BIKE24 Aktie

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to today's H1 2026 Earnings Call of the Bike24 Holding AG. I'm delighted to welcome the CEO, Andrés Martin-Birner; and CFO, Sylvio Eichhorst, who will give us an update on the results in a moment. Following the presentation, we will move on to our Q&A session. So I would say, let's jump straight in, Andrés the stage is yours.

Thank you very much. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Bike24 Q2 2026 Earnings Call. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Andrés Martin-Birner, I'm the CEO and Founder of Bike24. On the call with me today, again, is Sylvio Eichhorst, our Chief Financial Officer.

We will start to walk you through the key developments of the second quarter in the first half of 2026 before we conclude with your questions. Please also note that the presentation is available on our Investor Relations website. Today's call is structured in 4 parts. I will start with a general update on Q2 and first half year's overall performance. Sylvio will then move into the detailed business update and our financial performance, followed by our outlook for the remainder of the year. Finally, we will take your questions.

Let us start with Q2 at a glance. Bike24 continued its profitable growth trajectory in a challenging and price-sensitive market environment. Group revenue increased by 20.1% year-over-year to EUR 96.1 million, while adjusted EBITDA improved by 15.8% to EUR 5.9 million. This means we continue to grow strongly, while also keeping profitability at a solid level.

Our growth was broad-based. Localized markets again outperformed, growing by 29.7% to EUR 21.5 million. while the DACH region grew by 17.2% to EUR 66.4 million. We also took the next step in our European expansion with new localized web shops launched in Denmark and Slovenia at the end of June, followed by Ireland in July.

On the product side, PAC, that means part accessories and closing remain the main growth driver. PAC increased by 22.3% to EUR 78.9 million. Full bikes also continued to grow with revenue up 11% to EUR 17.2 million resulting in around 9,100 bikes assembled and shipped through our workshop. In addition, we introduced our collect and right option at the end of Q2 in our webshop, enabling customers to collect fully assembled bikes from selected distribution partners in 7 different locations in Germany, which might also serve as local service and support points.

Finally, we deliberately built inventory to secure availability for the second half of the year. Inventory increased to EUR 91.6 million while the inventory to sales ratio remained almost unchanged at 28.8%, underlying that the stock buildup is in line with our growth. With this overview, I would now like to hand over to Sylvio, who will take you through the business and financial details.

Thank you, Andrés, and good morning, from my side as well. I will start with the business update. As Andrés already explained the quarter was characterized by a strong demand, improved product availability and continued traction from our localized market approach. The most relevant point is that growth was not driven by one isolated factor.

We saw positive momentum across categories, regions and customer cohorts. Turning to the category fuel. Group revenue grew from EUR 18 million to EUR 90.6 million in Q2. The strongest absolute contribution came from PAC, which increased by EUR 14.4 million to EUR 78.9 million, supported by strong demand for electronics and bike service products. This confirms that the core assortment remains the backbone of our business with a proportion of 82.1% compared to 80.6% last year.

Bike revenue increased from EUR 15.5 million to EUR 17.2 million. Growth in full bikes was somewhat below PAC rose, but still positive in a very competitive market. Gravel and road bike showed particularly encouraging demand and bikes remain an important contributor to customer relevance and basket size.

Looking at the regional split, the picture remains very consistent with our strategy. GSA, meaning Germany, Switzerland and Austria is still our largest region and delivered solid growth of 17.2%, reaching EUR 66.4 million in the quarter. This shows that our core markets continue to perform well despite overall market environment. At the same time, our localized markets grew significantly faster increasing by 29.7% to EUR 21.5 million. This confirms the traction of our platform strategy and the value of local customer experience. Rest of Europe also grew by 29.7% to EUR 7.4 million, while the rest of the world declined in line with our focus on Europe and our attractive customer economics. In short, GSA provides scale and profitability while localized markets provide an important incremental growth trajectory.

Looking at the customer KPIs. We continue to see a solid and high-quality customer base. Active customer reached 1,244,000 on the last 12 months basis, up 21.7% year-over-year. Orders increased by 22.3% in Q2, while the average order value remained broadly stable at EUR 143. Importantly, repeat customers' behaviors remain strong. The share of orders from recurring customers increased to 71.2% and the return rate improved to 17.1%, down 1.7 percentage points year-over-year.

For us, these KPIs are important because they show that growth is not only coming from more customers but also from a healthy level of engagement among existing customers. The regional customer picture shows 2 complementary effects. Localized markets are driving customer acquisition with active customers up strongly by 31.5%, while GSA continues to provide a large and valuable base with 343,000 customers with a very resilient average revenue per customer of EUR 193, up by 4.8%. This balance is important for a sustainable growth profile.

On the next slide, we will show you the development of our inventory. Inventory remains a central operational level. At the end of June, inventory stood at EUR 91.6 million, up 26.9% year-over-year. The increase was deliberate and is intended to secure high availability for the second half of the year, a need that had already become apparent in July.

At the same time, the quality of inventory improved meaningfully. Aged stock, older than 12 months decreased from EUR 40 million to EUR 6.3 million, a reduction of 55%. More importantly, the inventory buildup remained almost stable in relation to the size of the business. The inventory to sales ratio stood at 28.8% at the end of June, almost unchanged versus 28.7% in the prior year period. From a mix perspective, inventories also show our category focus. PAC remained the largest component at EUR 66.2 million while bike inventory increased to EUR 25.5 million, reflecting our strategy focus on growth in the full-bike category.

Let us now turn to the income statement. In the first half year 2026 net sales increased by 20.8% to EUR 167.1 million. Gross profit rose by 20.7% to EUR 44.3 million, with gross margin remaining stable at 26.6%. Contribution profit, meaning gross profit less performance marketing costs and selling costs increased by 18.6% to EUR 27.3 million in the first half year. Adjusted EBITDA improved by 25.7% to EUR 7.7 million, which means the adjusted EBITDA margin increased from 4.1% to 4.6%. In Q2, specifically, revenue increased strongly to EUR 96.1 million. Gross profit rose to EUR 26.3 million and adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 5.9 million.

Looking at the cost structure. As a percentage of revenue, gross profit remained stable in the first half at 26.6%. In Q2, gross margin was 27.4%, slightly below the prior year level of 27.7%, mainly reflecting the promotional environment and continued price pressure in parts of the market. Performance marketing increased as a percentage of revenue, reflecting our continued investment in customer acquisition and market share.

Selling costs were broadly stable in the first half year as a percentage of revenue, but slightly higher in Q2 due to higher carrier costs and the changing country mix. At the same time, personnel expenses and miscellaneous income expenses improved as a percentage of revenue. The key message is that Bike24 delivered growth and improved earnings at the same time. This demonstrates the operating leverage in the model, even though capacity buildup and temporary staffing are still required to support strong order growth.

Turning now to cash flow and net leverage. The main effect in cash flow of Q2 was primarily driven by the intentional inventory buildup to secure availability and support growth in the second half of the year. EBITDA contributed EUR 5.9 million by the development of the trade working capital and other operating cash flow items led to a negative free cash flow of EUR 8.5 billion. At the same time, stronger profitability over the last 12 months combined with a slight improvement in net debt from minus EUR 16.7 million to minus EUR 15.2 million resulted in a clear reduction in net leverage from 2.1x to 1.1x year-over-year.

Overall, we continue to finance our growth in a disciplined way, investing in availability and future scaling by keeping our financing position under close control. To summarize again, Bike24 continued to gain market share by investing in future growth. Revenue growth of around 20% in Q2 clearly outpaced the broader market environment. Availability remains a competitive advantage. The stock buildup was intentionally quality-driven and aligned with expected demand.

From a profitability perspective, adjusted EBITDA increased both in Q2 and in the first half year. We are seeing operating leverage while still investing in marketing, fulfillment in localized markets and operational capacity. Overall, we have created a clear foundation for continued profitability, profitable growth. With that, let me hand over to Andrés, who will share our outlook for the quarters to come.

Looking ahead, we remain confident in our strategy and our ability to grow profitably in a challenging market environment. The market is still characterized by uncertainty. At the same time, we see opportunities from market stabilization, high availability, structural weaknesses of some competitors and the continuing demand for cycling products across Europe.

Based on our strong first half year performance, current developments and the basis we have created for the second half year, we confirm our full year 2026 guidance. We continue to expect revenue in the range of EUR 318 million and EUR 332 million, corresponding to growth of 10% to 15% year-over-year and an adjusted EBITDA between EUR 16 million and EUR 20 million, implying an adjusted EBITDA margin of approximately 5% to 6%. As always, this outlook is subject to the unusual risks and uncertainties, including macroeconomic developments as outlined in our half year report.

Before we move to Q&A, let me briefly point out the upcoming dates on our financial calendar. We will attend Hamburg Investors Day on August 26 followed by the Berenberg and Goldman Sachs German Cord Conference in Munich on September 22 and European MidCap Conference on September 30, 2026 in Paris. Our Q3 2026 results are scheduled for November 12.

With that, we have reached the end of our prepared remarks. Thank you for your attention. We are now happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions]. With that said, we have already received a risen hand by Mr. Schmidt.

Ingo Schmidt speaking from Montega. First of all, congratulations on the strong performance in the first half and then I have 2 quick questions. First, on your geographic expansion. We recently launched in Denmark, Slovenia and Ireland. Could you give us an update on how these new markets are performing so far? Are you planning to add more specific countries in the coming quarters? Or do you now feel that you cover all of your sufficiently?

And second question on profitability. Given the positive scaling effects we are seeing, what main levers do you plan to use to further improve the EBITDA margin going forward? And what would be a realistic target level for 2026 and beyond?

Okay. Maybe I catch the first questions regarding to the start of our localization in Denmark, Slovenia and Ireland. The first thing, I think, it's good to know for you, we start, yes, I would say, a little bit late for launching these 3 markets. So that's why it's a little bit too early to be fair. But we see a strong development in sales. This is what we can say today. And yes, and we have to -- as we always do, invest a little bit more in marketing and so penetration for these countries just started.

And I think the second one for the question is that for us, the 3 markets are very interesting for us because bikes, scrabble bikes. And you know this is a little bit our Bike24 DNA. It's a very important market there. and many, many enthusiast customers. That's why we decided for these 3 countries.

