SkiStar AB Class B

SkiStar AB Class B

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Q4 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptSeptember 30, 2026

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the SkiStar year-end report Q4, 1st of September 2025 to 31st of August 2026, webcast and conference call.

At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session.

To ask a question during the session, you will need to press *1-1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised.

To withdraw your question, please press *1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speakers today, Stefan Sjöstrand, CEO, and Sara Uggelberg, CFO. Please go ahead.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Thank you so much, and welcome everyone for this quarter and full year presentation. We will start to take you through this today.

We have an agenda where we will talk about, first of all, the quarter, then the full year performance. Sara will give you full update about the financial and the numbers, and I will ending with an outlook and a summary.

If we just start like an introduction, SkiStar is the market leader for Scandinavian mountain tourism. We had this 50-years anniversary last year, and we are really passionate about the mountains and how we can continue to develop all the experiences within the mountains.

We have an extensive land and property holdings which could which will enable us to and also continue the organic growth within all our destinations. We can also see that we have strong growth opportunities through our year-round operation.

We can also see that the last couple of years and also in the future, we can continue to build new businesses. Since we build new businesses, it will also be connected to our business model we will also show you later on.

We also have a very strong and also a growing interest from international guests, which has been proven the last couple of years. Also something we sometimes forget to talk about that SkiStar is the fourth largest player within this area.

The number one is Vail Resorts, which is listed on the Nasdaq New York, and the second one is Alterra, which is owned by private equity, then we have Compagnie des Alpes, which is listed on the French stock market, and then we have SkiStar as number four. Just as a comparison, the fifth largest player within Scandinavia is a little bit smaller than than we are.

We have a strong position. Sälen, which is the largest destination within our portfolio, is also the 13th largest ski resort in the world.

If we then go in to look into our Q4 and our full year performance, I'm really happy and also really glad to present a strong report after a very intensive year. We can really clearly see that our company is growing as a result of all the efforts we have done together.

If we look into the first the last quarter, Q4, and the summer of that one, it's our fifth summer season. We can really show now that this all-year-around strategy starts to be proven.

In the beginning, 5 years ago, we invested a lot within summer activities. We invested in climbing parks, in biking roads, we invested in different type of summer activities.

Now we have learned how to create bundling of all these activities together, and also launch an activity pass, which has been very appreciated among all our guests during the summer. When we also have a lot of guests, which we have had during the quarter, we can also see that our business model deliver.

All our revenue streams actually growing within the quarter. That resulted in a strong growth, 29%, and also an increased profitability of 12%.

We can also see that another additional thing we have started with is to provide different type of events. That could be training events, it could be running events, marathons, etc., within the mountains.

Very luckily, all those ones has been sold out. That also, again, when the guest is coming to us, they stay at our booking they book a stay at our hotel, or lodge, or at a cabin, or they have their own, then they start to buy up, they buy an activity pass, they buy lunch since we are also providing a lot of restaurants, they buy things in our sport shops, etc., etc.

Again, our year-round strategy really starts to be proven, and the management also believe that we have cracked the code how to run the summer business. If we then look into the full year, we're also really proud of our result and how we have performed this year.

Our strategy is confirmed by work with skistar.com, and also add different type of revenue streams. Since we have done that, we have growth in all revenue streams, and we can see that we continue the growth.

We can also see that there is a strong demand for mountain vacations and all-year-active all-year-round activities. That is also helping us that we are filling up our destinations, and we do it very successfully.

We can see that we have an increased number of international guests. We ended up last year with 40% international guests, and even though that the Swedish guests has been slower the last couple of years, we can see that they are now returning back to our destinations.

We also continue to invest. We continue to invest very specific, we're very coordinated of how we're doing our investments, and we're doing them all the time to increase our guest experiences.

We can clearly see that all investment we made last year has increased our NPS value with guest experiences. So, 8% increase in net sales, 2 points above our financial targets.

We deliver a very strong operating profit of SEK 872 million and 11% increase. However, we didn't do any exploitation gains last year, which creates this result even stronger, and we actually increase with 18%, and also deliver an operating margin with 17.5% and starts to become closely to our goal of 18%.

Again, we have 6.4 million ski and activity days, which is a slightly increased from the year before, but again, we had an increase. Just like an update about our business model, because we really believe that this business model is so important, and we own our distribution channel.

We own the distribution channel for skistar.com, our equip a brand, eqpe.com, and also skistarshop.com, where we're also providing other brands. This is very important.

We don't need to pay any booking fees like if you are connected like to booking.com, etc. Skistar.com, we own our own distribution channel.

