Cloetta AB

STO:CLA B

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Cloetta Interim Report Q1 2024 Conference Call. I am George, the Chorus Call operator. And the conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions].

[Laura Lindholm, executive]

-- and thank you for joining. My name is Laura Lindholm, and I'm the Director of Investor Relations and Communications.Our CEO, Henri; and CFO, Frans will first run you through our Q1 results, after which we will move into the Q&A. You will there have the option to either dial in and ask your question live or you can also choose to post your questions in the chat. We will first then take the questions from the telephone lines, and then we will move ahead to the chat.Over to you, gentlemen.

[Henri de Sauvage Nolting, executive]

Thank you, Laura. So we had a good quarter. And in particularly, I think, I'm very pleased that we were able to protect our profits on an absolute level of SEK 192 million despite the historic high cocoa prices and food inflation.If we take one second for the people who are new to the call -- I mean, this is an overview of Cloetta. Very nice to see, last year, we reached the SEK 8 billion mark in turnover. Never been so big.And another maybe interesting fact, we're not a Sweden-only company. Towards the right, you can see the kind of distribution of the sales in the different countries. And, in particularly, you can see that we are starting to get really some nice base sales and presence in countries like Norway, Germany, U.K. and also international market, which is again a big growth motor for us.It's historic positions, which were strengthening and growing step-by-step. So that's really good to see, because the mix of this totality also helps us to achieve our organic growth journey in the future.If we then zoom in on the quarter, as I said, we protected our profits very good to see, because the operating environment for us is still very much affected by food price inflation in our raw materials. And although, some things have come down, we can see that sugar prices are still on a historic high level.And of course, anybody looking at the chocolate raw material prices, you can see that it's only going up. And of course, we always react on that in the same way as we have done so far by increasing our prices at the same absolute level as the raw materials are going up towards our customers. So that will continue, but it always takes a few months before we are able to do that.Another very important message and something I'm really proud of is that, despite the organic growth, which is all price related, and it is price on price, because we had a lot of pricing in the first quarter last year as well, we can see that our volumes are stable.And what does that mean? And why is that so important? It actually means that through all the work we've done in the last couple of years to strengthen our brands and to also invest more in our brands, the consumers across our markets are keeping, buying our products even though they are now a lot more expensive due to the food inflation than before.And this is something which you could say it really shows improved resilience of this business and our strategy over the last couple of years. And this is something special. There's not that many businesses in FMCG, who are able to keep the volumes flat in Europe given the economic situation.Our profit, hence, has been impacted by higher gross profit, but we also are still investing more in our brands like we told you in the previous quarter, and that continues. And Frans will unpack that a little bit more.And we're also looking all the time for cost savings, and efficiency savings is one of our 4 pillars. And we continued also this quarter to streamline the product portfolio, but also the brand portfolio and looking over which brands are the important ones going forward for the future.And then we also, as you will see later on, had a good quarter cash-wise. And like last quarter, the net debt over EBITDA is at an all-time low of 1.6x. Why is that important? Well, A, money is more expensive, but this is also very good, I think, for the Greenfield investment, which we'll be doing in the future that we're able to generate the cash and have this buffer when we go into that period of construction.So those are the highlights, protected profits, volume stable and I hand over to Frans to unpack that a little bit more.

