Active trade in April

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 6/4/2025 at 7:00 am EEST.

The target market of Kesko’s grocery trade, Tokmanni and Lindex’s Stockmann division, i.e., the department store and hypermarket chains, increased by almost 10% in March. Both food (11%) and non-food (6%) sales grew. Within non-food, the trend was mixed, with sales of long-suffering apparel declining by 1%. In contrast, sales in the home and leisure product group grew by a strong 9%. The increase in food sales in particular reflects the different timing of Easter compared to the prior-year period.

Kesko's development in line with the market

Kesko's consumer goods sales to consumer customers grew by 9.8% in April. Sales of groceries in the target market increased by 11.2%, while total daily consumer goods sales in Finland improved by 9.7%. Thus, Kesko's consumer good sales developed in line with the market. However, it is still too early to say that Kesko has fully managed to stop the trend of losing market share. In B2B grocery sales, Kesko (i.e. Kespro) gained market share quite clearly, as the company's sales grew by 4% and the market by 2%. This is a continuation of a long-standing trend of gaining market share, driven by factors such as Kespro's comprehensive service offering.

Market support is also likely to be visible for Tokmanni

Market development in April was positive for Tokmanni's Finnish operations, although clothing sales decreased at the market level. We expect Tokmanni segment sales to grow by 4% year-on-year in Q2, supported by the increased store network. In addition, we assume that Easter sales in April have supported the growth of comparable stores, which appears to have materialized based on market figures. Thus, the positive market development does not create any immediate need for forecast revisions.

The closure of Itis will improve Stockmann's Q2 revenue figures

In April, the clothing market, which is important for the Lindex Group, declined by one percent, which in our view was weakened by, among other things, the timing of Easter. For Stockmann department stores, we expect Q2 revenue to grow by 3%, but this is supported by clearance sales due to the closure of the Itis department store. We expect comparable market and department store performance to continue to be slightly negative in Q2.