Operator
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Thule Group's interim report for Q2. My name is Lydia, and I'll be your operator today.
[Operator Instructions]. I'll now hand you over to Mattias Ankarberg, Chief Executive Officer and President of Thule Group.
Please go ahead.
Operator
Mattias Ankarberg
Thank you, and welcome, everybody, to this Q2 call. I am, as usual, joined here by our CFO, Toby Lawton.
We'll be talking through a presentation available on the screen and later on also on our IR website. And as usual, we will follow up with a Q&A session after the presentation.
So starting with highlights on Page 2. It's nice to see that the positive development that we saw in Q1 continues also in the second quarter, which is our peak season and our biggest quarter.
We see continued both organic growth and increased profitability. And as you may be aware, we are very focused on growing what we call champion product categories, product categories where Thule is the global market leader and can out-innovate competition with new products, and it's nice that, that continues to give results, as does the efficiency agenda that we are driving.
In the quarter, we see growth in all of the 4 product areas that we report with the fastest growth coming from Active with Kids & Dogs just as in Q1. And as also announced earlier in May, we have made a small acquisition in the quarter of a company called curli, which is a leader in premium dog harnesses.
Turning to Page 3, the financial overview. As mentioned, we saw both organic growth and increased profitability also in Q2.
For the quarter, sales amounted to just over SEK 3.4 billion and 2.5% organic growth. We continue to see a market where both consumers and retailers are cautious, both in North America.
So it's nice to see the organic growth coming through even despite that backdrop. And as a continuation of trends, also Europe continues to be strong for us, growth of 4% in the quarter.
North America is the toughest spot with minus 2%, where we are making good progress on the agenda that we are driving, but it's also the toughest market that we're in, and more than happy to get into some highlights specific to North America later on. There continues to be a negative currency effect for us.
And in the quarter, the impact on sales was about 2 percentage points. Gross margin is all-time high, up 1 percentage point at 47.3%.
Mainly, this is positively driven by mix, both product and channel mix and some efficiency gains in our supply chain, which more than offset some of the headwinds that we are seeing, and we will get back more to that later. In all, the adjusted EBIT margin increased to 22.8%, which is up a bit more than 1 percentage point versus last year.
Our sales and admin costs are somewhat below last year, not as much as in Q1, which is also as planned, but a bit below. And we also have cost for the closure of a smaller satellite office in Belgium in the quarter.
So there is an adjustment of SEK 23 million in these numbers. Cash flow remains good, up versus last year and amounted to SEK 824 million.
So for the first half of the year, we can conclude that we're growing just above 3% organically and an EBIT margin improvement of close to 1.5 percentage points. So on Page 4, before we dive in some more details of the quarter's performance, let's step back.
This graph shows the long-term trend. It's actually the trend development since Thule became a public company back in 2014.
So it's been a bit more a decade. And the point is that the long-term positive trend continues also in the last couple of quarters.
As you can see on the blue bars, which is the sales trend, continues up. It's a little bit of shading there to show the negative currency impact for the first half year this year.
And the line — the green line continues to point upwards to the Northeast, which is the EBIT development continuing to improve. So all in all, we have on the last 12 months basis, net sales of SEK 10.4 billion and an adjusted EBIT margin approaching 17%, 16.8%.
So with that long-term backdrop, let's dig into some of the details around the quarter. And we'll start with the performance per product area.
And as I'm sure you're aware, we report 4 product areas. The biggest one is Sport&Cargo Carriers, which amounts to more than half of the sales in the quarter, and we have 3 so-called champion categories, the categories that we are focusing on for growth, and there we are global market leaders.
And in the quarter, we were up somewhat, 1% up, and flat for the year so far. We continue to launch new products in these categories and continue to see growth as a result of that.
We have, maybe particularly interesting to mention around bike carriers since bike is really high season in Q2, where we have launched both more expensive products and at lower price points, which both help us actually in the quarter very nicely. We had a very good start for our new most premium bike carrier Thule Epos ParkSecure, which is an upgrade of our best carrier now with the parking sensors and also the lower price points, which allows more consumers to access to Thule products at a lower price points.
And the example I'd like to highlight is Thule VeloLite, which has done well for us in the quarter and launched in April, but also other price points that we are now addressing with more new products. For example, the new entry price rooftop box Thule Pulse also did well.
We continue also to see good momentum in rear-of-car cargo products, just like some of the ones you see on the picture. And generally, we see a positive development from both new Thule products launched, but also in the existing portfolio, the premium price points, the higher price points continue to do best, where it's a bit softer in the lower and mid-range.
All in all, we saw just like in the total numbers, good growth in Europe for Sport&Cargo Carriers in the quarter, but a decline in North America. The second product area for us is RV Products, which is about 15% of sales in the quarter, which continued to show growth, 4% up in the quarter, 6% in the year-to-date.
And we had another quarter with growth both to the aftermarket or the RV dealers, and the OE channel or the manufacturers. And again, here, a substantial part of this growth that we're seeing this year is from new products that we've launched in the last 2 years, which continue to drive growth for us.
The market has been gradually improving over the last few quarters, and consumer interest in RV remains high. However, we are seeing a decline in RV registrations during the second quarter as a consequence of even more cautious consumers for high-ticket items now following, for example, the conflict in the Middle East.
But overall, good growth in the quarter for RV of 4% and 6% year-to-date. The third product area is Active with the Kids & Dogs.
And this is a product area where we have 3 of what we call champion candidates, which are product categories that have the characteristics of the champions, but are yet small or smaller, not making the bar of SEK 500 million to be called the champion. And it's nice to see that all these 3 product categories continue to grow really fast and really drive this product area to the best-performing one in the quarter, with net sales up 8% organic and 9% year-to-date.
And just to give some color on these 3 champions candidates. We continue to see really nice growth in all-terrain and running strollers, where we have launched some upgraded products in the recent year, and that continues to boost performance.
Dog transportation, which we launched 2 years ago, is really growing strong, continued good growth in the dog crates. That was the first product in, but also with a broader product portfolio now being built out, for sure, helps boost the sales as well.
