Marimekko Oyj

OMXH:MEKKO

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q3

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. My name is Anna Tuominen, and I'm the IRO of Marimekko. It is my absolute pleasure to welcome you today to our Q3 results webcast. In a short while, we'll hear a presentation from our President & CEO, Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko. And after the presentation, we have reserved some time for your questions. And with Tiina, we have also our CFO, Elina Anckar, here for the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions] But without further ado, Tiina, please go ahead.

[Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, executive]

Thank you, Anna, and good afternoon to everyone also on my behalf. It's my pleasure to share with you our performance during the third quarter of the year. So to get started, overall, in the third quarter, we were able to continue to grow our net sales despite a strong comparison period with substantially higher nonrecurring promotional deliveries in the domestic market wholesale. And also in the third quarter of this year, our operating profit margin still kept us at an excellent level.

So our net sales grew in total by 4% to EUR 44.1 million, and our net sales were boosted in particular by increased international sales but also retail sales in Finland. Our net sales in Finland decreased by 7% due to the aforementioned reason as wholesale sales in Finland in the comparison period were strengthened by substantially higher nonrecurring promotional deliveries than before.

However, our international sales were up by 28%, boosted especially by strong development of wholesale and retail sales in the Asia Pacific region. The international sales were also partly increased by a different kind of weighting of wholesale deliveries compared to the previous year.

As mentioned, our operating profit margin remained at an excellent level, namely at 25.2% of net sales and landed at EUR 11.1 million. During the period under review, we continued to invest in the building blocks of our long-term international growth, which reflected also as an increase in fixed cost, and the increase in fixed cost was especially impacting the earnings. On the other hand, the increased net sales, in particular, supported the earnings. I have to say that overall, also in light of the uncertainties in the operating environment and in the global economy, I see that the performance of Marimekko in the third quarter was very strong and puts us in a great place to continue on our long-term international growth journey. But then let's look at more specifically the drivers behind our net sales and operating profit development in the third quarter.

So as mentioned, our net sales grew in total by 4%, and the growth was driven especially by increased international sales but also retail sales in Finland. The net sales were weakened by wholesale sales in Finland as domestic wholesale sales in the comparison period were strengthened by these substantially higher nonrecurring promotional deliveries than before. This is the reason why also the total sales in Finland decreased by 7% despite a good growth of 10% in the retail sales in Finland.

Globally, our retail sales grew by 11%, and all of our stores were open in the third quarter, and the traffic in the stores continue to grow clearly from the comparison period when still some owned stores were temporary closed. Both our sales in our physical stores as well as our online store developed well.

And then, of course, our international sales saw a very good growth with plus 28% growth, boosted especially by the strong development of wholesale and retail sales in the Asia Pacific region, where we saw a growth of 40% in the market area. The international sales were partly increased also by this different kind of weighting of wholesale deliveries compared to the previous year. So good to keep that in mind.

Then when we look at the cumulative net sales development in the first 9 months of the year. Our net sales increased by 13% to EUR 118.1 million. And the net sales were boosted by a favorable trend in retail sales in Finland and growing international sales. The net sales were weakened by wholesale sales in Finland, which were in the comparison period strengthened by the substantially higher nonrecurring promotional deliveries than before.

However, altogether, cumulatively in the first 9 months, the sales in Finland grew by a nice 11%, driven by especially good development in retail sales with plus 21% growth. Our retail sales on a global level increased by 23%. And then, of course, when looking at our international sales, good development there as well with 17% growth.

And in the Asia Pacific region, our second largest market area after our domestic market Finland, both our wholesale and retail sales grew with the market area growth landing at 19%. Good to also keep in mind that the international sales were partly increased by this different kind of weighting of wholesale deliveries in the third quarter than the same period the year before.

Then when we look at the net sales development across market areas and product lines, no major changes when it comes to split by net sales by market area when we look at the first 9 months of the year. When we look at the product line split, we can see that now we're in a recovery environment from the pandemic that resulted actually in the highest growth rates in terms of the product like landing in bags and accessories and ready-to-wear when we look at the first 9 months. Strongest recovery, in this case, the strongest growth. In terms of product lines in the third quarter of the year was in ready-to-wear with 20% growth and then followed buybacks and accessories product line growing by 18%. But all product lines grew cumulatively looking at the first 9 months.

