Relais Group Plc, Stock Exchange Release 22 October 2025, 9:00 a.m. EEST
This release is a summary of Relais Group's Interim Report January-September
2025. The full release is attached to this release and is available on our
website at https://relais.fi/en/investors/.
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2025 IN BRIEF
· Net sales totalled EUR 101.1 million (July-September 2024: 74.9), change
+35%
· Comparable EBITA was EUR 10.9 (9.2) million, change +19%
· Comparable EBITA margin was 10.8 (12.2) %
· Comparable earnings per share, basic was EUR 0.31 (0.26)
· Net cash flow from operations was EUR 6.6 (4.3) million
JANUARY-SEPTEMBER 2025 IN BRIEF
· Net sales totalled EUR 266.8 million (January-September 2024: 231.9), change
+15%
· Comparable EBITA was EUR 27.7 (26.2) million, change +6%
· Comparable EBITA margin was 10.4 (11.3) %
· Comparable earnings per share, basic was EUR 0.75 (0.65)
· Net cash flow from operations was EUR 9.1 (18.5) million
2025 OUTLOOK AND LONG-TERM FINANCIAL TARGET
Relais Group does not provide a numeric guidance for the financial year 2025.
The company has a long-term financial target published on 2 March 2023,
according to which it aims to reach a pro forma comparable EBITA of EUR 50
million by the end of the year 2025.
KEY FIGURES
(EUR 1,000 7-9/ 7-9/ Change 1-9/2025 1-9/2024 Change 12
Change 1-12/
unless 2025 2024 months
2024
stated rolling
otherwise)
Net sales 101,065 74,908 +35% 266,762 231,924 +15% 357,444
+11% 322,606
Gross 48,965 36,031 +36% 130,782 109,623 +19% 172,378
+14% 151,219
profit
Gross 48.4% 48.1% 49.0% 47.3% 48.2%
46.9%
margin
EBITDA 14,392 13,012 +11% 39,167 37,569 +4% 53,460
+3% 51,863
Comparable 16,474 13,026 +26% 41,847 37,612 +11% 55,035
+5% 52,490
EBITDA 1)
EBITA 8,832 9,141 -3% 24,983 26,117 -4% 34,991
-3% 36,126
EBITA 8.7% 12.2% 9.4% 11.3% 9.8%
11.2%
margin
Comparable 10,914 9,155 +19% 27,663 26,160 +6% 36,565
-1% 36,753
EBITA 1)
Comparable 10.8% 12.2% 10.4% 11.3% 10.2%
11.4%
EBITA
margin
1)
Operating 7,084 8,399 -16% 21,495 23,948 +10% 30,530
-7% 32,983
profit
Profit for 3,427 4,642 -26% 10,760 11,800 -9% 17,493
-6% 18,533
the period
Earnings 0.18 0.26 -29% 0.59 0.65 -10% 0.96
-6% 1.02
per
share,
basic
Comparable 0.31 0.26 +19% 0.75 0.65 +15%
1.06
earnings
per
share,
basic
1)
Cash flow 6,647 4,340 +53% 9,087 18,472 -51% 25,452
-27% 34,837
from
operations
Net working 105,032 67,434 +56%
68,208
capital
Net working 4.1 4.7 -13%
4.8
capital
turnover
Interest 199,986 146,556 +36%
141,283
-bearing
net
debt
Net Debt to 3.74 2.97 +26%
2.72
EBITDA, LTM
Interest 103,188 86,317 +20%
82,672
-bearing
net
debt
excluding
lease
liabilities
Net Debt 1.93 1.75 +10%
1.59
excluding
lease
liabilities
to EBITDA,
LTM
Equity 36.5% 33.4%
35.6%
ratio
Return on 40.4% 44.5%
53.4%
net
working
capital
Return on 9.7% 14.1%
16.2%
equity
Return on 11.2% 12.7%
13.2%
capital
employed
Employees, 1,658 1,178 +41% 1,658 1,178 +41% 1,759
+38% 1,278
end of
period
Employees, 1,661 1,196 +39% 1,441 1,142 +26% 1,468
+26% 1,169
average
The change percentages in the tables have been calculated on exact figures
before the amounts were rounded to millions of euros.
