Relais Group Oyj - Interim report (Q1 and Q3)

Relais Group Plc Interim Review January-March 2024 (unaudited): continued strong and profitable growth

Relais Group Plc
Stock Exchange Release 8 May 2024, 9:00 a.m. EEST

This release is a summary of Relais Group's Interim Review January-March 2024.
The full report is attached to this release and is available on our website at
https://relais.fi/en/investors/.

JANUARY-MARCH 2024 IN BRIEF

  · Net sales totalled EUR 82.8 million (January-March 2023: 69.0), change +20%
  · Comparable EBITA was EUR 9.7 (7.6) million, change +27%
  · Comparable EBITA margin was 11.7 (11.0) %
  · Earnings per share, basic was EUR 0.21 (0.16)
  · Net cash flow from operations was EUR 4.6 (11.0) million
  · At comparable EUR/SEK exchange rates, EBITA would have been approximately
EUR 0.0 (0.4) million higher than reported *)

*) The EUR/SEK impact has been calculated by converting the SEK denominated
EBITA of the Swedish entities to EUR with the reporting period average EUR/SEK
rate as well as the comparison period average EUR/SEK rate and comparing these
two (translation difference).

2024 OUTLOOK AND LONG-TERM FINANCIAL TARGET

Relais Group does not provide a numeric guidance for the financial year 2024.
The company has a long-term financial target, according to which it aims to
reach a proforma EBITA of EUR 50 million by the end of the year 2025.

KEY FIGURES

(EUR 1,000 unless  1-3/2024  1-3/2023  Change       12  Change  1-12/2023
stated otherwise)                               months
                                               rolling
Net sales            82,756    68,950    +20%  298,058     +5%    284,252
Gross profit         38,192    32,087    +19%  135,029     +5%    128,923
Gross margin          46.2%     46.5%            45.3%              45.4%
Comparable EBITA      9,686     7,619    +27%   30,918     +7%     28,851
Comparable EBITA      11.7%     11.0%            10.4%              10.1%
margin
Operating profit      8,962     6,641    +35%   27,467     +9%     25,147
Profit for the        3,884     2,938    +32%   14,685     +7%     13,739
period
Earnings per           0.21      0.16    +32%     0.81     +7%       0.76
share, basic
Cash flow from        4,637    10,975    -58%   24,260    -21%     30,621
operations
Net working          68,757    59,411    +16%   76,413    +14%     67,068
capital
Net working             4.4       4.4      0%      4.8     +1%        4.7
capital
turnover
Interest-bearing    144,586   143,292     +1%  152,304     +1%    151,010
net debt
Net Debt to            3.15      3.69    -15%     2.92    -16%       3.47
EBITDA, LTM
Equity ratio          34.5%     32.9%            35.1%              33.6%
Return on equity      14.0%     11.2%            12.6%              12.8%
Return on capital     16.7%     11.2%            11.3%              10.0%
employed

The change percentages in the tables have been calculated on exact figures
before the amounts were rounded to millions of euros.


CEO ARNI EKHOLM COMMENTS THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2024

Strong and profitable growth continued
“The first quarter of 2024 was characterized by strong growth of both net sales
and EBITA. Net sales of the Group grew by 20%. Organic growth was 12%. EBITA
grew 28% compared with last year. The growth was supported by the exceptionally
cold weather prevalent in Northern Europe in January-February, and the effect of
acquisitions carried out during 2023.

The sales growth was especially strong in our Technical Wholesale and Products
business, which grew by 28%. Organic growth was 16% and the rest of the growth
came from the acquired companies Adita, AutoMateriell and Nordic Lift. The cold
weather contributed to a steep increase in sales of especially electrical spare
parts and equipment, which are sensitive to very low temperatures. The sales
growth was strong both in Finland and in the Scandinavian market and the gross
profit percentage remained on a stable level.

Looking at the product group level, sales of spare parts grew 27%. Cold weather
boosted sales of especially starter batteries. The equipment product group grew
by 83% which is largely coming from the acquired workshop equipment businesses.
In addition, the sales of some winter related equipment, such as battery
chargers were positively affected by the cold weather. Sales of vehicle lighting
products remained on last year's levels.

The Group's Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance business also developed
positively despite three less working days in March compared to last year. Sales
growth was 5%, and gross profit levels were stable compared to last year. The
demand for our services continued to grow as especially bigger fleet customers
are looking for cost efficiencies in their operations. The resource situation at
our workshops remained stable and there were no critical shortages in manpower.

We continued to scan the market for good acquisition opportunities. There are
several interesting targets having a good strategic fit with us within the
Nordic marketplace. We are on a regular basis contacting various business owners
in order to have a healthy M&A pipeline for the coming months and years. After
the review period we completed our latest acquisition, in which we acquired
Asennustyö M Ahlqvist Oy in Finland. This acquisition is strategically important
to our Group company Raskone, as it increases the weight of the commercial
vehicle trailer repair business in Raskone's service portfolio.

Even if the market demand for our products and services are on a stable level,
there are still some macroeconomic factors which may potentially affect the
markets negatively during the coming quarters. The overall economic development
in Finland is poor and there are also some signs of increasing unemployment. The
interest rate levels also seem to remain on current levels longer than expected,
which has a negative effect on the purchase power of customers and especially
consumers. However, the Scandinavian markets seem to suffer less from these
macroeconomic trends, and also in Finland we are well positioned to serve our
customers in the best possible way despite the market conditions. We feel that
we have a good possibility to continue implementing our strategy during 2024.

Finally, I want to thank all our over 1,000 professionals for their dedication
and hard work during the first quarter of this year. I also want to thank our
customers, shareholders, and business partners for their continued support.”


EVENTS AFTER THE REVIEW PERIOD

  · Resolutions of the Annual General Meeting
  · Extension to Relais Group Plc's senior term and multicurrency revolving
facilities agreement
  · Acquisition of all shares in Asennustyö M Ahlqvist Oy
  · Juri Viitaniemi appointed Director Compliance, Legal and HR


FINANCIAL CALENDAR FOR 2024

The interim reports and the half-year financial report for 2024 will be issued
as follows: January-June on Thursday, 15 August 2024 and January-September on
Thursday, 7 November 2024.

INVITATION TO THE WEBCAST

Relais Group's CEO Arni Ekholm and CFO Thomas Ekström will present the result to
the media, investors and analysts at a webcast on 8 May 2024, at 10:00 a.m.
EEST. The webcast can be followed at https://relais.videosync.fi/q1-2024.

Presentation material and video will be available on the company's website at
https://relais.fi/en/
after the event.

Relais Group Plc

Board of Directors

Further information:

Arni Ekholm, CEO
Phone: +358 40 760 3323
E-mail: arni.ekholm@relais.fi

Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key Media
www.relais.fi

Relais Group

Relais Group is a leading consolidator and acquisition platform on the vehicle
aftermarket in the Nordic and Baltic countries. We have a sector focus in
vehicle life cycle enhancement and related services. We also serve as a growth
platform for the companies we own.

We are a profitable company seeking strong growth. We carry out targeted
acquisitions in line with our growth strategy and want to be an active player in
the consolidation of the aftermarket in our area of operation. Our acquisitions
are targeted at companies having a good strategic fit with our group companies.

Our net sales in 2023 was EUR 284.3 (2022: 260.7) million. During 2023, we
completed a total of four acquisitions. We employ approximately 1,000
professionals in six different countries. The Relais Group share is listed on
the Main Market of Nasdaq Helsinki with the stock symbol RELAIS.

www.relais.fi

Attachments:

Relais Group Plc Interim Review January-March 2024.pdf