Getinge AB (publ)

Thank you and good morning everyone and of course from our side thank you for joining today's call. As you've heard I have our CFO Anders Lexman with me and we are here to present to you the Axfoods Interim Report for the first quarter 2023. And in the investor section of our website you will find the presentation material for today's call and the recording as usual will also be made available after the presentation. But with that, let's get started, and please turn to page number two. Here you'll find the agenda for today. We will first have a brief market overview, and then I will go through our first quarter performance. After that, Anders will take you through our financials. And following Anders' part, I will talk about the progress we are making with the new and highly automated logistical center in Bolsta outside Stockholm, which of course is a part of our strategic agenda. And then the outlook for the year and a quick summary before we open up for questions. Now, please go to the next page, page number three. And let's now turn into the first quarter's development for the market as a whole and for Axford. So, again, turn page and we are now on page number four. The market growth amounted to 19%. 0.2% during the first quarter, entirely driven by higher prices, and consequently growth has been significantly weaker than the overall food price inflation. Like the rest of Europe, inflation in Sweden remained very high during the first quarter. As a result of external factors such as the effects of the pandemic, climate change and the war in Ukraine, the entire food supply chain has faced enormous cost increases over the past year. And in Sweden, we have been hit particularly hard also due to the weaker Swedish corona. According to Statistics Sweden, consumer prices on food increased approximately 20% in the first quarter compared to a year ago. Higher costs for food, along with higher costs for electricity and fuel, for example, are rising interest rates have created a challenging scenario for many households. And our focus is to protect consumer interest, and we are working hard to mitigate the cost pressure. But gladly, we have seen prices of certain raw materials declining for some time, and the pressure faced by many of our suppliers has begun to ease. And we are now working intensively together with our suppliers to ensure that this is also reflected in the prices to our consumers, and actually, which has already started to happen in certain categories, such as dairy, bread, and fruit and vegetables. Although many factors could still impact the situation, these are nevertheless positive signals. And our hope is that now food price inflation has peaked. With that, go to next page, page number five. And in this challenging time, it is clear that a growing number of consumers are choosing to shop with us, particularly at Willys. That is clear proof that what we do is appreciated, and this enabled us to further strengthen our position during the first quarter. In total, we grew approximately 20%, which was double the rate of the market. In e-commerce, our sales declined almost 5%, which was less than the market, where the decline rate was minus 14%. If we exclude the divested matatese, our sales actually increased by 2%. So in that, we are clearly outperforming both on the total market and online. Please take next page, page number six. And if we look at our sales, our consolidated net sales for Axfood grew 16% during the first quarter. This increase is attributable to high food price inflation, but also increased in new customers. The share of retail sales in e-commerce was 5.8%, which is clearly higher than the overall market. Now, I will go through sales by segments in more detail shortly, but before that, go to the next page and pay attention. Let's look into our operating profit. In total, group operating profit amounted to 695 million SEK and the operating margin was 3.6%. The reported operating profit includes item effect and comparability of minus 55 million SEK related to the restructuring of our logistical operations and the transition to the new logistical center in Bålsta. Also, I would like to remind us that the prior year period included, among certain costs, a capital gain of 221 million SEK for the divestment of mat.se. And all items affecting comparability for the first quarter and prior year comparisons are included in the DAGAP segment. The adjusted operating profit, which excludes items affecting comparability, increased approximately 15%. The increase was mainly the result of strong growth and effective cost control. However, earnings were negatively impacted by the fact that we have not fully passed on our suppliers' price increases to our consumers. We also had a higher market investment in both our store chains and in Dagab, which resulted in higher share of campaigns. Higher rental and electricity costs also had a negative impact on our profit. And as you may know, rents for the vast majority of our stores and warehouses were indexed up from January 1st, based on the inflation rate as of October last year, which is in line with the contractual terms, which are basically standard for the commercial leases. The adjusted operating margin ended up at 3.9%. Now, let's move on, and we are now on page number eight, and I would like to cover our segments, and we'll start with Villis. Net sales growth for Villis amounted to a full 24%, and like-for-like retail sales increased by almost 22%. The exceptionally strong development was attributable to pricing and volume growth from increased in-store customer traffic. The positive trend in cross-border shopping continued, and Eurocash sales increased. With that said, comps were tougher than before as the first quarter last year was only partly affected by the pandemic-related restrictions. Also, the first quarter is usually a seasonally weaker quarter for the border trade. Our operating profit increased 24% and amounted to 454 million, corresponding to an operating margin of 4.3%. The very strong growth in like-for-like sales compensated a lower gross margin as continued price increases by suppliers were not fully reflected in price of consumers. Also, higher share of campaigns as well as higher cost for rent and electricity negatively impacted the profit. Let's move on now to page number nine. And Vili's momentum is very strong, and it has a been clear for some time now that many of our customers are returning for their grocery shopping to Willys, as a growing number of consumers have come to appreciate the chain's offering over the past year. And on this slide, you see a chart with a number of new members in Willys Plus, our loyalty program, by month, rolling three month averages. New memberships picked up significantly from August last year, and went from around 25,000 a month to basically double that to around 50,000 or so. The total numbers of members now in the Villis Plus program is now approaching 3.4 million. And with the ambition to offer Sweden's cheapest bag of groceries and various types of loyalty-promoting activities, Villis is establishing a position as the obvious choice of food store for an increasingly broader consumer base. As a testament to its success, Willys has been the most recommended chain in the Swedish food retail market now for three years in a row. We're now leaving Willys, and let's go now to page number 10 and look into Hemship. Our net sales growth for Hemship amounted to 14%. In terms of retail sales growth, Hemship once again displayed a solid performance, slightly stronger than of the market, and continued to gain shares in the traditional grocery segment. In total, retail sales, which includes Tempo, increased by 11% and 9% on a like-for-like basis. The development in the larger stores in central urban locations was more favorable than development in stores in residential areas and in the Tempo chain. The operating profit for Hemshöp amounted to 71 million SEK and the operating margin was 3.9%. Similar to the situation for Willys, but of course at a different magnitude, the growth in like-for-like sales offset an overall negative impact on profits from inflating less than the suppliers, a higher share of campaigns and increased costs for rent and electricity. If we continue with Hemsjöp, and please turn to page number 11, and Hemsjöp continues to develop its concept, strengthening its sustainability profile and invest in an increased presence and modernization of existing stores. And these investments are clearly generating results for Hemsjöp, and it's clear that Hemsjöp is also attracting now more price-conscious consumers through some of their campaign activities, not at least Alte Brapris. Let me now comment on Snabgross, so we now move on to page 12. Snabgross delivered a strong start to the year. Sales increased 23% in total and 19% on a like-for-like basis. The development was mainly due to the recovery of the café and restaurant market after the pandemic, as well as food price inflation. And Snabgross has also continued to make progress with the Snabgross Club member concept. However, more challenging comps now and a weaker restaurant market resulted in a weaker volume trend, particularly towards the end of the quarter. Operating profit amounted to 30 million SEK, corresponding to an operating margin of 2.6%. The strong growth was offset by negative product mix effects, costs related to new stores and marketing for Snabb Growth Club, as well as higher costs related to rent and electricity. Please now turn to page number 13, and we'll look into Dagab. Net sales for Dagab increased 18% in the quarter, mainly attributable to the sharp increase in sales to the store chains. Dagab's result was impacted by cost-effecting comparability, which I mentioned before, and the operating profit amounted to 207 million SEK. The adjusted operating profit amounted to 261 million, and the adjusted operating margin was 1.5%. The higher profit was primarily driven by the strong growth, and productivity was good despite all the destructuring operations. However, the profit was impacted negatively by increased market investment to support DAGAS customers, and higher logistical costs as a result of lower delivery reliability, mainly due to high volatility in demand. So with that, I would like you to turn page, go to page number 14, and I will hand over the voice to Anders. So, Anders, please go ahead.

