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Q2 FY2026 · Earnings Call TranscriptAugust 14, 2026

Stine Klund

Hi and welcome to this Q&A. My name is Stine Lund, Investor Relations.

I am joined by CEO Sondre Gravir and CFO Cecilie Elde during this session. Sondre will run through a brief summary of today's presentation and then we will leave the word to you for questions.

Sondre Gravir

Yes, thank you, Stine. Good morning, everyone.

Great to see so many of you joining us for this Q&A session although it's August and summertime for many of you still. We are out of the summer here.

We have reported a Q2 according to our expectations, I would say. We continue to see that member activity is growing, also on group training, which is important for us, even though we are comparing to a very strong quarter also last year.

We see that revenues are up 7% currency adjusted, mainly lifted by average revenue per member, which is up 6% currency adjusted, 1% volume growth. The ARPM is driven both by price increases and improved product mix in the sales of new memberships.

We see that EBITDA is increasing with 18%, 23% currency adjusted, and a margin expansion of 2 percentage points, as growth stayed for costs on 4% currency adjusted. We deliver a net profit of NOK 196 million for the quarter, which is NOK 1 per share, free cash flow of 602 million last 12 months.

If you look at then the last 12 months' earnings per share, it's at 2.62. The board has also concluded to propose a dividend of 0.72 per share for the first half of 2026.

If you're combining that with the total gross share buyback we have done in the period, which is 318 million NOK, the total payout ratio for the first half of 2026 will be 152%. Then we also reiterated our guidance from the Capital Markets Day last year in the presentation today about our ambition for expansion going forward.

We have a balance sheet which will handle both shareholder distribution and balanced expansion. We reiterated the planned growth of 8 to 12 new clubs per year, even though in this, as you see, out of Q2, we see a net decline of three clubs compared to last year because we have decided to exit a couple of clubs and it takes a little bit of time to ramp up the club expansion.

We have committed 13 new locations, which we are very happy about, with strong locations through 2028, and there will be more to follow. We reiterate the guidance on 8 to 12 new clubs, and also the fact that we prioritize great locations, quality above quantity.

We see that the pipeline is ramping up. Overall, a quarter which we are happy with the development, and I would say fully aligned and according to expectations and the plan we laid out at the Capital Markets Day last year.

With that, I think we open up for questions. Please go ahead.

Stine Klund

Håkon Fuglu.

Thank you for taking my question. I just see that you're writing in the report that you're talking about high quality or M&A opportunities, what you say.

What do you define as sort of high-quality opportunities for you?

Sondre Gravir

As long as there are locations that would extend and strengthen our current clusters. If you look over the last years, we have done some in-fill acquisitions that have been very good for us in terms of strengthening the member offering in our current clusters.

These type of in-fill acquisitions would also be interesting going forward. There's nothing new in our plans and communication here.

We have always said that if there are relevant and interesting opportunities on the M&A side, we will pursue them. Then, these things sometimes turns out positive and sometimes not.

There are, as you also know, there are not that many big, interesting, and relevant M&A opportunities in the Nordics, but there are a few. There are some smaller in-fill opportunities.

Are you finding those opportunities in Norway or is that more towards the Swedish market? No,

Sondre Gravir

those opportunities are in all markets, I would say. Historically, we have mostly done in-fill acquisitions in Norway and Sweden, but this could also be relevant in the other markets.

Thank you. I also have a question here on the growing pipeline, which is nice to see.

Could you sort of define how that pipeline is growing? Are you seeing opportunities there in existing clusters or are we looking towards new clusters?

Sondre Gravir

Far, the main growth in the pipeline is in existing clusters.

The majority of that pipeline is currently in Norway. How do you see the opportunities in Sweden?

Has that developed more in favor?

Sondre Gravir

As I also said in the presentation today, we have several locations where they are in positive, I would say, and close dialogue. This pipeline that we report on is just the signed, committed locations.

There will be more locations, and also in Sweden.

Okay. Thank you.

That was all for me.

Stine Klund

Thank you, Håkon. Let's go to Ole Martin Westgaard.

Hi, and thank you for taking my questions. First, just to follow up on the store pipeline or club pipeline, as you call it.

It looks quite light for Sweden for 2027 given the opportunities that you see alt in all. Is there realistic that you can open several clubs next year or should we start to think that the pipeline will not improve from 2028?

If any,

Sondre Gravir

it will mainly be towards the end of next year when it comes to greenfield locations and then more in 2028. It takes time with the greenfield locations, and then of course in-fill acquisitions is something else.

For greenfields, it will be more towards the end of the year if they're not signed already.

Yeah. So 2026 and 2027 should we more or less consider what we see on the screen here, and then for 2028 can improve?

Cecilie Elde

2027 can still improve somewhat with the dialogues that are currently ongoing, which is not part of what we showed today. It's not the final 2027 number.

Yeah.

Just to continue on with Sweden, what do you see from competition, and if you can make some comments on the competitive landscape there? There was a lot of speculation on high level of club openings among peers.

Have you seen anything of it? Can you give some color on that?

