Interim reports | Kamux’s car sales decreased in the second quarter of the year, the adjusted operating profit shrank drastically – the stock has become cheaper by almost 20 percent in a couple of hours

Economic|Interim reports

Used ones the turnover of Kamux, which is focused on car sales, continued to grow in April–June, but the adjusted operating profit shrank considerably.

Kamux’s turnover increased by almost eight percent year-on-year to 246.8 million euros in the second quarter of the year.

Adjusted operating profit, on the other hand, shrank by 33.6 percent to 4.5 million euros. Adjusted operating profit was 1.8 percent of turnover.

The number of cars sold by Kamux decreased by 6.4 percent. The company sold 15,688 cars in April-June. The sales volume decreased by more than a thousand.

“Fluctuations in the number of used cars were considerably large in many countries, but our unit sales fell less than the market”, CEO Juha Kalliokoski says in the results release.

According to Kalliokoski, the demand was especially directed towards electric and hybrid cars and, in combustion engine cars, towards low-consumption models. At the beginning of the year, there have been challenges in the availability of electric and hybrid cars on the market.

“Even though there is still a shortage of used cars on the market and the buying market for the most popular models is tight, we were successful in our purchasing activities and the number of hybrid and electric cars we sold increased by almost 38 percent compared to the second quarter of 2021.”

Kamux issued a profit warning on Thursday, in which it lowered its guidance for this year’s turnover and profit. The company expects a turnover of more than one billion euros this year, while previously the expectation was at least 1.1 billion euros.

Read more: Kamux’s share plunged in the last 10 minutes of the stock exchange day – the CFO explains why the earnings warning was issued just before the stock market closed

The company expects adjusted operating profit to fall to 23–30 million euros this year. Previously, it expected adjusted operating profit to increase from the previous year. Kamux’s adjusted operating profit was 31.4 million euros last year.

According to Kamux, the reason behind the update of the guidelines is the weakened consumer confidence caused by the war in Ukraine and its effects. As a result, the demand for used cars began to decline in March more strongly than expected in all the company’s operating countries.

“The work to change the warehouse to match the current demand has also had a negative impact on Kamux’s profitability,” the company said in its earnings warning.

Kamux shares plunged on Thursday after the earnings warning. As recently as Thursday at 6:15 p.m., the company’s share cost 8.02 euros. On Friday at 11 a.m., only 6.73 euros. The Helsinki Stock Exchange closes at 6:30 p.m. and opens at 10 a.m. The company’s stock has thus fallen by around 19 percent during the two trading hours.