- Gross margin affected by customer and product mix
- Carrefour resumes ESL deployment
Events after the end of the period - Large-scale deployment of ESL by an electronics chain – order value SEK 60 M
- New orders from Southern Europe – initial orders worth SEK 10 M – estimated total order value SEK 50 M
- Pricer won the world’s largest order for a single store
First quarter
Order entry: SEK 143 M (126)
Net sales: SEK 93.2 M (125.5)
Gross margin: 25.4 percent (32.7)
Operating profit: SEK -3.8 M (12.6)
Operating margin: -4.1 percent (10.1)
Net profit: SEK -3.9 M (10.9)
Cash flow: SEK 46.8 M (20.5)
Basic earnings per share: SEK -0.04 (0.10)
Comments from the CEO, Fredrik Berglund
Net sales and results in this quarter were again put under pressure by the weak economic climate in Europe. At the same time, we are pleased to note that orders have increased.
A number of significant contracts have been won since the beginning of the year. An example is that we will be installing the Pricer solution in one of the world’s largest electronics chains – the initial order is worth SEK 60 M. This is a crucial step in the development of our concept to attract customers in other retail segments. We are also pleased to report successes in Southern Europe where two chains, despite the poor economic climate, are installing our system. Furthermore, one of our large customers, Carrefour France, has resumed ESL deployments that were put on hold in 2012.
Common to all our new contracts is the increased interest in our graphic displays, which account for a growing proportion of Pricer’s net sales. In addition to price, the display also shows other information about products and campaigns, and therefore becomes an important platform for marketing in stores. In the short term, the graphic displays give a lower margin than the more common segment-based displays, which explains the weaker margin in the quarter. The new displays enable a broadening of the market and continue to attract new customer groups.
Attached files