Compagnie Financière Tradition S.A.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Richemont for Year 24 interim results presentation. I am Alice, your call operator. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it is my pleasure to hand over to Sophie Cagnard, Group Corporate Communications and IR Director. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Alice, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for Richemont's half-year results presentation for the period ended 30 September 2023. Today, Johan Ruppert, Chairman, Jérôme Lambert, Group Chief Executive Officer, Burkhard Grund, Group Chief Finance Officer, Cyril Vigneron, Quartier Chief Executive Officer, and James Fraser, Investor Relations Executive. We would like to remind you that the company announcement and results presentation can be downloaded from richemont.com. and that the replay of his audio webcast will be available on our website today at 3 p.m. Geneva time. Before we begin, please take note of our disclaimer regarding forward-looking statements in our ad hoc announcement and on slide two of our presentation. Turning now to the presentation, the workout will begin by discussing key highlights and group sales. I will then provide further detail on the performance of our maisons. Finally, Burkhardt will take you through the financials and offer some concluding remarks. This presentation will then be followed by a Q&A session. Burkhardt, over to you.

Thank you, Sophie. Good morning to everyone listening and thank you for joining us today. During the first half of the year, we faced growing headwinds, including an uncertain macroeconomic and political environment, unfavorable foreign currency movements and demanding comparatives. nonetheless achieved double-digit sales growth for the six-month period ended September 2023 for our continuing operations, with an increase of 12% at constant exchange rates and 6% at actual exchange rates. Operating profit of 2.7 billion euros was 2% lower over the prior year period, leading to an operating margin of 26%, a 210 basis points reduction compared with a year ago. Excluding the significant negative foreign currency impact, both operating profit and the resulting operating margin rose at constant exchange rates, as we will see on the next slide. Profit from continuing operations at 2.2 billion euros was 3% higher than in the prior year period. Cash flow from operating activities remained solid at 1.7 billion euros. Our net cash position was strong at 5.8 billion euros, taking into consideration the recent 2.1 billion euro dividend cash payment that was approved by shareholders at the 2023 AGM in September. Please remember that our net cash position excludes 0.7 billion euros of YNAB's net overdraft classified as liabilities held for sale. The double-digit half-year sales increase at constant exchange rates reflected a very strong first quarter and softer second quarter, up 5% at constant exchange rates, highlighting the resilience of our maisons in a challenging environment. Q2 sales were impacted by organic growth softening to high single-digit in Asia-Pacific and decreasing by 1% in Europe. At actual exchange rates, the second quarter sales were down 2%. Half-year sales growth was led by the jewelry maisons and the retail channel. The strongest regional growth was in Asia Pacific, fueled by the removal of COVID-related restrictions at the start of the year and the related resumption of travel by the Chinese clientele. Unfavorable foreign currency movements have also adversely impacted the gross and operating margins. The reported gross margin was 68.2% compared to the 69.9 margin at constant exchange rates. Operating profit from continuing operations of 2.7 billion euros was 2% down at actual exchange rates, but 15% up at constant exchange rates. At constant exchange rates, the operating margin rose by circa 90 basis points to 28.5% compared to the prior year period. Julien Maison showed their continued leadership in the industry during the period, increasing sales by double digits and recording a strong operating margin of 35.5%. During the period, Richemont strengthened its corporate governance with the appointment of two new board members, Fiona Druckenmiller and Ban Schott, as well as two new SEC members, Bud Brinkrewe and Sven Grundmann. It also released its ESG report in accordance with GRI standards. Let me now discuss the group sales performance in more detail, first by region and then by distribution channel. Unless otherwise stated, all comments refer to year-on-year changes at constant exchange rates. All regions posted growth with varied strength, led by Asia-Pacific, where sales increased by 23%, making this region the largest contributor to the group sales increase. Sales softened to high single digits in the second quarter on the back of less favorable comparatives. The half-year regional performance was driven by a 34% sales increase in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau combined, following the removal of COVID-related restrictions at the beginning of the year, increasing travel flows across these three markets, combined with favorable comparatives. Locations in the region that also showed strong growth included Taiwan, Thailand, and Australia, while other locations had varied and somewhat more muted performances. Overall, Asia-Pacific represented our largest region, with 42% of group sales, up from 39% in the first half of last year. European sales increased by mid-single digits, driven by the resilience of domestic demand and tourist spending, largely from American, Middle Eastern, and more recently, Chinese clients. During the second quarter, sales were broadly flat, reflecting lower spend from the American Middle Eastern clientele. Sales in Europe represented 22% of group sales in line with H1 of 2023. Notable regional performances came from France, Italy, and Switzerland. Sales in the Americas were softer at reported rates and broadly in line with the prior year period at constant exchange rates on demanding comparatives, with an improvement during the second quarter. Americans continue to spend abroad, mostly in Europe, though to a lesser extent than in the prior year period, partly due to the weakening of the US dollar-euro exchange rate, which was at parity a year ago. America has made up 21% of group sales, almost on par with Europe. Strong growth continued in Japan and the Middle East and Africa, sustained by the strength of tourism in Japan, particularly from the Chinese clientele, and good support from both domestic and tourist spending in the Middle East and Africa. Combined, these two regions comprise 15% of group sales, broadly in line with the prior year period. Let us now turn to sales by clientele in the directly operated stores of most of our maisons. This will give you an indication of the magnitude of sales growth. Starting with the mainland Chinese clientele, you can see demand was strong in the first half of the year, with sales up by circa 50% over the prior year period and about 22% and 48% on a two and four year comparison basis. In short, sales with the mainland Chinese clientele are well above the pre-COVID levels. There was softer demand from the American clientele in this first half with sales up around 3%, recording nonetheless very strong rates on a two and four year stack of around plus 40 and plus 140% respectively. The European clientele proved resilient with sales rising by about 8% of the prior year period and up almost 50% and 120% on a two and four year comparison basis. Note that the overwhelming majority of the spend by Europeans was domestic. The share of tourism related sales has nonetheless continued to increase, reaching now approximately one quarter of group sales, driven by the resumption of Chinese spend outside mainland China, with most purchases being made within Asia. Let us now turn to sales by distribution channel. Retail sales represented 69% of group sales, a 200 basis point increase over the prior year period. Retail enjoyed the largest increase among the distribution channels at plus 16%, with double digit increases at the duit maisons and the specialist watchmakers and growth in all regions. Sales benefited from a net increase of 27 store openings overall, most notably in Asia Pacific and the Americas, including the Nubuchelati store in Macao and the Panerai store in Seoul. Online retail sales at 5% of group sales were 2% lower versus the prior year period. Performance varied by region, with higher sales in the Americas and the Middle East and Africa, and by business area, with moderate growth at the jewelry maisons and fashion and accessories maisons. Now moving to wholesale sales, which include sales to monobrand franchise partners and third-party multi-brand retail partners, sales to agents, and royalty income. Sales on the channel represented 26% of group sales compared to 27% a year ago. Wholesale sales increased by 5%, led by double-digit progression at the jewelry maisons and lower performance elsewhere. Sales growth was primarily driven by Asia Pacific and Japan. Direct-to-client sales, which represent sales in our directly operated stores and online retail sales, make up 74.1% of group sales, representing a 120 basis point increase over the same period a year ago. This increase reflected the strength of the retail channel overall and the continued retailization of the specialist watchmakers, where the direct-to-client sales rose by 500 basis points to 59%. Nonetheless, the jewellery maisons continued to post the highest DTC rate at 82%. Over to you, Sophie.