1) Excluding IACs and purchase price allocation adjustments and amortisations
(PPAs) as applicable
CEO ARNI EKHOLM COMMENTS THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2025
A RECORD STRONG QUARTER: HIGHEST QUARTERLY NET SALES AND COMPARABLE EBITA IN THE
HISTORY OF RELAIS GROUP
“The third quarter of this year was in many ways a historical quarter for Relais
Group. For the first time ever, our quarterly net sales surpassed the EUR 100
million mark, representing a growth of +35%. Our comparable EBITA (EUR 10.9
million) was also at an all-time high level, reaching a growth of +19%. The
defensive and resilient nature of our business model is also reflected in our
organic growth, which was +4% in comparable currency rates. This is a strong
performance under the current market conditions.
Acquisitions
The scale of our business operations changed substantially during Q3. As a
sector focused competent compounder, we have diligently pursued our strategy and
made a total of four acquisitions so far this year. In June, we acquired Team
Verksted and Lastvagnsdelar in Norway, which significantly strengthened our
position as the biggest operator of independent commercial vehicle repair and
maintenance workshops in the Nordic markets. In July, the Matro Group team
joined us in Benelux, opening the lucrative European truck accessory markets for
us. In July, we also announced the acquisition of Autodelar, strengthening the
position of our group company ABR in Sweden. Finally, right after the end of Q3,
we completed the acquisition of two high-quality commercial vehicle workshops,
strengthening the workshop network of Raskone in Eastern-Finland. As a result of
these acquisitions, our pro forma net sales is over EUR 400 million and we
employ almost 1,700 professionals in eight different countries.
Segments
The acquisitions we have made had a significant effect in the financial
performance of our segments and business areas during Q3. The Scandinavian
segment grew its net sales by 64% (organically +5% with constant exchange
rates), as most of the acquired companies are reported under that segment. The
Finland and Baltic segment grew organically by 2%, which is clearly above the
estimated market growth.
Business Areas
Our Technical Wholesale and Products business area performed very well, reaching
a net sales growth of +21% (organically +7% with constant exchange rates). The
spare parts and equipment sales developed favourably in Sweden and Norway, where
especially the workshop equipment sales were strong. The newly acquired
Norwegian heavy commercial vehicle spare parts wholesaler, Lastvagnsdelar, also
contributed well during the quarter. The important vehicle lighting products
sales season has started very well, with Strands continuing its strong
performance and the sales of our e-commerce platform Lumise reaching record
level sales during the quarter.
The sales development of our Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance was
extremely strong with a growth of 62% during the quarter. This strong growth is
attributed to the acquired Norwegian workshop chain, Team Verksted AS, which has
had a truly flying start as a new member of the Relais family. The organic
growth showed a minus of 3%, which is partly related to the very strong
comparison period last year and the softish trailer repair market in both
Finland and Sweden. We expect the organic growth to improve during the coming
quarters as the investments we have made in our workshop network in Sweden start
to have a positive effect. In Sweden, we have opened two new workshops this year
and successfully started the rebranding of our STS-workshops under the strong
brand of Team Verkstad. Relais Group now operates 62 specialized heavy
commercial vehicle workshops across Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance business has an inherently average
lower EBITA-% than Technical Wholesale and Products. This is reflected in the
Group level EBITA-% as the weight of the repair and maintenance area has grown
based on the recent acquisitions.
However, our experience shows that with our workshop excellence-program we have
been able to increase the profitability of the acquired companies. Generally,
this business area is also capital-light and offers therefore good possibilities
for increased return on capital.
Growth strategy
Our growth strategy is based on reaching earnings growth through a combination
of acquisitions, organic growth and functional excellence. Basically, we
allocate capital and aim to make the capital work harder for us to create value
for our shareholders. Having sustainable financing solutions, in addition to
using existing cash flows, is vital for further growth of the company. As part
of constantly developing our acquisition financing solutions and to strengthen
our balance sheet, we successfully issued a hybrid bond of EUR 50 million in
September. The bond was broadly distributed and significantly oversubscribed.
There was wide investor support across the Nordics and beyond, with a
considerable number of investors participating in the transaction. The strong
investor demand highlights our solid market position and enables us to continue
our acquisitive growth strategy.
