Brunello Cucinelli Spa

Good evening, Chorus Collaborator speaking. Welcome to the presentation of the full year 21 results of the Brunello Cucinelli Group. I'd like to remind you that all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the initial presentation, there will be a Q&A session. The speakers will be Brunello Cucinelli, Executive Chairman and Creative Director, Luca Lisandroni, CEO, Riccardo Stefanelli, CEO, Moreno Ciarapica, CFO, and Pietro Arnaboldi, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Planning. In order to receive help from an operator during the conference call, please press star followed by zero. I'd now like to give the floor to Brunello Cucinelli. The floor is yours. Good evening and welcome back. So first of all, we'd like to thank the family and also the Tod's companies because we have had a chance, thanks to them, to start 15 minutes ahead so we can both have our calls. As usual, dear welcome investors, analysts and journalists. I have to say that this call reminds me very much of that of March the 11th, 2020. Well, you see, that was a time of great pain for the soul and the body, for us and for all humanity. And the reason being the arrival of something we did not know, something that still today I want to call plague, because, you see, I have always been used to reading about plagues in history. This one today, fortunately, seems to be coming to an end, this plague, to the great relief of humanity. We ourselves, we will be closing down the vaccination hub here in Solomeo next week. You wanted to close actually in August and we had to postpone by seven months. So today, two years later, we are here for a call that up until 15 years ago, it would have been a beautiful call, both for the company's results for 2021, whereby there is a total rebalancing of the company, and it would have been good beautiful also for the atmosphere that the brand is enjoying and also for the positivity worldwide that I can still feel, that I used to feel, that I can still feel, and also due to the results of the current year that seem to be pretty stellar. So today we will tackle this call with the very same spirit we used in our board meeting today, but with two moods. The first mood being a pensive, gloomy mood for something we would never have imagined in the present times. And of course, we could have never imagined nor wished for the modern times. And we hope with all our hearts that everything will go well in the times to come. The second mood, well, as you know, we strongly believe, at least I myself, I use the plural, but I'm really convinced of this, we really believe in the fascinating thought of Thomas More, who in 1500 stated, oh my God, help me accept what I cannot change and help me change what I can change. So the only thing we can change is the way we manage and run our business in the best way possible with humility, courage, creativity, and trust. It is clear that if one day our collection fails, Of course, it's better for it to be beautiful rather than average. So I think that our enterprise, once everything is over, because you see, mark my words, everything will be over, we hope that if we have a beautiful collection, you will have great possibilities for the decades to come. And as it was the case for 2020 and 2021, For 2022 too, we will organize six annual calls instead of the usual four so that we can inform you often about the flow of things and how the company is faring. And then hopefully in 2023, we'll go back to normal. As usual, we're all here. As the presenter said, Luca, Riccardo, Moreno, Dario and Pietro. So first, I'd like to read out the highlights. Then the CFO Moreno will go into detail. And then I'll take the floor again to tackle the following big issues. 2021 results of a splendid year.

We can give you very accurate, brief results here.

