Axfood AB
STO:AXFO
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Axfood AB
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Hello, and welcome to the Axfood AB Third Quarter Report 2020. [Operator Instructions] Today, I'm pleased to present Alexander Bergendorf, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead with your meeting.
Thank you, and good morning. This is the Axfood Third Quarter 2020 Telephone Conference. And with me today are Klas Balkow, our President and CEO; and Anders Lexmon, our CFO. In the Investors section of our website, you will find the presentation for today's call, which is intended to be viewed in conjunction with our prepared commentary. We encourage you to follow along with that presentation. After our prepared commentary, we will be taking questions. A recording of this call will be made available on the Axfood website. I will now turn the conference call over to Klas.
Thank you, Alex, and let me, of course, also welcome you to the presentation of Axfood's interim report for the third quarter 2020. Let's start by turning page to Page #2. Here, you'll find the agenda for today. I will provide an update on the market development, and then I'll go through the third quarter for Axfood. Anders will then, our CFO, present the financials and provide an update on our financial position. I will then turn in to give you an update on the strategic agenda and highlight some of our recent initiatives. We will conclude the presentation with an outlook and a quick summary, and then we'll end the conference, as Alex said, with a Q&A session. So please go to next page, Page #3. Before we go into the third quarter, a quick reminder for you who don't follow us on a daily basis. We are a leading food retailer in Sweden with a clear House of Brand strategy and a vision to be leading in good and sustainable food. Our rolling 12-month sales is now approximately SEK 53 billion, and we have more than 11,000 employees in the group. And together, we engage with approximately 4.5 million customers every week at more than 300 group owned stores. We are also on online and in some 900 collaborating stores. Let's move on to Page #4. With that, let me go through some recent developments on the overall market. So please, again, turn page to Page #5. During this quarter, the third quarter, the Swedish food retail market continued to be impacted by the changed shopping behaviors due to the ongoing pandemic. As you may know, we are still seeing a very strong market growth within food retail, both in stores and in online, as consumers have continued to eat at home and many people stay away from cafés and restaurants. As a result, the demand in the restaurant market is still relatively weak. And as you may know, this affects also part of our business. However, we've seen in the quarter, somewhat improved situation if we compare that to the second quarter this year. Now while growth in the food retail market is generally strong, the situation is still challenging within certain segments of the food retail market, such as stores in the central urban locations, the cross-border trade towards Norway as well as service trade. We now go to Page #6. And here, you'll find the chart that shows monthly growth year-on-year on the food retail market in Sweden. And we have, in this chart, adjusted it for calendar effects. So as you can see, the growth is still high and at an overall higher level than before the corona pandemic broke out. You can also note somewhat slowdown in the growth rate, which I would say partly is reflecting the now lower inflation rates. If you go then to Page #7. Also growth is very high on the online channel. We see some fluctuations in the growth rates from month to month, but the overall trend is clear at high levels, even if also here you'll find the growth slows down somewhat, but again, still at very high level. The online channel still accounts for only a small share of the food retail market as we estimate it to be approximately 4% of share of sales. Let's now turn to Page #8, and I'll continue to talk a little bit on the online market. So on the online segment, growth is considerably stronger for the store pickup alternative versus the home delivery. And this year, the growth rate for the store pickup option or the Click & Collect, as we call it, had been approximately 3x higher than the growth rate for home deliveries. Let's now turn to Page #9. And I would now like to move on from the market and go into Axfood's development and our key ratios. So turn page. And first, some summary comments on Page #10. It is good to remind ourselves that we are still in an exceptional time with an ongoing pandemic that continue to affect us. For Axfood, the third quarter, though, was very strong despite challenges within certain parts of the organization with strong growth and market share gains. The development within parts of the company, where the growth rate for Willys stores once again stood out, compensated for the business with group that continues to be negatively affected by the pandemic. Our profit was higher and our profitability improved. And even though we put all our focus to handle the pandemic, we continue to maintain a high level of activity to develop business for the future, something that I will come back to a bit later. So let's now start to go through some of our key ratios for the third quarter for Axfood. So first, you'll find sales, and we are now on Page #11. Our consolidated net sales grew 5.5% during the quarter to SEK 13.4 billion. We have a lower inflation rate if we compare that to the first half of the year, but a high growth. It's clearly above the market for Willys despite a continued headwind from Eurocash, something I'll also reflect a bit later. Hemköp grew in line with the market or slightly above despite the negative impact from our group-owned stores from very low levels of customer -- consumer traffic in the city centers. But I must also say that I'm pleased to report that Snabbgross showed a very strong development in the prevailing situation and recovered from the performance in the second quarter. Let's now turn