Thank you, Burkhard. I will now review the business areas with all comparisons at actual rates. Let me start with the jewellery maisons, which include Puccellati, Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels. Sales increased by 10%, fueled by growth in most distribution channels and region-wise, driven by Asia Pacific with sales up 21%, followed by Europe with sales up 7%. Higher sales, improved gross margin and good cost control led to a 5% increase in operating results, which reached 2.5 billion euros with a 35.5% operating margin. We continued to invest in the long-term future of the maisons, including into manufacturing capacity and capabilities and targeted investments into distribution. Communication expenses increased as well, notably linked to jewelry events. Here again, currencies weighed on results. At constant exchange rates, operating profit was up by 20% and the operating margin higher by 120 basis points. Let us now look at the main developments over the past six months. Good growth was seen across the main product lines. Iconic collections performed well, along with other creative offers. In jewellery, these included the Clash, Grandes Cafés, and Trinity collections at Cartier, Faunin et Perlé at Don Clerc and Arpels, and Blossom and Opéra Tulle at Buccellati. In watches, the performance came from Panthère, Tante Normale, and the precious offer at Cartier, and Alhambra and Perlé at Van Cleef & Appels. The creative designs and craftsmanship of our high jewelry collections have been rewarded with strong results across the three jewelry maisons, with noteworthy successes from Le Voyage Recommencé, Le Grand Tour, and mosaico collections at Cartier, Van Cleef & Appels, and Buccellati, respectively. The retail network was further upgraded with openings such as a new Buccellati store in Macau, the renovated Cartier store in Basel, and relocated Domplet & Argyle store on Canton Road in Hong Kong. 60% of Cartier stores are now under the new concept after five store renovations were completed, which included Nagoya and Riyadh. At the over-jury maisons, Renovations or extensions included Van Cleef & Arpels in Hawaii and Buccellati in Paris. To support the strong momentum in jewellery, production capacity is being enhanced with new facilities being built, acquired or recently completed between Italy, France and Switzerland and this across all three jewellery maisons. Finally, the Cartier Jewellery Institute opened its doors to reveal the craftsmanship involved in jewellery making and create interest among young people. In addition, Puccellati finalised an agreement with Scuola Raffa Ambrosiana to support the training of new apprentices and enable scholarships in goldsmithing. Let us now review our specialist watchmakers, where sales were 3% lower than the prior period, reflecting lower sales in the Americas, only partially offset by growth in Japan and the Middle East and Africa. Worth noting is the performance of the retail channel, which grew by high single digits and mitigated lower sales in the wholesale and online retail channels. As a result, retail penetration has increased, to 57% of sales. Subdued sales, a strong Swiss franc, and the internalization of stores impacted the operating result, which amounted to 391 million euros and generated a 19.7% operating margin. At constant rates, the operating profit and operating margin went down by 1% and 100 basis points respectively. Iconic collections delivered a good performance, including from the overseas and traditional collections at Vacheron Constantin, Reverso and Rendez-Vous at Jaeger-LeCoultre, Pilot's watches at IWC, Polo at Piaget, and longer one at Lancanson. The level of direct to client sales continued to increase, rising by circa 500 basis points to reach 59% of sales providing the opportunity for an enhanced client's experience and improved understanding of our clients' needs. During the period, focus continued on store internalization and enhancing store productivity. New store openings took place mostly in China and the US, including a relocated Panerai flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York and a new Piaget store in Sydney. The last six months saw two innovative initiatives to preserve and pass on heritage, craftsmanship, and creativity. Vacheron Constantin and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced a partnership to develop a series of projects designed to showcase their respective rich heritages and ability to keep cultural legacies alive for future generations. Gégère Lecoultre and Michelangelo Foundation completed an inaugural edition of the Homo Faber Fellowship with a masterclass in creativity certified by ESSEC Business School to be followed by residential placement in the workshop of the master. Let us move to the other business area for pricing the fashion and accessories maisons watch finder company and the group's watch component manufacturing and real estate activities. Sales for the business area overall were 1% down over the prior period and broadly in line with the prior year for the fashion and accessories maisons with notable growth at Alaya, Delvaux and Peter Miller and mid single digit growth in the retail channel. They were subject growth to muted declines across the business area's main regions, which included the Americas, Asia Pacific, and Europe. Nonetheless, direct-to-client sales continued to progress, increasing slightly to 56%, driven by higher retail sales. Overall, the other business area reported an operating loss of 6 million euros, while the fashion and accessories maisons reporting an operating profit of 25 million euros driven by continued focus on creativity and cost control. The operating margin at the F&A maisons amounted to 2.1%. Sales grew across most of our F&A maisons with a noteworthy performance from the leather goods during the period. notably Valley Flats and Minaudière Coeur d'Alaya, Le Brillant at Delvaux, Xtreme 3.0 and Sartorial at Montblanc, and the G.1112 sneakers at G4. Strong momentum was recorded at Alaya, Delvaux and Peter Muller, supported by the strength of their new and existing collections. Select network expansion initiatives included openings focused on Asia Pacific and the Middle East, such as the IFS Shopping Mall Chloé Store in Changsha and the Delvo Store in Riyadh Kingdom Centre Mall. Finally, Watchfinder launched a third-party marketplace in the United Kingdom in April, expanding the product offer through carefully selected professional sellers. This concludes the review of the first half performance of each business area. Burkhard, over to you.