Of course, the last couple of years, we have been very successful of developing new revenue streams, and they are very diversified, and that of course helping us to continue the growth. What we're also showing on this slide is that in the in the bottom of it, we are showing all the different parts of the of the revenue streams and how the customer buying up before they arrive to our destinations.

When they arrive, they come with a full wallet and continue to spend. We're also using our dynamic pricing model, which has also been very successful the last couple of years.

Also with this multiple point of guest interaction, it's also helping us to continue the growth. Also, all this customer data we are collect collecting enable us to also tailor the sales and also becoming very successful of how to be more specific in and where we want the customer to look after different type of offers.

If we then look into the international guests, they has been very important for us the last couple of years. When we have seen a weaker domestic market, the international guests have supported us to drive revenue and growth.

Now, we can see that we are also increasing the domestic guests again, and that means that we can have a higher leverage of the base. International guests will continue to be here, and also they will help us to to drive even more growth because they also book full package in advance, they stay longer, they also spend more, and also their their peak weeks have a differ different weeks than the Swedish holidays, which is of course very good from a, say, filling perspective or booking pattern perspective.

Sara will also show you that we have now a new segment reporting, and that also show SkiStarshop in another dimension than we have showed it previously. Here, we can be proudly present a CAGR growth of 12% over a very long period of time, but also very strong growth both this last year, where we grow 10% within SkiStarshop, even when we can see that this market in general have had tough times.

We continue to grow both physical stores and online. Also very glad to see that EQPE, our own brand, is increasing with 25%.

Lastly, from my side, before we go into the financials, we have been very successful in our investments, and we are doing investments in a in a very specific way and very clear to all the time increase the guest experience. Just as an example, this project we put up last year in Åre Björnen, where we provided with more lighting in the slopes, we put up a new lift, and by that we could open up the lift 2 hours earlier and the ski area 2 hours earlier and closing 2 hours later, which means that we could give a completely different offer to our guests.

Another example when we open up a new ski area in Hovde Syd in Vemdalen, where we had a lot of traffic during peak weeks, all of a sudden, we open up completely and we actually managed to open up without this queuing. Maybe one of the most investments we are doing, and which is something we have done very heavily during this off-winter peak, to say, is the invest investment in snow production.

We will, or we launched, in the end of the winter season last year, and we have spoken about the whole summer period, and will be actually our main marketing message, that we will provide the best snow guarantee in Scandinavia. Of course, with these snow investments, that will be a strong competitive advantage going forward.

By that, Sara, I hand over to you, and let's look at the financials in detail.

Sara Uggelberg

Thank you, Stefan. I would like to begin with the change in segment reporting that has been made during the fourth quarter 2025 to 2026.

The reporting, or the change, has also had a retrospective effect. Now we report into two segments, which are Mountain Resorts and SkiStarshop.

The change has been made to better reflect the internal steering and internal reporting and governance. We will also publish restated numbers for the quarter quarter one, quarter two, and quarter three last year.

That will be published on our website for you to better compare the segment for the full year last year. That will be published within a week or so.

Then if we continue with the development in net sales, and as you can see in the graph, we ended up with a sales net sales 4.9 or more or less SEK 5 billion. That was a revenue growth of 8.3%, excluding exploitation revenue that is no longer included in net sales.

If we adjust for acquisition and currency, the growth was 5.4%. The reason for the revenue increase is, as Stefan mentioned, first of all, of course, our integrated business model that drive volume and growth.

We do have a pricing power, and we have the ability, and we continue to increase our price related to ski pass and accommodation, etc. The growing international share is also helping us to improve our margins and the growth.

We have a lot of diversified revenue stream, as Stefan mentioned, which of course is very much appreciated by our guests because they all of them strengthen the guest experience. We have, as Stefan also mentioned, we have made significant investments last year, for example, the gondola in Trysil, the the the new ski area in Hovde Syd, Vemdalen, and also lighting and ski lift in Björnen, Åre, just to mention a few of the investments that were made last year.

We will continue to invest in the guest experience going forward. Oops.

If we continue with the operating income, this is not net sales, this is operating income, which is more or less the same as net sales, by category. If we start with ski pass, the price or the total effect, the revenue growth, was 6%, of which price and mix stand for 5.7%, and the volume growth was 0.3%.

The accommodation growth, 6.3%, and that was also related to the major effect was related to price and mix, 5.9%, and volume growth, 0.4%. Also the acquisition of Högfjällshotellet, that was 1.6% of the growth.