And the next thing is that we think that when we look to maybe more localization, I think it could be better decision when you see our market shares in all the countries, we localized that it could be more interesting to invest a little bit more in the existing localized markets and not to launch, I would say, small and also smaller countries, yes. I think it would be more interesting for you -- for us.

Regarding gross margin, then I will take this question from your Mr. Schmidt, thank you very much. As you know, and as we said also last year and this year as well we are focusing not particularly on gross margin, even though we have this in focus, but we were focusing on more on gross profit, and this is where we want to grow even more also in the future. And we see also there operating leverages, of course, and to improve this margin and opportunities to improve as we lay in our product mix that we can slightly adjust in our favors. And of course, we continuously looking also to try to lift up prices where possible. But like I said at the beginning, I think also we can increase our gross margin, but the target is difficult to predict since we are more focusing on increasing our profit in absolute terms.

We're moving on to our next question by Mr. [indiscernible].

Congratulations to both of you Mr. Andrés or your colleagues, I remember well when I was sitting in your office, let's say, 3, 4 years ago, much more difficult situation. And my questions are a little bit all linked together.

First of all, return ratio. I saw on LinkedIn that you work with bike metrics, which sounds really very exciting where actually when you can really find the fitting part for your bike, that should have positive impact on your return ratio. So could you elaborate on that a little bit?

Then aging stock, it's tremendous, how you reduce that. And that's certainly because of your big effort you made with SAP. I think unfortunately, you never present enough what you have done there and what the effect will be of that, having successfully introduced SAP. And then in this difficult market, markets are how they are -- but shouldn't that be the case that you would -- or what you have done in the last year is SAP reducing return ratios. In the end, you should profit out of it. In the end, you should be the guy who still can survive with extreme competitive pricing. That's actually the broad questions I have.

Okay. Maybe I catch the first question. So yes, I think it's important for our customers especially, as you know, we have many, many enthusiast, customers on our platform to find the right part for their bike, so that's why the cooperation with Bike Matrix is very interesting for us and especially for our customers, and we see it as a benefit for them in customer experience. And that's why we see a slightly lower return rate in -- especially in parts in the first half of this year.

But the main thing is still the high return rate in closing. And this is what we -- where we are also have ideas that customer find I think the right size for maybe the shirt or the -- yes, that's what I think a little bit more important thing for Bike24, but to be honest, Bike Matrix is technically very sophisticated and very interesting for us, and we see a slightly better return rate than last year. So I think we and our customers benefit from that.

And [indiscernible], can I ask you to repeat your questions regarding --

SAP, I mean, you have you reduced the aging of the stock from 14 to 6 months. And in my, I don't know, day dreaming, I would say that is also mainly because you have introduced SAP, I think, 2 years ago or 18 months ago, and that should be one of the already big result of that. And I think you should much more emphasized and presentation that you have built up with SAP, what not many of your competitors have done?

Yes. I mean, generally speaking, is we have some advantages from SAP delay, but more in the procurement and how fast we can procure or reorder products. In regards to the aging, I mean, as you might at least understand we should have been or we should be able also to see our stock before SAP, and this is what we also monitor that we build up more aged inventories or aged stock was driven by the markets in '23 and '24.

Currently, of course, we can monitor them, but we could -- we were also able to monitor this before, and we did it. Of course, we need to be ahead of our stocks that we have. We need to know what's there that we now have reduced its it's an ability to be okay, we created 24, where we're focusing -- and this is what we're also telling to the market regularly that you're really focusing on being more competitive also in our pricing. And this is what we also do when it comes to how we're monitoring our products.

And of course, we have certain life cycles in products. Different products have different life cycles. And we have products that turn faster, which we monitor closely, but we have also a long tail that are intended to stay a little bit longer, and this is how we also manage our stock or how we keep stocking here.

And then maybe the last point was how do you see your position in this difficult market, which is what you mentioned in the statement, still very price competitive. Where do you see your company set up what you have done in the last years to compete in this market?

I think we did many, many good decisions in the last 2 and 3 years. Part is, of course, introduction of SAP, and it's also that we have now lower obsolete stock, and we have now fresh stock and yes, we invested a lot in technology, especially as you also asked for bike. It's all many, many of small points, I think, is the tailwind we have from the -- I would say, from our customers because, as you know, the market is not -- is solid, is, I would say, stable, but it's not too much tape from the market and also not from consumer sentiment.

So we gained market shares from -- yes, we have to say it from our competitors. And I think we have the right assortment. We have good pricing. We have a good availability and this also is our -- we have very often told you, it's our secret sauce, yes. Now it's not too big secret. But It's, I think, all of these we master, we handle very good. And this is why we are able to grow faster than the market in the last 18 months.

We have another risen hand by Mr. [indiscernible].

We just could hear you for a second. Now you're gone again, but I can see that you unmuted.

Yes. I have 3 follow-ons, if I may. The first one on the logistics side. We noticed, let's call it, revitalization of the Barcelona hub which currently forms a burn in the ramp-up phase. But can you give us some idea how we should look at it in the midterm is Barcelona a tool to bring down the, let's say, cost per unit or per parcel down over time? Or will it be just working side by side with as on similar economics? And then also on the logistics shipping side, do you see options to, let's say, rollover rising costs to your end customers?

Second point is on the inventory side. I noticed the reversal of impairments was roughly EUR 1 million is more to come or the option of more to come as you are driving down the amount of aged inventory further. And then finally, the elephant in the room, the guidance, for sure, the at least top line guidance looks very conservative now having delivered the first half year sales results. So what holds you back from increasing at least the sales outlook for the full year?

Maybe I can start with your Barcelona question. So -- of course, it was a part and is still a part of our story where we -- what we introduced during our IPO that localization is a big part of our strategy. So Barcelona is our second warehouse. And we see that we need it. We saw that once EUR 250 million to EUR 300 million. We have here the capacity limit in Dresden. And the Barcelona warehouse has almost the same size.

So -- we are -- it was a good investment when you see that we are -- our guidance regarding to sales is above the EUR 300 million now. So we need Barcelona for our growth. It's an important part of our strategy. So we need this, and it's clear the closer you are to your customers, the shipping costs are less or lower than -- so we -- it's a big and important cost point for us. And that's why yes, it's important also for the coming quarters to ship more and to build up our capacities from Barcelona.

Regarding costs to hold over to customers?

Yes. This is -- yes, the second part of your question was the rising cost for shipping because of the higher gas prices in Europe or in the world. And we check it. It's a part of our strategy, but we have to look how competitors or do the prices for shipping, and we will check it and when we see opportunities, then we will do it, clear.

Regarding the second question from you is related to the inventory and the age stock that we decreased and so you see more potential there also from releasing write-offs. I mean the biggest part we released last year regarding the write-offs and the [indiscernible] also in the second half of last year. We reduced our inventory stock materially to around about EUR 7 million.

So we now reduced a little bit more, but since we define all to the stock other than 12 months, we surely have some certain levels that we will keep as we -- this is also our strategy to have a long tail and provide to our customers also longer -- for longer time parts that might be needed for air bikes. And then we come in to the third question.

Yes. Maybe I'll start with the guidance regarding to the sales. So as you know, and also many, many news in the last 2 weeks of our market. So we see -- and this is not a secret, consolidating is a part of -- in our industry today, and we see yes, I would say, significant opportunities to gain additional new customers and to expand our market shares. And that's why it's a big focus for us to push revenues in this, I would say, what I also mentioned that we see some weaknesses of competitors. And that's why we -- I would say, yes, we take we take this opportunity, especially in pushing sales.

On the earnings side, I say something. Also there, we think that we remain within the guidance. Of course, this reflects on the one hand side, our product mix and also our regional development as we explained today, particularly in areas where we have a very intensified price competition and very high price sensitivity. And at the same time, we also invest in customer acquisition or you see from us, you could see from our marketing costs and we also invested in our structural capabilities as you also asked regarding Barcelona, as an example, yes, which we bring technical to the same level as in Dresden.

And of course, with that investments, we also prepare ourselves for future growth already. And then furthermore, also last year, as I just said in the second question, we also had significant reduction in aged inventories which, of course, had the lower product costs and positively impacted the EBITDA margin. And so at the end, as I said, we expect to be within the guidance range at the end of the year regarding earnings.

Okay. Maybe one additional one before we go back to the line. On the tax side, you've become a net taxpayer in the second quarter thing we have not seen for a while. Do you believe or expect to remain a net taxpayer or could there be changes in the upcoming quarters?

No, no, we think that we will become a taxpayer, of course, we can make use of our tax losses carryforward that will be used. And on the other side, you have amortizations as you know, from our brands and customer relationships that are not -- that we have not from the tax side, yes, and that's why we have also positive income for tax purposes soon.

We have one more risen hand by Mr. [ Michael ].

Congratulations on the numerous strong KPIs gentlemen. I have a few questions. Maybe I'll go through one by one to make it easier. Could you give us more detail or color on the weaker -- better and weaker localized markets. What do you see in the localized markets? Or is it pretty much across the board, similar growth?

Similar growth, yes, it's -- today, we don't see there are any, I would say, very, very weak region in Europe. So in all regions in Europe on , I would say, in almost all countries, we have double-digit growth rates in Q2 and also in the first half of this year. There's slightly differences, but it's not -- we see a whole tailwind from all -- from our markets and as also from our home market.

That's great. On the full-bike side, could you give us -- explain maybe why it seems to be a little bit more slower and talk about trends, you did say that road and gravel are doing well. Any other thoughts about full-bikes to slow this on the market if it is slow or capacity constrained on assembling them and getting them out. What's that -- more color on what's going on with full bikes?

Yes. I think the first part of -- to answer your question is that -- the bike revenues, the share is, yes, almost 20%. It's a little bit less than 20%. And yes, when you see the whole market, so our macro share in bikes is very, very small. So that's why -- the focus is important.

As you know, it's also a part of our strategy to have a good development and good growth in -- for full-bikes. But 1 quarter is a little bit a small time, a short time for -- I would say, for a full picture. And when we see the first weeks of July and also starting August, we had much better results than in Q2. So that's why I think this -- this is also a part of our questions.

