Finnish trade down in March

Translation: Original published in Finnish on 5/2/2025 at 8:26 am EEST.

The target market of Kesko’s grocery trade, Tokmanni and Lindex’s Stockmann division, i.e., the department store and hypermarket chains, declined by just over 4% in March. Both food (-5%) and non-food (-1%) sales declined. Within non-food, the trend was twofold, with sales of long-suffering apparel rising by 2%. In contrast, sales in the home and leisure product group declined by 2%. In particular, the decline in food sales reflects the different timing of Easter from the comparison period, which will naturally be compensated in Q2.

Kesko gained market share on the consumer side

Kesko's sales developed more positively than the market, as consumer customer sales declined by slightly less than 4% in March. This was evident from the company's comment in Tuesday's results that it had performed in line with the market in its hypermarkets, supported in part by its price investment program. On the corporate customer side, Kesko surprisingly lost to the market (Kespro -2% vs. market -1%), whereas the trend in recent years has been the opposite.

Tokmanni supported by apparel

From the perspective of Tokmanni's Finnish business, the market developed in two directions. Sales of groceries, which account for around half of its sales, fell quite markedly. On the other hand, the company has received support from the market in the form of rising revenue in the clothing product group. However, recent market developments have been very different from the figures reported by Tokmanni. At the beginning of 2024, the company was losing against the market, while recently it has been a clear market winner. Thus, the market serves as an indicator of Tokmanni's performance, but we believe that the volatile operating environment and Tokmanni's investments in promotional activities mitigate its informative value. We expect the Tokmanni segment to grow by 1% in Q1, slightly above the market development (Q1: -0.6%).

Lindex already reported Q1 figures

Lindex Group reported earlier this week already that the revenue of the Stockmann department stores in Finland fell by just over 4% in Q1. The apparel market, which is important for the Lindex Group, grew by 2% in March, but Q1 as a whole was down by almost 4% year-on-year. The development of Stockmann department stores has therefore been in line with the market, or slightly weaker.