Kappahl Q1 sales improve by 2.4 percent

Kappahl said that its net sales for the first quarter amounted to 1,194 million Swedish krona (132 million dollars), an increase of 2.4 percent. The company said, this is explained by the negative 1.8 percent effect of changes in comparable store sales, 1.6 percent impact of new and closed stores, and currency translation differences totalling 2.6 percent.

“After the close of the first quarter of the financial year we see that Kappahl performed better than the industry in all sales markets. Sales increased by 2.4 per cent compared with the previous year, but the slowing consumption meant a continued high tempo of costly sales activities,” said Peter Andersson, the company’s Acting Chief Executive Officer as well as Chief Financial Officer.

Highlights of Kappahl’s first quarter performance

Gross profit for the quarter was 756 million Swedish krona (83.5 million dollars) compared to 753 million Swedish krona (83 million dollars), which corresponds to a gross margin of 63.3 percent compared to 64.6 percent. The operating profit was 52 million Swedish krona (5.7 million dollars) compared to 90 million Swedish krona (9.9 million dollars), equivalent to an operating margin of 4.4 percent compared to 7.8 percent.

Parent company net sales for the quarter were 4 million Swedish krona compared to 6 million Swedish krona and pre-tax profit was negative 3 million Swedish krona compared to negative 13 million Swedish krona.

At the close of the period the total number of stores was 382, of which 28 were Newbie Stores. Of the total number of stores the company operated 181 in Sweden, 102 in Norway, 63 in Finland, 29 in Poland and seven in the United Kingdom. During the quarter 12 stores were opened, nine converted and one was closed.

Picture credit:Kappahl