Thank you, Claes. And then we are on page 15, and let me begin with the cash flow for Q1. If we compare with last year, the operating cash flow was 948 million lower mainly due to inventory buildup ahead of Easter and also higher inventory due to the restructuring of the logistic operation with the new logistic center in Bålsta. We also had a couple of high invoices in Q4 related to automation investments, which was paid in the first quarter. The dividend paid out and the negative changes in working capital was supported by higher utilization of our credit facilities. At the end of Q1, we utilized approximately 1.5 billion SEK of our credit facilities compared to approximately 1.7 billion last Q1. Please turn page to page number 16. Looking at the financial position, the net debt has increased compared to Q1 last year due to higher leasehold debts connected to the new logistics center in Bålstan. Compared to year-end, the interest-bearing loans increased due to the dividend payout and the increase in net working capital. The equity ratio is fairly stable over the last couple of years, however, improving slightly from Q1 last year, which was negatively affected by the bridge financing of the Bergendal acquisition. Total investments excluding leasehold for the first quarter was in line with Q1 last year. However, the investment in the retail operation was higher, and at the same time, the investment in wholesale was lower. We have a high ambition of new store establishment this year, and we have already established four new group-owned stores in Q1. We also at the same time see a lower pace in investments related to the new logistics center in Bålsta. And then let's turn page to page number 17. As I mentioned before, the cash flow for Q1 was negatively affected by the development of the change in working capital, which also had an impact on the net working capital as percentage of group sales. A reversal of this effect is partly expected in the next quarters. Also, we continue to focus on payment terms on both accounts receivable and accounts payable. The capital employed has increased over the last years, mainly due to the recognition of leasehold debt. we have had a diluting effect on the return on capital employed. However, at the end of the first quarter, the capital employed was in line with year end 2022, and we don't expect to see any major further increase in the near future. And thereby, Claes, I hand over to you again.