Then an important visibility for 2022. You should also bear in mind that the first quarter is almost gone. Then good visibility for 2023, as it is usually the case. And then I'd like to very clearly talk about our 11th five-year plan, 2022-2026. And finally, of course, the current markets with the big theme of Russia. So as I was saying to the board meeting this morning, hopefully, This will be a very, very concrete call as we deal with big global themes. And hopefully we can gain some glimmer of hope at the end of it. So net revenues, 712 million euros, up 30.9%, 32% at constant exchange rates, compared to 2020, with an increase of 17%. compared to 2019. EBITDA, 193 million with 27% incidence compared to 89 million last year and 169 million in 2019 with an incidence of 27.9%. Then EBIT, 77 million incidence, 10.8%. compared to the loss of minus 14 million last year, and the positive results of 83 million euros in 2019, with an incidence of 13.7. The net profit, very interesting, 56 million compared to a loss of 32 million last year, and 53 million in 2019, the profit. Then significant investments in line with the multi-year planning in favor of the contemporary character of our fashion house. So 61 million invested in 2021, 51 in 2020, and 52 in 2019. Core net financial debt. This was a good windfall surprise, 23 million euros, a clear improvement compared to 93 million euros last year and 30 million in 2019. So the board of directors will propose to the shareholders meeting convened for 27th of April 2022, which will mark the 10 year anniversary of our great IPO. the distribution of a dividend of €0.42 per share. Then the consolidated non-financial statement of 2021 has been approved and also the stock grant plan for 2022-24. So before reading my quotes, I'd like to really extend a big thank you to all the financial institutes and the banks because we definitely are the result of the help and aid of banks because in 2020, In six, seven days, they basically resolved over 200 million loan to give us, or credit line, to give us the possibility to protect our suppliers and ourselves. So luckily enough, we only used a little bit in 2020 and then we paid it back in 21. So thank you very much to all our dear banks. So I have really thought long and hard about what to write in my comments, truth be told. And this is how it starts. I have firm faith in the wisdom of men. As a dramatic time for humanity in this winter of our struggles, a new era of responsibility is required of us, the search for a peace forged by great thoughts. I grew up in the land of Francis of Assisi, from whom I learned the great value of dialogue as the noblest means of always achieving harmony among men. Great challenges demand the courage to walk together and to reaffirm that common sense of humanity that only words can guarantee, when these words rest on the brotherhood and wisdom of the men who ruled the world. 2021, which we called the year of rebalancing, ended with some splendid results, both economically and in terms of image for our brand. turnover grew by 30% and consequently net profit amounted to 56 million euros. This year opens with a quarter that is now drawing to a close and some particularly interesting results. The order intake for men's and women's winter collections 2022 was truly truly significant and all this prompts us to envisage yet another year of good balanced growth with an increase in turnover of around 12%. And this is a growth that we hope will generate human thriving and prosperity for our people, for our Mother Earth and for the whole of creation. And may the heavens and the stars enlighten us at this time when souls have lost their bearings but they're nevertheless filled with great hope for the bright future that awaits us. So, thank you for that. Moreno, the floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you, Brunello, and good evening. I'd like to briefly analyse some topics that featured in 2021. The net revenues of 2021 confirmed the preliminary results of 10th of January, so I'd now like to analyze the income statement slide number 12 of our presentation, highlighting the results of 2019, 2020, and 2021. So 2021, we confirmed the choice that we made in 2020 to maintain the solidity of the company and to keep investments planned unchanged, everything that had been planned before the pandemic. And when comparing results of this year to the past years, we need to bear in mind the impact of the pandemic on 2020, whereas in the comparison with 2019, we should consider the effect of the pandemic that lasted well into 2021, and the presence of costs with many commercial initiatives, which will contribute to the results expected for the coming years. In 2021, we had 13 conversions from wholesale to retail, three conversions of franchising, 10 hard shops in the luxury department stores, thus making the reported growth in wholesale even more important, 6.2% to 2020 and 9% versus 2019. First margin, No significant changes here compared to the past margins in 2021 of 67.3% in line with the margins of 2020, 67.9% back then. In 2021, EBITDA net of IFRS 16 amounts to 110 million with a 15.4% incidence. The value of EBITDA of 31st December 2021 benefits from non-recovering assets due to deferred tax assets for the research and development activities for 2017 and 2018. In 2020, a BTA net of EIFRS 16 and the extraordinary provision of 31.7 million for the Brunello Cuccinelli for Humanity project amounted to 41.8 million with an incidence of 7.7%. Whereas in 2019, it had been 106 million million with an incidence of 17 percent. Net profit in 2021 56.3 million euros with a tax rate of 12.1 percent which benefited from two non-recurring items. The first one is the deferred tax assets for 8.8 million euros calculated on the provision for the humanity project. The second one is the tax effects related to the research and development activities and the tax credits because the accounting is not subject to tax and so it produces one million benefits. If we exclude these two non-recurring events, the normalized tax rate of 31st December 21 amounts to 28.5 And we consider this to be healthy for an Italian company that makes its profits