Earnings call transcript: Axos Group sees strong sales growth in Q2 2025

Axos Group, a $6.3 billion market cap consumer staples company, reported a robust performance in its Q2 2025 earnings call, with group net sales increasing by 9% and consolidated net sales driven by key brands like Viluz, Hempshaft, and Snabios. The company achieved an operating profit of 959 million SEK and an adjusted operating margin of 4.2%. Building on its trailing twelve-month revenue of $8.4 billion and 3.3% growth rate, Axos maintained its growth trajectory despite intense market competition, leading to a modest stock price decline of 0.07% in pre-market trading, closing at 286 SEK.

According to InvestingPro analysis, Axos currently trades near its Fair Value, with 8 additional exclusive insights available to subscribers.

Key Takeaways

• Group net sales rose by 9% in Q2 2025.
• Operating profit reached 959 million SEK.
• Axos Group maintained market leadership in several segments.
• The company continued to expand with new store openings and modernization efforts.
• Stock price saw a slight decline of 0.07% pre-market.

Company Performance

Axos Group demonstrated a strong performance in Q2 2025, with a 9% increase in group net sales. This growth was primarily driven by its key brands Viluz, Hempshaft, and Snabios. The company’s strategic focus on store modernization and logistics investments has bolstered its operational efficiency, contributing to a rise in operating profit to 959 million SEK. The Swedish food retail market’s growth of 6.2% in Q2 underscores Axos’s competitive edge.

Financial Highlights

• Revenue: Increased by 9% in Q2 2025.
• Operating profit: 959 million SEK, with an adjusted operating margin of 4.2%.
• Operating cash flow: 39 million SEK, an increase of 213 million SEK compared to last year.

Outlook & Guidance

Axos Group maintained its outlook for the year, focusing on achieving profitability for CityGross by the second half of 2026. The company plans to continue enhancing efficiency and cost management, with a Capital Markets Day scheduled for September 18.

Executive Commentary

CEO Simon Margolis emphasized the company’s commitment to gaining market share and growing customer loyalty. He stated, "We are convinced that this will continue also going forward, considering the increased price awareness among consumers." Margolis also highlighted the strategic transformation of CityGross, noting, "We are building CityGross for the future, so we’re not doing any quick fixes."

Risks and Challenges

• Intense competition across all segments could pressure margins.
• High consumer price sensitivity may impact sales.
• Potential supply chain disruptions could affect operations.
• E-commerce growth requires continuous adaptation and investment.
• Macroeconomic pressures, such as inflation, could influence consumer spending.

Q&A

During the earnings call, analysts inquired about Dargab’s efficiency gains and the company’s investment strategies. The transformation strategy for CityGross and its expected profitability timeline were also discussed, reflecting investor interest in Axos’s long-term growth plans.

Full transcript - Axfood AB (AXFO) Q2 2025:

Conference Moderator: Good morning. So this is the Axford second quarter twenty twenty five telephone conference. And with me today are Simpou Margolis, president and CEO, and Anders Lexvond, CFO. In the investor section of our laxu.com website, you will find the presenters presentation material for today’s call. We encourage you to have that presentation at hand as you listen to our prepared commentary.

After the presentation, we will be taking questions. A recording of this call will be made available on our website. I will now hand over the word to Simon. So please go to page number two.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Thank you, Alex, and good morning, everyone. We summarized a strong second quarter with growth that significantly exceeded the market development. We have a continued momentum in Viluz, Hempshaft and Snabios. And through affordable and attractive offerings, more customers are choosing to do the grocery shopping in our stores. In addition, the investments that we made in automation and logistics in recent years are now contributing to efficiency and competitiveness for the group.

At the same time, strategic initiatives are ongoing to further strengthen our presence and the market positions of our retail chains. Also during the quarter, we made important progress in sustainability, including the inauguration of Sweden’s largest solar park. So let’s turn to Page three and the agenda for today’s presentation. I will start with a brief market overview, and then I will give you a brief review of our second quarter performance and strategic agenda. Following that, Anders will take you through the financials.

And lastly, just a summary from me before we open up for questions. Turning to Page four, but let’s go straight to Page five and take a look at the development during the quarter. In the market, competition remained intense across all segments, and the consumers continue to focus on price, value and affordability. We are convinced that this will continue also going forward, considering the increased price awareness among consumers in general. With our group’s business model, with different concepts in collaboration, in combination with a wide and affordable assortment, we have the right conditions in place to continue to navigate a dynamic market.