The second thing is that we grow -- have -- or that we grew in units in the first half of 24%. So you see it's also a product mix apart, and that's why we feel very comfortable today. And I think we will have better growth in the Q3, also the part of the top line.

Got it. Great. On the bank market, in reading your report that was published this morning, a lot of some good detail on the bike market for last year for the industry that you write about. I was kind of surprised to see how negative it was -- do you see any signs? And could you comment on them? Are the industries going from negative growth to perhaps be more stable?

It's really difficult because as you know, we are focusing on enthusiasts. There we see much more Yes, it's our focus and thus, the market, I would say, is improving and is better than the whole market. I think the negative impact is especially for the retail market, especially also in e-bikes and ready demand is, I would say, yes, still lower than last year, but especially in the market where or where Bike24 is we see a slightly better market, and we see there a little tailwind for us. That's why for the whole market, we are not so negatively impacted.

I guess you could say that the e-bike market grew tremendously thanks to new riders to were stuck at home and on, right? And it was a one-off big bubble and that bubble has been -- is still just being digested by the -- not the enthusiast market, but more just the general market. So that's how you get -- I got it.

We have not received any further risen hands nor any questions in our chat box. So I would say we, therefore, come to the end of today's earnings call. Thank you for joining and the lively conversation should further questions arise at a later time, please feel free to contact Investor Relations. A big thank you also to Andrés for your presentation and to you, Sylvio, as well. I would say, I wish you all a lovely remaining week. And with this, I hand over again to Andrés for some final remarks.

Yes. Thank you again for joining us today and for your continued interest in Bike24. We appreciate your trust and look forward to keeping you updated on our brokers over the coming quarters until then. Yes, we wish you also all the best for today, and have a good day. Bye-bye. See you.

Good morning or good day, ladies and gentlemen. And a warm welcome to today's Q1 2026 Earnings Call of the Bike24 Holding AG. I'm delighted to welcome the CEO, Andres Martin-Birner; and CFO, Sylvio Eichhorst, who will give us an update on the results in a moment. [Operator Instructions]

And having said this, Andres, this stage is yours.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q1 2026 earnings call of Bike24. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Andres Martin-Birner, I'm the CEO and founder of Bike24. On the call with me today is Sylvio Eichhorst, our CFO.

We will briefly run through the highlights of the first quarter 2026 and then open the line for Q&A. Please also note, this presentation is available on our Investor Relations website.

Today's call is structured in 3 parts. We will start with a short general update on Q1, then move into the business and financial details, and finally conclude with our outlook before opening the floor for questions.

Let's start with the quarter at a glance. We had a strong start into 2026, with revenue increasing to EUR 70.7 million in Q1, which represents growth of around 22% year-over-year. This growth was broad-based across markets and customer groups. That grew to EUR 47 million, up 21%, and our localized markets, again outperformed at EUR 17.5 million, up 30%.

The demand indicators remain strong as well. Orders rose to almost 484,000, up 20%, supported by an active customer base of 1.18 million, up 25% over the last 12 months. Average order value was stable at EUR 146. At the same time, profitability improved materially with adjusted EBITDA reaching EUR 1.8 million, up by EUR 1.2 million versus last year.

From an operational perspective, gross margin improved slightly to 25.5%, up 0.3 percentage points, supported by strong revenue momentum. Full-bikes continued to be an important growth driver, with bike revenue of EUR 12.4 million, up 27% year-over-year, driven both traditional bikes at EUR 7.9 million, up 27% and e-bikes at EUR 4.5 million, up 28%.

To support demand and availability, we deliberately built inventory. Inventory increased to EUR 80.8 million as of March, up 22% year-over-year, by keeping the inventory to sales ratio stable at around 27%.

With that said, let me now turn the presentation to Sylvio, who will give you some more details on our first quarter financials.

Thank you very much, Andres, and also from my side, a warm welcome.

Let us now move from our group. Revenue increase, a new high in Q1 to the category split. We continue to deliver growth in our core PAC business by further expanding the contribution from full-bikes. PAC revenue increased to EUR 58.4 million, up 21% year-over-year, driven by strong demand across parts, accessories and closing. Bike revenue grew even faster, reaching EUR 12.4 million, up 27% year-over-year, taking the bike share to around 18% of total revenue.

Within bikes, both traditional bikes and e-bikes contributed. Conventional bikes was EUR 7.9 million, up 27%, and e-bikes was EUR 4.5 million, up 28%. The key takeaway is that our assortment strategy continues to work. PAC remains the stable backbone, while bikes provide an additional growth level and strengthen customer relevance.

On the next slide, you see the geographic picture growth of broad-based across Europe. We're seeing continued momentum in our core region: Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and strong acceleration in localized markets.

GSA grew to EUR 47.0 million, up 21% year-over-year, remaining the largest contributor, and roughly 2/3 of group revenue. Localized markets increased to EUR 17.5 million, up 30%, by recently localized markets such as Poland and Finland continue to scale even stronger, with Poland and Finland up by 76% to EUR 2.2 million, again demonstrating the scalability of our localization playbook.

Rest of Europe grew in line with the group to EUR 5.4 million, up 22%. Revenue outside Europe declined to EUR 0.8 million, down by EUR 0.3 million, reflecting our focus on Europe and customer economics. Overall, this confirms that our strongest growth continues to come from markets where we combine localized customer experience with high service levels and availability.

Turning to our customer KPIs. We saw strengthening demand and continued reality. Our active customer base grew to 1.18 million on the last 12 months basis, up 25%, showing that we are expanding our reach while retaining our existing customers.

Looking at the customer split, GSA still represents the largest share of our customer base, and provides a strong repeat driven foundation, with active customers growing by 12%, while localized markets are growing from a smaller base at 19%. These KPIs confirm that our growth, in particular, are supported by solid customer engagement and a resilient customer experience. In GSA, as well as in localized markets, the average revenue per customer increased by 7% and 9%, respectively. Overall, average order value remained stable at EUR 146, up 1%, and the return rate was quarterly stable at 16.8%, up 0.2 percentage points, which supports healthy unit economics.

Let me briefly comment on inventory because it is a key enabler of our customer promise and a central topic for cash discipline. Inventory increased, as Andres already told you, to EUR 80.8 million at the end of March, up 22% year-over-year, reflecting a high business volume and a targeted buildup to secure availability ahead of peak demand. Importantly, we kept the inventory to sales ratio broadly stable at around 27%. So inventory grew in line with revenue.

From a mix perspective, bike inventory increased even faster, up 35% year-over-year, taking the bike share to around 27% of inventory, consistent with the growth in bikes in our strategy focus. Overall, we continue to aim for high availability by managing working capital tightly through more frequent and targeted replenishments.

Looking at the income statement, the strong revenue growth year-over-year resulted also in the positive earnings development, with gross profit increasing by EUR 5.4 million to EUR 18 million, up 23.5%, and gross margin improving to 25.5%, up 0.3 percentage points.

On operating expenses, performance marketing expense increased above the increase in revenue to EUR 1 million, up 44% year-over-year, with efficiency broadly stable. This reflects a high paid channel share in revenue.

Selling expenses increased in line with revenue scale to EUR 6 million, up 90%. Personnel expenses rose to EUR 6.9 million, up 13%, mainly driven by higher temporary labor and fulfillment and general wage increases.

As a result, adjusted EBITDA improved to EUR 1.8 million, up EUR 1.1 million year-over-year, and adjustments were significantly lower than last year, where they were mainly related to additional refinancing costs. Below adjusted EBITDA, depreciation and amortization amounted as in prior year to around EUR 4.2 million. Thus, reported EBIT is improved from minus EUR 4.2 million but remained negative at EUR 2.5 million, primarily due to the continued amortization of goodwill like items of EUR 2.4 million.

Net finance expense improved to 0 to minus EUR 0.7 million, down from minus EUR 1.9 million last year due to lower interest expenses and lower financing costs for the prolongation of the syndicated loan. Overall, the net results improved EUR 2 minus EUR 2.2 million from minus EUR 4.2 million in Q1 last year.

Looking at the different ratio as a percentage of revenue, you can see an improvement in almost all lines. Only performance marketing increased as a percentage of revenue, but it also contributed even more to our revenue growth at a high efficiency level. Adjusted EBITDA improved even over proportional, with EBITDA margin increasing from 1% to 2.5%.

Turning briefly to cash and the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalence ended Q1 at EUR 18.2 million, slightly down from EUR 19 million at year-end 2025. Free cash flow amounted to EUR 0.5 million, reflecting our deliberate inventory build from EUR 64.2 million to EUR 80.8 million and typically seasonally effects.

Even with higher revenue and inventory levels, we were able to slightly reduce working capital overall, which underlines improved steering of operation and balance sheet items, particular trade accounts payable, which rose from EUR 11.2 million to EUR 29.8 million. The key message is that we are investing in availability to support growth by continuing to manage balance sheet discipline and liquidity potently.

Looking at the complete cash flow statement. Compared to prior year, you can see that our cash flow from operating activities before taxes declined by 79.7% or EUR 3.6 million, mainly driven by the reduction of old stocks in the previous year. On the other hand, our cash flow from finance activities is much lower, driven by lower costs for the prolongation of our syndicated loan than last year, no redemption payments as well as lower interest costs.

To summarize again, we delivered a strong start in 2026 with revenue of EUR 70.7 million, up 22% year-over-year, driven by broad-based growth across regions as well as categories. We continue to improve probability, with increased operating leverage resulting in an adjusted EBITDA of EUR 1.8 million, supported by a stable gross margin of 25.5% and disciplined cost management. We also invested consciously into availability, keeping the inventory to sale ratio stable at around 27%.

Looking ahead, our priorities are to sustain growth, drive faster operating leverage and manage working capital and liquidity prudently.

With that, let me now hand over to Andres, who will share our outlook for the quarters to come.

Thank you, Sylvio. Looking ahead, we remain confident in our strategy and in the underlying demand for cycling products across Europe. Combined with rigorous operational execution, on availability and attractive assortment, secure logistic processes and a strong focus on customer experience, we'll still see significant growth potential.

Our focus for the coming quarters is to sustain double-digit growth while continuing to improve profitability. The figures for April 2026 already look promising and also show double-digit revenue growth.