to Page #12. And if you look then at our store sales, we continue to gain market shares. And as I said, this is achieved despite the continued headwind from Eurocash, which is included in our store sales figures. The sales for Eurocash fell by approximately 60% in the quarter compared with the quarter -- same quarter last year. And if you calculate that, this has a negative effect of approximately 2.5 percentage points on the store sales for the Axfood Group. So our total growth amounted to 6 -- 7.6% in the quarter, which should then be compared with 5.8% for the market. So we are clearly gaining market shares. If we then go to Page #13. And as I mentioned, the market growth for e-commerce was once again exceptionally high, amounted to 101% during the third quarter. And if you look at our online growth, it was a full 120%. Once again, also here, outperforming the market growth. And we have clearly worked to develop our presence and rolled out our e-commerce to more stores and locations. And if I'll continue on the online subject, we can go then turn page to go to #14. Because the store pickup alternative is growing considerably faster than home deliveries, not only for the market, but also for Axfood, it is evident that many consumers appreciate and see the benefit with this solution. We continue our successful rollout and our growth with our Click & Collect has outpaced the market -- outpaced the growth in the market. And more than 2/3 of our online sales for Willys and Hemköp are now through the Click & Collect solution. So please now turn to Page #15, and we'll go into the key ratios for operating profit in the quarter. We reported significantly higher profit of SEK 796 million and an improved margin at 5.9%. Profit growth was mainly a result of the strong growth in our like-for-like sales and a higher operating profit for Dagab. Now some of our business continued to experience a challenging situation due to the pandemic, which then, again, include Eurocash and certain Hemköp stores at particularly then urban locations, and this obviously had a negative impact on our operating profit. And we also had some cost to handle more than the doubling of our e-commerce volume. Moving on and then look how this turns out by segment. So looking at Willys' performance in the third quarter on Page #16. Once again, a very strong quarter. Total sales growth of more than 8% and approximately 7% like-for-like, outpacing the market despite the challenging situation in Eurocash, which is included in this segment. The operating profit was 4% higher at SEK 474 million, the margin slightly lower at 6%. It is clearly a strong growth in like-for-like sales at our Willys stores but was countered by a loss for Eurocash and higher staff costs associated with the online sales development. Now please then turn to Page #17, and I want to actually talk a little bit more about the Willys concept. Because in a time of great economic uncertainty, Willys benefits from its position as Swedish -- Sweden's leading discount chain. But I have to stress that, with that said, Willys continued to develop its offering and concept in a high pace. Our expansion online, we continue to roll out the Click & Collect and new solutions to increase availability for our consumers. We have a high pace in modernization and improving our stores. We -- in this year, more than 25 stores has been refurbished so far. We also improved our digital platforms and digital customer experience, including new digital tools in our stores. And we continue to do the successful marketing campaigns, and we're pleased that we were awarded Marketer of the Year at the Swedish Retail Awards. So with that, let's move on from the Willys chain and still be -- we are still on the same segment. And then please go to Page #18. As I'd like to illustrate the somewhat difficult situation for Eurocash and what we are facing at the cross-border trade. Within the cross-border trade, we have -- overwhelming majority of customers are Norwegians. And in mid-March, as you may know, Norway introduced some clear travel restrictions. Restrictions were, however, lifted during periods for certain regions. And Norway has been looking at this on a 2-week basis, so we have faced, I must say, a very volatile situation. So as you can see on the slide, for the regions where Eurocash operates, the borders has mostly been closed, which is illustrated then by the red line. While we have tried to reduce cost to mitigate the effects of the sharply lower sales, a significant part of the cost base is still there, such as rents and personnel. All in all, 60% sales decline in the quarter and significant loss for Eurocash in the third quarter. And at the moment, the entire border is closed and has been since early October. Now we, of course, hope that the border will open up soon, even if I'm currently not too optimistic. Moving on to Hemköp and Slide #19. Our total store sales increased 6.2%, which is then in line or slightly above the market. We have a like-for-like at 3.9% and a very positive effect from -- also in Hemköp, a higher consumption at home. However, the growth for the group-owned stores is clearly hampered by low levels of customer traffic in central urban locations, which is still a challenging situation for some certain parts of the group and in some certain stores. And as we have shared with you earlier, our group-owned Hemköp stores have a higher share of stores at central urban locations than our franchise concept or franchise stores. Our mini-mart stores in the Tempo chain continue to show a very strong growth, and we are reporting a somewhat lower operating profit for the segment. That's SEK 62 million. And the decrease in the operating profit was then mainly driven by a sharp decline in the sales for a number of stores in our central urban locations. Let's now turn to Snabbgross performance in the third quarter on Slide #20. Sales showed a distinct rebound compared with performance during the second quarter of this year. The restaurant market is still weak, although the situation has improved compared to the second quarter this year. Snabbgross navigate the