Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S: Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2026: Full year expectations raised reflecting year-to-date performance and higher refunds

Company Announcement No. 12, 11 November 2026


Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2026: Full year expectations raised reflecting year-to-date performance and higher refunds

Niels Frederiksen, Chief Executive Officer: “The third quarter was another step in the right direction with respect to executing our Focus2030 strategy and stabilising our business. Our full-year guidance is adjusted partially reflecting higher tariff and duty refunds. The third quarter is positively affected by timing of certain shipments that will reverse in the fourth quarter, but I am pleased with the continued growth in handmade cigars, the underlying margin stabilisation and the strong cash-flow generation. The divestment of the fine cut tobacco brands BREAK and Moro has been completed, restoring our financial flexibility. Approaching the end of the year our focus is to further support progress in our strategic priorities and to deliver a financial performance in line with our long-term ambitions.”

Group net sales stabilising in the first nine months of the year

• Reported net sales of DKK 6.6 billion including a 2% negative impact from exchange rate effects
• Net sales growth at constant currencies of 0.5%
• Machine-Rolled Cigars & Smoking Tobacco delivered flat organic net sales and Handmade Cigars delivered 4% organic net sales growth

Profit margin expansion in the first nine months driven by timing and duty refunds

• EBITDA margin before special items was 21.8% (+190bp vs 9M 2025) incl. +120bp impact from duty refunds
• EBIT margin before special items at 16.1% (+110bp vs. 9M 2025) including a 50bp negative impact from change in amortization of trademarks, which partially offset the positive impact from duty refunds
• The underlying margin improvement was primarily driven by third quarter timing impacts for machine-rolled cigars and smoking tobacco. These are expected to reverse impacting results negatively in the fourth quarter.

Strong cash flow improvement versus last year

• Free cash flow before acquisitions was DKK 862 million (9M 2025: DKK 448 million).
• The cash flow improvement reflects improved contributions from the operating activities including changes in the working capital and supports full-year guidance of DKK 1.2-1.4 billion

Improved financial flexibility after divestment

• The Group leverage ratio is expected at about 2 times by year-end compared with 2.7 times by end of Q3
• The Group’s capital allocation priorities remain unchanged based on disciplined investments to support our strategic direction and the shareholder return policy.

Financial expectations for full-year 2026
Based on broadly unchanged assumptions for net sales but now excluding the impact from the divestment of the fine-cut brands as of 1 October, the range for the expected net sales growth has been narrowed while the range for the EBIT margin before special items has been raised supported by the year-to-date financial performance and higher than expected tariff and duty refunds.

• Reported net sales growth at constant currencies in the range from -2% to 0% (from -2% to +2%)
• EBIT margin before special items in the range of 14.0-15.5% (from 13.0-14.5%)
• Free cash flow before acquisitions in the range of DKK 1.2-1.4 billion (unchanged)
• Adjusted EPS in the range of DKK 9.5-11.5 (from 9.0-11.0)

Financial Summary

Webcast: The Group will present the results at a conference call on 12 November 2026 at 10.00 CET. Dial-in information and the presentation deck will be available at st-group.com.
Contact information: Torben Sand, Director of IR & Communications, phone +45 5084 7222, Torben.sand@st-group.com.