Coty Inc. Class A

Hello, my name is Todd, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Cody's second quarter fiscal 2024 question and answer conference call. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded today, February 8, 2024, at 18, sorry, 8.15 a.m. Eastern or 2.15 p.m. Central European time. Please note that on February 7th, at approximately 4.30 p.m. Eastern Time or 10.30 p.m. Central European Time, Cody issued a press release and prepared remarks webcast, which can be found on its investor relations website. On today's call are Sue Nobby, Chief Executive Officer, and Laurent Mercier, Chief Financial Officer. I would like to remind you that many of the comments today may contain forward-looking statements. Please refer to Cody's earnings release and the reports filed with the SEC or the company list factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. In addition, except where noted, the discussion of Cody's financial results and Cody's expectations reflect certain adjustments as specified in the non-GAAP financial measurements section of the company's press release. With that, we will now open the line for questions. If you would like to ask a question at this time, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. You may remove yourself at any time by pressing star 2. Once again, that is star and 1 to ask a question. Our first question will come from Rob Ottenstein with Evercore. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much, and congratulations on another terrific quarter. So, Sue, your outperformance in Prestige Fragrances was really impressive. Two questions on that. How much of that outperformance is attributable to new brand launches? And then second, as the Prestige Fragrance market normalizes, can you continue your outperformance? And if so, what gives you the confidence to be able to do that? Thank you.

Yes, good morning. Thank you very much for your kind words. Indeed, it's a very good quarter, specifically driven by the prestige performance. You know, the outperformance in this division has been achieved thanks to a very good, I have to say, balance of new launches and strong performance of the base business. which is also supported by the halo from the launches. If I take the example of Burberry Goddess or Burberry as a brand, all the three lines are growing. The one that is by definition new, Burberry Goddess, biggest launch ever at Coty, top one fragrance innovation around the world. while at the same time Burberry Hero, which is a few years old, or Burberry Hero, which is two and a half years old, are also growing. So, in fact, this, I would say, outstanding performance we're having behind our innovations is also benefiting other brands. Some other brands of the portfolio, I'm thinking about Calvin Klein or Davidoff, are also growing double-digit without new innovations. In a way, it's really a good balance between innovation and based business, if I may call it like this. And what gives us the confidence in this outperformance in this market that's going to normalize still is going to be a mid to high single digit growth, which is far above what was the case just a few years ago. But the confidence we're having it from a lot of capabilities we have been able to build during the last three years. capabilities to build blockbusters, be it in terms of creating winning juicers, creating winning mixers, finding the right balance between influencer marketing, classical media, sampling, etc. All this is a know-how that's here to stay and here to develop. It's also a confidence that we are taking from our still white space opportunities geographically speaking, but also white space opportunities in terms of categories. So all of these give us a confidence that we will hopefully continue to outperform this very dynamic market.

Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from Oliver Chin with TD Callen. Please go ahead.

Hi, Sue and Laurent. You've made so much nice progress regarding prices, and you mentioned targeted pricing going forward. Could you speak to what you mean there in terms of the opportunities as you surgically analyze that? Also, Sue, e-commerce impressively drove 40% of your sales growth. What do you see ahead in terms of embracing that channel and the centers of excellence and community and TikTok innovation as well?

Thank you, Oliver, for your question. On pricing, as you know, we explained several times over the last quarter that we implemented price increase mid-single digit, and this is also what we did beginning of fiscal 24. This price increase was very successful. It went very smoothly. And you see that it translates, you know, that we still are growing volumes. So this was really very good execution, very precise, very granular, and you need it to work very well. So now looking ahead, indeed, I indicated that we will continue very targeted price increase. So definitely because all the work that we are doing, value creation, you know, it allows on specific products, specific markets, specific channels still to pass some price increase. So this we will continue, but of course it will be more moderate and very, very targeted. But definitely where we are going to focus even more now is more on the mix And what we are calling really a string that we are pushing and we explained last time is a strategic revenue management, which is really to review the full values that we are creating for retailers and for consumers, and definitely focusing on increasing the price per unit. I give you some examples. The innovation that Sue was referring to, for example, Burberry Goddess, Burberry Goddess is the number one innovation on the market. It is eau de parfum, and eau de parfum is on average 30 percent higher price versus eau de toilette. So you see this concrete example that now when we are launching new initiatives, We are working really in depth to make sure that this is at higher value versus the base design. It is also the case in consumer beauty, great innovation that we just launched on simply ageless essence. This is a high-quality, very premium product with a price which is 30 percent higher versus the base business, and it is the number one on Amazon. So you understand this is really the work on improving the price per unit because there is value, quality in the product. optimizing also all the trade terms, reducing promotions. It's really this way that now we are really moving toward the strategic revenue management approach, mixed improvement. We have already strong examples and I can tell you definitely the work and all the initiatives that are in place, we really continue to this journey. So that's why also it's one of the big drivers of our gross margin expansion in H2, definitely combined with inflation softening and definitely in addition of carryover pricing from last year and also all these strategic revenue management elements. So that's a very clear path that we have ahead of us.