The market growth in Sweden Food Retail was 6.2% in the second quarter, and growth was impacted by a positive calendar effect of 1.2% from the timing of Easter. Statistics Sweden reported that annualized rate for food price inflation was 5.4% in the April period. This was somewhat higher than in the first quarter this year. However, on a sequential basis, compared to the level at the end of the first quarter, the price development was relatively stable. Growth in Axos retail sales amounted to almost 23%.

Excluding Cityross, which was acquired in November, growth amounted to 9%. As such, our growth was clearly above the rate of the market, both including and excluding Cityross. And volume growth from increased customer traffic and new store establishments, as well as pricing and positive mix, were all factors contributing to this development. In e commerce, growth amounted to 12% compared to market growth of 8%. Excluding CityGross and the discontinued business Midaslid, our sales grew 6%.

We are now on page six. Consolidated net sales grew strongly in the second quarter by just over 9%, driven by continued momentum in Viluz, Hampshire and Snavios. Sales in SITIgros amounted to more than SEK2 billion. However, on a group net sales basis, the contribution from SITIgros was SEK364 million due to internal eliminations in Darjab. Please go to the next page, page seven.

Group operating profit increased to million, and operating margin was higher at 4.54.1%, sorry. Operating profit included items affecting comparability of minus SEK 25,000,000 related to City gross. Adjusted operating profit, which excludes these items, also increased to SEK $959,000,000, and adjusted operating margin reached 4.2%. The development was primarily a result of increased customer traffic, strong growth and efficiency in logistics. Overall, the profit development in absolute terms was driven by Viles and Darjab.

However, Hempstead and Snabrios also reported increased profits year on year. So the earnings performance was well balanced the quarter across our reporting segments. City Cloth had a negative impact on the gross profit development, however, to less extent than in the first quarter. During the quarter, work to streamline our support functions was completed, entailing the removal of 100 existing positions during the second half of this year. This will lead to cost savings of approximately SEK80 million from next year, 2026, which create conditions for us to continue to invest in price value and the competitiveness of our chains.

We continue to focus on efficiency and cost in internal processes and procurement. With our structure and the investments in operations, we have a solid foundation for operational excellence. Now let’s go through the development segment by segment, starting with Willis on page eight. Willis demonstrated a particularly strong performance in the second quarter, with growth of 10% significantly outpacing the market. Willis holds a unique position in the market and continue to be Sweden’s most recommended grocery chain.

In addition, the brand always come out great in customer service, measuring brand equity. Growth in the second quarter was driven by a positive trend in both customer traffic and loyalty. In total, the number of members in the Vilas Plus loyalty program increased to almost 3,900,000. Earnings grew and amounted to SEK $565,000,000, which corresponded to a stable operating margin year on year of 4.5%. The higher profit was mainly driven by increased volumes and a solid cost control.

Let’s turn to Page nine and Hemp Shop. Hemp Shop also performed strongly in the second quarter with retail sales growth of almost 6%, which was in line with the market, and like for like sales growth of almost 5%. This was primarily driven by increased customer traffic and a higher average ticket value. Total net sales for Hampshire increased 6%. Operating profit increased to SEK97 million.

The operating margin was higher at 4.7%, and it is a clear evidence of Hemp Shop’s positive development in the recent years. The higher profit was mainly driven by increased sales, a stable gross margin and a solid cost control. Turning to Page 10. Citigroup has great potential and gives us presence in the hypermarkets, an attractive segment that Axos previously has not been operating in. This year is a transitional year, and we are working according to our plan to strengthen Citigroup for the future.

We expect to achieve profitability with Citigross at some point in the second half of twenty twenty six. And today, we are reiterating that target once again. We maintain a high activity level by revitalizing the concept and brand, improving the customer offering, implementing a chain management structure and streamlining operations. In late April, a new communication concept and a stronger, more affordable customer offering were launched to contribute to Citigroup’s competitiveness on the market. Also during the quarter, the store in Bromma in Stockholm was closed, ahead of concept change to Willys.

And as a reminder, structure measures like this is to create a healthy core in Citigross that the chain can further grow from. Overall sales growth in the second quarter amounted to 2.6% in total and 3.5% on a like for like basis. The chain reported an operating loss of minus SEK20 million in the quarter. This was mainly due to a negative gross margin development following the recent initiatives to strengthen the price position. Items affecting comparability pertain to structural costs, including closing down the store in Boralenge, also ahead of concept change to Vilis.

