Fiskars’ main competitor/peer in the garden sector, Husqvarna, issued a warning this morning about its Q4 results. Husqvarna has had a challenging end to the year, as the company also issued a profit warning in September. The latest warning is primarily due to the continued difficult North American market and generally customers’ efforts to reduce inventories, due to which Husqvarna expects a 5% organic sales decline.
Fiskars Group’s year-end results are mainly generated in the Vita segment, while garden products belong to the Fiskars segment. The companies’ product mix in garden products is also different, so direct comparisons cannot be drawn between Fiskars and Husqvarna, but this is negative news for Fiskars as well. Fiskars has guided for a slight improvement in its result (adj. operating profit) this year, while our forecast is at last year’s level. A mild profit warning is thus already factored into our forecasts.