Thank you, Anders, and we're now on page 18, but let's now right away go to page number 19. We have a couple of strategic focus areas, and here you can see them. And we have, as you know, a full agenda for 2023 to continue to develop Axfood and all our businesses. Today I will focus on one of these strategic focus areas, namely supply chains, so please go to page 20. In parallel with managing the prevailing inflationary environment and changing customer behavior, we are continuing our work to become even more efficient and reduce our costs. And all of you that is following the webcast, I hope now that you can see a video playing. With respect to the overall efficiency and reducing cost, we are now carrying out the largest logistic investments in the history of our group to improve the competitiveness of our own concepts and our wholesale customers and offer a more comprehensive and affordable assortment. And the most significant of our logistic investments is a new logistics center in Båstad, which is now in operation. And in early February, we made the first deliveries from Båstad of products from the dry assortment. This was of course a big milestone, one of many, and a fantastic achievement considering the complexity of this project. And right now, over 170 stores are receiving daily deliveries of a total of approximately 2,800 pallets of goods from Bålsta. And the deployment of Bålsta is a work in progress that will continue throughout 2023 and into 2024. with the addition of deliveries from the refrigerated and frozen range, as well as e-commerce, and a gradual increase in customers receiving deliveries. And we are now on page 21. Our outlook for the year is unchanged, and it covers investments, items affecting comparability, and new store establishment. And as for the latter, We are accelerating the pace compared to previous years. So far, we have opened up four new stores, all of which are Willys. And please turn now to page 22 and the last slide of today's presentation. Let me sum up. Food has probably never attracted as much attention as it is now attracting to the consumers in general, which we have a great understanding for. As a food retailer, it's therefore more important than ever before that we are able to ensure our offering is relevant and competitive. With our various concepts, we once again succeeded in gaining market shares and attracting even more customers during the quarter. It is our outstanding employees who make this possible every day, which I'm incredibly thankful for. We also continue to invest in our offering and efficiencies and made major strides in our long-term focus on logistics, which will ultimately allow us to become even more competitive. And the power and agility we have developed in recent years are competitive advantages. They allow us to create value for all our stakeholders, to maintain a strong financial position, and to continue investing to be a leader in affordable, good, and sustainable food. With that as a summary, I would like to hand over to the operator to open up the line for questions. Thank 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 Fredrik Evarsson from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.

Thanks so much. Morning all. A few questions from my side. I think I'll take them one by one. So first one on the gross margin. You said gross margin in villas is down, but on a group level, it's actually up a little bit. I think more than 30 basis points. And I suppose that's due to DAGAB. Can you start by just explaining this sort of dynamic and what happened in the quarter?

