The CEO comments:
"It is pleasing to note that Inwido began 2016 with stability even if we know that we have greater potential. The seasonally weakest quarter of the year turned out well, with operating profit of SEK 37 million, which is a substantial improvement compared with the same period the year before. After a strong end to 2015, the first quarter has been irregular and a few business areas are reporting somewhat worse results than the year before. Sales, adjusted for currency effects and structure, showed a decrease of 1 percent due to lower order bookings in the industry segments at the end of the fourth quarter last year, as well as a temporary reduction in sales power in Finland in connection with the structural change implemented there. In addition, there were fewer working days due to the early Easter.

The improvement in earnings is primarily due to the continued positive sales development in our consumer business. The positive trend from last year continued in the first quarter of 2016. Looking at our individual markets, it is the consumer segments in Sweden that are doing the best, while the order bookings in the industry segments mainly in Denmark, but also in Sweden have had a negative trend. However, this is something we expected as a result of our strategy. During the quarter, we noted greater volatility and we are counting on seeing continued market-based and geographical fluctuations during the year.

It is with pleasure that we were able to announce the agreements entered into regarding two important acquisitions in recent months, Outrup in Denmark and Värmelux in Finland. These acquisitions fit well in Inwido’s strategy. In both cases, we are awaiting the approval of the competition authorities. They are two excellent, profitable companies with skilful management that are strong in sales channels and markets that we focus on. At the same time as the important work on acquisitions to grow structurally, we are also consistently looking at establishing new sales channels, improving our IT structure and introducing new products and concepts, which require investments that can affect the results somewhat in the short term. In parallel with this, we are continuing to work actively to become more efficient and flexible. With this initiative, we can further improve our growth – and long-term profitability.

External developments, both political and financial, remain uncertain with many risks that could affect our business. Uncertainty on the housing policy in many countries with regard to the right to make deductions, subsidies and taxation also affects future investment and renovation decisions. At the same time, it is important to affirm that there remains continued strong underlying demand for both renovations and new housing in Europe. This in turn means that there is an underlying demand for our products and services.

For Inwido, it is important to follow our plan with a predominance of sales in consumer-driven channels, to continuously review our structure to find potential additional efficiency enhancements and to work with both organic and acquisition-based growth."  

MALMÖ, 25 APRIL 2016

Håkan Jeppsson
President and CEO

Read the full report in the pdf attached