Everyone, welcome to the Q2 results presentation for Arcus. My name is Sigmund Toth. I am the CFO and Interim Group CEO of Arcus. For this presentation, I am joined by Michael Holm Johansen, the Chairman of the Board, and by Kristoffer Løfterød Nes, the Head of Business Controlling and Treasury. As usual, throughout this presentation, in addition to sharing our results, we'll be showing you some of our great products. The front page is no exception, it 's showing Three Generations, which is one of our new brands of new world wines. It's available at Vinmonopolet in several variants. We started with a very successful launch of our Shiraz Cabernet bag-in-box last year. It's been followed up with tender wines of both the premium Shiraz in a lightweight bottle and a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand in a can. So far, it's been a tremendous success. The Three Generations BIB has sold over 300,000 L so far in 2021. We hope to continue building on that brand going forward. We're going to have the next slide, please. The next slide is showing the overall results for Arcus in Q2, and I'm happy to report that this has been the best second quarter in Arcus history. We have delivered organic growth of 3.5% driven by spirits, but also driven by wine and by logistics. All of the units have delivered growth. In addition to that, the bottom line results are even stronger than a very strong base, because we should have in mind that already last year, most of the COVID-19 effects, which have impacted us positively, were already in the base. The EBITDA adjusted improvement is coming on top of already very strong results from last year, delivering, from a financial point of view, the best Q2 in the Arcus history. Building a bit on that, on good financial results and high value, the picture that you see in the bottom right corner is the most expensive aquavit ever. It's a product called Opland Juvel, most exclusive one with only 30 numbered bottles produced. On June 17th, actually, the Opland Juvel bottle number one was the first aquavit, I think, to be ever auctioned at Christie's. The winning bid for bottle number one then ended at GBP 2,205, coming from an anonymous bidder in Singapore. I think someone very happy there is either enjoying or keeping for future enjoyment our beautiful bottle of aquavit. With that, we can go to the next slide to have a bit of a look at the organic growth. We see that overall for the company, we deliver organic growth of 3.5%, with 2.5% in wine, which is still a good result. We have to remember that especially wine was very, very positively impacted last year by a corona effect. Versus that's a very good result. Spirits as we'll come back to very good growth in external sales organic of 5.6%, and logistics, which is our Norwegian business, going under the external name Vectura, still seeing growth thanks to the high volumes in Norway generally. For the product in the bottom right corner, this is a very interesting line of ready-mixed cocktails that we have in bag-in-box, and this is one example, which is called Viking Fjord Cocktails Irish Coffee. That's actually a future launch coming at Vinmonopolet and Systembolaget in September. You can serve it heated for all the cool evenings throughout the fall. It's a classic Irish coffee with flavors of whiskey, brown sugar, and coffee. We are very excited to see how that will do. With that, we can go to the next slide, which is about the wine segment. Here the headline is organic growth, as I mentioned, but maybe even more so this quarter, strong margins. Overall, the picture there is, of course, that we still have the strong corona effects, although they were in the base last year as well. This year, the price increases that we took to compensate for currency hits last year, we have the full effect of them for the quarter this year. In addition to that, the currency has since turned in a more favorable direction for us, resulting in very strong margins. If we look at it a bit country by country, Sweden is seeing strong revenue growth despite slightly lower volumes overall at Systembolaget. Norway, the revenues are a little bit down versus the extremely high levels last year. Whereas in Finland, they are somewhat lower again due to the very high base effect. I think interesting to add here is what we see in the market in general, last year was all about stocking up buying bag-in-boxes to make sure that you had wine even if there were future shutdowns in the monopolies. Now those didn't happen. The borders were shut, but the monopolies were not. This year, what we see in terms of consumer trends is that people are moving a bit up the value chain. They are buying more expensive wines in bottles. There's an increase in the value in the market versus the last year. The volumes are still very high, but obviously, not the sort of increase we saw with the Corona last year. One of the wines that's really driving or contributing to our sales figures, especially actually right after the end of this quarter in July, but has been strong all this year, is the Wongraven Riesling, Morgenstern Riesling, which you see in the bottom right-hand corner. Actually, it was the most sold wine in Vinmonopolet in July, beating out our perennial top seller, Falling Feather. It's one of many. We have now a broad portfolio of SKUs from different origins under the Wongraven brand, and I think that this is going from strength to strength, and we're looking to build further on that. Already in Norway, it reached the top with the white wine during a very warm July. With that, if we move to the next slide and spirits. There were strong growth in external sales, mainly driven by Norway and Sweden. Here the market has