Lindex Group may have been in expansion mode lately, having opened a large new Lindex store in the Bluewater shopping mall in Kent, UK, just before Christmas, but its latest set of results showed declining fortunes on the sales front, although a “solid profitability improvement” in the final quarter.

On Friday the company released its figures for Q4 and the full year and said its financial performance was “impacted by [the] challenging market environment”.

For Q4, group revenue edged down to €273.7 million from €274.3 million, although it increased by 0.8% in local currencies. This divided down to the buoyant Lindex division seeing revenue of €169.1 million, just up from €168.2 million in the previous year. The company said there was a significant revenue increase of 14.9% in the division’s digital channels (and it has put new technology in place that should help this in future). In local currencies, revenue increased by 2.3%.

But the Stockmann division’s revenue decreased by 1.4% to €104.6 million from €106.1 million due to lower sales in the fashion category.

Yet the overall group gross margin improved to 58.1% from 57.5% and its adjusted operating result increased to €36.1 million from €30.2 million.

The Lindex division’s adjusted operating result increased to €26.8 million from €22.3 million due to increased gross profit and good cost control. And Stockmann’s adjusted operating result improved to €10.5 million from €9 million due to successful cost efficiency measures.

Operating profit increased to €33.1 million from €28.9 million and net profit jumped to €19.8 million from €9.7 million.

That quarter clearly showed an improvement over the year as a whole with total group revenue for 2024 falling to €940.1 million from €951.7 million. That was a fall of 1.2% in total and 1.3% in local currencies.

Lindex division revenue fell by almost 1% to €628.8 million and Stockmann was down 2.2% at €311.6 million while the overall gross margin barely moved.

Adjusted operating profit fell to €74.9 million from €80 million with profit falling in both divisions. Net profit for the year was just €13.2 million, down from €51.7 million, mainly due to an increase in tax expenses and costs related to the restructuring programme.

In 2025, Lindex Group expects its revenue to increase by anything between 0% and 4% in local currencies with adjusted operating profit between €70 million and €90 million.

It said the macroeconomic situation in its main markets is estimated to remain challenging, especially in H1. Continuing geopolitical uncertainty may dent the economic recovery. Towards the latter part of the year, economic growth might accelerate as interest rates are expected to continue falling and inflation to remain stable. Increasing purchasing power of households may gradually start boosting consumer demand.