in Italy and that might become a benchmark for the coming years. The following slides give the highlights of the income statement. In particular, the cost of personnel, then the... So personal costs grow progressively in the period 2019-2021 following the expansion of our human resources structure to support new commercial initiatives, the expansion of the network and the processes of consolidation of our activities. Also, the rents increase is mainly related to development of the network and we expect to benefit in the coming periods. Investments in communication, have an incidence higher than 5%. In 2021, it was 5.1% incidence. Then moving on to the income statement highlights, we can say that the net working capital has an incident of 23.8% on sales vis-a-vis 36 in 2020, which had been impacted by the pandemic, and 28% of 2019. The incidence in 21 of the inventory amounts to 28% of sales, where there is the overcoming of the 2020 situation and then further improvement thanks to the sell-outs. The reduction in commercial receivables is to do with the return to ordinary terms in the payment of wholesale after some deferments granted in 2020 basically did not happen again. So we have a healthy client, we have very small loss on receivables, 0.04% of revenues this year, and last year 0.07% of revenues. As to the commercial payables. We did not change our payment terms towards our suppliers. And the purchases of raw materials mainly happened in the second half of the year versus 2020. On slide number 17, you see the investments in line with our multi-year planning. And on slide 18, we highlight the strong improvement in the financial indebtedness also vis-à-vis 2019 thanks to the cash generation and the excellent results in the management of networking capital. This is the end of my presentation. Thank you. I give the floor back to Brunello. Well, so maybe three minutes on 2021 numbers. It is the tenth financial statement since the last going public, but we will go back to this in April, in the call in April, and hopefully we won't have the many emergencies to take into account. It has been a splendid year, year rebalancing, very good turnover. We caught up everything and we are back on track. Very good BDA. We are just missing a few points, nothing big there. Very good inventory, 28% incidence there. Usually we have 28, 29, 30, depending on the year. Very well, customers and payments, as Brunello was saying. We have not stopped any investments in 2021, but investments in stores and everything, not even in 2020. It's very serious here. Net financial position, very well. And honestly speaking, I keep saying that we can say that we virtually have carried no debt. We have a great equity or capital situation. Net profit very well and tax rate very well too. It's 28.5% ordinary, but actually the past five, six years, I was always trying to speak in favor of Italy. Somebody might say, you pay too much tax, but in the past five to six years, our company must have paid maybe not more than 22, 23%. And as a result, dividends around the standard of 50%. This is as to 2021. So great figures there. Then a small flash on the image, memorable year for the company. We were awarded the Design of the Year 2021 award from the British GQ magazine. Then the value of taste. We presented the project of the Sonoma Universal Library by the foundation. Then the value of territory. We took part in that fascinating event in Rome, the G20, on the theme of humanistic capitalism and human sustainability. The value of sustainability, therefore, is definitely important. Then we have received a lot of attention from the world press on this. So maybe today in the world we enjoy a great image of total sustainability across the board. So we mean sustainability from the environmental, economic, cultural and spiritual point of view. And with this year, 2021, we basically end the 10th five-year plan that started in 2019. And it used to be 2019 and 2023. We have stopped it in 2021 because of the pandemic. And so we restart again with the 11th five-year plan, 2226. And I will tell you something about this later. Then, 2022, we still foresee a very important year for our industry, where our growth project will shift from 10% to 12% of turnover, and we want to call it a total rebalancing of profitability to our usual levels. to our pre-pandemic normal usual levels, and as a result, accordingly, a net financial position around parity, without stopping any investments, obviously. First quarter, two weeks are left there. It is ending with very good results, both in terms of turnover and margins. Then, order intake. Well, wholesale for winter 22 or the intake has ended with important results. As you know, our business is broken down as follows. 60% retail, 40% wholesale. As usual, we have a lot of trust and belief in the wholesale because we consider them the guardians of our brand. And we have the 500 accounts. Well, 400 between men and women. They are the best in the world. but in our opinion they have done something very interesting they have redrafted their three and five year plans and thus making a very strong selection of brands with whom they want to continue their business in the years to come of course the important order intake and the allow us to call it wonderful feedback on the collections from customers and the international press, all this means that probably our direct boutiques will also have beautiful winter merchandise on their shelves. Therefore, we feel very, very confident for the year, the current year. Then 30 seconds on how we usually build our budgets. In around 1998, 1999, there was a big dispute between the U.S. and Europe called the banana dispute. As a matter of fact, what they wanted to do, they wanted to impose a tax on Kashmir in the U.S., a 100% tax on the import of Kashmir. Then it did not happen. If they had imposed that tax, we would have had no profit at all. So from that experience, we always try to have a small spare budget for any world eventuality. And this has always protected us from big surprises. Clearly, this did not apply to 2001, 2008 or to 2020, because these were really out of the ordinary, extraordinary years.

