Anora Group Oyj

Anora Group Oyj

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Q1 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptMay 6, 2026

Milena Hæggström

Good morning, and a warm welcome to the presentation of Anora's Q1 results. My name is Milena Hæggström.

I'm the Head of Investor Relations here at Anora. Our presenters today are our CEO Kirsi Puntila and CFO Stein Eriksen.

After their presentations, we will start with the Q&A session. Please be reminded that you can also post questions through the chat throughout the call.

Please note that this presentation will be recorded and published later today on our website, anora.com. Now, please Kirsi, go ahead.

Kirsi Puntila

Thank you, Milena. Good to see you all online.

Yes, the first quarter is now under our belt, and we continue our determination to deliver the turnaround strategy called fit, fix, and focus. We will soon show you some more details on that, but we are very proud of the many results it has already brought us.

Despite the hard balls that the unstable geopolitical environment is trying to throw at us left and right, we are very pleased to say that we are proceeding with our defined workstreams, and we have shown agility to adjust to changing environment. Overall, if we look at the monopoly channels only, this was the 20th consecutive quarter of decline, but not as dramatic as before.

This means we need to run even faster to beat the trend and accelerate our strengths. What is our biggest strength?

It is the fact that we, Anora, are the strongest player in wine and spirits in the Nordics and the Baltic region. Our model with the balanced portfolio of own and partner brands together with this sort of a multichannel distribution machine is something that we continue to believe in.

Seriously, in hard times like this, it's now proving to be a winning model. Looking at our pipeline for future, both own innovations and partners, it is starting to show some results.

What makes me hopeful is that we no longer wait for the market to fix our problems. We are fixing them ourselves.

Things will not be perfect overnight, you need to be a little bit more patient with us. Looking at the areas where we have now improved already, I remain confident in our ability and confident in our people to turn around the company.

Although the monopolies have been stretched lately, yes, it's not like the alcohol beverage business as a whole is dead. Far from that.

We see more exciting innovations and versatility of beverage offerings than probably ever before, and that is hugely inspiring. I would summarize the quarter in three words: discipline, execution, and progress.

The reason I remain so confident is that we have accomplished exactly what we promised in our Capital Markets Day in November, if you remember. Our number one priority has been profitability, and we are now at historic high gross margin levels.

We have shown disciplined cost and opex management throughout last year, and now also in Q1. Our inventory levels have been reduced substantially, supporting strong cash flow generation.

We successfully finalized the last bit of our ERP unification when Norway started using SAP in February. The wine shares keep on growing in Sweden, further strengthening our number two position in the Swedish monopoly market.

Then we were also launching new innovations in our core portfolio, which shows the strong brand equity of our own brands. Now I hear echoing somewhere.

Maybe it's one of our teams. Good.

Then in the middle section, here you see the areas that are so-called work in progress. Obviously, our FFF strategy workstreams are very much on our agenda every single day.

Together with the dedicated transformation officer, Mikkel Pilemand, who's in the EMT, he's pushing that we proceed with them as planned. Then the new sales and marketing organization is shaping up and in action in all our operating markets.

What needs to be our priority moving forward, then? The one area that we are still struggling with, like many of our peer companies, is the top line.

We have strong plans towards the end of the year, but getting new launches and tender wins take a little bit longer time in the monopoly environment than it does in fully open markets. Simultaneously, we need to become better in winning market share, sure, which we already do with many products in both beverage segments, but not in all of the big categories yet.

Finally, as already mentioned, we ourselves have a strong belief in our current so-called dual model, which is to be the best Nordic and Baltic operator in both wine and spirits, and maximizing the addressable market with both own and partner brands. Luckily, many global partners already choose us when they want to seek growth in this area.

Here you can see then the Q1 numbers, which admittedly is a mixed bag. There is continued pressure on top line, but improvements underneath.

Strong operational progress despite market and top-line headwinds. Net sales came down by 4%, equaling €135.8 million.

Why was that? It was due to three things: lower campaigns and volumes in Denmark, which should be mitigated now in May, it's more of a phasing thing, but then earlier losses in filler volumes, and then portfolio changes in spirits last year, which we have been talking about here as well, and they are burdening us still for a while.

