Byggmax Group AB

STO:BMAX

Earnings Call Analysis

Earnings Call Transcript 2023-Q4

[Operator]

Good morning, and welcome to the Q4 2023 Interim Report Byggmax Group. My name is Charlie and I'll be coordinating the call today. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to our host, Karl Sandlund, CEO of Byggmax to begin. Karl, please go ahead.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Thank you very much. And again, a very warm welcome to this conference call where we will present Byggmax report for the fourth and final quarter of 2023. And it will be me, Karl Sandlund, the CEO. And with me, I have Helena Nathhorst, our CFO. And as usual, we will be speaking to a presentation that is available on our website. So I hope you find it and we will make our best to guide you to the right page during the call. As usual, we will start with a short business update, Helena will cover the financials. Of that, I'll just give a short brief summary before we open up for your questions. But I think we start. So let's move to Page #2 in the presentation.

And as you know, this -- the fourth quarter is together with the first quarter of the year, part of our low season. The external characteristics in the quarter have been similar to the ones that we have experienced during the whole 2023. As expected, the consumer market continued to be weak also in Q4 with building materials affected harder than many other sectors. And the consumers, the customers are hesitant, especially when it comes to the larger projects and renovations -- and we've also seen a low number of house transactions in the Nordics during the quarter.

As you will see, in this environment, we have continued our efforts to further improve Byggmax with development of the customer offering with even lower operating costs, minus 10% versus last year with 20% lower inventory level and with the strength in balance sheet, everything to be [ready and see for growth] when the market returns. And despite the weak market, the customers continue to come to our stores. The customer numbers are only slightly lower than last year. And it's good to see that our stores continue to show very high customer satisfaction index, a great effort by our employees during the whole year and shows their engagement and the cost of attitude that they have and that they take care of our customers.

The headline financials are as follows: sales in Q4 decreased by 15% to just below SEK 1 billion. And this is a similar development as the one that we have seen during the whole 2023. The decline is primarily driven by mix towards smaller projects. The larger innovations are postponed, which gives a lower volume. While we continue to see better sales when it comes to smaller projects, such as paint and bathrooms, et cetera. In addition, the cold and snowy weather during December increased our sales of energy products, such as palette and firewood. And we also ended the year with a new sales record when it comes to Christmas trees. Never before has so many customers bought their Christmas tree at Byggmax , and we saw a lot of happy faces in our stores during December.

The gross margin in the quarter was 34.5%, and this is a strong margin from a historical point of view despite we have a weak market and shows that the work we're doing when it comes to continuously improving our assortment work activity with purchasing it had effect. The EBITA amounted to minus SEK 77 million in the quarter, and the margin was 7.7% negative. And this is a lower EBITA than the one that we saw last year. But all in all, a weak market where we continue to further improve our business, both regarding cost and balance sheet. And during the year, we have proven that we managed to secure profitability in a weak market, and we have strengthened our balance sheet while the Board of Directors proposed a dividend of SEK 0.50 per share for 2023.

So let's continue to Page #3, where you see some performance indicators for full year of 2023. Net sales in the full year were SEK 6.1 billion 15.8% lower than the full year of 2022. And as mentioned, the reduction is driven by the weak Nordic consumer market. We have reduced our operating costs significantly. However, cannot fully mitigate for the weak market while the EBITA is lower than the year before ended at SEK 176 million or just below 3% margin.

The focus on reducing inventory level and in combination with adaptation of the CapEx level, securing improved operating cash flow at SEK 781 million, which is stronger than one we had the year before, and we have reduced our net debt by approximately 20% compared to the year before 2022. And finally, we have continued to open more stores. We have a net increase of 5 more stores than we had 12 months earlier. And in total, we now have 209 stores in the Byggmax group. And so far, as I think you have seen, we have announced 4 new stores for 2024.

On Page 4, you see some of the drivers for the market development in Q4. And during Q4, we continue to see low activity as a [indiscernible] when it comes to [ investing] a larger projects. There was a low activity in the housing market. And the chart to the right shows we intend to renovate, which continue to be also that on a low level. People tend to postpone the larger projects. In all, we estimate that the Swedish consumer market decreased by approximately 20% during the 2023. And at the same time, our sales as we were down 15%, which means that we continue to strengthen our position in the market. And I think in these times, the Byggmax's business model, which is based on low price, it's perhaps more relevant than ever.

And we see, as I mentioned, that the customers continue to come to us, but with a smaller basket size. Lately, we have seen some more positive macro comments when it comes to peak interest rates and the development and inflation. And those drivers will, over time, improve the consumers' financial situation of course and also strengthen the market conditions over time. In addition to offer the lowest prices, we constantly are working on improving our customer offering as you see on Page #5. And during the year, we have opened more stores. We have continued to strengthen our presence also outside of the largest cities.