Thank you, Sophie. Let me walk you through the rest of the P&L starting with gross profits. Gross profit increased by 5% to 7 billion euros and represented 68.2% of sales compared with 68.9% a year ago. At constant exchange rates and compared to the reported H124 number, gross margin was 170 basis points higher at 69.9%. Gross margin was impacted by increased production costs driven by inflation on raw materials and salary increases compounded by the impact of adverse foreign exchange movements on sales. Those negatives were partly offset by higher production volume and price increases, as well as favorable channel meson in geographical mix effects. Let us now look at net operating expenses, which rose by 9% compared to the prior year period at actual exchange rates and by 13% at constant exchange rates. These increases are well above the 6% increase in sales at actual rates, but broadly in line with the 12% sales growth at constant exchange rates. Selling and distribution expenses increased by 9% at actual exchange rates, by 14% at constant exchange rates, primarily reflecting strong retail sales, larger retail operations, in addition to inflation driven operating cost increases. S&D expenses represented 23.4% of H124 sales, a 60 basis point increase compared to 22.8% a year ago. Communication expenses were up by 9% over the prior year period at actual exchange rates and by 13% at constant exchange rates as the maisons continued to invest in communication to support sales growth, primarily at the jewelry maisons and notably for high jewelry events. As a percentage of sales, communication spend was 8.6%, slightly higher than in the prior year period. Fulfillment expenses, that is the cost of fulfilling online orders from RMS also in Watchfinder, were in line with the prior year period at actual exchange rates. Fulfillment expenses represented 1% of group sales. Administrative expenses, which are primarily incurred in Swiss francs, were 16% higher than the prior year period at actual and constant exchange rates and amounted to 8.9% of sales. Growth was largely driven by higher IT expenses and salary increases. Overall, net operating expenses amounted to 42.2% of group sales. This resulted in an operating profit of 2.7 billion euros, 2% down compared to the prior year period, leading to a 26% operating margin compared to 28.1% a year ago. Profitability was significantly impacted by negative foreign exchange movements during the period, as we just saw, impacting by 300 basis points, both gross margin and operating expenses combined, and as recapped in the current slide. In short, at constant exchange rates, operating profit grew by 15% and the operating margin improved by 90 basis points to 28.5% compared to a 27.6% operating margin at constant exchange rates in the prior year period. Net finance costs eased to 52 million euros for the first half of the year. The 150 million euro improvement was mainly driven by three main items. First, fair value adjustments decreased by 136 million euros, reflecting reduced fair value losses on the group's investments in externally managed bond funds and money market funds. Secondly, there was a 63 million euro positive reversal in the net financial income line. These positive elements partially mitigated the net foreign exchange impact of 38 million euros on monetary items and hedging activities compared to the prior year period. Sales under discontinued operations, which consists of YNAB, were down by 13% during the period, impacted by the challenging environment for multi-brand retailers. Factoring in the 527 million Euro further revaluation of YNAB's net assets to fair value, the operating result from discontinued operations translated into a 603 million Euro loss. As announced on the 23rd of October, we have received all necessary approvals from the various regulatory authorities to enable the progression towards completion of stage one of the deal. We'll touch on that later. Profit for the period from continuing operations increased by 3% to 2.2 billion euros, leading to a 21.1% profit margin from continuing operations. Our effective tax rate for the first half of the financial year from continuing operations was 18%. This is an organic rate for Richemont and it is in line with our expectations for the full year, absent any special unforeseen items occurring in the second half of the year, and within our projected 18 to 21% range. Cashflow generated from operating activities was 126 million euros higher than the prior year period at 1.7 billion euros, reflecting slightly reduced operating profit from operating activities, more than offset by lower investments in working capital. Let us now turn to our gross capital expenditure. Investments totaled 378 million euros, broadly in line with the prior year period. At 3.3% of sales, capital expenditure was slightly less than the 3.5% in the prior year period. 47% of gross capital expenditure related to point of sales investments, mostly renovations and relocations of directly operated stores. New store openings include Van Cleef & Arpels in Barcelona and IWC in Berlin. Relocations and renovations included, again, Van Cleef & Arpels in U.S. Costa Mesa, Cartier in Bangkok, and Vacheron Constantin on Rodeo Drive. Manufacturing spend was broadly stable at 20% of overall capex and mostly related to the jewelry maisons. Other investments made up 33% of capex and predominantly comprised IT investments. Let us now turn to free cash flow. Free cash inflow of 866 million euros was 58 million euros higher than in the prior year period. The improvement reflected higher cash flow from operating activities, partly offset by higher net acquisitions of other non-current assets and higher lease payments. Our balance sheet remains solid. Shareholders' equity accounts for 46% of the total. Net cash amounted to 5,785,000,000 euros on 30th of September, 2023. The 764 million euro decrease compared to the 31st of March, 2023, which is more than explained by the 2,072,000,000 euro dividend cash outflow. The dividend payment reflects an ordinary dividend of 2.5 Swiss francs per A share, plus a special dividend of one Swiss franc per A share, which were both approved by shareholders at the AGM in September. Let me now share an update on our ESG progress. Taking a compliance-driven approach, our 2023 ESG report, which we launched on the 2nd of June, is our first to have been fully prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiatives, or GRI, standards. We have also increased the group's GRI disclosures significantly compared to last year, with a notable 40 quantitative indicators independently assured by PwC, as well as incorporating metrics underlying the Sustainalytics and CDP assessment methodologies. We have also published our EU taxonomy report for our Luxembourg-based Richemont International Holding on our website in compliance with the EU taxonomy regulations reporting requirements. This report provides clear and comparable information on our environmentally sustainable activities and investments in the European Union. As mentioned in May, we have now extended our Speak Up platform to external stakeholders to allow them to voice their concerns and contribute to Richemont's ongoing commitment to transparency and ethical conduct. As mentioned before, we have also strengthened our corporate governance with the appointment of two new board members with deep sustainability expertise. At ESG in our business strategy, we have recently established the internal Richemont Sustainability Academy to upskill our colleagues and best support our continuous improvement approach. All these initiatives have been recognized by the ESG rating agency Sustainalytics with Richemont receiving an 11.3 risk rating score for its low risk exposure with a strong management labeling. This rating positions the group among the top 4% of more than 15,000 companies rated worldwide. Continue to work hard at nurturing the next generation of talent to ensure Richemont's long-term growth. Richemont owns and partners with a number of leading schools in the fields of luxury design, jewelry making, fine watchmaking, as well as luxury management courses to best prepare the leaders of tomorrow. You can see on the left-hand side of the table the schools we run, and on the right-hand side, where we have built collaborations with academic partners. We also invest in an extensive apprenticeship programme as part of our deep commitment to preserving special craftsmanship techniques requiring expert-level skills and experience that are difficult and take time to acquire. Let us now move to the agreement with Farfetch and Alaba to sell them 47.5% and 3.2% respectively of Ynet share capital, for which all regulatory clearances have been obtained. We are now working towards reaching completion of stage one. Work is focused on reviewing the terms for certain Richemont Maisons entering into Farfetch platform solutions, or FPS, and marketplace agreements to accelerate the luxury new retail ambitions. At completion of stage one, Richemont will receive around 58.5 million of Farfetch class A ordinary shares in exchange for 47.5% of YNAB. The fifth anniversary of completion, Richemont will also receive the equivalent of 250 million US dollars in Farfetch class A ordinary shares based on the then current Farfetch share price. Alaba via Symfony Global will require a 3.2% stake in YNAB, such that Richemont's holding in YNAB will be reduced to 49.3%. Our financial commitment towards YNAB is to deliver YNAB free of financial debt and with cash of $445 million. YNAB will use part of the cash to buy out its minorities immediately after completion leaving it with circa 290 million US dollars of cash. Bishma will also make available to YNAB a committed credit facility for an additional 450 million US dollars for up to 10 years from the closing of stage one that YNAB may draw upon if needed, subject to certain conditions. We have no other financial commitments towards YNAB and no financial commitments towards Farfetch. When stage one is completed, we will proceed with the adoption of the Farfetch platform solutions to power the e-commerce operations of most of our Maisons and of the four YNAB brands to shift to a hybrid 1P3P model. This will be gradually rolled out in the coming years as there are many integration protocols that need to be put in place, including for connecting the Maisons e-commerce operations in physical stores. Most of our maisons will also open e-concessions on the Farfetch marketplace, enabling another access point for our clients. More details will likely be provided at our fiscal year 24 results presentation in May. From closing of stage 1 to year 5, Farfetch can potentially acquire our 49.3% stake in YNAB via call option. In addition, the Schmock would exercise its put options, hence sell its entire stick to Farfetch from year three to year five, subject to wind up achieving positive adjusted EBITDA in the 12 months period prior to exercise as well in three or four quarters over that same 12 months period. In May, 2020, we announced the creation of a shareholder loyalty scheme to mitigate the reduction of the dividend paid for the year ended March, 2020, following the COVID outbreak. This enabled us to preserve cash at a time of great uncertainty while providing loyal shareholders with the optionality to recoup all and hopefully more than the then reduction in the dividend. As long as the share price on exercise day is above 67 Swiss francs, then it is worth exercising your warrants. Remember, 67 warrants are required to purchase one share at a price of 67 Swiss francs. The exercise period for the warrants, which were issued on the 27th of November 2020, is due very shortly, starting from the 20th of November at 9 a.m. Central European Time, until the 22nd of November at noon Central European time. Be aware, however, that South African holders who hold their A-warrants through central depository participants will need to ensure their CDPs, CSDPs, sorry, submit exercise declarations between 9 a.m. South African Standard Time on the 17th of November and 12 noon South African Standard Times on the 21st of November latest. Warrants that are exercised, and at today's price they are of value and should be exercised, will be converted into A-shares, leading to an increase in the overall share capital, details of which will be further announced and posted on the website on the 27th of November. Remember, the conversion of warrants into A-shares is not automatic. If you do nothing, warrants will expire valueless and you will lose money. Before turning over to the Q&A, I would like to summarize and offer some concluding remarks. For the first half of this year, Richemont delivered good underlying operational and financial performance, notwithstanding the demanding comparatives of the prior year period, but also facing increasing headwinds in terms of geopolitical and economic uncertainties, as well as foreign exchange. Unfavorable foreign currency movements had a significant impact on sales, Cost of goods sold and operating expenses giving our very strong base in Switzerland. Constant exchange rates, sales grew by double digits, falling double-digit growth rates across our business areas in almost all regions in the prior period. At constant exchange rates, operating profit increased by circa 15% and operating margin rose to 28.5%. Julie Maisons remained the strongest business area, reporting double-digit sales growth and a strong operating margin. Having received unconditional clearance from all relevant antitrust authorities for the Farfetch and Alaba partnership with YNAB, we are now able to work on the completion of stage one. In conclusion, our robust net cash position enables us to continue investing into our maisons and seize opportunities, notably in manufacturing and distribution to support long-term growth. Our resilience and solid balance sheet also give us confidence in weathering the current economic and geopolitical uncertainties and being able to maintain our ambition of delivering sustainable long-term value to employers, to employees and shareholders. This concludes our presentation. Thank you for your attention. I will now hand back over to Sophie.

