Relais Group Plc, Stock Exchange Release 22 October 2025, 9:00 a.m. EEST
This release is a summary of Relais Group's Interim Report January-September 2025. The full release is attached to this release and is available on our website at https://relais.fi/en/investors/.
JULY-SEPTEMBER 2025 IN BRIEF
- Net sales totalled EUR 101.1 million (July-September 2024: 74.9), change +35%
- Comparable EBITA was EUR 10.9 (9.2) million, change +19%
- Comparable EBITA margin was 10.8 (12.2) %
- Comparable earnings per share, basic was EUR 0.31 (0.26)
- Net cash flow from operations was EUR 6.6 (4.3) million
JANUARY-SEPTEMBER 2025 IN BRIEF
- Net sales totalled EUR 266.8 million (January-September 2024: 231.9), change +15%
- Comparable EBITA was EUR 27.7 (26.2) million, change +6%
- Comparable EBITA margin was 10.4 (11.3) %
- Comparable earnings per share, basic was EUR 0.75 (0.65)
- Net cash flow from operations was EUR 9.1 (18.5) million
2025 OUTLOOK AND LONG-TERM FINANCIAL TARGET
Relais Group does not provide a numeric guidance for the financial year 2025. The company has a long-term financial target published on 2 March 2023, according to which it aims to reach a pro forma comparable EBITA of EUR 50 million by the end of the year 2025.
KEY FIGURES
| (EUR 1,000 unless stated otherwise) | 7-9/ 2025 | 7-9/ 2024 | Change | 1-9/2025 | 1-9/2024 | Change | 12 months rolling | Change | 1-12/ 2024 |
| Net sales | 101,065 | 74,908 | +35% | 266,762 | 231,924 | +15% | 357,444 | +11% | 322,606 |
| Gross profit | 48,965 | 36,031 | +36% | 130,782 | 109,623 | +19% | 172,378 | +14% | 151,219 |
| Gross margin | 48.4% | 48.1% | 49.0% | 47.3% | 48.2% | 46.9% | |||
| EBITDA | 14,392 | 13,012 | +11% | 39,167 | 37,569 | +4% | 53,460 | +3% | 51,863 |
| Comparable EBITDA 1) | 16,474 | 13,026 | +26% | 41,847 | 37,612 | +11% | 55,035 | +5% | 52,490 |
| EBITA | 8,832 | 9,141 | -3% | 24,983 | 26,117 | -4% | 34,991 | -3% | 36,126 |
| EBITA margin | 8.7% | 12.2% | 9.4% | 11.3% | 9.8% | 11.2% | |||
| Comparable EBITA 1) | 10,914 | 9,155 | +19% | 27,663 | 26,160 | +6% | 36,565 | -1% | 36,753 |
| Comparable EBITA margin 1) | 10.8% | 12.2% | 10.4% | 11.3% | 10.2% | 11.4% | |||
| Operating profit | 7,084 | 8,399 | -16% | 21,495 | 23,948 | +10% | 30,530 | -7% | 32,983 |
| Profit for the period | 3,427 | 4,642 | -26% | 10,760 | 11,800 | -9% | 17,493 | -6% | 18,533 |
| Earnings per share, basic | 0.18 | 0.26 | -29% | 0.59 | 0.65 | -10% | 0.96 | -6% | 1.02 |
| Comparable earnings per share, basic 1) | 0.31 | 0.26 | +19% | 0.75 | 0.65 | +15% | 1.06 | ||
| Cash flow from operations | 6,647 | 4,340 | +53% | 9,087 | 18,472 | -51% | 25,452 | -27% | 34,837 |
| Net working capital | 105,032 | 67,434 | +56% | 68,208 | |||||
| Net working capital turnover | 4.1 | 4.7 | -13% | 4.8 | |||||
| Interest-bearing net debt | 199,986 | 146,556 | +36% | 141,283 | |||||
| Net Debt to EBITDA, LTM | 3.74 | 2.97 | +26% | 2.72 | |||||
| Interest-bearing net debt excluding lease liabilities | 103,188 | 86,317 | +20% | 82,672 | |||||
| Net Debt excluding lease liabilities to EBITDA, LTM | 1.93 | 1.75 | +10% | 1.59 | |||||
| Equity ratio | 36.5% | 33.4% | 35.6% | ||||||
| Return on net working capital | 40.4% | 44.5% | 53.4% | ||||||
| Return on equity | 9.7% | 14.1% | 16.2% | ||||||
| Return on capital employed | 11.2% | 12.7% | 13.2% | ||||||
| Employees, end of period | 1,658 | 1,178 | +41% | 1,658 | 1,178 | +41% | 1,759 | +38% | 1,278 |
| Employees, average | 1,661 | 1,196 | +39% | 1,441 | 1,142 | +26% | 1,468 | +26% | 1,169 |
The change percentages in the tables have been calculated on exact figures before the amounts were rounded to millions of euros.