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Okay. Thank you, Henri. So for quarter 1, we continue to report further growth with net sales of SEK 2.1 billion. That's a growth of 6.1%, of which 5.7% is organic. This is also the third consecutive quarter where we have over SEK 2 billion in sales and this growth is driven, as Henri mentioned, primarily by the successful fair pricing to offset cost inflation with the stable volumes mentioned.Now compared to the last number of quarters, double-digit growth in around 6% may appear a little bit less impressive, but then you have to note, and Henri alluded to this as well, that's on top of a lot of pricing that we had in quarter 1 last year. So now we're meeting a tougher comparative set of figures, and we will for the rest of this year.Now the long view on this is that 6% growth is, of course, still a lot higher than our ambition to grow in line with or better than the markets, which we have pegged at around 1% to 2% in the long term.And if you compare it to quarter 1, 2019, to the last year before the pandemic hit, our sales are up 34%, and that calculates to a 5-year CAGR of 6%. And actually, if you look into it really detailed, it's actually 6.1% 5-year CAGR, which is exactly the same as the 6.1% growth that we have this quarter. So it's a bit of a, I thought, a funny coincidence, maybe mostly for finance people.Now moving on to the net sales by segment. Branded packaged sales grew organically by 3.6%. And you can see here that growth comes on top of 20.5% growth we had in Q1 2023. Now that 20.5% was also the highest growth we've ever had since we started segment reporting and probably also before them.The Pick & mix segment, on the lower half of this slide, grew organically 11.7%, and that's on top of the over 30% we grew in Q1 2023. And this is also despite the loss of the Wilko customer in the U.K. last year when they went bankrupt.So there's Wilko sales in the comparator here and 11.7% mix is also the 12th consecutive quarter with double-digit growth for Pick & mix. And I think that shows that our plans for Pick & mix are generating some really good results.For both segments, pricing is the main driver of the growth. And for both segments, the volume is stable and again, despite the loss of Wilko.We have mentioned it before, FMCG and many retail chains have experienced a lot of pressure on volumes as consumers navigate the inflation. We do too, and we will continue to face the same. So we're really, really proud of stable volumes.The volumes show that the strategy is working. We are investing in the long-term health of our brands, especially our core brands. That makes us as a supplier attractive, also with a fair higher pricing we've been taking. So our customers know that they can, in turn, sell our Cloetta products to their shoppers and to do so at a price that helps their businesses.Now on the theme of investing in core brands, we can move to the next slide. I flagged in the Q4 earnings call that we were going to step up the standard on marketing in quarter 1 compared to last year by about SEK 10 million to SEK 20 million. We did that. But given how strong the volumes came in during the quarter, we held the step up to about SEK 10 million, so at the lower end of that range.So with an operating profit adjusted of SEK 192 million or about SEK 200 million without the extra marketing spend, we have been able to protect our profit, despite the steep increase in input costs since last year. And of course, the most talked about increase in media recently has been the price of cocoa.So at the highest level, for total Cloetta, you could kind of stop there to explain the operating profit adjusted by saying that we have protected it through fair pricing and with stable volumes.Now going further down in the analysis, and you have the graph on the right, you can see that our mix is favorable. Remember, the volume is stable, so this is mix, and the favorable mix is driven by increased focus on optimizing the portfolio and on net revenue management.Then on the cost, in the middle of that graph. In addition to the higher marketing spend, there is also a onetime effect of the recognition of the provision relating to finished goods inventories that we have blocked from sales. That, as many of you know, are because of traces of a component that doesn't meet our quality standards that was found in a raw material used when making chocolate products.We're, of course, keeping the products blocked until they've been cleared by our quality team and the relevant health authorities, and we're currently in a discussion with the supplier about these materials provided to us. This is a company with which we have worked for decades.And as such, we will not quantify the provision at this time. We expect that this will be resolved in a good manner. It is an isolated case, and we don't expect any material negative effect going forward.That said, based on the lower profit this quarter, despite the favorable mix, mix it's not something that should pay for higher input costs. And as costs are continuing to go up, again, I'm thinking primarily about chocolate, we intend to stay on course with our strategy to take fair pricing for our increased cost. And we will also continue to support such pricing.And in Q2, we will again increase the spend on marketing versus last year, and that again would be in the range of SEK 10 million to SEK 20 million.Now while total Cloetta profit is stable, there are very important differences in how the profit developed versus last year when looking at the Branded packaged products segment separate from the Pick-and-mix segment. So let us look at that.So starting with the Branded packaged products on the top. So this segment is down SEK 32 million despite the stable volumes. The favorable mix, I mentioned is, of course, also in this segment, but so does most of the provision, and of course, all the extra spend on core brands sits here.So as I mentioned, though, mix shouldn't pay for higher cost. And as the costs are continuing to go up, we will stay with the strategy to take pricing. Nonetheless, our