De Longhi Spa

Good afternoon. This is the Coral School Conference Operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the De'Longhi Full Year 2023 Consolidated Results Conference Call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Fabio De'Longhi, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the De'Longhi Group fourth quarter and full year 2023 results conference call. Today, together with me, are Nicola Serafin, Group General Manager, Marco Cenci, Chief Planning and Control Officer, Stefano Biella, CFO, and Samuele Chiodetto, investor relations and external communication director and M&A manager. We are extremely satisfied with the full year results, which once again demonstrate the group's ability to seize growth opportunities, overcome market challenges. In particular, during the year, the group significantly improved the key financial metrics, such as underlying trends, profitability, and cash generation. in the context of a gradual post-pandemic normalization that we observed in previous quarters. After a slow start of the year, due to some transitory and extraordinary factors, the group has shown a significant progression, both in coffee and nutrition and food preparation sectors, achieving organic growth at high single-digit rate both in quarter four and second half of 2023. All through the year, the group maintained a level of profitability that has steadily improved in comparison to 2022, thanks to strict investment controls and a partial relief of inflationary pressures on certain industrial costs. These effects, combined with effective price management and continuous product mix improvement, have contributed to rapidly bringing the group's profitability back close to the historical average. These achievements enabled the group to generate a significant amount of cash flow, more than €430 million before dividends, which was strategically used in the establishment of the professional coffee hub with Lamar Zocco and Avesis for further strengthening its leadership in the market and for creating value for shareholders. Now let me focus on the results. Consolidated revenues for quarter four were up by 4.7%, reaching 1,078 million euro with a significant negative impact of 3.3% from the currency component. Over the course of the year, the geographical evolution was influenced by the weak start of the year. we report that all macro regions experienced widespread organic growth in the second half of the year. Specifically, the group's organic growth accelerated in the main geographies in the fourth quarter, with exception of the American region, which experienced some transitory elements. Southwestern Europe experienced organic growth at high single-digit rate in the second half of the year, with a 10% acceleration in the fourth quarter, where the main markets experienced a considerable uptick, with Germany and France showing high teens turnover progression. Northeast Europe recorded a significant poverty trend in 2023, with a progressive acceleration of developments over the second half of the year, due to a significant expansion of core product categories in the main markets. The media region achieved organic growth in the fourth quarter, in the low teens, but the area remained in negative territory over the past year due to a challenging macroeconomic environment. The exit from the mobile air conditioning business had significant impact on the American region's result in 2023. However, the coffee makers and nutrition, food, and preparation business are in positive territory in organic terms for the year. Finally, the Asia-Pacific region's turnover increased in organic terms over the span of a year, thanks to an acceleration in the second half, which resulted in a mid-single-digit organic growth in Q4. Regarding the product segment's evolution, the core categories performed improved gradually throughout the year, with organic growth trends picking up in the second half. The domestic coffee machine sector highlighted a turnover in line with the previous year, with growth reaching a mid-single-digit rate in the fourth quarter. This was supported specifically by an acceleration at a low team pace of the fully automatic machine category, thanks to the success of the new product recently launched in the market. The nutrition and food preparation segment highlighted positive growth. highlighted positive dynamics in both quarters of the second half of the year, despite finishing the year in negative territory. The growth recovery was primarily driven by the development of both the Nutribullet and Brown brands. With regard to the remaining segments, we highlight a significant extension of ironing products in the quarter, which brings the home care category, floor care and ironing, into positive territory in the 12 months. The trend in comfort, portable heating, and air conditioning in 2023 was strongly influenced by the group's choice to exit the American portable air conditioning market. Finally, we highlight the significant growth of Eversys professional coffee machines, which maintain a consistent extension trend throughout the year, resulting in a turnover growth of more than 30% in 2023. Looking now at the evolution of operating margins, In the full year, the net industrial margin improved to 48.9% of revenues, from 47.3%, thanks to a favorable price mix and easing inflationary pressures on product costs. A comparable improvement was made by the groups in the fourth quarter, from 46.4% of revenues last year to 48.1%. The 2023 adjusted EBITDA reached €444 million, or 14.4% of revenues, a significant increase from 11.5% in 2022. Over the year, the profitability improved mainly thanks to lower inflationary pressures on industrial and logistic costs, as well as an improvement in the price mix. The uptick in margins was also favored by partial savings from investments in media and communication, which were realized through the improved spending effectiveness and more targeted use of assets and channels. Despite the negative currency impact, the group achieved a margin of 16.6% of revenue in the fourth quarter, which was approximately 200 basis points higher than the previous year. As to balance sheet, net financial position as of 31 December 23 stood at 660 million euro, an increase of 364 million euros over the previous year, thanks to significant cash generation in quarter four. In particular, the pre-cash flow before dividends and acquisition amounted to 436 million euro in the 12 months. Let me emphasize that the group was able to generate positive cash flow before dividends and acquisitions in every quarter of the year, which is a noticeable and significant improvement over the discontinuity observed in 2022. Now, as a conclusion to my results overview, I would like to point out that while the current economic and geopolitical scenarios are certain and valuable, the group's prospects are strengthened and supported by the trends of improved organic growth. and financial metrics that have been highlighted in previous quarters. We firmly believe that the group's medium-term potential is still favorable, given the ongoing growth of espresso coffee markets and the path back to growth of the nutrition and food preparation sector. Furthermore, the creation of the hub between La Marzocco and Eversys has enabled the group to strategically strengthen its presence in the professional coffee industry. machine sector, leveraging knowledge and expertise in that area and diversifying the group's market exposure. The most recent positive development in the group growth and profitability dynamics have led us to estimate a 9 to 11 percent increase in sales for 2024, including an enlargement of perimeter with the business combination between Lamardzok and Avesis. At the level of profitability, we forecast an improvement in the year. leading to an adjusted EBDA of roughly 500 to 530 million euros for the group. Now we can open the floor to Q&A. Thank you.