This is the reason why we are very confident

and for the current year. Another important topic, prices. As you know, we set prices twice a year upon the release of our collection. So, our prices are subject to no change. Very important raw materials. Well, you might say, you keep saying very important. Well, yes, because there are a few things that you must pay a lot of attention to. So raw materials, they're all in-house for the winter and all of high quality. In the past two years, we have strengthened our relationships with our suppliers even more. They're always the same. And together, we have tried to plan ahead to guarantee mutual stability and quality and business. Of course, unless you do so, you run the risk that all of a sudden you are... without raw material. And as always, we purchase cashmere on average with two years in advance. Of course, we're talking about raw cashmere, the cashmere that then you can dye and do whatever you want with it. And we buy it from our historic cereal supplier, Lanificio Cariaggi, with whom I started my business 44 years ago. It was him who gave me the first signs of real trust because he gave me the first 20 kilos of cashmere. I had the money in my pocket. He said, you will pay for it when you can. So thank you, Cariaggi. Another very important topic, production in 2022. All spring-summer 2022 production was delivered, as usual, by February. Then winter 2022 production is going very, very well with manufacturers. 100% production in Italy, as you know, with 365 micro enterprises. Another thing, we have 52% of work that is really only done by hand, not without any machinery. We are true artisans. And we have always shown a total openness towards our partners, also in order to strengthen the partnership. I wrote that their creative minds, their hands, and their seriousness are treasure for the years to come. And I want to say this to you, Luca Riccardo, too. This has always given us great security and confidence in the high-quality Italian supply chain. Then 2023, a growth project of around 10%. And so... This is the 11th five-year plan that starts in 22 and ends in 26. In this five-year period, we expect to achieve those results that we indicated back in 2019 in the 10-year plan 2019-2028. So we think that we might end the plan two years ahead of schedule. Then markets, we have a couple of minutes and then we have time for your questions. So to date, all the markets are doing very well. I would say very, very well. In the last two years, and this is something I am really keen on, you see, business has been practically domestic in all the countries in the world. So, honestly speaking, I don't see any great difficulty ahead for this year. Do you remember when in 2020 we thought that tourists would be there would be a lack of tourists. Clearly, not bearing in mind the lockdown period in various areas of the world, human beings bought either through the websites or in their cities, in physical shops. I went shopping in Perugia, Rome and Florence. So why do I call them physical stores? Because they, once again, represent something very important today.

because it is important to touch, to feel the product for advice, experience.

Therefore, we always believe very much in the physical store, but it should provide that it is beautiful, attractive, modern, and contemporary. Russian market now, three minutes. Very serious thoughts here. So, Russian market. Our business in this country for many years has been worth about 4% of the total, of which 70% is wholesale with very serious, reliable partners we've had for many years, and 30% of this 4% is retail. So wholesale, we have delivered the whole spring-summer season in February, and everything went well. The winter season will start to be delivered from June onwards. So hopefully in June, well, may God protect us. Then retail is worth about 30% of that 4%. So the first quarter is practically over. So nine months are left. We have three direct shops that are closed.