underlying profit, if I would exclude the provision is, of course, better than what you can see here. And I will revert more on that topic as we learn more on the matter with our supplier.For Pick & mix, the quarter looks very different and also requires a bit of an explanation, maybe not to get ahead of oneself. The profit increased by SEK 24 million, which is a doubling versus last year. And we have said in the past that our midterm ambition is to reach an operating profit adjusted of between 5% and 7%. And now in this quarter, we are reporting 6.9%. So what you see is a lot of work over a long time that is really coming to fruition.Pricing has been caught up largely and despite higher prices, and healthy volume and higher efficiencies relating to merchandising, in assortment, fixtures, et cetera.I must add, though, that the profit is clearly boosted by the Easter sales. Not just with respect to gross profit, but also scale benefit, as higher volumes were managed more efficiently per kilo. And I said, you should probably knock off about 3% of profit as a percent of sales to get to the profit excluding the Easter gains.But even at that lower profitability, the quarter would be a clear improvement and we'll be approaching the range of 5% to 7% that we've set for ourselves in the midterm. So that is really great and encouraging. And it's not that often I get to present this type of numbers for Pick & mix.So then moving on to an overview of the road to 14%. So without making a detailed update on the efforts to drive bottom line profitability, I did take the bridge that we presented also in the Annual Report recently, and I updated the first light green arrow for Pick & mix to a shade darker, given the strong results.The Branded, light green to the right of that is obviously ongoing. And while margin is down, there are, as I said, some distorting factors in this quarter, and those are not related to the long-term outlook.Of course, we did see good benefits from net revenue management in the quarter in the form of the mix, and we will continue that alongside driving full efficiency in supply chain through the Perfect Factory program.With respect to the Greenfield delivery. Based on what we have previously presented, it will secure and improve on our ability to deliver the targeted margin. In Q3 2023, we reconfirmed that despite the higher interest rates, the net investment remains in line with what we've communicated.And I can again stress that we had shared previously and we said that we had taken headroom at the time of the original announcement for the uncertainty. So we also confirmed in Q3 2023 that we would generate higher up in the range of SEK 220 million to SEK 260 million EBIT upside per annum from the project, given that part of the upside comes from savings on payroll costs, and those costs has increased a lot with inflation since 2022.We will be able to provide a more detailed update on both investments and savings when we have sufficiently progressed or even closed the ongoing tendering and contracting process, and that in turn, depends on the complete finalization of the required permits. So we will revert to this in the future.Now going back to the quarter. So sales, general and admin in the quarter is pretty straightforward here, where the cost, excluding currency, is higher, driven by the higher spend on marketing. I think we might move one slide too much here. There.That said, there has, of course, been salary inflation relating to our own workforce since last year and the same effect for suppliers. And often, there are contracts that are indexed. Yet again, however, we've been able to offset those increases. And with SG&A at 21.6% of net sales, that is the lowest we've ever reported for quarter 1. So we're very happy with that, but it's not the end of the good news. So let's move to cash.So there is a seasonality to our cash flow, and we've spoken about this in the past. And most of the cash generated is generated in the back half of the year. And quarter 1 is normally not very strong, because the quarter starts with low working capital as the receivables from the sell into Christmas has largely been collected, but we haven't sold a lot immediately before Christmas and after Christmas.Now despite that, we generated a healthy free cash flow of SEK 99 million in Q1, and that's SEK 122 million better than what we did in Q1 last year. Part of the improvement is due to the efforts to increase the focus on cash across our organization and part is due to the inflation having slowed down somewhat. Not to the point that we are in a deflationary environment, our working capital did increase in Q1, but it didn't increase as much as it did last year.Now SEK 99 million is also not just better than quarter 1 2023. It's also the best quarter 1 free cash flow delivery we've had in the last 5 years. Which brings me to my final slide.And that I'm really pleased to share that on account of the strong cash flow, we closed the quarter with a net debt to EBITDA of 1.6x. That is lowest, not just for a quarter 1, but it's the lowest we've had in any quarter since technically anyone can remember.Naturally, as quarter 2, we'll have a set of dividends being paid out as is normal, the leverage will go up in quarter 2. But then again, based on the seasonal trends, the leverage will start to improve again in the back half of the year. And you can see that on the graph here that, that is our normal pattern.Now if you look long term, however, our financial position has consistently been improving over the last years. Now this was expected, but I think it's worth to emphasize. And this also means that we are consistently, quarter-by-quarter positioning us better with respect to the upcoming investments for the Greenfields.Similarly, on that note, we currently have access to additional unused credit facilities, commercial papers and cash on hand for SEK 4.1 billion which is well over double the need for the Greenfield based on what we have previously communicated. So I feel I can conclude that our financial position remains strong.With that, back to Henri.