Thank you, Burkhardt. We can now start with Rene. And just before starting, please kindly announce your name and company name and limit yourself to two questions. Thank you.

We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, we press star and one on the touchtone.

So the first question on the comment on the outlook, notably the soft landing comment. Maybe can I ask to expand on this comment, maybe also touching on what has been seen since the end of H1 and a broader comment on shapes and views into 2024, please. And the second question is on the European performance. Europe as a whole was down, although the Europeans were called out in the presentation up a high single digit. So I was wondering whether you could maybe provide a bit more color in terms of the drivers of Europe between the Europeans that we have seen, but also the tourist share and wholesale. Calling out Europeans broadly in line with the previous quarter and not slowing down sequentially is a bit of an anomaly in this reporting season and an outperformance versus what we've seen from peers. So maybe could I ask on drivers that you've seen driving this outperformance with the European cluster, please? Thank you.

Thank you, Chiara.

Yes, Chiara. Let me start to tackle the first question you raised because obviously, When you ask for our outlook into 2024, calendar 2024, I think that's a very difficult undertaking or a very difficult question to answer because simply we don't know. What we have experienced very clearly over the course of this fiscal year or let's say over the course of the last 12 to 18 months is a very strong impact not just on our business, but on many businesses of reintroducing cost of capital, reintroducing and very aggressively reintroducing actually positive interest rates. Clearly, this is leading us now into a period of normalization also in our business. or also in our so-called industry. We have been skeptical for quite a while about the outlook for China. There are and have been for quite a while elements that in general weigh down on the Chinese economy and especially on the feel good factor on which we as an industry depend. on the US has seen a normalization already in the last 12 months. I think we are faring okay in that area with currently growing somewhere between three and 5% as we've seen in our second quarter. The Chinese customer, and let's detach us for a second from the Chinese economy. has been showing strong growth in our first quarter or in even the last quarter of our last fiscal year and has started to normalize as well because once again, feel-good factor weighs on the Chinese customer as well. But we are quite happy with that performance because it's in line with what our expectations or where our expectations were. We have spelled out six months ago that we think that There will be growth coming out of the so-called Chinese cluster, which is happening. Growth has been strong over the period that we're discussing here. And we also said it might take a few years to come back to probably the level of overall business, especially outside of China with our mainland Chinese clientele. So I'd say soft landing is our hope, but we will... Only know that when we look back at it probably in a year's time. 24, fiscal 24 outlook, you know we don't guide, and I don't think that, especially in a period like today, we can.

Jerome, do you want to look at Europe? Yeah, for Europe, maybe two elements that you highlighted in your presentation, Burkhardt. The first one that it is that if you consider the semester, Europe has been growing at 5%, while the European clientele has been growing at 3% over the same period. So we have two motors with moderate growth, but the two motors are functioning with inflection in the second quarter where European clientele maintain the same trend than in Q1. and where tourism was slightly less present, mainly again linked to the forex effect and the fact that the Euro value is making, as I said, the purchase slightly less interesting for certain country origin. Out of that, we have had a number of renovations, important renovations for many of our maisons, and in Milano or in Paris for jeweler and for watch business. Cyril, you want to give some point?

Yes, to compare to last year, last year there was especially a very strong presence of American customers in Europe because the dollar was very strong American economy as well. And this year, because of their lowering of the value of the dollar compared to Euro and also the economy, we saw that as a slowing down, which was expected. The Chinese customers have not come yet to a level that were before pre-COVID. And so that's where there is, for summer, a kind of discrepancy. But for European customers, they have shown very strong resilience and continue to grow.

Good. Thank you, Chiara. Let's move on to the next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Louise Singlehurst with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Hi, morning, everyone. Thank you very much for taking my questions and the information so far. Just two questions for me, too, please. Just firstly, the surprises in the period, I suppose, when we first look at the results and the underlying growth, particularly by region, the US absolutely stood out as a as a surprise for us externally. I'd be interested to know if it was a surprise to you internally, turning positive in the quarter. And are we now at this normalization that you referenced with the U.S.? Can we think of it as a lower but normalized growth level? And then my second question, just in terms of the Chinese cluster, Can you talk to us about the demand that you're seeing by the Chinese, just the appetite? There's obviously appetite for the customer when they're traveling, but has there been any change in appetite for spend when people are traveling? Is there still as much excitement when you're seeing the Chinese customer shopping in Hong Kong or Japan than you would expect? Is there anything to really call out that you've seen in the last three months? Thank you. Thank you, Louise.

Yeah, Luis, let me start to dig into the US. Are we surprised? Well, we shouldn't be surprised. Now, let's just look at this. First quarter was slightly down. This quarter is slightly up. The difference is from the negative to the positive, but not in absolute terms. numbers not so huge. It is built on what we are striving for for the mid to long term, which is having maisons with strong brand equity. And this has made the difference in this quarter. And let's say the net slightly positive results are a result of a few maisons doing an outstanding job in the period. So, I'd say it's marginally better, and it's moved into the positive territory, and it has not been a massive surprise for us, put it that way.

