Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Eurocash Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Results Presentation. Today with us we have our new CEO, Mr. Paweł Surówka, and also Mr. Jacek Owczarek our CFO, who will later help us with presentation. Let me give over the voice to Paweł Surówka, who will give you a brief overview of the full year and fourth quarter results.
Yes. Thank you very much, Jan. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. It's an honor and a pleasure to present to you for the first time the results of Eurocash in the role of new CEO. Obviously, it's a year where I have not been in the group. Having said that, I'd like to say a couple of words on the executive summary. I'm obviously also open to any questions that you will have after that, but through the biggest part of this presentation, it will be Jacek who will guide us through the numbers. I hope that you know, in the coming quarters, I'll be more and more at your disposal to answer any questions you might have.
I also hope that we will have the possibility to meet physically and individually during our roadshows and investor days. 2021 we've already highlighted that it was not an easy year for Eurocash. It particularly didn't start well. The impact of COVID hit us particularly in the retail segment, that is mostly due to a change in consumer behavior. What we've experienced and what we've seen is that during lockdowns, we have had a lot of consumers who shifted their behavior, leaning more towards more seldom and bigger purchases.
That has favored mostly discount stores, and that was not in favor of our chains, which are mostly linked around smaller supermarkets, closer to the consumer, but then not with, you know, more at a convenience level, not really disposed to the kind of shopping that you do once a week and where you go with a car. Obviously, we were all concerned that this might be some structural change in the consumer behavior. Luckily, it turned out that this trend reversed once lockdown and restrictions due to COVID had been reversed as well. As we are coming back into more normal terrain, as we are normalizing behavior, so does the consumer behavior of our clients, and we see consumers coming back. Again, the first and the second quarter strongly suppressed.
When it comes down to sales, we were starting the year with PLN 5.78 billion in overall sales, much below our expectations, also with a compressed gross margin. Same is true for the second quarter. Then picking up, particularly with a strong fourth quarter, where we were edging towards PLN 6.9 billion and with a higher gross margin of 13.6%. This trend can be particularly seen in, you know, the only unit within the wholesale unit where we can report like-for-like sales, which is cash & carry. Here we can see first quarter with a -12.6% on like-for-like.
That reflects particularly the exposure of cash & carry to those smaller stores that have been particularly impacted by changing consumer behavior. Here we can also see really the swing in like-for-like compared to a +5.2% in the fourth quarter. Analog to that, you know, we can see the trend in EBITDA, first quarter, PLN 121 million. Impacted on the write-off of 50 stores that you have all been aware of. We decided to write off the 50 stores with the least significant contribution in Delikatesy Centrum, so to really focus on the ones that we want to grow after that.
EBITDA turning positive again or you know with a positive trend and a positive dynamic towards year-end ending with 3.9% EBITDA margin and value of PLN 265 and PLN 274 including you know the EBITDA on the lost stores. Going forward we have an overall wholesale unit which was pretty much flat. As mentioned, quite significant drop in cash & carry sales, which however was offset by a better performance from our distribution, both our distribution companies, Eurocash Dystrybucja and our tobacco company, Eurocash Serwis.
We've also, and that is important for us, during the time that we were battling for better returns and not sacrifice a transition in our digital transformation, and we've added over PLN 1 billion in sales on eurocash.pl, which is going to be a really fundamental building on which we will build in the new strategy that we will speak about in the coming weeks and particularly in the coming quarter. The overall wholesale unit with only a slightly higher sales compared to 2020 of +2% and a slightly higher EBITDA.
However, as you can see in the fourth quarter, here sales have been already picking up by 7% and EBITDA increasing nicely by 12% year-on-year. In terms of retail here, obviously the depletion was the strongest. Delikatesy Centrum were losing. However, as we also tried to show in our previous presentations, this pattern has not been uniform around the entire Delikatesy Centrum brand. It has been mostly localized on own stores where we really have seen an impact on sales and profitability. That was not the case for our partner stores that were able and probably were a little bit more agile in reacting to changing consumer behaviors.
