Interim report January – June 2021

During the quarter we saw a gradual ease of restrictions in all markets and on April 12 we could finally reopen our retail stores in the UK. That meant that all our stores and manufacturing facilities across the Group were in full operation again after more than a year of hampered conditions.

Spending more time at home in the kitchen, coupled with a strong home refurbishment trend, has clearly impacted the market conditions favourably. We continue to have strong demand in the Nordics which resulted in organic growth of 13% (11% compared to 2019) and Central Europe of 29% (9% compared to 2019). The growth was predominantly driven by strong retail sales whilst project sales were flat in the Nordics and slightly growing in the Netherlands.

In the UK we are rebuilding the retail order book after having been closed during the very important Winter Sales in the first quarter. Organic growth in the region was 97% versus last year, however that corresponds to a decline of 15% compared to 2019. We expect retail sales to normalize in Q3, assuming no further lockdowns, whilst we anticipate it will take longer for the social housing segment and London property market to recuperate. On a positive note the growth in Magnet trade continues to perform well. We will continue to invest to strengthen the trade proposition further.

The global surge in demand for material has resulted in higher direct material cost also in our industry. As a consequence, we have adjusted our pricing already during the quarter, and anticipate further increases during the second half of the year.

As we are heading towards a new normal, we are really excited about the future. We have a strong underlying market, and the eased restrictions allow us to operate more efficiently to cater for the demand. We are also pushing on with several initiatives from our Tomorrow Together strategy. Initiatives such as trade growth in the UK, process harmonization and the K2020 aligned assortment are already starting to pay off. In June we partnered up with the construction company Wästbygg for the building of our state-of-the-art kitchen factory in Jönköping, which is progressing according to plan. Sustainability aspects are vital in designing the new factory and we continue to drive towards our Science Based Targets which were approved in December last year. We are also in the starting block of launching new beautiful kitchen designs. Exciting indeed!
 

President and CEO
Jon Sintorn

This disclosure contains information that Nobia AB is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014) and the Swedish Securities Markets Act (2007:528). The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person, on 19-07-2021 12:00 CET.