And then on the second part of your question, this is Sue speaking. So how are we embracing e-comm, digital, community management, TikTok, et cetera? Indeed, the performance of e-comm during the quarter have been outstanding, as you said before. 40% of the growth in both divisions comes from ECOM. This is really an unprecedented level of performance, I have to say. It's 180 basis points extra penetration in this channel, 20% of growth, and it's quite, I would say, obvious to explain this, thanks to the strategy that we have put in place, and I've explained this several times now since a year and a half, of putting advocacy at the center of our social media strategy. I can give you the example that Laurent was mentioning, which is simply ageless, Essence Foundation, which is a very innovative product. It's a serum, transparent serum, and you can see capsules of pigment in this serum, and they burst on the skin when you apply them. So this is typically the very kind of product that TikTok and any social media is crazy about because it's very visual in the packaging. There is a transformation onto your skin, something happens, and the result is that it's number one on Amazon already just after a few weeks. and it has been given to the hands of a mega influencer that we were referring to during the presentation. We had 95 million views. Can you imagine? One post, 95 million views, $10 million of EMV, which is the total EMV of Coverdell in the US a year ago for 12 months. So you can see that this transformation of our consumer beauty business from the business that was relying on, I would say, a low level of innovation in terms of percentages, maybe not enough disruptive innovation, but with the right bandwidth keys, into a business where we are going to double down the level of innovation, disruptive visual innovation, together hand-in-hand with strong advocacy marketing. This translates into this performance that you are seeing, which is obviously driven by Amazon. And to finish on this point, because I guess the question will come at the moment or another, our advocacy plan is really evolving very fast. You've seen the two studios we have open in the US. You've seen how much we moved from a few hundred of influencers with whom we were working just a year ago to 5,000 today. And the intention is to go double this, triple this, who knows. So at the end of the day, this is just a starting point. And for me, this is next to fragrances. This is the biggest white space opportunity for our color cosmetics brands in the U.S., but also around the world.

It's very exciting. Thank you. Best regards. I got to get some of that. It looks awesome. Thank you.

Yes, yes. You'll love it, I'm sure. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Filippo Foloni with Citi. Please go ahead.

Good morning. I want to talk on margins for the second half. You're expecting stronger gross margin expansion, the cost inflation. moderate and maybe Laurent you can give us some help also below the gross margin line what reinvestment are you assuming in the second half and whether you still expect 10 to 30 basis point of EBITDA margin expansion in the second half thank you yeah thank you thank you Filippo so first of all indeed I am really

reaffirming that we confirm indeed our guidance, EBITDA margin growing 10 to 30 basis points. So this is really confirming that the right dynamic after growing 40 basis points that we did in Q2. So indeed on H2, the model is that indeed we are going to benefit from a growth margin expansion, a significant growth margin expansion, which is really a combination of COGS, inflation, softening. This is definitely a big element, but it's also helped by the carryover of price increase that we did last year and we did beginning of this fiscal year. So it's also all the work we are doing on week. And that but not least, of course, is all the work we are doing on productivity as part of our all-in-to-win. So this is definitely all these drivers are in motion. we keep investing definitely on all you know the strategic initiatives and all the drivers consumer duty and prestige so this is definitely and and i confirmed again that we will land our agncp level in the in the high 20s so the model is fully on track now to be more specific on h2 what we are also including in our model is that we are factoring that now we see a forex turning slightly negative in H2 versus positive in H1, but on a full year, it should be pretty neutral, but there is a phasing effect due to forex. Another element that you need also to take into account, that we have a headwind effect from Lacoste exit, which is impacting mostly H2. So if you take all these elements into consideration, you see that we continue to have a very nice EBITDA margin improvement on both semester and definitely on the full year, confirming these 10 to 40 basis points.

