contentSlug

type

ContentSlug_ContentQuery

slug

ContentPageContentQuery

content

trendingContent

query ContentSlug_ContentQuery(
  $contentSlug: String!
  $type: [ContentType!]
) {
  ...ContentPageContentQuery_13QmVO
}

fragment CompanyDetails_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  companies {
    name
    description
    pageUrl
    id
  }
}

fragment ContentBasicInfo on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  id
  type
  title
  lang
  companies {
    viewerIsFollowing
    id
    name
    pageUrl
  }
  tags {
    viewerIsFollowing
    id
    name
    pageUrl
  }
  ...PublishingDetails
  ...Reactions
}

fragment ContentMetadata on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  type
  title
  lang
  pageUrl
  alternatePageUrls: translations {
    __typename
    pageUrl
    lang
  }
  imgUrl
  description
  ... on Video {
    liveTime
    videoUrl
  }
  ... on Webcast {
    liveTime
    videoUrl
  }
}

fragment ContentPageContentQuery_13QmVO on Query {
  content(slug: $contentSlug, type: $type) {
    __typename
    id
    type
    title
    isPremium
    lang
    htmlBody
    summary
    companies {
      forum {
        latestPosts {
          ...ForumPosts
        }
      }
      name
      id
      viewerIsFollowing
      pageUrl
      defaultInstrument {
        isin
        id
        marketOpen
        marketClose
        marketplace {
          region
        }
        returns {
          total
        }
      }
    }
    tags {
      viewerIsFollowing
      id
      name
      pageUrl
    }
    createdAt
    ... on Video {
      liveTime
    }
    ... on Webcast {
      liveTime
    }
    slug
    ... on CompanyReport {
      reportUrl
    }
    ... on ThirdPartyCompanyReport {
      reportUrl
    }
    ... on StockExchangeRelease {
      reportUrl
    }
    ...ContentBasicInfo
    ...ContentMetadata
    ...PriceAndRecommendation_Content
    ...CompanyDetails_Content
    ...ReportLink_Content
    ...KeyFigures_Content
  }
  ...TrendingContent_1jQ2Cn
}

fragment ForumPosts on ForumPost {
  text
  likesCount
  url
  author
  postedAt
  authorImgUrl
}

fragment KeyFigures_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  companies {
    defaultInstrument {
      estimateData {
        modelType
        reportingCurrency
      }
      snapshot {
        transaction {
          date
          actualized {
            year
            quarter
            revenue
            revenueGrowth
            ebitAdjusted
            ebitReported
            ebitda
            enterpriseValue
            epsAdjusted
            dividend
            dividendYield
            sharePrice
          }
          estimates {
            year
            quarter
            revenue
            revenueGrowth
            ebitAdjusted
            ebitReported
            ebitda
            enterpriseValue
            epsAdjusted
            dividend
            dividendYield
            sharePrice
          }
        }
      }
      id
    }
    id
  }
}

fragment PriceAndRecommendation_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdAt
  companies {
    name
    pageUrl
    defaultInstrument {
      priceData {
        tradeCurrency
      }
      snapshot {
        priceData {
          date
          lastPrice
          tradeCurrency
        }
        transaction {
          date
          recommendation
          targetPrice
        }
        prevTransaction {
          recommendation
        }
      }
      id
    }
    id
  }
}

fragment PublishingDetails on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdAt
  publishers {
    name
    imgUrl
  }
  authors {
    __typename
    id
    name
    slug
    imgUrl
    jobTitle
  }
  ... on Video {
    liveTime
  }
  ... on Webcast {
    liveTime
  }
}

fragment Reactions on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  id
  reactionGroups {
    reactionType
    reactionsCount
    viewerReacted
  }
}

fragment ReportLink_Content on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  type
  isPremium
  ... on CompanyReport {
    reportUrl
  }
  ... on ThirdPartyCompanyReport {
    reportUrl
  }
  ... on StockExchangeRelease {
    reportUrl
  }
}

fragment TrendingContent_1jQ2Cn on Query {
  trendingContent(type: ARTICLE) {
    __typename
    id
    title
    lang
    pageUrl
    createdAt
    type
    imgUrl
    companies {
      squareLogoUrl
      name
      id
    }
    authors {
      __typename
      imgUrl
      id
    }
    publishers {
      imgUrl
    }
  }
}


__typename

title

isPremium

lang

htmlBody

summary

companies

createdAt

publishers

authors

reactionGroups

pageUrl

translations

imgUrl

description

Co. Head of Research

Petri Gostowski

Relais Group is an importer and wholesaler for the automotive industry. The group focuses mainly on the development of automotive electronic equipment for trucks. Examples of products that the company supplies include lighting products, applications for warning lights, camera systems, and other spare parts for heavy vehicles. The largest operations are found in the Nordic and Baltic markets, with customers in the aftermarket industry.

I don’t personally engage in short-term speculation much, but I’ll comment anyway  Fears of disappointments brought by a mild winter were already slightly discussed in the thread last winter, when everyone knew about the severe frosts in the comparison period. These fears did materialize in the sense that organic growth has been sluggish this year. Despite this, the stock price has risen quite nicely by almost 30% in a year, plus dividends. The drivers are probably the continuation of a successful M&A strategy and capital allocation, budding interest from foreign investors, and a tentatively promising new CEO with a good track record from their previous workplace. Later in the spring, strategy/financial targets for the new season will be announced, which might give us some hints about the M&A pipeline, etc. So, I don’t consider it very likely that the upcoming winter would be so mild that it alone would disappoint the markets, especially since the comparison period is now, in turn, poor weather-wise  Of course, something else can always happen, or the market might just crash for other reasons, in which case Hesuli’s low-volume stocks are guaranteed to dive -50%, so I won’t swear to anything  However, I always think of the post below when an irresistible urge to speculate on short-term drivers arises

I also pondered this in my own analysis, that the true value of Relais is not dependent on how the upcoming winter surprises motorists, but would it be smart with this information to try to time one’s purchases to when the disappointments of winter have been overcome, or is this already clear in efficient markets and such tinkering completely useless.