And then, similarly, sustained momentum in the child car seats category, which was also launched 18 months ago, almost 2 years ago now, which also is benefiting from more new products, a broader portfolio and a wider distribution, which continues to drive sales for us. The other category, which is worth to note is the multisport and bike trailers, which is also part of this product area, where the market had been really tough with lots of stock and discounting, but that product category performance turned for the positive during the second quarter, particularly driven by premium price points.
So all in all, a good development in Active with Kids & Dogs, so 8% organic growth. And the last product area for us is Bags & Mounts, 18% of sales in the quarter, where net sales was up 5% organic and 6% year-to-date.
And 2/3 of this — actually a bit more than 2/3 of this product area is now made up of performance phone mounts, which is a result of the acquisition of Quad Lock, which continues to grow well, just below 10%. We also see growth in Thule-branded bags, which is nice.
Small growth, but still positive growth, and we see — pleased to see some — good reception of new products also in the Thule bags. The Thule InLock system for bike commuting that was launched in the first quarter continues to do well.
And also upgrades to our Thule Chasm line with both gear holders and new duffle bags that are performing really well. However, against these 2 growing parts of this product area, we continue to see a decline in the Case Logic bags, which is a legacy business that we are phasing out, which I've been commenting on many times before.
But overall, positive development in Bags & Mounts of 6% for the first half year. And then before turning to some financial details, just an update on the add-on acquisition of curli that we announced in early May.
As I just shared, we have a strong momentum in dog transportation products, and it's an area that we like and believe in, connects really well with our consumer and has some positive tailwinds in the category. And we have acquired a Swiss company called curli, founded by 2 mountaineers used to lots of mountaineering equipment, including harnesses and took that knowledge about harnesses into the dog space and developed a company around that product and really are the global market-leading position in premium dog harnesses, particularly for smaller dogs.
So really complementary to the dog transportation products that we have already. It will be integrated under the Thule brand.
We will launch harnesses for larger dogs already this fall, actually. And we closed the transaction at the end of June, just as planned.
So very pleased to now welcome the curli products and team into the Thule brand and family. And with that, I turn to Toby to give some further financial details.
Mattias Ankarberg
Toby Lawton
Thank you, Mattias. Good morning, everybody.
So I'll start on the financial summary of the income statement. And here, firstly, on the top left-hand side, on sales, we reported SEK 3.4 billion of sales in this quarter, which you can see in the left-hand column and the Q2 column.
And remember that Q2 is also our biggest quarter of the year. And as you can see that in the graph to the bottom left, where you can see the seasonality of the business as well.
When it comes to organic growth, in the quarter, we had 2.5% organic growth with growth in all 4 product areas. And you can also see if you move to the first half on the right-hand side of the table, we had 3.1% organic growth for the first half.
Gross margin increased versus the same quarter last year and now talking about quarter 2. And the biggest impact here was price mix, where the mix of products and channels is now more favorable than it was in the same quarter last year.
And just to give an example, we have higher-than-average growth in D2C and in performance phone mounts, both of which contribute to improving gross margin. And that, together with price increases as well, helped the gross margin.
We then continue to drive efficiency gains, which also helps gross margin. But of course, we're also incurring higher tariff costs in North America than we were in Q2 last year because in Q2 last year, these costs were not yet fully reflected in the result.
And then, just talking about the first half year, gross margin is up 0.6% for the first half year due mainly to these same effects that I just mentioned. Selling and administrative expenses were down slightly in the quarter from SEK 841 million to SEK 838 million and are now down 3.9% for the first half year, so down from SEK 1.632 billion down to SEK 1.568 billion.
And as we have said previously, we expected costs to come down in the first half year, and we've delivered on that. And as we've also said previously, the reduction was bigger in Q1 than Q2 due to a different phasing of development costs compared to last year.
Important to mention here is that with our focused strategy, we are focusing more of our R&D costs on Champions while also bringing the total development spend down slightly, and we intend to spend at least 4% of our sales on development for the Champion categories, which are really driving the growth, and at the same time, bringing the overall spend down slightly. This gives an adjusted EBIT for the quarter of SEK 779 million with an adjusted EBIT margin of 22.8%.
This is up 1.2% versus last year — versus Q2 last year, and that's mainly due to the improved gross margin, but also partly due to slightly lower SG&A costs. And for the first half year, the adjusted EBIT margin is up 1.4%.
So a good increase in profitability. A few things to mention here to bear in mind.
Firstly, the FX impact was still negative in the second quarter. We still had headwinds, but the headwinds are somewhat less than we've had in previous quarters, and the total FX impact on the Q2 result was approximately SEK 20 million negative.
Secondly, we have an adjustment item in the quarter. And this relates mainly to the closure costs for an office in Belgium, but also a small part for some transaction costs related to the curli acquisition, which Mattias mentioned.
And the total adjustment is then SEK 23 million in the quarter. And that's all the adjustment relating to these items.
I can mention that as well. Thirdly, I think important to mention that there is no impact in this result from any tariff refunds.
So there's no impact in the second quarter in any way of tariff refunds. And we can come back to this in the Q&A, if you like.
But that also means that the — or if I just move to the unadjusted EBIT, it's also worth mentioning the unadjusted EBIT was also up versus last year by more than SEK 50 million, a similar improvement than we saw in adjusted EBIT. When it comes to net income, and also earnings per share, this was up by 4.7% in the quarter and 6.6% in the first half year.
Okay. If I move on to the share of sales.
Here you can see that our share of sales by geography and by product area. And on the left-hand side here, you can see that the share of sales from Europe on an LTM basis has increased.
And this is — because this is where we have the strongest organic growth, and it's very important that we perform here in Europe in our biggest and most important markets. And North America, and particularly U.S.A.
has been more challenging, as Mattias has said, in the last couple of years, but the actions that we have taken here are showing traction and, yes, the trend has improved. On the right-hand side, you can see the share by product area, and worth noting on this pie chart, I think, is that the Active with Kids & Dogs product area, where we have seen strong growth from the 3 champion candidates, has driven the strong growth and increased share of sales from that product area.