If we continue with sport shops, which is part of of the new segment, SkiStarshop, we we improve the retail sales by 13.2%, and that was driven by the increase in EQPE that stand for 25% of the of the growth. We increased the growth related to restaurants, and the majority of that was driven by the acquisition of Högfjällshotellet.

Then we had, included in in other income, we had a compensation, a a claim compensation, or an insurance compensation, of 11%, as we mentioned, I think, in the previous quarter last year. We have got a claim compensation related to a bridge that was demolished last year in Vemdalen.

All in all, the revenue growth was 8% for the year. If we continue with the operating margin, it was the operating margin was 17.5%, which is a quite significant increase in comparison with last year, 1.4 percentage unit.

The reason for the growth was, of course, the revenue growth, 8.3%, and that we have continued to improve both the guest experience, that increased the volume, and then, of course, we have improved the resource allocation, or the cost control, that have enabled us to have a a rather solid increasing costs. We have also had increased profit from our joint ventures now in the fourth quarter, and that relates to Skiab and also the the the associated company, Lima Transtrand.

That stand for 18% SEK 18 million during the fourth quarter, the improved profit in joint ventures. As we have mentioned before, we have only had minor property transaction during during the year, or exploitation gains.

They were SEK 3 million last year in comparison with 46 in the in the year before. Of course, the underlying the underlying improvement in operating margin was 18% when we reflect that we did not have any property transaction.

We also had, if we take a look at the stable the underlying profits or operating profit was 870. That is actually the best underlying profit in SkiStar's history, which is, of course, very satis- satisfactory.

In this, I would just like to mention that in our third quarter, we did mention that we've had underlying one-offs, or sorry, one-off items, that impacted the the operating margin. Those were related to the insurance compensation, as I mentioned, but also that we made a reversed impairment of rental equipment that affected the operating profit with SEK 21 million.

If we take a look at operating profit development by segment, of course, it's it's more or less the same as I already mentioned. Just just a brief description, if we start with Mountain Resorts, the the operating profit improved by 9%.

It is due to or related to a strong revenue growth due to price, the majority is, of course, price, and also a product mix that has been favorable. We also were able to improve our operating margin despite cost inflation that were mentioned in the third quarter and volume-related cost increases.

We did not have any property transaction during the quarter, but we've had improved profit profits related to our joint venture and and associates. In the segment SkiStarshop, we did improve our operating profit by 10%.

It's a combination of strong growth in both online sales, physical stores, and not the least, rental business. The margin was improved by 2 2 points, up to 13%.

In the full year, the FX, or the currency effect, was minor. It was just SEK 1 million.

That however, it was a bigger effect or a larger effect during the fourth the fourth quarter, but not on the full year. It was just a minor effect related to currency.

Cash flow. We have a quite significant improvement in cash flow from our operating profit operating activities, sorry.

That is due to the improvement in operating profit. We have also made increase in CapEx during the year, and that is more or less more or less related to the the increase in snow production.

That will be an effect even if we take a look at sort of the future this next year, that would also be impacted by increase in snow production. The CapEx ratio was 12.7% last year.

Yeah. Our cash position is very strong.

The financial preparedness, as of the 31st of August, amounted to more or less SEK 1.3 billion, an increase in comparison with last year. That is, of course, related to improved profit profit.

The the increase in interest-bearing liabilities was SEK 1.6 billion, a decrease of more or less 7% in comparison with previous year. Total interest-bearing liabilities recognized in accordance with IFRS 16 was SEK 1.9 billion, a decrease in comparison with last year.

The majority relates to leases for leases to our joint venture holding Skiab, and the rest is more or less related to land leases, or the opportunity for us, or the the opportunity for us to actually rent for very long time ski slopes. The interest-bearing debt was, or the sort of the net debt, or the EBITDA structure, was 1.3, which is a very low number and even an decrease in comparison with with last year.

The strong we have a really really strong cash cash position. Sustainability, we have an ambitious agenda, or when it comes to sustainability.

This page, it's it's just example of a lot of initiatives that are related to sustainability that that took place last year. The first one is related to activity and recreation.

The long-term goal is to achieve 7 million ski and activity days by the end of 2030. During 2025 to 2026, we recorded 6.3 of skied days and activity days.

That was an increase in comparison with previous year. The ecosystem, of course, we continue to reduce to reduce greenhouse gas emission.

We have actually had a quite, I think, interest- interesting project last year together with Skiab. We have built a new accommodation in Sälen, which is called Vasaskjolen.

It's a good example where we actually have been able to reduce climate impact as the production of this accommodation has been made with cement with a lower carbon carbon footprint and recycled copper and aluminum. The third one is related to dialogue and interaction.

