Oslo, Norway, 18 June 2023: XXL ASA's (“XXL”) Swedish subsidiary has received a temporary deferral of tax payments for 2021 which has resulted in a tax repayment for that year in the amount of SEK 345 million, and which will improve the group's liquidity reserve accordingly. *The deferred tax amount will become payable on 12 September 2023. *The Company may apply to the Swedish tax authorities for a further deferral until 12 September 2024, and the Company intends to make such application. The Swedish deferred tax payment rules were introduced to provide an opportunity for companies affected by the pandemic, to postpone tax payments. The rules have subsequently been extended due to the economic situation in general and as a result of the uncertainty in the electricity market.
XXL further announces that total operating revenue so far in the second quarter 2023 is lower than last year, driven by weak consumer sentiment and reduced demand for sporting goods in general. Total operating revenue, from continued operations, for the Group in Q2 2023 is expected to be around NOK 1.9 billion compared to NOK 2.1 billion last year. The market is characterized by high inventory levels in the whole value chain, resulting in aggressive pricing and excessive campaigns. Higher campaign and clearance activities for XXL will impact the gross margin, which is expected to be around 30-32 per cent (37.9 per cent). EBITDA is estimated to be in the range of negative NOK 25 to 75 million (NOK 205 million). This could change as the last weeks of June are important sales weeks.
XXL expects to be in compliance with its 30 June 2023 financial covenants and is in constructive dialogues with its lending banks.
XXL will present the actual second quarter 2023 figures on 14 July 2023.
For further queries, please contact:
Investor Relations
Tolle O. R. Grøterud
Tel: +47 902 72 959
E-mail: ir@xxlasa.com
Press contact:
Andreas Nyheim
Tel: + 47 952 11 779
E-mail: presse@xxl.no
This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act. This announcement was published by Tolle O. R. Grøterud, Investor Relations Officer, on 18 June 2023 at 21:50 CET.
About XXL ASA
XXL is a leading sports retailer with stores and e-commerce in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Austria. It is the largest among the major sports retailers in the Nordics. XXL pursues a broad customer appeal, offering a one stop shop experience with a wide range of products for sports, hunting, skiing, biking and other outdoor activities. XXL's concept is to have the largest stores with the best prices and the widest assortment of products, focusing on branded goods.
Alternative Performance Measures (APM)
Certain financial measures and ratios related thereto in this release, including gross margin and EBITDA (collectively, the “Non-GAAP Measures”), are not specifically defined under IFRS or any other generally accepted accounting principles. These measures are presented in this release because they are among the measures used by Management to evaluate the cash available to fund ongoing, long-term obligations and they are frequently used by other interested parties for valuation purposes or as a common measure of the ability of a company to incur and meet debt service obligations. These measures may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies and are not measurements under IFRS or other generally accepted accounting principles, and you should not consider such items as alternatives to profit for the year, total operating revenues, operating income or any other performance measures derived in accordance with IFRS, and they may be different from similarly titled measures used by other companies. Please also see our quarterly reports for further information, reconciliations and historical figures.
Gross profit represents operating revenue less cost of goods sold. Gross margin is gross profit in per cent of revenue.
EBITDA - Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. EBITDA is a key financial parameter for XXL. EBITDA represents operating income plus depreciation.
Liquidity reserve / liquidity covenant
Our liquidity reserve is defined as our available cash and cash equivalents plus available liquidity through overdraft and credit facilities.