Otherwise, no big changes in these distributions. Just moving on to a graph on EBIT and EBITDA margins, and we just take a look — take a moment to look at the development of our EBIT and EBITDA margins, and this was also an item we talked about in our Capital Markets Day last November.
So there's more information there if you want to go and look at it. But firstly, looking at the EBITDA margin at the top, which is the margin before depreciation.
And here, you can see that the LTM margin has now increased to 20.2%. So that's the last 12 months EBITDA margin versus 19.5% in 2025, and that's a level that's higher than the history in all years, except for those years where we had the pandemic effect.
Secondly, looking at the EBIT margin, the line at the bottom, and this has also increased to 16.8% on a last 12-month basis versus 16.0% in 2025. So good to see that the actions we are taking are having an impact and delivering the margin improvements, and we're taking important steps then towards our EBIT margin target of 20%.
If I then move on to cash flow. Firstly, here to mention that Q2 and Q3 have historically been our strongest cash flow quarters.
That's due to the seasonality of the business. And you can see that in the graph on the bottom left.
And then, this quarter, quarter 2 then was — we had a strong cash flow from operations in the quarter. We had SEK 824 million of cash flow from operations, which is a good level driven by both the good profitability, but also a reduction in working capital in the quarter.
Important to note, we also had some cash outflows in the quarter. We had a CapEx of SEK 70 million, mainly related to the investment we are making in Poland in automating and extending the distribution warehouse in Poland.
We also paid out SEK 114 million for the acquisition of curli, and we paid SEK 448 million for the dividend in the second quarter. But with the good cash flow we had even, with these cash outflows for those items, we managed to reduce net debt with SEK 100 million and improve our leverage.
So our leverage net debt to EBITDA is now down to 1.9x. And you can see that on the graph on the bottom right-hand side.
And just to mention here as well that we expect to further reduce the leverage with a strong cash flow that we normally have in the quarter 3 as well. And obviously, we have no dividend payment in quarter 3.
So that has no negative impact in quarter 3. So the cash flow drops through.
And yes, with that, I will hand back to Mattias.
Toby Lawton
Mattias Ankarberg
Thank you, Toby. Let's turn to some forward-looking commentary around both our priorities and the market situation.
And our focus for 2026 remains the same. We are focusing on building champion categories and driving efficiency gains.
And it's nice to see the results coming through despite a not easy market during the first half year, which is, of course, good evidence that the efforts we are making are giving positive effect. So as we stand right now, we see that the market is now being impacted by the conflict in the Middle East on already cautious consumers.
And likely, there is both negative and positive effects for the Thule business. On the one hand, we can see that the RV segment, which had experienced a few quarters of improving market conditions, had now a quarter of declining new RV, new vehicle registrations, which is, of course, not positive for us.
On the other hand, more consumers are saying this year that they expect to spend summer vacations closer to their home. They're still expected to travel, but not long distance, rather closer to their homes, which is typically positive for Thule.
So both positives and negatives there. We continue to see North America being the toughest market, although there are some bright spots, it's still the toughest market.
And on the cost side, there are raw material prices, of course, that have gone up and that will impact us in the second half, and we are conducting price increases centered around August in the third quarter to mitigate those effects. So that's the market situation and sort of the short-term actions.
Longer term, we continue to build bigger and more champions through our product development efforts, new and upgraded products to grow both the existing champion categories that we have, but also to expand the product portfolio around the champion candidates. The dog transportations, the car seats and the all-terrainer running strollers are continuous investment areas for us.
We're also continuing to push efficiency gains. We are, as Toby mentioned, focusing our R&D spend more in 2026.
We're actually spending more on champions, but less in total. We're continuing to push efficiency gains on the supply chain with continuous in-sourcing and continuous building of technology platforms, which are giving a nice effect also in this quarter in, for example, bike carriers.
And lastly, we are continuing to work to extend and automate our biggest DC in Poland, which is expected to go live early next year and have cash savings of SEK 100 million a year when fully operational. So that is the agenda going forward.
On the next page, you can see the product launches or highlights from the product launches that support this agenda. And the launch calendar this year is really focused on supporting building champions, growing the #1 positions that we have and building out the next-generation champion categories.
Several of these products have been launched now in H1. I'll comment on a few of them in a minute.
But there are also some highlights for the second half. For example, we are rolling out our connected car seats, just started the launch of car seats that now have sensor-based feedback to prevent misuse, which is really exciting for us, and we continue to build out the dog category with harnesses for larger dogs called Thule Dart coming here in the autumn as well.
So continued high pace in the product launches also in 2026. And just to round off to show you a few examples.
We have launched several bike carriers also this year. And in the second quarter, we have continued to launch products also specifically to the North American market.
Thule Vero is our latest premium hitch bike carrier built for heavier bikes, e-bikes, particularly, that has been well received by the U.S. and Canadian market here during spring.
We also continue to innovate and really push the limits to make Thule stand out. And we have upgraded our most premium bike carrier, Thule Epos with parking sensors.
Thule Epos ParkSecure, which is also launched during the second quarter in April and had a really nice start, continuing to build even better products for our consumers. And on top of that, we're continuing to stretch the category also to lower price points and launched Thule VeloLite in the quarter, which is the first ever one bike platform carrier that we have done, really compact bike carrier and accessible for a very healthy price point to be a Thule product.
So a really nice start for Thule VeloLite as well in the quarter. Bike season, sort of high season is bike season in many ways, and we have been pleased to see these bike carriers having positive effect.
We've also continued building up some smaller product categories with car tents being one good example. Thule Widesky is our newest hard shell rooftop tent, really well received, very easy to install and very appreciated also for the ability to turn the bed in the tent into a sofa on the tent with a front row seat to the outdoors as the tagline is called.
That's nice to see. And then, as mentioned before, continuing now the focus going forward on building champion categories also in the candidates.
So we have just launched in a small — started small, and are now expanding our launch here in the third quarter of the connected car seats, which is upgrading our existing car seat family with sensors that provide feedback, light, sound and in the Thule app about the installation, and of course, the whole purpose is to prevent misuse. So really trying to push the safety standards and innovate also in the car seat category going forward.