environment, I must say, very well and has clearly outperformed the market. The availability through its store base and attractive customer offers has resulted in increase of our customer base as many customers now appreciate the flexibility that Snabbgross is offering. Our operating profit increased to SEK 64 million, and the margin was higher at 6.5%, which is largely an effect of our like-for-like growth. And if we continue with Snabbgross, so please turn to Page #21, there you will see Snabbgross' performance compared to the restaurant wholesale market. And in the chart here shows the period from March to September this year. And as the market declined approximately 25% during this period, while Snabbgross sales were down only 2%. So as a result, Snabbgross' market share increased almost 5 percentage points to almost 20% or 19.1%. Let's now move on to Slide #22, and look into Dagab. And I have to say, Dagab, one of the most positive highlights in the report, delivers a strong quarter, a result very much based on a solid and efficient operation. Also pleased to share that we are now seeing a higher delivery reliability compared to the second quarter. Our sales in Dagab grew by 7.6%. We see an effect of the strong sales to Willys, Hemköp and Snabbgross, but we also have negative impact from lower sales to Eurocash. And sales to the service trade has been affected as less people is now moving around, even if also in that segment we've seen a gradual improvement during the period. We have a clear sales decline for our restaurant concept, Urban Deli, who is still facing a challenging situation due to the pandemic. But we had a positive development for mat.se, and that is also seeing some efficiency gains in this company. We reported significantly higher profit for Dagab at SEK 246 million and significantly higher margin at 2.1%. Again, sales growth and efficiencies in the wholesale business is a positive contributor, but I also want to remember that last year we had costs associated with our Stockholm dark store integration that is making the comparable a bit different. They also had cost last year to support our growth in Apohem and somewhat higher cost year to support Apohem. And again, we have a weak result for Urban Deli that impacts the profit. With that, I would like to ask you to please turn to Page #23 and hand over to our CFO, Mr. Anders Lexmon, who will present our financial position. Please, Anders.
Thank you, Klas, very much. And let's then turn to Page #24. And let me first sum up the net sales and operating profit for the first 9 months. Net sales for the group increased with 6.3% to just above SEK 40 billion. Store sales for the Axfood Group increased by 9.2% to compare with the total market growth of 7.6%, and we can thereby conclude that Axfood, also in the first 9 months, gained market share. The operating profit increased with SEK 143 million or 7.9%. And operating margin increased somewhat from 4.8% last year to 4.9%. Let's then turn to Page #25 and going into the cash flow. For the first 9 months, we can -- we continue to show higher operating profit compared to last year due to strong sales despite the challenges for the pandemic, like as Klas mentioned earlier. We had some lower paid tax this year, mainly due to payment of supplementary preliminary tax last year. We also saw a positive deviation on net working capital performance of SEK 604 million compared to last year. We had a positive working capital performance of SEK 99 million this year, thanks to mainly a strong development of accounts payable despite the 1-day negative calendar effect this year. The relatively weak working capital performance last year minus SEK 505 million was mainly due to a 3-day negative calendar effect. The higher investing activities this year, mainly explained by a divestment of land last year. In the third quarter, dividend #2 was paid out, and total dividend this year was SEK 7.25 per share compared to SEK 7 last year. And then we turn page to Page #26. Coming back to the investments, the CapEx for the first 9 months amounted to SEK 713 million, a little bit higher than last year. The investments in our retail operation was up SEK 26 million due to both higher pace in refurbishments, new establishments and relocation of stores, mainly in Willys, but also in Hemköp and in Snabbgross. We also saw some higher investments in IT this year, also that due to higher store activities, but also higher investments in our IT projects. The wholesale investment decreased somewhat due to the investment in our warehouse in [ June ] shopping last year. And then we turn page to Page #27. We have, in the third quarter, further decreased our net working capital compared to sales from minus 3.1% to minus 3.2%. We continue to be more efficient in our inventory due to the strong like-for-like growth, and we also continue to increase our payment terms for accounts payable. Our [ FCF ] program also helps us to increase accounts payable. And then we turn page to Page 28. Looking then at the development of net debt. At the end of September, we had a net receivable position of SEK 350 million if we exclude IFRS 16. And that's the dark red state in the chart, as you can see, despite the second dividend we made in September. The strong position at quarter end is also mainly explained by strong operating cash flow. The net debt decreased also somewhat if we include IFRS 16, and the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was in line with June, 1.1x. And the equity ratio was in line with both last year-end and the first 9 months last year, around 24%. And then we turn page to Page 29. Capital employed increased with approximately SEK 500 million, mainly due to a strong profit in the third quarter and was in line with year-end 2019. ROCE continued to be on a very stable level around 25% and correspond well to approximately 40% pre-IFRS 16. And to sum up, we can conclude the Axfood continue to invest in the future and at the same time have a strong cash flow and a solid financial position. And that ends my part of the presentation, Klas, and I thereby hand over to you again, please.