The adjusted operating margin was minus 0.9%. Moving on from Citigros, and now we are now on Page 11. Snabgrass continued to deliver strong growth of 6% despite a continued weak cafe and restaurant market. Sales were up almost 5% on a like for like basis. Increased customer traffic had a positive impact on sales, in addition to a higher average ticket value.

Unlike the food retail market, the overall calendar effect related to Easter is deemed to have been negative. Operating profit was higher than in the prior year and amounted to SEK96 million corresponding to a higher operating margin of 6%. The increase in profit was mainly driven by higher sales, a stable gross margin and solid cost control. Next page, page 12 on Darjab. Darjab’s net sales increased by 8% with sales to Vilis, Hemp Chef and Snabrios driving the increase in the quarter.

Operating profit increased to SEK $298,000,000 and operating margin was higher at 1.4%. The performance was primarily due to strong sales growth and lower cost levels due to efficiency improvements in logistics operations. The operating profit was however negatively impacted by a lower gross margin and this was a result of increased market investments to support DAGF’s customers in this highly competitive food retail market. The logistics center in is now fully operational since a couple of months and focusing on optimization to continue to improve productivity and efficiency. As previously communicated, DarGap is also planning for the next steps in the development of the logistics structure to create additional capacity and efficiency in the Southern part of Sweden from the year 02/1930.

And we will come back to this in the months ahead. Moving away from segments, and we are now on page 13. Renewable energy is one of our major focus areas for reducing our climate impact. In April, we officially opened Sweden’s largest solar park in Halstadvirkenokplan, which we established in collaboration with the solar energy company Alight. Our electricity mix has for a long time consisted of almost only Swedish renewable energy.

But with the new solar park, we are adding additional capacity to the electricity grid. This helps to increase the conditions for green transition, while also creating predictability in our own energy supply. The park consists of approximately 100 thousands of solar panels in capacity that enable output of approximately 64 megawatt or 63 gigawatt hours annually, which corresponds to around 15% of our electricity consumption. In addition, we have in recent years established Sweden’s largest rooftop solar power facility at the logistics center in and the large solar power facility on the fruit and vegetable warehouse in Askrona. Also during the quarter, the phasing out of fossil fuels in transport continued through increased use of renewable fuels.

Emissions for our own transports decreased sharply by 20% compared to the previous year. Turning to Page 14. Now it’s time for Anders to take you through the financials. So please go to the next page, number 15. And Anders, please go ahead.

Anders Lexvond, CFO, Axos: Thank you, Simon. During the first half of the year, net sales for the group increased by 6.6% to approximately SEK 44,000,000,000. Including CityGross, retail sales increased by 19.3%. Excluding CityGross, the increase was 5.9, which was higher than the food retail market in total, where growth amounted to 4.1%. Operating profit, excluding items affecting comparability, increased 3.8% to just over SEK 1,700,000,000.0.

The operating margin, excluding items affecting comparability, decreased with 0.1 percentage points to 3.9%, where the Citi gross acquisition impacted the margin with minus 0.3 percentage points. Next, Page number 16. During the second quarter, the cash flow was SEK 39,000,000 and compared with last year SEK $213,000,000 higher, mainly due to a strong underlying cash flow supported by a positive contribution from net working capital and the reversal of the negative calendar effect from the first quarter. We also saw a strong underlying operating cash flow for the first half year. The negative cash flow from investment activities of SEK $475,000,000 in Q2 was somewhat higher compared to last year, we now have a higher pace in investments in our retail operations and a lower pace in automation investments since we now are through with our investments in the fulfillment center in Balstad.

Thanks to the strong operating cash flow, Exod has reduced the utilization of credit facilities during the second quarter. By the end of Q2, Exod utilized approximately SEK 2,500,000,000.0 of our credit facilities compared with SEK3.3 billion by the end of Q1 and SEK2.9 billion at the end of last year. And then please turn to Page number 17. The net debt has increased since the acquisition of Citigos in Q4 last year. In addition to the loans raised for the acquisition, net debt also increased with the Citigos leasehold debt of approximately SEK 2,000,000,000.