What we are pleased with is, of course, the earnings improvement. Gross margin improved again in both wine and spirit segments.

In Q1, wine reached 31.2% of net sales, and spirits a remarkable 47.5% of net sales. Then the comparable EBITDA.

If you look at what we have promised, we overdid it. We improved by 10%, EBITDA being at €8.8 million.

Then the leverage was lower than last year at 2.1 times. It is important to note that the cash flow is also supporting the good development.

We ended the quarter with improved cash flow leading to a very healthy financial position with net debt being €150.4 million. While the top line is under pressure, the business is clearly becoming more efficient and more profitable.

When looking ahead at our guidance for this year, our comparable EBITDA is still expected to be within the range of €74 to €79 million. No changes there.

Let's then look at some highlights for us in Q1. The first on the left is our continued wine market share gains in Sweden.

It is really a good signal and shows that our portfolio is working. On top of that, our partner wine team, they've been very busy and active this season in all European wine fairs, and we, of course, hope to get some new partners on board soon.

Secondly, in the middle section here is our strongest-growing spirits category, liqueurs, which is growing double-digit. We have some exciting novelties, such as a brand called BuzzBallz, which is coming from our big global spirits partner, Sazerac.

It is a worldwide success amongst younger consumers. Then our own, very own innovation, a new brand called Fast Forward, which is an energy drink that combines caffeine and 4.5% of alcohol.

With Fast Forward, we've launched three variants, which are called Lemon Lover, it's sugar-free, Berry Please, also sugar-free, and Mango Mayhem. The third highlight of the quarter is that we announced in March that we will outsource our logistics operations in Sweden in Brunna.

We signed a contract with a third-party logistics operator called Nowaste. This is in fact very much according to our strategy of focusing on our core business.

I will then finish off by elaborating further on each of our segment performances. Let's start with the wines.

Here. Total net sales declined to €57.6 million, which is down by 11%.

The key reason for that was, as mentioned, lower campaign volumes in Denmark, lower filler volumes from before, and softer demand in the Finnish monopoly. What matters more is the profitability improvement.

Comparable EBITDA improved to €1.0 million. Comparable EBITDA margin improved to 1.7% of net sales, and gross margin was 31.2% of net sales.

This improvement is directly coming from our fit, fix, and focus actions. We continued to strengthen our number two position in Sweden, and we also maintained our total market leadership in Norway, Finland, and Denmark, even including the grocery trade.

Top-line pressures, yes, but structurally improving profitability, absolutely. Next then, let's go to the spirits.

In the spirits segment, net sales declined to €42.0 million in Q1, which is down by 6%. This is largely explained by earlier partner losses in 2025, which we have talked about before.

Then there was some softness in the monopoly channels in Q1. Again, as with wines, looking below the surface, we have a lot of positives.

Gross margin improved to 47.5%, and the gross profit amounted €19.9 million. The mix effect and pricing were clearly improving, and looking at individual markets, the Baltics is doing really well and growing strongly.

The spirits comparable EBITDA came down to €6.1 million from €7.2 million, mainly due to this volume decline. To sum up the spirits segment, we're still working through portfolio changes, but the underlying profitability quality is improving.

Then finally, let's look at the Industrial. With Industrial, our story is a bit different, and it's a positive one, where the arrows are moving to the right direction, i.e., upwards.

External net sales increased nearly 15% to €36.2 million, while the total net sales amounted to €51.9 million. That growth was driven by contract manufacturing, ethanol and starch sales, as well as logistics services in Norway, that is Vectura.

Comparable EBITDA improved slightly to €3.3 million of net sales, and the Industrial gross margin increased to 55.8% of net sales in Q1, gross profit amounting to 29 €29 million. Unfortunately, before you ask, we do also see some higher energy costs, especially due to the past winter conditions, and lately also due to higher fuel costs because of the crisis in Middle East.

Overall, Industrial continues to be a stable part of our business, and we're very happy with the development in Q1. Yes, with this, I now give the word over to Stein, who's going a bit more detailed in the financial review.