We have, the possibility for our guests, they actually have the possibility to travel to our destination, to all our destinations, fossil-free. We have a new we launched a new partnership in the fourth quarter with Snälltåget to improve further improve the possibility for our guests to travel fossil-free to our destinations in Norway.

We have also made a quite significant engagement with 30 of our top suppliers, with support from them, we want we have the ambition to reduce emission from purchased goods and services, together with capital goods. That is a very important engagement with all of those 30 suppliers.

The summary of our financial targets, and all of them, the development have been stable. The development in total, of course, enable us to further growth revenue growth and improve margin.

The revenue growth in total was 8.3%, and the financial target was 6%. Operating margin, 17.5%, and I would like to note again that this 17.5 excludes gains from exploitation of property transactions.

This is just related to our underlying business. The the cash position, or the the net debt position in relation to EBITDA, was very good, or low, 1.3.

We have quite significant headroom to our target, long-term target of 2.5. We have suggested a dividend of SEK 3.5 per share to the AGM, which is an increase in comparison with last year.

That will be 44% of of of the net profit. This is the final slide, and this has been showed before, but this is more This one is used internally, and I think it's quite good illustration of what kind of initiative that we should focus on.

All of those will enable us to actually climb further climb in our value chain. They are divided into the guest experience, that is, of course, our number one priority, followed by that we, of course, need to and want to use our resources efficient, and, of course, the property development and the possibility for us to use our land, that is a significant number, and that will also enable us to grow organically in the future.

This is an illustration of of of the the journey to, of course, further to have the ability to reach our financial target of the margin of 18%.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Thank you, Sara. I will now give a short outlook.

This last slide you showed is, of course, a result of the result of this year is how we have been working with this model in a very significant way the last couple of years, where we also see it pays off now. If you look in for the outlook, we can see that we are showing a very strong demand for the winter holidays, and it is a prioritized activity among families.

We are up with the winter bookings with 3%. That's a very strong booking number.

We could also see that drivers of this booking has been that the launch of this most extensive snow guarantee within Scandinavia has been very successful. The investments we are doing within snow production is really paying off, and we will continue to invest in snow production.

We also have a very strong Christmas and New Year this year. We have an extra week, to say.

Week 53 is there, and that will, of course, be very beneficial for us. We have an early Easter week this year, it's week 12 to 13, that means that we will have a tail in the end, and we will now work much more intense.

If you look into the graph Sara showed before, how to really schedule and both our staff, but also secure we have the right opening times at the right place to secure a good end of the winter season, where we failed last year a bit. Here we have a potential as well for the upcoming winter season.

From a pricing point of view, we have said that we will continue to have quite low price or not any significant price increases in the lodging segment, since we want our visitors to really make sure that they book a stay at our destinations. When they come and stay at our destinations, they will buy up, and we will continue to increase the prices, not only on ski passes, also on ski school, etc., but ski pass increase will be on a leverage between 4% and 5% depending on what week you book.

Again, we will not slow off from having the lowest price as well. We will continue to have the lowest price on ski pass within the mountains, ski mountains.

You could go and ski to a resort like Klövsjö/Storhogna, where we provide, for example, 22 slopes, 16 lifts, an area which is as big as many ski areas within Sweden, for a very low price of skiing. We also will have an additional one for the upcoming winter, where we add in Åre Duved and Tegefjäll into this resort passes as well after the last year's success.

We will continue to grow both in all the destinations we have, but also to launch this passes at the other ski areas, to say. We haven't had, as Sara mentioned and I also mentioned it, any property gains during this last year, and I must say I'm really proud that we can present a result without property gains.

However, we are developing those detail plans, and we are also sitting on very strong land bank, which is enabling us to continue both growth within ski areas as well as grow in this property accommodations area. Stay tuned, and we will present when we are ready, and We are not selling any land for low price, we are selling land for the right price, and that's why we are waiting, and we have time to wait.

That's an important signal from us to you guys. My last slide is also a outlook.

Really proud of the development of our organization and our destinations, since it's really enable us to improve our margin, as well our continuing growth. We have had a very intense year behind us, where we also met some challenges in the end of the season, where we also came together, and also strengthening our organization to go together as a common organization towards this goal.

That's also why we present a very strong result. That will also help us to come into this new year, 2026-2027, in a good manner, to say.

We also have now this year-round strategy to be proven, and I must say management are also very confident now that we are crack the code for the summer, and we can also see that we have an increased profit during the Q2 to Q4. Q1 is still, of course, a very tough quarter to increase revenues, but Q2 to Q4 will be very important that we will continue to do that.

