Fastned 1Q24 trading update, low sales compensated by gross margin

1Q24 trading update is tracking in line with our model. Sales growth of 42.1% to EUR 18.9m is below our expectation, but gross margin came above our expectation at 77% to EUR 14.7m million (+56.4%). The latter should be a relief as competition has increased lately, but their focus on high traffic locations seems to pay off. The outlook for new stations by FY24 of 335-350 is just below our 352 expectation. Fastned predicts 420-450 stations by FY25-end vs. our expectation of 417. New secured locations focussed on GE and they are currently looking at tenders in Poland. The company repeated its guidance for EBITDA positive for FY24. We expect further details over the conference call at 11h00. For now, we see no reason to change our target price or rating.