The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.
(Questions from industry analysts are provided in full, but answers are omitted - download the transcript to see the full question-and-answer session)
Question: Jeremy Garnier - Oddo BHF SCA - Analyst
: Yes, thank you for taking my questions. I have two questions. So yes, you begin to have strong market shares in all countries you're present in
Europe. Do you plan to open new countries soon or to accelerate in some countries? And also M&A is still not an option for you?
Question: Jeremy Garnier - Oddo BHF SCA - Analyst
: Okay. And regarding the working capital, so it will improve during H1. Do you still have room to continue to improve the level of inventories? And
if yes, what is your target?
Question: Jeremy Garnier - Oddo BHF SCA - Analyst
: Thank you very much.
Question: Ralf Marinoni - Quirin Privatbank AG - Analyst
: Yes, good morning, everybody. First question is about your new store in Romania. You mentioned that HORNBACH has provided more than EUR2
million for the expansion of public infrastructure to support development in the area and you have also created 120 new jobs for the new market.
So the question is, did you receive any government subsidies or tax benefits for this?
And my second question is about the four new openings. Can you quantify the annual sales potential of the four new markets when they are
running at full steam? So I estimate it's clearly above EUR100 million. Thanks.
Question: Ralf Marinoni - Quirin Privatbank AG - Analyst
: Okay.
Question: Ralf Marinoni - Quirin Privatbank AG - Analyst
: Okay, thank you.
Question: Ralf Marinoni - Quirin Privatbank AG - Analyst
: Exactly, exactly.
Question: Ralf Marinoni - Quirin Privatbank AG - Analyst
: I understand. But maybe you can give us an indication with regard to profitability in your market in Romania. On the one hand, we have less
purchasing power from the people there, which leads to less revenues compared to stores like Germany or so. But on the other hand, we have
much smaller personnel cost. So maybe you can give us an indication for the EBIT margin and profitability in these stores in Romania.
Question: Ralf Marinoni - Quirin Privatbank AG - Analyst
: Okay. Understood. No, that was a clear answer to me and very helpful. Thank you.
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Good morning, and congratulations from my side as well for the numbers. I have a couple of questions. I'll take them one by one, if I may. The first
one is regarding the situation in Germany. You mentioned during the presentation that you expect the German construction and renovation market
to bottom out. Can you please substantiate this and elaborate on this? And what the indicators are that you're looking at?
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: But you don't see like at this moment already a recovery. It's just an expectation that in the future, next year or so, it will recover?
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Okay. Super, thank you. Very clear. Another question regarding costs. If I look at the OpEx, just basically, the cost between gross profit and EBITDA,
I see a jump of EUR30 million in Q2 versus last year Q2. This was a much higher jump compared to the EUR15 million in Q1. So the OpEx seems to
have increased much more in Q2 compared to Q1. Is this going to continue in Q3 and Q4? Was there any like special effect or reason in there, which
led to this higher increase compared to Q1?
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Where are they booked? Sorry, by the way, are they in COGS or are they booked in the [Handelsspanne] or are they (inaudible) or in the financial
results?
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: So that's below EBIT, then?
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Well, I was asking about the OpEx, which is typically above EBITDA. But anyway, no, that's fine. It's good to know, that would have been my next
question.
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Okay. I have two more questions -- one more question and one suggestion. So the first one is the US dollar change, which was like significant, right?
How much will it contribute to the gross profit margin in the next quarters to come? Or to put the question the other way around, how much of
your COGS or of your purchases are in US dollars?
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Okay. Maybe you can get some points of price decreases from your European suppliers, then who buy in China or in the US area, right, which is
now 10% or 15% less expensive. One more -- if we can, which is one suggestion, you have on page 13 in your free cash flow definition. You don't
include leasing, which makes a big difference.
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SEPTEMBER 30, 2025 / 6:30AM, HBH.DE - Half Year 2026 HORNBACH Holding AG & Co KgaA Earnings Call
I think just to -- it would be a more meaningful number for me at least to include leasing because you show EUR130 million free cash flow after
CapEx and dividends, I would include -- it's just my personal opinion, I would include leasing there, which brings the free cash flow to a more
accurate EUR70 million instead of EUR130 million. That's probably more accurate.
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: HORNBACH is always very solid and humble in terms of capital markets presentation, which I like. And therefore, I would show the lower number
rather than a higher number in this case.
Question: Miro Zuzak - JMS Invest - Analyst
: Welcome. That was my last point. Thank you very much. Have a good day. Thank you. Bye-bye.
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