And that's going to continue to roll out here in Q3 and Q4. And also continuing to build out the dog transportation space with Thule Dart, which is dog harnesses for larger dogs, which are also launched here during the autumn.
So a pretty busy half year ahead of us as well. And we hope, of course, to build on the organic growth and the margin expansion we have seen here in H1 and take that into the second half as well.
So with that, we conclude the presentation part and turn to operator to moderate questions.
Mattias Ankarberg
Operator
Our first question today comes from the line of Fredrik Ivarsson with ABG.
Operator
Fredrik Ivarsson
First, maybe a question on what you said regarding consumers planning vacations closer to home this year. Curious to hear whether you've seen this already.
Have you seen any evidence of this happening?
Fredrik Ivarsson
Mattias Ankarberg
Fredrik, yes, some. I think some good indicators are, for example, campsite bookings are up across Europe, basically from the Nordics to Spain versus the same period last year.
There's also some pretty good data in the U.S. around pre-bookings for national parks and other sort of outdoor recreational spaces that also look positive.
So I guess I would say the booking read, if you like, looks positive. But I guess both the European and the American summer vacations are really centered around August.
So then, we will see the impact coming through the next couple of weeks. But those are some good indications.
Mattias Ankarberg
Fredrik Ivarsson
Perfect. Then you talk about the new technology platform for the carriers or the carrier components, and that you're, I guess, starting to scale those up now.
First, do you see any meaningful impact on margins from this already? Or is that too early?
And maybe also if you see similar opportunities within other product areas?
Fredrik Ivarsson
Mattias Ankarberg
I think the answer generally is yes. So exactly to your point, we have been focused for a while on building what we call technology platforms, which is basically a nice word to say that we're harmonizing components and some of the technology that goes into the products.
Bike carriers has been a real focus for us because it's big, and we have a pretty big portfolio. So we have really been able to actually see some improvements kick in this Q2 in the gross margin.
It's not the biggest part of the gross margin improvement. To Toby's comment, the mix part is bigger, but supply chain efficiencies clearly help.
And yes, we have more work to do on the bike carriers. We're quite far already on roof racks and rooftop boxes, but we are continuing to work also in other categories around the all-terrain running strollers, around the bike trailers, around some of the car tents actually that are quite complex products, although it's small in sales for us.
So more to do and bike carriers, it's coming through and more to do in other categories as well.
Mattias Ankarberg
Fredrik Ivarsson
Good. And then regarding Belgium, closing an office there.
I believe you have a development facility in Belgium related to RV. Is that what you're closing down now?
Fredrik Ivarsson
Toby Lawton
Fredrik, it's nothing related to RV. That's maybe good to mention.
It's an office we had related to primarily the Bags business. There are concerns around 10 people and closing that office in Belgium related to the bags business.
Toby Lawton
Mattias Ankarberg
And you are right, Fredrik, we do have a development center and some other functions as well, actually for the RV business based in Belgium, but that's another site, which is not impacted by this decision.
Mattias Ankarberg
Operator
Our next question comes from Adela Dashian with Jefferies.
Operator
Adela Dashian
Firstly, on North America, continue to see negative organic growth territory. Would be good to try to understand what the trend has looked like throughout the quarter?
And also, if we can get any sort of update on current trading.
Adela Dashian
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes, I can start. Thank you.
It's for your — we agree. We'd love to move out of negative territory of minus 2% in the quarter, minus 1% for the first half year and get into positive.
So we're not where we want to be there for sure. I guess, on the positive side and adding some color, there are some good green shoots in North America.
We have seen a really nice development on Thule.com, which is actually a substantial part of sales in North America now, growing really nicely well into double digit in the second quarter. And actually — and having said that, the majority of our sales in North America is wholesale, so with retail partners.
And actually, we do see many of our biggest retail customers also increasing sales of Thule product in the second quarter, which is really positive. But on the other hand, though, they have simultaneously reduced the stock levels of Thule products.
So we are not seeing that coming through in orders to us, if you like. So in a way, it's a positive sign that it's a clear sort of improvement in the consumer demand or the sell-through of Thule products in the U.S.
in this quarter, but it has not yet materialized in a positive organic growth number for us, which we, of course, are looking for. So in the right direction, but not there yet.
Mattias Ankarberg
Adela Dashian
So would it be fair to say that you ended the quarter at a higher level than you entered the quarter?
Adela Dashian
Mattias Ankarberg
In North America, yes, absolutely. As some of these stock levels are now sort of reduced enough that they need to start to put in replenishment orders, the momentum is better in the second quarter for us in North America, yes.
Mattias Ankarberg
Toby Lawton
And maybe, Adela, just worth putting in context — so Adela, just — Toby here. But just — I mean, close to 70% of our revenue is Europe.
So that's obviously the biggest part. So — and it's kind of what moves the needle for us in a much bigger way, of course, is the good organic growth in Europe.
So it's kind of important just to keep it in context.
Toby Lawton
Adela Dashian
Yes, of course. Moving on to margins.
Gross margins, I mean, you were talking about holding it stable. So an improvement of 1 percentage point is a good development, obviously, but what happens now in the second half of the year?
What type of price increases are you planning to offset the raw material inflation? And how — I guess, how are you expecting to manage that development in H2, still a stable to slightly positive development?
Or are you expecting the raw material price increases to completely offset this?
Adela Dashian
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. Thank you.
And this is a question with many layers. I'll start and then Toby can add on.
But first of all, yes, we are really pleased, of course, with the Q2 margin. We are — have been almost positively surprised by some of the new product launches.
And then again, our own channels are outperforming, which is helping in addition to some efficiencies. But for the second half, I think that there are now at least 3 sort of factors into play.
First of all, the raw material prices, particularly aluminum will now start to impact our COGS in Q3 meaningfully. Toby can add some detail, but that will, of course, be a negative factor.
Secondly, we are doing price increases, mainly centered around August and on average, 2.5 percentage points. Varies a lot by geography and product, but 2.5% centered around August 1.