During July, Export has successfully refinanced the existing revolving credit facility. The new RCF amounts to SEK 4,000,000,000, where SEK 1,000,000,000 have a tenure of three years and SEK 3,000,000,000 have a tenure of five years. The conditions in the new agreement are, in all essentials, unchanged compared with the old facility. The equity ratio amounted to 18.2%, which was lower than December 2024. The lower equity ratio compared to Q2 last year was a result of the Citigoss acquisition.

The decrease during the first six months was in line with the previous years and is a seasonal effect from dividend paid. Total investments, excluding leasehold and acquisitions for the first six months amounted to SEK844 million. Year to date, we have established six new Groupon stores in comparison to four new Groupon stores during the same period previous year. We have also increased our store modernization somewhat compared to last year. And we are now on Page 18.

When we look at the capital efficiency, we had a negative development in our rolling twelve months net working capital. As I have mentioned before, the impact of the Citigos acquisition is expected to increase the KPI with approximately 0.3 percentage points on a rolling twelve month basis. Capital employed has increased over the last years, mainly due to both the acquisitions of Bairendaz Food and Citigross as well as the investments in Ballstar. The level of capital employed, however, decreased during the first half of twenty twenty five, mainly as a result of the dividend. Due to the decrease in capital employed, the return capital employed increased somewhat to 17% compared to last year.

And thereby, I have come to the end of my presentation, and I hand over to you, Simon, again.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Thank you, Anders. We are now on Page 19, but let’s go straight to Page 20. Our outlook for the year is unchanged. We have covered investments and items affecting comparability already in this presentation. As for expansion, we have established six new group owned stores so far this year, all of them being Willis, and four of them were established in the second quarter.

Please now turn to page 21. We summarize a strong quarter in which we grew significantly more than the market and continue to attract both existing and new customers. We have a positive momentum in Vilnius, Hempstead and Stabios and maintain a high activity level to develop CityJos. In the back end operations, we have become more competitive with our new logistics platform and continue to develop with strategic initiatives in many areas. With the customer meeting in focus, our ambition level is high and we maintain a high pace of development to further strengthen our position.

Just before we go into the Q and A session, and we are now on Page 22, just a reminder that our Capital Markets Day this year will be held on September 18. The event will be held close to our headquarter in Stockholm at Urbandviel in Hagastadam. At this event, we will cover many areas that are important for our group. The managing directors of our retail chains will provide an update of their respective businesses, in addition to the managing director of DAGab and the Head of IT. Myself and Anos will also present and more details about the CMD and the link to registration is available on our website.

That was all for today. So now let’s turn to Page 23. I’ll hand over to the operator to open up the line for questions. Thank

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Gustav Hageous from SEB. Please go ahead.

Gustav Hageous, Analyst, SEB: Thank you. Thank you so much for taking my questions. First one relates to Dogab. You made almost DKK 300,000,000 EBIT adjusted in Dogab in the quarter. It was up from almost DKK $250,000,000 last year.

But if I recall correctly, you had a freeze incident in Bolstad last year, adding DKK 40,000,000 in costs, and you had the double warehousing adding another DKK 30,000,000. So that’s DKK 70,000,000 one offs sort of that I assume you did not have this quarter. So that would mean that dog EBIT is down €20,000,000 roughly or 20 basis points on the margin. And basically, EBIT is in line with Q2 twenty twenty two, right, in terms of absolute EBIT, and that is on a total group top line that is 25% lower, and I assume a lot of those volumes go through Dogger. And so I’m a bit curious how if you could elaborate a bit on this dynamic, given that you’re supposed to have some savings now from the ramp up of the automation investments in Bolstow to SEK 300,000,000.

To what extent did that actually impact in a positive way in the quarter? And what is the reason to this development in terms of earnings for DAGGAP? That would be helpful.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yes, thank you. If we look to DarGab, DarGab has a strong growth due to the growth in our chains, wheelers, hand shops, Naviros. And we also see the productivity gains and efficiency gains in DarGab. However, we have a weaker gross margin, since we’re doing marketing investments to support the customers. And that’s, to elaborate DarGab, we see the efficiency gains coming as we are suspected and how we also have, as communicated before, but we have a weaker gross margin.

But on the other sense, just to look at in a whole, Dogger is performing better than last year, and also we see a strong growth in our chain. So it has been a strategic decision from us to drive the group performance in all and to use our business model in that way.

Gustav Hageous, Analyst, SEB: Yeah. Okay. Thanks. But but curious on that, given that you then give away the efficiency gains to your customers basically from Golub. I and I guess most of those refer to internal ones like Citigoss and and Wheelies.

