Earnings call transcript: Nobia lifts margins in Q2 2026 as sales slip

SpaceX selloff an ominous sign as lockup expiry looms Nobia said second-quarter sales edged lower in a weak Nordic kitchen market, but profitability improved sharply as the company widened margins through cost control, a better product mix and lower production costs. Net sales fell 1% to SEK 1.498 billion, while adjusted EBIT rose to SEK 128 million from SEK 88 million a year earlier. The stock was last quoted at $15.71, up 767.96% from the previous close of $1.81, in a move that appeared far larger than the underlying quarterly results alone would suggest. Key Takeaways - Net sales fell 1% year over year to SEK 1.498 billion as demand remained weak across the Nordic kitchen market. - Adjusted gross margin improved 310 basis points to 39.8%, helping offset the softer top line. - Adjusted EBIT rose 45.5% to SEK 128 million, lifting the margin to 8.5% from 5.8%. - Operating cash flow dropped to SEK 129 million from SEK 236 million, mainly because of working-capital timing. - Management said the cost-savings program is on track, with SEK 40 million in run-rate savings already achieved against an SEK 80 million target. Company Performance Nobia’s second quarter showed a familiar split between weak demand and better execution. Sales declined slightly from a year earlier, reflecting a market that remains under pressure in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The company said housing starts are still low and renovation activity remains subdued, especially in the consumer segment. At the same time, the business delivered a clear improvement in profitability. The adjusted gross margin expanded to 39.8%, and adjusted EBIT margin reached 8.5%. That suggests Nobia is making progress on cost control and production efficiency even before a broader market recovery takes hold. The company also pointed to positive signs in some brands, including HTH and Sigdal. Management said trusted brands matter more in a cautious market, where customers are taking longer to make renovation decisions. Financial Highlights - Net sales: SEK 1.498 billion, down 1% year over year from SEK 1.513 billion. - Organic sales growth: down 1%. - Adjusted gross margin: 39.8%, up from 36.7% a year earlier. - Adjusted EBIT: SEK 128 million, up 45.5% from SEK 88 million. - Adjusted EBIT margin: 8.5%, up from 5.8%. - Operating cash flow: SEK 129 million, down 45.3% from SEK 236 million. - SG&A as a share of sales: 25%, up 0.4 percentage point. - Items affecting comparability: SEK 58 million in the quarter. - Nobia Park transition costs: SEK 45 million included in cost of goods sold. - Capex for Nobia Park: SEK 87 million in the quarter, with about SEK 70 million still expected in the second half. Earnings vs. Forecast The provided forecast called for revenue of $1.55 billion and EPS of $0.00, but the company did not report comparable EPS and revenue figures in the same currency terms. On the available data, the quarter cannot be measured as a clean beat or miss against the forecast. What is clear is that Nobia delivered stronger profitability than its sales trend would suggest. Adjusted EBIT rose 45.5% year over year, and the gross margin improvement was substantial. That kind of margin expansion is often more important to investors than a small change in revenue, especially when the market is weak. In that sense, the quarter looked stronger on operations than on growth. Sales were slightly lower, but the company showed it can improve earnings quality even without a demand rebound. Market Reaction The stock’s latest quote of $15.71, up 767.96% from the previous close of $1.81, indicates an extraordinary move. The scale of the jump is far beyond what would normally be expected from a quarterly report showing modest sales decline and better margins. InvestingPro analysis indicates the stock currently trades near its 52-week low of $1.33, with a Fair Value of $1.69, suggesting limited upside from current levels. The company holds a "Fair" financial health score of 1.8 out of 5. Want deeper insights? InvestingPro offers access to over 10 additional exclusive tips, advanced financial metrics, and Fair Value analysis to help investors make more informed decisions. Even so, the direction of the move fits the quarter’s message: investors may be responding to better profitability, cost savings progress and signs that the business is becoming more disciplined. Outlook & Guidance Nobia did not provide formal financial guidance for the coming quarters, but management outlined several priorities for the rest of the year. The company said it is working toward SEK 80 million in annual run-rate savings from a cost program announced in late 2025. It has already reached SEK 40 million in run-rate savings, with SEK 10 million of that generated in the second quarter alone. Management is also focused on Nobia Park, the company’s production hub in Jönköping. The ramp-up has moved more slowly than planned, and the company is reviewing the plan to accelerate progress while keeping deliveries stable. About SEK 70 million in additional investment is still expected in the second half of 2026. Other priorities include refurbishing the Finnish store network and continuing the integration of Finnish stores into the HTH commercial