That will help mitigate this. As it is August, it will not have an impact on the full quarter, of course.
So it will help some. And then we should also mention, as Toby did, there are no tariff refunds in the Q2 results, but we do expect that there will be in the Q3 results.
We have received some refunds already now at start of Q3, and we expect USD 5 million in refunds during the Q3, the third quarter. So all in all, those 3 factors should net be positive for us in Q3.
And that, that would sort of support the more longer-term agenda. Of course, we have to improve gross margin through our own actions.
And I don't know if you want to add some detail to that, Toby, before we...
Mattias Ankarberg
Toby Lawton
Yes, maybe. I can add a little bit.
Basically, if we're just looking at the tariffs we are incurring now on an ongoing basis, they are at the — firstly say, they're at a similar level than they were during last year. They've just moved around from one type of tariff to another.
So at the moment, our — if you like the tariffs we have in our cost base is the same and that the prices that we increased last year to offset that are in the results. So that's — those tariffs are there at the same level.
Then we do have a refund for some of the tariffs during last year, but that doesn't mean that the ongoing tariff cost is around the same. So that's one thing to bear in mind.
And then the other, I think, just to reiterate, really, but as Mattias said, we have the price increase of 2.5% from August, which we expect to offset the tariff cost, but that won't — yes, that won't come in fully in quarter 3. So that means it won't fully offset the tariff cost in quarter 3, but then we will get this tariff refund from tariffs paid last year and earlier this year, which will offset that.
Toby Lawton
Adela Dashian
So just trying to understand that.
Adela Dashian
Toby Lawton
Yes. And just to say from quarter 4, the price increase will be in the results.
So we will be offsetting the impact. But it obviously depends on what happens to...
Toby Lawton
Adela Dashian
Right, but you're offsetting the impacts of this.
Adela Dashian
Toby Lawton
Yes. I would just say for quarter 4, sorry.
It depends what happens to raw material costs going forward as well, but that remains to be seen.
Toby Lawton
Adela Dashian
Yes. So that was going to be my question then.
So the price increases are to offset the tariff impact, not the raw material increases?
Adela Dashian
Toby Lawton
No, no, no. You misunderstand.
The price increase is to offset the raw material increase. Apologies, if that was unclear, but the price increase is to offset the raw material increase, and it's the raw material increase that we see as of now.
And that raw material increase we expect in Q3 is largely locked in, in Q3 and sort of — and the price increase will come through from August. So it won't be through for the whole quarter, and it won't offset the full material cost increase for the third quarter.
But on top of that, we will get this tariff refund, which we'll compensate. But obviously, that's a one-off item.
Toby Lawton
Operator
We'll move on to our next question from Daniel Schmidt with Danske Bank.
Operator
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias and Toby, just to come back to the latest topic, and I think you cleared it out quite well, Toby, but with the $5 million refund that you get, will that be sort of leaving the gross margin, you think, at the same level? Or could that still maybe be a positive on a year-over-year basis?
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
So I think — then I'll start. And then, it's complicated.
So let us try to be clear. We expect that the raw material price increases — the raw material increases will be offset by price increases when they're fully kicked in, in Q4 unless raw materials change, of course.
Not fully in Q3 because of the timing impact, but then with the $5 million of expected tariff refunds, we expect that, that will actually more than offset the negative impact in Q3. So net positive from those 3 factors in Q3.
Mattias Ankarberg
Daniel Schmidt
Good. And if you look into — it's hard, of course, but given the sort of progress that you've done on the tech platform and of course, channel mix and product mix will stay — will be a big part of it also going forward.
But with that all else equal, looking into Q4 then and assuming that aluminum prices stay the same or raw materials stay the same. And you made these price increases that fully cover that.
Would you think that the underlying trend in what you're doing on the tech platform side could still have a positive effect also for the last quarter of this year?
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
I'll say this. I think that the underlying trend should improve several quarters going forward because we have more work to do, and that gives effect.
And then having said that, we had really nice effects also in the second half last year and the mix always plays in. And some of that mix is seasonal.
Some of that mix is because we launched a certain type of products, and now we've also lately sold quite well of premium and a little bit less well of others that has a slightly positive effect on the mix too. So really frank, I wouldn't mind any more of everything, and then, that would maybe mix it percentage-wise down a bit.
But we should, over time, back to your question, get more positive impact from the work we are doing on supply chain improvements, technology platforms included.
Mattias Ankarberg
Daniel Schmidt
Okay. Good.
And on the U.S. situation, where you're very happy with your own D2C and growing well into the double digits, as you mentioned.
And then you have good progress in sell-through on your sort of core retailers, it sounded like. And then I guess, a lot worse on other retailers.
Why do you think that is? Is there a stock-out situation in the U.S.
market on your products and people are turning to your web page to get your stuff? Or how does it sort of — what's your thinking?
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. No, maybe I'll slightly adjust your comment there, Daniel.
Maybe we weren't super clear. So what we're seeing is good progress, very nice on the DTC.
Good growth in our major retail partners sell-through, actually good or okay sell-through elsewhere as well. I mean, in most places, at least, all material places, I would say, but destocking from the retailers.
So several consumers are reduced — not several consumers. Several key retailers have reduced their stock of Thule products during the second quarter.
So they sell, but they don't reorder yet, which means we are not accounting for sales in our numbers, if you like. I hope that was more clear.
Mattias Ankarberg
Daniel Schmidt
But yes, I think I got you, but maybe I'm getting it wrong anyway, but just thinking that they are getting to a stock-out situation given that their sell-through is good, and they are not reordering. And is that in turn, basically turning the U.S.
consumer towards your DTC business?
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
Okay. Got it.
No, it could be a little bit for sure. But I don't think there's necessarily a stock out.
I think retailers these days are focused on improving their inventory management. And I think they are maybe having — some of them have easy goals, but — easy open targets.
But I think they're really focused on trying to operate with less, which is a part of what we see in the second quarter.
Mattias Ankarberg
Daniel Schmidt
Okay. Okay.
Good. And — yes, go ahead.
