Profits improved in the third quarter and guidance upgraded

Company announcement no. 11 2020/21 – INSIDE INFORMATION
Allerød, 25 February 2021

Interim report – 9M 2020/21
(1 April – 31 December 2020)

Profits improved in the third quarter and guidance upgraded

• Sales growth driven by increasing demand for healthcare and health products
• Online sales via matas.dk up by 91% and proportion of online sales increased to 25.8% (Q3 2019/20: 16.2%)
• Profit growth driven by economies of scale in the online business
• Full-year guidance further upgraded

Matas generated revenue of DKK 1,313.0 million in Q3 2020/21, a year-on-year increase of DKK 139.6 million, or 11.9%.

Q3 sales were boosted by the pay-out of frozen holiday pay, while physical store sales were adversely affected by new restrictions.

The proportion of online sales grew significantly as COVID-19 restrictions were tightened, to make up 25.8% for the third quarter. Physical store sales stood their ground, dropping by only 0.4%, partly as a result of strong demand for healthcare products (Health & Wellbeing), which were up by 23.4%.

Gregers Wedell-Wedellsborg, CEO of Matas A/S:
”Matas’ new business model proved resilient to large fluctuations during the quarter. Despite the costs incurred to ensure a safe shopping environment for our customers and employees, earnings were up as well due not least to profitability gains in our online business”.

Earnings (EBITDA before special items) came to DKK 292.8 million in Q3, a year-on-year increase of DKK 28.9 million. The EBITDA margin before special items was 22.3%, in line with the 22.5% reported for Q3 2019/20, even with a significantly greater share of online sales, which are historically less profitable.

“The reopening of the retail sector from 1 March is a great relief and a bright spot that will result in more customers in the streets and in stores. As we have also seen a massive growth in our online sales in January and February, we can now upgrade guidance”, said Gregers Wedell-Wedellsborg.

Matas is upgrading its full-year guidance which was most recently upgraded on 8 January 2021.Matas now forecasts growth of more than 12% in both overall revenue and underlying revenue, compared with the previous estimate of 10%. The EBITDA margin is now expected to exceed 18.5%, compared with the previous estimate of more than 18%. The CAPEX estimate is maintained at DKK 120 – 140 million.