structure. Nobia said it is aiming for a more unified Nordic supply chain and a more disciplined operating model. Executive Commentary CEO Jesper Gylling Olsen said the company has “valuable assets, leading brands, and significant potential,” underscoring management’s belief that the business can improve despite a difficult market. He also said, “Getting Nobia Park to stable, reliable, and efficient output is the single biggest operational lever we have for improving margins, strengthen our competitiveness, and creating long-term value.” That comment points to the central role of manufacturing execution in the company’s turnaround plan. CFO Robert said the company is “tracking and trading very good” on the cost-savings program and noted that run-rate savings already stand at SEK 40 million against the SEK 80 million target. That supports the view that Nobia’s margin gains are not just temporary. Risks and Challenges - Weak Nordic demand: Housing starts and renovation activity remain subdued, limiting sales growth. - Execution at Nobia Park: The slower-than-planned ramp-up could continue to pressure efficiency and customer service. - Cash flow volatility: Operating cash flow fell sharply because of working-capital timing, which can make results uneven. - Liquidity pressure: The company’s current ratio stands at 0.74, and InvestingPro data shows short-term obligations exceed liquid assets, which could constrain financial flexibility. - Profitability concerns: With earnings per share of negative $0.94 over the last twelve months, the company remains unprofitable despite margin improvements. - Higher SG&A ratio: Selling, general and administrative costs rose as a share of sales, which may limit future margin gains. - Supply chain pressure: Management cited Middle East supply chain turbulence as a cost factor. - Customer trust: The company said the customer journey and value chain experience still need improvement. Q&A No analyst questions were submitted during the call. The operator said there were no questions coming through, and the company moved to closing remarks without a formal discussion. That left management’s prepared comments as the main source of detail on the quarter. The absence of Q&A also meant there was no live challenge on the slower sales trend, the Nobia Park ramp-up or the outlook for the Nordic market. Full transcript - Nobia Ab (0GW0) Q2 2026: Conference Call Operator: Good day, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Nobia Q2 Report 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker’s presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one one on your telephone. You will hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jesper Gylling Olsen, Group CEO. Please go ahead. Jesper Gylling Olsen, Group CEO, Nobia: Good morning, welcome. Since stepping into the CEO role 6 weeks ago, I am still new in this position, but I’m not new to Nobia. Through my years with HTH, I have firsthand seen the strength of our brands, the dedication of our people, and the opportunities that emerge when we work together with focus and urgency. Over the past weeks, I’ve spent time across the business listening, learning, and engaging with colleagues, customers, and partners. My conviction is stronger than ever. Nobia has valuable assets, leading brands, and significant potential. Today, I will share my initial observations, our Q2 performance, and how we are progressing on the priorities that will strengthen Nobia and create long-term value. Let’s get started. Highlights from Q2. The Nordic kitchen market remains challenging, with demand continuing at a low level and customer remaining cautious. While we are encouraged by the positive development in both Sigdal and HTH, we are not yet seeing a stable market rebound on the horizon. With that said, we are seeing signs of stabilization. Through disciplined cost control and a continued focus on operational efficiency, we have made progress in improving margins and strengthen our underlying performance. Our business to consumer segment continues to lag behind 2025. We although believe this is primarily driven by macroeconomic factors as larger renovation projects remain subdued and consumers takes a longer consideration time before starting their renovations. Despite the weak market environment, our adjusted gross margin improved during the quarter. This was driven by a favorable average order value, a healthy product mix, and a lower production cost. The improvement in gross margin has translated into a stronger adjusted EBIT, demonstrating the benefits of our ongoing efficient initiative and commercial disciplines. As you know, we are continuing the consolidation of our Nordic operations to create a more effective business structure. A key milestone during Q2 was the transfer of all stores in Finland to HTH. Finland is now fully integrated as a commercial business unit within HTH, allowing us in the future to leverage the strength of the HTH brand and operating model. During 2026, we will invest in refurbishing the Finnish stores network to ensure a consistent and compelling customer experience across the market. The kitchen market. Now handing over to Robert. Robert, CFO, Nobia: Thank you, Jesper Gylling Olsen. Looking at the financial performance in the quarter, and