In our partner stores, we have still seen a like-for-like dynamic of 8.2% in 2021, overall, EBITDA level and PLN 74 million higher than on the full year basis. The entire retail segment still with an overall EBITDA of -35% year-on-year, slightly higher sales overall. But again, fourth quarter, much stronger with an EBITDA of over 30% growth year-on-year and higher sales in 40%. In terms of projects, Frisco obviously the big beneficiary in our company from those changes that I just mentioned, particularly in Warsaw. People have en masse turned to our services, bringing our warehouse to full capacity. Now Frisco is expanding into building a new warehouse in Warsaw but also expanding geographically.
We've been able to add new locations in the North, in Tricity region in Poland, in Katowice, in Kraków, and in Silesia, in the fourth quarter. Overall, like-for-like sales in Warsaw at 15.8%. Really taking the entire capacity of our warehouse and, you know, triggering our decision to invest in a new warehouse. We've also seen a very nice expansion growth on Duży Ben, our alcohol convenience stores that have now passed the mark of 200 stores in 2021. Our projects have a very positive sales growth of 77%.
EBITDA minus, but that is also linked to aggressive expansion, also linked to Kontigo being impacted because of Corona, but also because of the expansion and the fourth quarter, again, with a strong sales uptick, but still negative EBITDA margin, which was partially planned. With this short introduction, I will pause here. I would like to pass on the voice to our CFO, Jacek Owczarek, and obviously I'll be at your disposal for any questions after that. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Let's go into some details. Starting from the macro environmental what's around us. As you may remember, when you are following us for a year, like Paweł said, really the first half of the year was not only quite difficult for us but also quite difficult for our clients. The dynamics which we are right now presenting you for the full year were much more negative at the first half of the year. Of course it was reflected in our results as well. However, it's changed in the second half. Then as you can see that the convenience stores were growing over the year on 3.3%.
It's worth mentioning that an average ABC store is exactly in this category because it's around 70 sq m. You may also somehow link this with the performance of like-for-likes in cash & carry in the second half of the year. Supermarkets were having positive dynamics. At the same time, what all of us are reading in the newspapers, it's true that the smallest stores are simply closing. We had last year around 2,500 stores closed, the smallest ones. Of course, that's reducing the subsegment. On the other hand, if you would divide the value of the segment per stores which stayed, the fact is that whoever stayed is selling more.
That's the trends which in second half of the year they were helping us from the perspective of our performance. Of course, the second, I think phenomenon, which more and more we'll be able to discuss with you, and I think it's also raising a lot of questions on your sides on one-to-one meetings, it's inflation. Of course, we have inflation in both size and cost. It's somehow delayed in size. As a wholesaler, especially on that side, we are not experiencing exactly the same pace like you could expect from the national statistical office. Because in reality, we are negotiating B2B contracts with our main suppliers, and you have inflation, which is much smaller in dispatches than in retail prices.
On the other hand, also the costs are under pressure from the inflation perspective. Here again, you know, if you are looking into details of our financial statements, please refer to the note which is showing the cost per category. You can see easily that, you know, cost of the transport or cost of the salaries are more or less the same in the nominal terms in 2021 versus 2020. In reality, with this kind of the inflation, I think we coped quite well till now. Then, you know, a little bit more details from historical perspective. Again, as you can see, you know, we had the very strong rebound of sales which started in October, November, December, as well in January.
Maybe at the end, I will ask Paweł to comment about Q1 as well, but it was seen as well in Q1. Let's go into, you know, the segment by segment presentation. Starting from the wholesale. As you may remember, the story of wholesale, it's really about digitalization. As you can see, we sold almost PLN 6 billion or PLN 5.6 billion in electronic sales using eurocash.pl platform. Altogether we have around 32,000 clients on that platform. On the second pillar of growth in wholesale, it's really connected with franchise systems or partners systems, how we call them. The banners like ABC, Euro Sklep, Lewiatan, Groszek or Gama, they were growing on a yearly basis, and that's the significant part of our growth.
