Review by the CEO
Profitable growth continues, now also in Switzerland
Q1-Q3 2023, 7 November 2023
Profitable business growth continued in the third quarter, marked by the company’s new growth projects in Finland, Norway and Switzerland. The 16 Holy Cow! restaurants acquired in Switzerland were consolidated as of the beginning of September, and non-recurring transaction costs of approximately EUR 2.5 million associated with the acquisition were recognised in the review period. Adjusted by the transaction costs, the EBIT margin exceeded the target level of 10% both for the review period and the year-to-date. I consider this to be an excellent achievement in the inflationary pressure of the first months of the year and the current interest environment.
The demand for our restaurant services has remained stable, even though the record rainy weather late in the summer affected sales during the high season of terrace sales. Entertainment venues, which include our biggest units Löyly and Allas, in particular suffered due to terrace sales lost due to the bad weather. The demand for food restaurants has remained stable throughout the year, as the Finnish culinary culture has become more European. Growth in fast food is supported by eating out increasing its popularity among adolescents and young adults.
In international business, the integration of Holy Cow! is progressing excellently, and business KPIs have developed even better than we expected. In Norway, profitable growth was accelerated by the acquisition of five new units during the review period.
Customer satisfaction has remained at a good level throughout the year. NPS that measures customer satisfaction in food restaurants is currently 70,4. We have carried out several key recruitments and investments to focus on our customers and quality control. We will continue the systematic monitoring and development of these areas in the future as well. Another important indicator for us is personnel satisfaction and the most recent survey of it indicates that NoHo employees are committed and, on average, satisfied with their workplace.
We are currently updating the objectives for the next strategy period 2024-2026. The objectives will be published during the first half of the year 2024. The principal pillars of business – good customer experience, high personnel satisfaction and the industry’s leading profitability – are a good foundation on which to build the objectives. We are now focusing on successfully finishing this year, supported by the good booking situation.
Aku Vikström
CEO, NoHo Partners