Bang & Olufsen A/S
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Bang & Olufsen A/S
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to this interim report for the third quarter 2023-'24. For the first part of this call, all participants will be in a listen-only mode. Afterwards, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded. I will now hand the call over to CEO, Kristian Tear.
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining the call. With me today, as always, is our CFO, Nikolaj Wendelboe. Together, we will go through the numbers and highlights from our Q3 interim report, and we will give an update on how we are progressing with our strategic transition. After our presentation, we will open up for questions. Please move to Slide 4. We are pleased to once again deliver profit and a record high gross margin for the quarter. This is an outcome of our strategic focus to improve the customer experience in our branded channels, strengthen our luxury positioning and to ensure product excellence across our portfolio. The continuous improvement of our gross margin is also enabling our shift away from nonluxury multi-brand doors towards branded channels, closing more than 2,000 multi-brand doors in the last 12 months. This is important because with our branded channels, we can give our customers the full B&O experience, ensure better price stability and strengthen the brand equity. The prioritization of higher-quality revenue is deliberate. However, this strategic transition will take time, but it will help us to build a more resilient business and create profitable growth for Bang & Olufsen in the long term. During the quarter, we saw lower demand in some of our key markets. On a group level, sell-out was down 2%. This was primarily due to Europe, where we saw a decline of 13%. In APAC, we had strong sell-out growth of 23%. However, this was against a low comparable from last year. The macroeconomic conditions in China and in some markets in Europe mean that our revenue performance will be lower than expected. Like other luxury companies, we do not expect significant improvement in the Chinese economy in the near future. Consequently, we adjusted our revenue outlook on March 17. We kept our guidance for EBIT and free cash flow. However, we narrow the range for both. Please turn to the next slide. We delivered a revenue of DKK 614 million in the quarter. This corresponds to a decrease of 3% compared to Q3 of last year. If we look at our product revenue, this was flat in local currencies. Our gross margin increased to 53.2%. This is a 10-percentage point increase compared to last year. This is attributed to a normalization of component and logistic costs as well as our strategic transition, where we have strong pricing focus and a positive change in both channel and product mix. In quarter 3, EBIT before special items was DKK 11 million. This is an improvement of DKK 54 million compared to Q3 of last year and an increase of 8.6 percentage points. The free cash flow was positive accounting to DKK 5 million for the quarter. This progress enabled us to deliver the best 9-month EBIT result in half a decade. Please turn to the next slide. If we turn to our luxury timeless technology strategy, we are making progress with the implementation. Over the past year, we have seen a significant brand awareness boost from our marketing activities, particularly from our partnership with Scuderia Ferrari. In Q3, we were therefore pleased to extend that agreement by another 2 years. It remains a key priority for us to increase the visibility of the Bang & Olufsen brand and build stronger relationships with our customers as this increases the likelihood of conversion and recommendation of our brand. The Ferrari partnership is helping us to achieve just that. If you look at our customer data, we onboarded 5% new customers and grew number of customers owning 2 or more products by 5%. At the end of October, we launched the BeoLab 8. This versatile speaker gained strong traction in quarter 3 and sales performance was in line with expectations. We will have 8 supplements the existing portfolio very well and will enable us to drive even more attachment sales across the portfolio. During the quarter, we also made improvements to our product platforms and our app, enhancing the overall customer experience significantly. As mentioned, we are doubling down on our branded channels as we believe this will be key to our growth ambition in the long term. In quarter 3, we made structural changes in our channel network and set up to improve the retail experience. We opened a flagship store in London in December. We relocated our Copenhagen airport store and upgraded it based on our new store concept, and we continue to work with our monobrand partners to enhance the experience across the network through refurbishments, training and events. Furthermore, we continued implementing our Win city concept in London, Paris and New York. In addition to opening our flagship store in London, we introduced a pop-up store in Paris. In London, sell-out was down 11%. However, our 2 stores at Harry Selfridges delivered good performance. The decline in sell-out was mainly due to the limited end-of-life inventory in Bicester Village, which is our store in this outlet village. In Paris sell-out declined by 32%. This was expected as we began our transition in the city to ensure that we build a more sustainable setup for the future. We have now changed our organization, and we're working closer with our retail partner in Paris to improve the store experience and our joint activations. In New York, sell-out grew by 2%. We continue to drive activations out of our SoHo store, which caters to local design and music lovers and our Madison store, which opened in November is off to a good start. In January, we also announced an exclusive partnership with Waldorf Astoria residences and aim to offer their customers a luxury experience with the historic framework of the hotel. Future residence of the new 375 luxury condominiums can purchase their home fully furnished as part of an existing turnkey furniture program, which will also include a full suite of audiovisual products from Bang & Olufsen. And with that, I would like to hand over to you, Nikolaj.