Given our strong start to 2026 and our current performance, we confirm our full year guidance for revenue in the range of EUR 318 million to EUR 332 million as well as an improvement in adjusted EBITDA to between EUR 16 million and EUR 20 million. However, please note that any guidance or forward-looking statements are subject to usual risks and uncertainties.

Before we come to the Q&A, please have a short look on our main dates of our financial calendar 2026.

With that, we have reached the end of our prepared remarks. Thank you for your attention. And now we are looking forward to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And we already received some participants, and Ingo Schmidt, you should be able to unmute yourself and place your question.

Ingo Schmidt from Montega. First of all, congratulations on the strong start to the year. It's great to see such strong momentum. I have two questions about the market.

First, on growth drivers. You reported strong double-digit growth in Q1, even though consumer sentiment is muted, especially in Germany. What were the main reasons for this performance? For example, it's a mild weather in March help? Or are you seeing a more long-term shift like people moving from cars to bikes because of high fuel prices?

And second, on the market overall, do you think the titling market is now starting to recover this year? Or is your strong performance mainly coming from gaining market share from competitors?

Yes. I think I catch these two questions. So when we look to the market, especially, and I look into our numbers, I would say, especially in Q1 in March, in particular, we saw a further increase in all the volumes and mainly due to an early start to the season with dry and sunny weather. And yes, I think as we -- that we -- and was in many, many years also before that yes, we were well prepared for that. And I think that we saw benefit from that more than others.

So that answers your questions, I think that we gained market shares from other. And it's not only from online competitors. I think it's also from yes, special brick-and-mortar retailers because I think that they are more hitted by the negative things we had in the last year, the overstock issues and the cost problems and so on.

And the other things, of course, what you said that I think that the high petrol prices at the petrol stations, I think are also providing a positive boost. And I think that's the main reason for our Q1 numbers. And on the other hand, as I mentioned it, I think that we are very well prepared for this for this season. And that is one -- that is more of this, yes answer for your questions.

And we move on to the next participant, Mr. Specht. You should be able to unmute yourself and place your question. Mr. Specht, you have to unmute yourself. We can't hear you by now.

Sorry. Yes, I'll start with the technical one. I saw tax payments falling despite higher EBT. For sure, there is some swing always in this line, but it's -- a really good explanation for it, that would be good.

And then on growth initiatives for the coming quarters, can you give us some more insight what you're planning on the product side or on the market side? More localization, whatever, some hints would be helpful.

And then on the liability side, you refinanced your structures. Can you give us some details how the redemption will be in 2026?

May I have a question to you, a repeat question, Mr. Specht? You have asked about the taxes. You mean our tax expenses or...

Yes, tax expenses, P&L tax expenditures.

And they are lower than last year, yes?

Yes.

I mean, first of all, we have a better result. So that at the end, we have also less to activate what we may be -- what we have done in the last year. So we have different tax assets on losses carried forward. And on the other side, I mean, the rest is mainly the release of our deferred tax assets -- deferred tax liabilities that we have capitalized, yes, that we have recognized for our capitalized brands and customer relationship. But other than this, I cannot see any other differences, yes.

And the second question, can you repeat this?

I think it's for the growth initiatives. I can catch this, I think it's -- yes, as we also did it last year. So our focus is still on growth in -- regarding bikes, here is, yes, that we think have a very good assortment. We feel also very well prepared. And our goal is also here to grow significantly at least above 10%. And I think this is also possible this year.

And the other point, and it's parallel, it's our PAC business parts, accessories, clothing, that we also will use here, have our focus and a good assortment. And as you also know, part of our strategy is localization. And here, we will have -- yes, we will localize in the end of Q2, beginning of Q3 to other countries. On our list, the priorities is now Denmark and Slovenia. So we will have smart people or we will go further with localization and the top on our list are these two countries.

And then I'll take the last question, except we have something to add, Mr. Specht. But let me continue. Refinancing the redemption this year will be EUR 4 million, EUR 2 million in June and in EUR 2 million in December. And last year, we had EUR 5 million to retain.

And we move on to Mr. Michaels -- Mr. Charles. Michaels, you should be able to unmeet yourself and place your question. Yes, Mr. Michaels, we should hear you. Your microphone is open.

Great. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Perfect. Congratulations on another great quarter, gentlemen. I have more of a strategic question with respect to AI as -- there's so much discussion about AI. And two sides. How can you use AI today, if you are, maybe you could say how you are. And what do you think the threat of AI is to your business model?

Yes. Yes, we saw AI more as an opportunity, more as a change for Bike24. So we use AI. Of course, we had many initiatives in the company, especially in the IT, programming, content creation, service support. So yes, as I would say, many companies are doing this, and so we use it as well.

And yes, and today, is the situation that we see it more as an opportunity for Bike24, especially in -- to hold the cost base stable on a special point and also you have this many supports in -- yes, for growth also for the coming years. So this is what we see and how, yes, AI today for Bike24.

And do you see any -- can you hear me? Do you see any competitors using AI in a way that can impact your growth, take business away from you?

No, today, not.

When you think of -- and you have your meetings and you think about the future and what you hear, do you see AI as any kind of a threat?

Today, I don't see this. I don't see this today.

I mean, particularly, what we are focusing on our -- I mean we have logistics, we have a lot of physical processes, which are not affected directly by AI. So much better we manage this as more difficult will be someone able to mirror this anyhow, yes. So I think that this gives us also a good outlook. However, when it comes to how we market our products, there might be developments, which we closely monitor currently. But currently, this impact is very minor, yes.

And talking about logistics, which are difficult for the single bricks-and-mortar bicycle shops, are you considering working more closely with your excellent logistics systems to help such companies? Are you in the process of doing anything like that?

Yes, it would be possible, but we -- I think we are focusing on our business and our business model. I think there's, yes, a lot of potential, as I also mentioned, in our first -- in my first statement today that we see high potential for growth. And that's why I think it's better for Bike24 to do the things we master very well and that's why we focus on that and not to have a focus on retailers or retail business.

But at the same time, just to mention that we're also preparing ourselves for such scenarios. That's not that we stay still. The technical presets we're also setting now. So yes.

And last question on my end, the environment you historically characterized as being very competitive, discounting, it's kept your margins lower than they would otherwise be. Has there been improvement in the competitive environment?

Yes. So we see -- yes, all the time, we see small exits from the markets. And so the sum of these exits, I think will support Bike24. But today, to be honest, it's still a difficult environment, yes, because of all the macroeconomic issues in the world. So that's why it's a little bit too early to say what will happen. But even maybe we see it in the market when I look especially to bike margins, I would say that we see today really a lower level of excess stock and not these big discounts also in the market.

And this is one point where we will see a thing or where we expect margins to rise again in the medium term. So I think the situation, I think, for Bike24 is getting better and better. But for the whole market, I think for small players, I think the situation is not the best.

[Operator Instructions] Meanwhile, Ms. Janine Knizia from the Deutsche Bank congratulates you on your positive development. So -- that's out of our Q&A box. And yes, we're waiting for some more questions on the line. And if this is not the case, we come to the -- and well, there is a question. Is there a possibility to refinance at cheaper cost? Sylvio is facing that question.

This is a question to me. I think there is a possibility. And of course, we're monitoring this closely. And however, we have one year, a very good year that we can show. We have another quarter. So banks are hesitating to or willing to finance us.

Also in this -- as an understate in this very unsecured environment within the bicycles whereas goes to, it's not so easy to find a replacement. But nevertheless, we're looking this continuously up and also we want to secure our growth, and that's also why we need to have contract with banks and try to get better contracts going forward.

And yes, I'm waiting for somewhat raised hands for the Q&A session or some questions in our Q&A box. That's the case. I'll read it out. [ Mr. Michael Schulz ] is asking, could you comment on the development of the gross margin? What is the mid- to long-term outlook for the gross margin? Is there some operational or mix potential?

Yes. As we -- as I mentioned in the -- also in the earnings call before for the 2025 full year so that we -- that I said that I -- that we manage more on gross profit and not gross margins. And to be honest, we look to the price levels in the market. That's what we are looking that we have competitive prices on one hand. And on the other hand, to be honest, what we see is a product mix effect, especially also in the first quarter and also last year's -- last year that we sold a lot of accessories, especially home trainers and also electronics.

And naturally, these categories have very low for gross margins. And so we have sometimes gross margin effects. This looks negative. But for Bike24, it's a very positive effect because we're gaining market shares. We're gaining gross profit as well. And that's why we -- I would say, strong focus on gross margin. So we shifted a little bit more to gross profit because it's for managing by '24, it's easier for us to scale out by '24. That's why we do this way today.

Thank you very much. And in the meantime, we have received no further questions. I'll wait a few more moments.[Operator Instructions] That's not the case so far, and we, therefore, come to the end of today's earnings call.

Thank you very much to all the participants for joining this call and your interest in Bike24. Thank you to you both Sylvio and Andres for the presentation and the time you took the answers. And from my side, I wish you a remaining lovely day.

And for the final remarks, I hand back over to Andres and Sylvio.

Yes. Thank you, again. Yes, for joining us today for your continued support. We appreciate, of course, your trust in Bike24. Yes, we look forward to keeping you updated on our progress over the coming quarters. Until then, we wish you all the best. And yes, have a good day. Bye-bye from Dresden.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to today's Full Year 2025 Earnings Call of the Bike24 Holding AG. I'm delighted to welcome the CEO, Andres Martin-Birner; and CFO, Sylvio Eichhorst, who will guide us through the numbers in a moment. Following the presentation, we will move on to a Q&A session.

And having said this, I hand over to you, Andres. Please, the stage is yours.

Thank you very much. Yes, a warm welcome to Bike24's earnings call for the fiscal year 2025. My name is Andres Martin-Birner, I'm the Founder and CEO of Bike24, and I'm very pleased to guide you through today's results together with my CFO colleague, Sylvio Eichhorst.

2025 was a year marked by clearly accelerating growth and tangible operational progress for Bike24. Today, we would like not only to present our financial results but also to show you which measures and structural improvements contributed to this positive development.