continued to perform very strongly in spite of the fact that there were seasonal effects with more of the Easter volume coming in Q1 than last year. Very strong results there. In Denmark, lower revenues because of the seasonal sale of aquavit in Denmark shifted then to Q1 this year. Here, I'm happy to report, and we mentioned these pre-mixed cocktails earlier. They are doing extremely well in Denmark. Same with the Skagerrak Gin. These new SKUs, now that we have a broader product portfolio in Denmark, it's not all aquavit and bitter anymore. This is contributing then, and we can see that also in this quarter, to bridging the gap that was created by the seasonal shift of aquavit to volumes to Q1. Duty free and HORECA, the sales are still somewhat limited due to the travel restrictions, limited offer at restaurants. This is something which is also changing quite rapidly, and I can tell you that our sales people were as active as is possible due to corona restrictions. We are doing everything that we can do to have a strong startup again. That with the staycations this summer was already well underway, but not so much in the Q2 figures yet. No page without product. Keeping with the summer theme here, this is the Løiten Sommer Aquavit. 50-cL PET, where we've replaced the metallic screw cap also with the plastic capsule. By the end of August, format converting it then to 100% plastic capsule. This is a transition process that's going on, basically taking the PET over to a design that's adapted for recycling also in the monopoly markets. By year's end, we expect actually 80% of all such SKUs to have made the transition to being designed to facilitate recycling. That's something very important in the further ESG work. With that, if we can go to the next slide which is about logistics. Logistics segment, it's basically a bit the same story which has been the last few quarters. It's an exceptionally high volume that has to be handled by Vectura, and that comes at a high cost. As throughout the Corona period, as you know, we've been operating with very high volumes. There is also sometimes more order volume. People order specific products that need to be picked. All of this means that the volumes, there's very hard work and overtime, night shifts, etc, involved in delivering the volumes of Vectura. That means that basically, as we operated well above design capacity, more maintenance and repairs, the results are actually down somewhat from NOK 4.9 million to NOK 0.4 million for the quarter. Very good. I leave you then with the product. We have several wines then in the Arne & Carlos line. For those not from Norway, these are two gentlemen who are specialists in knitting. You can see that theme on the bag-in-box, with the very popular Hygge vin that has now attained actually a fixed listing in Vinmonopolet from September. The same wine is also available in a lightweight bottle and with a seasonal Christmas label that's highly appreciated by the consumers. With that, I hand the word over to Kristoffer, who will go through the financials before he will hand over to Michael for some very exciting news. Over to you, Kristoffer. Yes, thank you very much, Sigmund. I'll take a closer look on the financial performance during this quarter. If you move to the next slide. We start off, as we used to take a closer look at the revenue growth. As Sigmund already mentioned, we had an organic growth again, and this quarter, with positive contribution across all business areas. This quarter, it was partly offset by some negative currency effects with the stronger Norwegian kroner versus SEK, EUR, and Danish kroner when these revenues are translated to NOK. We will come back to these currency effects. On the structural changes, we do not have any adjustments this quarter as they are all included also in the comparables. This leaves us with an increase in reported revenues of 0.7% this quarter. Next slide, please. Take a closer look at the group P&L. Sigmund already talked us through the increased revenues and adjusted EBITDA, and mostly explained by an increased gross margin in wine with the increased profitability for the group. Take a closer look at the rest of the P&L. This quarter, it's mainly three items to address. First of all, you will see an increase in the depreciation, amortization, and write-offs. This is due to a write-down of assets held for sale related to the Anora merger. The next item is the other income and expenses. It is the same as described in the earlier quarters. These costs are related to the ongoing merger work and is essentially various transactions and other non-recurring costs. The third item to address here is the net financials, which now are NOK -24.8 and NOK 15.8 last year. This is explained by updated valuations of options related to non-controlling interests in the wine companies. That concludes the P&L. If you move to the next slide, we take a closer look on the currency effects. As you can see and mentioned on the revenues, the stronger NOK versus SEK and euros give negative effects when these revenues are translated to NOK. The same effect you can also see on the right-hand side with the estimated full year effect of this current situation. On the other hand, this situation with the stronger SEK and NOK versus euros have a net positive effect on EBITDA, as most of the wine are sourced in euros. We also can see, it's not just showed here, but also the same effect from US dollars. Next slide, please. If you go to the cash flow. We have a cash flow lower than last year, but this is actually mainly explained by a net working capital reduction last year. This year we had an increase, which is more normal for the season. The significant decrease last year was due