[Henri de Sauvage Nolting, executive]

Thank you, Frans. So, we are getting into strategic updates. This is not new for the people who have been on the call before. We basically have 4 strategic areas.The first one is covering our Branded business and the expansion of margin and growth over there. The second one, Frans alluded to that, is how do we get more value out of the Pick & mix business, happy to see the 7%. And then of course there is cost and efficiency which we want to bring down and it all is being underpinned by sustainability.Over the last couple of quarters, we've been talking about these things, but we want to give you a bit more of a structure behind this, so that you also see what initiatives we are driving and putting the updates also into a strategic framework.So, I'll do all 4 of them, some of them with some examples. And if we can go to the first one, Laura, on the Branded. So, what do we want to do? And the first one, of course, is very much focused on consumer brands and strengthening our position over there.Yes, so there is a profitable growth through product mix, of course, the recovery of mix after Corona on mainly pastilles, but also gum. There is market share targets in our core markets and that we do by supporting more our key brand position, so whatever, Gott & Blandat in Sweden, Red Band in the Netherlands.And then as I showed you, we have 2 big markets where we have our own organization, we have a few brands which are in good positions challenging the market leaders, and that's U.K. and Germany, 64 million and 80 million plus people. So, really ability for us to grow over there.And then we have the international market 7% of Cloetta, historic positions getting stronger and stronger and really showing good growth and also contributing to our EBIT, so also very important for us.And then, we're also focusing more on making use of our scale, so focusing on fewer but bigger innovations, which are going across markets, maybe not all under the same brand, but be like innovation, technology platforms and then being implemented across brands in our markets, and we are really looking at valorizations, so selling higher value products because they have an added benefit for the consumer and also giving us a competitive edge.And then, of course, new channels, and that is everything outside of the regular supermarket channel can be a lot, but, of course, E-commerce and Q-commerce are really growing. I'll show you one or 2 examples.So this is the first one. This is the mix. So Lakerol Strawberry launch doing really well in the Nordic market. I have an example here of Sweden. Why is this important? Well, through the fruit flavors we are able to reach younger consumers, which is something which we need in Lakerol, and it's very pleasing to see that we understand those consumers, then we launch something, and we also get success.Really great execution. We call it 360, so you both are in the media, but also in store and a nice example on the right top is an activation we did together with foodora, where all the people buying foodora products are getting them delivered in a paper Lakerol bag with a new product. So you can see yourself that it really adds 10% to the volume, but more important is that we are getting younger consumers into the brand.Then the next also on area one, is innovation and valorization. This product, Sour Bites is something which we launched 1.5 years ago with a lot of success in the U.K. and then later on in international markets under the Chewits brand.Now we brought exactly the same product under Red Band in the Netherlands, and it really did well sales-wise. But also last week, we were awarded the best product launch in the confectionery category by the most renowned institute who is measuring and also asking our customers about what are the best launches of the year.So you can see our team in front of the office building receiving the Wheel Of Retail-award, as it is being called. And that, of course, is also saying something. It's not only the consumer, but also our customers really happy with the innovation power we have in this company.And then I think the last example in this area is the e-commerce. So you know that we have the brand, The Jelly Bean Factory in the U.S., we had to name it The Jelly Bean Planet. And that brand, we are now launching through e-commerce with Amazon based on the very good cooperation we have with Amazon in our core markets here in Europe. They are 100% or more than that supporting us in the U.S. to launch this brand.And that is very interesting, because you are launching it in a sales channel, but in sales channel also is a communication channel. So you can be very targeted in your communication and how to build that brand. And pleasing to see USD 200,000 in a month of sales, that in the biggest jelly bean market in the world, of course, is a foreboding to more success later on. But we'll build this step-by-step, but really good to see.Then just to give you a feeling for the other areas, I mean, what are we doing without having examples everywhere to -- for the sake of time. But of course, Pick & mix, we want to get to 5% to 7% EBIT. And again, that is including all the allocated costs into the Pick & mix, because it's like the full allocation model of supply chain and office and indirect cost into Pick & mix.4 trends -- or 4 important areas. One, of course, are the consumer trends of individualism, but also sustainable packaging. Because people are not buying this in plastic, they're buying this into a carton or a paper bag, that's really growing.The second thing, we see that our customers are really looking at how do we transform our stores from something which looks like a nice warehouse, into something where you can get inspiration. And then Pick & mix is one of the categories where consumers are standing willingly, nicely 3, 4 minutes to pick their individual products, and that is something they're really looking for. So a lot of in-depth cooperation with our customers who see this as an important addition to their concept.Then we also want to earn money on that and not just compete on price. So we're really driving premiumization in Pick & mix by adding features or adding good products and consumer activation, which is also relatively new in this category, and we're gaining good traction on that.And then, of course, last but not least, we're constantly looking at how can we optimize our cost in here, either by using our scale, but also the whole merchandising cost routing and also how we act as a retailer towards the companies who are delivering their products to us. And that is