Thank you, Anders. And let me now, as we follow the agenda, go through some of our initiatives that we've done in our strategic agenda. So please turn to Page #31. And just a reminder of our strategic focus, as you know, we have 6 strategic areas. And today, I will focus on 3 of them, customer offering, customer meeting and our supply chain. So please go to the next page. And to -- if we start with the customer offering, and I'll just highlight some parts, which is through our private labels in Axfood, we are now launching a significant and several more innovative products and leading the change for a sustainable and healthy assortment. As you can see on the slide, this is some of our recent launches, which includes protein bars, vegan pizzas, plant-based nuggets, eggs from free-range outdoor hens and vegan mayo among others. So far this year, we had, had more than 200 new launches, and our private label share increased 0.7 percentage points during the 9 months to September 30 compared with prior year period, which is an important part for us to secure a strong price value position in the market. If we then turn page to Slide #33, move into our customer meeting, some of the initiatives we've done there. In early October, we launched Hemköp's new loyalty program, Klubb Hemköp. With this innovative and favorable loyalty program, Hemköp is first out in the industry to reward sustainable choices that are positive for the climate as well as for people's own health. We want to inspire its 1.7 million members in the program that will -- then the program will also support, for us, significant improvement in more offering personal and individual offers. Obviously, this is early days as we just launched the program. But initially, we are off at a very good start with significant increase of new members. I'll continue now on the customer meeting, and so please turn to Slide #34. I must say, it has been a while since we launched an entirely new concept in the market, and we think it's about time. We have identified a consumer need to buy groceries, food products and household goods of high quality in bulk packages and at attractive prices. We have actually worked on this concept for some time and long time before the pandemic broke out. But as you may remember, in the pandemic, we opened up several normal Snabbgross stores to consumers, and that just proved our theory that there is a consumer demand for a new retail concept in the Swedish market. So at the end of November, we will launch Snabbgross Club. At Snabbgross Club, consumers will give the opportunity to shop for the same food products as mainly restaurants and cafes. So it is an exciting launch for us. Snabbgross Club will be among the first in the country to open up a membership-based grocery store where consumers gain access to unique and attractive-priced assortment, assortment that very often only is available for restaurant owners. Please go to Page #35 and some more comments about the customer meeting. Through our various concepts, Axfood strives to meet customers' diverse needs no matter where, when or how the customer interacts with us. So one priority is obviously to strengthen our digital customer meeting. The recently self-scanning and payment via mobile phones were launched now in a number of Willys and Hemköp stores, called Scan & Go. Mat.se aspires to simplify daily life for people. And in September, we were first out in Sweden with a voice-controlled personal grocery shopper in a pilot with Google Nest Hub. It's a pilot with 50 consumers, where we have the aim to learn and to see how we can adapt our future in this interesting area. And in our stores, we started the rollout of the new payment terminals, which is streamlining the shopping process and allowing for additional payment methods. Please turn then to next page. As on Slide 36, you'll also find some recent initiatives within the supply chain. First, by the end of 2020, we have a pilot test of our new transport system that will be initiated. It is a clear step toward a more sustainable and efficient transport model. Secondly, we have recently went into partnership with our -- with the truck maker, Scania to develop new solutions for electrifying heavy transports. Third, we work on the new highly automated logistical center in Bålsta as we have talked several times before, which is located outside Stockholm. And the planning goes according to plan -- or the building also according to plan. We have now worked on the construction, and we start to see the building coming up in a very nice way. As you know, this will be fully operational in 2023 and we'll be one of the largest and most modern in Europe for distribution in groceries to stores as well as online customers. Finally, we work on the expansion of our dark store in Stockholm Årsta. This is also on schedule to be opened up end of the year. The warehouses are to be doubled, which will create more capacity for our e-comm concepts and also include space for our pharmacy online concept, Apohem, which also creates synergies together with the rest of our concepts. Now