First quarter 2023 in summary
· Doro‘s net sales amounted to
· Gross margin was 35.8 percent (32.0).
· EBITDA amounted to
· Operating profit (EBIT) amounted to
· Profit after tax for the period was
· Free cashflow was SEK ‑14.9 million (‑14.2).
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Decent results in a challenging market
During Q1 a number of indicators have turned in the right direction and Doro’s sales in the quarter increased by 1.8% compared to last year. The healthy sales was partly explained by our customers’ low inventory levels, caused by their extremely restrained ordering at the end of 2022. The first part was better from a sales point of view, but towards the end of the quarter, the sales softened. Overall, Doro came in slightly better than the same quarter last year, and our FraBel region did particularly well, bolstered by the launch of our latest smartphone at our biggest French mobile operator customer.
In general, our smartphones and 4G feature phones sold well in the quarter. The latter a clear testament to the accelerated technology shift in our markets, with the sunset of 2G and 3G technology closing in.
Traditionally 4G based feature phones are more complex and less user friendly for the senior segment, but Doro has made a tremendous effort in maintaining the simplicity for the users while upgrading the underlying technology to fulfil the complex requirements of modern mobile telephony.
During the quarter, we also continued implementing our new innovative sales initiatives, such as the roll-out of our Doro-dedicated shop corners, in several stores throughout
In
Despite the weak Swedish krona still negatively affecting the consumer electronics business, Doro managed to deliver a solid gross margin of 35.8% thanks to the positive development of our other cost of goods. Freight was by far the cost item that showed the best trend, with a strong decrease of shipping fees from
We also managed to decrease our inventory relative to Q1 2022, as the customary inventory build-up in Q1, driven by the
Investing in the future
In line with the strategy to broaden our portfolio while still remaining leader in the elderly phone segment, not only are we investing in new products, but we also made several recruitments of key resources for the development and product management teams in the quarter.
In addition, the Management Team was further supported by a Chief Product Officer and Head of Commercial Development consultants, to optimise the implementation of our strategy from both a commercial, portfolio and marketing point of view.
In light of the challenging market conditions, and our current increasing investments in the future, we are satisfied to continue deliver positive operating profits of
With the new organisation coming into place and with the additional investments in both product development, and sales and marketing, we look forward to accelerating our portfolio broadening to reach more seniors with tailor made solutions that help them live better lives.
A video conference call will be held on Friday, 28 April at
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