Thank you, Kristian. Now please turn to Page 8. When looking at sell-out first year, sell-out in the Q3 declined by 2% compared to the same period last year. This is primarily reflecting softer demand in Europe. But what is also reflected in the numbers is the fact that we made some end-of-life deals last year to reduce our inventory levels. And if we exclude these end-of-life products, sell-out actually grew low single digits on group level compared to Q3 of last year. Across regions, Flexible Living grew by 12% On-the-go grew by 2% and the staged category declined by 10%. In general, we don't see like-for-like sale being impacted negatively by price increases. Like-for-like sell-out in EMEA decreased by 13% year-on-year. Except for e-commerce, the decline was supported across channels and categories, mainly driven by monobrand stores, reflecting the weak consumer sentiment in Europe. Sell-out in the Americas fell by 7%. Company-owned stores grew during the period with monobrand and e-commerce declining. Monobrand declined due to poor performance in a single material geographic market and a change of setup in this area has been initiated. Excluding this market, monobrand reported growth compared to Q3 of last year, multi-brand declined significantly due to the discontinuing of a number of stores in that channel. Like-for-like sell-out in APAC grew by 23%, driven by sell-out growth in China of 36%, though coming from a low-level last year due to the change in the country's COVID-19 policy in December 2022. Sell-out growth in the region was reported across all product categories. Please move to the next slide, where we will take a look at revenue. So revenue for the quarter was DKK 614 million and declined 3% in local currencies compared to Q3 of last year. Product revenue decreased by 1.6 percentage points and was flat year-on-year in local currencies. This was lower than expected, and I will go more into details on product revenue in the next slide. In terms of channels, the development was driven by reported low single-digit growth in branded channels, offset by a decline in multi-branded channels. Our brand partnering and other activities declined by 16.3% against last year, corresponding to a 17% decline in local currencies. This was mainly driven by reduced license income from the automotive industry as the industry slowly recovered from factory strikes in the U.S. Also, license income from HP declined as expected. Now turning to the next page. In EMEA, revenue declined by 12.2% or 12% in local currencies to DKK 293 million due to softer demand in Europe. Looking at the first 9 months of '23-'24, revenue from branded channels combined increased 4%. We continue to optimize the channel network and the number of monobrand stores were reduced by 18% year-on-year. Revenue from multi-brand and eTail decreased significantly. The number of multi-brand stores in EMEA was reduced by 131 since last year, and we have limited the assortment available in eTail platforms and in the multi-brand channel. In Americas, we reported revenue was DKK 7 million, a decline of 4% in reported revenue or growth of 1% in local currencies. The ramp-up of our collaboration with Genesis reported strong performance and revenue in the enterprise channel had significant double-digit growth in the year. Performance by the company-owned stores was largely on par and monobrand had a small decline. Revenue from the eTail channel was reduced significantly while multi-brand was on par at a low-level year-on-year. Discontinuing the partnership with T-Mobile and Verizon consequently reduced the channel by 2,214 stores over the past 12 months. Revenue in APAC was DKK 180 million, corresponding to a 24.1% increase of 27% in local currencies. Revenue from China increased 33% or 45% in local currencies and accounted for around 47% of total APAC revenue. Revenue from our monobrand channel increased double digits. The eTail channel increased significantly due to lower comparisons in Q3 last year, and multi-brand reported modest growth. For the staged category revenue increased by 2% to DKK 285 million. The BeoLab Speaker was reporting a strong performance, driven by the launch of BeoLab 8 in October. And overall, the category increased despite strong performance last year of Busan Theater. For the Flexible Living category revenue declined by 2% to DKK 105 million. This was partly offset by a strong performance of Beosound A5 launched in April last year as well as higher average selling prices. For the on-the-go category, revenue declined by 5% to DKK 153 million. This development was mainly driven by a few end-of-life deals made on headphones and earphones last year and also the optimization of the multi-brand channel affected this category negatively for the quarter. Overall, our categories were positively impacted by improved average selling prices. Now please turn to the next page. So our gross margin increased by 9.6 percentage points to 53.2%. In Q3 of last year, extraordinary supply chain cost adversely impacted the margin by approximately 5 percentage points, but also in line with our strategy, we improved our gross margin by change in product and channel mix as well as price increase to be implemented since last year. In addition, the gross margin in the on-the-go category was impacted by a few larger deals and headphones and earphones to reduce end-of-life inventories. So the strong gross margin compared with our focus on maintaining a