let's turn to Page #37 and I'll talk a little bit about sustainability. As we have recently launched the report Mat 2030 or Food 2030. The -- we want to achieve sustainability in the whole in the food industry where everyone in the value chain needs to contribute from producers to consumers. So Mat 2030 is a report with actually 86 recommendations for politicians and the business sector for a more sustainable and competitive food strategy for the whole Sweden. We see this initiative for us to be a positive force for change with focus towards a more sustainable total food value chain. With that, please turn to the next page as we will now go into our outlook on Page #38, but I'll actually ask you to directly turn page to page #39. Now before I go into the outlook, first, some quick comments and thoughts on the long- and short-term business impact from COVID-19. Again, of course, it is difficult to assess all the implications as it's also something that we are in the middle of. But the food retail market is relatively incentive to economic swings. However, obviously, an overall weaker economy may impact the overall consumption. But with that said, a weak economy, the price value will be also even more important, which we also are then well positioned, particularly with our Willys concept.Eating at restaurants is still at a low level, where we see a shift from food consumption to food retail, which affects some of our business, although Snabbgross has managed so far to navigate this environment fairly well. And as I said before, the border towards Norway is closed again, and there is virtually no activity in the border trade at the moment. And it is still a very little movement of people in the city centers, which is also affecting some individual Hemköp stores that is located in these areas. So in conclusion, all in all, it is difficult to assess the impact of COVID-19, particularly also now where we see some regional restrictions that comes out in the recent week that will create -- or that creates, I would say, further uncertainty. Please now move to Slide #40, and I'll then go into our outlook 2020. We see no changes to our 2020 outlook. We plan to invest SEK 900 million to SEK 1 billion this year with no major investments in our automation project in Bålsta. Our plan is to open up 5 to 10 new stores with 5 new stores so far has been opened up this year. And with that, please turn to Page #41. And we are in the final part of this presentation, so let me just sum it up. We think the third quarter marks a strong achievement for Axfood, with clear market share gains despite continued challenges within certain parts of our organization. We continue to work hard to meet the changed customer behaviors and the increased demand that we'll see in the market. And our strong growth was again supported by the outstanding achievement by Willys. But actually, we grew more than the market. And actually, in all our larger retail concept, we outperformed the market. And our online business developed further in a positive way. And with the strong growth and efficiencies, our profit was higher and our profitability improved. And if we look forward, we are well positioned, and we continue also to face some challenges, particularly in Eurocash. As Anders reported, our financial position is strong, and the activity level within the organization is very high with sight set on the long term to strengthen Axfood. With that, I please ask you to turn to the next page, Page #43, and hand over to the operator to open up for the questions. Thank you.
[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Magnus Råman from Kepler Cheuvreux.
I'd like to start first with Dagab here to understand the split of drivers behind the beat in Dagab's earnings. Of course, there have been, I think, 2 soft Q3 quarters or in 2 years in a row now but we've been looking at 2015 to 2017 quarters -- Q3 quarters. I think Dagab's operating profit represented roughly just below 30% of annual operating profit. So obviously, it's a seasonally strong quarter. But just to help us understand the split of drivers here, would you say that the 35% year-on-year growth in operating profit is mainly explained by soft comparison? Or is it the leverage of strong volumes and efficiency that you derived?
Magnus, it's a good question. And even if we don't split it up, I'll tried to explain it as well in the report. But we have a clear positive effect from high volumes. And obviously, we are now -- and I'm pleased to see that our KPIs in terms of our operation has been very good in the quarter. We are clearly having a very efficient base operation. So that has been very supportive. But also, as you noted yourself, we have some currency effects from the strong Swedish krona that supported. And clearly, last year, we had some, call it, onetime where we -- cost for starting up our dark store operation for the online that was -- burdened the result a bit last year, so somewhat easier comps as well. So it has been a mix out of that, but the main part is now also that we are seeing a very efficient operation.
