Kamux Corporation's Financial Statements Bulletin for January 1--December 31, 2022: In a challenging market environment, Kamux's revenue decreased and adjusted operating profit decreased significantly

HAMEENLINNA, Finland, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- This is a summary of Kamux Corporation's Financial Statements Bulletin for January 1—December 31, 2022. The complete report is attached to this release and is also available at the company website at kamux.com

The figures in parentheses refer to the comparison period, i.e., the same period in the previous year, unless stated otherwise.

October—December in brief

• Revenue decreased by -8.7%, totaling EUR 222.9 million (244.1)
• Gross profit decreased by -25.9% to EUR 21.2 million (28.6), or 9.5% (11.7) of revenue
• Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) decreased by -76.6% to EUR 2.1 million (9.0), or 0.9% (3.7) of revenue
• Operating profit (EBIT) decreased by -82.7% to EUR 1.6 million (9.4), or 0.7% (3.9) of revenue
• The number of cars sold decreased by -12.2% to 14,681 cars (16,728)
• Like-for-like showroom revenue decline was -10.9% (16.0)
• Basic and diluted earnings per share were EUR 0.00 (0.18)

January—December in brief

• Revenue increased by 3.3%, totaling EUR 968.7 million (937.4)
• Gross profit decreased by -7.1% to EUR 94.1 million (101.3), or 9.7% (10.8) of revenue
• Adjusted operating profit (EBIT) decreased by -44.4% to EUR 17.5 million (31.4), or 1.8% (3.3) of revenue
• Operating profit (EBIT) decreased by -39.0% to EUR 17.0 million (28.0), or 1.8% (3.0) of revenue
• The number of cars sold decreased by -8.0% to 62,922 cars (68,429)
• Like-for-like showroom revenue growth was 0.6% (19.1)
• Basic and diluted earnings per share were EUR 0.27 (0.49)
• The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of EUR 0.15 per share to be distributed for the year 2022 (for the year 2021 a dividend of EUR 0.20 per share was distributed). The proposed dividend is 55% of the earnings per share for the financial year.

Key figures

CEO Juha Kalliokoski:

The challenging market environment continued in the last quarter of 2022. At the end of the year, consumer confidence in Finland was at its lowest level in thirty years, and large purchases were considered even more carefully. This was reflected in sluggish demand for used cars and a contraction of the market in all of our operating countries. For the first time in Kamux's history, the Group's revenue decreased compared to the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Despite the weakened sales, we maintained our market share in all operating countries during the quarter, and on an annual basis we succeeded in increasing our revenue.

Positive developments in the quarter included the continued good sales of integrated services in all operating countries and the favorable development of gross margin in Germany. We were also successful in managing the capital tied up in inventory, and our equity ratio is good.

In addition to weak unit sales, operating profit was negatively impacted by a significantly lower car margin than we expected. In Finland, we continued the work started in the second quarter to adjust the inventory to better match the demand. Sluggish demand and abundant supply of especially electric and other more expensive cars led to a decrease in sales prices, which was reflected in the resulting car margin. In Sweden, operating profit was also negatively impacted by the costs related to opening new stores. In Germany, the car margin developed positively. With the generally weakened demand, the availability of used cars improved substantially during the second half of the year and the purchasing market normalized.

Despite strong fluctuations in demand, the electrification of motoring continued in 2022 and in Finland and in Sweden the majority of new car registrations are already plug-in hybrids or EV's. The majority of sold used cars are still combustion engine cars, but an increasing number of used cars are plug-in hybrids or electric cars. The number of hybrid and electric cars we sold at Kamux increased by 6% compared to the last quarter of 2021 and 21% compared to the year 2021.

Despite the challenging market situation, we continued to invest in growth systematically in accordance with our strategy and opened the Nyköping and Kalmar stores in Sweden at the beginning of October. We also worked actively to build our showroom network in Germany and on February 10, 2023, we announced the opening of a new showroom in Düren, southwest of Cologne, in April. We also continued the systematic development of our online services. Our focus during this particularly challenging quarter was on the basics – buying and selling cars, and inventory management. I would like to thank all Kamux employees in Finland, Sweden and Germany for their contribution in this exceptionally challenging market situation.

Outlook for 2023

In 2023, Kamux expects its adjusted operating profit to grow from the year 2022, when the adjusted operating profit was EUR 17.5 million.

Financial targets for 2021—2023

The Company's medium-term financial targets are to increase revenue by over 20% annually, to increase adjusted operating profit annually, and to reach an adjusted operating profit margin of over 3.5% and a return on equity (ROE) of over 25%. Additionally, the Company's target is to distribute dividends of at least 25% of net profits. The Board of Directors of the Company estimates annually the balance between dividends to be distributed and funds to be used for Kamux's growth, and based on this assessment, makes a proposal on the amount of dividend to be distributed, which may for any single year differ significantly from the target level set in the dividend policy.

Kamux will update its strategy and financial targets at the beginning of 2024.

Significant events after the reporting period

On January 13, 2023, Kamux Corporation received a notification pursuant to Chapter 9, Section 5 of the Securities Markets Act ("SMA"), according to which the total holding of funds (Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktie and Finnish Fund) managed by Danske Bank A/S (Copenhagen, Denmark) in Kamux Corporation shares and votes has increased above five (5) percent on January 12, 2023 and was 5.05% following the notification.

Publication schedule for financial reporting in 2023

Publication schedule for Kamux Corporation's financial reporting in 2023 is as follows:

• Interim Report for January—March 2023    May 12, 2023
• Half-Year Report for January—June 2023    August 11, 2023
• Interim Report for January—September 2023  November 10, 2023

The Annual Report for 2022 including Financial Statements will be published on the week commencing on March 27, 2023.

The Annual General Meeting of Kamux Corporation is scheduled to be held on April 20, 2023.

News conference

News conference for investors, analysts and media will be held today, Friday, March 3, 2023, at Sanomatalo, Flik Studio Eliel, 1^st floor, Töölönlahdenkatu 2, Helsinki at 11:00 EET in English, and at 12:00 noon EET in Finnish. CEO Juha Kalliokoski and CFO Marko Lehtonen will present the Financial Statements.

The conference can be followed as a live webcast at https://kamux.videosync.fi/2022-q4-results (in English at 11.00 EET) and https://kamux.videosync.fi/2022-q4-tulos (in Finnish at 12.00 EET).

Participation by conference call:

You can access the teleconference by registering on the link below. After the registration you will be provided phone numbers and a conference ID to access the conference. https://palvelu.flik.fi/teleconference/?id=10010320

The conference in English will start at 11.00 EET and in Finnish at 12.00 noon EET. If you wish to ask a question, please dial *5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue.

For further information, please contact:

CEO Juha Kalliokoski, tel. +358 40 185 8633 
CFO Marko Lehtonen, tel. +358 50 575 2006
Head of Communications & IR Katariina Hietaranta, tel. +358 50 557 6765
Kamux Corporation Communications

Kamux is a retail chain specializing in the sale of used cars and related integrated services that has grown rapidly. Kamux combines online shopping with an extensive showroom network to provide its customers with a great service experience anytime, anywhere. In addition to digital channels, the company has a total of 78 car showrooms in Finland, Sweden and Germany. Since its founding, the company has sold over 450,000 used cars, 62,922 of which were sold in 2022. Kamux's revenue in 2022 was EUR 968.7 million and its average number of employees was 883 in terms of full-time equivalent employees. Kamux Corporation is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. For more information, please visit www.kamux.com

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