1) Excluding IACs and purchase price allocation adjustments and amortisations (PPAs) as applicable
CEO ARNI EKHOLM COMMENTS THE THIRD QUARTER OF 2025
A RECORD STRONG QUARTER: HIGHEST QUARTERLY NET SALES AND COMPARABLE EBITA IN THE HISTORY OF RELAIS GROUP
"The third quarter of this year was in many ways a historical quarter for Relais Group. For the first time ever, our quarterly net sales surpassed the EUR 100 million mark, representing a growth of +35%. Our comparable EBITA (EUR 10.9 million) was also at an all-time high level, reaching a growth of +19%. The defensive and resilient nature of our business model is also reflected in our organic growth, which was +4% in comparable currency rates. This is a strong performance under the current market conditions.
Acquisitions
The scale of our business operations changed substantially during Q3. As a sector focused competent compounder, we have diligently pursued our strategy and made a total of four acquisitions so far this year. In June, we acquired Team Verksted and Lastvagnsdelar in Norway, which significantly strengthened our position as the biggest operator of independent commercial vehicle repair and maintenance workshops in the Nordic markets. In July, the Matro Group team joined us in Benelux, opening the lucrative European truck accessory markets for us. In July, we also announced the acquisition of Autodelar, strengthening the position of our group company ABR in Sweden. Finally, right after the end of Q3, we completed the acquisition of two high-quality commercial vehicle workshops, strengthening the workshop network of Raskone in Eastern-Finland. As a result of these acquisitions, our pro forma net sales is over EUR 400 million and we employ almost 1,700 professionals in eight different countries.
Segments
The acquisitions we have made had a significant effect in the financial performance of our segments and business areas during Q3. The Scandinavian segment grew its net sales by 64% (organically +5% with constant exchange rates), as most of the acquired companies are reported under that segment. The Finland and Baltic segment grew organically by 2%, which is clearly above the estimated market growth.
Business Areas
Our Technical Wholesale and Products business area performed very well, reaching a net sales growth of +21% (organically +7% with constant exchange rates). The spare parts and equipment sales developed favourably in Sweden and Norway, where especially the workshop equipment sales were strong. The newly acquired Norwegian heavy commercial vehicle spare parts wholesaler, Lastvagnsdelar, also contributed well during the quarter. The important vehicle lighting products sales season has started very well, with Strands continuing its strong performance and the sales of our e-commerce platform Lumise reaching record level sales during the quarter.
The sales development of our Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance was extremely strong with a growth of 62% during the quarter. This strong growth is attributed to the acquired Norwegian workshop chain, Team Verksted AS, which has had a truly flying start as a new member of the Relais family. The organic growth showed a minus of 3%, which is partly related to the very strong comparison period last year and the softish trailer repair market in both Finland and Sweden. We expect the organic growth to improve during the coming quarters as the investments we have made in our workshop network in Sweden start to have a positive effect. In Sweden, we have opened two new workshops this year and successfully started the rebranding of our STS-workshops under the strong brand of Team Verkstad. Relais Group now operates 62 specialized heavy commercial vehicle workshops across Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The Commercial Vehicle Repair and Maintenance business has an inherently average lower EBITA-% than Technical Wholesale and Products. This is reflected in the Group level EBITA-% as the weight of the repair and maintenance area has grown based on the recent acquisitions.
However, our experience shows that with our workshop excellence-program we have been able to increase the profitability of the acquired companies. Generally, this business area is also capital-light and offers therefore good possibilities for increased return on capital.
Growth strategy
Our growth strategy is based on reaching earnings growth through a combination of acquisitions, organic growth and functional excellence. Basically, we allocate capital and aim to make the capital work harder for us to create value for our shareholders. Having sustainable financing solutions, in addition to using existing cash flows, is vital for further growth of the company. As part of constantly developing our acquisition financing solutions and to strengthen our balance sheet, we successfully issued a hybrid bond of EUR 50 million in September. The bond was broadly distributed and significantly oversubscribed. There was wide investor support across the Nordics and beyond, with a considerable number of investors participating in the transaction. The strong investor demand highlights our solid market position and enables us to continue our acquisitive growth strategy.