In reality, we are selling on average more to these clients than to the independent ones. Going into the numbers, in Q4, we had 7% growth in sales. On the right-hand side, you see the composition of the sales. I think what's worth to mention is the fact that the distribution was really the sub-segment which was growing the fastest in Q4. From our perspective, the growth in mix is much more balanced because in reality, in the past we had some quarters when we were growing in big portion in cigarettes, which from the perspective of working capital or from the perspective of profitability of business, from mix perspective only, was affecting us negatively. We're growing in all of these segments, mostly in distribution.
Somehow we've got the extra tailwind in a sense that government increased the excise tax on vodka. Of course, vodka is one of the biggest categories in the independent stores. So as you will see in our net debt presentation, we stocked up especially for that event, and also we're benefiting selling in before the tax increase to our clients. Altogether, due to you know sales increase and then the digitalization, our profitability in wholesale segment improved to 3.85% on EBITDA margin level. Full year quite similar situation, you know, a little bit more flat. Here you have a little bit bigger proportion of cigarettes, which I was mentioning before.
The segment which was under pressure, especially for the first two quarters of the year was cash and carry. Over the year, we were unable to recover full drop in sales of cash and carry till year-end. The rest of the business was really performing quite nicely, so we increased 2%, which probably will translate into something like 0.5% total market growth. Profitability grew as well to 3.47%. Of course, this number is after IFRS 16, so after the lease adjustment. In retail, as we are presenting main KPIs in three sub-segments. The first one is really partner shops, so our mini chains, if you wish. For the time being, we'd excluded Arhelan from the picture.
In the future, it's going to be classified as one of the partner shops. Arhelan was closed. Acquisition of 50% of Arhelan shares was closed at the beginning of November and is consolidated from the beginning of November into the group. Starting from the next quarter, I think we'll update also the picture here. I think it will not change much. The partner stores are performing better than others, and the growth here was quite healthy, 8.2%, like Paweł was telling. The franchise business, it's more or less at zero for the full year, and again, improving the second half of the year. Beginning of the year was much weaker.
In the own stores, we have negative dynamics, less negative dynamic, if you wish, from a year-over-year perspective. Again, the same information on quarterly basis. The quarter was really good for us. Picture here is different, and we increased 14% and we increased normalized EBITDA. Taking out the write-off and taking out Arhelan. The sales was recorded really in all sub-segments of our retail activities. For the full year, the picture is a little bit different, especially at the profitability level, and that's exactly what we stressed, that Q1 and Q2 were losing, Q3 we stabilized, and Q4 we grew. That was really the start of the own stores and franchise stores under the banner of Delikatesy Centrum.
Shortly, projects. As again, it was mentioned by Paweł, I will not repeat myself, but the fact is that the three main projects are Frisco. I think we, as it was said, we are growing geographically here, and we are quite happy with the growth rates which we are having. On the other hand, I think Duży Ben, maybe I will add one more information. Duży Ben is at the break-even point at contribution level, at the store contribution level. What we are expecting that at the year-end, you know, not for the full year, but at the year-end, we'll break even also at the project level. That's approaching somehow maturity, and that's what we budgeted.
IPH is the project of the POS system, so we are connecting independent stores through POS system. As you can see, we connected almost 2,500 stores already into our POS system. The story here is really about data, and then the story here it's also about providing good promotions and execution for, on one hand, our retailers, on the other hand, to producers as well. We keep investing in the project. On the quarterly basis, you know, the investment is quite similar year on year. Then the size, of course, the biggest it's really in Duży Ben and Frisco. That's why we are mentioning these two projects. For the full year, the situation it's a little bit different. We invested more than last year.