also quite an important one for the 5% to 7% going forward. So that's Pick & mix. In the future we'll come back on examples over here.And then the third business one is the lower cost and greater efficiency, because as you saw in Frans' part, that is also contributing in the road to 14%.Yes. So it's the Perfect Factory where we increase the efficiency of the production line. We talked about the fact that we have volume. And that means also that volume is stable, that some volumes are really growing, and our factories are quite full, as we discussed before. So we need more efficiency on the lines to produce more so that we can also sell that, and that's really working, also reducing waste and also energy, of course, in our plants.Then we have the Greenfield, I'll come back to that. The ZBB methodology for the indirect, Frans alluded to the fact that we were able to keep our indirects, within the SG&A flat with the savings, even despite the fact that we have in all the markets, salary inflation. So that remains an important one.Then the net revenue management, that is all the money between the list price towards the customer and the net price we are receiving. Does that money work for us in a good way and what can we improve. And that is quite exciting. We're rolling that out together with an IT tool for our category and sales and finance people to constantly evaluate where do we get the bang for our buck and that is something going forward where we'll get more efficiency out.Then the whole media thing we talked about it, so how do we get also over there. Really good uplift on our media spend. And that, of course, starts with the whole preparation and clear brand positioning, slogans, but then also the media buying and more important that the working media is now reaching the 70%.So out of every SEK 100 we spent, the SEK 70, which is being seen by you and me and all the other consumers on Google, on TV, on outdoor, et cetera. And then 70% of that is pure media, which is really the communication media part. So one of the big components in why people continue to buy our brands in the same amounts, even though the price levels are higher.And then also over here, of course, the cash generation. Frans talked about that. That's now really well embedded, and we can do more over here to get the cash even up.Yes. Then a quick update on the Greenfields, and just one more time why do we do this? Well, it's a big cost saving and the cost saving goes directly into the EBIT. So we're talking an EBIT effect of SEK 220 million to SEK 260 million.It's a big investment. Net is SEK 1.9 billion, and we'll come with an update on that to show everybody that we are progressing nicely in that way. It is also 15,000 tons of extra capacity. And given the fact that, in particular, our candy factories are quite full, we will need more capacity if we want to keep on growing our volumes.And then last but not least, it's full electric. So a really important step in our sustainability journey and the climate goals we have underwritten.What has happened during the quarter, the municipal government has decided to grant us the permit. So that is, let's say, the coalition government -- majority government in the city of Roosendaal, they have decided that they will grant us the permit. And then in May, let's say, the parliament, so the whole city council will have to vote on this, and then that is the first big step in the permitting process.And all the internal project work streams are going on as planned, which is mainly all the preparation to get the bidding process up and running, like Frans alluded to, that when we have the permit that we can start to negotiate contracts in the final stage. And that's probably then also the moment where we can do a good update on the process.Then as you know, we're closing 3 factories. And given the delay of the project we have been looking at are there other ways we can speed that up so that we also bring down the complexity and what we have decided.And I think we talked about that before, that the second factory we have in Roosendaal, it's called Roosendaal Borchwerf. It's the Lonka factory, fudge, nougat and soft bites. That plant we are closing now in quarter 2, 2024. So we'll bring that forward. Part of the products are being outsourced into third party and another part is being in-sourced. Those are the products which we just showed you in the Netherlands on the soft bites into the Sneek factory, which is good.We have an agreement with the labor union on the effects of the people who cannot transfer into the new factory, because, of course, that is the first thing we are looking at as a responsible employer.We also have an agreement with the facility owners. So this was an acquisition. We were renting the building year-on-year, and we agreed with the owner in this -- on the state of the building to come back, and that's actually quite well done by the team. And then all the equipment, which we are not going to use or want to use, we have sold to a third party who will also be responsible for taking out all that equipment from the building.Yes. And that means that over the next quarter, so already this quarter, we transferred part of it then during quarter 2, another big chunk will go to third party and then the soft bites will go into our own factory. Meaning, that by the end of June, we will have the last production.Then of course, dismantling, cleaning and handing the building over to the owner will start. So savings will start to come in as from quarter 4, 2024. But we will update you on the exact effects on that when we also do the Greenfield business case update, because this was part of that.Yes. And then number four, last but not least, is the sustainability agenda, the for you, the for people and for the planet. I will not go through all these initiatives. But maybe important to say on the, for people, as we just had a Cloetta engagement. So this is about how happy and engaged our employees are.Very nice to see a big step-up versus the last time when we measured this, which is now like 2.5 years ago, across all the countries, but also all the supply chain and all the factories really step up. And of course, there's a lot of hard work we put in here, both from communication, but also our leadership academy on different levels is really starting to pay off over the year. And scientific, it has proven that people who are more motivated also deliver better results. So for sure, this is also helping us in our road to 14%.And I think I'll stop over there, because otherwise, we run a bit over time. So I would like to open this now up for questions.