It's Cyril speaking for the second question about the Chinese cluster. So after the reopening of China domestically and then also reopening the borders, a very, very big impact in Hong Kong, Macau, and Hainan from January, where people resumed traveling in the area which was the closest and the easiest, meaning not requiring visa or even being able to travel by car or by high-speed train. So we saw triple-digit growth in there and, of course, an appetite for traveling, moving, and coming to the closer region. Then expanded a little bit more in Asia to Korea and Japan, and also seeing in Thailand, not yet so much coming to Middle East or to Europe for same question of our airline capacity, visa and other things which are practical questions. So the appetite to travel is clear and the appetite to also buy during the travel is clear as well in the region where these volumes have increased.

And maybe in terms of style, we see here that the offer when it comes to so-called quiet luxury, is also more expected in these tests, et cetera.

And can I ask if there's anything to call out by cohort in terms of spending, behavior, entry through to high-end? That's my last question. Thank you.

In this part, we don't see this divide. We see more kind of interest for, I would say, strong Maison in demand compared to other. We see a very good trend in high jewelry, fine jewelry, and also expensive watches as well, but also the iconic products doing pretty well. So we don't see a divide by price point. It's more kind of the strong category with the strong brands.

Very clear.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Louise. Let's move to the next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Thomas Chauvet with City Research. Please go ahead.

Good morning, Thomas Chauvet from City. Two questions, please. The first one on watches and whether Cartier watches and specialist watchmakers. Could you share your view on how you think the demand cycle is going to evolve in the next couple of years? We've seen three years of very strong growth. across the industry, partly driven by savings and the other factors, but some kind of an exuberant shopping behavior would say, how are your watch maisons preparing for potential further demand pressure to avoid some of the issues of the past in venture build-up, parallel markets, brand dilution, and significant margin pressures? And the second question, long-term on China, perhaps from Mr. Rupert, Just over 10 years ago at the results presentation in Bellevue, it was FY 2012, you famously said about China you felt it was a bit like having a black tide dinner on top of a volcano. Since then you've managed growth relatively well in China and with the Chinese clientele despite some headwinds, the gifting crackdown or or COVID, how would you describe the potential of China and the Chinese shopper at this point in time in the cycle? What has changed? What will change and how are you adapting on the ground and, of course, abroad to cater to the tourists? Thank you.

Thank you, Thomas. Thank you for your question, for Jerome speaking for the watchers. First, we see on the last 10 years a growing demand for fine watchmaking on a constant basis. And when it comes to Richemont, again, in the numbers that Burkhard shared, you saw as well the cagarre in terms of clientele. And you saw that Richemont have been capturing higher and bigger market share in America and in Europe over the period. It helps for our watch business because we have been capable to expand and to be less geographically limited than in the past, the point one. The second point that we have seen as well during the last five years is that there is interest of new generation for watches, and that's constant for male and for female. Ten years ago, we may have had the... eye watch syndrome or risk, but we have all seen that in fact now that you wear a traditional watch, let's call them like that, and an eye watch simultaneously. So from these two effects, generation plus geographies, we foresee a constant positive evolution. What And then we mentioned it as well this morning, what is still, I would say, always reinforcing or putting more emphasis on the cycle is that we are in an industry where wholesale and retail are impacting the numbers in their dynamic. And then, as you know, we've been putting a lot of emphasis of having our sellout over our selling. And therefore, we always anticipate what we can see or what we can call softening of trends during a certain period of time. But if you look at it on a slightly longer period, you see a constant positive evolution of that market with stronger growth potential for the future.

I'd hope, Thomas, that you'd forgotten about that. black tie. You know, when I was saying earlier on that, one of the things I missed when I got older was the certainty that I had when I was in my 30s. So I would say I spent 95% of my time worrying about events that may occur 5% of the time. Exogenous factors. Now, we certainly did not foresee the war in Ukraine or the atrocities of the Middle East. So, barring exogenous factors, the things that are certain is that for more than a decade, we had, to quote Alan Greenspan, irrational exuberance, but this time by the very people who uttered those words, where the central banks increased the money supply And that this was combined by fiscal irresponsibility. So they had to curb inflation. And whereas for more than a decade, free enterprise can't work without a hurdle rate. And so people acted in an exuberant fashion. Now, so in general, we will see a softening in demand across all categories, across all asset classes, whether it's housing, art, the automobile sector, because that's the goal. of the reserve banks. Otherwise, how do you get inflation down? So, and I suspect that interest rates will remain higher for longer than most people think. We prepared for that by a balance sheet, 7 billion in cash, and continuously supporting Amazon's in terms of communication, building brand equity. How are we to grow? I know that we're increasing market share in jewelry. Still, despite new entrants, we're certainly increasing market share. In terms of our watches, you will recall when the democracy protest started in Hong Kong, the whole watch industry found out that we had a massive oversupply. And I have to state that this was to a very large extent driven by the incentive structures that we all had, which favored sell-in. So we took out about, was it 300 million? 500 million worth of watches. But interestingly, the cost, which was about 300 million, we recouped over the next years because of lack of discounts. Because when we got supply and demand in line, it set off a chain of events. But importantly, the supply chain today is totally different to six, seven years ago. We have visibility and a lot more visibility. So our wholesale business, which are not, although they are clients, they also are partners. So we can monitor the sellout and we do it continuously. We can monitor the sellout so that we do not create or we do not even allow our partners, wholesale partners, to create excess stock. This is reflected in the severe discounts that permeated the whole industry, even the leaders, up to four, five years ago. So I suspect that the exuberance of the last few years, well, it's already come to a halt. You will recall we were the first to warn that America was slowing down since last October, November. We did it before the rest of the market. And whilst our competitors and analysts were still exuberant and optimistic about the resurgence of China, we cautioned that it would take longer. It did have an effect on the market, which showed that not everybody believed it. But it's not that the Chinese, that our psychographic group of consumers, it's not that they don't have money. So when we read about real estate, etc., etc., etc., That's not really affecting our psychographic group as much as people would fear. We've got to remember that one child policy is really in effect with our, let's say, 20 to 35, 40 year olds. Now, each of these individuals as two parents and four grandparents. You get married, that's multiplied by two. They do have savings. But I think there was an effect psychologically with the lockdown. And So when we said in May that we expect this group of consumers to act more soberly than some of their Western counterparts, they were not going to go out and max their credit cards. So the demand is there. The affinity for our products, it's there. And we see it the moment they start traveling. in the adjacent areas. So I'm not pessimistic about China. I never said pessimism. I said caution because they are acting rationally. When people act rationally, they don't go and splurge. And I think the feel-good factor will come back. I know it's not politically correct to say so, But when you have a society of intelligent people who study STEM instead of criticizing classical literature for being politically incorrect like their counterparts in the United States, that they work hard, they're smart, and they study future technologies, I fully expect them to continue to do better. I'm not... Given what we know at the moment, obviously no exogenous shock, I'm very confident that the Chinese consumers will continue to display their affinity for our products. We are seeing it. That's about what I can say, Thomas.

Thank you, Mr. Ruppert.

Thank you. So let's move to the next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Susanna Pusch with UBS. Please go ahead.