However, we increased sales by 77%, so the growth here it's quite a big one, and really driven by Frisco here. Part of the growth of Frisco, it's a consolidation effect because 2021 is the first full year when we consolidated Frisco. Just to remind all of us, we acquired the company middle of 2020, so we had only half of the revenue in our consolidated numbers. For comparable numbers, we just include both here. All of this translates into the financial statements. From the financial statements perspective, we had normalized EBITDA growing to PLN 274, as we said. What we normalized, it's a write-off on Delikatesy Centrum.
Also we decided that due to reshaping the strategy of Kontigo, which, as Paweł said, was hit quite strongly in the commercial centers in shopping malls. Right now, we are lowering the selling size, so we write off PLN 16 million at consolidation level, PLN 16 million of rents, contracts, and assets in Kontigo. These two retail plus Kontigo, that's our normalization here. For the full year, the company says it's more than PLN 26 billion, which I think it's exactly what we're expecting for this year. The result on a yearly basis, it's quite flat, even after annualization of the write-offs, as I presented before. From the cash flow perspective, that was quite stable year.
Here, please, have a look on the right-hand side. You can see that we invested in stock additional today, so our stock grew from 19.6 to 21.3. That was really reflecting in cash conversion, turnover as well. The fact is that that's additional almost PLN 200 million investment in vodka, which we bought mostly on cash to be able to sell it with the better margins in Q1 2020. Now, that is under control, I think nothing new again. If you would like to really isolate, you can take out this vodka deal out of the net debt. Even with the vodka deal, I think there's nothing to worry here about. That's all on my side.
What I would propose, maybe Paweł will come back to the first quarter for a second, and then we go to Q&A. Yeah.
Yes. I mean, one general remark only, and we you know being given that there's some uncertainty, and those years are quite incomparable because of the COVID effect, we decided that we would also give a slight forward guidance in terms of the first quarter 2022. What we can say is that we definitely see a continuation of the positive trend that we've experienced in the fourth quarter, translating in a double-digit growth in sales all over the group. This translates obviously into all our business KPIs. We believe that the first quarter is going to have a very positive dynamic, showing that the consumer behavior trends that we've seen in the beginning of 2021, which was weak, have not been of a structural nature.
They're reversing, and they're also reversing in a way that we can see that we are ending up in a higher level with a comparable quarter before the pandemic. That is obviously partially due to inflation, but still, the first quarter has been pretty strong, particularly on the cash generation side. We believe that this is something that is a good sign for the entire year. We believe that Eurocash is back on the path of profitable growth, and we would like this to be a continuation for the entire year.
Okay.
We are open for questions. For Q&A session, please, use the chat. I will be transmitting the questions here to everybody. We are open for your questions. Okay, we have a first one. The question is whether we envisage the further restructuring of the retail chain. That's about mainly closing of the stores and potential charges which would result from that.
Okay, maybe I will take it. I think based on our best knowledge, whatever it's provided for, it's sufficient, and also it's reflected in very technical note, which, of course, we have in our financial statement regarding impairment of assets. The fact is that no further adjustment are needed in this sense.
As you can imagine, you know, sometimes changes in the board like these are also a good occasion to look on the balance sheet, and then have a thorough look on what we believe and what we don't believe in going forward. I believe that we took a very thorough look, taking probably some pain in this quarter that we thought we need to take. I can only echo what Jacek is saying. I think we've taken the decision that we needed to take in order to be well prepared for the coming quarters.
Okay. The next question which we have is regarding the strategic option process, whether there are any news and how we see it forward.
I mean, I can take this one. We've said that, you know, we are looking openly over options to, you know, to weigh different options within the group. This process has not finished yet. You know, I think it is partially our thoughts are partially mirrored in the kind of value that we see on a fair market value basis in our retail stores in the balance sheet. You know, we're reflecting some of those considerations in the balance sheet, but we cannot give any definitive statements at this point. I don't know, Jacek, whether you would like to say this.
We are under, you know, public statement, so please remember.
Okay. Any further questions? If yes, just use the chat box. Okay, we got another one. In which P&L line have you booked the additional impairment in Q4?
That sounds like a question to the CFO.