Thank you. Our next question will come from Olivia Tong with Raymond James. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks. Good morning. I wanted to ask you about the Innovation Pipeline and prestige fragrances, if maybe you can give us an early unveiling of some of the plans for the next 12 months. Fantastic performance of late, but that clearly means more difficult comps are coming. So just thinking through the number of blockbuster launches, how should we think about the focus areas over the next 12 months versus the last 12? Thank you.

Yes, good morning, Thank you for your question. So in fact, the reality is that if you look back at what we did in 2022, which was a year with a big pipeline of innovations, you've seen the results we got in 2023, and this with constraint on supply, and they were very, very good. So in fact, the big difference between years ago and the of today is that we are able to grow innovations across several years. instead of launching and looking for something new and then adding this new thing to the portfolio and having a plus and a minus story. So we are growing all innovations at the same time where we are bringing innovations from the past, I mean, at the same time where we are bringing new innovations. So when it comes to upcoming innovations, we will continue, of course, to put on the market when we are ready and what we believe is going to be successful on the market. This is also a discipline we have put in place in the company since three years and a half, which is to launch if and only if we are ready, we have the right mix, we are 100% sure about the success we're going to put on the market. Remember, I started to talk about Godess before we launched it. We started to say, everyone, this is going to be big, and it's confirmed, and this is because we have now all the expertise and capabilities and understanding that allow us to say this is ready to become a big innovation, or it's not ready, we should take a bit more time. So, of course, I'm not going to reveal what's going to arrive. I guess that our competitors are going to read the transcripts, so it's not a good idea.

Fair enough. And then my next question is just around China and travel retail. Obviously, your results have been very strong as you continue building out your services there. So can you just talk through some of the mentality and the plans there? How much of your product lineup that you intend to introduce there is already deployed and whether any of the recent macro challenges have impacted your ability to sort of reach the longer term goals you have for the market? both in China and tribal retail. And then just lastly, you know, you've started the skincare expansion in China, Lancaster, Orvita, fantastic brands. You know, obviously the launch in Shanghai with Orvita. If you could just talk through your plans there a little bit more, that would be fantastic. Thanks so much.