Morning, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I'll stick to two. So first of all, on the jewelry maisons margins, I'm really well done to the team. I just wanted to check because I remember historically you said that the margins sort of, you know, will be around 3% in a bad year, around 35% in the good years. But clearly as of H1, the margin increase sort of, you know, I would say slightly above 38% underlying. So I was just wondering, sort of excluding FX, of course, how we should think if, you know, anything has changed given the size of the division, if, you know, maybe this time when things are slowing, you could have a little bit of a, let's say a higher level of the sort of a floor margin. So that's my first question. And the second question is on YNAP. Thank you for the update, but I was just wondering if you could maybe share with us a little bit more about the plan B. I mean, I know that the deal got all of the necessary approvals, but you're probably aware that there are some concerns in the market around just the overall health and future of the far-fetched business. So I guess, you know, it would be helpful to maybe reassure the market investors that, you know, if for whatever reason the deal, you know, doesn't conclude, you know, I mean, is there a risk that YNAB would come back to your business? You know, any thoughts you could share on that front would be very helpful. Thank you.

Yes, Susanna, good morning. Let me start with the jewelry margins. I always was very clear, right? It's not a guidance. It's an indication of a range in which we are comfortable. 30 to 35% at current market context, et cetera, et cetera. Remember, these are businesses that are highly cashflow generative, but require also consistent investment over time. And that view has not changed. Yes, we are in a high margin business. And I would say the view has remained exactly the same. We don't adjust that every six months. Remember last year, we were 37 in the first half. And in the second half, we tend to have higher outlays in spend and also into network. And we have the peak selling season where we traditionally support more on the communication side so that overall, We were at the high end of the range for the full year fiscal 23. We are still in the same position. We're still under the same logic. These are very high margin business. We intend to max it out in a sense that we continue to invest.

Sorry, I wasn't aware of all of this guidance.

No guidance.

No, it's not a high margin business. If you start saying that, it's a fair margin. And I'm loathe to predict that because the higher the value of high jewellery, the margins are lower. So we have a far, far lower margin on high jewellery So it's the product mix to a very large extent that determines it. As on far-fetched YNAB, I think we must just put a little bit of context here. Since our real involvement started about 14 years ago, We've spent well in excess, close to 30 billion euro on communication and marketing and leases. So if you take a total exposure to online, you are talking about a fraction of that. What are we trying to achieve? When we spend close on to $2 billion a year, which is more on communication, which is more than total YNAB exposure, YNAB, Farfetch, online exposure, we are trying for our consumers, our clients, to get to know us and our products. But in return, we don't really learn that much about who these clients are. So to give you an idea, just in the watch division in the last three, four years, we used to get to know about 130,000 of our watch clients a year. Now it's over 600,000. And if we And that's growing. So if we are to know our clients, luxury new retail is not just online. It's retail, which is important, real estate, but enhanced by detailed knowledge of who the clients are. So as much artificial intelligence becomes more pervasive. You need data. You need to know your clients as you can service them better. What we have found, and I'm talking now technically from our technical team, is that everything we expected in terms of technology from our far-fetched friends They've delivered and we are satisfied. We believe that it's going to enhance our business model. I cannot talk about the affairs of a public company. It's just not proper. Had they been a private company, I could have given you far greater guidance, but they are a public company. What I am saying is that what we're interested in is the technical expertise and the possibility for getting integration between the systems. And there my technical colleagues are telling me that they are happy.

Thank you. But may I just follow up? about the, I mean, I understand that you're happy with sort of the collaboration.

On Plan B, or Plan C, or Plan D, or Plan E, I cannot tell you about anything that a public company. I'm sorry, but, you know, I've never, I've been involved, I've been in investment banking I ran a bank. I've never, ever, ever broken any security legislation in my life, and I do not intend doing it now.

Let's move on to the next question, please. Thank you. Thank you, Susanna.

The next question comes from Alain of Lukasoka with Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much indeed for taking my question, Lukasoka from Bernstein. Maybe linking back to the situation with 1UP, just assurance to get a sense that you have safeguards in your contract with Farfetch that if things go wrong, you can get your business that would be handled by Farfetch under the Farfetch platform solutions agreement. you could get it back or not and how it would work in that case. Then as a separate question, what are your views at the moment? I make the most of the fact that Mr. Rupert is on the call. We had discussed in the past that self-luxury is still below scale What are your views at the moment? The market is clearly going through moderation. There's going to be pressure on smaller companies. Would this be an opportunity to increase market share, not just organically, but also through M&A? And what are your views on that front? Thank you.

Thank you, Luca. Yes, we have safeguards, but... As I said to you, we do have safeguards, but as I said to you, their technology that we have now learned is exciting. And I'm not going to expand further. Now, had I listened to you and had we done all the mergers that you'd expected me to do, would you have been very happy if you'd been a Richemont shareholder now? Would you like to answer me that? Then I'll carry on.

Well, yes or no, it's a binary question, Luca.

Okay, you don't have to answer it. No, you don't have to answer it, Luca.

Probably not. Probably not. Probably not. I think that sticking to organic grass is a good idea.

Grazie, Luca. Grazie, Mila. Okay. Luca, if you analyze it, we have outperformed our main competitors in the last six months in fashion and leather, in watches and jewelry, etc., etc., And this has been going on for, I think, about five or six quarters now. So we have a philosophy, Luca, to rather build goodwill than to pay other people, exiting shareholders for the goodwill. Yes, it might take time. But we are seeing very, very good growth at Elias, especially since Peter Muller joined. Bucciarati is truly performing. We expect the same to happen with Delver. Remember when we bought Van Cleef? I think we paid 320 million euro or something.

US.

US. US. Well, it was about the same. The turnover was 60 million and they lost 60 million. And not only from you, but... At every board meet, well, I would say once a year I had two directors asking me in very proper English, so when will Van Cleef ever be profitable? In the end, I got so bored with the question that I said when we want it to be. Today he's an absolute star performer. Peter Millar, a star performer. And it's starting to be big enough to move the needle. The problem with M&A is that the companies that you truly admire and that have the right culture, which is critically important, Because you buy a company with bad culture, you have to spend more management time fixing the culture. And it always turns out to be more problematic than you think. So when you're catching falling knives, you start diverting your attention from truly profitable things. future companies in fixing problems. So please do not expect us to make hugely accretive acquisitions. Rather expect us to use a few of the years, maybe two, three years, I don't know how long this is going to last, by carrying on building the brand equity in expanding on our existing maisons. We are outperforming and I suspect that we will have to gain market share to grow in an overall market that I suspect will be flat. Yes, there'll be geographical differences. So you may actually pick up. Luckily, our products, our infrastructure and our brand equity is widely dispersed over the geographical and, dare I say, psychographical markets of the world. But thank you. I waited a long time to ask you that question, Luca.

No, thank you, Johan. Thank you, Johan. Your answers are very reassuring, both of them. Thank you.

Thank you, Luca. Let's move to the next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Antoine Belge, BNP Paribas Exxon. Please go ahead.

Yes, hello. Hi, it's Antoine at BNP Exxon. Two questions. First of all, uh, Coming back to the performance of jewelry, which has been super strong, would it be possible, I know you disclose it only for the six months, but especially within Jewelry Maison, what was the outperformance of jewelry versus watches? Also, you know that there is a big debate about potentially jewelry being less resilient than, I don't know, let's say leather goods. That's not my thesis, but if you could... and maybe share some thought about how things could be different this time, maybe compared to the past with this very attractive category. My second question relates to, I know it's a bit boring, FX, but it's the topic of the first half, huge impacts. I understand the Swiss franc part, especially maybe versus But for the rest, could you come back a bit about the hedging policy and why the impact was so visible in the first half? And also, would it be fair to say that maybe there has been not that much protection from hedging? It means that in the second half there is less pressure. and also how you approach OPEX increases because it was at constant currency, I think, an increase more or less in line with top line. I mean, maybe in a normalization phase, even in your soft landing scenario, could OPEX be growing in line or a bit less than top line? Thank you.