Sara has mentioned it, but I think sometimes we talk a lot about slopes, we talk a lot about investments, we talk about lifts, etc., but sometimes we really forget to talk about our cash flow. We have a very strong cash flow.

We have a 1.2 billion in free cash flow of this year, we have an improved cash flow of SEK 160 million this year, and that makes us, of course, in a very strong financial position, which will help us and enable us to continue to invest and strengthening our guest experiences. Lastly, but not least, we will launch the best and most extensive snow guarantee, and it will continue at our destinations.

Of course, what I could have add in this outlook also is that, of course, we increase the dividend. Sara said that we increased the dividend with 16%.

The result is plus 11%, the dividend is proposed to increase with 16%, of course that also is a good message to the market that we will continue to invest, but also we give a dividend to the shareholders. Thank you so much, and looking forward for some questions.

Operator

Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press *1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced.

To withdraw your question, please press *1-1 again. Thank you.

We will now go to our first question. One moment, please.

The first question today comes from the line of Alice Beer from ABG Sundal Collier. Please go ahead.

Alice Beer

Good morning, Stefan and Sara. Just starting off with Norway.

The Norwegian Mountain Resorts sales rose to 94 million, but FX only contributed about 28 million group-wide. What's the price/volume split in Norway like?

Stefan Sjöstrand

Oh, Sara, should you Can you,

Sara Uggelberg

Alice, can you please repeat?

Alice Beer

Of course. What's the price/volume split like in Norway since FX contributed a lot, but not the whole way to the Norwegian segment?

Stefan Sjöstrand

Normally, we actually don't show the split between the market's price/volume, actually. We show it in

Sara Uggelberg

In total.

Stefan Sjöstrand

In total, since we really want to we don't share that information, to say. It's a good question, but we give a pass on that one, actually.

Alice Beer

Yes. Fair enough.

Then, since the SkiStarshop segment is new, could you just walk us through the profitability profile in this segment? What's the most volatile cost drivers, and how scalable is it?

Stefan Sjöstrand

I can start to give a flying-in perspective on that business, and then really would like Sara to elaborate on your question. Because 5 years ago, when we decided for a new strategy, we could see that there was a hole in the market, to say, on both physical shops at our destinations.

We made some small vertical acquisitions in Trysil, and also we made a small acquisition in Klövsjö, etc., to really strengthening our presence from a physical store perspective. At the same time, we also accelerated our e-commerce site, where we wanted to make sure we could deliver a strong offer to our customers on the skistarshop site.

Thirdly, we decided also to continue and accelerate the development of SkiStar own brand, EQPE, and that's where we also launched the eqpestore.com. From a historical perspective, we decided to do that.

Then now, when we starts to become quite big in this segment, we wanted to create a more highlight on that segment as well. An important part, of course, showing, yeah, highlight on that segment.

Sara, could you elaborate on the scalability on that one?

Sara Uggelberg

Just to mention that in previous reporting, we divided our net sales into rental and sport shops. Those two are now included in the new segment, SkiStarshop.

SkiStarshop segment comprises of three different areas, to speak, and it's physical stores, online sales, and rental business. If you take a look at the margin between those three areas, obviously, the online sales has the lowest margin, followed by physical stores, and then rental.

Of course, there is a sort of different type of margin between those areas. I'm not sure if that was the answer to your question, Alice.

Alice Beer

That's fine. Just a follow-up then.

The loss in that segment increased this year from 17 million to 25 million despite sales growth of 13%. Could you just talk a bit about that?

Was it bad timing, or did you have to do a lot of marketing?

Sara Uggelberg

It's a combination, I would say, three different sort of aspects or items. It's a timing effect because the segment has been impacted by increase in merchandise related to rental equipment, and that is more or less a timing effect.

Then also, during the summer, by the end of the summer season, we made an inventory related to the rental equipment that it was evident that we needed to make a write-off related to bikes of SEK 5 million. The third explanation is related to marketing spend.

During the year, not just the fourth quarter, but during the year last year, we actually increased the marketing efforts to improve our online sales, I would say. We've actually spent more marketing money, and that is also through the fourth quarter.

The combination of those three, of which I would say two of them, the write-off of bikes and the timing of the purchase of rental equipment, is more a timing effect.

Alice Beer

Perfect. Thank you.

Moving on then, personnel cost for the full year grew 6%, but the average headcount fell a bit. What's the wage inflation we should assume for next year?

Sara Uggelberg

In average, and it's a difference between Norway and Sweden, in Sweden, it's lower, I would say it's 3. 3.2% related to Sweden, and then in Norway, it's 4.5%, 4.7% next year.