Outlook
Relais Group is in good shape and well positioned to continue the successful
implementation of our strategy also during Q4 and beyond. We see some cautious
positive signs in the market, and consider the demand situation for our products
and services to be on a stable level. We continue the processing of interesting
and relevant acquisition targets and have a healthy pipeline for future
acquisitions.
I warmly thank all our almost 1,700 professionals for the extremely strong
performance and contribution during the first nine months of the year. I also
thank our customers, shareholders and business partners for your continued
support.”
EVENTS AFTER THE REVIEW PERIOD
Relais Group Plc announced on 7 July 2025 that it's group company Raskone had
agreed to acquire two heavy commercial vehicle workshops from Wetteri Auto Oy, a
subsidiary of Wetteri Plc. Raskone completed the acquisition on 1 October 2025.
The workshops will become part of Raskone and will be reported as part of Relais
Group's Finland & Baltics segment from 1 October 2025.
Relais Group Plc announced on 18 September 2025 its decision to issue new
unsecured, unguaranteed, subordinated, and perpetual hybrid capital securities
with an aggregate nominal amount of EUR 50 million. The Capital Securities were
issued on 25 September 2025. On 3 October 2025 the Company submitted an
application for the Capital Securities to be admitted to trading on the official
list of Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Nasdaq Helsinki admitted the Capital Securities to
trading as of 7 October 2025. The ISIN code of the Capital Securities is
FI4000592290.
Relais Group Plc announced on 21 October 2025 that the Board of Directors of
Relais Group Plc has decided to appoint Christian Johansson Gebauer as the
company's new Chief Executive Officer. Gebauer will assume the position no later
than 19 January 2026. As announced earlier in June 2025, Arni Ekholm, who has
acted as CEO of Relais Group Plc since 2015, has decided to retire on March 31,
2026, in accordance with the terms of his CEO agreement. He will stay within the
Group as a senior advisor until his retirement.
Relais Group's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 10 April 2025 authorized the
Board of Directors to decide, at its discretion, on the distribution of a
maximum additional dividend of EUR 0.20 per share in one instalment. Relais
Group Plc announced on 22 October 2025 that the Board of Directors has resolved
to distribute an additional dividend of EUR 0.20 per share. The record date of
the additional dividend is 24 October 2025 and the payment date 31 October 2025.
As per the resolution date, the total sum of the additional dividend is EUR
3,687,104.60. The additional dividend shall be paid to shareholders who on the
record date of the dividend payment are registered in the company's shareholder
register maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd.
FINANCIAL CALENDAR FOR 2026
Relais Group Plc will publish the following financial reports during 2026:
· Financial Statements Review 2025
13 February 2026
· Interim Report January-March 2026,
13 May 2026
· Half-Year Financial Report January-June 2026,
13 August 2026
· Interim Report January-September 2026,
28 October 2026
The reports will be published at approximately 9:00 a.m. Finnish time on the
above dates.
Relais Group Plc's Annual Report 2025 will be published on Thursday, 12 March
2026 on the Company's website.
INVITATION TO THE WEBCAST
Relais Group's CEO Arni Ekholm and CFO Thomas Ekström will present the result to
the media, investors and analysts at a webcast on Wednesday, 22 October 2025, at
10:00 a.m. EEST. The webcast can be followed at
https://relais.events.inderes.com/q3-2025/
Presentation material and video will be available on the company's website at
https://relais.fi/en/
after the event.
Relais Group Plc
Board of Directors
Further information:
Arni Ekholm, CEO
Phone: +358 40 760 3323
E-mail: arni.ekholm@relais.fi
Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key Media
www.relais.fi
Relais Group
Relais Group is a leading consolidator and acquisition platform on the
commercial vehicle aftermarket in Northern Europe. We have a sector focus in
vehicle life cycle enhancement and related services. We also serve as a growth
platform for the companies we own.
We are a profitable company seeking strong growth. We carry out targeted
acquisitions in line with our growth strategy and want to be an active player in
the consolidation of the aftermarket in our area of operation. Our acquisitions
are targeted at companies having a good strategic fit with our group companies.
Our net sales in 2024 were EUR 322.6 (2023: 284.3) million. So far during 2025,
we have completed four acquisitions. We employ approximately 1,700 professionals
in eight different countries. The Relais Group share is listed on the Main
Market of Nasdaq Helsinki with the stock symbol RELAIS.
www.relais.fi (https://relais.fi/en/)