Scandinavian Tobacco Group reported its net sales for the first quarter 2025 increased 1.3% to DKK 2 billion ($300 million) with a negative organic net sales growth of 8.8%. EBITDA before special items decreased 5.3% to DKK 317 million ($47.6 million) with an EBITDA margin of 16.1%.
The reported net sales growth was driven primarily by the addition of the Mac Baren business and high double-digit growth in its XQS nicotine pouch brand, the company said. Organic net sales decline was impacted by lower consumption of handmade cigar sales in the U.S. and the discontinuation of online distribution of ZYN in the U.S. Temporary supply issues related to the go-live of SAP in its European factories phased some machine-rolled cigar sales from the first to later quarters.
The U.S. market accounts for approximately 45% of the Group’s net sales. As a consequence of the recent changes in U.S. international trade policy—announced in April and resulting in increased tariffs of currently 10% on imported goods—and due to the translation effect from a lower U.S. dollar exchange rate, Scandinavian is adjusting its financial expectations for the full year 2025. The Group now expects reported net sales for 2025 to be in the range of DKK 9.1–9.5 billion ($1.37–1.43 billion), adjusted from the previous range of DKK 9.2–9.7 billion ($1.38–1.46 billion).
The EBITDA margin decreased 1%-point compared with the first quarter of last year. The decline is driven by a combination of product and market mix, investments in regaining market shares in machine-rolled cigars in key European markets, as well as the expansion of our nicotine pouch business, the company said.