July 1–September 30, 2026
January 1–September 30, 2026
Significant events after the end of the period
CEO comments:
Stronger financial position and increased focus on growth initiatives
MEKO continued to deliver stable profitability in the third quarter, while also taking another step forward in our commitment to strengthen the Group’s financial position. However, sales did not meet our ambitions, and our current focus is on accelerating organic growth while maintaining cost control.
We have implemented major changes to build a stronger MEKO in recent years, including investments in high-tech logistics in Denmark, Finland and Norway, while also optimizing the organization to enhance profitability. The aim of these investments and steps has been to strengthen MEKO’s position in pace with an increasingly complex automotive aftermarket. While electric vehicles continue to grow in popularity, gas and diesel cars still dominate the car fleet in our markets. MEKO has now strategically positioned itself in this market, with stronger distribution capabilities, leading technological expertise and well-known brands, close to the vehicle owners.
In 2026, we are seeing clear benefits from our earlier investments. This has helped to contain cost and allowed us to maintain profitability even when sales have not met expectations. In the third quarter, the adjusted EBIT margin was 4.8 percent, similar with the corresponding period last year.
Importantly, our profitability in Poland/the Baltics continued to improve during the quarter, while Finland once again reported an operating profit. We have implemented targeted measures during the year to improve profitability in both geographic areas. In Sweden and Denmark, the trend was the opposite, with weaker results under more challenging conditions.
Higher growth ambitions
Although profitability remained stable, sales for the quarter fell short of our expectations. Organic growth for the Group decreased by 3 percent year-on-year. However, the performance varied across our business areas, with growth in the Baltics, while sales were weaker in other markets. In Norway, reported sales increased, supported by positive currency effects, while organic growth declined.
Our ambitions go beyond this. During the year, we have implemented several measures to accelerate sales, but so far the impact from these efforts have been insufficient. We are therefore increasing our efforts to convert these initiatives into higher growth. This will apply first and foremost to our existing business, where we are focusing efforts on improving sales in specific product categories. Furthermore, we are expanding our product range, focusing on bringing more workshops into our chains, and striveing to expand successful businesses, such as establishing the CarPeople car dealership concept in Sweden.
We are also continuing to develop our offerings to satisfy a broader range of demand that we have not previously addressed. For example, this involves continuing to introduce more affordable spare parts for older cars, expanding in the tire business and developing our e-commerce channels to meet growing online demand.
All of our initiatives aim to improve our market share and increase sales.
Within the target range for net debt ratio
In parallel, we continued to strengthen our financial position during the quarter. Net debt related to EBITDA decreased to a multiple of 3.0 compared with 3.4 at the end of the second quarter and 4.0 at the beginning of the year. We are within our financial target range of a multiple of 2.0 to 3.0.
This improvement is the result of determined and prioritized efforts throughout 2026, during which we reduced our pace of investment, strengthened our cash flow and focused on reducing capital utilized in the business. The fact that we are within our target range does not mean that our work is done. We will maintain our strict cost control and our financial discipline. With the same level of determination, we will now continue our commitment to accelerating our sales.
Pehr Oscarson
President and CEO