Clas Ohlson’s sales in the Nordic countries increased by 1 per cent in October, corresponding to an organic growth of 2 per cent. Total sales decreased by 1 per cent compared to the preceding year. Online sales were affected by an upgrade of the e-com trading platform and decreased by 8 per cent.
Total sales in October decreased by 1 per cent to 744 MSEK (755), corresponding to an organic decrease of 1 per cent compared to the preceding year. Sales in comparable units and local currency decreased by 1 per cent. Sales in the Nordic countries increased by 1 per cent, corresponding to an organic growth of 2 per cent. Online sales during the month decreased by 8 per cent to 37 MSEK (40) and were affected by a planned upgrade of the e-com trading platform in mid-October, which caused a temporary reduction in traffic to the site. The date of the upgrade was chosen in order to ensure the best possible trading conditions in the important sales months, November and December. The upgrade will give customers a better shopping experience in their mobiles and tablets as well as their computers, and allow for a more scalable e-com platform, which can be developed at a faster rate.
Compared to October last year, there was a net reduction in the store network of 5 stores and at the end of the month; the total number of stores was 232. In the middle of October, a new store opened at the Mall of Tripla in Helsinki, Finland.
| Countries, MSEK | October 2019/20 |
October 2018/19 |
Percentage change | Organic growth |
| Sweden | 343 | 339 | 1 | 1 |
| Norway | 299 | 301 | -1 | 2 |
| Finland | 98 | 92 | 6 | 2 |
| Nordics | 739 | 732 | 1 | 2 |
| Outside the Nordics* | 5 | 23 | -79 | -80 |
| Total** | 744 | 755 | -1 | -1 |
* Affected by the closure of stores in the UK and Germany.
** Of which 37 MSEK (40) comprises online sales.
Total sales for the first six months of the fiscal year 2019/20 (May to October 2019) increased by 2 per cent to 4,209 MSEK (4,115). Organic sales increased by 2 per cent. Sales in comparable units and local currency increased by 3 per cent. Online sales for the period increased by 20 per cent to 227 MSEK (189).
For more information, please contact:
Carolina Strömlid, Head of Investor Relations, +46 70 880 71 73, carolina.stromlid@clasohlson.se.
This is information that Clas Ohlson AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out above, at 7:00 am CET on 15 November 2019.
Clas Ohlson was founded in 1918 as a mail order business in Insjön, Sweden. Today we are a retail company with customers in five markets, approximately 5,000 co-workers and annual sales of approximately 8.8 billion SEK. Our share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm. A lot has happened since the start in 1918, but one thing has remained the same over the years; that we want to help and inspire people to improve their everyday lives by offering smart, simple, practical solutions at attractive prices. Visit about.clasohlson.com/en to read about our passion for simplifying life in all kinds of homes.