Fourth quarter 2022 in summary
· Doro‘s net sales amounted to SEK 265.4 million (311.2), a decrease with 14.7 percent.
· Gross margin ended up at 34.2 percent (38.9).
· EBITDA amounted to SEK 32.2 (66.0), a decrease of 51.2 percent.
· Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 20.2 million (50.5), corresponding to an operating margin of 7.6 percent (16.2).
· Profit after tax for the period was SEK 16.0 million (29.7) and earnings per share was SEK 0.66 (1.23).
· Free cashflow was SEK 32.5 million (27.3).

January – December 2022 in summary
· Doro’s net sales amounted to SEK 909.5 million (1039.6), a decrease of 12.5 percent.
· Gross margin ended up at 34.9 percent (36.5).
· EBITDA amounted to SEK 100.4 million (184.2), a decrease of 45.5 percent.
· Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to SEK 55.4 million (118.7), corresponding to an operating margin of 6.1 percent (11.4).
· Profit after tax was SEK 40.9 million (83.1) and earnings per share was SEK 1.68 (3.46).
· Free cashflow was SEK 35.1 million (‑49.2).

The board’s proposal to the 2023 annual general meeting is that no dividend be paid for the 2022 financial year.

Message from the CEO

A challenging quarter but Doro sustains the pressure and launches new category
The prevailing economic uncertainty continued during the fourth quarter of 2022. Consumers continued to hold onto their wallets tightly as purchasing power remained weak and they adopted a cautious wait-and-see behaviour, postponing upgrades or even putting off new device purchases altogether.
The pattern was reflected in Doro’s fourth quarter where demand from our end customers dropped considerably compared to the previous year. Not even the traditional end-of-year shopping milestones Black Friday and Christmas presented any major uplift. In addition, the earlier post-pandemic inventory shortages, turned into surpluses as retail and distribution customers deemed their inventories larger than required and spent most of the second half of the year consolidating and emptying their warehouses without repurchasing.
As a result, Doro net sales declined by -14.7% compared to the same quarter last year, and particularly Nordic had a tough quarter. However, the picture was not uniform across the group as other regions experienced strong demand during the last quarter largely from retail  customers.
Gross margin during the fourth quarter was lower than last year, mainly due to the strong USD which negatively impacted production costs. In addition, a weakening USD during the quarter this also caused a hedging loss in the period.
As in the previous quarter, the positive development from decreasing royalty costs continued and we will pursue this also in the quarters to come. Likewise, our sustained product quality continued to secure low warranty costs. Furthermore, the international transport situation stabilized during the latter part of the year with freight rates in general, and sea rates in particular, trending toward more normal levels.
In summary, our operating profit for the fourth quarter declined compared to the previous year, mainly as a result of lower sales and the previously mentioned currency challenges. However, it is also worth mentioning that Q4 2021 was a transition period after the spinoff of Careium with Doro at a below-normal level of operating expenses.
In the face of several challenges, we are satisfied to report positive operating profit and positive free cash flow.
 
Building for the Future
Doro’s regional market shares were largely unchanged during the year with Doro products listed at all the major operators, wholesalers and retailers in our target markets. Additionally, our new smartphone, launched a few months ago outside the Nordics, also took off in the French market during the fourth quarter, and our e-commerce showed satisfactory performance after a few slower quarters. Perhaps more importantly, we delivered our first new products outside the phone family: the Doro Watch and the Doro Tablet.
The Doro Watch can be connected to any smartphone of any brand, but works optimally when connected to Doro’s own smartphones, with, among other things, the Response by Doro alarm function. With that in mind, we also developed various bundle propositions to emphasize the benefits of connected devices. The Doro Tablet was delayed but supplied to the market before the end of the quarter and offers just about everything seniors love about Doro smartphones, but in a larger format and with a bright, high-contrast display with excellent speakers and clear sound.
In addition, we worked diligently with new generations of phones while also pursuing our strategy of innovation and developing a complete Doro ecosystem. Within feature phones, the technological shift from 2G and 3G to 4G networks accelerated during the quarter and Doro is well-positioned in the 4G market with the launch of a new generation of “back-to-basics” 4G models.
We look forward to the future and to an improved economic environment now when we can showcase our exciting journey towards expanding our strong senior offering. Our ambitions for 2023 are high and we expect to benefit from low customer inventories, a more stable supply chain and lower costs for freight and royalties. As a result we can focus even more on developing, launching, and selling exciting products that help seniors live better lives.

Webcast
A video conference call will be held on Thursday, 16 February at 9.00 am (CEST) when President and CEO Jörgen Nilsson and CFO Isabelle Sengès will present the report. The videoconference is accessed at Quarterly report meeting (doro.com). The presentation material is available on Doro’s financial website Presentations (doro.com).