MATAS A/S Company announcement no. 04 2020/21 – INSIDE INFORMATION
Allerød,
Interim report – Q1 2020/21
(1 April –
Sales and earnings growth despite COVID-19
“The first quarter was historically challenging and historically strong at the same time. The COVID-19 pandemic and the national lockdown boosted demand for health, hygiene and personal care products and triggered a boom on matas.dk with sales soaring by 216%. Overall,
“Things were looking bleak at the end of March, but we and our partners decided to put every ounce of energy into making an ultra-quick rebound. Sales soon recovered and customers quickly returned to the physical stores as
Q1 2020/21 highlights
- Revenue grew by 8.1% year on year, while underlying like-for-like sales, i.e. sales in stores operated by the Group in both Q1 2020/21 and Q1 2019/20, were up by 8.4% in Q1 2020/21. Boosting sales by 15.9%, Health & Wellbeing recorded the strongest sales growth. The number of trading days was unchanged compared with Q1 2019/20.
- Online sales via matas.dk were ahead by 216% year on year, while overall online sales, including revenue generated by Firtal, surged by 152% to make up 25.5% of Q1 2020/21 revenue from 10.9% in Q1 2019/20.
- Underlying sales in the Group’s physical stores were down by 9.2% year on year as footfall was adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially at the beginning of the quarter. In the second half of the quarter, footfall was up compared with Q1 2019/20.
- The gross margin was 44.4% compared with 45.0% in Q1 2019/20. The lower gross margin was attributable to a higher proportion of online sales.
- Overall costs amounted to 26.3% of revenue against 26.7% in the same quarter of last year and were up by
DKK 15.4 million as a consequence of higher activity and acquisitions. Underlying costs fell as a result of ongoing rationalisation measures. - EBITDA before special items came to
DKK 172.8 million , up fromDKK 163.2 million in the year-earlier period. Growth was driven by higher revenue, which more than offset the higher costs. The EBITDA margin before special items was 18.3% against 18.6% in Q1 2019/20. - Cash generated from operations was an inflow of
DKK 301.0 million in Q1 2020/21 against an inflow ofDKK 82.7 million in Q1 2019/20. TheDKK 218.2 million increase was driven mainly by favourable working capital developments with deferred payment of A tax and VAT under the government's COVID-19 relief package contributing someDKK 100 million .
| 2020/21 | 2019/20 | ||
| (DKKm) | Q1 | Q1 | |
| Revenue | 946.8 | 875.6 | |
| Gross profit | 420.2 | 394.0 | |
| EBITDA before special items | 172.8 | 163.2 | |
| EBIT | 72.1 | 70.8 | |
| Adjusted profit after tax | 67.4 | 66.0 | |
| Free cash flow | 236.8 | (81.1) | |
| Revenue growth | 8.1% | 3.8% | |
| Underlying like-for-like revenue growth | 8.4% | (1.2)% | |
| Gross margin | 44.4% | 45.0% | |
| EBITDA margin before special items | 18.3% | 18.6% | |
| Net interest-bearing debt/EBITDA before special items | 3.2 | n.a.* |
The number cannot be calculated at
Financial targets
The health, financial and structural consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have been and continue to be severe, and the pandemic could potentially affect consumer behaviour and society at large for a long time to come. As a result, the current uncertainty pertaining to the retail industry in particular and economic developments in general has increased.
Based on the current uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,
The Group’s financial targets for 2020/21 are as follows:
- Overall revenue growth of around 6% relative to financial year 2019/20
- Underlying (like-for-like) revenue growth of around 6%
- EBITDA margin before special items of around 18% (after IFRS 16 effects)
- CAPEX between
DKK 120 million andDKK 140 million
The Group’s financial targets for 2020/21 are based on assumptions of continuing steady market growth, slightly growing sales of beauty, health and personal care products and a largely unchanged competitive climate. In addition, the ongoing channel shift from physical store to online shopping is expected to continue through the financial year, which is expected to entail a further drop in physical store footfall. Encouraged by continuing strong growth in online sales, the Group will bring forward some of its planned investments, and the overall CAPEX level is expected to be slightly higher than previously anticipated.
It should be noted that the assumptions are subject to higher-than-usual uncertainty. The above targets do not factor in the effects of a potential second wave of COVID-19 or a dramatic change in consumer behaviour in the wake of, for example, a recession in the second half of the financial year. Furthermore, management believes that sales in June, July and the first half of August were favourably affected by the low level of outbound travel activity among Danish consumers during the summer period.
Financial targets and ambitions | Realised Q1 2020/21 | Targets for 2020/21 | Ambitions for 2022/23 |
| Customer engagement (M-NPS) | 62.2 (index 97) | Ongoing improvement | 70 (index 110) |
| Revenue growth* | 8.1% | Around 6% | Approx. |
| Underlying (like-for-like) revenue growth | 8.4% | Around 6% | Positive |
| EBITDA margin before special items | 18.3% | Around 18% | Above 18% |
| CAPEX | DKK 120–140 million | Below | |
| Gearing | 3.2 | 2.5-3 | 2.5-3 |
* Includes revenue from Firtal and Kosmolet A/S.
Video conference
Matas will host a video conference for investors and analysts on Thursday,
Video conference access numbers for investors and analysts:
DK: +45 78 15 01 08
UK: +44 333 300 9268
US: +1 8338230586
Link to webcast: https://matas.eventcdn.net/2020q1/
Contacts
Gregers Wedell-Wedellsborg
CEO, tel +45 48 16 55 55
CFO, tel +45 48 16 55 55
Elisabeth Toftmann Klintholm
Head of Investor Relations & Corp. Affairs, tel +45 48 16 55 48
Klaus Fridorf
Head of Communication, tel +45 61 20 19 97
Forward-looking statements
This interim report contains statements relating to the future, including statements regarding
Attachment
- Matas 3M 2020_21
UK
© OMX, source
