Rapala CEO confirms negative profit warning and cites ‘decreased sales’

Rapala VMC Corporation has issued a negative profit warning, indicating that full year comparable operating profit for this year is expected to be significantly below last year.

The Finnish company, one of the biggest in the industry, says the reason for the drop is due to challenging market conditions caused by prolonged destocking at retail and wholesale.

“This is the result of supply chain bottlenecks and a shift in consumer spending, leading to decreased sales in major markets,” said an announcement yesterday from President and CEO Lars Ollberg. “Pre-sales for the upcoming winter season have also been below expectations.”

To mitigate the impact of the lower turnover, the Group has already started implementing cost savings. These include, among other measures, a restructuring of the Helsinki headquarters, which was finalised in June.

In its previous outlook for 2023, issued on February 10th, the Group said it expected full year comparable operating profit to decrease from 2022.