Stein Eriksen

Thank you very much, and good morning, everyone. Let me then walk you through the financial performance for the first quarter of 2026.

This quarter reflects a combination of continued market headwinds, but also clear progress on areas within our control, particularly margin, cost, and balance sheet strengths. Then we start with the key numbers.

Net sales came in at €135.8 million, down 4% year on year, driven by lower volumes in both wine and

Kirsi Puntila

Yes, we are noticing the same, Sanna. I think Stein is so excited about his numbers that he's pressing wrong buttons here now.

Do we hear you now?

Stein Eriksen

Sorry about that, guys. I was also thrown out.

Yes, thank you. Yes.

Let's go straight to the Q1 numbers. Net sales came in at €135 million, down 4% year on year.

It was driven by lower volumes in both wine and spirits. Despite this, profitability improved.

Comparable EBITDA increased to €8.8 million, and EBITDA margin to 6.5%. This was driven by improvements in the wine segment, and also impact of our Fit, Fix, and Focus program.

Gross margin continued to strengthen, up 70 basis points, supported by both better price and mix, as well as more stable cost environment in the quarter. From a balance sheet perspective, net interest-bearing debt decreased to €150 million, and our leverage improved to 2.1 from 3.1 last year.

Importantly, we continue to see strong progress in working capital, and especially in the inventory that was reduced to €129 million, that was down €29 million compared to last year, and with positive contributions from all segments. Despite the weaker top line, we are strengthening both profitability and the financial position of the group.

Let's then move into looking at the net sales development. Like I said, net sales were down with 4%.

If we move a little bit more into the segments, in wine, we had continued lower filler services volumes, combined with somewhat lower campaign volumes in Denmark, as well as softer demand in Finland. In spirits, the main driver remains the earlier partner portfolio changes, still impacting the first half of 2026.

On the positive side, Industrial continues to perform well, where external growth were close to 15%, driven by increased volumes in contract manufacturing, ethanol, starch, as well as logistic services in Norway. Top line remains under pressure.

However, looking at gross margins, we continue to see clear progress. I think gross margin is a key highlight this quarter, where the reported gross margin was up with 70 basis points, but where the underlying gross margin was up by 180 basis points, ending at 46.6%.

The key drivers here are very clear. First, like I said, the input cost did stabilize in Q1 2026.

Second, we have significantly improved our revenue management, as well as mix management. Third, we are seeing better efficiency, particularly in Industrial.

I think also importantly, this is not cyclical. This is structural improvement driven by our actions, and we are now moving back towards more attractive historical margin levels.

This margin improvement is directly then flowing through to our comparable EBITDA. Comparable EBITDA increased by close to 10% year on year.

The key message here is simple: we are expanding profitability despite declining net sales. Looking by segment, wine is improving, driven by cost actions and impacts of the FFF program.

Spirits is down, mainly due to lower volumes. Industrial is stable, although impacted partly by higher energy and transportation costs.

However, the Fit, Fix, and Focus program is now clearly delivering, and we see tangible savings both in operating and personal expenses. Then let's move over to another highlight, I believe it is, in the quarter, namely the cash flow and net debt.

As expected, Q1 is seasonally weak from a cash flow perspective, and operating cash flow in the quarter was negative with €34 million, mainly then due to payment of excise tax payments following the Q4. However, the underlying development compared to previous year is positive, where we see strong contribution from working capital, which is, of course, partly affected by timing of Easter, with higher excise tax duties and sales or receivable compared to previous year.

However, also good underlying improvement in working capital. I come back to it in later.

Net debt has decreased significantly compared to last year, and that leads us then naturally to look at Anora's overall financial position. Like I said, operational cash flow improved with €41 million compared to the previous year, and our financial position remains strong, where liquidity reserves, as you can see, are solid, giving us flexibility both operationally and strategically.

Net debt is down, and leverage has improved to 2.1, and this is a meaningful step towards our target of being below 2.5. Overall, we are strengthening our balance sheet, we are reducing our financial risk, and increasing resilience in a challenging market.