It's more or less the same this year, or 2025 to 2026.

Alice Beer

Perfect. Then the outlook on 3% growth in winter bookings, could you just remind us, is that on an unchanged base of beds, or how is that development split between increased occupancy and increased number of beds?

Stefan Sjöstrand

We have lost some beds in Trysil, we have gained some beds in Sweden, I think it is more or less the same, some hundreds, maybe 200 beds plus or something like that, but almost similar as the year before.

Alice Beer

Great. Then just how should we think about capital allocation?

You spoke a bit about CapEx and the cash flow, but the dividend was raised, but the payout ratio sits a bit below 50%, and leverage is down. Is it wrong to assume that this indicates a fairly heavy CapEx year ahead, or what's the investment pipeline like?

Sara Uggelberg

I would say that the CapEx for this year, or 2026 to 2027, will be a bit higher than the previous year, and that's due to the increase in snow production. It will be around 12% or 13%, I would say, 13% ratio to revenues.

A bit higher, but not enormous higher. It's still on a bit higher than the previous year.

Alice Beer

Great. Then just a final question for me.

The full-year operating margin was about 17.6%, and that's awfully close to the targeted 18%. What's your view on the margin in the upcoming year, and is an 18% margin contingent on a favorable calendar, or is that reasonable long term?

Stefan Sjöstrand

I believe that we are in a strong position, Alice. I think the slide Sara showed with the three different parts of how we're working internally is that we both invest and developing different type of concepts, which you are showing now in this growth, which is giving us this 8% growth this last year.

The margin, which is improved, comes from this better allocations and how we are working with better scheduling, much better cost control. We really believe that we are on the track for delivering the 18% without any property gains, actually.

We are in a strong position. Also to build a little bit on Sara's answer on the investments, we will be much more precise on where we invest.

Let's say half of the investment is connected to reinvestment, to say, and half of the investments will be new investments. In the new investments, it will be very much focus on snow production again to show that we take leadership in snow production within Scandinavia without any competition at all in that sense, to be honest.

Alice Beer

Great. Thank you.

That was all for me.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Thank you, Alice.

Sara Uggelberg

Thank you, Alice.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question today comes from the line of Carl Karl-Johan Bonnevier from DNB Carnegie.

Please go ahead.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Yes. Good morning, Stefan and Sara.

Maybe trying to dig in a little deeper, if I can, to a couple of the questions Alice already put to you. Looking at Norway in the just finished year, it seems like you had a great success, and what is the main driver there?

Is it the international returning even more, or the locals coming back more, or what is the main driver?

Stefan Sjöstrand

Hey, Carl Johan. I think nothing.

The main driver in Norway has been that the international guests have had an higher share within Norway, in general in Hemsedal, actually. In Trysil, also we could see that the airport, Scandinavian Mountains Airport has been very successful delivering guests to especially Trysil also.

The Danish guests are coming by ferry to go to Oslo, from Copenhagen to Oslo, and then they take the car up to Hemsedal. We have seen a stronger international guests, but also that the investments we made in Trysil was very strong last year with this Trysil gondola, which created a lot of interest, actually.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Also looking at Q4, even adjusting for the currency effect, it seems like say maybe the Norwegian summer product is going slightly better than the Swedish. Is it just that the Norwegian product is ahead of the Swedish one looking at maturity, or how do you see it?

Stefan Sjöstrand

That's a very good question. I think we decided to go back to focus on the three resorts during summer, and that has been a strategical right decision, both that we could take out some costs where we didn't get any growth.

Then we can see that Åre is a resort where we have, would say, a lot of visitors. However, we don't offer all the revenue streams in Åre as we can provide in the same manner as we do in Trysil and Sälen.

That's why Trysil is a little bit ahead. Also to come to Trysil is also 2 hours from Oslo, which I think is also very important.

If you look into, for example, in Europe, Southern Europe, we can see that a lot of success in the summer business in the European resorts are connected to that they have a lot of people living quite close by. Trysil is quite easy access versus Åre or Sälen, for example, from the big areas where people live.

One of the main reasons why also Trysil get a lot of people. Then also Trysil is the largest resort in Norway, of course, and which have also the best biking development within Norway, actually.

Sara Uggelberg

Also the long-term tradition of outdoor activities in Norway. You mentioned a majority, and I would say that that is one of the reasons as well, yeah.

Yes.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Yes.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Excellent. Thanks for the extra color.

Looking at when summing up the high season of 2025-2026, what kind of growth did you see in new guests that you didn't have in your databases before? Maybe also where do you end up on MySkiStar membership towards the end of the year?