Beautiful stores.

And we basically paid the wages of all our Russian employees as in 2020 during the lockdown. Well, out of these stores, one in St. Petersburg, dating back to August last year, two in Moscow, one we opened in November last year. And I have to say, in a month's time, we will double the size of a beautiful shop in Moscow. So they're currently closed. but the employees are nevertheless being paid. So to conclude on this great theme, we could say that the exposure to this country at the most, it could affect the total annual turnover by about 2.4%, of which 1.6% wholesale with the winter orders still in-house, and 0.8% retail in the next nine months. So, to conclude, we are very confident about this year's results for our company and, truth be told, also for luxury in general. We are working fueled by the spirit I mentioned at the beginning. So we have two spirits, two moods. One is pensive and gloomy, and the other one is very much focused on our business. And I'd like to end with a statement that has been by my side throughout my life. And I was talking to my dad the other day. And my dad, by the way, is turning 100 on the first day of spring. I have always said that I have firm faith in the wisdom of men. Thank you very much. Men may creation protect us. Let us now open for questions. Coruscall Operator speaking. We will now start the Q&A session. Whoever wants to ask a question, please press star followed by one on your keypad. In order to exit the booking list, press star followed by two. please ask your question speaking into the microphone.

Whoever wants to ask a question, please press star followed by one now.

There will be a few seconds of silence to allow people to book their questions. Flavia Cereda, Jeffrey's first question. Good evening, Brunello, and hello, everyone. chapeau as usual for your results. I have two trivial questions. Russia. So most sales to Russian consumers, do these sales happen in Russia or maybe you have a different weight in other countries outside of Russia? Because you see in London, Russians are very important here, but very often they have different passports. So they're here, but it's not that much impacted. So whether you believe that that's the weight of the Russian customer. Then on stores, could you give us some color on the opening plan for this year and next year, or maybe important expansions, extensions, so we can understand a bit better? because you gave a growth estimate of plus 12% this year, despite the trouble in Russia. So perhaps things are going even better than what you say. Well, thank you, Flavio. Very interesting. The first question. So we were saying to ourselves that the past two years, nobody traveled. Nobody went out of their country. So we have really enjoyed great sales domestically. So we are not very much worried about the dearth of traveling tourists. And this is true for Russia, China, U.S. As far as tours are concerned, as usual, Slavio, every year we want to have two beautiful openings and two or three expansions. We have a great opening in Palo Alto in July. 350 square meters but actually what we're building there you see that's a special store for the tech guys there is a young made to measure project there and then we have an important expansion in zurich another very important city pretty expensive but nevertheless it is always difficult to find a location there and then one extension in Cannes. And then we have Dubai. And by the way, two important brothers from Dubai are coming to visit tomorrow, and we are very pleased because they wanted to come and spend the day with us to get to know our culture. So why are we very confident? Because you see, collections were particularly beautiful, but what we were impressed by is the great selection of brands performed by the wholesale accounts. Since we need to plan for the three, five, or seven, they need to plan for the coming years, they really made a strict selection. And therefore, this year, we have a wholesale, so the percentage, the split should not change 1460. and also 33% U.S. and 43% Europe, and 24% China should not change either. No, it's not China, so it's Asia altogether. And another thing I wanted to add, because, you see, they start at half past six. I'd like to spend a word on MyTheresa, because MyTheresa, Mr. Porter, Matches, Fashion Day, really are beautiful online multi-brands. I have a lot of respect for them. For example, also, as far as image growth is concerned, Saks, Goodman, and Neiman Marcus, you see, when you take a look at their websites, it's always a pleasure. But as a whole, we do 6%, 7% with our own e-commerce and with the wholesale included, perhaps it goes up to 12%, 13%. But this is it. And I think that it will grow hand in hand with the physical stores. Okay, very clear.

Thank you. Next question from Andrea Randone, Intermonte.