All right, main part. Then on Willys, just to understand the operating profit impact from Eurocash here. I mean we discussed this already in the Q2 conference call, but perhaps you can provide any leads on the change in operating margin in Eurocash or if you would like to describe it in -- on an even broader terms. I mean would you perhaps be able to answer the question if Willys would have performed a margin expansion in Q3 instead of a contraction if Eurocash posted, say, normal numbers?
Well, obviously, if you just look at it and if you see the large impact we have on Eurocash, and we have a very healthy business in Eurocash and particularly healthy during the seasonally important month in June, July and August. So obviously, it has been, as we also shared in the report, from total Axfood, a strong negative impact of growth, but obviously, the same goes then for the segment for Willys. And if you look at the impact then on our profitability, it's been significant in the quarter. So with that said, if you just would sort out Willys outside that, I think you can conclude that we have seen a very, very strong growth, a very, very strong like-for-like. And with that, that helps our margin to develop in a positive way.
Right. So are the costs expanding here, for example, handling the high e-commerce volumes would not have offset the total sort of -- as much as...
It has an impact. But with this kind of like-for-like, it is not -- it is offsetting that.
Right. That's helpful. I'll just post the onetime question here. On the new Snabbgross initiative, just to understand here. In the presentation, I read that you would actually be opening new or actual new stores under this format, but will you also allow these new club members to shop in the existing Snabbgross network? Or will you close that out...
It is -- it is -- to be clear, it is a new concept that is called Snabbgross Club. And it would be 1 store open up north of Stockholm, where we will invite the members to shop and the consumers to be members to shop. So that is unique for that store. We have -- it's enough to mix it up. We had, during the pandemic, open up, not every Snabbgross stores, just opened up the shop. That has been on a temporary basis, together with the area to open up to ease up for consumers to not -- or for them to shop at more places. But this is a clear new, a new concept in this one store.
The next question comes from Daniel Schmidt from Danske Bank.
Klas and Alexander, just a couple of questions from me then, and then a follow-up right away on what you're talking about delisting Eurocash and so on. And you said that all the -- of course, Norwegian border is completely closed again after being open for a little while during Q3. If you take that in and then sort of look 2 months ahead, and it's still, of course, some time to go before we reach the -- sort of the Christmas season, but what's your sort of feeling when it comes to Christmas this year, around when it comes to the COVID's impact on people not -- maybe not gathering to the same extent as they would normally do when they celebrate Christmas, sort of the behavioral change? What do you think? What's your -- do you have any thoughts on that to start with?
What's my guess on a difficult question, I understand, what you're aiming at. But you're -- not relating specifically to Eurocash, if I understand it right down into...
No. No, I'm just saying that with maybe the borders still closed 2 months out, and on top of that, maybe a change behavior when it comes to gathering around Christmas and all that, what could that do to volumes basically.
Yes. And I think, obviously, it's difficult to say. But I think one could theorize a bit about Christmas. I think still, we will have Christmas dinners, even if we will have it maybe in smaller families rather than larger families. We will still celebrate Christmas. I think there is -- if everything equals, there is a positive that we probably will travel less during the Christmas. So Sweden consumers will stay more at home. So in that aspect, it should be on a positive note.On the maybe more negative and seriously, if it will be less food because we are having smaller families, I don't know, Daniel.
No. It's very difficult, I understand that. But do you have any sort of -- is there any sort of parallels to be drawn when it comes to how you experienced Easter? Or was that too difficult to dissect given the sort of the very height of the COVID pandemic going on right then? Or sort of is there any conclusions to be drawn?
No. I think we were -- as you -- when the Easter came, it was a bit of -- in the middle of the broke out of the pandemic. And as you may remember, we were also working extremely hard to secure that we had a good service level out in the stores and trying to manage the situation. We are, as I also comment on the report, we are now back on track in terms of service levels, et cetera. So that feels good. But it was also more, at the time, a little bit different situation in the spring, I think, versus where it is now.With that said, I think it is an uncertainty at the moment with the spread of the virus and some regional new advices that comes out that will maybe stress the situation even further. But I think that all in all, we should -- and we look at it, we should handle the Christmas in a healthy way.
Yes. Just moving on to the initiatives. You do have a lot of initiatives going on right now. And as you say, sort of very high activity level in the organization in general. And one of those things are Klubb Hemköp that you mentioned. I think you said it has been -- it's been quite a good reception so far since the start of October when you launched it. And you're sort of really promoting sustainability and healthy choices like no one else. What do you think -- what's been the sort of pickup on that? And what is the impact for you guys when you look at P&L and profitability?
