Translation: Original published in Finnish on 9/1/2026 at 9:04 am EEST.

On Tuesday morning, Puuilo raised its guidance for the current financial year 2026. At the same time, the company released preliminary information on the development of the second quarter, which showed that the strong momentum has continued. Already in connection with the previous earnings report, we had considered the company's guidance at the time to be cautious and had raised our own forecasts above it. Thus, the updated outlook and Q2 preliminary figures are in line with our expectations. The release does not create an immediate need for forecast changes, but we will review our forecasts in our extensive report to be published in the coming days. The share price is likely to open higher, even though Puuilo's valuation is starting to look quite stretched.

Q2 figures in line with our estimates

Puuilo's preliminary Q2 revenue grew by 13% year-on-year to 153 MEUR (Q2'25: 136 MEUR). The top line was in line with our estimate of 155 MEUR. According to the company, the development of comparable sales in the early part of the year has been better than anticipated. Consequently, we estimate that comparable growth similar to Q1 (+8%) continued into Q2 and that the beginning of Q3 was at least good. Adjusted EBITA correspondingly improved by 20%year-on-year to 34 MEUR (Q2'25: 28 MEUR), representing what we think is an excellent margin of 22% (Q2'25: 20.8%). 20.8%). The earnings development was also in line with expectations, as we had forecast an adjusted EBITA of ~34 MEUR for Q2. According to the company, profitability was supported by an improved gross margin and successful cost control, which are in line with the trends seen in Q1 and the core drivers of the investment story in general. It is also essential to note that the growth of existing stores scales into profitability, even though the company's internationalization weighs on the cost structure in the initial phase.

Guidance upgrade was expected

Puuilo now expects revenue for the financial year 2026 to be 495-515 MEUR (was 480-510 MEUR) and adjusted EBITA to be in the range of 87-97 MEUR (was 80-90 MEUR). Already following the Q1 results, we had pointed out that the old guidance seemed very cautious and had placed our own estimates above it. Prior to the upgrade, our forecast for the current year's revenue was 509 MEUR and for adjusted EBITA 93 MEUR. These fall well within the new guidance range and around its midpoints (505 MEUR and 92 MEUR). The consensus also expected a guidance upgrade. The opening price of the share is likely to be positive, although in our view, the company's valuation is already starting to look quite stretched.