NWG // FINANCIAL INFORMATION
F i n a n c i a l i n f o r m a t i o n
Board of Directors ' report
The Board of Directors and CEO of New Wave Group AB ( publ ), 556350-0916 , based in Gothenburg , hereby submit the financial statements and consolidated financial statements for the financial year 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021 .
New Wave Group is a growth company that creates , acquires and develops brands .
Our brands are categorized into three operating segments : Corporate , Sports & Leisure and Gifts & Home Furnishings .
The Group will achieve synergies by coordinating the design , purchasing , marketing , warehousing , and distribution of the product range .
To ensure good allocation of risks , the Group will offer its products in the promo market and the retail market .
New Wave Group ’ s competitiveness lies primarily in its strong brands , considerable expertise , high level of service , and a well-developed overall concept . Products are primarily manufactured in Asia , and to a lesser extent in Europe . Thanks to its relative size , New Wave Group has good purchasing prices and efficient logistics . The Group ’ s most well-known wholly-owned brands include AHEAD , Auclair , Clique , Cottover , Craft , Cutter & Buck , Grizzly , J . Harvest & Frost , James Harvest Sportswear , Jobman , Kosta Boda , Orrefors , PAX , Projob , Sagaform , Seger and Toppoint .
Summary of 2021
Despite the fact that the pandemic continued into 2021 and several countries had strict operating restrictions , the Group delivered record results in the first quarter . The COVID-19 challenges for many of our operations continued , including canceled events , sports activities that were completely canceled , while other elite sport events were conducted without an audience and the lack of conferences . Demand for the Group ' s products and services remained lower than in the previous years .
However , we saw a recovery in the USA and Canada . Sweden also developed strongly while the rest of Europe continued to lose ground , except for Southern Europe , which showed growth . The negative effects on net sales were offset by an improved gross profit margin and implemented cost savings . It was also gratifying that all three of our segments improved their results during the first quarter of the year .
During the second quarter , the COVID-19 pandemic was still a major concern , even though we saw a significantly stronger market than before . Restrictions on facilities for events , sports , certain audiences , etc . contributed to this . However , the second quarter of 2020 was affected to a greater extent than 2021 by COVID-19 and its shutdowns of countries as well as restrictions on deliveries . The recovery took place mainly in the USA , the Nordic countries and in the retail sales channel . The quarter ' s net sales increased compared to the previous year by 13 % and even though our focus is primarily on earnings , it was still nice to be back on growth . Operating result for the quarter increased from SEK 110.1 million to SEK 241.3 million and the operating margin was 16.2 %. In addition to the increased net sales , the improvement in earnings was due to a continued strong gross profit margin and good cost control .
Although the pandemic was not over yet and definitely not over during the third quarter , society interactions began to open up . The Group ' s net sales continued to develop positively compared with the previous year . The recovery took place mainly in the USA and the Nordic countries , but Central and Southern Europe also had good growth . Just as we predicted in previous reports , demand increased and we had a strong autumn . Net sales increased by 13 % and almost reached the 2019 level . In terms of earnings , it was a new record for a third quarter and operating result increased by 48 % and the operating margin was 15.7 %. All segments improved their operating result and we continued to have a strong cash flow . The gross profit
ANNUAL REPORT // 063