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
No, no, no. Please go ahead.
Mattias Ankarberg
Daniel Schmidt
Yes. No.
And then just turning to the cost side. And you've seen good progress on SG&A, and it should be down for the full year.
But of course, it sounded already at the end of last year, it's going to be front-end loaded and tilted towards H1, which I guess you're saying now as well. You are making these changes in Belgium, and you don't give any numbers on — it doesn't sound like a lot of people, but total cost could still be something.
Would you share sort of there to give any guidance on savings from that close down?
Daniel Schmidt
Toby Lawton
I can give a bit of guidance. It's around 10 people affected.
So there will be savings, basically, which is — majority of which is the salary and personnel cost of the 10 people going forward, which will come in successively. And the office is now closed from — yes, from the middle of July.
So it's coming in, but it's 10 people. So put it in context, it's not that big.
But we do — I mean, just to reflect on your question, we are focusing very hard on efficiency and cost efficiency and optimizing our SG&A. We started and had some good reductions in the second half of last year, and we've continued that journey in the first half of this year.
It's a long-term journey. So we — as we presented in the Capital Markets Day, we expect to see 2.5% of margin improvement over — yes, 3 to 4 years, the medium term from the actions we are doing and initiated cost actions in — yes, which is both SG&A.
It's also some improvements in distribution costs, which is part of SG&A. It's also some improvement in gross margin due to technology platforms that Mattias is mentioning, but it's kind of real improvements in margin that we're delivering, yes, successively over the medium term.
Toby Lawton
Daniel Schmidt
Yes. And then on top of that, FX has been a burden.
And I assume that looking at FX right now, that burden is probably gone, right?
Daniel Schmidt
Toby Lawton
Correct. Correct.
So that's been — for the last 12 months, that's been a headwind that we've taken on the top line and the bottom line. And now if the FX stays where it is, which no one can say.
But if it does, then the headwind is not there anymore.
Toby Lawton
Operator
Our next question comes from Agnieszka Vilela with Nordea.
Operator
Agnieszka Vilela
Mattias and Toby, so I would like to ask you about the organic growth trajectory. And I understand the fact that consumer demand has been challenging, not least after the Middle East conflict.
But given easier comparisons now in Q3, the price increases that you implement and your product launches, do you see any scope for your organic growth to accelerate from 2.5% in Q2?
Agnieszka Vilela
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. Well, as you know, we don't give a clear guidance.
But as you also know, we have been commenting that we would like — we are focused on driving organic growth, and we expect to see it this year. We're pleased to see it in H1.
And look, to be really honest, on the short-term basis, a quarter, it could go up or go down. We will see what the market has to give us.
But there are some pluses and minuses for Q3 in terms of really bigger ticket items like RVs. We're not selling RVs, we sell product to RVs, of course, are slowing down, whereas vacations in the summerhouse or closer to your sort of permanent home is typically benefiting Thule.
So that could help. So I guess, could it accelerate?
Yes, it could. Could we have more negative impact?
Yes, we could, too. So it's exciting times in July and the start of August is the very sort of biggest part of the quarter.
And I guess we could comment and say that the quarter has started fairly much in line with how the second quarter sort of performed. So that's the trajectory as we speak.
Mattias Ankarberg
Agnieszka Vilela
And then maybe a question to Toby and coming back to the tariffs. If you could be helping us, and if you'd be willing to quantify the gross tariff costs that you incurred in the quarter?
And how much of this cost you've been compensated for? And also on the refunds, do you expect it to kind of keep it internally?
Or do you expect that you will need to share some of that refunds with your customers, for example?
Agnieszka Vilela
Toby Lawton
Let me try to answer, and then, I guess, but basically, the — I mean, just to put in — we've paid tariffs for a long, long time. They just went up last year.
So it's not a case of completely new thing. So the tariffs went up last year.
And we are paying about the same level of tariffs now as we were in the second half of last year, and we have increased our prices to compensate for that. So the net impact of that is already compensated for in the result in Q2.
Then separate to that, completely separate to that, there is a tariff refund because some of the tariffs last year are being — that we paid last year are being refunded. And that is SEK 50 million or around $5 million or around SEK 50 million that we expect to get back in Q3, and we've received a good chunk of that also already in July.
So that will come back in Q3 and will positively impact the result in Q3.
Toby Lawton
Operator
The next question is from Andreas Lundberg with SEB.
Operator
Andreas Lundberg
Can you hear me?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes, sir.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Great. Can I start with the sales growth in the second quarter?
How much was coming from price and mix?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
So Andreas, we increased prices typically on an annual basis. So did with this year, 1st of Jan, around 1%, 1.5%.
Mix has been positive. We've been selling well of the higher price points and of the new products.
And on top of that, you have a channel mix effect, which I would like to point out, which is we're doing well on DTC. So there are quite a few positive sort of price mix effects here that, of course, means that volumes are not growing as much.
And then, just to add to that, as you probably are aware, we built the company around a handful of these categories that we call champions, and the development is quite different if you walk into the different champions. So it's not like — yes, there are different sort of dynamics in each part of the business in terms of volume and mix and price that we can get into.
But that's the overall comment.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Okay. Cool.
And you did some price hikes in North America a year ago, right, or in Q2? Was that in the late part of the quarter or early part in the quarter?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes, June 1, 2025. Correct.
Yes, that's a good point. That also, of course, impacts most of Q2 this year.
Mattias Ankarberg
Toby Lawton
But it's — again, it's only North America. So it's around 20% of the business that's impacted.
Toby Lawton
Mattias Ankarberg
Two or three months.
Mattias Ankarberg
Toby Lawton
Yes.
Toby Lawton
Mattias Ankarberg
But that's true.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
That's right. But on organic growth in general, I mean, you seem to be relatively pleased with champions, but you had a group growth of 2.5%.
You also highlight very good growth for some newer categories, dog transport, et cetera, to some extent, RV is still growing faster than the group. Can you comment on the development on the remaining part of the portfolio?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. And I think — I mean, obviously, the product area that we report for, as you are aware, that is growing the slowest is the Sport&Cargo Carriers, which is just up 1%, and that's more than — still more than 50% of sales in Q2.