to a very large increase in sales, which increased accounts payables, alcohol tax, and VAT. We did not have the corresponding increase in receivables because Vinmonopolet, as we mentioned last year, temporarily, until end of June last year, reduced their own credit terms due to the COVID-19. That explains the significant change. The cash flow this year is also reduced by the non-recurring costs. It's included under other, but as mentioned, this is related to the merger with Altia. If we go to the next slide, we take a look on the gearing, and it's still well below our requirements and our target. The lower cash flow in the period and earlier payment of dividend this year compared to last year reduced the cash position significantly, resulting in higher net debt compared to last year at the end of the quarter. The effect of this increased net interest-bearing debt was larger than the positive effect of improved rolling 12 months adjusted EBITDA. Well, this concludes this look on financial performance. With that, I pass it on to you, Michael, for some more information on the merger. Thank you very much, Kristoffer. I am joining you this morning obviously in a very positive mood based on the very strong trading of Arcus that was outlined by Sigmund and Kristoffer. I'm equally excited to announce that we are now ready to complete the merger with Altia, forming the company Anora. The merger will be completed by the 1st of September, which means the new stock of Anora will be trading on the Nasdaq in Helsinki. You may also recall that the Arcus share will continue to trade until the end of the year on the Oslo Stock Exchange. We have divested successfully a portfolio of brands. The purchaser is Galatea, which is a company within the Martin & Servera group. This divestment has allowed all regulatory approvals to be in place, and that is the legal foundation for completion of the merger. At the same time, the teams in both Altia and Arcus have diligently worked on internal planning for the merger, and that has progressed well, enabling us to move forward quickly post the closing on the 1st of September. We can also share with you some exciting news about the executive management team. If I could have the next slide, please. You may recall at the time of the announcement of the merger, we also announced the CEO, Pekka Tennilä, as well as Sigmund, that you have enjoyed the company of today. Pekka will be appointed into the role of CEO of Altia, and Sigmund will be the CFO of Anora. Pekka and Sigmund will be joined by an excellent team of individuals with very strong skills and capabilities that can enable the growth ambitions of Anora. We have not yet made final decisions on Anora's future operating model, but we have an excellent starting point to build upon. I would like to make a couple of points regarding the appointment of the executive management team. Janne Halttunen will lead the planning of the merger of our wine business. He joined Altia in 2009 and has since led Altia's wine business in separate roles. Before joining Altia, he had an international career in beverages and tobacco. Jan will be based in Stockholm. Joining him will be Henrik Bødiker Thomsen, who will be leading the planning of the merger in our spirits business in the monopoly markets. Right now, Henrik is leading the Arcus Spirits category and has a long career in the international beverage business with Carlsberg. Henrik will be based in Copenhagen. Kirsi Puntila will lead the planning of the integration of our open markets. We will call that international for now. Before she joined Altia in 2014, she worked for several years with Pernod Ricard on global premium brands. With Altia, she has been leading the building of Altia's core spirit brands and innovation across all markets. Kirsi Lehtola will lead the planning of the merger on human resources side. She has been working with Altia since 2016. Before Altia, she has gained strong HR expertise from the global paper and pulp business. Finally, concluding the appointments will be Hannu Tuominen, who will lead the planning and integration of our industrial business and supply chain. He has been leading Altia supply chain since 2008. If you are interested in more details, I invite you to join the Altia earnings call later this morning, where Pekka will also add his comments to the appointment of the leadership team. With that, I guess I go back and open up for question and answers. Thank you very much, Michael. The audience is now welcome to ask or forward any questions. We have not received any questions yet, as there might be a small time lag, we'll wait a little bit to see if there are some questions to be asked. Still quiet from the audience. We wait just a little bit to make sure that people will have time enough to write their questions and forward them on the web. Far no questions asked. Okay then I leave the floor to you, Sigmund, to sum up and maybe say thank you for today. Yes. Thank you very much for that, Per. I think that at this point, there is not much else to say other than that we thank you for having followed this earnings call, obviously. We also thank you more than that, for those of you who are investors in Arcus, for having invested in the company and having followed us since our IPO. As the famous saying goes, this is not the end, but this is only the end of the beginning, because now comes a new chapter with the creation of Anora, as announced on September 1st. We hope that you will continue to be investors in the new group and join us for the new ride. Thank you for following us so far as an independent company, and hope to see you as well in the future. Thank you very much.
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