Well, Fredrik, I presume that you look in the P&L and the gross profit and gross margin in the P&L, right? Yes. You can't compare actually the actual gross margin in the change because this is what we... Recognize them and we have a dilutive effect in in or mix change effect in in that in that growth gross profit you not only have Costs for for products you also have costs for labor and depreciation and so on in in that gross profit so you can't compare that gross profit actually

Yeah, okay, that's fair, I understand.

If I understand your question right. To be clear, our gross margin for our products is down, as we have commented, but the reported is a functional reported gross margin, which is comparable.

Yeah, that's super clear, thanks. And then focusing on village gross margin, because now we see that the CPI is actually getting above PPI. So due to that sort of information or fact, is it fair to assume that this pressure on village gross margin that we've seen over the last year or two will ease a little bit going forward?

Well, of course, we are in a very competitive market and one of our most important KPIs is to make sure that we maintain our price position in village. But clearly, which we are also indicating now, is that the price pressure from our suppliers is easing up. That should allow us to see a lower food inflation rate. And we also see in some of that it's already coming down in the end of the quarter. And we hope that will ease up, obviously.

Good. And last one from me on the cash flow. Obviously, that's a bit tricky to forecast due to everything that's happening within the logistics and so forth. So how should we view networking capital and especially inventories, of course, over the coming quarters? I mean, it's usually quite stable over the year, but I assume we can expect inventories to decline from here, right?

Yeah, as I mentioned, Fredrik, we had a quite big calendar effect in Q1 to Easter, and we assume that we will come back to more normal levels coming quarter.

Oh, sorry, I missed that. Thanks. That's all my questions. Yeah, thank you.

The next question comes from Daniel Schmidt from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.

Yes, good morning, Claes and Anders. A couple of questions from me. Coming back to the discussion on producer prices, you mentioned, Claes, that the pressure is easing a bit. At the same time, is it fair to say that sort of the rhetoric in the market has been dialed up another notch when it comes to sort of what happened in late March with comments from Lidl Coop and ICA. I think they all denounced the price cuts on part of their assortment. Do you think that that sort of, is that in any way working against your capability to compensate for producer prices going into Q2 and onwards or sort of has the map sort of changed?

Morning, Daniel. I think that our focus has been, as always, to make sure that we continuously work to be efficient and to have a full bag of groceries out there in the market. You've seen certain campaign activities from others, but that's in a few hundred of articles. For us, it's the full bag that we are working on. And we've seen campaigns, you know, significant campaigns, activities from during the full quarter and also during previous years as well. So I don't see that as a major change in that.

Okay. Maybe it's more sort of a marketing trick than what it really has in terms of impact on the consumer then. And then maybe moving on, you mentioned that there's been an ongoing dilemma during last year when it comes to DAGAD's delivery reliability. And it comes back to, I think Anginous mentioned, volatility in demand. Are you seeing any change to that in terms of what you can do to improve that situation? Of course, you can't do much about the volatility in demand, but on your side?

Yeah, no, but it's a fair point. And that's, you know, it's a number we're working hard on right now. I think it's, you know, compared to the effects from the pandemic that we saw a year ago or in 2022, I think it's easing up. We are getting better and better service levels from our suppliers. But as we are in a situation right now, I would say we're We've seen a significant increase in demand and volatility related to the campaigns that has been somewhat disturbing the numbers. We are also fairly strict in terms of how we are measuring our numbers. And then in addition, which we are handling right now, it is the conversion to the new logistical center in Bålsta, where we're operating with two large warehouses at the same time. And of course, that has not helped during this transition period. So that has an impact, must be clear to say. now that i understand so but overall i i you know i i overall i just want to say donnie that i think that uh you know i i think we're starting to see better and better better and better support from our suppliers which versus a year ago and i think that's the most important part all right good and then just a final from me on the horeca business uh and maybe not that surprising uh you mentioned you start to see certain volume decline towards the end of the quarter

And of course, you had a tremendous pickup in the Smiths this last year. Could you say anything about the significance of that certain volume decline?

