In the fourth quarter, Elektroimportøren delivered revenue of NOK 495 million,
representing a 1.4 per cent decrease from NOK 502 million last year. Gross
margins for B2C in Norway held up well during the quarter, but overall margin
levels were negatively impacted by tougher campaign pricing and a higher share
of sales from Sweden and from the B2B segment. The softer market experienced in
2023 has continued into 2024, but in a longer perspective, market fundamentals
remain strong.
"Our core business in Norway has shown great resilience towards the more
challenging market conditions. All of our 27 stores in Norway contributed
positively to our bottom line, which shows us that our concept stands strong
both with consumers and professional customers, even in times where most
customers are more cautious with their spending," says Andreas Niss, CEO of
Elektroimportøren AS. 
On a like-for-like basis, revenues declined by 4.1 per cent from last year. B2C
sales decreased by 5.5 per cent, while B2B sales increased by 3.5 per cent,
primarily driven by solar products. The group had a good execution of black week
campaigns, but growth slowed down towards the end of the quarter, both in Norway
and in Sweden. 
On a category level, the sale of EV chargers continued to decline
year-over-year, but the negative impact has lessened compared with prior
periods. Excluding EV chargers, revenue was NOK 461 million in the quarter, up
from NOK 455 million last year. Orders for solar is partly compensating for the
EV charger decline, but a significant share of solar orders will not be
delivered and invoiced until beginning of the second quarter of 2024.
Gross margin in the fourth quarter was 32.8 per cent, down from 37.3 per cent
last year. The gross profit was impacted by inventory counting and provisions of
NOK 7 million (NOK 5 million in Norway and NOK 2 million in Sweden). Adjusted
for these effects, gross margin was 34.2 per cent for the group. Gross margin in
Elbutik is significantly lower than for the Norwegian operation with 16.1 per
cent.
In Norway, the gross margin was 34.4 per cent (Q4 2022: 38.2 per cent). The
margin in Norway was impacted by the increase in B2B sales with lower margin
compared to B2C sales (1.0 per cent) and exchange rate effects on Namron
products (1.5 per cent). Adjusted for the effects above, gross margin in Norway
was 37.9 per cent.  
The company has a strong focus on managing costs and maintained a stable opex to
sales ratio of 23.6 per cent (Q4 2022: 23.5 per cent). Further personnel cost
reductions in Norway were implemented in November with effect from January 2024.
Reported EBITDA in the quarter was NOK 46 million, down from NOK 70 million last
year. This represented an EBITDA margin of 9.2 per cent, down from 13.9 per cent
last year. 
In December, the Swedish head office and warehouse were moved to new facilities,
with Autostore implemented and now handling 80 per cent of orders. 
"The new logistics facilities in Sweden, further development of SpotOn and an
expanded product range are examples of initiatives to position the group for a
future market recovery. Elektroimportøren maintains a rigid cost control and
balance sheet focus and remains committed to being the preferred supplier for
both consumers and professional customers also when market conditions improve,"
says Andreas Niss, CEO of Elektroimportøren AS.
Market conditions have remained challenging also in the beginning of 2024, with
low consumer spending and reduced demand in general. The weak demand environment
is expected to sustain for the coming months, with both new housing projects and
real estate transactions at the lowest level in 25 years in Norway. On the
positive side, number of store visits is increasing slightly from last year, and
Elektroimportøren's concept has proven attractive when consumers look for cost
efficient ways to upgrade their homes. 
EV charger sales are expected to stay behind last year sales figures throughout
Q1 2024, but moving forward, sales are expected to follow a more normal
trajectory. At year-end 2023, stock levels of EV chargers are normalised, and
the risk of bad stock related to Easee is no longer present. 
In a longer-term perspective, market fundamentals remain strong, and structural
trends such as digitalisation, increasing energy prices, actions against climate
change and new EU regulations for energy efficiency are expected to support
demand growth moving forward. 
Elektroimportøren announced in January 2024 that, as a consequence of the
prevailing market conditions and outlook, the group has initiated a dialogue
with DNB in order to obtain waivers from existing covenants or, alternatively,
to refinance existing facilities as the current financing and loan agreement is
due end of March 2025. 
Please refer to a separate stock exchange announcement issued on Newsweb today
for updated information about the contemplated private placement and refinancing
process.  

PRESENTATION:
The quarterly report and presentation are available at:
https://www.elektroimportoren.no/investor and http://newsweb.no 
The results will be presented tomorrow 15 February at 09:00 CET by CEO Andreas
Niss and CFO Jørgen Wist. The presentation will be broadcasted as a live webcast
in English. 
Please use the following link:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZmZkMTIwZTItMzlkYy00MDBkL
Tk5MGYtNTM0OWU0YzI0MjQy%40thread.v2/0?context=%7B%22Tid%22%3A%224cbfea0a-b872-47
f0-b51c-1c64953c3f0b%22%2C%22Oid%22%3A%22e6df3138-b416-457f-b6c1-5f3ce7a36ee7%22
%2C%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3Atrue%2C%22role%22%3A%22a%22%7D&btype=a&role=a

For more information, please contact: 
Andreas Niss, CEO: +47 934 67 067 
Jørgen Wist, CFO: +47 959 34 619.