Beter Bed Holding: Q4 sales increased by 2.2%; restructuring on track
January 18 2019 - 1:30AM
Beter Bed Holding: Q4 sales increased by 2.2%; restructuring on
track
Uden, the Netherlands, 18 January 2019
Beter Bed Holding: Q4 sales increased by 2.2%;
restructuring on track
As announced at the Capital Markets Day on 26
October 2018, Beter Bed Holding decided to restructure its
international businesses. At the same event, a new mid-term
strategy with the overarching customer promise to offer the best
quality rest at affordable prices was presented. The Group
Leadership Team of Beter Bed Holding is pleased to announce that
the Q4 commitments have been successfully delivered.
This included, amongst others, the
following:
- closure of 172 Matratzen Concord stores in Germany,
Austria and Switzerland;
- headcount reduction of the Matratzen Concord support
organization by 64 FTE;
- inventory reduction by more than € 8 million;
- successful discontinuation of the Spanish operation;
- execution of all plans within the communicated one-off
restructuring costs and within the amended agreements with the
banks.
While
taking the above measures the company has been working hard to
improve the business trends and to launch new initiatives. As a
result, the first steps to change the sales trend at Matratzen
Concord have been taken. Secondly, new customer driven assortment
such as the Green Motion 100% recyclable mattress and the Wave one
size fits all mattress were launched. Thirdly, new partnerships
with the NOC*NSF and the Dutch female national soccer team through
the wholesale business DBC with the M line brand were
communicated.
Q4 Trading updateQ4 sales of
the continued operations of € 101.8 million increased by 2.2%
compared to last year. The increase was primarily driven by good
like-for-like performance in the Netherlands and Belgium. In these
two markets, strong commercial plans were rolled out with new
products, attractive promotions, new innovative campaigns such as
the Mattress for Life. Part of the healthy order intakes was
already delivered to the customers during Q4 2018, and the
remaining part led to a healthy order book more than € 2 million
ahead of year-end 2017.
Sales of the Matratzen Concord businesses in
Germany, Austria and Switzerland slowly recovered towards the
desired level of growth. Austria and Switzerland already delivered
a promising level of sales growth. Although the sales momentum in
Germany improved compared to the first three quarters of 2018, it
was impacted by the significant efforts required by the local
organization to successfully complete the massive Q4 restructuring.
With the restructuring completed, all focus and efforts of the
local teams will be on aggressive sales recovery. Amongst others,
this should result in sharper pricing, new attractive promotions,
online sales acceleration, and the commercialization of new
assortment such as the Bodyscout mattress with a consumer price of
€ 179 and the Pura boxspring with consumer prices as of €
399.
Total sales in Sweden increased due to the
opening of new stores during 2018. After the successful completion
of this first round of store expansion the focus will shift to
improving the underlying performance of the current stores. To
deliver a step change in the performance of the Swedish operation a
new leadership team has been appointed.
The market shares in both key markets the
Netherlands and Germany are expected to continue to improve. In the
Netherlands the market share improved due to good commercial
proposition leading to the healthy development of the order intake.
The indication of the German market is that the industry will
report that the market is still under pressure and, therefore,
being worse than the Matratzen Concord performance.
The table below shows the sales performance for
Q4 and full-year 2018.
Total sales (in million €) |
|
|
|
|
|
2018 Q4 |
vs 2017 |
2018 YTD |
vs 2017 |
Continued operations |
101,8 |
2,2 |
% |
396,3 |
-3,1 |
% |
Total
operations including Spain |
103,1 |
1,8 |
% |
402,6 |
-3,3 |
% |
Sales growth |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2018 Q4 |
|
2018 YTD |
|
Total sales |
|
LFL growth |
|
Total sales |
|
LFL growth |
The Netherlands (Beter Bed and
Beddenreus) |
2,7 |
% |
|
8,7 |
% |
|
1,9 |
% |
|
2,5 |
% |
Beter Bed Belgium |
42,7 |
% |
|
4,2 |
% |
|
46,1 |
% |
|
17,6 |
% |
Total Benelux |
4,2 |
% |
|
8,5 |
% |
|
3,6 |
% |
|
3,2 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Matratzen Concord Germany
(store portfolio 1-1-2019) |
-2,0 |
% |
|
-1,8 |
% |
|
-4,3 |
% |
|
-6,4 |
% |
Matratzen Concord Austria
(store portfolio 1-1-2019) |
12,1 |
% |
|
10,0 |
% |
|
1,2 |
% |
|
0,2 |
% |
Matratzen Concord Switzerland
(store portfolio 1-1-2019) |
13,8 |
% |
|
-0,5 |
% |
|
-5,8 |
% |
|
-11,2 |
% |
Total Matratzen Concord |
0,1 |
% |
|
-0,5 |
% |
|
-3,9 |
% |
|
-6,4 |
% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sängjätten Sweden |
37,1 |
% |
|
-9,3 |
% |
|
15,5 |
% |
|
-3,6 |
% |
The table below shows the development of the store portfolio per
year-end 2018.
Number of stores |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 Jan 2018 |
|
Closed |
|
Opened |
|
31 Dec 2018 |
The Netherlands (Beter Bed and
Beddenreus) |
117 |
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
117 |
Beter Bed Belgium |
11 |
|
1 |
|
6 |
|
16 |
Total Benelux |
128 |
|
2 |
|
7 |
|
133 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Matratzen Concord Germany |
849 |
|
146 |
|
14 |
|
717 |
Matratzen Concord Austria |
85 |
|
12 |
|
3 |
|
76 |
Matratzen Concord
Switzerland |
65 |
|
14 |
|
5 |
|
56 |
Total Matratzen Concord |
999 |
|
172 |
|
22 |
|
849 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sängjätten Sweden |
16 |
|
- |
|
11 |
|
27 |
El Gigante del Colchón
Spain |
45 |
|
45 |
|
- |
|
- |
Total Group |
1 188 |
|
219 |
|
40 |
|
1 009 |
MiscellaneousBeter Bed Holding
successfully closed the two open tax items as disclosed at the
Capital Markets Day of 26 October 2018. Firstly, the cumulative
losses of the Spanish operations will be deducted in the Dutch
corporate income tax position as part of the Dutch liquidation
losses regulation. Secondly, a settlement with the German tax
authorities on the structure of the intercompany loans and its
interest rates over the period 2011-2016 has been made. The net
impact of both events is a positive tax gain of approximately € 1.5
million.
After several unsuccessful attempts to try to
discuss the Q4 2017 issues with BASF, Beter Bed decided to start
formal legal proceedings against BASF to receive compensation for
the costs and damages it incurred in the Netherlands due to those
Q4 2017 issues.
All 2018 data mentioned in this press release
are unaudited. Further details will be shared on Friday, 1 March
2019 with the publication of the 2018 full-year results.
Profile Beter Bed Holding is a
European retail organization that offers its customers the best
quality rest at affordable prices. The organization will do this
through its international brands Matratzen Concord, Beter Bed,
Beddenreus, Sängjätten and own wholesaler operation DBC
International. All brands provide the best customer advice to their
customers on all relevant channels including online. In 2018, the
company achieved € 396 million sales with a total of 1,009 stores
and an increasingly relevant share of online sales.
For more information
John Kruijssen |
Hugo van den Ochtend |
CEO |
CFO |
+31 (0)413 338819 |
+31 (0)413 338819 |
+31 (0)6 13211011 |
+31 (0)6 25746309 |
john.kruijssen@beterbed.nl |
hugo.vandenochtend@beterbed.nl |
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