lean cost base also contributed to continued improving our EBITDA. Year-to-date, we delivered an EBITDA of DKK 221 million compared to DKK 35 million last year. The EBIT margin before special items was 1.8%, and increase the 8.6 percentage points from Q3 of last year. We are pleased to also report a positive EBIT for the fourth quarter in a row. Now please turn to the next page. Total capacity cost was DKK 318 million and 5% below Q3 of last year as we continue to maintain a lean cost base. Development costs were DKK 72 million against DKK 86 million last year, was driven by lower incurred cost and higher capitalization compared to last year. Distribution and marketing costs were DKK 217 million and largely on par with last year, and the admin expenses decreased by DKK 4 million to DKK 29 million, mainly driven by lower advisory costs. Special items was DKK3 million and DKK 15 million last year. This year's special items were related to a reorg in our marketing area, while last year's level was due to a general restructuring, in line with our focus on a lean cost base. Now please turn to the next page. Net working capital has increased by DKK 11 million during the quarter to DKK 297 million. Net working capital to the last 12 months revenue was 11.5% and largely in line with previous quarters. Inventories increased by DKK 9 million during the quarter as a consequence of the lower-than-expected sales. We continue our focus on inventory management. And since year-end, we have reduced our inventory by DKK 30 million. Trade receivables decreased by DKK 45 million to DKK 320 million. The decrease was driven by lower sales in Q3 compared to Q2. Sales with extended credit remains at a very low level. Trade payables decreased by DKK 27 million to DKK 424 million, mainly related to timing of our supply. Please turn to the next page. Free cash flow was DKK 5 million against the DKK 3 million last year. Development since last year was driven by reduced cash flow from operating activities related to net working capital, where we saw a large net working capital reduction last year. Capital expenditures were DKK 48 million, which was an increase of DKK 4 million compared to last year, driven by the increase in tangible investments, which was related to our new flagship store in London. Overall, investments were primarily with intangible assets and related to new products and platforms. Capital resources consisting of available liquidity and available drawn right on our revolving credit facility stood at DKK 318 million, down DKK 5 million from Q2. Our available liquidity was DKK 158 million at the end of the quarter, consisting of cash and securities, offset by of rate of transactions. And with that, I would like to hand the word back to Kristian.
Thank you, Nikolaj. Please turn to Page 16. As mentioned, we adjusted our revenue outlook for the financial year in March. In Q3, sales were impacted by the slower-than-expected improvements on macroeconomic conditions in our key markets in Europe. Also, we do not expect a significant recovery of the Chinese economy to materialize in '23-'24 as anticipated. Consequently, revenue growth in local currencies for the financial year '23-'24 is now expected to be between minus 8% and minus 5% from the previously in the lower [Technical difficulty] end of 0% to 9%. As part of our strategic transition, we are deliberately moving out of non-luxury multi-brand doors and focusing more on our branded channels. This transition will take time, but we believe this will be key to sustainable growth for the company in the future. The range for EBIT before special items was narrowed to 0% to 2%. Lastly, the range for free cash flow was narrowed to minus DKK 50 million to plus DKK 10 million. So despite lower-than-expected revenue performance, we're expecting positive earnings. This is supported by our strong gross margin, which we expect to continue to be above 50% for the remainder of the year. Please turn to the next page. So let me briefly recap our Q3 performance. We are pleased that we continue to deliver profit and improved our gross margin. This is an outcome of our luxury timeless technology strategy implementation, and this helps us to build a more robust company that can grow sustainably in the future. We're also pleased that we continue to grow our customer base and that we saw a higher number of repeat purchases. This is a reflection of our efforts to improve the overall customer experience across the touch points and products. We did not see the macroeconomic improvements in our key markets in Europe in quarter 3 and we do not expect the Chinese economy to recover in the near future as previously expected. This means that we adjust our revenue outlook for the year. We are progressing with the implementation of our strategy. Our renewed agreement with Ferrari will help increase brand awareness and our focus on improving the retail experience in our branded channels and our Win City stores will improve conversion and growth. We are focused on becoming more agile and focused, so we ensure a faster execution of our strategy. Given the market environment, we continue to be prudent with our investments and cost levels, we are confident that we are on the right path with our luxury timeless technology strategy, our earnings level, even at a lower level than expected revenue underlying that we're becoming a more resilient as a company. And with that, I would like to open up for questions.
