Press Release - 19.01.2024 - 10:00
Lars Larsen Group delivers record revenue and continues long-term investment strategy
With the results for the financial year 2022/23, Lars Larsen Group sets another revenue record in spite of continued global volatility and market uncertainty.
The total revenue for Lars Larsen Group rose to DKK 45.4bn in 2022/23 – a three percent increase compared to the previous financial year, which also was a record year for the group. The revenue for the two business areas of the group amounted to DKK 42bn for Lars Larsen Group Retail and DKK 3.4bn for Lars Larsen Group Investments respectively.
The total operating profit was DKK 4.2bn in 2022/23 compared to DKK 4.6bn in 2021/22. After goodwill depreciations and financial items, earnings before tax amounted to DKK 3.4bn in 2022/23 compared to DKK 4.3bn in 2021/22. Though the companies in Lars Larsen Group, like many other companies, have been affected by the rise in costs and decrease in purchasing power of consumers, the overall strategy of investment and continued development and growth remains unchanged.
”We are satisfied with the result which, to a wide extent, can be attributed to our many skilled employees across the group. The list of challenges, which could potentially affect the business in 2022/23, is long, but with challenges comes the opportunity to make a difference,” says President and CEO of Lars Larsen Group, Jesper Lund, and continues:
”In Lars Larsen Group, we wish to contribute and create value for society, and we do so by continuing to invest in long-term growth - even in a difficult global market,” he adds.
In the past financial year, Lars Larsen Group invested DKK 2.9bn in group operations, which is to be compared to annual depreciations of DKK 1.4bn. Furthermore, an additional DKK 745m have been earmarked for green energy investments and more than DKK 15m have been donated to humanitarian aid and charity through, among others, UNICEF, the Red Cross, and local initiatives such as rebuilding activities in Ukraine.
At the end of the financial year 2022/23, Lars Larsen Group’s total number of employees was 39,000 globally.
A transparent impact
The financial year 2022/23 was also the year where the parent company, LLG A/S, together with the subsidiaries JYSK, Actona Group, Bolia, ILVA, SOFACOMPANY, and ScanCom International committed to the internationally acclaimed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
”Decarbonisation and investments in green initiatives are important to Lars Larsen Group and we want to do our part in limiting global warming. Through our commitment to the SBTi, we are aiming to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees in line with the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, we are committed to reducing our direct and indirect CO2e-emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 50 percent before 2030 and we are currently calculating our full CO2e baseline for scopes 1, 2, and 3 across the group,” Jesper Lund explains.
In the tax area, Lars Larsen Group has continued the work of establishing even more transparency around the group’s total tax contribution in all of the countries where it operates, referred to as the Global Tax Footprint. For the financial year 2022/23, the Global Tax Footprint amounted to DKK 8.8bn of which DKK 741m was allocated for corporate income taxes. This corresponds to a taxation rate of 21.4 percent compared to 20.5 percent in the previous financial year.
Synergies across the group
The financial year 2022/23 marked a transition to the new business structure of Lars Larsen Group with the two underlying business areas Lars Larsen Group Retail and Lars Larsen Group Investments. Lars Larsen Group Retail is now headed by the former and long-serving President and CEO of JYSK, Jan Bøgh.
”The new Lars Larsen Group Retail-team has had a good start to their work of creating and strengthening synergies across the group in general and establishing the foundation of a more strategic approach to our retail activities specifically,” Jesper Lund says.
New head office and new name in 2024
The coming financial year will also mark a transition to something new for Lars Larsen Group. After years of sharing a head office with the subsidiary JYSK, the parent company, LLG A/S, with its approximately 80 employees, has reached a size which requires a new location. In February 2024, the company will thus move to a new head office in Erhvervspark Silkeborg.
However, Lars Larsen Group’s association with Aarhus will remain unchanged. Here, the head offices of JYSK, Bolia, ILVA, and SENG will stay and so will the current Lars Larsen Group-sponsorships and the like.
Furthermore, the process of simplifying Lars Larsen Group and bringing it from 10 groups in 2009 to one group today has been completed. As the finalising step, the parent company of the group changes its name from LLG A/S to Lars Larsen Group A/S.
”The process of becoming one collective group, which was initiated in 2009, has now been finalised. And we are looking forward to coming to Silkeborg. It is the natural next step in our development and completely in line with the owner family’s wishes to have our head office in Silkeborg, which has close ties to the group that go all the way back to our founder,” Jesper Lund concludes.
Find Lars Larsen Group's annual report 2022/23 here
See financial highlights for 2022/23 here