Let's then take a closer look at working capital, which is a key part of this. We mentioned it in the Capital Markets Day, and of course, we're mentioning it now.

Working capital continues to be a major focus area, and we have now reached a negative working capital of around 7% of net sales, which reflects the significant inventory reduction supported by broad-based improvements across all segments and stronger operational discipline. Over the years, and if you look back to the earlier quarterly reports, you will notice that we have reduced the inventory substantially, and we're now operating at much more efficient level, and this is a key enabler for both cash generation and balance sheet strength.

Of course, as a CFO, we are never 100% happy, but at least I can say we are definitely moving into the right direction. With that, Kirsi, I give the word back to you for some outlook and some final remarks.

Kirsi Puntila

I'm still muted. Thank you.

Thank you, Stein. Thank you very much.

I'll go through the financial targets, which do remain unchanged. If you remember this slide from our Capital Markets Day, we've filled some more information there.

We are targeting 6% to 7% annual EBITDA growth, first and foremost. We are also looking organic growth above the market.

We will begin reporting this figure as of this quarter, which is in line with our mid-term strategy. Market growth here is measured from the Nordic market sales volume change.

Here you can see the organic growth for Q1, which was unfortunately minus 5.5%, whereas the market was down by 1%. The leverage being below 2.5.

Dividend payout ambition stays at 50% to 70%. For 2026, we guide comparable EBITDA to be between €74 to €70 from €74 to €79 million.

Let me then wrap up Q1 in a simple way. The first positive effects of the FFF actions are now visible in Q1, especially looking at the comparable EBITDA.

Comparable EBITDA was up by 10%, reaching €8.8 million. Comparable EBITDA margin improved to 6.5%, and our gross margin rose to 47.5% of net sales.

Net sales, however, declined to €135.8 million, which is down by 4%. This decline was due to, as mentioned a couple of times, wine campaign volumes in Denmark together with the earlier lost volumes in the filler services, and then changes in spirits partner portfolio stemming from 2025, and that's still affecting the first half of 2026.

However, cash flow was very strong, and the balance sheet was clearly stronger, leverage now at 2.1. The key takeaway from the first quarter of the year is that we are improving profitability and financial position despite a weak market, exactly as we set out to do.

Looking ahead, we still expect the following outlook for 2026: there is some continued structural pressure on alcohol consumption in general, and there are volume pressures across our operating markets. On our side, we continue executing in fit, fix, and focus.

In fact, we're very pleased with our progress in that. We are improving margins and the overall cost base, and we are increasingly focusing on growth, as we said that we will do at the back end of the fit and fix that we need to do first.

Our guidance remains unchanged, comparable EBITDA of €74 to €79 million in '26. Overall, yes, there is still a challenging market for sure, but we are building a stronger, more resilient, and more profitable Anora.

With that, I guess I hand over back to Milena and any possible questions that we may have.

Milena Hæggström

Thank you, Kirsi and Stein. Let's open up for questions, and please be reminded that you can post questions through the chat, but we are also now have two live questions.

Let's go with Maria Wikström first from SEB. Please go ahead.

Maria Wikström

Yes, hi, Kirsi, Stein, and Milena. I had three questions, which first one is on the Swedish wine market, as I think you've said many times that this is a market where you want to win.

If you could describe your performance compared to the Swedish wine market growth over the Q1, and a bit on the actions that you are currently making in the Swedish wine market to increase your share, please?

Kirsi Puntila

We can start with that, Maria. I think as you've seen now, we continue to gain market share from our competition in Sweden, and I think we did some very successful launches last year.

Looking at the pipeline this year, we continue to do that. Basically the key element of the Swedish wine success now is that we have been successfully able to utilize the so-called Danish Køge or, as we call, Globus Wine model and introducing our own wines into the Swedish market, and we see that continuing to happen.

I think the opportunity is even bigger there. It's not that we are in every single segment just yet.

We hope that that development will continue very positively with our current and new launches that we have in the pipeline now.

Maria Wikström

Thank you. Then this is more just a household question that the organic sales growth, what you reported 5, 5, or negative 5.5, this is I think on comparable FX rates, right?