Thank you. This is the Coral School Conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and 2. Please pick up the receiver when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Nicola Storer with Kepler. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, gents. I have a couple of questions. The first one is on your working capital performance, which has been particularly strong recently. And if I have to look at the items, I was surprised by the low level of receivables which were kept at the previous year's very low level. Has something extraordinary happened which drove to this performance, or should we expect this to remain as it is over the coming years. The second question is on your guidance. First, I wanted to basically understand if your revenues guidance still implies the same guidance you gave us a few weeks ago on a company at previous perimeter or if something has changed in the underlying trends of the company, let's say, without Lamar Zocco. And still related to guidance on EBDA, what is basically, which are the assumptions behind the 500, 530 million? Clearly, if we take out the damage spread in revenues, nine, 11%, what could, lead you to the low end or to the high end? Which are the assumptions behind that? And which are the assumptions you are incorporating in your guidance for advertising and promotion costs?

Thank you. Hello.

Thank you, Nicolò. Yes, indeed, in working capital, the group performance has been extremely strong. On the receivables side, nothing major. I think we're in line with what happened in the year before. I think more maybe comments on inventory management. We think that we have reached probably very low levels, so I can potentially expect next year the inventory to go a bit higher than as we really have been very strict in managing those, particularly after a difficult trend in the previous year. You know we are coming from a difficult year in 2022 with very high inventories in June. So this year the policies have been extremely strict. Now I think I would say that we can expect probably similar performance next year for receivables. While on inventory, I would expect maybe higher level on top also of the consolidation of Lamazocco, of course. Probably more details will be disclosed from IR, from in the next days. With regards to the guidance, well, I think we're coming from a strong quarter. We see positive quarter in quarter one, 24. So there is no reason for the moment to expect a slowdown. Probably we're going to have a year where I think we're going to have a pretty easier comparison in the first half, probably more difficult comparison in the second half, but again, nothing major. On the top line, of course, we have benefits from the consolidation of La Marzocco, but we still expect, and now I go also to the impact potentially on ABDA, we expect growth. for let's say the household business in the mid single digit, say mid to high, mid, mid, mid single digit. And we think this is also potentially helping the ABDA development. We see against ABDA potentially some higher logistic costs due to the Middle East situation and the Gulf and the Suez situation but for the moment we have positives on the cost side which are more than upsetting so we still believe that also in the first quarter we should be able to show improvements both in top line and margin and there is no reason to expect a slowdown at the moment for the year So we're confirming now actually the guidance. We've given a new guidance for 500 to 530 all in all.

Thank you.

The next question is from Isacco Brambilla, Meteo Banca. Please go ahead.

Hi. Good afternoon, everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. I have three. First one is on the EBDA bridge. if you can break down the price mix component between prices and mix for the fourth quarter or for the full year, whichever is better for you. Second question is on the professional coffee business. Now that we have seen closing of the transaction, could you give a bit more color on the growth prospects you expect from this business? is the low double-digit pace you mentioned for Lamar Zorc over the past five years, something sustainable going forward. Last question is more on strategy. You closed 2023 with an impressive free cash flow generation. Liquidity should be above €1.2 billion, which are the priorities for cash redeployment going forward.

Okay, so thank you for the questions.