[Laura Lindholm, executive]

Operator, please go ahead.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Nicklas Skogman, with Handelsbanken.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

I have a couple of questions. The first one is on the comment or the explanation that mix effect was positive. But I find a little bit strange given how much faster Pick & mix was growing in the quarter compared to Packaged?

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Yes.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

That's the first one.

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Yes. No, no, it's true. And I mean we've said before, when Pick & mix grows faster. That there is an unfortunate, if you will, effect on the profitability as a result of that. But the way to think about this is that, that there's other mixes than just between the 2 segments. So we also have mix within the Packaged portfolio, which can be between the brands, it can be between markets, it can be between channels or customers, et cetera.So the big difference versus before is that, we're seeing some really good effects, both on the portfolio optimization, where we take out SKUs to have less profitability, so that's a favorable mix. And what you saw from the net revenue management house. It's not only about promotion and trade spend, it's also about channels and products, and really to go deeply in and make sure that we direct our sales in the most profitable manner. And that is really coming to fruition in this quarter, and it's offsetting what you otherwise would have had as a negative mix with the Pick & mix segment growing faster.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

Okay. So it's a bit of channel mix as well then. Okay. Second question is on the provision. So what -- you haven't mentioned the number. But, I guess, I can roughly guess based on the decline in profits in Branded packaged, and also considering the step-up in marketing there. But does that encompass damage, expected damages received from your supplier? And -- or is this sort of a gross provision?