Overall, the Asia Pacific region has the greatest number of Marimekko stores today, and our online store serves our customers already in 35 countries. And when we look at our brand sales and brand sales represents the reach of the Marimekko brand through the different distribution channels, and it is calculated by adding together the company's own retail net sales and the estimated value of Marimekko products sold by other retailers. So everything is sort of converted to consumer prices. And this way, it gives a good indication of the reach of the brand. There, in the first 9 months of the year, our brand sales grew by 21%, driven by especially good development in the EMEA region. And in the third quarter, already 67% of our brand sales came outside of our home market.

And then when we look at our profitability, our comparable operating profit margin kept at an excellent level at 25.2% of net sales in the third quarter, totaling EUR 11.1 million. As mentioned before, during the quarter, we continued investing in our long-term international growth, which then showed in the increase in fixed costs. So the fixed costs were, especially a reason behind the weakening earnings, but also a lower relative sales margin contributed. And those -- the lower relative sales margin was especially due -- mainly due to the increased logistic cost as a result of a general increase in transport costs.

So what were then the drivers behind the increased fixed costs? The fixed costs increased, particularly in -- due to increased employee benefit expenses following new recruitments that we made to strengthen the building blocks of our long-term international growth, and also the increase in personnel costs in the retail store. So understanding that we have been this year, recovering the physical retail after the pandemic impacts. In addition, we made investments in IT systems and digital development.

Then when we look at the kind of profitability, strengthening factors, of course, the increased net sales contributed as well as lower depreciation than in the comparison period. When we look at the cumulative result in the first 9 months of the year, it landed on par with excellent level of the comparable period. So the comparable operating profit was EUR 23.4 million, and this represented 19.8% of net sales. So very similar drivers also behind the earnings in the third quarter of the year. So the earnings were mainly weakened by an increase in the fixed costs, but also a lower relative sales margin. So if we look at the factors behind the increase in the fixed cost, it's again, the new recruitments made to strengthen the building blocks of our international growth, it's the increased personnel expenses in the retail stores, investments in IT systems and digital development. Also, the marketing expenses grew as we're fueling our long-term international growth.

Then behind the weakened relative sales margin, that was especially weakened by increased logistic costs as well as higher discounts than in the comparison period. What does the higher discounts here mean? During the first 9 months of the year, our discounts were increased by successful end-of-season sales as well as the clearance sales of 3 stores that were closed at the expiry of their leases. On the other hand, what supported the relative sales margin was increasing licensing income, good product margins as well as a higher share of retail sales out of the total sales.

And then if we turn our eyes into the key events during the third quarter of the year. In early September, we presented our strategic direction for the year 2023, 2027, where we'll be focusing on scaling up our growth, especially in the international markets. As part of our strategy, we have identified 5 key strategic success factors by focusing on which we believe that we can capture the unique growth opportunities that also the megatrends support and present us with.

In conjunction, our Board of Directors also announced new long-term financial goals for Marimekko, with our targets, both for our annual growth in net sales as well as the comparable operating profit margin raised from before. So as part of our scale strategy, we target strong profitability by scaling the growth in our business. So our new target for the annual growth in net sales is now increased to 15% from the earlier over 10%. And our comparable operating profit margin target has been now increased to 20% from the earlier 15%. The other 2 long-term financial goals kept unchanged. And, of course, we elaborated both on these long-term financial goals as well as the direction of our next strategy period during our first ever Capital Markets Day that was held on the 14th of September.

We were also really excited to rejoin our forces together with Adidas, a global leader in the sporting goods industry to launch a fourth limited-edition collaboration collection. The collection launched gradually starting from July 2022, and it was available on the Adidas online store and then selected Adidas stores and retailers around the world. Naturally, the brand collaboration like this with Adidas really supports our growth strategy in a beautiful way, thanks to the fantastic visibility and awareness that allows us to build around the globe.