Yes, but I think it's -- I mean, this is not something new for Hemköp. We worked on this agenda for a long time. And now we're also adjusting even our membership program, too. And I think it's important to say that we -- it's an attractive program in overall for everyone, but we're also trying to promote and to award if you are buying somewhat even more healthier food when you are shopping it. And I think it's in line with Hemköp's overall strategy. We are obviously early days. I don't think -- I mean, this was not -- well, it's not a game changer day 1, but it's, long term, the right thing to do, both for the society, but also for Hemköp. And I think they are well in line with their position, how they would also want to continue to position themselves. We also see -- we've got several or significant or, I would say, a lot of positive reactions from the consumers behind this. And in the early days, now we are seeing more members to join. But again, I want to point out, it's more of a long-term thing that -- than rather than you'll see something quickly the coming weeks or months in our operations.
Yes. Okay. Good. And then as a final question on Dagab and sort of if you look ahead, all else equal right now, are you still going to see positive FX impact also in Q4? And then what's the latest on sick leave compensation? How much was that in Q3? And did that mostly sort of -- was that filtering through mostly in Dagab? And what's happening in Q4 in sick leave compensation?
I don't think -- we will see where the currency goes. I don't think it will have that much of a currency improvement. But if you look at the sick leave part, you know that has changed the support because it's changed into the extra sick leave that you have. That's what you're being compensated for. So I would say it is not much. The effect is on a high single-digit level for the total group in this quarter. So -- and what we're seeing also, which is positive that the sick leave compared to the second quarter is going down, even if we are still at a somewhat higher level, but it's going in the right direction. And then I, of course, have to flag that we don't know because, again, it seems like we are into a bit of a second wave at the moment.
Exactly. But there's no change to the regulations when it comes to government support on sick leave moving into October versus what it was in Q3? Or...
Well, we've changed after -- I think, August 1, it's changed. So you had the full sick leave compensation up until July. And then after 1st of August, you only get compensated for the sick leave above normal levels.
Okay, okay. But that's still intact?
That is -- as far as I know, it's intact.
The next question comes from Fredrik Ivarsson from ABG.
Fredrik here. A few questions from my side as well, if I first can elaborate a little bit on Magnus' question regarding Willys' margin. If I'm doing the math right, the Willys' margin in the legacy stores, if we exclude the cross-border stores, seem to be up around 30, 40 basis points. So maybe if you could first confirm that number and maybe also help us with these building blocks of that margin improvement, again, if we exclude Eurocash. Is all of that 40, 30 bps stemming from higher volumes? Or anything else in there that could be driving?
Well, I'm sorry to make you disappointed since I will not confirm it as it is not in the report. But what -- you're right, and I think that as we talked with Magnus as well is that the key driver, when you're seeing this kind of -- because I think you can calculate that, this kind of like-for-like in Willys, it has -- we are -- yes, we'll have some more staff cost, obviously, but we are getting some productivity gains, particularly when we are in the same kind of stores and so forth. So we are getting an efficiency out of the system, which is very positive.The one that we talked about that is holding up a little bit is that the staff cost is increasing somewhat. And that is related the increased more staff for the online. Now as I've commented as well, the Click & Collect solution is going really well, and we are developing and rolling out more and more Click & Collect stores and offerings through delis, which is very, very positive. It is supported by the consumers. It somewhat drives higher staff costs. But all in all, if you look at the total -- for the total stores, it is supporting our overall business. I know I didn't answer your question completely, but I think -- I hope you got some indication of this.
Yes. That's fair enough. And one more on Hemköp, looking at your own stores, obviously, suffered due to the many locations in central areas. Have you seen any changes in terms of the footfall over the last month if people seem to be getting back to their offices?
It's a very good question. And I think it is not as bad as it was in the spring, but it's also not good. We've seen a slight, slight improvement. And we also have some data points that has been out and there's been a mix from various sources where I think you still have a lot of -- the spending downtown, if you relate that to that we still have many customers or consumers work from home. So that is still more or less the same. .I think we've seen somewhat more people going out in the cities, which is supporting a little bit. So it depends on how you look and what kind of data you look at. But clearly, and again, coming back to the situation we are facing right now, we're also facing a Christmas period and how -- we'll see how that will evolve when all the Christmas shopping will start. So yes, still a relatively high impact from too low traffic in parts of these traditionally high-traffic areas.
