As you mentioned, we have a currency tailwind, and we can decide to use that to invest in pricing or improve our offering or mitigate increased costs such as sea freights and purchase prices.
Yeah. But just when you read it and given your comments, it is my feeling that you want to do both and that you are happy where the gross margin is right now, since it is back to where you once were, and that is in your target, basically.
I think for us, we want to be a price leader in the market. For us, it is important to always be able to continue to price invest in the market, also to gain market share. I think for us, having a positive tailwind when it comes to FX, we will try to give that to our customers by lowering our prices and having higher campaign sales.
Yeah. Okay. Then just nitty-gritty on the new warehouse automation ramp-up. You talked about that entailing extra cost in the quarter. Could you quantify how much, and is there going to be any ramp-up cost for Q2, or are you done by Q1?
The automation project is progressing according to plan. We are now in a ramp-up phase, and capacity is increasing day by day. We are not yet at the final acceptance test, but we are progressing and ramp-up is continuing.
We had the ramp-up during the summer, and we are waiting for the final acceptance test before we close the project. So far, everything looks very good. We are not at full capacity, but we are very positive. So during, of course, the ramp-up phase, we have extra cost as you usually have when you drive a project like this. But as you can see on our total OpEx side for the first quarter, we have decreased the share of operating costs. So overall, we have managed to do this in a very good way.
Okay. Would you say that that cost has been neutralized by the lower social cost for young people?
The build-up of the OpEx is quite complex. Of course, we have a positive effect of that. So a share of that is, of course, decreasing our total share. But there are many factors into the OpEx.
Okay. Just a final. I noticed that you have three signed stores in Germany now that are supposed to be open soon, I guess. You talked earlier about finding clusters or possible clusters in the German market, possibly to have a better impact on your local presence in that region. Are these three stores close to each other?
There are two stores signed now. Sorry, there are three, as you say, three stores signed, and all of these three stores are within the clusters that we have identified as new clusters for us, and they are within the same geographical spread as our current store network.
Okay, so they are in separate sort of clusters, but they are close to other stores that you already operate.
Yeah, it depends on how you define the cluster, but yes.
Okay. Any timing on those three particular stores? Are they calendar 2026 or 2027?
We have the first one opening now in Q3.
Okay. The following two is in a couple of quarters?
We don't have the definite date yet, but hopefully as soon as possible. But for this financial year, we believe there will be one, maybe two openings, but most probably one opening.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Niklas Ekman from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Can I ask you to elaborate maybe a little bit about the difference between the months, if there were any big differences between May, June, July? And now maybe also if you can elaborate a little bit on your comment when you talk about a stable start of Q2. Does that mean stable as in flat or as in a similar development to what you saw in Q1?
When we look at this quarter, we see quite stable sales between the quarter when we look at the totality. Then we know that we have, if you look at the market data for each country, that it has been quite uneven in the different months. When it comes to current trading, we see stable growth and actually the quarter that we are in now, Q2, we have the highest share of sales in the last month. So also the guidance on the quarter now is maybe a bit more unpredictable, given that the high share of sales will come in the later part of the quarter.
Very clear. Thank you. Can I also ask you to elaborate a little bit on Finland? We've talked here that you launched six new stores in Q4. You have another six now here during the autumn. Finland, even though there's a significant improvement in this quarter in the other divisions profitability, we're still seeing sales and profitability and including like-for-like sales that's lagging Sweden and Norway. What gives you confidence now that you're ramping up quite a lot in Finland that those stores are really going to pay off and that it's not going to be a drag on profitability?
No, but you're absolutely right. We've had a high tempo in Finland, the latest quarters, and that will continue in the coming quarter. Finland remains a long-term important market for us, and I don't think the question is so much whether Finland is an attractive market for us per se. The question is more of how we can unlock the potential in a clear way. I think my early observations here is that we need to continue to strengthen our brand awareness, but we also need to sharpen our offer and our marketing communication together with Club Rusta. Those are areas that we're reviewing at the moment. I would also like to point out that this is the exact same journey that we have done very successfully in Norway. We know that it takes time to raise profitability and sales in newer markets.
But I feel that we're progressing, and we have areas that we are now reviewing.
Very good. Thanks. Can you also tell us a little bit about your view on the state of the consumer? I think there's been quite positive signs in Sweden. This is a year of election, a lot of subsidies and tax cuts, et cetera. But what's your view here? If there's any big differences between the different markets?
No, I agree on your view that both Sweden and Norway see a bit more of a positive sentiment in the customer mindset. However, both Germany and Finland continue to be tough markets with a more negative customer sentiment. Even though we saw figures now coming from Finland that it has increased a bit, but it is still on a negative level. But here, of course, we make do of us being a low price leader, making sure that we invest in prices towards our customers and try to gain market share in this type of market.
Very clear. Thanks for taking my questions.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question comes from Andreas Lundberg from SEB. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning. Starting off with a question about Finland, you mentioned a few things, Cathrine. What's your saying on the product mix or the assortment in that market versus your other markets? Do you need to localize more, or what are you thinking?
I think there is a localization aspect, definitely. But I would say that it's more in the totality on how we communicate price, how we communicate around our concept, because it's very clear that the brand awareness around Rusta as a brand and as a concept is not as strong as in our more mature markets. Here I see that we need to strengthen in combination with, of course, sharpening both offer and marketing communication together with Club Rusta.
Will you change the previous communication or will you have more of it, so to say?
I would say that we will update it slightly. That's what we're reviewing at the moment.
Okay, cool. Back on other markets. First online, how much is online on other markets? Would you say that?
It's low single digits, so it's a fairly small part of other markets. However, it's an important channel that we believe in going forward. It has a high share of increased sales and also good profitability. So it's definitely a channel that we want to invest in going forward.
It performs very well.
Yeah, and you mentioned the higher gross margin there. In addition to currencies, are there any other changes or improvements when it comes to the margin for your online business? Thank you.
I would say that the sales mix in the online channel this quarter has been very good. So that is, of course, contributing.
Okay. [Audio distortion] back to these FX discussions and balance sheet items. You mentioned Christmas items. I realize there are big volumes there, but would you say this is still a recurring feature when the SEK is strengthening versus the U.S. dollar or the NOK?
Sorry, I didn't really catch the question there. But if it was the currency effect overall, just as we've said, in the gross margin, it's very positive for us that the SEK has strengthened against the dollar and all other purchasing currencies. Also, of course, now the strengthening of NOK is very positive for us, which is also reflected in the Norwegian segment, where you can see that the profitability boosts a bit from the currencies. So at the moment, we're happy with the level of the currencies and how it's developing.
Would you say that your balance sheet items are, so to say, partly a hedge?
Okay
Will this effect continue if the SEK is stronger to the U.S. dollar and the NOK or the U.S. dollar perhaps?
On the balance sheet side, we don't like quick changes, especially not on the balance day.
Right.
A slow strengthening of the SEK or where it doesn't bounce up and down between the quarters, that is preferable. That is the effect that you see in the central functions as a cost in this quarter, that the dollar changed from 9.20 to almost 9.60, which had the effect. In our payables for all the dollars payables.
All right.
That we don't like.
Right. The most part of the incremental higher cost in central cost function.
Yeah, that is the main reason why it is increasing. We also have slightly higher depreciations this year compared to last year, but those two are the biggest explanations.
Cool. Thank you so much. That concludes my questions.
Thank you.
There are no more questions at this time. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
Thank you so much for tuning in today and for all of your questions. Sofie and I] wish you a great week ahead.
Thank you.
Thank you.