What is the definition?

Stein Eriksen

Yes. It's correct, Maria.

It's including, as you can see, our reported net sales decline is 4%, but then we have positive currency translation effects of 1.5%.

Maria Wikström

Yes, perfect. That's what I thought, but just wanted to be sure.

Kirsi Puntila

Then

Maria Wikström

thirdly, whether you have any updates on the Finnish government process of possibly deliberating the alcohol legislation and allowing wines to grocery stores, if you have heard anything, where is that process going on currently or if there is any progress?

Kirsi Puntila

I think we have heard as much as I guess everybody has heard. I don't know if there's even an official statement out there, but they basically said that they will not proceed, the party is that the government at the moment are not proceeding.

They're keeping it as is, and then I think it's then up to the next government to take a viewpoint on that. Right now there's nothing coming.

The only area where the government has mentioned that they are working on this spring is not the liberalization, but reviewing of the marketing regulations, but not the actual grocery law. That won't change as far as we have been told.

Maria Wikström

Perfect, thank you. I have no further questions.

Kirsi Puntila

Thank you, Maria.

Stein Eriksen

Thank you.

Milena Hæggström

Thank you, Maria. Then we have a question from Sanna Perälä from Nordea.

Please go ahead.

Sanna Perälä

Great, thanks. I have a couple of questions starting off with the wine segment and the lower sales in Q1.

I understood that the lower campaigning was kind of a one-off impact. Can you quantify how much of that minus 11% was due to this impact?

Do you want

Stein Eriksen

to... I guess.

When it comes to, like we said, the filler business explains around 40% of the decline in wine, Sanna. Then I would say the rest is related to partly then the lower campaign volumes, especially in Denmark.

Then also I think it's fair to say, as you probably know, we are the market leader in American wines in Denmark. There we see I would say also decline in our sales.

I guess the rest is divided between lower campaign volumes and also lower sales of American wines, especially in Denmark.

Kirsi Puntila

As you can imagine, the Danes are not the biggest fans of American products at the moment, thanks to all the discussions about the Greenland and all that. It still doesn't mean that we don't do things to mitigate that obviously.

We have worked tirelessly obviously with minimizing the impact of the American wines, and we're as we speak looking for obviously other origins. Maybe to be transparent, I think we have contracts, and obviously then we have stock, and then of course, we are also bound to some American wines for a while.

Of course that will change in future, but it will take some more time.

Sanna Perälä

Thanks, that was very clear. Then continuing on wines, at least in my local supermarket, I have seen that the wine shelf seems to be a little bit smaller and partially replaced by I don't know, cider and other nonalcoholic products.

What I'm asking is, are you seeing any adjustment in trends in the grocery channel after the initial excitement of this launch?

Kirsi Puntila

I think it's a super good question, Sanna, and I think maybe I'm not the best person to answer you everything correctly. I see similar phenomenon in my stores.

The total shelf space in grocery is actually growing, and I think it may depend a little bit on the geographics where you are, where in Finland are you, whether it is wines or the so-called ready-to-drinks and canned products. Luckily, we have a very vast portfolio already in the grocery channel also outside the wines.

Not only do we have the 8% wines, but we have more and more of these ready-to-drink canned products, which are spirits-based products in the Finnish grocery. The fact of the matter is that sure, there is more competition now in the wine segment, which obviously we were there by far the quickest to enter this channel and were market leader, and then of course, the competition is now hitting us back, and that's of course just natural when you are deliberating the channel.

We're ready, as said. We have the pipeline filled with not only wines, but also other spirits-based and wine-based RTDs.

Sanna Perälä

Great, thank you. Then on the lost partner and filler service volumes, which you mentioned are weighing on H1, what kind of mix impact between stabilizing volumes in H2 versus the lower margin of that business should we expect to see kind of H1 versus H2, if you understand what I mean?

Kirsi Puntila

Stein, do you want to take that?

Stein Eriksen

I believe it's a twofold question. What I can say, Sanna, when it comes to the lost fillers and the lost partner business, that impact the top line quite significantly in Q1.