In the third quarter, we also developed the network of Marimekko stores and opened new stores in Shanghai in China, and in Copenhagen in Denmark. In addition, we presented the new Marimekko Marimade home concept in pop-up stores, both in Hong Kong as well as in Taipei. So while the world has become even more digital, especially expedited by the pandemic, we do believe and see that this sort of creative and experience of physical retail concepts play a crucial role as part of the omnichannel customer experience. They allow us to build these emotional connections and this way, build awareness, deepen the customer experience and support omnichannel sales.

During the third quarter, in early September, we were also happy to announce our commitment to the science-based targets initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We at Marimekko believe that determined sustainability efforts strongly support our long-term success, and these kind of science-based emission reduction targets represent an important tool for us in our work towards our ambitious long-term vision of our operations, leaving no traces on to the environment in the future. And in this work, we took some steps forward again during the third quarter, namely when in August we launched, together with Spinnova, a capsule collection that contains the first printed products made available using partly Spinnova's innovative, more sustainably produced wood-based textile fiber.

In addition, we launched in September our newest home concept called Marimekko Marimade, and this Marimade concept features products made with recycled -- reused biobased or biodegradable materials, for example. There was a lot of sustainability related events and activities in this quarter. And in August, we also launched the Marimekko Pre-loved platform for buying and selling second-hand and vintage products. This platform really represents an important step for us in our ambitious efforts to continuously extend and maximize the lifespan of our products and also contribute to the promotion of circular economy.

Then if we flip into the outlook of 2022. So overall, looking at in general, of course, the development of the pandemic situation in different markets, Russia's war against Ukraine, political tensions, increased inflation, and raising interest rates impact the global economic trend as well as the development of consumers' purchasing behavior, and this way can have an impact also on Marimekko's business.

The falling consumer confidence in some of our market areas can affect our business negatively. While Russia's war against Ukraine does not directly affect our business, it does affect our business indirectly as it causes disturbances in global supply chains and contribute to the general economic situation and consumers' purchasing power and behavior.

And of course, these factors may affect our company's sales and profitability as well as operational reliability and efficiency of our value chain. Of course, we're constantly closely monitoring the impacts of the war and the coronavirus pandemic as well as the development of the general economic situation, consumer confidence and purchasing power. And we'll adjust our operations and plans according to the circumstances.

It's also good to remember that because of the seasonal nature of our business, the major portion of our euro-denominated net sales and earnings are traditionally generated during the second half of the year. As we have also communicated before, in percentage terms, the net sales growth is expected to be stronger at the beginning of 2022 than in the second half of the year. In 2021, the pandemic situation had a negative impact on the footfall in Marimekko's all stores at the beginning of the year. And the net sales in the second half of the year were supported, for example, by the substantial nonrecurring promotional deliveries in wholesale in Finland.

And then if we look into the net sales development focusing on our 2 main markets. So starting with Finland, traditionally representing about half of the company's net sales, we do expect ourselves in Finland to grow on the previous year despite the fact that the total value of nonrecurring promotional deliveries in wholesale this year is estimated to be substantially lower than the year before.

In the Asia Pacific region, our second largest market area, we also expect our net sales to increase. Actually, we expect the Asia Pacific region net sales to increase clearly in 2022. We also expect our international sales to increase clearly in 2022, though the accrual of the sales will be weighted differently between the quarters than in the comparison year also during the second half of the year.

Then if we look into our licensing income, we forecast it to be higher than the year before. While we continue our actions to control grey experts, these actions will have a significantly lower weakening impact on our earnings. And in the year before, our plan and the aim is to open around 5 to 10 new Marimekko stores and shop-in-shops in 2022 and most of the planned openings will be in Asia as in the year before.

Then if we look into our supply chain, of course, the pandemic, the related restrictions, Russia's war against Ukraine caused disruptions in the global supply chains, and these disruptions have resulted in delivery delays and this way can impact our net sales and profitability. In addition, these restructures in supply chains do increase logistic costs, which have also grown overall worldwide. As we have also mentioned before, the cost of raw and other materials have increased globally, and the early commitment to product orders typical of our industry means that these changes in raw and other material prices affect Marimekko with a delay. In addition, this early commitment to product orders is further emphasized in the pandemic situation, and this weakens our ability to optimize our product orders or respond to rapid fluctuations in demand, especially in these kind of exceptional situations. And this, of course, increases also the risk related to the inventory.