In addition, we have finalized our store upgrade program with some few exceptions, all our stores and now according to what we call the concept 3.0, which includes an updated store design, improved product display better self service, et cetera. And in addition to improving the store experience, we have also continued to enhance our online channels. We started the year in '23 with 57,000 products available on our site and with more than 20,000 additional products online. We have also worked on increased functionality. And one example, which I think we mentioned also before, is the possibility to buy [indiscernible] paint on our side. And this is one example of a function to be even more relevant also within the smaller projects.

Another feature is the possibility to design customized complementary buildings online, which we launched during the summer and have improved since whether customers can design buildings, which is based on readily available modular options. So it's quick and easy to assembly at very attractive prices. And those are just a few examples of how we continue to strengthen our offering to the consumers. And as mentioned, [discuss] also resulted in quite good unto customers even though the average receipt is currently lower than before. It shows the strength of our model.

If we move to Page #6, to adapt to the market situation, we have been working intensively on a number of areas, which also presented in the Q3 report. The first area is to continue to optimize our assortment, and this involves everything from carefully decide which products offer, source them to the right price, securitization logistic flows and adapt the store side to be able to sell the products to our customers, all to be able to offer attractive products at low prices and good margin.

The second area is to adjust our inventory levels to a lower sales volume, and we are very pleased how this has developed during both the quarter and the year. And the third area is to continuously secure the industry's lowest cost. And this is -- this includes everything from how we design our stores. the carefully selected assortment operations of the store and our small central functions, all designed around efficiency.

To give some more details on Slide #7. As mentioned, we continue to deliver a strong gross margin in the quarter at 34.5%, and this is just slightly below the record high margin we had last year and in line with the margin we delivered during the pandemic and higher than the pre pandemic levels as you see. And this is despite the fact that we have a negative impact from reverse scale effects in the logistics to driven by lower volume in 2023. Active sourcing and purchasing in combination with continuously optimizing assortment to be relevant in more categories help us maintain a high margin despite a very weak market. And the same goes for the full year, we are almost in line with the margins we delivered during the pandemic despite the market that we had in 2023.

Move on to Page #8. Having the lowest cost is key to be able to offer the best prices. And more stores, store upgrades, high inflation, increase our underlying cost. And with this in mind, we are very pleased with the cost development that we show in the quarter. Our operating costs, excluding leases, is 10% lower than the last year. And in the current cost environment, this is a substantial reduction. It is slightly lower reduction than the one that we delivered during Q2 and Q3, mainly driven by the fact that Q4 is a low season quarter with a smaller cost base where we already in [design] use a low season setup in our stores and also the fact that the comparables is getting tougher.

The development is driven by a strong cost focus throughout the entire organization with improved waste of working, reduced overhead and lower external costs. If you combine the quarters and look at the full year, our operating cost is 10%.

That is same as in the quarter, the lower than the cost that we had in 2022. So all in all, a substantial reduction from a low starting point, which will improve how deeply rooted cost focus is in the Byggmax DNA.

And just to illustrate this, also in another way on Page #9, would like to illustrate how our costs have developed the last couple of years. And as you see, we are actually now back on pre-pandemic level when it comes to the operating cost per store. This is excluding the leases. And even though we have experienced some 20% inflation in the last couple of years, we have managed to mitigate the cost increase, and we have the same level of cost per store as we had back in 2020 by having substantially higher efficiency.

And if you compare it with last year, 2022, the average operating cost per store is down SEK 1 million per store. But it's not only the cost efficiency that have improved. Also operational quality and control is even better than before. We have a lower waste percentage than before we have higher customer satisfaction in the stores. So all in all, this really makes our stores ready for increased volume when the market returns. Managing and balancing the inventory levels have been prioritized activity the last quarters.

And on Page 10, you see the development [indiscernible]. The inventory, as you know, varies between the quarters, with Q1 and Q2 higher due to the ramp-up for the high season and Q3 and Q4 lower due to low season. And looking at this quarter-by-quarter, you see that after Q1 in 2023, we have more or less the same level inventory level as the year before. After the second quarter, we were some 9% down. And now by the end of the year, we have reduced the inventory by 20% or more than SEK 300 million.

And we are working fate with both optimizing assortment, of course, but [indiscernible] volume to make sure that to the sales volume. And reducing the inventory is, of course, one important lever is to strengthen the balance sheet. And together with the asset investment activity, this has enabled us to reduce the net debt as Helena will come back to.