In Q2, you can expect half of the decline that we had in Q1. In Q3, it's half of the decline that you have in Q2, if you understand, and then we should have zero impact in Q4 from the lost partner and the filler business.

When it comes to the gross margin improvement, the one I talked about with 180 basis point improvement, I think like I said, that's a threefold improvement. We have better operations in Industrial, that's around 1/3 of the 180 basis points.

1/3 is related to better revenue management, and the last 1/3 is related to positive mix effects, mainly related, I would say, to the lost filler and lost partner business, because there we have lower margins. I don't know if that exactly answered your question, but I guess you get some yeah, ideas what we're talking about, yes.

Sanna Perälä

Thanks. That's a great clarifying answer.

Then moving on to the guidance, finally. You saw 10% EBITDA improvement in Q1.

Is this run rate sustainable going forward, and I'm looking this from the point of view of tougher comparisons in the coming quarters?

Kirsi Puntila

If I start, and then Stein, feel free to jump in. One has to remember that Q1 is only 10% of our total yearly sales.

The fact of the matter is that, of course, this year, Easter happened to happen in March. Last year, it was in April.

Then, of course, what we do internally here, we usually combine March and April before we analyze anything. The same with June and July, of course, the summer months, as well as these Easter months, are quite important.

Of course, the 10% includes then the Easter effect. Having said that, and this is especially I think in Norway was quite visible that the Easter impact was quite, quite big, whereas I think in Finland, for example, the Easter seems to be less and less prominent for the Finns.

I hear that the Norwegians are taking bloody 10 days holiday around the Easter, there clearly the Easter impact is bigger and probably continue to be so. Good for you guys in Norway, whereas we are working our butts off also during the Easter [laughter].

Sorry, Stein choking aside. Of course, there was the Easter impact, which then will be not in Q2.

Where the confidence is stemming from is that we see the impact of Fit, Fix, and Focus now delivering what we have promised to deliver. On top of that, there are strong plans towards the end of the year, there's nothing that would stop us being positive and determined in our guided level this year.

Sanna Perälä

All right. Thank you.

I had no further questions at this stage.

Milena Hæggström

Thank you. Then moving ahead, if you have a question, please use the raise your hand function.

Kirsi Puntila

There's Maria, I see.

Milena Hæggström

I see that we have also one question in the chat, but maybe we will continue with the live questions first and take the chat questions afterwards. We have a question from Matti Kaurola from OP.

Please go ahead.

Matti Kaurola

Yes, thank you. Could you a little bit open up the spirits segment sales decline?

Maybe you answered already and I missed that, but if you could just repeat what we should expect on this lost kind of partner sales decline for Q2, Q3? Or is it similar size that we saw Q1, or could you just remind us?

Kirsi Puntila

I think the spirits decline is pretty much all about the partner losses,

Matti Kaurola

but I think

Kirsi Puntila

90%,

Matti Kaurola

but

Kirsi Puntila

Stein actually, do you want to repeat what he just explained it 5 minutes ago, maybe you want to go say that again. How much there is now the Q2, Q3?

Yes.

Stein Eriksen

Around 90% of the decline in Q1 is related to the partner losses. Of course in Q2, then we will see around half of the effect in also in spirits of what we saw in Q1, and then in Q3, it's half of the losses that we will see in Q2, if you understand.

It will eventually smooth out, but we will also have some negative effects in Q2, but it should all be around half of what we saw in Q1. Like I said, 90% of the decline in spirits in Q1 was related to the lost partners.

I hope that answered the question.

Matti Kaurola

Thank you for the clarification. Then maybe the second one regarding the cost environment.

If we just look forward, I think right now you're in a quite a good position when it comes to the kind of the crop from last year, but for the next year,

Kirsi Puntila

I think

Matti Kaurola

it's going to hit harder. What kind of mitigation plans you have for that, or any kind of energy distribution costs that would increase?

How easily you could increase the prices, etc.?

Kirsi Puntila

I don't know, maybe I'll start. Of course, like any any any industry who's has anything to do with energy, and like we do with our bottles and PET, the plastic bottles obviously use energy.