Yes, Olivia, thank you for the question. So let me start with travel retail. We finished fiscal 23 with 30% of growth in travel retail and the first half of fiscal 24 is adding an extra 20% growth in this channel. This is really a channel where we are consistently gaining market share since now a few years in a row. And this is thanks of course to the power of our innovations. Remember, Burberry Good has started first as an exclusive in travel retail last summer, which really is helping us to put on the market innovations that are tested in a way among consumers in this channel that we believe are amongst the most expert second thing is that we are moving from a business that used to be just three years ago an entry prestige solely fragrance focused business into a triple-axis business today with fragrances, makeup, skincare. And inside fragrances, we are now playing in the three tiers of the market. Entry prestige, premium brands, but also niche and high-end fragrances with our outstanding performance behind a brand like Cloué Atelier des Fleurs. So this channel is clearly a channel where we intend to continue because it's very rooted in our equation, as you know it. and we don't see in our figures any kind of slowdown in the pace of travel of consumers around the world so this is one for travel retail now second in china so in china we had also a very good performance specifically driven by prestige which is the immense majority of our net revenue we just got the beauty research figures about the sellouts during you know the quarter ending in december And Coty is 30 points above the market, so we are doing very well. This is driven mainly by our fragrances, the Barberie, the other collections that we have in the lines, the Atelier des Fleurs, etc. So this is clearly an area where we have the first white space is fragrances, and even the small size of the company in that country. which gives me a segue to skincare. You rightly said that we opened the first Maison Orveda in Shanghai. It's really a very different strategy we are doing behind this brand. We don't want to get in the game of over-promotionality, becoming the favorite brand of Daigus. This is not where we want to take our highest-end brands, and you can understand why. So that's the reason why we are experimenting new ways of doing it, mastering 100% of the brand image and equity, mastering how to sell directly to consumers in the environment of a maison. That's everything but just the point of sale. The maison is really a place where you will be able, if you visit Shanghai, of course, to experiment the products. to have facials, but also to discover how to eat, discover how to take care of your skin, but also to maybe discover pieces of art. So we are really learning this part of the market that we believe is the next frontier for the beauty industry in general. There was a study done by McKinsey recently which said that the luxury market is $350 billion. The beauty is just taking a small fraction of this. You know, what we call a real luxury and ultra luxury is clearly the next frontier for a company like ours on top of everything we are doing very well today. So this is for Orveda. The start of the brand over there is very, very good. We have the right consumers reaching out, the high networks and as high networks individuals. And in a way, this gives me the occasion to say that this brand got what we consider as the Oscar of the beauty industry, which is the Prix d'Excellence Marie Claire Internationale. It was awarded last week. And this is really a fantastic achievement for the brand. That's allowing the brand everywhere else, in the U.S., at Saks. but also in the niche boutiques where it's present in Europe, to multiply its productivity by two, by three, by four, by five, sometimes above this, and become sometimes a bigger seller than famous brands with double access. So it's really something that's happening there, but we want to master the time of the expansion of the brand. Now coming to the second brand that we launched in April in China, it's Lancaster. And this one is doing also very well. And we are now adding a second leg to the brand. We did skincare and now we are adding the skincare part to the skincare. Not that it was not there, but we were focusing our investments behind skincare. and we are realizing that by supporting both we are increasing the productivity in a tremendous way so everything is on track but and this but is very important we are really taking advantage of the momentum we are seeing behind our fragrance business to take the right amount of time not to do any kind of mistake and transform our brands into daigu favorites thank you thank you our next

Thank you. Our next question will come from Charles Schade with Kepler. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon or good morning. I have two questions, please. The first one on the ultra-premium fragrance market that is outgrowing the prestige segment. It seems that luxury brands are doubling down on this category. Could you share with us all the initiatives you have in place at the moment to tackle this, in my view, huge growth opportunity ahead. I'm aware of Chloé Atelier d'Effert and Anthony Moncotti, but are there any other initiatives in place to tackle this segment? And second question, on e-commerce, it seems that you are enjoying a very strong growth in the online channel. What's the growth broad base between your DTC platform and also specialty retailers online business? And could you remind us how e-commerce growth is impacting your growth and EBIT margin? Thank you.

okay so let me start with the first question which is around the ultra premium fragrance market which is outgrowing indeed the prestige of fragrance underlying market so there you're right to mention clearly which we've been mentioning now since several quarters as a best selling line specifically in asia and in travel retail I can mention the collections behind each of our brands. You know, the BOSS collection is doing fantastically well in the Middle East, in Asia, in many travel retail locations. Burberry Signatures is doing very, very well in the different areas around the world. And you're right to mention, you know, the Coty Infiniment, Infiniment Coty Paris line that's about to open its first store in the coming weeks. This is something that's really, I would say, the pride of the company. Once you'll have the product in your hands, I'm sure you'll be totally surprised by everything you will experiment from the packaging, from the box, the longevity of the scent, at the same time, originality of the scent, but also easy-to-wear scents. and everything we are doing behind this brand is the best of the know-how of the company sustainability is at the maximum we can do with the refillable bottles recyclable bottles whatever is the right name so this area is going to become the new playground that the company if i make call it like this and you you you were right to mention are there any things upcoming what i can reveal is what is public today is the money new license that we have announced yesterday This is a very premium fashion brand. It's very young, it's colorful, it's avant-garde, it's one of the coolest brands today in Asia and in Europe. And as you can imagine, this is going to be part of our agenda to really bring on the market very, very creative juices. very high positioning, but while at the same time being part of this fragrance market. So that's what I can say about what I can reveal. Stay tuned. Hopefully you'll see things coming soon in this area too. When it comes to ECOM, you're right to mention the very strong growth that I've been commenting earlier. This is broad-based across retail.com and pureplayer.com in a way. DTC part, which is the DTC behind our brands. We have DTC behind our skincare brands. You think about Fidesosi, it's one of the biggest DTC platforms we have at Coty. And this one is doing very well, the same way the brand has been growing during three quarters is driven by DTC. Same thing behind Orvida. where the DTC is growing here again, triple digit growth, if I'm not wrong. So you can clearly see that this part is also growing, but indeed the big part of this in terms of net revenue is coming from e-retailers. When it comes to the profitability, maybe Laurent, you can say a few words about this.