I couldn't find that KPI somewhere.

Stefan Sjöstrand

The international guests, they ended up to be 40% during the winter season. Most of the new guests, they came from this air companies, TUI, easyJet, and so on.

There we got a lot of help from the airport, to say, to get more and new international guests. We could also see that the Danes started to come, and then they have a very easy access by, for example, with Snälltåget, they go onto the train in southern part of Sweden, and then they travel the whole way, which has been very successful as well.

Then the last question, what did you ask? You asked about My MySkiStar.

MySkiStar, yes. We are continue to grow MySkiStar.

I don't have the exact numbers here and now, Carl Johan, but I see that we need to provide that information with the exact number of MySkiStar members, but we continue to grow that database.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Excellent. You mentioned the Scandinavian Mountains Airport a couple of times, and seeing as a good demand driver for Trysil and Sälen.

What kind of growth did you see in the capacity coming in to the airport during the last season, and do you have any indications for what kind of capacity growth we might see for the coming season?

Stefan Sjöstrand

We are only a part-owner of the airport, we don't have, of course, all the numbers. We know that the lines from TUI, they have taken out one flight, but they have added in another, it will be quite the same.

easyJet will continue, Lübeck Air will continue. Quite the same, actually, as last year.

Last year, there was 44,000 pax coming in. We believe that it will be slightly the same, but we also believe that the additional train opportunities will add some extra guests, actually, and also an increased work with Danish agencies will also help us with some additional Danes coming into us as well.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Excellent. Looking at the pre-bookings up 3% at this stage, I remember last year you also gave an indication about how the early part of the season would go, as there was this kind of strange shift in the base.

How do you see that for the coming season? Is it still Christmas, New Year that is driving the pre-bookings at this stage, and there's still a huge gap to say basically cater coming up to Easter and the later part of the season?

Stefan Sjöstrand

Very good question, and I'm really glad that we could elaborate a little bit on that. The weeks between 51 to week 1, to say, we have a very strong booking situation at this moment right now, actually.

That's all over the destinations more or less, to say. We could also, since this week 53 give us an additional week more or less, which is, of course, extremely strong.

We could also see that winter break period between week 7 and 10 is also quite well booked, to say. We are a little bit slower right now in the period of week 2 to 6.

At the same time, for us, where we make the best profit, to say, is between week 51 and 1 and week 7 to 10. From a financial point of view, we are extremely satisfied with the bookings at the moment, how they look like.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Do you take any learnings with you from say the last season looking at how to drive say in-season demand, if you put it like that, to get those weaker weeks and maybe the end of the year up to the level where you want it to be?

Stefan Sjöstrand

Yes. We have learned how to be much better in how we operate our destinations.

As an example, the week 51 and 1, which will be extremely busy, we will have extra people and so on to make sure we have the right people on the right place. At the same time, we will have more slopes open, since we have invested so much in the snow guarantee, and the snow guarantee also drives bookings.

That's something which is really good. Then if you look into the end of the season, which I try to describe in the call also about the tail, to say, the end of the season, we will be much better in how we operate our end of the season within opening times and also we will not have all destinations fully open as we have had previously.

We will be much smarter of how closing down part of the destinations compared to how it has been previously, because that is how we will also save cost compared to how it has been in the past. I think we have learned to be much more better in operation excellence based upon the past seasons, actually.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

Perfect. One final, you mentioned also a couple of times that the Swedish guest has been much more switched on to do early bookings.

Does that simplify this idea of filling up maybe also the slower weeks, to say, or is that just exaggerating the pattern you just talked about about the strong weeks?

Stefan Sjöstrand

I think the Swedes have been very successful using this week 2 to 6, for example, Valles Vinterveckor, as we say, they are extremely popular among families with children. They are big contributor to that part of the year.

We're really glad to see that the Swedish customer is coming back, and we also see that the investment we have made, like I said, in snow production, but also, for example, in activities around the slopes, for we are building an ice rink, we are building like this snowman where you can play in the snow. We also have an extended F&B and where we also add a full package, which is also something which our guests want, especially the international guests.

We have a lot of good things, and I'm really comfortable about where we are at the moment, and we have a momentum within SkiStar at this time for now.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

One final number question as well before I pass back. Looking at the SkiStarshop retail operation, what is the split between physical and online at this stage?

Stefan Sjöstrand

It is still 50/50, actually. We continue to have really strong growth in the physical stores.