Yeah, I don't want to overdramatize it, but I also want to say that we see, as you say yourself, it's kind of expected a bit. I don't want to overdramatize it. And I think also, if we look at when we had the downturn, during the pandemic, we also see that Snabgos managed to handle the environment somewhat better as well, as we are supporting more, you know, cafe and restaurants that is more like the pizzerias and so forth that I think that I judge that will not have as high impact if we will see, you know, a downturn in this part of our industry due to the pressure on our households. Yeah.

Okay. Good. Thanks. Thanks, guys. That's all for me.

thank you the next question comes from Nicholas Ekman from Carnegie please go ahead thank you yes a few questions from me as well firstly coming back to these campaigns that you talked about here we saw a lot of noise in the media in March April where all your big competitors were out cutting prices and I recognize that these were really just campaigns rather than any kind of price war. But given how much noise there was, have you noticed any impact on your sales? Because you were not as vocal, even though I guess you're following prices, you were not as vocal. Have you noticed any change, any loss in momentum for Willys, for instance, even temporarily? It would be interesting to just hear your thoughts.

I don't want to comment too much on the second quarter Niklas but I think overall if you see as you point out there's been a few campaign activities but if I look at there's been significant measures at the same time you know price studies in the market from independent price studies that you know confirms really strong performance in the market that has also been you know you can say on the positive side as well when you look at it so yeah that's kind of an answer I think okay okay fair enough and second question on inflation you talk about peak inflation and you show this graph where we see inflation coming down in March but

that's the year-over-year effect if we look sequentially prices were still higher in march than in february so i'm curious are you actually seeing inflation coming down sequentially and going forward as well is that what you're expecting or are you rather expecting inflation to level out at the current level

It's a good question. Of course, there's a lot of things that is impacting this, but what we have seen in a few categories actually it's going down, but you also have categories like related to sugar that has gone in the other direction, how this mix will fall out, we'll see. But I think I want to send that signal is that the price pressure that we've seen in 2022 and the beginning of 2023 is now very different coming now into April, May and moving forward. So now how this will level out, there are many factors obviously affecting this, but I think that we are seeing an ease in that. But as you point out, we are still compared to 2022 or 2021 at a higher level. We have not seen the dramatic price cuts, but the pressure on price increases has gone down.

And can I also ask, you say several times here today, you said that you have yet to fully pass on the cost increases. How soon do you think you can catch up? And I'm not just talking input costs now, but you mentioned electricity rental costs, wage costs increasing as well.

That is obviously, if you look at historical and the low margin business that we have in the industry it tends to over time you know be reflected now I think if you look at our side we are also working to mitigate some of the cost pressure that we are getting as I mentioned in terms of electricity and fuel rents and so forth we do that through more efficient operations through investments in our logistics etc so So we are working on our side fairly hard now to mitigate some of the costs that we are getting. And obviously it helps with the amount of new customers that is coming into our stores. That also helps to mitigate these costs.

Very good, thanks. And just a final question on the Bålsta fulfillment center. this is set to replace six fulfillment centers. Can you, as far as I've understood, can you tell us a little bit about the time plan here? When do you expect to be able to close the first of these fulfillment centers? When will that transition be completely executed? Can you tell us something about the timeline?

Yeah, the plan is to, we are working now on the dry assortment and as I pointed out, we have significant volume now that is going out from Bolsta and we are in this transition for the dry assortment that we will be done and ready before the summer. And then we'll start with the refrigerated assortment. And then we will start end of the year with the freeze assortment. So you can say in one way that over 2023, when we're done with that, we will then close down the warehouses. But also we are handling this in a very, you know, managed and controlled way. So we are not putting ourselves into any risks.

Okay, but if I understand correctly, that means that the closures of the existing, of the previous fulfillment centers, that will not happen until towards the end of the year?

Correct.

Okay, thank you very much.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Magnus Rahman from Kepler-Shuvruex. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, everybody. So many questions have already been asked. I was interested in the timeline for closing down existing warehouses that you just discussed. But if I could just follow up on that, is it fair to assume that by H1 2024, all of these six warehouses, existing ones, will be closed? Or is it so that you might keep any of those existing ones in the long term?