So all in all, we have delivered on our prioritized areas this year to continue to develop our customer offering with more stores and a wider online assortment. To further increase efficiency and that inventory to a lower sales level. And this has led us to being even more efficient company than we were in the beginning of the year. With that, I hand over to Helena to cover our financials more in detail.

[Helena Nathhorst, executive]

Yes. Page 11 and the market and sales development. It is a continued weak market in the fourth quarter, in line with expectations and sales are down by 14.8%. The same decrease in the quarter and the development in the quarter is close to the development of the full year. The consumer market differs between categories and heavy building materials are weaker than categories related to smaller [indiscernible] cell projects.

And we estimate the Swedish consumer market to decline approximately by 20% during 2023. And in this market situation, we have strengthened our position and our offering. We have a good performance on smaller projects. The number of customers and receipts are down only by 4%. We have a net of 5 new stores in total 209 stores combined with optimized online assortment.

And we have improved customer offering from upgraded stores balanced with assortment and online, and we see an increased satisfaction of -- from our customers in 2023. If we look on the P&L on the next page, we have a strong operational focus in low season quarter. We have a negative EBITA of SEK 77 million in the quarter. Sales decreased heavily affecting a small quarter, but we have strong cost controlling continued, both in stores, and we have significantly reduced administration costs in the period.

Operational expenses and personnel have reduced by SEK 30 million or 10% in the quarter, which is a strong continue on the cost improvement. Also, if we look into the full calendar year, we have stable gross margin and reduced cost base in 2023. The decrease in volume has some negative economic of scale on gross margin, but they have partly been compensated by assortment and purchasing improvements.

The negative sales volumes has impacted on EBITA, obviously, EBITA down SEK 179 million versus last year, SEK 509 million. EBITA margin decreased to 2.9%. But again, the cost base has been adjusted to lower sales with more efficient administration and lower rate of development projects. Personnel costs and other operating expenses decreased by SEK 138 million is a decrease by 10% for the year, and it has been a decrease mainly driven by Q2 to Q4.

We have the improved cash flow and reduced net debt on Page 14. We have had high focus on reducing risk and strengthening balance sheet in the year by inventory levels adopted lower CapEx activity and a reduced cost base established, both in store and in administration. Net debt reduced by SEK 235 million to SEK 948 million at year-end. And cash flow from operating activities plus SEK 781 million increase versus last year. The lower operating profit is compensated by strong cash flow management. We have a normal seasonal variations in cash flow in the quarter where Byggmax has a large seasonal variations in cash flow from profitability in high and low season. But in all, achievement on reduced risk and net debt in the year.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Thank you, Helena. And to summarize before we open up for questions on Page 15, a couple of points. It has been 2 tough years for the Nordic consumers with high inflation and increased interest rates and the heavy building materials sectors have been more affected than many other sectors as the consumers are hesitant when it comes to the larger projects and investments.

And in this type of market, it's vital to act. And we have delivered strongly on our prioritized actions. So we have spent the time well. We have further improved efficiency within our business with even lower operating costs. We have a strong gross margin, improved capacity and reduced net debt. And at the same time, we have continued to develop our customer offering with more and upgraded stores and more products available online. And Byggmax association has a low price alternative with many stores and the flexibility of the customers is a strength.

And even though the market has been very weak, as you heard, we experienced that the customers, they appreciate our concept. The number of customers is only slightly below last year, and we have gained market shares. And our strong offering, together with short and efficient supply chains made us ready to put a ramp up as soon as the market returns. And with that, we conclude the presentation part of this conference call, and I turn to the operator to open up for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Benjamin Wahlstedt of ABG.

[Benjamin Wahlstedt, analyst]

Well done. I think you cut costs further in the quarter. I think this is really impressive given the size of the quarter and the low normal staffing, for example. I note that the number of employees per store front is at a level not seen in the last 10 years in the quarter, for example, I appreciate that part of this is likely explained by the newer, smaller store concepts, but they, I believe, at least or too small of a share to make the whole difference. Could you give us some more color around this fact? And also tell us perhaps how to think about this going forward? And then playing the devil's advocate a bit here. Is there a risk of becoming understaffed and losing the service edge, please? Would be interested to hear your thoughts around that.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Thank you, Benjamin. Well, we have worked intensely during the whole year and then also before that, on implementing new tools for scheduling, improving our service elements within the stores, how we make inventory checks and soon to be able also to run the stores even more efficiently when it comes to number of LPEs. So I think what you see this quarter is a result of a long focus and several different initiatives to be even more efficient in-store operations. And Byggmax is used to ramp up between low and high season to out of the number of employees per store depending on volume and so on. So this is something that we, of course, carefully monitor to make sure that as soon as the market ramps up again and also with the coming season that we can make sure that we have the relevant number of employees in our stores.