Again, when we have all these events during summer, what's really interesting to see how all revenue streams delivers, because, again, when we have an activity, like for example, and also the collaboration we have with Vasaloppet and also the biking Vasa, all numbers are handing out in our concepts, SkiStarshop store, where all the biking participants come to our facilities, they train before Cykelvasan, we hand out the numbers, and when they are there in the store, of course, they start to shop as well. We can see that all these events we create also support all our revenue streams as well.

That's why I really would like to highlight the importance of the physical store development we have at our destinations, actually.

Karl-Johan Bonnevier

No, very good to see how healthy the operating margin looks for that operation on the full year perspective as well. Good extra disclosure, I must say.

Good luck, and all the best out there.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Thank you so much.

Sara Uggelberg

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press *1-1 on your telephone.

We will now go to the next question. The next question today comes from the line of Linus Ahlén from Nordea.

Please go ahead.

Linus Alentun

Yes. Hi, and good morning, Stefan and Sara.

Just a couple of questions from me here. Starting off with the past year perhaps, ski and activity days were roughly flat, and ski pass revenue was up 6% or 5.7%, I think, was the exact number.

I'm just wondering if we could have sort of a split here between price and mix, also with regards that you're guiding for 4% to 5% price hikes here. If

Sara Uggelberg

we take it out, I'm not sure if we can give you that number. It's sort of a total evaluation that has been made internally.

Stefan Sjöstrand

If you look into, for example, the weeks between 51 and 1, we have, of course, a high price increase on the lodging since there is a high demand, since we have this pricing tool, to say. The same with ski pass, and that's also depending when you're buying the ski pass.

If you are buying the ski pass the same day, you have a 10% increase. It's too difficult to guide on that, actually.

That's why we say, in general, like we are saying right now, is 4%

Sara Uggelberg

to 5%. The majority is related to price.

Stefan Sjöstrand

That's true, that's true,

Sara Uggelberg

yeah.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Yes, yes, yes, yes. We still see that we will have a volume increase this year.

Sara Uggelberg

Yes, yes.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Yeah.

Linus Alentun

Yep, right. I think you mentioned that Sälen here has a pretty good situation on the bookings.

Is there any other resorts that stand out in any way, up and down?

Stefan Sjöstrand

We decided to give a flavor on that booking, and maybe it gave a wrong signals in 2 months ago when we did that. The idea was to really show that our investments we made in this snow guarantee really pays off, I must say.

Sälen is the locomotive, to say, with a very high bookings, and the other ones is on a good level, and we can see that there is still high demand on mountain vacation. We're really looking forward, actually, for the winter seasons now, since we see that we probably taking some market shares this year with all these efforts we are doing in especially in the investments we are doing.

Linus Alentun

Yep, yeah, that sounds great. Just a question on those investments here and on the snow guarantee, perhaps.

I'm just wondering, have you done any scenarios of potential cost exposure if we happened to have a mild winter here with little natural snow?

Stefan Sjöstrand

No, we haven't done that since if you look into historical forecast, how it will look like from the weather predictions, etc., we will have minus degrees. What we are doing is that that's why we invest in so many snow guns.

I think Lindvallen last year was a brilliant example that we could open up Lindvallen and full secure delivering our snow guarantee, and compared to the competitors in the surroundings, Yeah, I should not talk about them, but we open up in a very good, secured way, and by the investments we have done for this year, we can open up with even more slopes. We are fully confident in that.

Linus Alentun

All right.

Stefan Sjöstrand

I just want to elaborate a bit on that as well, because I think what is very important is that I got excited when I travel to Sälen and see a pumphouse close to the river. How can you be excited by seeing a pumphouse close to the river?

That's because we are doubling the water capacity. Doubling the water capacity means that we could push more water, which is getting snow when it is -2°.

We don't need so much cold, actually, to be able to produce snow. I think that's something which is unique in what we have invested in right now.

We have invested in pump capacity, we have invested in snow guns, we have invested in pipes, and that will help us to fill the slopes with snow faster than we ever have done earlier. We will continue to invest in pumphouse, in water, and snow guns next year to even increase our snow guarantee even more going forward.

We are super proud of that.

Linus Alentun

Understood. All right.

Thank you very much for taking my questions here. I'll get in line.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Thank you.

Sara Uggelberg

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. There are currently no further questions.

I will hand the call back to Stefan for closing remarks.

Stefan Sjöstrand

Thank you so much for taking the time with us today. It was more than an hour call, but we are also very proud of the result we have delivered, and also trust that you have got the answer on the questions you have asked to us.

Now we are looking forward for the upcoming winter season, and I hope that many of you will come and visit us during the winter. Thank you so much.

Sara Uggelberg

Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call.

Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.