We saw Wheelies outgrowing the market in q two on like for like, but, margins were flat. So it seems very costly to drive growth in the market, and given that there’s no volume growth in the market, basically. Right? So with that in mind, how convinced are you that it’s the best use of capital to expand warehouse capacity further now given that it’s hard to sort of see, at least from an external perspective, see the returns on the investments in Bolst at this stage?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yes. If you look upon us as a group, we make a stronger result this quarter. And we’re happy since we have a weaker result for a couple of months and to see that we’re now turning to a stronger result as a group. And I think that’s important for us to see how we grow as a whole. For us, it’s really it’s a very competitive market.

And for us, it’s always about gaining market share, volumes, growing loyalty from the customers, and by that going backwards. And in parallel, we’re doing efficiency taking efficiency measures, of course, with investments in Darjab, but also as a group as a whole, we have a focus on costs and efficiencies where the efficiency the work we’ve been doing with the support function is one part of increasing the focus on costs and efficiency. And for us, it’s all about creating the possibility for us to invest in the customer meeting to be really competitive in the market. And I would say since we’re growing outgrowing the market, I think we’re doing it quite successfully.

Gustav Hageous, Analyst, SEB: Okay. Thanks for that. And lastly, just to clarify, those SEK 200 to SEK 300,000,000 savings from Bolstad, to what extent are they prevalent in this quarter? And to what amount will you see a year over year effect in 2026 from those savings that you have guided before?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: No. We as we said in the first quarter, we will start to reach those levels from the second quarter, which we were doing. And then by that said, we will continue to optimize the facility, and that’s a part of our daily operations and also way of doing like everyday improvements to create even more efficiencies. But I would say we have the pace that we said and communicated in the first quarter that we’re supposed to do in the second quarter. But on the other hand, we have weaker, gross margins, and that’s that’s on the negative side

Gustav Hageous, Analyst, SEB: in the August. But

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: as a group as a group, we gain, the result and the profitability that we expected.

Gustav Hageous, Analyst, SEB: Noted. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for taking my questions.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Thank you very much.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Fredrik Iverson from ABG. Please go ahead.

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: Thank you. Good morning, team. I’ve got three questions, taking them one by one. First one on Vilis. You mentioned that the number of store visits were up.

Curious to hear whether you see a lot of new customers showing out the concept? Or is the sort of increase mainly current customers coming back more frequently?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: So for to start with that question, in VLS, we both see increase in members in the loyalty program VLS Plus. We also see an increased frequency on existing customers, and we also see an increase in penetration, which means that we meet new customers. So we see positive effects in both new and existing customers.

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: Okay, good. Thanks. Second one, coming back to Dogab and the efficiency gains. You say you expected 200 to 300,000,000 And it sounds like you’re somewhere there already or in Q2, but it’s a fairly wide range. So curious if you could share your assessment of where you are in terms of those 200 to 300 and what kind of upside you see from here.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yes. So as you said, we were in the lower it’s as you say, it’s it’s a span, and we’re in the lower

Nicholas Eckmann, Analyst, DNB Carnegie: Range.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Range. As I said, we will continue to do trimming the facility and optimizing it to reach the the the higher level.

Gustav Hageous, Analyst, SEB: And Okay, that’s thanks done a

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: Good. And last question also on DAGAP. You said you took some investments to support the the chains. Can you confirm that this is mainly price investments? And also, if you could share whether these investments were spread across all chains or if it’s more related to any specific banners?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: It’s Dogger, but this is is our support company, and they are supporting all our customers and all our brands. And they’re doing it a bit differently, depending on what need they have. But they are supporting all the same. And the and the customers also.

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: And and was it mainly price investments or any other kinds of of, support as you as you call it?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: What what do you mean with other support?

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: No. I’m just curious whether those, investments you made were were mainly, you know, price cuts or price investments or if it was any other?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: It’s mainly to have a competitive conditions for the consumers customers.

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: Okay, good. That’s all my questions.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Thank you very much.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Daniel Schmidt from Danske Bank. Please go ahead.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: Yes. Good morning, Simon and Anders. You gave us some numbers when it came to the Q1 quarter for Citigroup. We have we don’t have the history, but you basically said that you had the same EBIT in Q1 as you had in Q1 last year. And then it’s quite a big improvement quarter over quarter, and I do appreciate that we have the calendar effect and all that.