Let me start. I mean, first of all, We don't, you know, watches or jewelry, et cetera, within a given segment. And I don't think we're going to start doing that now. I think as to your question or thesis, you know, hard luxury, soft luxury or jewelry, less resilient than leather. I think look at the numbers and look at the evidence that you see a Our chairman quoted that we outperform our peers in the first nine months. We looked at it nine months. That's how you compare it to how our competitors report. Our jewelry division has outperformed the fashion and leather division of our peers, of our competitors. And it's not a new phenomenon. It has been... like this over the last two to three years. So I think today I can only refer you to that. Look at how it looks with the reported numbers over the last three years. On the second question, same thing there. We don't guide on FX on exchange rates because we simply do not know You're asking H1, H2 hedging. This has nothing to do with hedging. This has something to do with where we are located and where we generate our sales. Our sales, as most of our industry and our peers have a high US dollar part, which obviously, and our competitors have pointed that out as well, is suffering from hedging. from the strength of the euro. On our cost base, we are Swiss-based, primarily, when we look at our manufacturing side of things. And we also have, as our headquarters and headquarters of many of our maisons are based in Switzerland, have a high exposure to the Swiss franc, which, as you know, has strengthened against the euro. H1, H2, I simply do not know because I simply do not know how the exchange rates will evolve. The hedging is a 12-month rolling hedge, so it doesn't really necessarily have any short-term impacts here because we simply apply it as a program and not as a speculative instrument. We don't take a position. We have a hedging program that is locking in with a 12-month rolling basis. I can't give you any smarter answer than that.

Thank you. Maybe just following up. It means that internally, even against that soft landing scenario, is your attitude to cost and change entirely compared to... There's been quite a difference between Q1 and Q2. It's still about this idea that there is an attractive category and it's good to invest.

The difference between the categories is branded jewelry is still a very small percentage from the total jewelry market. And as such, you have more growth in gaining market share between branded and unbranded jewelry. That's the key driver, overall driver. And then secondly, in the branded jewelry market, we gain market share.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you, Antoine. Next question, please.

The next question comes from the line of Edouard Robin, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning. Two questions for me. I think they are for Cyril, but I'll let you decide. So the first question is really big picture, but, you know, looking at counterfeits in the jewelry category. So I guess counterfeits have existed for as long as the luxury goods industry has existed. But, you know, it seems that the importance seems to have clearly increased in recent years. And given that, you know, Richemont owns So many iconic jewelry lines, you seem particularly vulnerable and potentially impacted by that. So are your checks also indicating that, you know, this is picking up in terms of counterfeits and kind of what are you doing to address this problem? And then the second question is just to follow up on Louis' question on the kind of the profile of the consumers and what you just said. But I think you said you're not seeing really any change in terms of price point rather by brands. But if you look at, you know, the kind of income brackets, are you this year still able really to recruit kind of from the the middle class as much as you've been over the years, or really are you seeing more high net wealth kind of driving the growth? So I'd be interested to have some follow-up on more color on that. Thank you.

I'll just start with counterfeiting it, Johan, here, because I've been around Cartier since 1976. It depends what you call counterfeiting. We had a German producer of Trinity Rings. That was really remarkable. And it took us a while to stop him. We had a Mexican gentleman who opened a Cartier store in Mexico that he owned. And I never forget in 1978 when Alain Perrin launched the Santos. He came to New York. I was working there at Lazards at the time to complain bitterly about the quality of the bracelet that he had to service in his store. And I said, but hang on, man, you do not even own Cartier, but you've built a boutique that looks like ours. You make your own products. You brand them Cartier. So we've been around for a while experiencing, by the way, later on became internalized and became one of our very best partners. So we had JV. It was... It's been around for as long as we live. I don't think we have seen an upsurge in counterfeiting. And trust me, we monitor every single market. We literally scan billions of pages with our Alibaba partners. It's part of our online experience where We actually look at the imprints. Continuously, and we haven't really seen we have seen a few of our big competitors copying our designs shamelessly, dare I say, where we have to take them to court, but we haven't really seen a problem with counterfeiting as such. People copying our iconic designs, yes, we have seen problems. But luckily, the clients, it's very difficult in jewelry. When you're a new entrant, you're a fashion company, and you start playing in the jewelry business because the clients know that the one company has been around for over a century and a half. And so when they see designs, they recognize them. But the product categories, yes, get attacked with other designs. But as I've said, and I can say it in defense of Cyril and Nicola, they've managed to increase not only volume but market share. So, Cyril, please.

Yes, and so when it comes to these products, question of counterfeit or intellectual property, more and more our customs are really, really conscious of that. And on the other side, through internet search, you can identify faster. So it's much easier to add than before. So we don't see increase. What we see is increase of our customers wanting to have authentication. And we work on that also.

That's right.

To give them safety. But things are not worsened.

Very good point that you just made. We are very well progressed into, and it's very sophisticated, but to actually give certification when you buy from a love bracelet, obviously two watches, high jewelry is not a problem, but because they're unique pieces where we can actually give a digital certificate to a company that the product. And we will even be able to retroactively do it for customers that have Le Clou or Love Bracelet for the authenticity. There's another, it's a very interesting question and very good question, but countries that did not have their own products that needed intellectual property protection tended to be more lax on providing IP protection. But as we see countries, if you look, for instance, at China and electric cars, they will dominate the market. Europe. So they own producers and they're entering the luxury goods business with some very lovely products. They will then demand of their governments to strengthen intellectual property protection. So there's been a very good tendency and a trend in the world where the IP protection is no longer just requested from, let us say, the European or the older maisons and older trademarks. This is increasingly being demanded by, for instance, Chinese industrialists who have their own IP to protect. It's a point that I didn't think of, but to support CERIL, we're really seeing a far better protection and with resulted customs protection and scanning. But it's a constant monitoring process. But I must just finally add, about 20 years ago, one of my Cartier colleagues moaned like crazy about copying. And I said, there's a far worse thing, not being copied. If your watch is not being copied, it means you've got a failure on your hands. So it's actually, as they say, flattery, you know, imitation is flattery. So we will know immediately whether something is a hit by people attempting to copy it. I hope that's a satisfactory answer.

And for the second question, we don't see a difference into the, I think, a different customer profile, meaning upper middle class or the high net worth individual. What we can see, and what Johan mentioned, that people are more interested quiet or reserved. So we see people take more time to decide in all categories and they take that. So there's something kind of taking time to consider and to make sure about decision, which favors the well-established brands compared to those who are just speculating. We see also that on the secondhand market where there was kind of a crazy price at some point just for speculation. And this has calmed down a lot. So it's more this question of calming down, taking more time for decision, but not a question of customer's profile. They act more rationally all across.

And they also, as you said earlier on, Cyril, they feel comfort with authentic brands.

Absolutely. Reassuring.

Reassuring. That's a better way. Reassured by that brand.

Okay, Edouard, let's move to the next question.