Yeah, absolutely. And indeed, on the numbers, your question was the contribution to growth. So indeed, these high 20% growth on e-commerce, in fact, contributes to 40% of the Q2 growth. So it means that our e-commerce penetration in our numbers is growing by 180 basis points. So you see it's very, very healthy. And it's very healthy from a profitability standpoint. because, indeed, e-com on all players, all channels, is strongly margin-accurative. So that's, indeed, part of our, you know, gross margin model and very positive for the equation.

Thank you very much. Looking forward to in the coming weeks. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Anna Lezoul with Bank of America. Please go ahead.

Hi, thanks for the question. This is Jonathan Kepour on for Anna. Two questions. First, you mentioned in your prepared remarks a more tempered consumer environment in China, and that you're tweaking to accommodate these changes. Just wondering if you could give us any details about the tweaks given that economic change in China. And then second, if you could go into any detail about the uh the the digital marketing and social media activation uh what kind of roi you're seeing for this marketing spend so far and and how the uh the engagement differs by demographic thank you yeah thank you good morning johnson thank you for your question so indeed when it comes to china um the reality is that we are that's my intuition and again

no studies around this, but everything we see, we hear, we read, says that we are in the middle of two eras. There was the era where promotionality, daigus, all this kind of way of buying really created big bias in this market. and people were waiting for these occasions for all these sales where people could buy anything that's very desirable at prices that do not work usually with desirability so this is something that lasted what it lasted and now we are in a kind of An era where it's, I would say, normalizing, where we are seeing the brands respecting more and more their own brand equity, protecting their brand equity, sometimes growing less fast than what they want to do. But that's healthy, I would say, and that's also a way to really make sure that the bad habits, if you may call it, of the past are behind us. And even if Coty never went into this game, thank God, but this is something that we are really seeing is that there is a shift and consumers are waiting to see how brands are going to behave. So for us, the 30 points above market performance we had in the Cortel was really because we have the right brands, because we have the right desirability behind these brands. mainly fragrance brands that are really giving consumers value for money, but not discounted value for money. That's a very important element. For me, that's the key element that changes between the story of the last 20 years and the upcoming story in the future. Now, when it comes to digital marketing and social media activation, maybe Laurent, you can say a few words about the ROI.

Absolutely. What I can tell you is definitely that the ROI is much, much stronger compared to the traditional media. Of course, there is no magic number. It depends on what is the activation, what is the launch, but this is definitely... you know, a strong asset. And now we are really, you know, the work we have done also over the last years was also to get the capabilities and to get also the tools. Okay, so now we have a very strong digital team, well equipped and definitely able to measure and really to focus our investments. So this is definitely a strong improvement and that's why we shared also that now majority of our ANCP investment now are really in digital and social media. So this is very powerful. We can really target. And by demographic, I would just highlight that, as you can easily understand, that it's really very strong on Gen Z. And that's very powerful because this is also a way to increase penetration from Gen Z. But not only Gen Z. It has also a halo effect on also millennials. So it's really, it's a very positive cycle and for us in terms of, you know, resource allocation, you know, a great move.

And to compliment what Laurent said, Jonathan, on ROI, the best ROI we have is on the most disruptive products. So it's good news because it's in our hands. It's our job to create exciting, desirable, innovative, new, different, better products. And once you have these products in the hands of consumers, you really start from a very high level of ROI, and the rest is all around expertise.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from Ashley Helgens with Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Hey, good morning. Congrats on the ninth quarter. We just wanted to follow up on actually the prior question about the dynamic skincare market that you mentioned. So in China, are you seeing any trade down or shift in preference to more domestic brands? Thanks.