Outlook
Relais Group is in good shape and well positioned to continue the successful implementation of our strategy also during Q4 and beyond. We see some cautious positive signs in the market, and consider the demand situation for our products and services to be on a stable level. We continue the processing of interesting and relevant acquisition targets and have a healthy pipeline for future acquisitions.
I warmly thank all our almost 1,700 professionals for the extremely strong performance and contribution during the first nine months of the year. I also thank our customers, shareholders and business partners for your continued support."
EVENTS AFTER THE REVIEW PERIOD
Relais Group Plc announced on 7 July 2025 that it's group company Raskone had agreed to acquire two heavy commercial vehicle workshops from Wetteri Auto Oy, a subsidiary of Wetteri Plc. Raskone completed the acquisition on 1 October 2025. The workshops will become part of Raskone and will be reported as part of Relais Group's Finland & Baltics segment from 1 October 2025.
Relais Group Plc announced on 18 September 2025 its decision to issue new unsecured, unguaranteed, subordinated, and perpetual hybrid capital securities with an aggregate nominal amount of EUR 50 million. The Capital Securities were issued on 25 September 2025. On 3 October 2025 the Company submitted an application for the Capital Securities to be admitted to trading on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd. Nasdaq Helsinki admitted the Capital Securities to trading as of 7 October 2025. The ISIN code of the Capital Securities is FI4000592290.
Relais Group Plc announced on 21 October 2025 that the Board of Directors of Relais Group Plc has decided to appoint Christian Johansson Gebauer as the company's new Chief Executive Officer. Gebauer will assume the position no later than 19 January 2026. As announced earlier in June 2025, Arni Ekholm, who has acted as CEO of Relais Group Plc since 2015, has decided to retire on March 31, 2026, in accordance with the terms of his CEO agreement. He will stay within the Group as a senior advisor until his retirement.
Relais Group's Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 10 April 2025 authorized the Board of Directors to decide, at its discretion, on the distribution of a maximum additional dividend of EUR 0.20 per share in one instalment. Relais Group Plc announced on 22 October 2025 that the Board of Directors has resolved to distribute an additional dividend of EUR 0.20 per share. The record date of the additional dividend is 24 October 2025 and the payment date 31 October 2025. As per the resolution date, the total sum of the additional dividend is EUR 3,687,104.60. The additional dividend shall be paid to shareholders who on the record date of the dividend payment are registered in the company's shareholder register maintained by Euroclear Finland Ltd.
FINANCIAL CALENDAR FOR 2026
Relais Group Plc will publish the following financial reports during 2026:
- Financial Statements Review 2025
13 February 2026 - Interim Report January-March 2026,
13 May 2026 - Half-Year Financial Report January-June 2026,
13 August 2026 - Interim Report January-September 2026,
28 October 2026
The reports will be published at approximately 9:00 a.m. Finnish time on the above dates.
Relais Group Plc's Annual Report 2025 will be published on Thursday, 12 March 2026 on the Company's website.
INVITATION TO THE WEBCAST
Relais Group's CEO Arni Ekholm and CFO Thomas Ekström will present the result to the media, investors and analysts at a webcast on Wednesday, 22 October 2025, at 10:00 a.m. EEST. The webcast can be followed at https://relais.events.inderes.com/q3-2025/
Presentation material and video will be available on the company's website at https://relais.fi/en/
after the event.
Relais Group Plc
Board of Directors
Further information:
Arni Ekholm, CEO
Phone: +358 40 760 3323
E-mail: arni.ekholm@relais.fi
Distribution:
Nasdaq Helsinki
Key Media
www.relais.fi
Relais Group
Relais Group is a leading consolidator and acquisition platform on the commercial vehicle aftermarket in Northern Europe. We have a sector focus in vehicle life cycle enhancement and related services. We also serve as a growth platform for the companies we own.
We are a profitable company seeking strong growth. We carry out targeted acquisitions in line with our growth strategy and want to be an active player in the consolidation of the aftermarket in our area of operation. Our acquisitions are targeted at companies having a good strategic fit with our group companies.
Our net sales in 2024 were EUR 322.6 (2023: 284.3) million. So far during 2025, we have completed four acquisitions. We employ approximately 1,700 professionals in eight different countries. The Relais Group share is listed on the Main Market of Nasdaq Helsinki with the stock symbol RELAIS.
www.relais.fi
