Q1 2025 - Financial highlights
• Net revenue was SEK 247.8 (222.2) million, corresponding to an increase of 11.5% (-5.1%)
• Gross profit was SEK 127.8 (109.1) million, corresponding to a gross margin of 51.6% (49.1%)
• Operating profit was SEK 19.9 (1.4) million, corresponding to an operating margin of 8.0% (0.6%)
• Profit after tax was SEK 16.3 (-1.9) million, corresponding to earnings per share of SEK 0.54 (-0.06)
• Cash flow from operating activities was SEK -13.0 (-4.6) million
• Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March amounted to SEK 172.6 (96.0) million, with credit facilities unutilised
Significant events during the quarter
• No significant events were reported during the quarter
Significant events after end of quarter
• No significant events have been reported since the end of the quarter
A strong first quarter
Nelly performed well during the first quarter of the year. Net revenue increased by 11.5% (-5.1%) to SEK 247.8 (222.2) million. Gross margin grew to 51.6% (49.1%), contributing to an operating profit of SEK 19.9 (1.4) million and an operating margin of 8.0% (0.6%).
The right assortment and effective marketing
The first quarter has historically been Nelly's most challenging quarter, characterised by more discount-driven sales during certain periods and fewer obvious occasions for our customers to update their wardrobe. However, the past quarter shows that, with the right assortment and effective marketing, we are able to deliver both growth and solid profitability even under these circumstances. The number of active customers grew for the second quarter in a row and order intake was up on the corresponding period of the previous year.
Nelly's own brand share continued to increase, reaching 50.1% (39.9%), and the return rate fell further to 24.8% (33.4%). The latter is the result of our long-term intensive work with a cross-functional returns strategy, while opening our physical store has also contributed positively to further reducing the return rate.
All these KPI:s reflect how attractive our assortment has become, particularly in important categories such as jeans, tops and sneakers, all of which grew significantly compared with the same quarter of the previous year. Another critical factor enabling the growth was that we this year managed to ensure better stock depth early in the spring/summer season, unlike in 2024 when several bestsellers sold out at times.
While the assortment performed well, we also improved the efficiency of our marketing in the first few months of the year. Total traffic grew by 13.4% on the previous year, while we maintained the conversion rate. We saw a positive development in organic traffic, which was the result of increased organic search as well as our social media channels. Marketing costs as a proportion of net revenue rose slightly to 9.9% (9.6%), but profitability per order improved, and we continued to achieve a positive trend in new customer recruitment. Going forward, we will focus on further enhancing the customer experience in all channels, to strengthen conversion and increase average order value.
Continued initiatives for growth and efficiency
For the remainder of 2025 we are planning to deliver several exciting initiatives, which will continue to improve the business. Several new partnerships with strong global brands like Puma and Scholl were launched in the first quarter, and we continue to work intensively on developing and enhancing our entire external brand portfolio. Our flagship store on Drottninggatan further established its position in the first quarter compared with the previous year, which confirms the demand for physical meeting places and experiences among Nelly's target audience. We see further potential here to refine our store concept as an important complement to e-commerce.
Alongside these customer-facing initiatives, we will start to move our returns management from a third party abroad to our own warehouse in Borås to give us more control and reduce lead times. Last but not least, we are completing the IT system changes wich we previously announced would be an important priority throughout much of 2025.
As always, I would like to conclude by expressing my deep gratitude both to all our wonderful customers, new and loyal, and to my brilliant colleagues in the Nelly team. It is a delight to be surrounded by such talented, committed colleagues who have a genuine passion for our customers.
Helena Karlinder-Östlundh,
CEO Nelly Group AB
Nelly Group AB (publ)
Box 690
501 13 Borås, Sweden
Corp. ID 556035-6940
Registered office: Borås
Visiting adress: Lundbygatan 1, Borås
Webcast on the interim report
Analysts, investors and the media are invited to a webcast presentation of Q1 on 24 April at 9 a.m. CEST. The presentation will be given in English by Helena Karlinder-Östlundh, CEO, and Niklas Lingblom, CFO. The webcast will be made available on the Nelly Group website.
Link to webcast: https://nelly.videosync.fi/2025-04-24-q1
To listen to the Q1 report by phone, the following callin details are available:
Finland: +358 9 4245 0972
Sweden: +46 8 525 07003
United Kingdom: +44 20 7043 5048
United States: +1 (774) 450-9900
Conference ID: 5005561#
User ID: 34990#
For more information, please contact:
Niklas Lingblom, CFO
+46 70 002 22 41
ir@nelly.com
About Nelly Group
Nelly Group operates nelly.com which is one of the Nordic region's strongest fashion brands for young women and nlyman.com. The core is the own brand in combination with digital sales directly to our target group. Nelly has created a strong commitment through a high degree of fashion and digital marketing. The company has 0.9 million customers and sales of SEK 1.1 billion per year. The group was previously called Qliro Group. Nelly Groups is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm in the small-cap segment with the ticker "NELLY".
This information is information that Nelly Group is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out above, at 2025-04-24 08:00 CEST.