We will begin by outlining the key highlights of the year and the main success factors. Afterwards, Sylvio will walk you through the financials in detail before we move on to our outlook for 2026. And of course, at the end, you will have the opportunity to ask your questions. 2025 was a year of clear growth acceleration. All 4 quarters exhibited increasing momentum, and we closed the fiscal year with revenue of EUR 289.1 million, representing 28% growth compared to the prior year. High product availability, improved customer experience and expanded reach supported this development.

Our profitability also improved significantly. Adjusted EBITDA reached EUR 14.5 million, which is roughly EUR 9 million higher than in the year before. The combination of rising revenue, strict cost discipline and more efficient processes contributed materially to this improvement. Our regional development once again highlights the structural strength of our business model. This GSA region performed exceptionally well with revenue of EUR 196.8 million, up 31% year-over-year.

Our localized markets also grew their revenue to EUR 66.1 million, an increase of 29%. Poland and Finland, which were localized just in 2025, delivered above-average growth rates. Our strategic prioritization of the full-bike segment continues to clearly demonstrate its effectiveness. The category grew by 29%, reaching EUR 56 million in revenue. Demand was particularly strong in the performance segments, road, gravel and MTB. Full-bike also continue to positively influence the size of the shopping basket, customer retention and cross-selling into our PAC segment.

A key qualitative improvement this year was our inventory management. We reduced the share of aged inventory by about EUR 9 million. At the same time, our inventory to sales ratio remained at a very healthy level. Optimized replenishment processes a more focused assortment strategy and improved transparency through our SAP system were critical drivers.

The following slides provide additional insights into major achievements of fiscal year 2025, which significantly contributed to our positive performance. Our European footprint expanded further in 2025. We served over 1.1 million customers in 72 countries last year, demonstrating not only our international reach, but also our steadily increasing brand relevance beyond our core markets. An important driver of this broad footprint was the expansion of our localized markets. We now operate 10 national websites, including Poland and Finland since spring 2025 with local languages, payment methods and shipping options. This setup meaningfully improves conversion rates and enhances the customer experience from the very first interaction.

Our operational performance is underpinned by a scalable logistics model. With our fulfillment centers in Dresden and Barcelona, we maintain efficient capacities that absorb growth even in peak phases. Additionally, region-specific carrier strategies, especially in localized markets, help shorten delivery times and stabilize cost ratios. As in prior years, our value proposition continues to rely on a very broad and deep assortment, now comprising over 90,000 products. High availability paired with attractive prices enables a seamless shopping experience and strong customer satisfaction.

In 2025, we further enhanced the web shop, both functionally and visually, including improvements to navigation, load times, search and checkout. This results in a faster shopping experience and higher conversion, especially on mobile. We also tailored our shipping and return processes more closely to the needs of our European customers. New delivery options, including pickup and drop-off points, simplify order collection, especially in countries where flexible pickup models are already widely adopted.

Right from the beginning, we see a significant shift to pick up and drop-off in countries where we offer this option. In some countries, like in our latest localized markets in Poland and Finland, the proportion already exceeded 1/3 of our deliveries. In addition, we further sharpened our brand with the clear ambition to position ourselves as the leading platform for cycling enthusiasts in Europe. A consistent visual identity, coherent messaging and a modernized brand appearance enhance our relevance with the community. The refreshed brand identity, spending look and feel, visual language and key messages results in a most distinctive profile in a competitive market.

Our brand is now clearer, more emotional and more aligned with our target audience. With that short excursion to our achievements in 2025, let me now hand over to Sylvio, who will give more details about our financial development in the last fiscal year.

Yes. Also from my side, a warm welcome. I would now like to move on to the business update. Let us start with our group revenue. As you can see, our revenue performance across the 4 quarters shows clear upward momentum. Our growth in the fourth quarter was the seventh quarter in a row where we were able to increase our growth compared to the quarter before. In all quarters in 2025, we achieved a double-digit growth year-over-year, 18% in Q1, 25% in Q3 -- in Q2, 32% in Q3 and 35% in Q4. And in Q3, as you can see, we reached the all-time high of our revenue.

We consistently expanded our revenue base and closed the year with our strongest quarter. The driver for our revenue in the fourth quarter was clearly our curated offer in the week of Black Friday, and a strong sale of bikes during the fourth quarter. With this growth, we clearly grew above the trend in e-commerce and in the bicycle industry.

On the next slide, we will show you the revenue growth by category, and we'll see how strongly both bikes and PAC contributed to our overall growth. The total revenue increased, as already outlined, to EUR 289.1 million, corresponding to a growth rate of 28%. Our largest category, PAC, reached EUR 232.9 million in revenue, growing by 27%. This stable growth is driven by a broad brand portfolio and contained a favorable mix shift with the share of closing, increasing from 23% in the prior year to 29% in 2025.

In the full-bike segment, we generated revenue of EUR 56.2 million, an increase of 29%. This means that the segment once again grew faster than PAC, showing particular, a continued high demand for roads, gravel and mountain bike models. Besides the increased volume in bike sales, we were also able to slightly increase our average selling price per bike, driven by a deliberate expansion of our premium offering and continued focus on the enthusiast customer segment.

As already mentioned, revenue of bike was particularly strong in Q4, with an increase of 55% compared to last year. In the next step, let's have a look at the geographical revenue distribution, which illustrates how broadly our growth in Europe was supported.

Our core region Germany, Switzerland and Austria grew to EUR 196.8 million and achieved an increase of 31%. This market benefited from strong demand for performance-oriented bicycles, stable pricing in the non e-bike segment and improved inventory availability. The localized markets, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Poland and Finland increased revenue to EUR 66.1 million, corresponding to 29% growth.

Poland and Finland, both newly localized delivered above-average growth rates with revenue rising by 62% and the number of new customers grew by even 168%. This shows that our faster localization efforts hold significant potential. The remaining European markets achieved revenue growth of 18%.

Outside Europe, however, revenue declined by EUR 1.9 million or 30%. As this area is deliberately not a strong strategic priority. The next slide shows how the growth momentum is reflected in our customer KPIs.

In the GSA region, the number of active customers increased significantly to 745,000 representing plus 27%, and in the localized markets to 326,000 customers, corresponding to plus 24%. Year-over-year, we expanded our total active customer base from 916,900 to 1,142,447 customers, an increase of 25%. But not only the number of customer increased, we were also able to raise the average revenue per active customer, both in GSA and in the localized markets by 3% or 4%, respectively. However, the average order value remained stable at EUR 144, which means that the average order frequency per active customers continued to rise. This combination shows that our growth is supported both quantitively and qualitatively.

Let's now move to the development of our inventories, which as already mentioned, show an improvement in quality and in efficiency. Despite significantly higher revenues, our total inventory remained very stable and stood at EUR 64.2 million, only slightly above the prior year level of EUR 61 million, meaning that we were able to realize growth without materially increasing our inventory level.

In addition, more important was the reduction of our aged inventory. We reduced our older stock, meaning stock older than 12 months from EUR 60 million in the previous year to EUR 6.7 million, representing a decline of nearly 60%. As a result, the inventory to sale ratio stood at 22% at the end of 2025 compared to 27% in the previous year, leading to an accelerated inventory turnover of an average 111 days in 2025 compared to 135 days in 2024.

Looking at category level. PAC inventory remained almost stable at EUR 47.6 million, plus 3%, while bike inventory increased moderately to EUR 16.6 million, plus 12%, driven by the full-bike revenue growth.

On the next slide, you will notice the development of our personnel and other costs and the associated scaling effects. Our personnel cost ratio improved significantly in the fiscal year 2025 and is now 2.2 percentage points lower than in the previous year. This underlines the effectiveness of our structural cost efficiency measures and an overall optimized team structure. Similarly, we achieved an improvement of 0.6 percentage points in miscellaneous operating income and expenses. The combination of cost control, process optimization and an overall heightened cost awareness supported this positive development.

This brings us to the details of the income statement. As you can see, gross profit amounted to EUR 78 million, representing an increase of 27% year-over-year, broadly in line with our top line. Looking at our cost base, performance marketing was the only cost line that grew slightly above 28% revenue increase. However, the ratio remains essentially unchanged, confirming the sustained efficiency of our acquisition channels.

Selling costs also increased, but strictly in proportion to the higher shipping volumes. The rise was even slightly below revenue growth, supported by higher transaction volumes. A larger share of deliveries was in the GSE region and an optimized carrier mix. As a result, contribution profit grew by 26.9%, underscoring the operational efficiency and the scalability of our model.

As mentioned before, both personnel expenses and miscellaneous operating expenses rose only under proportionally by 2.8% and 7.5%, respectively. Consequently, adjusted EBITDA increased to EUR 14.5 million, up EUR 9.2 million or 172.7% compared to last year.

Please let me add a technical note. EBITDA adjustment resulted 2025 in a net reduction of minus EUR 1.6 million. Due to our strong performance, a write-up of previously written off fixed assets was acquired. This stands in contrast to plus EUR 3.9 million in adjustments added back in 2024. The following margin view confirms the structural improvement in our cost base. Margin developed positively overall. Gross margin remained stable, while the performance marketing ratio held steady at 1.3%, underscoring the efficiency of our marketing activities.

Selling costs improved slightly, supported by an optimized ceramic and efficient fulfillment. Personal and other operating costs decreased materially, reflecting structural efficiencies. As a result, the adjusted EBITDA margin increased significantly to 5%, demonstrating clear operating leverage.

Let me now walk you through the development of 2 of our key financial KPIs, cash flow and net debt. Our free cash flow increased markedly by EUR 5.5 million to EUR 16 million, a rise of 53%. This improvement was driven by the higher quality of operating earnings, further progress in inventory management and a favorable development of trade working capital. In particular, the close interaction between improvements in trade working capital and the increase in EBITDA is reflected in operating cash flow. While in 2024, we reduced trade working capital by EUR 10 million through targeted inventory measures, it improved by an additional EUR 1.7 million in 2025 due to higher inventory turnover and increased trade payables at year-end.

At the same time, EBITDA increased by EUR 14.7 million, providing additional momentum to free cash flow. Investment cash flow came to EUR 1.9 million, broadly unchanged from prior year. Consequently, the combination of stronger EBITDA, lower inventory levels and less capital expenditure enabled us to reduce net debt significantly by EUR 11 million.