Perfect. That's helpful. And one last quick question from my side. Did you note any big changes regarding competitiveness in the market in Q3 versus Q2?
Not more than it's -- we are in a competitive -- a very competitive market overall. I think if you look at the way we can see it, if we look at the overall market, the volume is somewhat -- is still on a significantly higher level, but somewhat lower than we saw in the Q2 and in the summer. I think all actors in the market is, obviously, doing what they can to meet both the new demand, but also adapt into a booming online channel.
Okay. But no big step change quarter-on-quarter-wise?
No.
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Gustav [ Akif ] from SEB.
I have a few follow-ups. Firstly, at this stage, if you were to assume that online was to take on a more modest growth trajectory from 2021, say, 20% annually going forward, what stage, without price increases, would you assume that you're starting to get some profitability out of that? And I'm mainly referring to the business that is not Click & Collect but the true online business.
Gustav, I understand your first part, but what was the exact question? What kind of price you said -- what did you say?
Yes. Because sometimes, I've heard people say that, yes, online is going to get profitable when you get reasonable pricing for it. But in a scenario where you're not able to raise prices for online, but prices are at a similar rate as they are today, when do you actually get profitability from your online business, excluding your Click & Collect?
Yes, yes. I think -- and then of course, pricing in the market is very much a competitive area as well. And if -- then if the market was -- completely price it up, of course, it will be uncompetitive versus what you find in the stores. So I'm not sure that is fully -- if you will get some volume, but not maybe the development you want to see.I think the clear thing or the real step forward towards profitability, I think, one, we are pleased to see that the Click & Collect solution is really driving this channel at the moment. That is an area where we see significantly better operations in. The second part with the home deliveries. We need to get automation in the system and also more volumes to be able to get more efficient transports. And then you can argue if that will happen or not. If I look at Willys who is the, basically, only chain at the moment that is a clear fixed fee to deliver to your home or also Click & Collect, they are doing very well. Many of the others is not following that yet, and we'll see if that happens. That will support it. But I think the key thing is to get the automation and transport efficiency up in a better rate.
Okay. And returning to Dagab, which had a good performance in the quarter. Now that [ all of this ] have been running year-over-year, should we extrapolate this margin level going forward? Or are there -- the further expansions you talked about with the warehouse in north, is that again going to hurt profitability, you think, in the near term?
Not in the same way as we saw last year. Because last year, we were not having the efficiency. We want to see, as we set it up, and it took some time until we got the efficiency. Obviously, with double space, we will get more rent. But on the other hand, we'll get the more space that we need to be able to run an efficient operation as well. So we need that. Because if you're too tight, you're not also efficient in your operations. So -- but we'll get, obviously, when this is up and running in the fourth quarter, we'll get some more rent cost, but we expect to -- now to see a more better, smooth operation where we are trimming in the picking tools and we are trimming in the overall operation for us.
Okay. And as we get closer to you actually opening the automated warehouse, I'm a bit curious in how large share of your actual cost base do you actually address through this increased automation level. Is it fair to assume that about 6% to your sales is logistics cost today? And of that, about 3/4 related to transports?
Even if -- I'm not splitting that one out, but if you look at -- and I think we talked that, and we still have the same agenda and the same forecast is that our share of sales -- logistical cost as a whole, when we open up, that will be on par what we had last year. So it -- and obviously, with the volume that now starts to come in and that will come in, it will create further efficiencies.
Okay. All right. And lastly from me, I'm a little bit curious about the [ EU to T ] directive, which has been somewhat in the news lately. Do you foresee any effects from that as that it goes into play next year in terms of your working cap release, which has been strong lately or your ability to drive private label or an effect on shrink? Or is this at all relevant for you?
Well, obviously, we'll see if it goes in place, it's still -- but what we have argued, obviously, is that we don't -- we think the overall EU directive is it he has an aim to protect the smaller farmer and so on from the large player, which also is large suppliers in that perspective and also large retailers. We think the over implementation that Sweden has come up with is not really reflecting the aim for it because it also protects some of the multinational suppliers, which is not the aim of what we want or the aim of the directive. We'll see how this sorts out. I think you have some clear directives in it, and I think that we'll have to watch out and how -- see how it will evolve. I can't comment much more about it right now.
There are no further questions. Speakers, the floor is yours.
Well, with that, then, thanks for listening in, and thanks for your questions. And thanks for today, and I wish you a good day. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thanks.