Takko - comment

Takko’s sales through December (usually year ends in January) are on apr with our modelling, but margins seem to have been better. Gauging our implicit forecast through December, the retailer appears to have had a good Christmas season and could have beaten our expectation by up to €15m EBITDA. Because the periods before and after Christmas (January) are very different, we are not entirely sure how comparable the figures are, but in total, the message is that even if we deduct some of the very sporty adjustments Takko tend to make to their EBITDA (as we usually do), the retailer has probably come in with over €120m of EBITDA. That is off the highest by some €37m, but all things considered the company itself is performing well. Meanwhile shareholder and creditors are struggling to find an agreement these days (given maturities in May, we humbly suggest that mid-March would be a good time to find that agreement).