Thank you. We'll now start the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions] And the first question will be from Poul Jessen from Danske Bank.
First question is going back to your final comments where you talked about that you're generally pleased, I was just wondering if you take all the developments you're doing and the changes in-- are you generally pleased with what you see from an internal point of view and then you leave the difficulties being the external environment where you're sitting and waiting to finally get some tailwind. That's the first question.
Yes, thank you, Poul. I think we can divide it like up in 3 buckets. We have a macro economical challenges that we already explained. Then we have the consequences of implementing the strategy. And then obviously, as well, we have a lot of work that is going internally that are in our plans and that we necessarily don't share externally. I think we have done a lot of good changes, and we have had a lot of good work in product, in marketing, in R&D and in most areas of the company. We know where we are going. We have a clear destination. And what we want to do is obviously speed that work up and get there faster. That is our challenge. And we want to do more faster basically. So it's not so that we do not have internal issues at all. On the contrary, we are trying to change a lot of things in the company, and we have changed a lot of things in the company already as well and more changes are underway because we are transitioning, and we will keep on transitioning for another period of time. So we just want to make it faster since we know where we're going now. And that will be the focus going forward for next year.
And follow up on that one explanation is that you want to speed it up. Is that then actually possible I'm just thinking about your financial resources for-- you have to be focused on having both the cash flow positive and earnings potentially improving. So can you speed it up before the market turns, given you're more top line and then you can start reinvesting that extra revenue. So what's the limit there?
Yes. So obviously, there are capital constraints that we need to adjust the speed, too. But there's also a lot of things that are not capital constrained that we can do. And for instance, we have an amazing Atelier offering right now that has not really reached out to the market and where we want to start promoting that harder, and that is definitely doable within the capital available to us. We have the retail execution that we're working hard on as well under the leadership of our new Global Head of Retail, where training, store staff, organization, et cetera, policies and guidelines is having an impact. We know that, and we can also do that without having to be bootstrapped in any sense from a cost point of view. So there's quite a few things that we know that we can do that is not related to capital. Then there are a few things that are related to capital, which is building flagship stores, and et cetera. So on this note, we still have to adhere to what liquidity we have available and what money we have available. But there's also other ways of doing that by partnering up and teaming up with others. So in this sense as well, we're trying to be more creative and come up with alternative solutions than just looking at what is available for us in terms of money.
Okay. And 2 follow-ups on the transition. One is that you have raised prices again recently in the more expensive space products primarily. One, can you give an indication on what you see as the average price increase maybe? Secondly, do you see a limit on, for instance, the BeoLab 90 in DKK is trading at about DKK 1 million per pair. That's one question. The second is the split between branded and multi-branded stores. As multi-branded is coming down, can you give an indication of the split between those 2 on how much we still have to adjust the multi-branded part of revenue before it stabilizes?
Yes. So I'll start and then on the details, I'll pass on to Nikolaj. When we do price increases, we obviously do them with a lot of analytics work and insight work before we move on. So it's not like something that we sit and decide that we increase it. We are also looking on the product level on how we can increase the whole customer experience when we talk about pricing. And when we talk about the longevity of the product or the serviceability of the product or the upgradability of the product or what comes with the product. And to your point on BeoLab 90 is, they have increased significantly. But when we look at that market, they are actually still very cheap relative to everything else that is out there in that category. So this is something that we will continue to do, continue to raise the prices. How we do it and with what is going to be included as a richer experience is obviously being evaluated each and every time. And I'll answer the other one as well, and then I'll pass on to Nikolaj to comment on both of them. On the multi-brand channel-- sorry, go ahead, Poul.
Just a follow up. You have more or less over 2 years increased, for instance, this has been by 90% or something. How is the volumes performing in that part?