No, we are running this transition now in a controlled way, and we are also lifting out all the volumes when we do that, and we also do it geographically. But of course we need to get into the freeze and the refrigerated assortments before we can close them down. But when that is done, we are facing out them in line with the plan. So we are well ahead in plan. But I think also, you know, of course, we are not making anything that is stupid here. So we make sure that if we need to prolong a month or weeks or so, we'll do that. But we are working according to our plan. We are in line with our plan to take this structured move from these warehouses over to Bolsta, which will happen in 2023.

Great, that's very clear. And then if you could just elaborate on these investments in DAGAV to support customers as you list as one sort of cost pressuring DAGAV here in the quarter. Can you elaborate a little bit more on those investments?

More than what I've been seeing?

Yes.

Yeah, and I think that what it is related to, that obviously we're all now supporting with various campaigns and activities, and in that part, DAGAP is also supporting with volumes. And we have seen, as I commented, we've had a significantly higher share of campaigns now that has affected, obviously, this volume that goes out that also has an impact on DAGAP.

All right, and then just maybe a little bit more technical question here maybe for Anders, but in terms of the March 10 valuation here, I arrived at very different sort of implied valuation for the total March 10 business when looking at Chinovix valuation compared to yours. Is there any liquidity preference differences or anything like that or just a very different sort of methodology in valuation here?

Well, Magnus, I can't answer for the Schönevik valuation actually, so I have not any insight in what they have done. We have been quite clear that we have the valuation that of Matem of 200 million SEK, and that's what we have adjusted for in the first quarter.

All right. And did you mention, maybe I haven't read up fully on it, but did you mention sort of multiple supplies or something into that methodology?

We have looked at the valuation of Matem is set now in the financing round that is now taking place in Q2.

All right. That's great. Yeah, I think that's all. Maybe the final one, just to see here the sort of dynamics of the market. You note here that Heminship is outperforming the market growth slightly, and then Willis, of course, massively. And we see from the ICA's report this morning that ICA Sweden is losing market share. Is it fair to assume that, apart from Lidl, it's only Axfood's banners that are actually winning market share in the Swedish grocery market?

Well, I wish I could answer that because I don't see the other numbers. But I think if the overall, the total market is growing nine, and obviously we have almost 20% growth we have to relate to that and then there are some of the other actors that is releasing their numbers but in general of course We are pleased to see that Hemship is performing in their traditional segment very well at this time. And obviously, as you point out yourself, Willis is attracting significantly more new customers at this point of time, which, of course, is related to that price value has even been more important at this stage. So there's some logic behind that.

Great, guys. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

The next question comes from Simon Ayas from DNB Markets. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys. So I have a few questions and one is a follow-up on the Dargab question. So from the market investment side, just to get that all clear. So how should we think about this going forward? Do you think this effect will be there for the remainder of the year or what's this kind of a Q1 effect?

no i think you can see it as it depends a bit on how the activities goes i don't see that's going to be a you know a long-term approach on that but we're also taking now everyone is now taking part of to mitigate and to work towards the the pressure that the consumers is facing at this stage so uh and and obviously we've seen some of the You know important products for consumers has been flying out of the shelves that hasn't had an impact So so I think it's more of where we are right now No, I don't want to do that we it's part of the mix here and again want to point out as well it's part of the mix is also one of the Maybe a larger impact is also the transition that we are now doing with the warehouse between these two warehouses, which is more an effect that we are facing at this stage. That is more important, I would say.

Okay, thank you. And then my final question is a more technical one. The next financials came in at around 80 million. Is this kind of a new run rate for the end of the year, or how do you think about that?

Simon, we have some difficulties to hear what you're saying, actually. Can you try to repeat that question again?

Yeah, so on the next financial line, it was at around 80 million. How should we think about this one going forward? Is this the new level or how should we think about it?

Well, we have increased lease liabilities, of course, and we also have higher interest rates that will reflect

a little bit high cost in in in the financial net yeah if i understood your question right yeah okay that was all for me thank you yeah thank you as a reminder if you wish to ask a question please dial star 5 on your telephone keypad There are no more questions at this time, so I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.

Well, we'd like to thank you for the questions and thank you for listening in and hope you all have a good day. Thanks a lot. Bye.