starting with net sales, we reported net sales of SEK 1.498 billion versus SEK 1.513 billion, same corresponding quarter last year. That then translates into negative reported growth of -1% and also negative organic growth of -1%. As Jesper Gylling Olsen alluded to, we had a huge improvement of the adjusted gross margin. It improved with 310 basis points to 39.8% versus 36.7%. Looking at the SG&A in absolute terms, it was pretty much flat, only a slight increase. With regards to the percentage SG&A in relation to sales, there was an increase in the SG&A percentage of 0.4 percentage points, 25%. Looking at the adjusted EBIT, a substantial increase with SEK 128 million versus SEK 88 million in the same corresponding quarter last year. That translates into an adjusted EBIT margin of 8.5% versus 5.8% the same corresponding quarter last year. On the cash flow, we had cash flow from operating activities amounting to SEK 129 million versus SEK 236 million same corresponding quarter last year. I will share some more details around these numbers in the financial performance section, a couple of slides ahead. Handing back to you, Jesper. Jesper Gylling Olsen, Group CEO, Nobia: Apologize, Robert, for being too fast. In my eager, we move forward to the kitchen market. Looking at the market, conditions remain challenging. The Nordic kitchen market continues to be volatile and vulnerable conditions, where housing starts remaining at low levels across Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, with only small indications that the market decline is moderating in some areas. In Finland, the market remains under pressure, and we continue to see weaker demand. However, the actions we have taken to strengthen our commercial business model provide a solid platform as the foundation for developing long-term profitability. The business-to-consumer segment remains soft as consumers continue to be cautious about larger renovation projects. In this environment, strong trusted brands matters more than ever. Housing transactions volumes remain relatively low across the Nordic. However, there are some encouraging signs. House prices continue to increase in several markets, supporting household balance sheets and consumer confidence. Going forward, our strategic priorities. Restore a customer-centric approach. First and foremost, we must restore a truly customer-centric approach. Customer trust has been tested in the last years, most visible through the transition from Tidaholm to Nobia Park. Let me be clear. Product quality remains high, and our teams continue to deliver kitchens that meet our standards. However, we need to improve the entire customer journey and experience in the value chain. Restoring reliability is therefore our number one priority. Before anything else, we must ensure that customers can trust us to deliver consistently and predictably. Two, reset the operating model. We need to reset our operating model. As I mentioned earlier, the Nordic kitchen market remains volatile and vulnerable. Our ambition is to create an operating model that delivers profitable EBIT quarter after quarter, regardless of market circumstances. That means focusing relentlessly on the factors we control as structure, cost management, pricing discipline, operational excellence, including optimizing of productivity. Three, create a unified Nordic supply chain. We will continue the transformation towards a unified Nordic supply chain. Nobia Park is central to this ambition. Product quality is strong, but the ramp-up in volume and automatization has progressed more slowly than planned. We are now reviewing the ramp-up plan to accelerate progress while carefully managing the parallel wind down at Tidaholm. Getting Nobia Park to stable, reliable, and efficient output is the single biggest operational lever we have for improving margins, strengthen our competitiveness, and creating long-term value. Four, strengthen our commercial focus. Finally, we will sharpen this. During the second quarter, we completed the transition of all Finnish stores into HTH commercial business unit structure. The refurbishment into a full HTH environment will continue throughout the year. HTH is a strong example of what we want to achieve across the group. It is a trusted brand, a scalable model, and a proven contributor to profitability. That experience reinforces a key lesson. In challenging markets, our portfolio of strong brands matter more than ever. We see considerable untapped potential within our existing portfolio, and our priority is to be disciplined and create growth by positioning our brands more effectively within existing markets and brand by brand, improving sales, market share, and EBIT. Reaching production excellence. We must continue to increase volumes and ensure that all automatization solutions perform as intended. This is critical to improving productivity, increasing output, and achieving the cost efficiency that underpins our long-term competitiveness. We are already taking action to increase production capacity and improve operational performance. In parallel, we have initiated an assessment of Nobia Park to identify the remaining bottlenecks and determine how we can address them as quickly as possible. Once that work is completed, I will provide a further