Sondre Gravir

Yeah. It was around a year ago actually when we had a lot of these new speculations, as you're referring to, where there was suddenly announced some new guidance on very expansive plans, etc.

I think it's fair to say that we have not seen any major shifts in the Swedish competitive situation. As we have Fitness24Seven, and you have SATS, and you have Nordic Wellness that are all in the markets, especially SATS, Nordic Wellness have been aggressive on expansion historically and continues to be so.

There's no major shifts that has happened the last 12 months compared to what we have seen the last, I would say, 36 months. It's a rough and hard competitive situation in Sweden as it has been constantly, I would say, since 2019.

With a pause in the pandemic. Yes, the competitors are expanding, but I wouldn't say that there's any major shifts lately.

Thank you. Then a question on Denmark and the VAT changes and how that impacts the financials there.

Should we look at the Q2 ARPM as representative of what to expect going forward? Also, Cecilie, if you can make some comments on the cost side if Q2 is what we should expect on the cost level given that this VAT change has some effect there as well?

Cecilie Elde

It's hard to compare to last year, but the second quarter is relevant when it comes to ARPM and cost growth. I think for the totality, it doesn't really move the needle significantly, but of course it's important for Denmark isolated.

If you look at the underlying result for Denmark, it's up 20% on EBITDA. Even though we have lower revenues, we also get more deductions on the cost side, which sort of evens out the full effect of VAT.

It's a strong underlying development in Denmark, slightly hit by VAT, but not significantly when you look at net profit for Denmark. All in all, the second quarter is relevant to look at when it comes to the revenue and

cost side. Right.

Thank you. Then a last one for me on the opex.

Last 12 months, 5% cost increases currency adjusted. Is that the level you see going forward as well, or should we expect that to ease?

Or also if you can make some comments on your investments in group training, I guess are meeting comparables where you have already quite a high level of investments in group training.

Cecilie Elde

Yeah. I think the 5% is fully in line with what we have communicated.

That also includes direct cost, which is variable. If you take out variable cost, we have a 4% increase in cost over last year.

That's around the wage increase, that's including the additional investments that we do in group training. We have continued to increase group training schedules in the second quarter, costs related to that is already included in the numbers that we see right now.

We will continue to sort of monitor the load factor for group training and we will continue to increase investments where that makes sense. I think this is fully in line with what we have guided historically, and it's also in line with what we see in the coming period.

It's cost increasing with inflation. Wages is of course a big part of our cost base, it's a third of our cost base, and that will increase with the general wage increases.

Other than that, we feel that we have a very disciplined approach to the cost development in general. I think it's fairly stable.

Yeah.

I can take another question if there is no other hands up there, just on the membership base. It was down somewhat unseasonably this quarter, and in line with your expectations, but should we expect normal seasonality in the coming quarters, or if you can make some comments on your campaign activity and how that is relative to last year?

Cecilie Elde

I think in general, it's good to look at the longer period than just the quarters, because as you say, we can have different types of campaign and intensity in our campaigning affecting the member intake. This quarter was according to our expectations and what we flagged last quarter.

There's nothing underlying happening with churn other than the campaign effects from last year. When it comes to the second half of this year, we expect it to be fairly normal, but it's too early to say anything about this quarter in general, so.

Okay. Thank you so much.

Stine Klund

Thank you. Over to Petter Nystrøm.

Yeah. Thanks.

One follow-up questions from Ole Martin there on prices and churn. 1% growth in Q2.

How do you see the potential to drive further ARPM growth through then pricing and upselling without impacting the churn? And...

[unclear] Just a follow-up on that, are there some differences also across the markets you operate in, some insight on that would also be great. Thank you.

Hva sa du?

Cecilie Elde

I think we need to mute...

Did you catch that question, or should I repeat it?

Cecilie Elde

I think I got the most of it. I think in general, we see that pricing is improving according to of course the price adjustments that we do, but just the turn of the member base, meaning that our members are coming in at a higher level than the base in general.

That has a positive effect on ARPM. We also see that members choose group training to a larger extent now than previously.

That also expands the pricing. Going forward, this is something we monitor of course when we look at our price adjustments, making sure that we have a balanced approach to how this affects churn over time.

We see that we have been able to increase prices without affecting churn more, at least than what we expect when we do this kind of price adjustments. We believe that there's still room for improvement, both in volume, but also in our pricing going forward.

Is it possible to say something about the different markets that you operate in? I assume there are some, call it regional differences between the markets.

Cecilie Elde

Yes, there are regional differences. I think we see that we have increased the prices more in the Norwegian market.

We see a positive lift also in Denmark where pricing is the lowest and we're focusing significantly on sort of getting the product offering and broadening the product offering to sort of defend the price increases that we do there. Of course, there is, as Sondre mentioned, around the Swedish markets, the competition is intense.

We are monitoring this on a market-by-market level and trying to sort of optimize what we think is possible to take out in the different markets.

Yeah. I'll jump back in the queue.

Stine Klund

Thank you, Petter. Any other questions?

No? Then I think we will round off.

Thank you for joining this Q&A. Have a nice day.

Thank you.

Cecilie Elde

Thank you.

Sondre Gravir

Have a great day. Bye-bye.

Thank you.