In addition, please let me also remark the syndicated loan agreement was extended for another year until April 2028, ensuring finance security for our growth in this year's ahead and further strengthen our financial flexibility.

From a cash flow perspective, 2025 marks a clear step change in financial strength. Operating cash flow before taxes increased to EUR 17.9 million, reflecting the significantly improved bottom line performance and disciplined working capital management. Free cash flow before taxes came in at EUR 16 million, up from EUR 10.5 million last year, underscoring our enhanced ability to convert earnings into cash. Investing cash outflow remained stable at EUR 1.9 million, demonstrating our continued capital discipline, while financing cash flow improved due to lower scheduled loan repayments and financing costs, which contributed to a year-end cash position of EUR 19 million.

With the following slide, I would like to conclude the detailed review and briefly summarize the key points once again. 2025 was a year of clearly accelerating growth with every quarter exceeding the prior year level and especially strong finish in Q4. In parallel revenue -- with revenue growth, we significantly improved the quality of our earnings, cost ratios, particularly in personnel and fulfillment decreased noticeably while revenue continued to scale. This combination resulted in substantially stronger profitability. Furthermore, we optimized working capital and materially improved inventory quality.

Together with a significantly better operating result and stable investment levels, this led to a meaningful increase in free cash flow and contributed to a stronger financial position, including the ability to prolong our syndicated loan. Overall, the combination of increasing market reach, stable profitability in a scalable operational model and improved capital efficiency provides a robust foundation for achieving continued profitable growth also in 2026.

With that said, I close the detailed business update and I would like now to hand over back to Andres, who will lead us through the guidance.

Thank you, Sylvio. Let me now walk you through the guidance for the 2026 fiscal year. Shortly summarized, we expect solid profitable growth in 2026. This outlook is based on the continuation of the operational focus areas that supported our performance in 2025. In particular, strong product availability and competitive and well-managed assortment, efficient logistic processes and a consistently reliable customer experience.

We also expect margins to improve further. The scale benefits from our 2025 measures, together with efficiencies and core processes should support a higher profitability level. In 2025, we demonstrated stable and disciplined management of our key financial metrics. Improved working capital management, a leaner cost structure and a stronger balance sheet form the foundation of our guidance for 2026.

For this fiscal year, we expect revenue between EUR 318 million and EUR 332 million and an adjusted EBITDA between EUR 16 million and EUR 20 million. These targets reflect current market conditions and assume a stable economic environment.

Let me now show you our important dates for the ongoing fiscal year. In 2026, we will publish our quarterly results on May 6, August 12, November 12, and on June 30, 2026, we would like to invite our shareholders to our Annual General Meeting in Dresden. With that said, thank you for your attention. And now we came -- we come now to the Q&A session.

Thank you very much for the presentation, and we will now move on to the Q&A session [Operator Instructions] We have some participants already raising their hand. [ Nicolas Fer ], you should be able to speak now and unmute yourself.

So Nicolas Fer here from Montega. First of all, thanks for your presentation. And therefore, we have 2 questions right there. So firstly, maybe a bit more macroeconomic regarding the recent situation in the Middle East. Have you maybe already observed any direct or indirect impacts on your supply chain or your logistic costs? And maybe specifically, are you seeing any rising freight rates or longer lead times for shipments?

And then secondly, maybe looking at the first quarter already, is it fair to assume that the business has trended very strongly so far? Would you say that from a revenue perspective, you're currently operating at or maybe you're perhaps even slightly above the upper end of your full year guidance range?

Okay. Maybe I'll start with the first question. To be honest, yes, it's -- and I think it's for all other industries, it's very -- yes, still too early for us to fully assess the situation and predict what will happen in the coming weeks. Of course, we are monitoring the situation daily. And of course, it could happen that we see impacts to supply chain, maybe also container costs and later on also inflation or consumer sentiment. But to be honest, today, it's very early.

What we've heard from the industry that some containers or shipments could be a little bit later and energy prices, especially shipment prices could be a little bit higher. But yes, the impact today is when we see our business is very low.

And the second question was regarding developments in the first weeks of this year. What we can say that the year started very promising, and we saw double-digit growth rates in the first 2 months of this year. And that's why I think our -- yes, we feel very happy with today our guidance that we are in line with our guidance. And -- yes.

We move on to the next participant. And Mr. Speck, you should be able to unmute yourself.

Sorry for the delay. Four additional ones from my end. First, on growth in 2026. You're usually not talking about free cash flow, which has been growing outstanding in the last year. But are you also, let's say, sure that you will manage decent free cash flow growth this year as well? Or could it be a year where you have to raise CapEx or plan to build up working capital that would have negative effects on free cash flow?

Second question is on customer acquisition costs or customer retention costs. Is it still a largely captive channel business? Or do you expect some step-ups here as, let's say, the efficiency of channels could change? Then on competition, can you give us some insights how you see your main competitors, be it stationary sales or the online platforms are currently operating? Any view on strengths or weakness would be welcomed. And finally, on aftersales, you do not yet control, let's say, maintenance or repair network. Any plans to further roll that out or to strengthen that?

Can you maybe repeat the last question because we -- was a little bit disturbing here.

Yes, you informed us of, let's say, some improvements or some more options on the delivery side with pickup options. Are there also plans for some type of aftersales service going into direct maintenance and repairs?

Okay. Okay. Regarding cash flow, I can say, okay, this year was really -- we made also a big step. I think we can keep an increase in our free cash flow, but it will definitely much that high as in prior years or in the prior year, particularly since we also expect the working capital build up slightly with our growth. And then the retention, the second question was about which channels our customers came to us as this continued like in last year, it will be the most come to us unpaid in a direct way.

Yes. Today, we don't see the big changes in -- yes, regarding to our channels and what reflects our customer retention. The competition you asked for -- yes, of course, competition is visible. But when the year starts, it's very early to say about that, how we see the competition mainly in spring and summer. It's a little bit more visible for us to see how competition works. But yes, we see some weaker competition and sometimes also competition is very strong. So it depends a little bit on the player in the market. But we see Bike24 very strong in our core business. So enthusiasts and especially also in our core segments, road and gravel. And that's why yes, we see Bike24 in a very good position in that point. And it's also that, as you know, gravel, road is very, very popular. And that's why we don't see negative impacts from competition there.

Yes. Then you had the question of aftersales services. Yes, that's a point where we are looking for maybe about -- that we are looking for cooperation with players in the market. I would say, to shrink or to decrease the hurdle maybe for also to buy a bike online. But today, it's in an AB testing phase. So we will start it in the next few months, and then we will look what will happen. But of course, full bike and service around that and especially what you mentioned after sales service is important for customers. And that's why we are looking for cooperation in that specific point.

And we have a question placed by Stefan van Kligen in our chat box. I'll read it out for you. How do you assess the overall market situation or the consolidation to your advantage? And do you attribute your growth to stronger demand auto gains in market share?

Yes. The overall market situation, I think it's tailwind for Bike24, especially what I mentioned about in our core segment for the enthusiast, road and gravel, what I also mentioned. So that's why I see also that, yes, for the whole market, yes, I may be not the expert because we are more the expert for the online business. But for the whole market, yes, it's -- I see, ongoing consolidation, and this is also helping Bike24 because when you don't find maybe the brand or the product in retailers, I think it's very natural that the first idea is that you are going online and Bike24 is very strong, as you know, in the parts, accessory and clothing business and also today in the bike business. And that's why all these developments will help Bike24.

And also, this will also lead to stronger demand. And what we today, as I mentioned, we had maybe some negative impacts of this situation in the Middle East, but it also could help and support Bike24 because what I see today, many, many are using the bike, maybe the car stands, yes -- yes, for your apartment or house and many, many uses the bike to going to job or yes, to schools. So this is also what we see. There's no negative impact. We see it more positive, the higher gas prices, yes.

And we move on to another participant who raised his hands. Mr. Charles Michaels, you should be able to speak now and place your question.

Great. Well, congratulations on a great year. I have 2 questions. The trade-off between growth and margins, given you're targeting margins that are much lower than your historical margins before COVID, how would you characterize the trade-off for you between growth and margins and when you may be able to resume to the level of historical margins?

Yes. It's -- yes, it's really -- yes, thank you for your question. What we are today see in the market is price pressure, of course, because of the historical impacts in the main business. And that's why we are managing Bike24, a little bit more on gross profit and not on gross margins. So this is reflecting our impacts from the whole market. And I see when the market is fully or the industry is fully healthy of, again, completely healthy, then I think it's also possible that we come back to the historical gross margins of around 30%. This is possible, but we need, yes, a healthy market environment, healthy industry.

And today, I think there are some players in the market that are not healthy, and so there are price pressures in the market. And I think also a little bit changed is that, to be honest, our gross margin, of course, it's very -- yes, impacted by product mix. So when we sell more maybe electronics, then it's, I think, a negative impact to our overall gross margin, but a very positive impact because it opens baskets, and we will find many, many new customers. So that's why it's a little bit trade-off today. But to be honest, we are managing top line. We are managing gross profit, and we are managing the EBITDA margin. This is our 3 core KPIs today and the priority of gross margin, I would say, is slightly lower today.

Another question for me would be, are you planning to enter any new localized markets in '26?

Yes. We are -- today on our plan are 2 new countries. It's a little bit too early to say what will be these 2. But I think in the coming 4 months, you will see what we will -- what our plans for that. So the localization is still ongoing, and we have 2 countries on our list, and we will bring them online in the next few months.

And we move on to Mr. Milwardt. Mr. Milwardt, you should be able to speak now and unmute yourself.

I've got a more strategic question. You mentioned that you are very popular with the enthusiasts in roads and travel. And if you look on the streets, this is really, really booming. So have you ever considered to also cater to this audience in a way of providing like content in a way that those people like forever, speak about materials and bikes and so on.

So my question would be, have you ever thought about moving this model further to, let's say, content and away from a transactional model to a, let's say, marketplace model where people could meet up and consume content, then you could harvest, let's say, the retail media, the bike companies themselves. They have not the individual power to have a full sales function with the logistics attached and so on. So marketplace model could make sense there as well. So have you ever thought about this?

