Interparfums, Inc.

Hello and welcome to the InterPerfume first quarter 2024 conference call and webcast. If you want to require operator assistance, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. You may be placed into question queue at any time by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Karen Daly, Vice President at the Equity Group and InterPerfume's Investor Relations Representative. Please go ahead, Karen.

Thank you, Kevin. Joining us on the call today will be Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, John Madar, and Chief Financial Officer, Michelle Atwood. On behalf of the company, I would like to note that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements which involve known risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from projected results. These factors may be found in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the headings forward-looking statements and risk factors in their most recent annual annual report on form 10k forward-looking statements speak only as of the day on which they are made and interparfums undertakes no obligation to update the information discussed as a reminder our consolidated results reflect two business segments european-based operations and united states-based operations certain prestige fragrance products are produced and marketed by their European-based operations through their 72% owned French subsidiary, Interparfums S.A. When they refer to the U.S.-based operations, Interparfums is talking about their wholly owned subsidiaries. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Jean Madar. Jean, you may begin.

Thank you, Karine, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. I have spent much of the last three months of the year traveling the world to meet with distributors, manufacturers, retailers, and boutiques. And the recurring message I hear is that the momentum in the fragrance market continues. That holds true for our business, where strong sell-in and sell-out, as well as continued premiumization, are gratifying facts. While sell-out was excellent in the first quarter, even sometimes higher than selling, we are already seeing increased demand and sales acceleration starting in the second quarter, as the month of April can attest to. We expect further expansion in the second half. Therefore, I remain confident in our ability to achieve another record year just as our guidance implies. As we reported, last year's first quarter was an exception, with comparable quarter sales growth of 24% spurred by a large number of new product launches and rollouts, particularly of our leading brands. Therefore, the 4% sales gain in the current first quarter is still an accomplishment. Our growth primarily stemmed from continued success in our key brands, plus the addition of our newest licenses, Lacoste and Roberto Cavalli, which combined drove $25 million in sales. These fragrances were well received by retailers In fact, we were able to maintain 90% of shelf space for these brands during the transitional developmental period. Early results are very encouraging, and with the addition of new fragrances, our 2024 goal of 90 million for Lacoste and Cavalli combined is very achievable. Before I proceed, as I'm sure you all heard, Roberto Cavalli sadly passed away in Florence on April 12th. And I would like to say that he revolutionized Italian fashion and defined glamour like no other as the king of excess, leaving a lasting mark in the world of fashion. May his legacy live on, inspiring us to embrace uniqueness as we forge new paths in fragrance creation. Back to business, North America, our largest market, had a slight decline in sales attributable to the concentration of launches in early 2023. However, NPD research data reflects sell-out remains strong, growing double digits in comparison to prior year. Western Europe grew sales by 10%, but Eastern Europe is understandably declining in sales due to temporary sourcing constraints, which led to sales shifting from the first quarter to the second quarter. In Asia Pacific, we are achieving further growth stemming from increased demand, especially in Australia and India. Given the economic and social repercussions of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, shelves have declined. Travel retail is finally booming again, increasing 12% during the quarter as consumers travel to explore new cultures and experience different ways of life. We are also seeing increasing shelf space and assortment of our portfolio of brands. I have personally witnessed heightened levels of travel and with my views in line with industry trends, we are increasing our budget for travel retail. Sales for our two largest brands, Montblanc and Jimmy Choo, declined during the first quarter after their respective 28% and 63% sales growth in the 2023 first quarter. Coach, Guess, and Donna Karan achieved sales increase of 5%, 21%, and 44% respectively. Coach fragrances remain in high demand with established lines for both men and women, For Guess, the combination of legacy scents and the debut of our newest fragrance, Guess Iconic, led to another quarter of significant sales growth. As such, over time, Guess could become a top three fragrance brand in our portfolio. And for the fashion house duo, Dona Karan-DKNY, we strategically launched the new 4th Saint Kashmir collection in alignment with the fashion house luxury fashion campaign, which led to the enormous growth in the quarter. We also achieved further expansion by several of our mid-sized brands, including Van Cleef & Arpels, MCM, and Kate Spade, with 25%, 15%, and 12% sales growth, respectively. As we mentioned in our earnings release yesterday, we have an ambitious launch strategy planned for the balance of 2024, including blockbuster fragrances for DKNY and Lacoste, an extension for the Jimmy Choo I Want Shoe and Roberto Cavalli Signature line. Multi-scent collections for guest flankers are coming to market this spring, followed in the fall by a new member of the Romo Men's Fragrance family. Furthermore, extensions for Hollister and Ferragamo Signorina will debut later in the year. Beginning this year, our Italian operations started distributing brands within our European-based operations. after serving as a distribution hub for certain of our U.S.-based brands, most notably Ferragamo in 2023. We plan to expand our Italian distribution capabilities over time. We also launched Phase 2 of a distribution rollout for Abercrombie & Fitch Fierce during the quarter, after a successful Phase 1 distribution rollout. We expect to see further sales expansion as we complete phase two this year. Before turning the call over to Michel, I'm proud to report that Interparfums moved further up the industry ranks according to Women's Wear Daily annual Beauty Top 100 issue published last month, in which we placed number 30 up from 32 3 and 40 in 2023 and 2022 respectively. That is a nice accomplishment considering we are a pure play fragrance company scored against companies that also sell cosmetics, skin care, home fragrance and hair care along with fragrances. So for me, the fragrance market remains very dynamic and as is Interparfums. We are committed to providing retailers and consumers with new fragrance experiences to serve their senses, curiosity, and fragrance wardrobe. We have great brands, including two new ones, a well-balanced pipeline of new product launches, and we are operating in a prestige and luxury market that remains robust. So now, I will turn the call over to Michel for a more detailed financial review. Michel.