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Yes. I mean, yes, the short answer is the gross provision. So the way we do this is, obviously, that we're holding back on these inventories until it's fully cleared. And based on what we have there in the conversation with authorities, we have taken a provision for the value of inventories if we would have to destroy that.Now we're not quantifying this because -- I mean, again, this is a supplier we've had for decades, and we are in conversation with them. I would assume that this will be resolved in a good way. And if we then would have money coming back, let's call it that, that is something that we have not factored into the Q1 results. That will be resulting in a net effect later on.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

Okay. Very good. And it sounded like you didn't expect withholding these products from the market to impact sales?

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Yes. I mean, we're still shipping. So it's -- I mean, we're talking about several hundred tons, which is a lot, and for maybe a consumer or someone, it sounds like enormous. But we're selling several thousand tons of products a week. So we are continuing shipments. We don't expect any material negative effect in the quarter now -- quarter 2.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

Okay. Very good. Then a question on the SG&A costs in the quarter. So if I look at the adjusted year-on-year increase, it's SEK 12 million. Then we know you spent SEK 10 million more on marketing, which takes us to sort of SEK 2 million increase. I also note [Technical Difficulty] probably mostly in the COGS. So I was thinking SEK 2 million growth that's basically flat SG&A costs year-on-year. So -- and given the salary inflation and so on, what is driving this? And then what should we expect in the coming couple of quarters?

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Yes. And just we lost you just when you said something about COGS.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

Yes, I said most depreciation is up year-on-year, but I guess most of that depreciation is in the COGS. So maybe --

[Frans Rydén, executive]

Yes. Exactly. Yes. So I mean, the short answer is, of course, that we're super happy with this. It's -- there is the increased spend on marketing. And of course, we have inflation, et cetera. But we have also had a lot of focus on the indirect spend now for several years. And what's really coming through strong in this quarter, and which you see also in the profitability of the Pick & mix, is that the merchandising costs are basically held below inflationary rates despite the increase.So there is some savings and the other part is just basically holding back. So that is very strong. Can we continue to do that throughout the whole year? I wouldn't promise that, but I can tell you that our focus on cost is not going to let up.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

Okay. Very good. Last question on cocoa. Price is going up. You said you're going to take a -- carry out price hikes to compensate for that. But do we expect -- should we expect to see any lag effects in regards to your input costs versus price hikes to customers?

[Frans Rydén, executive]

I mean, yes, I mean -- and you know this, and it's probably helpful maybe for others. Of course, there's always a bit of a lag where we see that cost has moved and then we can have a conversation with our customers about how we should change our pricing and then there is a dialogue, and then there is a period to implement that. So there is always a lag, but there is also a lag when cost starts to come down. So it depends also very much on what's going to happen with cocoa for the rest of the year. But yes, there's always a lag. In this quarter, of course, we are offsetting a lot of this lag or all of it, you could argue, through the mix effect here. But the mix effect is not something that should be used to pay for the higher cost because, of course, that's -- that would be deviating from the strategy. So with time, we should catch up on the pricing and the mix effect should then drive further profitability.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] Ladies and gentlemen, there are no more questions over the phone.

[Henri de Sauvage Nolting, executive]

Good. Well, then I think quarter to 11:00, nearly, we will finish this quarter 1 update.Important messages, good organic growth of 6%. Our volumes are stable, that's really being proud of. And then an EBIT of SEK 192 million despite the big hike in cocoa prices is also showing the resilience of the business and that we are, I think, at least having the right strategy to deliver not only the quarterly results, but also that we're on the way towards the EBIT targets we have set ourselves and which is the biggest thing to achieve for us.So with having said that, I thank you for the call, and we'll talk in one quarter. Thank you.

[Nicklas Skogman, analyst]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Chorus Call, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.