Delårsrapport Q2 - 2018 Hedin Bil (eng) 1
I.A. HEDIN BIL AB The second quarter marked an im
portant milestone when Hedin entered the Belgian market through the acquisition of seven Mercedes-Benz dealerships in and around Ghent from Daimler. The acquired dealerships are marketed under the Hedin Automotive brand. Belgium is a substantial market with a population size just over Swedens, but with a passenger car market of 546 558 new cars in 2017, to be compared with the Swedish market of 379 393 sold passenger cars during the same year. Comparable figures for commercial vehicles was 79 427 in Belgium compared to 55 381 in Sweden. Eastern Flanders in Belgium, where we now have established business, is a strategically important market with high purchasing power and a preference for the high quality products that we are offering. The Belgian market has entered a consolidation phase similar to the one Swedish car retail has experienced. Our next step is to integrate the five new Mercedes-Benz passenger car dealerships we acquired after the closing of the second quarter. Earnings for the second quarter recovered from a slow start of the year and the operating profit improved compared to previous year. Part of the explanation is that we have worked through the back log of delayed passenger car deliveries that we experienced predominantly in Norway in the first quarter. The biggest effect in Sweden in the second quarter was increased market activity in anticipation of the new road tax system effective as of July 1. There was also a change in the tax system in Norway which raised the sales of plug-in hybrids in the second quarter. Expectations for the last two quarters of 2018 are less predictable than before, although we expect to partly compensate the negative effect of the new Swedish road taxes with sales of the passenger cars that were registered prior to July 1 and therefore are not affected by the change. ANDERS HEDIN Anders Hedin 1 APRIL - 30 JUNE I.A. HEDIN BIL AB INTERIM REPORT 2018 9 CEO COMMENT