But could you give us any rough numbers on where you were in Q2 last year on City Growth in terms of losses?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yes. To start with, it’s we have a high activity level in City Girls, and it’s a year of transition. And we’re doing many different improvements in both developing a new store concept, improving or revitalizing the brand. We have decreased the prices during the Q2. So I mean, it’s a wide agenda that we’re working with.

And we see, as you say, a little bit stronger sales, but we should also to be honest with you, as we’ve seen in the report, in hypermarkets, we see clearer and stronger seasonal effects according to Easter and midsummer in hypermarkets than we’ve seen in our other formats. So I I would say it’s too early for us to say that actually that now we’re turning it to something. It’s it’s I mean, we said that we will turn it to profitability in the second half of twenty twenty six, and this year, see your transformation. So, of course, it’s some you can see some positive growth in like for like, which is really we’re really happy to see. But it’s too early to say that we have turned it around.

We will we need it this year, and we will work until the second half of next year to turn it to profitability. So but of course, we have a little bit positive in like for like and also a little bit less loss in the Q2 than Q1. And it’s pretty much in line with last year Q2, a little bit stronger, but from low levels as you can Because

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: it does look like even if you adjust for Easter, and I appreciate that it’s a larger impact on CityGross than for the rest of the group maybe. But if it’s 1.2 as a total effect in terms of Easter, I would assume still that you would have a a positive like for like also adjusted for Easter in CityGross. Is that correct?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yeah. That that’s correct.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: K. And and

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: But but and and also and also sort of. We we did price investments, as you know, from the second quarter, and that has also an effect, of course, both in top line and and and in the gross margin.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: Yeah. Is it fair to say that those price investments are entirely subsidized by DogUp then, given the discussion that we had on DogUp?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: No. No. No. They’re taking in the

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: in the figures.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: I mean, we don’t go into any specific agreements between our different customers. We’re they’re already supporting all the chains. And as you can see, there’s a lower gross margin in city girls, and that’s the result of reduced prices in city girls. So so they’re taking in citadels.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: Okay. And a completely other question then. There’s been sort of back and forth situation with Matam over the past couple of months. What do you expect? And what do you see there in terms of given that you are a bigger supplier to Matam, what impact has that had already in Q2?

What do you see now?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: To start with, I mean, clear questions to Martin is better to ask them. Reconstruction was how’s it going, Chand? Approved. Approved yesterday, and we hope really that they find a way going from that to create a healthy business. But for us, it’s a small impact.

DarGab, as you say, a supplier, it’s less than 1% of DarGab’s sales that we delivered to SmartThem.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: Okay. And was that sort of one and a half percent a year ago? What what has been the impact over the past year, basically?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: No. I I think it’s better if you if you ask questions about Matam to Matam. We have a a big respect for our customers, so we don’t say, how their sales are going.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: K. Okay. Just a final then. You you announced today that you will, sort of, you will generate savings of around 80,000,000 as of 2026 from these staff cuts that you’ve been conducting. Should we expect any sort of severance charges in the coming quarter?

Any guidance on that?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: We we taken that in the in the second quarter. So the cost for the the the and and the employees is taken in the second quarter across all segments, majorly in in so the RB and DarGab.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: Okay. So was that included in the 25,000,000, one of them?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yes. For City Girls in the 25,000,000 and for Dogab and Axo, they’re part of the, result.

Daniel Schmidt, Analyst, Danske Bank: Okay. And is that meaningful numbers or sort of any guidance on that?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: No.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Nicholas Eckmann from DNB Carnegie. Please go ahead.

Nicholas Eckmann, Analyst, DNB Carnegie: Thank you. Yes, most of my questions have been asked already here. But maybe just a follow-up here on Willis and the very strong growth here of over 10%. That’s a marked pickup from the 3% growth we’ve seen in recent quarters. How much of this would you say is just easy comparisons?

And how much is there any notable change in the competitive landscape that you’ve seen compared to what we’ve seen in the past four quarters?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: No, I would say that the landscape is pretty much the same. There’s a high competition and also there’s still a strong price sensitivity by the consumers. So really, it’s a really, really strong performance, as you say, from them both in like for like sales and also with four new stores in the last quarter, that creates also some growth. But the majority, as you say, is from like for like growth.

Nicholas Eckmann, Analyst, DNB Carnegie: Okay. Very clear. And just adding the numbers here, you are outgrowing the market by more than 2.5 percentage points. Ike, we don’t know, but in the first four months, at least, they outgrew the market by almost zero five percentage point, and you guys are 75% of the market. So it seems like the others are losing significantly.