Of course, marketplace, we haven't -- not on the priority list, but it's on a list to think about it. But today, we have no plans to realize this in the coming, I would say, 1 or 2 years. That's why I can say clearly, it's -- today, it's not on our plan. What we see more is that we have enough space to grow. So we see, especially in the localized markets, also in the full-bikes and also in customer experience, a lot of space to grow, and that's why we focus on that things what we manage very well, and we know exactly what we have to do. That is the point where we are very strong and because it's a little bit the same, what I mentioned also last year that the full industry is not healthy, and that's why I think we should concentrate on that what we manage very, very well, and that's why we concentrate on that.

Well, thank you very much for the question. And in the meantime, we have received no further questions. [Operator Instructions] If this is the case, no. So everything seems to be pretty clear. And we, therefore, come to the end of today's earnings call. Thank you very much to all the participants for your shown interest in Bike24. And thank you, Sylvio. Thank you, Andres, for the time to take the questions and answer them. A big thank you to all of you. Have a lovely remaining week. And having said this, I hand over to Andres for some famous last words.

Thank you very much. So today, a little bit more, and I would like to conclude the Bike24's earnings call for the fiscal year 2025 with a few closing remarks. So yes, as you know, despite a challenging environment, Bike24 achieved significantly accelerated growth in 2025 and made important progress across all major financial KPIs. And yes, with the operation and financial foundations established in 2025, we are, I think, very exemplarily positioned for continued profitable growth in this year.

And at the same time, of course, we hope that current geopolitical turbulences will soon give way to greater stability for our industry, our partners and especially for all those affected by these events. So thank you for your attention again, and we wish you all a pleasant day. Thank you, and bye-bye. See you.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and a warm welcome to today's Q3 2025 Earnings Call of the Bike24 Holding AG. Therefore, I'm delighted to welcome CEO, Andres Martin-Birner; and CFO, Sylvio Eichhorst. So the gentlemen will speak shortly and guide us through the results. So following the presentation, we will move on to our Q&A session.

And I would say let's jump straight into the numbers. So Andres, the stage is yours.

Thank you very much. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to today's earnings call presentation for the third quarter 2025. My name is Andres Martin-Birner. I'm the Founder and CEO of Bike24. At my side today and for the first time is Sylvio Eichhorst, the new CFO of Bike24. Let me now begin with the general update for the third quarter of this year before handing over to Sylvio for the business update. Finally, I will provide an outlook, including confirmation of our updated 2025 guidance, followed by the Q&A session.

The third quarter was very successful overall in terms of sales. It was another record quarter. We achieved a revenue growth of almost 32% and an adjusted EBITDA margin of plus 6.4%. This was the strongest sales growth since Q1 2021. And with the end of Q3, we have now already achieved our minimum internal company target of EUR 10 million in adjusted EBITDA at the end of September. Although the quarter was marked by summer sales, we were able to keep our gross margin relatively stable and to achieve an adjusted EBITDA of plus EUR 5.3 million.

We derived this result from high product availability and attractive offers. Furthermore, we continued with our cost discipline and focus on efficient processes supporting the contribution from our top line growth, resulting in an increase of our adjusted EBITDA above our growth rate. In particular, the continuous improvement of our assortment for our customers led to strong growth in all core markets. GSA at plus 36%; the localized markets, Spain, Italy, France and Benelux, plus our new markets, Finland and Poland with sales growth of 32%; Rest of Europe, plus 18%. It is particularly rewarding that the newly localized markets of Finland and Poland contributed above average to growth at the end of February. Both markets grew by 63% in the third quarter.

Moving on to our assortment segments. Our core PAC segments recorded sales growth of 31%. On the other hand, despite a difficult market environment, we achieved unexpectedly high sales growth of 32% for full bikes. This was the highest sales of Full Bikes in the quarter ever. In terms of inventory levels, we have made further progress. The ratio of inventory to sales has turned -- returned to pre-pandemic levels.

We are now close to reaching our target of 25%. Looking ahead, we are very pleased that thanks to all our efforts and measures, we were able to further raise our full year guidance in October, which we, of course, today still confirm. We, therefore, expect the positive trend of recent quarters to continue in the fourth quarter with double-digit sales growth as we already saw in October. So this was the introduction from my side. Sylvio, over to you for the financials.

Thank you very much, Andres. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to present the financials to you in detail for the first time today. But before I introduce you into the details, let me quickly say something about my thought. Over the past 2.5 months, I have been able to significantly deepen my knowledge of Bike24, both in terms of business operations and processes. And I have gained an impression of how directly the business is actually managed and how lean the organizational structure is.

Moreover, and even more importantly, I have been greatly impressed by the high level of commitment and the extensive knowledge of our employees. This passion is now also reflected in our financial developments. Naturally, I'm pleased to be -- to experience such a tailwind at the beginning of my appointment as CFO, and it's particularly important to me to support the strategic direction with a solid financial foundation and stable processes.

With that said, let me now continue with the financial statement presentation. As Andres already mentioned, we have once again seen a very positive development in Q3 2025 compared to Q3 of the previous year. We continued our steady revenue growth compared to the periods in reference a year before. Since the first quarter of 2024, and this despite the market environment remaining challenging, with EUR 82.8 million, we have once again achieved a new quarterly revenue record. In detail, you can see revenue growth in bikes and in Parts, Accessory and Clothing, shortly referred to as PAC.

As you can see from the presentation and as Andres already has described, the third quarter showed a revenue increase of over 30% in both categories, bikes and PACs. But also year-to-date, both categories grew significantly. While bike increased by 24%, PAC was able to grow by 27%. For bicycles, we are seeing overall a raise in demand and prices, especially in the area of traditional bikes, whereas for e-bikes, although the quantity increased significantly, slightly decreased compared to the previous year.

The strong competition in market, especially in stationary or brick-and-mortar retail is putting pressure on prices. In the subcategories of PAC, we also see a differentiated picture. On the positive side, all categories saw a volume increase of 22% to 30%. While the margin for Clothing could also be increased, the margin of Parts remained stable and Accessories saw a slight decline. Our strategy for offering an attractive assortment, combined with the special offers is very well received by our customers and increases both the purchasing and discussion of our existing customers and the acquisition of new customers.

When we now look at the regional developments, you will see that we grew in all our markets. particularly in Europe. What you can notice is that we grew significantly in our main markets and particularly in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. After a 28% increase in sales in the second quarter, we were able to grow revenues in this region by a further 36% compared to the same quarter last year. This continues to underline the fundamental importance of these markets. However, we were also able to accelerate our growth in the localized markets and the rest of Europe with particularly strong gains in the localized markets.

Sales in our most recently localized markets, Poland and Finland, increased disproportionately with revenue growth year-over-year of 51% and 49%, respectively. The new localized market is clearly outpacing the growth of other markets in this fiscal year. Overall, our focus remains on our markets in Europe, while the rest of the world accounting for about 1.5% -- 1.25% of revenue, plays rather a subordinated role and is seen more as a supplement, especially in times of rapidly changing conditions and unclear custom situations.

For the 2 most important market areas, we show you on the following slide, the development of active customers and the average revenues per customer. Particularly pleasing is the Vitality in GSA, where in the third quarter, we recorded 296,000 active customers, an increase of 28% and where we were able to raise average revenue per customer from EUR 182 to EUR 196. In the second quarter, it amounted to EUR 185. This growth is certainly due to a strong bicycle sales in Q3. In addition to bicycles, which grew by 31%, all areas of PAC also increased by over 35% in the third quarter.

Regarding the localized markets, we also saw increase in both active customers and average revenues, both in the quarter and on a yearly average. Both in the quarter and on a yearly average, bicycles recorded the largest growth of 35% in the third quarter and over 37% year-to-date. And if we now look at the inventory development, it shows clearly how heterogeneous the management focus must be during the fiscal year. Not only is the focus on growth and competitive products, but inventories are also continuously monitored.

Despite a remarkable 26% increase in sales during the fiscal year, we managed to increase inventories by only about 7% and even reduced the inventory to sale ratio by 4 percentage points due to the sales increase. Looking even deeper into the age structure of our inventories, we also were able to reduce our aged stock by more than half compared to the previous year. This development give us particularly the flexibility to continuously reorder attractive products and thus keep our offering interesting.

If we now move to the next slide, we see how business developed. Our strict cost management and our focus on working capital are reflected in the cash flow. At the first glance, free cash flow increased by only 2%, but working capital improved by about EUR 1 million during this fiscal year, whereas last year, it improved by about EUR 10 million, mainly due to inventory reductions. The significant increase in adjusted EBITDA by more than EUR 7 million year-over-year is particularly contributing to the positive development of free cash flow.

With this free cash flow, we were also able to further reduce net debt and despite regular repayments of our financial debts, maintain our cash level. On the following slide, the adjusted EBITDA is broken down and the operating costs are listed in detail. The starting point of the positive earnings development is the gross profit, which as a result of the sales development increased by EUR 5.1 million in Q3 and by EUR 12 million year-to-date.

Looking at individual line items, the only position that have changed substantially in the third quarter and year-to-date is performance marketing and materially, especially selling costs, but both are directly related to sales volume and increased accordingly. Overall, the cost components of adjusted EBITDA increased only by 11% in the first 3 quarters, while sales rose by 26%. The disproportionately lower increase in costs lead to a correspondingly higher increase in earnings.

I would like to highlight the development of personnel expenses where the effects of structural optimization become clearly visible. In the prior year number, there we also included the adjusted amount of EUR 1 million for SAP implementation costs. The relative development of cost is also presented on the next slide. It is very clear that the ratios of the individual cost items to sales are essentially the same or even lower, both year-to-date and in the third quarter. Only performance marketing shows a slight increase in Q3 due to seasonal sales campaigns in the third quarter.

In addition, the optimization measures are not just limited to the described structural adjustments in the workforce, but are also extended to process optimizations. There fast improvement measures were broadly implemented to increase operational efficiency. This also includes the cost optimized use of our carriers in localized markets, leading to lower selling costs, particularly in Q3. Above all, I would like to summarize that we have done our homework and are strongly focused on the needs of our customers as well as strengthening our operational excellence so that we feel well equipped for the future developments.

With that said, I would like to hand back to Andres, who will give us the outlook for the coming months.

