Meko AB (publ) (MEKO) Q1 2026 Earnings Call

Investor webinar replay

Replay transcript excerpt

Thank you, and thank you for joining us. Our CFO, Kristi Johansson, is sitting beside me, and we will now present the results for the first quarter of 2026. The first quarter shows that our measures to improve our financial position are having an effect. Adjusted operating margin exceeded the level in the fourth quarter and for the full year 2025. We continue the efficiency measures linked to our major investments in our automated central warehouses and in general costs as a share of sales decline compared with the same period in both 2024 and 2025. It's also encouraging to see that our cash flow strengthens supported by reduced working capital and a lower level of investments. This contributed to a reduction in leverage which is a prioritized area for us. We achieved this despite the market conditions being unchanged in Q1 compared to Q4 last year. Car owners continue to postpone repairs that were not essential. This led to continuous strong competition between wholesalers and workshops with price pressure in the market. And even though our measures to strengthen probability are having effect, our profitability remains below target. We are therefore implementing additional cost reductions. An important part of this is targeted cost saving program in Poland, where the workforce is being reduced by up to 10% during the second and third quarter. This process has already begun. We are doing this while also focusing on increasing our organic growth. So let's move to slide three. And Mekko today holds a leading position in Northern Europe. This is a strong platform as we aim to increase growth and gain market shares. On the one hand, we're focusing on strengthening the core business with state of the art logistics and a higher level of service as the foundation. On the ot...