Meko AB (publ) (MEKO) Q1 2025 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Welcome to the MECO Q1 Report 2025 presentation. During the questions and answers session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Now I will hand the conference over to the speaker's president and CEO, Per Oskarsson, and CFO, Krister Johansen. Please go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to MECO's presentation of our results for the first quarter 2025. As said, I'm here with the CFO, Christer Johansson, and together we'll walk you through our performance and current position. Unlike many other industries, we see stable underlying demand driven by the constant need to service and repair vehicles. The car remains an essential part of the daily life for most people, and when repairs are needed, they tend to prioritize them. Mieko's aim is to meet this need. We want to be the most comprehensive partner for all who drive, repair, and maintain vehicles in Northern Europe. And today, we are the market leader. However, we're not entirely unaffected by international turbulence. In Q1, our market was cautious with concerns about a prolonged economic downturn. Total growth was 6%, and the organic growth was slightly negative. Despite this, we managed to defend our gross margin through price adjustments and improved procurement. We also managed to improve our EBIT, although we saw a slight decrease in our adjusted EBIT margin. Importantly, we continued the implementation of our high-tech warehouses according to plan. And in response to the more cautious market environment, we also accelerated our cost control efforts within the Building a Stronger Mekko initiative. At the same time, we're taking long-term actions to drive growth. Several strategic initiatives are launched during this first quarter. Let me go...