Thank you, Sylvio. And let me shortly summarize the main contributors to our growth. Following an already successful second quarter, we were able to increase sales and profits in the third quarter. The turnaround initiated in the second quarter of the previous year has gained even more momentum and exceeded expectations with sales growth of 32%. This shows once again that our focus on revenue combined with scaled-up profitability is paying off.

In particular, the regained strength in our home market makes us confident for the coming quarters. On the other hand, localization is an important part of our 3-pillar strategy as our investments in the growth of our full-bike assortment. Improvements in the product assortment, the enhanced availability, the optimized logistics and overall increased operational efficiency lead to more growth and as a result, greater profitability. The shop experience has improved significantly as well with a new design with new features, including better filters, better checkout and with a bikes part compatibility solution for our customers.

Finally, let's take a look into the near future. Given the significant growth in the first 9 months and the promising results of recent weeks, we expect revenue growth between EUR 278 million and EUR 288 million in 2025. We also confirm our guidance for the adjusted EBITDA between EUR 12.5 million and EUR 13.5 million. However, I would like to make the remark, of course, that our guidance is based on the assumption that neither the macroeconomic environment nor consumer sentiment will suddenly deteriorate significantly.

Finally, thank you for your attention. And please let me lead over to our Q&A session, where we are more than happy today to answer your questions.

Thank you so much for handing over, Andres, and thank you for your presentation and congratulations on the results. So ladies and gentlemen, we are now happy to take your questions. [Operator Instructions] So we received the first hand from Ingo Schmidt. So, Ingo, you will now be able to speak and ask your questions. Can you hear me?

It's great to see such impressive growth in revenue and profitability. I have 3 questions. First of all, you have seen strong growth in localized European markets like Poland and Finland. How do you plan to expand this strategy further in 2026? And your EBITDA margin improved to 6.4% in Q3. What are your main priorities to keep improving profitability next year? And last but not least, of course, looking ahead to 2026, what are your expectations for revenue growth?

Okay. Let me maybe start and maybe Sylvio can add something on that. Yes, localized markets, of course, as you know, it's a part of our strategy we published during our IPO process. So yes, of course, we have more countries on -- that we plan to localize also for the next year. I expect it during the second quarter, I think, what we can expect. And yes, there are 3 or 4 countries where we discuss, but it's not finally -- we don't have the final decision on that.

But it's a part of our plan also for the next year. EBITDA margin, of course, we see tailwind for Bike24. This is correct. But on the other hand, we see a difficult market environment at all. So to increase gross margins, and this is the main part of, I think, the better EBITDA margin historically. As you know, we had the double-digit EBITDA margins historical. So it needs a little bit more tailwind from the whole market, and this is what we don't see today.

So our first goal is to be stable -- profitable and to grow next year. And we see the plan is, of course, to have high single-digit gross EBITDA margin next year. And when we look to 2026 and also the next years, I always mentioned that the ambition is to have double-digit growth rates in terms of revenues, and this is also, of course, our goal for next year and also for the coming years.

Maybe just to add to the EBITDA margin. Of course, we are also looking now to assortment, where we have the most profitable products. And of course, we want to strengthen these products. And in regards to the other costs, of course, we have now a lean structure. And this is what we also want to keep as long as possible. But of course, if you grow further, then also there might be a little increase, but this is -- as we started last year, it continues to be in our focus.

Thank you and best of luck for the coming months.

Thank you very much.

Thank you Ingo. Yes, by now, we have no further hands in the queue. So that's why we take a look in our Q&A box. And we have a quite similar question from Luis. So he says, gross margin is not improving at all year-to-date. How should we interpret it, tougher markets and/or competition or strategically decided by Bike24?

Maybe I can take the first point. So it's -- yes, that's a little bit what I mentioned before that it's, yes, a difficult market environment. So when we see or when we will have more tailwind from that, it's possible to come back to better gross margins close to the 30%. But today, the market environment is not -- yes, it's -- we don't see that a big tailwind on that.

But maybe this is something to add to Andres, and I think you mentioned this already, I think, a couple of times that we're also now focusing not so -- are we focusing, of course, also of the margin, but at the end, it's all about gross profit. And so we want to scale up our revenue so that in total, we have a better gross profit than just a good gross margin.

And then we will move on with the questions from Raphael Knupfer. So you should be able to speak now.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

So this is Raphael Knupfer from Berenberg, just jumping in for Wolfgang Specht. You already mentioned the inventories to sales ratio, but just another question on this. After inventories grew less than revenues now in Q3, do you expect any large changes in inventories for Q4?

So we -- when we look at the development of our revenue, so it's -- yes, it's, of course, a seasonal business biking, and that's why we expect a lower inventory at the end of the year, and we expect also that we will achieve our target of 25% at the end of the year. So I expect something about EUR 60 million to EUR 65 million in inventory at the end of the year.

And then we move on with the questions from Charles. So please ask your questions.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Perfect. Great. So first of all, congratulations, Andres, and welcome, Sylvio, to arrive at a pretty exciting time. Your growth rate was spectacular. And in fact, looking back a year ago, one would have never imagined such high growth. In connection with that, I would also say great to hear always that you expected in the future over 10%.

So now with this quarter, that's becoming more believable. I think the market didn't believe it, obviously, when the shares were down at EUR 1 or so. Today, with 32% almost -- what is the reason it's so strong? And how sustainable are some of the reasons to create 32% in the coming quarters?

To be honest, what I sometimes may be mentioned is that I expect not a growth rate of 30% for the coming quarters. It's for us a little bit also unbelievable. We use our opportunities in a weak market environment. And on the other hand, I think we have a little catch-up effect on Bike24 because, as you know, last year, we had the SAP introduction and now it's a little bit easier for mastering all the things -- or the important things what Bike24 made so successful in the last years. I mean, not 2023 and 2024, but the years before.

So it's the assortment, it's the high availability that's what we are focusing on which combined with fast logistic and the fair price. And that's why I think this year is the year of the catch-up effect. And on the other hand, when we see more tailwind from the market, then it's easier, of course, to see double-digit growth rates in the coming years. But I see also in a weak market environment, we are strong enough with our organization, the team, with the assortment, with our plan also for the coming years to see double-digit growth rates.

So by now, we have 3 further questions in our Q&A box. So the first one, you mentioned improvement in your web shop with better filters and checkout process. How are your conversion ratios -- how are your conversion ratios? And how is the trend in this ratio?

Yes, I would say, as a modern e-commerce company, of course, we use modern tools for checking. I mean, A/B testing when we introduce a new feature. So we used A/B testing to check if we have better conversion rates. This is what we do and then we introduce it and launch it. And we see, of course, but better conversion rates. That's why we -- yes, we launched it.

And then a further question, can you give us a bit more color about the competition behavior? Did you see a change in the tough market?

Yes, it's just not so simple to answer because we don't have the full transparency for the full market. As you know, there are many, many competitors, offline competitors and only some few online competitors, and we don't have yet correct numbers from that. So it's not so transparent, but I feel a little bit that some of them are weaker than the years before. And I think it's -- yes maybe one reason why we saw this year high growth rates in revenue that we, on the other hand, use our market opportunities. It's -- I don't know exactly, but I feel that some of the competitors are weaker than the year before.

Thank you. And now we only have one question left. [Operator Instructions] And by now, the last question, how much has the stock depletion in the bicycle market progressed in the overall market? What's your perception there?

Yes, it's not so easy to answer, to be honest.

I mean what we see -- what we hear is, of course, that a lot of old stock has been now sold from the bike, so we are a little bit -- looking forward, we anticipate that we have now more newer stock and that maybe with the newer stock also the willingness to sell bikes at very low prices might be reduced at least looking forward to, so that the competition will at little bit ease.

But yes, the full picture is maybe difficult to see. What we see is also that a lot of producers are very weak, so that -- they're suffering, so they get off the market and maybe others will step in. And so at the end, we hope that the bike market will also recover next year and will not continue to have these old stocks carried forward.

Right. And then we have a follow-up question from Charles. So please go ahead.

A follow-up, if you can hear me, can you hear me?

Yes.

Great. I'm talking about bikes and differentiating between different types of bikes, e-bikes and the classic bikes. And then within classic bikes, the super high end, maybe EUR 8,000 above and just the more midrange. Could you give us some more color on how -- what you're selling in the area of bikes? And I think you highlighted at the beginning that e-bikes have been more difficult possibly. I'm not sure if I heard that right?

So historically -- so Bike24 is very strong in the road bike segment and also in the assortment. I think we -- we are, yes, I would say, in the front in Europe or one of the best players in the e-commerce market for road bikes and also for gravel bikes. And this is one reason why we were so successful this year because from this special and just only a small market environment, to be honest, but we saw the a big tailwind for Bike24 because graveling or road bike cycling is very, very popular in Europe.

And on the other hand, see it's -- yes, the price pressure for e-bikes is very high. And you can imagine because there are so many market participants focused in the last years on e-bikes. So the obsolete stock problem is especially in this segment. And that's why the pressure is the strongest at the special segment. So we benefit a little bit on this pressure because we had some good clearance deals in the e-bike segment. On the other hand, we benefit this year from the strong and popularity of the gravel bike and the road-bike segment.

Thank you so much. And then we have another question in the Q&A box. Do you have ability to refinance your debt with better conditions due to the solvency improvement?

That's definitely something I will take. And of course, we are looking in this area as well. I mean, now we have the tailwind from our business development, and we also would like to have a robust financial background also when we grow. It's not just because of investments, but also because we want to finance our working capital, meaning our inventory stock.

So if we grow more and then we need also to prefinance at least for a certain period of time, a little bit more. And that's why, of course, we need to look at whether we are appropriately financed now. And this is definitely something that I will look at in the near time so that we can have it stable going forward.

All right. Thank you so much. And now it seems there are no open topics. No questions left. And that means we, therefore, come to the end of today's earnings call. So thank you, everyone, for joining. You've shown interest. And also a big thank you to you, Andres and Sylvio, for your time, the presentation and for the good results. So from my side, I wish you all a lovely remaining week. And Andres, Sylvio, some final remarks from your side.

Yes. Thank you for joining. Thank you for listening. And yes, wish you -- or we wish you a happy day. Bye-bye.

Bye.