Yes. Yeah. That was the acceleration of the lease contract. You know, technically speaking, it's acceleration of depreciation. It's between EBITDA and EBIT, yes, depreciation and amortization.
Okay. Immediately another one. Can you comment on the sales of Frisco in Warsaw in 2021? Growth of 16% looks rather modest. Was the base too high or some delivery issues?
Generally speaking, I don't think it's modest, frankly speaking, because it's the fastest, I believe, on the market of e-grocery. Please remember that we are not in the quick commerce model. Yeah. What we are trying to do here is really cover plan to size up or somehow subsidize hypermarket. I don't think if you are looking at this from that perspective, it's modest. I think, you know, in three weeks time, we'll deliver the first quarter results. You will see that trend somehow is sustainable. Simply, I think it's quite nice.
Yeah, I mean, absolutely agreeing and maybe also adding to that. You know, first of all, let's bear in mind that in Warsaw, Frisco right now has a 60% market share, defending it even though we see new entrants to the market. In its very own mission, which is scheduled or stock up shopping, it is very much holding its ground. We've seen entrants come and go, the kinds of Jokr and Swyft in the q-commerce side. Frisco has very much defended its own niche in the market, and it's defending its incumbent status in there. Also what needs to be said, what I've also hinted at in the beginning is that Frisco is now running at pretty much full capacity in its Warsaw warehouse.
As I mentioned, it is adding a second warehouse in the Warsaw region, so we will be able to expand our further possibilities, and that should also unblock even further sales growth in Warsaw, particularly.
Okay. Thank you then. Next question, that would be directly to our CFO.
Please don't, Paweł, answer.
Yes. To comment on the factoring limits, as there was additional comment on the
Yes
on our financial statement.
As you know, we are using the factoring limits and, you know, the limits are fluctuating. The fact is that right now we are using less of these limits and it was pre-agreed with the financial institutions. But anyway, you know, we are well within the covenant and I don't think also in coming quarters that it's going to be a big issue. Yes, somehow these limits were limited in Q4 in agreement with the financial institutions.
Okay. Next question, it's regarding inflation. Do you expect potential downtrading going forward due to high inflation? Have you seen some just yet?
Downtrading.
Downtrading
Generally speaking, you know, inflation probably that's one of the topics of our Q1 results when we'll publish them, because, you know, we have, for sure, inflation in the sales growth. You have inflation due to war in Ukraine in part of the products, for example, like, you know, basic ones like, I don't know, pasta, I remember, or oils. You know, there are some factors which are multiplying here. Generally speaking, I think for the retailers, inflation is not bad because, you know, it's really helping to grow the top line and at the end, convert into cash flow through negative working capital.
I think we can elaborate a little bit more together with the results of Q1, because I think then it's much more visible, the impact of Ukraine and the refugees in Poland, on the demand in Poland and, on the other hand, the rise of inflation. On the cost side, you know, the changes are accommodated by sales growth from our perspective because we are more and more diluting this fixed cost base through the higher revenues. We are coping with this, if this is the question, if we understood correctly.
No, I mean, if the question was pertaining to consumer behavior, obviously we do see a bigger part of consumer shoppers being more of a value in buyers, and we get much more promotion hunters. The number and the percentage of Polish consumers who declare that they would want to, you know, save in whatever is on groceries is growing. That is obviously a trend that is impacting us, but it is a trend also that we can react to. We see, particularly in our partner stores, people switching to a little bit of lower cost brands and the likes.
We believe that these are also elements that our stores will be able to react to, and keeping up the position anyway.
Going to the next one, it's more technical. Basically, the preliminary results came in much better than expectations. However, they've been written down due to additional depreciation charges. If you could comment on that, where it comes from and
Yeah. That's exactly what you were mentioning before. The first difference is coming from Kontigo. As I said, that's the adjustment to reflect the fact that Kontigo is going out from the shopping mall. We accelerated depreciation on the IFRS lease contracts. You know, technically speaking, what you have through this IFRS 16, you are recognizing on your balance sheet your future commitments in the lease contracts, if you are not owner of the real estate, of course, like we are not. Then the secondly, partly write off on the closed stores of the fixed assets in Kontigo. To reflect the fact that we are planning as it was mentioned with us in previous quarters, also to franchise more Delikatesy Centrum own stores.