However, it goes without saying that we're actively working both on mitigating these negative effects of disruptions in supply chains and increased costs as well as to secure net sales development also in a weaker general economic situation. I believe very strongly that Marimekko's strong brand that is gaining increased interest around the world appeared with our collections that speak to an even wider global audience together with our agile and commercial approach with the toolbox that we have accumulated during the pandemic put us in a very good position to develop and grow ourselves also in a weaker general economic situation.

Then if we look into our growth investments, as we have mentioned also before, we continue to accelerate this year. Our long-term international growth and our fixed costs are expected to be up on the previous year. Also, the marketing expenses are expected to grow. Good to remember, though, that in 2021, our fixed costs were still reduced by partly temporary cost savings connected to the pandemic situation.

We reiterate our financial guidance for 2022. We expect our group's net sales for 2022 to grow from the previous year. And the comparable operating profit margin is estimated to be approximately some 17% to 20%. The global supply chain disruptions and generally increased material logistic cost as well as the development of consumer confidence and purchasing power, in particular, naturally caused volatility to the outlook this year.

So with these words, I would like to end my presentation, and I think that we are ready for questions.

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

[Operator Instructions] The first one is quite technical one. Marimekko is now listed as one of the shareholders in Stockmann Finnish department store. Is this an investment? Or is this related to all debt?

[Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, executive]

I think maybe, Elina, you could answer that. I think that there's a clear explanation.

[Elina Anckar, executive]

So actually, as you mentioned, this is related for open receivables. So we have actually converted them into bonds and shares.

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

And this was done already a year ago.

[Elina Anckar, executive]

Yes, and you can actually see that in our report when we actually explain the variation in fixed costs.

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

Then a few questions related to wholesale sales. Firstly, you mentioned that the domestic nonrecurring promotional deliveries had an impact on the Finnish wholesale sales. If you could exclude that impact, would you say that you're happy with how the wholesale sales in general in Finland have developed in Q3?

[Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, executive]

As we mentioned, talking through the performance in the third quarter, the main driver behind the decrease in the wholesale sales in Finland, and this way the net sales in Finland, was the fact that this year the nonrecurring promotional deliveries in the domestic wholesale were substantially smaller than the year before. This is, of course, something that we have already sort of foreseen and guided actually in our market outlook during the course of the year, but that is the main lever. And overall, we're very happy with the development of our company. And understanding also that the consumer confidence also in Finland in terms of the indicators is very low, I think that we are very content. Also, when we look at the performance of our retail sales in Finland, it's showing quite strong growth actually, 10% growth in the third quarter.

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

Exactly. Then in the international sales, you also mentioned that partly there was an effect from different kind of weighting of wholesale deliveries. Is it possible to elaborate what this means?

[Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, executive]

Yes, sometimes, as we are a company and a brand that has 4 seasons, and so it is natural that sometimes there might be different kind of weightings or a little bit different kinds of rhythms in the wholesale deliveries. And there's nothing more to it in the explanation here than that. Overall, we can see that, as mentioned in the third quarter, part of the international growth was contributed by this different kind of weighting of wholesale deliveries than the year before. But we have also said that we estimate our international sales to grow clearly on a full-year level this year. So we're looking at good development.

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

Great. Some of the stores in U.S. have been closed since the comparable period. Could you give an update on when you plan to open new stores?

[Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko, executive]

Yes. So due to the fact that some of our stores in the U.S. have had the end of the lease terms. We have also communicated before that when our previous New York flagship store lease ended at the end of last year, we're looking for a new location, and we're actually really hoping to share some exciting news about a new location very soon.

[Anna Tuominen, executive]

Thank you, Tiina. That was all the questions we had this time. Thank you. And we hope to see you in February when we come out with the full year results. Thank you.