So again, the shift towards domestic brands is indeed something that is happening mainly on the mass market side, I have to say, since now several years. And we've seen some very famous mass market brands closing over there. This part of the business is very small at Coty. It's mainly Adidas that we are having, which is not considered as a mass market brand. Adidas is a kind of cool brand, fashion brand, phenomenon, or less and we have max factor presenting on this market but the reality is that the competition between international mass brands and local brands is fiercer than ever and this is really a question mark for those who have big brands over there regarding prestige and skincare market We don't see yet this. There is a kind of cohabitation between local new players, specifically in the niche part of the market. You've seen some brands becoming more and more visible, created by Chinese founders, together at the same time as a desirable, I would say, consumption of international brands. a lot of them are with Coty. So I wouldn't say that I see this phenomenon happening in this part. Regarding the trading down, the trading down has been in China the case for many quarters because of the promotionality of the market. It's not people moving from an expensive brand to a least expensive brand. It's people looking for the promotion to buy at cheaper costs. The only thing I can tell you is that the part that's still very resilient, be it in skincare or in fragrances in China, is the high end and the higher end of the market. And this is the one that's protected. So I wouldn't talk about trading down. I would talk about people chasing promotions. Let's see how long this will last.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Our next question will come from Shobana Chowdhury with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you for taking our question. Congress had an impressive delivery in the first half, but it seems that you are assuming a steep deceleration. Can you please break down between volume and pricing? Is there any additional door or shelf space? And more specifically, do you see a pause to the fragrance index, especially in the prestige fragrances? And too early to speak about fiscal 25, but do you see any stimulus triggering outsized growth for Cody again?

Thank you. I can take it and I want to be very clear. There is no deceleration. So we are talking about normalization and again to To remind the members that Sue shared, I mean, definitely what we are seeing is a prestige fragrance market being in the mid to high single digit. And definitely, Coty will continue to overperform this market. And then on consumer beauty, the assumptions we are making is low single-digit to mid-single-digit, and here also considering that Coty can really, you know, has the same dynamics. So there is no pause in in fragrance index the fragrance index is fully at play and and you see definitely i mean all the elements that sue will share is really that there is really you know appetite for premiumization you see you know these premium and is really booming. Penetration keeps growing in the U.S. and in China. So this is, I can tell you, still a huge white space. So definitely there is still a lot to expect on fragrance index. So it will continue and that's why we remain fully confident on our algorithm for H2 fiscal 24 and beyond for fiscal 25 and again beyond.

Thank you. Our next question will come from Lauren Lieberman with Barclays. Please go ahead.

Great. Thanks. Good morning. I was hoping we could go back to your original sales growth algorithm build to get to the 6% to 8% over time. Just curious if the drivers are still the same as the prestige fragrance category normalizes as you've described. Historically, you've talked about 25% to 30% Kager on skincare and prestige cosmetics, and then mid-singles on consumer beauty. kind of given the flattish performance volume in consumer beauty, the more tempered language on skin care, and I would be curious to hear what tweaking to accommodate changes means. I was just curious here thinking about the building blocks for that six to eight. Thanks.

So, indeed, first of all, I mean, we confirm, indeed, these mid-term algorithms, so 6% to 8%. What we are really controlling tightly is really to make sure that it's really a balanced growth, indeed, between volumes, mix, and pricing. So, as I've just explained, you understand that now we are shifting more from pricing to mix. Okay, so this is definitely what we are balancing. But definitely on volumes, our algorithm is we continue to have volume growth. And again, all the innovation that we have just and that we will continue, of course, our volume drivers. So, indeed, volume drivers, volume growth on Prestige. On consumer beauty, definitely, we focus a lot on the mix uh mix management and again same example the innovations that we have just announced as you understand they are very uh they are improving the mix and on volumes i would say we are more assuming you know flat volumes on consumer beauty so so you see so the model is um is more or less i mean the same as we we have always uh always shared and again i mean we we are still seeing you know a lot of white space in fragrance uh definitely as a As I explained, thanks to penetration, premiumization, I mean, ultra-premium is a huge opportunity. On consumer beauty, So in our algorithm, and we explain, we have also a lot of white space in consumer beauty. We shared and we highlighted all the great work that we are doing in Brazil, but also we have plans really on the emerging markets where our brands are at the right equity and the right positioning really to catch some market share. Our model is perfectly on track, and indeed with this balance, we keep repeating this balance portfolio and balance geographical growth.

