Beter Bed Holding N.V. — Earnings Release 2020

Jan 22, 2021

Press release

Uden, the Netherlands, 22 January 2021

Beter Bed Holding records strong sales growth of 28.7% in Q4 2020

Highlights

• Q4 sales amount to € 61.3 million with strong growth driven across all businesses.
• Order intake in Benelux in Q4 (+15.1% like-for-like) and New Business (+52.0% like-for-like) resulted in +18.7% in order intake over Q4 and +24.8% for the full year (like-for-like).
• Order book rose to a record level of € 24.8 million (up 19% vs. 31 December 2019), despite the COVID-19 pandemic and store closures following the second lockdown as of mid-December.
• Online sales up 119.2% in Q4, leading to a channel share of 17.4% over Q4 and 14.8% for the full year.
• Strong performance New Business with significantly improved sales at Sängjätten and continued significant growth in the B2B channel at DBC.

€ million	Sales 2020 Q4
	Sales 2020 Q4	% Growth vs. 2019 Q4	LFL sales growth vs. 2019 Q4	LFL order intake growth vs. 2019 Q4	Online sales as % of total sales
Benelux	54.3	29.4%	29.2%	15.1%	18.9%
New Business	7.0	23.6%	63.3%	52.0%	5.6%
Total	61.3	28.7%	32.3%	18.7%	17.4%
€ million	Sales 2020 Q4 YTD
	Sales	% Growth vs.	LFL sales growth vs.	LFL order intake	Online sales as % of
	2020 Q4 YTD	2019 Q4 YTD	2019 Q4 YTD	growth vs. 2019 Q4	total sales
				YTD
Benelux	198.3	21.1%	20.7%	24.0%	15.9%
New Business	23.8	8.7%	25.3%	31.4%	5.0%
Total	222.1	19.6%	21.2%	24.8%	14.8%

John Kruijssen, CEO of Beter Bed Holding, comments:

"The fourth quarter of 2020 marks our seventh consecutive quarter of revenue growth for the Group both offline and online. Our strategy to improve sleep quality of our customers, through all activities we initiate, is clearly paying off. The investments to further digitalise our company and to enhance the customer journey are showing exciting results and better insights to support revenue growth and customer appreciation. In 2021, we will continue to build on our strategic journey of delivering quality sleep through newly developed product ranges, the implementation of technology generated advice, partnerships with specialists and more support services for our customers, while we continue to be the price leader in our market."

COVID-19 update

The current lockdown and the more generic COVID-19 developments affect all of us. It is difficult to predict how 2021 will unfold although the vaccines in various countries might bring some relief. Consumer confidence continues to be depressed and the economy volatile. We continue our focus on cost control, disciplined capital spend and strict cash flow management, while we further increase our investments in online and further digitalisation. Active stock and supplier management is in place in order to manage disturbance caused by the lockdown. Precautionary measures are taken and constantly reviewed to ensure safe working and, when possible again, safe shopping conditions.

Number of stores

The table below shows the development of the number of stores in 2020.

Number of stores	Stores
	1-1-2020	Opened	Closed	Franchise	31-12-2020
BB Netherlands	83	2	1	0	84
Beddenreus	34	2	2	0	34
BB Belgium	17	1	1	0	17
Total Benelux	134	5	4	0	135
Sängjatten	27	0	8	3	16
Total	161	5	12	3	151

Benelux

Commercially, Benelux has experienced a very successful fourth quarter, especially during the Black Friday period. With the 'always-on' omnichannel marketing strategy sales grew by 29.4% compared to last year and like-for-like order intake grew by 15.1% compared to last year. Absent the mandatory lockdowns of the stores in the Netherlands from 15 December onwards and in Belgium during November, these reported growth rates would have been even higher. Online sales grew by 117.1%, representing an online channel share of 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Although partly driven by the lockdowns, this development highlights the success of our digital acceleration during 2020.

A new sustainable, innovative bed named 'Karlsson Bädd' was introduced and a digital tool to better service clients named Chatbot Bo was successfully launched. Furthermore Beter Bed launched its 'Slaapkoppen' campaign, focusing on the effects of sleeping well on people's health, well-being and happiness next to nutrition and exercise. This new brand positioning campaign will highlight the importance of getting a good night's sleep.

During the year, Beter Bed's operations proved to be very resilient in a time of COVID-19 and the online sales increase was very strong, all supported by the investments made to re-platforming of the beterbed.nl website to make it faster and scalable, new digital marketing tooling and big data computing capabilities.

New Business

Sales in New Business, comprising the DBC wholesale business and Sängjätten in Sweden increased by 23.6% compared to last year to € 7.0 million, with a like-for-like sales growth of 63.3%.

DBC

Like-for-like DBC performed much better in terms of sales and order intake, driven by a higher consumer spending pattern and successful consumer promotions, including Black Friday. As a result of the second lockdown mid-December, DBC recorded a lower order intake from its dealers and customers.

In the fourth quarter Beter Bed Holding signed an agreement with Asian retailer DeRUCCI, and several agreements with other international retailers were optimised. In the Netherlands DBC started a M line brand store in Nijhoff Shopping in Baarn.

Sängjätten

The Swedish business showed a very strong fourth quarter, with continuing like-for-like growth in sales and order intake. Both online and in-store sales were up for the second quarter in a row and all own stores have now undergone a refit. The launch of the new Sleeping World brand in the stores was particularly successful. Sängjätten is now well-positioned to be a more dominant independent sleep specialty store in the Swedish market.

About Beter Bed Holding

Beter Bed Holding N.V. (BBH) is a European retail, wholesale and B2B organisation that provides its customers with the best quality rest at affordable prices. BBH embraces the increasing awareness of a good night's sleep and the positive impact on health and well-being. BBH offers an affordable range of high-quality products in a way that optimally suits each customer, both via physical stores and online stores.

The Group operates in the following regions:

• The Netherlands and Belgium, via the Beter Bed brand and Beddenreus brand (only in the Netherlands).
• Sweden, via the Sängjätten brand.

Via its subsidiary DBC International, BBH operates a wholesale business in branded products in the bedroom furnishings sector, including international brands such as M line, Wave and Maxi.

BBH is listed on Euronext Amsterdam. Employing approximately 1,100 people, BBH achieved sales of € 222 million in 2020.

For more information

Press enquiries: Uneke Dekkers / CFF Communications T +31 (0)20 575 4010 or M +31 (0)6 50261626 E uneke.dekkers@cffcommunications.nl