The next question comes from the line of John Cox, Kepler Chevro. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good morning, John Cox, Kepler Chevro. Thanks for taking the questions. I want to come back to what my colleague was saying just in terms of the margin FX headwinds. You mentioned 250 basis points impact on margin in H1. Just wondering, going into the second half of the year, the currency headwinds based on the spot rate are probably about half of what they were in H1. If that's the case, should we just expect a half of those 250 basis points? And as part of that, given your commitment to equalize prices globally, wouldn't you start to actually increase prices in those areas where you're getting that sort of negative transaction impact because of the you know, the Swiss franc cost base. So will you be doing price increases in H2? And as part of that, I see that your watches and wonders next year is going to be, it's going to fall into the new financial year. I know typically that can be like a 50 million spend. I guess that will now be in the next financial year. So it's like a margin question. The second question, just a technical one on your warrant scheme, which is great. It looks like it's rewarding shareholders. But it looks like you're just going to dilute shares by about 3%, even though you're going to get 67 francs per share. Are you going to sort of try and neutralize that at all? Because obviously that 67 francs per share cash in, that's just going to stack up on your cash pile. Or are you going to do something to try and offset it so the dilution would be the fair amount, which would probably just be 1% of new shares? Thank you.

Thank you, John.

John, there was, I don't know how many questions, probably five or so. I mean, once again, I let you figure out the FX question because honestly, yes, obviously in the second half of the year, the dollar has, I mean, last year has started to weaken, which would argue for having a lesser impact on our top line flowing through. We'll have to see how that plays out. The Swiss franc is the other question that we're unable to answer right now because, once again, that has an impact on our cost of sales and our cost base. But directionally, on the US dollar, obviously, you observed the right thing.

There was a question, I think, on price increase.

But I think there was a question, sorry. There was also a question about Watchers and Wonders. Yes, I would say the biggest part of the spend on Watchers and Wonders will happen in the next fiscal year, meaning the spend will be split over the end of this year and the beginning of next fiscal year.

Yeah, I just, I'm speaking just watching one does Texas six to eight weeks to build. So we have to pay our suppliers during this series, these weeks. So there's a cash effect of it is quite diluted between the exercise. It's very, very marginal.

Yeah. Cash effect is marginal and the spend is split.

Pricing. so there were some price increase that already happened before that and so we don't plan new one and there was a equalization of prices mentioned because the japanese yen was very low we adjusted slightly but that's all i don't think the luxury goods industry will be using pricing as a tool over the next two years and we are very very glad that we did not

use pricing like one or two of our competitors because today the customers remember. And there is a reluctance. Some people increase the prices for similar products by 60%, 80%. And I think today they may regret having done so. In terms of the loyalty scheme, you will recall that we did it because we halved the dividend. When we lost in April at the beginning of COVID nearly €430 million in a month, And it really was a bet on humanity's capacity to find a vaccine and for it to happen within three years. So we felt that we were going to reward the shareholders for the cash that they were losing in the dividend. And we're very happy to say that that has occurred. in terms of dilution, the people who kept their shares, it's, as Mr. Buffett said, how big is the cake? Cake doesn't increase. You just slice it. If you have a pizza and you slice it in four or 12, it doesn't increase the size of the pizza. So anybody who kept his shares and who exercise the warrant is better off. Do trust me. I never sell shares and I've done the calculations myself and I'm exercising.

Thank you, John. Let's move. Maybe it's already 11, 12. Should it be the last question? So, next question, please.

Okay, yeah. The next question comes from the line of Thierry Cotin, Société Générale. Please go ahead.

Yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. This is Thierry Cotin from Subgen. I just have one left, actually. On the watch industry as a whole, Watch of Switzerland indicated recently that, in their view, the selling and the fact that SwissWatch exports data is above sell-out currently in the industry and above actual demand. So I understand your cautious policy of selling below sellout, but maybe it's not the case of your peers or some of them. I was wondering whether you observed that as well and if there was any concern about the health of the overall industry for you in this respect. Thank you.

I cannot speak on behalf of Watches of Switzerland or our competitors, but I would be very surprised If our biggest competitor is not a lot smarter, if they are not selling, I'm pretty sure they're not selling in more than they're selling out.

Maybe as well to head, it is also that our watch industry is also still very run by calendar, by the regular calendar. So it means festive season is a very important period. And we are selling goods. So these goods need to be shipped in these countries. So it can take, according to the logistic supply chain of the different maison, a few months or a few weeks before the product arrives. So I think that out of... the sell-in and sell-out, the goal is not to be too sensitive to quarterly data when it comes to watches, particularly if you are after a manufacturer's summer break in Switzerland, not exporting during quasi six weeks, and then manufacturer reopen, and then you export more. And then if you have the cut of the quarter between that period, you can miss read very quickly in geographies, performance, penetration, and this kind of thing. is at least to have caution in the analysis of these numbers, of the export numbers on a quarterly basis, I guess.

But I think... What's your thing?

Sorry, it's a very good question. But I think all of us in the industry, plus wholesale that I actually call partners, not clients, have learned the danger of overstocking. So I do not think the people are going to make the same mistakes that we all made five, six years ago. But there's also the question of holding on to inventory. When you have very low interest rates, it's a lot easier to hold on to stock. So I think we have to realize that the Fed is succeeding and there is a tamper, there is a tapering down. To get inflation down, they've got to drive down wage demands, which means, unfortunately, they've got to estimate how high they politically allow to get unemployment. Secondly, they're dealing with lag indicators, not lead indicators. And one must be fearful that they don't overshoot because their track record up till now in overshooting, in oversupplying liquidity is so woefully bad that this is one of those 95, 5% things that are a worry of 95% of my time with 5% realization. Maybe here this realization is higher. So this will have an effect on business in general, including our wholesale partners, that the cost of holding onto stock will be higher. a lot higher. So let's assume that most of us do not really expect. If you want to grow your sales, you're going to have to increase market share. But that also has another thing in it. Which is. I'll give you an example to make. A complicated Lange & Söhne watch. You have to be a watchmaker for at least 15 years. 15 years ago, there were not too many people in Glashütte lining up outside of our factories looking for work. So when we have in a number of our watch manufactures long waiting lists. These are not created artificially. They simply created by the lack of capacity because of skilled artisans. I always joked that we will sell less Langes than Ferrari will sell cars. Now it's half. So Lange is half. And clients are willing to wait for longer time. So certain watch manufacturers will not suffer simply because they limited by supply capacity because of the capacity of human beings. Others will reach market supply capacity a lot quicker. So we should really look deeply into the numbers and adjust our total supply chain accordingly. And there, luckily, we have, I would say, I don't know the factor of what more visibility than we have six, seven years ago. So and our supply chain is more flexible. For instance, we talk about sober watches. We noticed that seven, eight years ago. And as the cause of the hamburger watch through Panerai, we cautioned our colleagues that thinner watches, smaller watches, and more platinum white gold because people are not going to want to show. So that took us two or three years because you can understand to move simply from bling to sobriety, it took two or three years. That's paying off now. We see a long waiting list of for watches that are understated, even at Cartier. So luckily we foresaw that a while ago and geared our production and our launches toward that.

For example, our Tank Normale, which was re-editioned in platinum, could be oversold 10 times. It was a limited quantity and it was really, really well received. Or the Anniversary Watch for the Pebble or the Crash Watch are really in high demand, but they are limited and that makes their value.

Good. So I think this concludes our results presentation. Thank you very much for attending. And if you've got any more questions, James and I are here to help. So don't hesitate to call. Thank you. Have a good day and a good weekend. Bye-bye.

Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Coral School and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Goodbye.