As part of the, you know, strategic review, we know that part of the stores are going to be franchised right now. We know that part of the stores are with the negative contribution. We recorded around PLN 8 million additional just to reflect the need potentially to cover cost when we'll give it to the franchises.
On a normalized repeatable basis, the earnings that we reported are in line with the ones that were guided before. The difference being only one-off charges that we've decided to put in after that very thorough look at our balance sheet and in a spirit of really having a clean ship going forward in the next quarters.
Okay. Another financial question, whether you-
It's an investor relations meeting. What are you expecting?
Whether you can comment on the adjustment in EBIT 2020, down by approximately PLN 20 million?
2020 or 2022?
For-
2021.
2020. It's kind of regarding the base for the-
Okay.
... last year. It was exactly relating to the differences between the annual report.
I know. During the semi-annual financial statements in June 2021, we provided for the differences coming from the previous years. It relates to the fact that, you know, we counted the mostly returnables, and we find out that, you know, we had the error in the system. It's not coming at the end, but it was coming at the beginning years. Technically speaking, what you are doing for the comparability purpose, you are restating the last year to have it reflected, on the comparable basis. In our case, it related to the balances from 2012 to 2015.
You know, you don't have so long comparables in your financial statement, so standards just push you to reflect it in the last year. Yes, it's last year restatement. However, it relates to the much more previous years and returnables, generally speaking, values of returnables.
Next question, how do you see Ukrainian refugees impacting retail sales from March onward? What about your partner sales in particular?
I mean, generally, I can comment that, you know, as a matter of fact, obviously, you know, the Ukrainian crisis has impacted us manifold, particularly also through the fact that we have 3,000 employees within our group, who are coming from Ukraine. Obviously, that is a development which is very challenging for the group.
From a business point of view, this influx of new people to Poland is rather positive in the sense that we see new consumers coming in into the country, and we've already seen this in sales, particularly in regions that have been affected by those new consumers. We believe that this is a enduring trend that we will be able to take advantage of.
What we also expect, we're not seeing yet on a scale, but we believe that will translate, is that also as these people, as these refugees are going to integrate into the Polish workforce, which I understand has been facilitated also by the legislation around the refugee status in Poland, we will hopefully see this as an offset and somehow offsetting factor to the labor cost increase that we see, particularly in our logistic warehouses. We believe that this will further be of a positive impact, and not only in the logistical warehouses. We see a lot of skilled workers coming into Poland, and we believe that in the coming quarters as they're integrating the workforce, we are looking forward to embrace that. I don't know, Jacek, whether-
I fully agree.
Okay.
Another question, it's actually repeating the one regarding the factoring limits and relates to your opinion about financing capabilities by banks, potential obligation issues could be an issue.
You know, we have very moderate net debt EBITDA ratios which we presented, and also, you know, we are covered fully with the limits which we have. You will see in three weeks time that it's exactly the same in Q1 when we are supporting much higher sales in Q1 in comparison with last year with the financial capacity which we have. I think it's very theoretical question.
Great. I think I will take one about rumors about the potential disposal in retail segment. Basically, we are not commenting on rumors. We are doing our job with the strategic review of options. Basically if we have any news on that, we will be definitely coming to you know, with all the information required and needed to this. That's the comment here. Another one relates to the value of the basket, whether it's growing faster or slower in first quarter-
Oh.
-than in like to like.
We'll need to come back to like-for-like decomposition because, unfortunately, let me check, but we don't have this data, so in such a detail. If any of you is really interested in such very detailed questions, please contact Jan afterwards and we'll provide it.