[Benjamin Wahlstedt, analyst]

Perfect. Could you -- you talk about when the market returns. It would be interesting to hear more thoughts around that point. So how transactions will start soft in Sweden, consumers have a self-reported lower innovation intent. Can you see anything in purchase [indiscernible] , for example, to indicate that the tide might be turning, so to speak?

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Well, I think when we look at the fourth quarter of 2023, we see similar trends as the one that we saw during the full year. With all hesitant consumers, especially when it comes to the larger projects, while smaller projects are developed in better more positively. And as you mentioned, as we highlighted in the presentation, the Swedish [indiscernible] just came up this week and also showed that during Q4, the intention to renovate continue to be low some.

So that is what we've seen in the figures at the later part of 2023. At the same time, reading papers, looking around in society, we also see more positive signals, right, with an inflation coming down with maybe a peak in interest rates. Let's also see tomorrow. And of course, over time, this is macro factors that will strengthen the consumers' wallets increase the visibility for the consumers. And I think it's also a lot of psychology in this, right? So when the consumers know how much money they have, they also tend to know [indiscernible] to also make the larger investments again. It's really hard to say exactly when. It's hard to see, right? But those kind of macro factors will improve the market at some point.

[Benjamin Wahlstedt, analyst]

Yes. Loud and clear. Actually, turning back to the OpEx base. Could you give us an indication or help us how to think about the external OpEx line, what share or costs you sort of need to take and what share is more discretionary, if you will, any sort of hints on how to think about that is helpful.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Helena could you start.

[Helena Nathhorst, executive]

What we need to take and what we -- well, we have worked, as mentioned, both in stores and in administration. So to some extent, there is a bottom level of what we can -- need to have in stores. But then the flexibility is more around the operational projects, the sort of growth initiatives and marketing areas. Where we -- this year, as commented on, we have decreased also the administration to adopt to new volumes and new levels. So it's a little bit of a variable level left, but I think we are reaching more to need to be level now. On this new run rate to remember, we have worked a lot from Q2. The decrease on one slide was clearly that in the first quarter, we didn't have the strong attention on adopting to the market in the same way as we have had in the last quarters.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from Thomas Corbrion of Pascal Investments. Please go ahead.

[Thomas Corbrion, analyst]

One question for me about the store opening. Can you give us a bit of details about the breakeven of those new stores given the fact that those volumes that we are mentioning will be all lower and might be lower going forward. So would you say that it takes longer for you to break even with those new stores and the capacity that you have on the OpEx is more limited on those new stores because you need to invest in order to step up the sales.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Thank you, Thomas. Well, I'll try to answer your question, and then please also add on. Well, last year, we opened 7 new stores. We had a net increase of 5%, which means that also closed 2 stores. So far, next year, we have announced 4 new stores. And of course, the weaker market also impacts the ramp-up of sales in the new store. But that is also one reason why we have a slightly lower number of new stores than we had the previous years. We can also work with the store concept, the size of the stores and the stores that we open next year will be little bit on average, a smaller size than the ones that we had in the last couple of years to also mitigate for the kind of market.

So we don't think that this will have a major impact on the nice number of years to break even for the new stores. But instead that we have mitigated for this and balance is by the number of new stores but also how we open down how large they are and what the cost [indiscernible].

[Operator]

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Our next question comes from [indiscernible] of AAT Investment.

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulation with fantastic good cost control. I understand that the market is really bad this day, and we do not understand or expect when it will return back again. But the surprise move you did to pay a little dividend. Can you just elaborate what the Board think about when they are doing this? Is it because you have so good cost control and you expect the market to improve in the next 2, 3 years? Or please tell me more about that.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Well, thank you. Yes, I will try. I think that we have, during 2023 proven that we can deliver profitability. We can increase efficiency in our business with the cost control. We are able to strengthen our balance sheet despite a weak market. why the Board has proposed a dividend of SEK 0.50 per share. So I think it's a well balanced decision when taking into account our results, our financial situation and also creating shareholder value.

[Unknown Analyst]

Thank you -- it was just interesting to see because I've seen some of the analyst reports talking about if this market continues for some while it could be a risk for the balance sheet. But as far as I see, the way you are doing it until now is impressive. So good luck for the future, and we keep it touch.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Yes, thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] At this stage, we currently have no further questions. I'll hand back over to Karl Sandlund for any closing remarks.

[Karl Sandlund, executive]

Well, thanks a lot. Thanks for your participation and for your questions. And if not before, we are really looking forward to meet you again after our first quarter of 2024. Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.