Good evening, everyone.

Just one question on margins. You said that in 2022 you can achieve the same margins as 2019. No, we think that we will go back to normal, Andrea. This year, we called it a year of rebalancing. The only thing that we did not rebalance is 1.5 points of EBITDA, but we think that next year we will go back to the full rebalancing in terms of EBITDA.

Perhaps I have interrupted you.

So, still on this, does this extra margin come from the mix because you have not raised prices? So, this margin comes from more sales at full price. And then another question of 2023, do we expect yet another improvement there if the 2019 level is stable. Well, we think that this year is the full rebalancing year for EBITDA. Of course, we have gone back to normal in terms of sales. It's not that we have not increased prices. We raise prices every six months when the collection comes out, not in between. So in January, for spring, summer, and then fall, winter. So prices did go up, as it always happens, and this depends on raw materials, but we do not do anything in between. Then as far as 2023 is concerned, we want to resume our revenues growth and stabilize with the pretty fascinating BDA that amounts to 17-18% more or less healthy profit. Our friend Ramin, a member of our board, was saying something important last week. He took part in an important meeting where basically very important executives talked about fair profit and a fair balance between profit and giving back. And truth be told, I think that we are very, very pleased with this, the fact that we are going back to once again talking about a fair balance, balanced growth.

And congratulations. Yes, thank you. Yes, hopefully we will find a balance because I'm a great believer in the wisdom of men.

Next question from... Good evening. Hi, Brunello. Two questions. In your 12% growth guidance at constant exchange rate, do you also include sales in Russia? I mean retail and in the second half. And then the other question, Any idea on the U.S. and Chinese trends? I'll start from the last question, U.S. and Chinese trends. You see, things are not going well. They're going very well. Do you remember when we released the figures on January the 9th? We have to do that because of pity. And I was saying that the year had gone well for everybody, and now there's a great mood there. What about the other question?

I forgot.

Yes, Melania, we talked about the way in which we build budgets. I think that when you build a budget, you always need to have a spare budget. but not for extraordinary items, but one year there's something, one year there's something else. So we think that for contingencies, so to speak, that's why we have slightly improved expectations and estimates for this year. Truth be told, if this problem had not happened from the human point of view, you see, it would have been completely different. Nobody imagined this.

But we are very confident, that's for sure.

Thank you.

Next question, Paola Carboni, Equitasim. Good evening.

Two quick questions. One, the marketing investments, if I understood properly, 5% of revenues. And I think this is below the pre-pandemic levels. I'd like to understand whether this is the result of restrictions in 21 and what we can expect in terms of adjusted incidents from this year onwards. And then another question, given this bigger trust guidance revised upwards, given that this happens after the fall winter collections, do we have to think that this will be in a year with an acceleration, with the second half stronger than the first, or maybe not because of the timing of store openings? Well, Paola, as far as investments are concerned, it's always been between 5.3%, 5.6%, 5.7%, so no decreases there. There have been, you see, since some doors were closed, we had a bit less events. Because, you see, the events in the stores, it's a great culture already. And since we did not have any chance to move around, that's what happened. But the idea is that always having 5.5%, so it was not deliberate. Well, spring, summer has gone well, too, and it is still going well. We expect a trend the same as the beginning of the year. Then, of course, we have human passes because of what is happening. But as far as marketing was concerned, you see, the thing is that we had a bit less events. And what I'm saying is that there's a plethora of events coming up, and Luca and Ricardo will take part in it. The problem with events is selfies. You see, the latest event we had in London, I'm sure this is not the time to smile. There was a customer who wanted to take five photos because she was never happy. She was never satisfied. So we took five selfies. So I just wanted to joke. But you see, now it's better to smile rather than to laugh. But you see, I'm very confident in humanity, too. we have the courage we need to really have the courage to look ahead thank you for any further questions please press star followed by one on your phone so if there is nothing left we'd like to thank you and good luck to diego for their call which is starting now thank you very much and goodbye