ASBIS with high gross margin and growth on European markets in Q1 2024

ASBIS Group (WSE: ASB), a leading Value Add Distributor, developer, and provider of ICT, IoT products, solutions, and services to the markets of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), though under difficult current market conditions, achieved good financial results in the first quarter of 2024. Sales revenues in the first quarter of 2024 amounted to USD 713.2 million (PLN 2,848.7 billion), while net profit reached USD 14 million (PLN 55.9 million). The gross profit margin stabilized at a high level of nearly 8.3%.

OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS IN Q1 2024:

• The largest ASBIS country in terms of sales was Kazakhstan, while the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region still maintained the largest share in Group revenues (over 46%).
• The Central and Eastern Europe region recorded a 17% increase in sales y-o-y, thanks to strong results in Poland and the Czech Republic.
• Poland has become a permanent member among the 10 countries with the highest revenues in the Group, moving up from 8^th to 6^th place in the discussed period with revenues of over USD 28.5 million (an increase of over 10% y-o-y).
• The Annual General Meeting on May 8^th, 2024 adopted a resolution on the payment of a final dividend from the Company's 2023 profits of USD 0.30 per share. The total dividend from the Company's 2023 profits,  including the interim dividend, will be USD 0.50 per share, a combined payout of USD 27.8 million, a record in the Company's history.
• The Group published its financial forecast for 2024: revenues may amount to USD 3.1 - 3.4 billion, while net profit between USD 60 - 64 million.

ASBIS dynamically develops activities:

• ASBIS and Lenovo have expanded their infrastructure solutions partnership in Central Asia.
• ASBIS has opened another iSpace store with Apple Authorized Reseller status in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. The newly opened store is the first in Uzbekistan, and the Group currently operates a total of 31 stores where Apple products can be purchased.
• ASBIS Poland (a subsidiary of ASBIS) has doubled its space in the Ideal-Idea City Park logistics center in Raszyn near Warsaw and currently manages 5,000 m2 of warehouse and office space. 

“Undoubtedly, the first quarter of 2024 has been a challenging period for ASBIS in terms of supply and demand constraints in multiple markets of our operations,” said Serhei Kostevitch, CEO of ASBIS Group. “We faced an overflow of non-official imports of multiple product groups which had a price advantage over our products. This is not a new situation for us, as we have already dealt with it in the past, and together with Apple are already working to resolve this situation. Other factors that negatively affected our results in Q1 2024 were lower than expected sales in Ukraine, where we saw lower demand due to the continuation of the hostilities in the country, causing a worse than we expected sentiment of Ukrainian consumers related to geopolitical uncertainty.”

Serhei Kostevitch added: “It is worth noting, however, that despite the decline in our results in major markets such as Kazakhstan and Ukraine, our sales in Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East and Africa significantly increased. We will continue to develop these regions, together with Central-Asian markets this year, which is expected to improve our results in the following quarters. We are also satisfied with the high gross margin, which is still above 8%.” 

FINANCIAL RESULTS 

Considering the market and the current geopolitical situation, ASBIS generated good financial results in the discussed period. A summary of the financial results of the ASBIS Group in the first quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2023 are presented in the tables below (presentation of results are both in USD and PLN). The official reporting currency of the Group remains the USD.

Financial results of the Group in Q1 2024 and Q1 2023
(USD million)

 PLN million

FORECAST FOR 2024  

On May 8^th, 2024, ASBIS published its financial forecast for 2024. According to the assumptions, the Group plans sales revenues in 2024 to be between USD 3.1 billion and USD 3.4 billion, while net profit after tax between USD 60 million and USD 64 million.

DETAILED SALES DATA

SALES BY REGION

Traditionally and throughout the Company’s operations, the CIS and the CEE regions contribute the majority of our revenues. This has not changed in Q1 2024.

In Q1 2024 revenues derived in the CIS region have decreased y-o-y by 18.6%,  while sales in the Central and Eastern Europe and other main regions have significantly increased. The major reason for lower sales in the CIS region is the unfavorable market factors in our largest markets, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

As a result of the above-mentioned facts, the contribution of certain regions in total revenues for Q1 2024 has changed, as compared to Q1 2023.

The CIS region contribution decreased to 46.25%, compared to 56.16% in Q1 2023. Central and Eastern Europe contribution has increased to 26.24% from 22.16%, the Middle East and Africa region has grown to 17.02% from 12.72% and Western Europe has increased to 9.56% from 8.41% in Q1 2023.

Geographical structure of ASBIS sales in Q1 2024 and Q1 2023

SALES BY COUNTRY

Country-by-country analysis shows a decline in revenues in Kazakhstan – the Group’s largest market, where sales reached USD 164.4 million in Q1 2024, as compared to USD 175.4 million in the corresponding period of 2023. This was mainly due to growth in the gray market, and ASBIS currently tries to fix it, with the assistance of its suppliers. .

United Arab Emirates has become the second biggest market of operations, delivering revenues of USD 86.4 million in Q1 2024 (an increase of 28.0% year-on-year).

Business in Ukraine – one directly affected by the war, was negatively impacted by the delays in deliveries to Ukraine due to ongoing hostilities, but also the blockade of the Polish-Ukrainian border.

The Czech Republic and the Netherlands grew exceptionally in Q1 2024, as compared to the corresponding period of 2023.

Poland generated a robust growth in Q1 2024 (+10.1%), as compared to Q1 2023. The best-selling product categories in Poland were processors, SSDs and displays.

Structure of revenues – Top 10 countries in Q1 2024 and Q1 2023
(USD ’000)