And there, we really have different geographic developments or different development by geography, where Europe is developing very nicely and North America is not. So that's really the sort of softer spot, if you like, in terms of Sport&Cargo Carriers in North America.
With the comments we just had about North America, we can go into more detail on that, but that's what holding it back.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Is it broad? Or is it on specific categories, or isolated categories that is doing bad or good?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
In North America, you mean? Or...
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Yes, yes.
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. It's a general tough market and general sort of drag, if you like, across the different product categories.
That's one observation. The other observation — I mean, for us, but the other observation is that actually the sell-through of these products in this quarter is positive.
So I mean, if you look across racks, bike carriers, et cetera, for sure, where we launch new products, it helps. DTC is outperforming, but also actually in this quarter, at least to me, that is a positive indication that the big retailers are selling more of our products to consumers.
It's just that they haven't replenished as much.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
All right. Do you know how your products are doing both in Europe and North America relative to market growth?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Say it again, Andreas. I missed you there a bit.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Do you know how you're doing versus the market in North America and in Europe?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes, we are — we have sort of partnership or category captain agreements with big retailers. So we see sellout data of the category and our product.
And then we, of course, do our own market research. And for some categories, there is third-party market research, mainly in the U.S.
And we are in North America, taking share across the product categories that we're in. Now, having said that, part of this champion strategy is to be clear number one.
So we are a really big part of the market already in these categories. So there is not a whole lot of share to take it.
It's driving and building out those categories, which is the game, which we have done very nicely in the past, and that's been Thule's success story. And of course, that's just easier to do in a market where consumers are not sort of less and less happy quarter-on-quarter.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Speaking of North America, you touched upon it a little bit, perhaps, but you wrote that you were happy with the progress of changes you have taken. What specific factors give you confidence that the business is progressing well?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
Well, I think the actions — if you look at the actions we have taken, there's a bit some of the cost side, we can put that aside and some to simplify sort of the organizational structure. But we have launched more North America-specific products.
I mean there's a few bike carriers we mentioned this quarter. We've sort of reopened the focus on pickup trucks, which first product for — in many years, coming here in the beginning — or in December.
So there is a bigger growth focus on categories where we think we have a big right to win. So those are really pleasing.
And I guess, some of the evidence that we think we are seeing is what we just talked about that the consumers are buying more of these products this spring than they did last spring. Sales value is up.
It's just that it hasn't come into our books yet because the replenishment orders are not in. And I think retailers are clever.
The big retailers are good. They are trimming their business and they should, and they are reducing inventory.
But of course, at some point, there is new orders coming for Thule as well.
Mattias Ankarberg
Andreas Lundberg
Cool. And lastly, maybe nitty-gritty here.
But the closure in Belgium, it seems that you close facilities here and there. Are there any more offices or other facilities that you consider to close or can close?
Andreas Lundberg
Mattias Ankarberg
No, thanks. No, I mean, we have — I mean, we're not an enormous company, but we are present in 138 countries.
And of course, we have smaller offices around the world. As of now, there is no plans to close anything else.
Having said that, we, of course, look at all the ways we can to try to trim our efficiency, both to be more lean and focused as an organization, but also to trim costs. So we will continue to evaluate new opportunities to get more efficient, but nothing is planned as of now.
Mattias Ankarberg
Operator
Our next question comes from Hai Huynh with UBS.
Operator
Hai Huynh
It's Hai from UBS. My first one is on the RV end market.
So you've mentioned the lower registrations you've seen during Q2. What is the normal kind of lag you see from the weakness in registrations into own equipment and aftermarket sales?
And should this weakness cause RV growth to slow further in half 2? Because you're saying eventually, inventory levels would need to be restocked.
But with this weakness in trend, does that actually delay the stocking up from wholesalers?
Hai Huynh
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. We'll try to comment on that.
There is a lag and exactly how much depends on a number of factors, not the least of the seasonality. Right now, we are in high season still in RV.
And if I could simplify what I would predict will or would guess would happen in Q3 is that the dealers that have sold less vehicles don't need to order as many Thule products to install for new vehicles. So that business will be softer.
But the OEs, which we also sell to, will continue to produce vehicles of the new year's program and keep factories sort of utilized as at a reasonable level. Obviously, not — they haven't been running at full capacity for a while, but I think that will not be so much impacted by a couple of months of lower registration numbers.
So I think it will, over a quarter or 2 impact the restocking of Thule products.
Mattias Ankarberg
Hai Huynh
Got it. Now in terms of the capital allocation.
So your leverage is back down below 2, so 1.9, and you're expecting it to decline further in Q3. So how do you think about using the excess cash now?
Is there a possibility of considering excess return to shareholders outside of the ordinary dividends? Or do you have any M&A targets or uses of cash you need above that?
Hai Huynh
Toby Lawton
It's Toby here. I can just say, yes, so we've delevered in the quarter down to 1.9x debt-to-EBITDA, which we're happy to see, and Thule generates good cash flow and gives very good cash drop-through from EBITDA and operating profit down to cash flow, and we expect a good effect also in Q3, as I mentioned, because we have good cash flow, but we also don't pay a dividend in Q3.
And so firstly, it's good cash flow. Secondly, we do pay — yes, 3/4 of our net profit as a dividend every year.
So Thule has, yes, a good level of dividend, which is — we fund through operating cash performance, and that drives good capital allocation because the remainder then really need to be disciplined on investing to drive growth. But we're — you can say we're comfortable with the kind of leverage we have.
It's at the kind of same level we've had through a lot of history, and we expect to see a bit more deleveraging in Q3.
Toby Lawton
Hai Huynh
And my last question is on some of the champion candidates. So on Active with Kids & Dogs, it moved from 11% growth in Q1 to about 8% in Q2, even though the commentary is multisport and bike trailers turned more positive.
So does that imply there's some moderation, more material moderation for the champion candidates? And what's the Q2 growth contribution from these 3 champion candidates?
Hai Huynh
Mattias Ankarberg
Well spotted. And the difference between — see if I can make this clear in English.