update. Throughout this process, delivery to our customers remain our highest priority. We will pursue a controlled and disciplined ramp-up, leverage the strengths of our manufacturing network to safeguard delivery performance and volume availability, while reducing cost as rapidly as possible. We are building a simpler, more efficient, and more integrated Nordic supply chain that will strengthen our competitiveness, support margin improvement, and create a stronger Nobia for the years ahead. Now handing over to Robert. Robert, CFO, Nobia: Yeah. Thank you, Jesper. Looking at the financial performance in the second quarter of 2026 in more detail. Starting with the financial highlights, we already alluded to the improved growth margin improvement in the quarter, improvement of 310 basis points, which was predominantly the explanatory factors behind that improvement is a very favorable average order value. We have had a very nice mix in the B2B, impacting positively and also a very thorough cost control in the quarter. The only negative impact in the gross margin was, of course, related to the price increases coming from the turbulence we have in the Middle East. If we look at items affecting comparability, we had in total SEK 58 million items affecting comparability in the quarter. SEK 45 million of those was related to Nobia Park, the transition between Tidaholm and Jönköping. A SEK 45 million effect in cost of goods sold and a total effect of SEK 558 million when we look at the totality of items affecting comparability. The deviation there is between the SEK 45 and the SEK 58 is mainly related to restructuring costs. Including an update on the cost savings program, as you recall, we announced a huge cost savings program in Q4 of 2025, with anticipated annual savings of SEK 80 million on a run rate basis as per Q3, Q4. We are tracking and trading very good on that cost savings program. In the second quarter of 2026, we had a standalone saving in the quarter of SEK 10 million on a run rate basis, already today they are running at SEK 40 million, versus the SEK 80 million target that we have. If we move to the next slide, please. Looking at the financial position, and starting with the cash flow from operating activities, we had a little bit of a weaker quarter in the second quarter, when it comes to cash flow. That was mainly driven by an unfavorable change in the working capital, where we had a timing effect between Q1 and Q2. As you recall, Q1 was a strong quarter for us, cash flow-wise and working capital-wise, and we experienced a little bit of a backlash of that very nice development in Q1 now when summarizing Q2. If we look at the investments in the quarter, investment in Nobia Park amounted to SEK 87 million, and the remaining investments are then estimated for the full year of 2026, for Q3 and Q4, around SEK 70 million. If we look at the financial net debt, the net debt on a year-on-year basis had a substantial decrease, of course, and explained by the rights issue that we concluded end of March of 2026. A final observation from the balance sheet, we have a substantial decrease in the lease liabilities, and that is explained by the U.K. divestment concluded in first quarter. So year-on-year comparison, it is a huge decrease in the lease liabilities compared to last year. With that, I hand back to you, Jesper, for concluding remarks. Jesper Gylling Olsen, Group CEO, Nobia: Thank you, Robert. Nobia’s priorities going forward. Over the past few years, Nobia has gone through significant changes. We have streamlined operations, consolidated our footprint, and sharpened on the Nordic market. Changes have not always been easy, but they have created a stronger foundation for the future. Our focus now is on turning that foundation into sustainable performance and capturing the opportunities ahead. With leading brands, deep customer relationships, and strong market position across the Nordics, we have the assets needed to create value and strengthen our competitive advantage. At the same time, we have to be honest with ourselves. We have not delivered on our ambitions, and no one at Nobia is satisfied with that. We need to do better. Our primary task going forward is clear. We need to build an operating model that can deliver profitability even in challenging market conditions. That means continued cost discipline, stronger execution, improved margins, and unwavering focus on serving our customers better every day. I have great confidence in Nobia, in our brands above all, in our people. Having spent the past weeks meeting colleagues across the business, I have seen the commitment, expertise, and determination that exists throughout the organization. There is still hard work ahead of us, but I am convinced that we have what it takes to succeed. With that, I would like to thank you for joining us today, for your continued support to Nobia, and by that, opening up for Q&As. Conference Call Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. There seems to be no questions coming through. I will hand back to the speakers. Jesper Gylling Olsen, Group CEO, Nobia: I would like to thank you all for listening today, for a great call, and by that, wish you all a really great summer. Conference Call Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.