Yes, the mild winter is visible in the numbers. This can be observed, for example, from this year’s organic growth figures, whereas during the comparison period, there were weeks of -30 degree frosts in the Nordics. At that time, repair shop yards are typically full of commercial vehicles. Many frost-sensitive AdBlue system components, starter batteries, and other frost-sensitive parts break down. Then some have clogged fuel systems because the tank didn’t yet have the strongest winter-grade fuel  One can say that repair shops have plenty of work, with utilization rates at their peak, and spare parts are moving off the shelves  If one looks at Relais’ investment story even beyond that one winter, I don’t believe the weather has any impact on Relais’ value, not even in the DCF model prepared with decimal precision  In the longer term, however, value creation is primarily based on capital allocation and success in the acquisition strategy. That journey will still include many mild and cold winters.

How do forum members see winter affecting the company’s results? I would speculate that, firstly, a mild winter would be coming, and secondly, that would mean lower sales for the company. This issue has also been overlooked as a potential risk in an article written on sijoittaja.fi:                   Sijoittaja.fi – 24 Oct 25              Analyysi: Relais Group ui vastavirtaan haastavassa markkinassa    Relais Groupin liikevaihto kasvoi Q3:lla 35 % ja oli ensikertaa yli 100 miljoonaa euroa. Liiketulos jäi ennusteista, mutta tämä johtui kertaluontoisista eristä.

Relais Group, known as a serial acquirer, has risen to Kauppalehti’s top 10 portfolio as a completely new entry. A small quote from the press release: “Relais, which completed five acquisitions this year, reached a turnover level of 101 million in the third quarter, showing a growth of 35 percent from the comparison period. Both segments, commercial vehicle repair and maintenance, and technical wholesale and products, achieved significant double-digit growth figures supported by acquisitions. Relais’s earnings-based valuation level (P/E ratio 14.0) is clearly below the stock market average (17.4), which supported the company’s rise to the list.”

Arni Ekholm was also talking about his company as an investment target at the Investor 2025 event                    Inderes              Relais sijoituskohteena | Sijoittaja 2025 - Inderes    Aika: 28.11.2025 klo 11.25 Relais Groupin toimitusjohtaja Arni Ekholm kertoo yhtiön liiketoiminnasta Sijoittaja 2025 -tapahtumassa.

@Karo_Hamalainen’s interview featured Relais’s Arni Ekholm                Relais specializes in combining companies operating in the commercial vehicle aftermarket. In March 2023, it set a target of a €50 million pro forma EBITA by the end of 2025. Thanks to major acquisitions made during the current year, the target seems achievable. Acquisitions can significantly change the nature of a company. In Relais’s case, the company has, in a few years, built within itself the leading brand-independent commercial vehicle repair shop chain in the Nordics. The change began when Relais acquired Raskone at the beginning of 2021. ”We heard indirectly that Raskone was for sale. Hey, there’s an idea here! Let’s start doing the same thing elsewhere in the Nordics. No one else has done it,” Relais CEO Arni Ekholm says on Karon Grilli. After the Raskone acquisition, Relais bought repair shops in Sweden, and at the beginning of this year, it made a major acquisition by buying a commercial vehicle repair shop chain, a total of 24 shops, from Vy, “Norway’s VR”. The repair shop coverage in the three neighboring countries can be supplemented by acquiring even individual outlets. However, one cannot start building a chain in a new country by buying individual repair shops – let alone by establishing them oneself. A sufficiently large chain would have to be acquired as a base. Why did Relais expand through acquisition even to northern Central Europe, even though a Danish repair shop chain is clearly missing from the portfolio? ”We haven’t yet found the right price for the right asset, and I don’t want to pay too much just because there’s a missing piece. We’re doing perfectly fine with these three Nordic countries,” Arni Ekholm says. On Grilli, Arni Ekholm also explains why the company decided to issue a €50 million hybrid bond and what the company’s new major owner, Portuguese alternative investment specialist Oxy Capital, is like.

Relais Group

The overall picture in Relais' Q4 report was on the positive side, as the last quarter of 2022 was operationally slightly better than we had expected.

<p>The overall picture in Relais' Q4 report was on the positive side, as the last quarter of 2022 was slightly better operationally than we had expected. However, we haven’t made any significant estimate revisions following the report, as our estimates for the coming years expected the company to improve on its performance that was particularly weak in the first half of 2022. </p> 

	2022	23e	24e
Revenue	260.7	268.3	279.1
growth-%	9.6 %	2.9 %	4.0 %
EBIT (adj.)	23.0	26.6	29.7
EBIT-% (adj.)	8.8 %	9.9 %	10.7 %
EPS (adj.)	0.80	0.94	1.03
Dividend	0.40	0.42	0.44
Dividend %	3.9 %	2.6 %	2.7 %
P/E (adj.)	12.7	17.3	15.9
EV/EBITDA	9.0	10.4	9.4

Relais Group: Upside potential in the valuation

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Key Estimate Figures02.03.2023

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