Also regarding, you know, the trends in first quarter, definitely we'll be giving you more information in around one month from now with all the details. Clearly, the general statement for now is that the first quarter it's doing well. Obviously, there will be, you know, like-for-like, you know, the inflation will be clearly the game changer, but also market it's behaving well. All of that you can already find in our statements.
Okay. Any further questions? Still there is another two. One is about other operational information and other operational income in Q4.
Basically, for now, to give such details clearly, I'll be happy to do it offline and double-click on whatever numbers you wish.
We have the note in financial statements, which is exactly covering other income and other costs. Let me only give you the exact number. One second. I will try to find it fast. If not, just please refer to our financial statements, okay? Because that's. It's just referenced. It started to be a big document, but I'm sure we have all of this data. We have the note regarding the provisions, it's note number. It's page 93 in consolidated financial statements. You have the notes regarding the income statement and the one which is relating to the other income and costs. It's note number 28 to financial statements.
You have, you know, full list of whatever it's materially on both sides on comparable basis this year versus last year.
If you would need any assistance with that, I would be happy to help you with. Also another question regarding the EBITDA of the retail segment, which could be the basis to look forward for the next years. Kind of cleaned by, you know, the charges of the closures and the own stores. Normalized level.
We have in our financial statements in the presentation, which you will find on our website in a few seconds which I was presenting. We have the retail data showing the normalized retail EBITDA for the full year. The only difference if you would use this data in comparison and try to estimate next year, except you know the normal growth of efficiency, please remember that really the Q1 and Q2 were very weak last year. Please remember that Arhelan on annual basis is bringing additional around, you know, PLN 20 million-PLN 23 million in EBITDA. That's really additional one of which you don't have in the 2021 numbers. The rest it's really, you know, I would assume growth in Q1 and Q2.
Even if you are assuming Q3 and four much more flat, I think that could be a good estimation.
Yeah. Also, following on the retail. If you could comment on the split of EBITDA in the retail segment between the own stores and the franchise stores.
We are not providing this data because, you know, at some point, we had this dialogue with you, and the data could be a little bit misleading because on the own stores you have the full margin. From the, you know, purchase price of the goods to the retail price of the shelf, when in the wholesale business, margin which we are consolidating is wholesale margin. From the purchase price of the goods to the delivery price to the stores and then the franchisee margin, it's something which is not consolidated with the rest of group. Somehow it's incomparable if you wish. Long time ago we had this discussion, and we decided to drop it and rather discuss retail performance only.
If this is of any need, we can try to provide these details. Personally, I think we'll not show it, you know, on the quarterly basis.
Okay. I don't see any further questions. However, if there would be, you know, any unanswered one, please come back to us. We'll be happy to answer them. Let's just conclude with final remarks.
Yes. Thank you very much for attending this call for the last year. Somehow as you can see, you know, for Paweł with the first quarter. I'm very glad that, you know, we're able to to really present you good result at the end within the bad quarter. Of course, we have challenges, but we have a lot of opportunities ahead of us. I think that right now really the market trends are on our side.
I, from my side, want to just add that, you know, again, that there was a year that I was not assisting. Thank you very much, Jacek, that you walked us through those numbers. Thank you for saving me. We got a couple of questions. It's definitely a pleasure to be part of the team. What is important for me is obviously how we are going to build the results of the company in the quarters and years going forward. For this, we are really working in a very energized way on formulating the new strategy for the Eurocash Group, which is going to go until the end of 2025. We are working on this internally.
There's over 100 of our directors and employees working on a revision of all business units and of our goals. We want to be focusing on what I already said is going to be profitable growth and cash, the profitable company that it is and it deserves to be. I would already like to invite all of you. There will be probably a the first quarter pre-results between that. In June we will want to announce a new strategy, and we will definitely want to invite all of you to an investor's presentation or investor's day, showing a little bit what we have in mind for the next couple of years that I believe you will like. Please already look out for any announcement on the concrete date.
We will give this to you soon, and I hope to be able to give you more details in short notice. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. That concludes the call.