So BeoLab 90 has gone up in-- if you take Danish kroner from-- or euros from EUR 70,000 to EUR 245,000, and we are actually selling more BeoLab 90s today than we did for EUR 70,000. So it doesn't seem to be a hinder to keep on growing the product categories. We have, of course, other products as well that are showing a similar trend, but it's not given that, that is true for all the products. So again, we need to be mindful of all the parameters affecting it, and we are. On the second question on multi-brand, I think we're going to be present in multi-brand for quite some time. So we're not going to exit multi-brand. What we want to make sure is that we have a good customer experience and a good product experience and that our values and products can be explained in the proper way in multi-brand and some channels are better than others in doing that. And those are the ones that we want to work with. Then there are channels where customers typically go and buy. And we want to be present in those channels because if we exit them, it's a probability that our brand will not be found by those customers. So we're doing this with caution. And obviously, we don't want to exit more than we at the same time, can grow our branded channels revenue. And sometimes, we get that right. Sometimes we get that wrong when we look at the individual months, but the aim is, of course, to slowly navigate through that so that we have a balance between what we exit and what we manage to grow in the branded channels. That's the strategy, and some of them will be there for quite some time. Then I think there is also opportunities to execute better in the multi-brand channel. And that's something we're looking into as well together with our Head of Global Retail on how we can provide a real B&O experience, even though you are buying it in the multi-brand channel and the limited assortment that is going to be available there. So I think even with lesser multi-brands, we have a growth opportunity also with multi-brand, but we are going to exit a physical number of them. And so that's as precise as I can be. So maybe over to Nikolaj to take more details on the pricing and...
Yes. So especially on maybe start with the multi-brand partners from [indiscernible] multi-brand year-to-date is around 5% of our revenue. Multi-brand eTail combined is around 15% of our revenue. I think on multi-brand, when you look at the U.S., I think we are at the low-level now because we exited so much multi-brand in the U.S., there's not a lot more to exit. So when we find the right multi-brand partners in luxury lifestyle setting, it might go up. But it's something we are pursuing more on an ad hub basis when the right opportunities present itself. In APAC, we did have bigger cleanup in multi-brand, especially in China during COVID. So that's also why we are seeing multi-brand actually in Q3 being up a little bit in APAC because it came from a low level. So I think it's in EMEA, we will see further adjustments. And I think total multi-brand percent of revenue will not increase in the company going forward. It will decrease probably a little bit. But we are pretty low in multi-brand now compared to last year. And I think in...
Is the difference between that 5% and 15%?
Can you repeat that one, Poul?
Yes. I think you mentioned 5% and then you said 15%.
Yes. So 5% on multi-brand and 15% on multi-brand and eTail.
Okay.
Yes. On the prices, so the way-- a good way to measure price increases is not just to look at the RCP, but is, of course, to look at the average selling prices that we have. So are we actually managing to get more for our products when you look also at channel mix and that kind of stuff. And I think I mean, when you take the high-priced products, the big TVs, the expensive speakers, et cetera, compared to last year, our average in prices are up more than 20% on many of these products. So I think we have proven that we are capable of improving our profitability, especially on the expensive products and continuing to see stable demand. Of course, the units are down in EMEA specifically, but that's really due to macroeconomic and consumer sentiment in Europe, that's the way we see it.
Thank you, Poul.[Operator Instructions] The next question will be from Niels Leth. Please go ahead.
First question on your Win City strategy as regards to Paris, do you need a restart of the process in Paris given the recent development? Secondly, would you expect an effect from revenue to the Waldorf Astoria project in New York for next year, so more like a onetime [indiscernible] next year. And thirdly, could you talk about your considerations and work to find a replacement for the HP license income.
Yes. Thank you, Niels. If you take Paris, our own stores in Paris are doing well. We have a partner who has 2 stores in Paris that has been struggling with illness and et cetera, for quite some time. And we have found a new way of working with him and are helping him and we're putting more resource into that. So we already see improvements in Paris based on that. We're also putting in a new country manager, she's coming from the luxury world as well, who will help us to further build on that. But it is a one-off event with our partner who has 2 stores that is causing the negative effect for us. but it's already recovering. Then when it comes to Waldorf, it will take some time before we see that revenue. But I think it's very positive that we are part of their standard kind of offering. And as you could see, there's quite some rooms. And that will, of course, give us revenue, but also give us a good brand exposure for the residents that are moving in. And as many of them also have multiple homes, we believe that is not only a good revenue source, but it's also a good marketing platform for us. On the HP, we are working with different partners in the funnel. And we have a lot of good opportunities in that respect. And we have also, I think, a little bit broader opportunity now than we had while we had HP on board, but we cannot announce anything before we announce it. But of course, brand partnering and the replacement of HP revenue is something that is on top of our mind.
[Operator Instructions] And our next question is a follow-up from Poul Jessen from Danske Bank.
