Rusta AB (publ) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Niklas Ekman - DNB Carnegie - Analyst : Yes, a couple of questions from my end. Firstly, can I ask, when you talk about a change in consumer behavior that you've seen here in the quarter to the positive. How -- do you have any examples when looking at comparable products? Because I think that in Q1, your sales are more supposed to cyclicality than you are now. So for comparable products, are you seeing the same here that there's a notable change in consumer behavior? And a clear shift towards more high-ticket items? That's my first question. LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:00AM, RUSTA.ST - Q2 2026 Rusta AB (publ) Earnings Call

Question: Niklas Ekman - DNB Carnegie - Analyst : Very clear. Can I also ask about the gross margin here? Obviously, quite strong now up 90 basis points. That's despite continued currency headwinds. If these now reverse the tailwinds. Can you say anything about the magnitude here? Are we talking about a gross margin expansion well over 1-percentage-point in the coming quarters?

Question: Niklas Ekman - DNB Carnegie - Analyst : And on that topic, you now have an EBITA margin that is on a rolling 12 month basis, it's just below 7%. What do you think your chances of reaching your financial target of at least 8% margin is for the next financial year? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:00AM, RUSTA.ST - Q2 2026 Rusta AB (publ) Earnings Call

Question: Niklas Ekman - DNB Carnegie - Analyst : Very clear. I think I'll jump back into the queue. I may come back later with more questions.

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : A couple of questions from me. Could you maybe Sofie then break down the sort of gross margin components in the quarter. You talked about mix, you talked about campaign efficiency. You talked about freight cost duties, when it related to Norway and FX, of course. Is there any way you can sort of buy those impacts?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Could you -- would you care to specify how much negative it is in the quarter?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : I know it's difficult. LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:00AM, RUSTA.ST - Q2 2026 Rusta AB (publ) Earnings Call

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Yes. Okay. And when you say that you have a good start to Q3. And of course, we hear you when you say that you have a record Black Week. Clearly, sort of top line is performing well so far in Q3. Does that also mean do you want to sort of also say that you have a similar development when it comes to the gross margin impact and what we just talked about in terms of mix and all that, and of course, a declining negative impact from FX standing into positive. Is that what we should also read into the current trading statement?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Just to be very precise, do you think that the impact of FX could be positive already in Q3? Or is it rather just turning positive during Q3?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Okay. Okay. Good. Another Nitty-gritty thing, but I just noticed that you had 2 stores signed in Germany in the last quarter, now it's 1 store, and I don't think there's any store openings in Germany in the past quarter, what happened there?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Okay. And Goran, you previously talked about being interested in clusters in the German market when it comes to stores. Is that prevalent in the market? Or is that far away? Or how do you view it?

Question: Gustav Hageus - SEB - Analyst : I'm thinking about the trading update here that November that -- it seems at least as good as Q2 then in terms of like-for-like. I'm just thinking about the seasonality intra-quarter here in Q3 to get a sense of how much is already in the bank. 39 days in the quarter has gone. I think it's 14 days to Christmas Eve. I assume quite little sales after that. Or could you advise us how much of a typical Q3 that is already sort of in the books here on the 9th of December.

Question: Gustav Hageus - SEB - Analyst : Okay. And then I'm thinking about the store rollout. You've said now, I think, for 2 quarters that you're comfortable with the upper range of the guidance up to 80 stores. Would it perhaps make sense to update on what the more relevant guidance range is where you actually believe that you'll end up, is 80 the midpoint in such a range or where are we now?

Question: Gustav Hageus - SEB - Analyst : Okay. And then finally for me, purchasing prices coming down, it appears continue to come down, which has been a trend for some time in Asia, but appears that the staples from Europe sort of offsetting that a bit. Could you shed some light on what's the net effect here as you see it going into Q3 and Q4? Are you also going to have a purchasing power or purchasing price tailwind here? Or do they offset each other in Europe and Asia?

Question: Niklas Ekman - DNB Carnegie - Analyst : Just 2 quick follow-ups. First, we talked about the competitive environment before. And you say anything about that, if you noted any changes? Are there any changes in marketing activity? Do you see any changes in store openings by peers or anything else?

Question: Niklas Ekman - DNB Carnegie - Analyst : Very good. Second question is on online. Now that you're rolling out this in Norway as well. Can you give the approximate share of sales online that you're generating in Sweden, Finland at the moment? LSEG STREETEVENTS | www.lseg.com | Contact Us consent of LSEG. 'LSEG' and the LSEG logo are registered trademarks of LSEG and its affiliated companies. DECEMBER 09, 2025 / 8:00AM, RUSTA.ST - Q2 2026 Rusta AB (publ) Earnings Call

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Yes. Just a follow-up on sort of the mix and you talked about increasing home decoration as a share of sales and maybe decreasing consumables. Does that mean also that private label has gone up in terms of share?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : All right. And do you have an updated number of where you are in terms of private label as a total share of sales rolling that.

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : And is it your assessment, I don't know exactly where you are now and maybe you don't either that there is still much to do on that topic?

Question: Daniel Schmidt - Danske Bank - Analyst : Yes. And maybe the last one on that topic. Do you see any sort of preference differences between the Swedish or Nordic market and the German market in terms of your private label attractiveness?