I mean, we talking almost double digit declines in in, or underperformance from Coke, for instance? Or what are you seeing out in in the market?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: I mean, we see the same as you do. So, I mean, the best better to ask the competitors about their figures. We see, as you say, that we’re really outperforming the market and doing really well, and we are primarily so happy to see that there are so many customers that that is doing their grocery shopping in our stores. That creates volumes for us, which means that we can scale on our investments that we made. And together with the increased productivity, it makes a good position for us to grow from.

Nicholas Eckmann, Analyst, DNB Carnegie: Very good. Very good. And also, just coming back here to Citigroup. If we had we had SEK 80,000,000 in loss in Q1, 20,000,000 now in Q2, and both of those seem to be largely in line with what you had last year. Can you give us some guidance on what underlying was in Q3 last year?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: I would say that I mean, last year was 200,000,000 on a rolling 12. Yeah. So that’s and and and last the fourth quarter was 40 for us. That that’s when what what the part that we had in our figures. So then you you calculate backwards.

So November, December, we had 40, and they had 200 approximately on on the rolling twelve months. Yeah. And for us, to be clear, I mean, we we are building city growth for the future, so we’re not doing any, like, quick fixes. We are really aiming to create a really strong hypermarket segment here, and that will take time. So yeah.

Nicholas Eckmann, Analyst, DNB Carnegie: Very clear. Thank you. Thanks so much for taking my questions.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Thank you very much.

Conference Operator: The next question comes from Rob Joyce from BNP Paribas Exane. Please go ahead.

Rob Joyce, Analyst, BNP Paribas Exane: Hi. Thanks very much for taking my questions. First one, just thinking about Willy’s and the operating leverage there as we look into the second half. I guess sort of, let’s say, the half as a whole for the first half, you got 5% like for like, probably a percent of volume growth in there at least, and flattish margins. How do we think about the second half?

Do we think we should see more operating drop through in terms of that margin in the second half or are we thinking broadly flat margins still? Thank you.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: We don’t do any guidance for the future. I mean, for us, it’s really important to keep a good momentum in real estate to continue to attract new customers. And we had really strong performance this quarter and also over time. So so, yeah, there is a competitive market. And as we told before, for us, it’s always about having a really, really strong customer meeting.

And then we by that, we get volumes, and then we have to be really efficient and have focus on costs. And by that, we create a good and healthy result in growth. So for us, it’s difficult to we don’t do the guidance in the for the future.

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: Okay.

Rob Joyce, Analyst, BNP Paribas Exane: Okay. And maybe we can help think about the some of the gross margin investments you’ve made. Will you be able to give us an idea of how the price position sits, particularly versus, I guess, EcoMaxi now? Is anything any change there and why that is absolutely?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Yeah. From competitive reasons, we don’t go into deals about our our price strategies and price, gaps. For us, the business idea for Vilis is to have the cheapest bag of groceries in Sweden, and we will never lose that promise to the customers. But I won’t go into any details about the pricing strategies.

Rob Joyce, Analyst, BNP Paribas Exane: How’s it? Do you think it’s improved now? What was those investments? Are you seeing can you give us a directional sense? Is the pricing improving, or is it kind of holding its own?

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: There’s a there’s still a high competition in the market. And, like, the the gross margin in VLS is is down a little bit, and we’re compensating it with volumes and cost efficiencies. And that’s how we are able to create a stable profitability a growing profitability, but a stable margin in Viluz. But to be to be clear and honest, there’s still a very high competition, and the gross margin is is down a little bit in in Viluz.

Rob Joyce, Analyst, BNP Paribas Exane: Okay. And then thank you. Final one. On the working capital now for the year, so strong performance in the half versus last year. Do we have an idea of what sort of working capital levels we should be expecting in terms of inflow for the year now?

Anders Lexvond, CFO, Axos: No. We believe that we’ll see a quite stable development. And as I mentioned, if you compare to net sales, we have a little dilution according to or due to the CityGross acquisition and that we will see in the Q3 as well.

Fredrik Iverson, Analyst, ABG: Okay. Okay. Thank you.

Simon Margolis, President and CEO, Axos: Thank you very much. So thank you all for joining us today, and I wish you all a really nice summer. And see you back in August or September, I mean. I can see in this. Sorry.

See you in the same day.

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