I have a few follow-ups. If we start by HP, low sales as you see there are right now. Is that HP beginning to scale down already? Or is it-- be a consequence of poor market for laptops and then it could come back before you exit.
I'll let Nikolaj answer the question for Q3. Obviously, it will scale down over time. That's the nature of it, but it's not going to stop abruptly there. That is not indications we have because obviously, we are in many models and as they face models out and face new models in, that's how so it's going to be a gradual shift. We don't expect it to be an abrupt shift in quarter 3 versus quarter 3. I don't know if we have-- and we'll share details on that, but it's not anything major at this point in time.
So it's-- we had expected a decline on HP in the quarter is not the biggest surprise. So they are still struggling on selling enough units in general due to the economic situation. But of course, they are also gradually shifting us out of the lineup, but that takes time. So we can't rule out that some of the decline is due to that, but we don't know for sure actually because we don't get that detailed information on the numbers from HP. But of course, there will be a decline in HP next year compared to this year. That's for sure. It will not be a 1-to-1 100% decline, but there will be, of course, a decline next year that I think we also talked about last time that we feel we can manage, but it will, of course, be something that we will be able to see in the numbers.
Okay. Then on the Americas, the original problem you had, can you put a little more on how you're solving it to come back to normal? Secondly, how much-- or what is the growth in the U.S. on monobrand if you exclude that region?
So if we exclude the problem that we have, we're actually doing well, I will not be able to disclose any details on what the resolution will be, but I can assure you that also, we're working with it and we're paying attention to it, but I cannot give any more details on that here.
The monobrand channel is growing if we exclude that specific area that we are talking about [indiscernible] has been growing as well. Enterprise has been growing in the quarter as well. And then we, of course, have multi-brand eTail that's going in a different direction. So it is a specific problem to solve in that area, and we are solving it at the moment.
What's the timing or when you believe you have a solution in place?
It's hard to predict, Poul. It depends on many different variables. And so I will not be able to give you that. Even if I would like to I wouldn't give.
That's fine. The marketing spend was down in the quarter, becoming one of the lowest for many, many quarters. Is that you spending your money more wisely or is it the prices getting access to meet that is coming down? Or what's the reason?
I think generally speaking, if we look at marketing and look at marketing going forward as well, we try to become more efficient and effective in making sure we have more consistent marketing and also making sure that we have a better global, regional and local alignment than we've had before, and we believe that we can continue to become better on doing that. And the Ferrari example, I think, is a good example on how we work globally, regionally and locally on achieving good results with an efficient and effective way of dealing with it. So that model is something that we are looking in on how we will be able to improve and perfect over next fiscal year.
And that Ferrari deal, is that just extended? Or have you changed the consent of the deal to be more extensive one?
No, it's pretty much a similar type of deal that we did with Scuderia Ferrari. We obviously learned from what we did and the activations that we did last year. And the second year is typically in all my experience from marketing a better year because all the run-in kind of issues, you get to know people and you become more efficient and effective and you know what is working and what is working best. So it's essentially the same agreement, but from both sides, we are learning and they have learned and we're looking very positively through the next 2 years, together with them. So no change in how the setup is. And then we will continue with the licensing business, obviously as well, and that is also working well for us.
Final question from my side. That's on Sparking role and all the turmoil and [indiscernible]. Is this having any impact on your business or potential changes in the future? Is it just an external issue which you believe have no consequences for your Chinese setup.
It's very hard to predict, Poul. We are, of course, following it, and we have the same information as pretty much everybody else has, up until today, our operations is working unaffected by all of this. And will this be the case in the next month or 2 it's hard to say. But we are also not completely dependent on Sparking role as a partner in China. We have other partners as well. So and also, which I think is very positive is that our business with Sparking role is a good business for them. So whatever happens in the setup there, I'm sure that anybody who's reviewing that business will find it to be a good business and a profitable business and we want to make to maintain that. So from that point of view, I think we are not worried, but you never know either because we may not have all the details and all the clarity in that. But for the time being, we don't see any ominous clouds on the sky.
But we are, of course, are in now different scenarios and figuring out how to deal with different outcomes. So I think we are taking it seriously. But right now, we have a good relationship with them.
Thank you, Poul. As there are no further questions in the queue. I'll hand it back to the speakers for any closing remarks.
Yes. To everybody who joined today, a big thank you for joining and for all your questions. And if you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to reach out to Christina in our IR department for further clarifications. Thank you.