Great. And then just to follow up on the skincare commentary in the release, I think it was very pointed, I think the quote was tweaking to accommodate changes in the dynamic skincare market. Just curious what that means, and are things still on track to double the business? I think it was by fiscal 26 as the target, but please correct me if that's the wrong date.

Lauren, this is Sue speaking. Skincare is still our biggest opportunity ever, both in terms of growth, in terms of white space, in terms of profitability, et cetera, et cetera. We have three fantastic brands operating exactly where the skincare market is growing today and will grow tomorrow. Ultra Premium, brands that are really rooted into premium market, and of course, brands that are more towards Gen Z and millennial success philosophy. So with these three brands, we really map the market in a very nice way. The other element that's very important is that when I saw how much we are over-performing in fragrances, how much we are doing the right things in this area which is growing the business of the company, I decided intentionally to slow down our skincare openings. I want to do it perfectly and this is the best news, it's an essay of the year. It's not to go fast, is to do the right thing. And as I love to say, what takes time is expected by time. It's not going to take an endless time, it's going to take the right time. So don't expect us to change our strategy in skincare. It's still the number one obsession of the company for the next years. It's a very important part of the growth algorithm of the company. But the good news is that today we can do without this growth that we have been mapping two years ago. And it's very good news specifically when we see how some players in this area have been hit by over-promotionality, becoming Daegu favorites, etc. We don't want to go there again. You see what I mean? So when you don't use these levers, it takes a bit more time. But it's healthier and better in terms of brand equity protection.

Thank you. Our next question will come from Mark Astrichan with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks, and morning, everybody. Two questions related to expectations for some slowing in the category growth, particularly on the prestige side. I guess, one, why increase inventory for the working capital commentary if you think category growth is going to slow, especially heading into a period of traditionally smaller sales in the back half of your fiscal year? And related, what gives confidence that retailer inventories on that prestige side are balanced or in the right spot today, given that your sales have exceeded consumer takeaway in the prestige business in recent quarters?

Yeah. So thank you, Martha. So again, I want to be to repeat again, I mean, you know, it's not just showing in prestige programs category, it's really normalization. And just to reiterate that, you know, need to high single digit fragrance of both categories is a very robust growth and confirms that this category is very dynamic, especially when you compare versus the trends that were existing before COVID. So on inventory, I can tell you that we are absolutely in control on on our inventory with our supply chain with very strong forecast accuracy. So we are running our business in a very intelligent manner. Definitely, we made decision at the moment to increase inventory. The example is Burberry Goddess. I can tell you Burberry Goddess, number one innovation on the market, the biggest ever launch at Coty. So definitely we make sure, especially because we started this project more than a year ago, in a context where supply chain was still you know, challenge. We made sure, of course, that we had sufficient components, sufficient products. Of course, you have a very good service level, and you see now the service level is at, you know, 96%, and, you know, even with these very big launches, which is the case in fragrance, but also in prestige, but also in consumer duty. So we have very, very tight control on the inventory. Then on the retailer side, I can tell you that the level of inventory that we have across our markets, across our retailers, is very healthy. We are really tracking sell-out and selling. And indeed, as you can see in our numbers, that are set out in the head of the market. So this is really, and we are really making sure with each market, you know, all the teams, that there is no inventory, you know, that inventory at retailer side is very, very healthy. And again, the discipline that Sue is referring to, this is definitely a big, big part of the discipline we have put in place and we continue to manage it within Coteen.

Thank you, everyone. So again, as you can imagine, we are really very proud about this 14th quarter of results that are in line to a head of both guidance and expectation. It's three years and a half already. That's, I would say, an achievement. And of course, we are here to continue this trajectory. So looking forward to seeing all of you in Cagney within two weeks. Thank you very much.

This does conclude today's Cody second quarter fiscal 2024 question and answer conference call. You may disconnect your line at this time and have a wonderful day.