Whether it is energy or transportation or or anything else for that matter, of course there's an impact for that. That changes so much now, so that's difficult to say what exactly is the total impact of that.

Of course, we're working on it every day. We have bi-weekly meetings internally where we're analyzing the possible impact of the energy or the any any of the Middle East crisis impact for us for for example.

It's quite difficult to say what where it ends up, but of course like we're mitigating it by looking at different sources of our our purchase partners, etc. We're we're working on that, but we we will need to come back to that later in the year when we see the real impact.

Then, of course, as far as the pricing is concerned, I think we mentioned even last time that we are becoming more and more professional in our in our pricing mechanism and how we analyze the prices on SKU levels. Of course, we're we're sort of we are the category captain in many of the categories, and we need to sort of price is of course a key factor what is in our control.

One one needs to be careful with that as well, because of course then increasing the prices very often leads to losses in market share. We need to be balancing balancing that out as well, but but pricing is our key tool in terms of revenue management overall.

Matti Kaurola

All right, thank you. Maybe one more still about the Denmark and the filler services there.

I think it's been declining now I've been following you five quarters or something like that, and then it's been constantly decreasing. Where do you see it's kind of the bottoming out or kind of turning back to growth?

Kirsi Puntila

What would you

Matti Kaurola

think about that?

Kirsi Puntila

If I would know that, I would not tell you [laughter], but we're working hard on that, of course. I think there's a lot of competition in Europe as far as the filler business is concerned, but I think we have put some more efforts on that as well, we have a strong team in pushing to get more also third-party business to our operations in the factory in Køge.

I don't know if there's anything you want to add, Stein, but when exactly is that going to turn around, we'll let you know.

Stein Eriksen

We're working on it, to put it like that,

Kirsi Puntila

but

Stein Eriksen

the lost volumes, like I said earlier, that's starting to flatten out in Q3 and onwards.

Matti Kaurola

All right. Thank you.

I don't have any further questions.

Milena Hæggström

Thank you, Matti. We now have a couple of chat questions here.

In the meantime, you can think of more live questions, but I will go through these now. We have a first one coming from Maria Wikström: "Do you think changing school holidays in Finland would be positive for you?"

Kirsi Puntila

I just saw it last night on the news that there's a discussion about extended the school holidays, whether it is then starting the Finnish school holidays in middle June and then diminishing the total amount of holidays so that we would start then again mid August. If we get international tourists, and so I would assume that it's a positive thing, but I think we haven't really calculated that officially, Maria, I don't know.

I'm in a wrong seat to say whether that's good or bad for us. It's usually that we don't recommend the school kids to drink alcohol, maybe that's the official answer to that [laughter].

Milena Hæggström

Thank you, Kirsi. Then we have another question from Sanna Perälä: "What kind of initial feedback have you received for BuzzBallz and Fast Forward?"

Kirsi Puntila

Building on my previous answer, I guess this is obviously we are targeting younger generations, younger consumers with these two product variants. The BuzzBallz is crazy.

The Baltics, I actually don't have the numbers in front of me now, but how they are growing in the Baltics is crazy. We are obviously looking forward to getting them into our other markets.

It seems to be please go and Google. It's like a rounded-shape shot-type of a product, which seems to be very trending amongst the younger generation.

That's good going really well. Then Fast Forward, a bit too early to say, because what we're doing now, it's been just distribution build-up now.

Then depending on how the sun is shining and how warm the summer is, we'll see how the Fast Forward is developing. As far as the liquid quality is concerned, I've only heard positives about that, but I don't have any facts to support that just yet.

Milena Hæggström

Thank you, Kirsi. We don't have any more chat questions at the moment.

Do we have more live questions? Please mark that by raising your hand.

It seems that we don't have any more questions. Thank you to the speakers and for everyone joining us today and for all the good questions.

Our next scheduled events are here, they are tomorrow actually, we are going to have a site visit together with OP at Rajamäki, and then we have our H1 interim report half-year report on the 14th of August. Until then, wish you all a pleasant rest of the week, and of course, happy holidays as well.

Thank you.