The difference between the growth pace in Q1 and Q2 is one of mix effect due to seasonality within the Active with Kids & Dogs. So bike trailers is a really strong Q2 season.
So although it turned a bit positive, it is not growing at all as fast as the champion candidates, which is mathematically making this quarter's number to be 8%. And I'm sorry, I lost — I can't remember I got — if that was all of it.
Please repeat your question, if not.
Mattias Ankarberg
Hai Huynh
Yes, that's clear. I was just saying the dynamic is a slower growth in Q2 sequentially versus Q1, even though bike trailers is positive.
So I was trying to break down...
Hai Huynh
Mattias Ankarberg
Due to mix and seasonality, but you can probably say that in Q1, more than all the growth come from the candidates and about all the growth almost is coming from the candidates in Q2 as well as the trailer business really turned during the quarter. So that's — yes, that's about the level.
Mattias Ankarberg
Operator
The next question is from Mats Liss with Kepler Cheuvreux.
Operator
Mats Liss
A couple of questions from me as well. First, well, coming back to RV segment there.
I mean, well, historically, a slowdown in OE sales have sort of — well, helped you to some extent on the aftermarket side since dealers like to, well, make the sale easier by implementing some of your products extra there. Do you expect that to compensate somewhat from lower registration numbers going forward?
Mats Liss
Toby Lawton
Mats, Toby here. I mean, I think, if you look historically, I mean, when the dealers are selling out from stock, that sometimes has helped the aftermarket side.
But I think we've had a strong aftermarket performance also for a number of quarters. So it's hard to say how that's going to play out to be quite honest.
Yes, it's — I mean, the lower level of registrations is being compensated by OEs adjusting their production levels as well. So keeping the kind of stock levels in the dealer network under control, I would say, this time.
Toby Lawton
Mats Liss
Okay. And then about the price increase there.
I mean, you talk about August 1 is — why it seems a bit late since costs have increased? But is the date sort of — or the timing affected by the inventory reductions at the dealer network sort of?
Mats Liss
Mattias Ankarberg
It's a good question, Mats. And I should say, most is August 1, there is variation.
It's not just RV. It's across the product portfolio, different extents.
But I think the main reason for it to be centered on August 1, not earlier is to really give our retail partners a clear view for how to operate the high season. We give them notice in good time.
And July is the big month for high season for a lot of retailers. So now they have good visibility and can plan ahead to manage their inventory and their sort of purchase orders from Thule in a very controlled manner.
Mattias Ankarberg
Mats Liss
Okay. Great.
And just finally about — I mean, you seem to think about launching a lot of products with sensors and maybe connected products. And are you sort of being — well, creating the market there?
Or are there sort of opportunities to make bolt-on acquisitions and maybe speed up this changeover? I mean, it seems good to have a sensor on the back of the bike carrier there and I mean, keeping the child safe in the stroller, well, a lot of things, safety and so on.
Could you say something about that?
Mats Liss
Mattias Ankarberg
Absolutely. No, but you're absolutely right.
We are really trying to push sort of the level or the limit, if you like, forward or upward. And electronics and sensors is becoming one important part of that.
And exactly to your point, both for bike carriers and for car seats this year. So we, of course, do development on our own with our development team that we're really proud about.
We work with some suppliers. And we've also done the occasional add-on acquisition where we think it makes sense.
Curli was a good example, although it's more on the broadening of the product portfolio now in the quarter. So if the right opportunity were to present itself, that could also be an option.
But we can also work with partners. And it's one way for sure to add safety features to some of the products that we are selling.
And that's an agenda that's going to continue, to your point.
Mattias Ankarberg
Operator
We have a follow-up from Fredrik Ivarsson with ABG.
Operator
Fredrik Ivarsson
One housekeeping question from me as well. You mentioned the positive mix impact from Quad Lock growing slightly below 10%, and Quad Lock is obviously high margin, especially in Q2.
And I wonder how did the margin in Quad Lock progress in the quarter? Is it up, down or flat versus Q2 last year?
Fredrik Ivarsson
Toby Lawton
Fredrik. Yes, so Quad Lock's margin is high, but it's flat versus last year.
So the impact is that Quad Lock is growing faster than the average. So it's impacting the mix positively.
Toby Lawton
Operator
And our final question is a follow-up from Daniel Schmidt with Danske Bank.
Operator
Daniel Schmidt
Just also another question on Quad Lock. You had a hiccup in Q3 last year relating to the year before when it comes to a major retailer being onboarded in Q3 '24, you didn't have that same — that was a non-repeat in Q3 last year.
Do you see any of those kind of events happening now in the second half of this year?
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes, you're right, Daniel. And it was really a very good memory.
It was really related to a 2024 retailer introduction that gave some good pipeline fill and took the percentage growth a bit down in Q3 last year. But no, we don't have any of those events on our radar screen.
It's nice to see that the Quad Lock business is developing well. And yes, both, of course, with new products, but also wider distribution and some support from some Thule friends open up a few doors as well.
So it's more to come. But no, to answer your question, no hiccups on the radar screen as we commented on last year.
Mattias Ankarberg
Daniel Schmidt
So given the trend that you've seen now since you bought it and if that continues, we should have some support from that also in Q3 with — on the gross margin, which we didn't have really in — to the same extent maybe in Q3 last year?
Daniel Schmidt
Mattias Ankarberg
Yes. Maybe I need to get my math here right, but the percentage point, the growth was a little bit lower in percentage, but that's really related to a 2024 load-in really on retailers.
So — yes, but overall, to your point, Quad Lock continues to grow well at higher gross margin and mind you, higher S&A costs, which pushed that a little bit higher. But overall, good margins.
That, of course, is supportive exactly to your point.
Mattias Ankarberg
Operator
Thank you. We have no further questions in the queue.
So I'll pass back over to Mattias for any closing comments.
Operator
Mattias Ankarberg
Thank you very much, everybody, for joining the call. Wish you a great day, great summer when you get to it and look forward to speaking to you again, if not before, at the Q3 conference call.
Thank you.