So, well, if you don't mind, I skip to the second question and the third, and then I hand over the word to Nicole Serravin for the bridge, for the ABDA bridge explanation. With regard to professional, okay, just acquired La Marzocco, so taking a control of La Marzocco. We're very, very excited about the prospects of the professional business. We believe that La Marzocco will, okay, we have a budget slightly above last year. I mean, we had a very strong year both at La Marzocco and Eversys and particular Eversys. So we think that this year we're going to be a slow growth also for the Marzocco business that we will consolidate in the next months, say from March on. With regards to strategy and cash allocation, obviously we see it again on a lot of cash. which is, I think, great news, in particular for the effectiveness of our business model. I think one of the strengths of Delong is the cash generation, which is putting a lot of pressure from M&A and cash allocation. However, I don't think that in the short term we should focus on M&A, not because we don't have cash or we have the means, I think we have a meaningful acquisition with La Marzocco. It can be a very transformational acquisition for the prospects we have, not just in the professional business, but also in the super high-end household business, which is growing rapidly in many geographies. So we want to focus on this, on the integration, which is not really an integration, but it's just the support the right support to make La Marzocco and Elvis even stronger in the next years. But we are in the market looking into opportunities. But for the moment, we want to digest the acquisition and scouting for a great opportunity. If there would be a meaningful opportunity, we have the means, the ability to, of course, capture. But for the moment... I'm very pleased with the acquisition that we have just completed. Then, Nicola, if you can comment on the bridge.

Thank you, Fabio. About the BTDA bridge, we have more or less 80 million of 2023 versus 2022, where we have unfavorable effects of volumes by years. more or less $35 million, and $28 million of exchange rate unfavorable, while we have a favorable $25 million on price and mix, and we have $20 million of A&P, advertising and promo, where we have created also let's say significant savings through some efficiency in investment, and we have a significant part of around 100 million of lower industrial costs and logistic and transportation costs where the logistic and warehousing costs are the significant part of this 100. We have kept definitely a significant amount a steady price policy with a positive carryover effect over 2023 that we are also projecting for 2024 keeping stable we are working with some promotional actions in particular by the year end to keep competitive our positions

The next question is from Francesco Brilli, Intermonte.

Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thanks for taking my question. A few of them have already been answered. Just a couple of quick ones. On AMP, you managed to save some costs on AMP by efficiently managing the expenditure. Is this level sustainable also for the next year, or are you projecting some additional investments on this line? And the second one is on warehousing costs or industrial costs. In general, you had a positive effect from these costs on EVDA. Probably some part of them are coming from the tight management of production and lower production at the beginning of the year. Is it sustainable, this level of cost also for 2024, or we have to project something more for next year? Thank you.

Thank you. On AMP, well, just some backgrounds. If you recall, at the beginning of 2023, we were off at a quite slow start. So we have decided to try to maintain or eventually slightly reduce our AMP investment and to try to capture as much as possible efficiencies for the second half of the year. Then we progressively improved our performance with a positive quarter two and three. And so we have increased our spend in the final of the year, still maintaining very efficient results. So in the end, I think we have spent very well our monies. Our intention is to maintain a high level of spend. I think that the reason of the market results and the growth that we have delivered in the final year part of the year is also thanks to the effectiveness of our investment behind our core products. So we want to continue to invest behind advertising, be more efficient. We think that for 2024 would be sufficient to have investments fairly in line with the investments that we had in the full year 23. Then, with regard to, let's say, the improved costs and the potential risks on the costs in 2024, actually, we were seeing it the other way around. We still see opportunities in savings on the cost side, on the materials and on the components. And on top of that, we have a positive volume effect, because if you recall, we were still in a In the first part of the year, last year, our factory was not yet running at full capacity. Actually, we were still at low capacity because we were in the low phase of the year, and then also we were suffering from the overstocking or some, let's say, still suffering from some continuation of the negative impacts of the overstocking that we saw in the previous months. So, on the OPEC side, we are positive. We are positive on efficiencies. Unfortunately, we'd be slightly upset by the logistic costs where housing is under control, logistic costs due to the war. that will impact, and then some inflation that we have on labor. Labor, of course, you know, the inflation that we have suffered, and we are increasing the cost of labor will be slightly higher, but all in all, we still expect some benefits from all the operations in terms of costs.

Thank you.

The next question is from Alessandro Cecchini, Equita. Please go ahead.

Hello, everybody, and thank you for taking my questions. The first one is about Nutribullet. During the last call, you were very positive, very bullish about the prospect of this business. I just wanted to better understand your strategy for 2024, if you could explain elaborate a little bit more on company-specific initiatives in order to enlarge geo or product mix, so just some actions that you have in mind in order to improve Turnover regardless of the economic environment. and linked to this point in the coffee business if you expect 2024 to be a normal year in terms of product launches or I mean better than a normal year. This is my first question. My second question instead is about your guidance so just to make the math correct me if I am wrong so organic growth is low mid single digit all the perimeter I will say your previous guidance was confirmed if I am not wrong making the math I presume that Lamarzocco can heal the I mean, high single-digit organic growth in your mind, so not double-digit like previous year, but still high single-digit. So it's correct, my interpretation for this. And finally, I saw financial expenses at 2 million negative. Next year you could have, I mean, cash out, so this year cash out for... Marzocco, but very, very buoyant freakish flow generation. So just to say if you expect similar amount of financial charges for 2024. Thank you.

Thank you, Alessandro. First question, Nutribullet. No, last year was a strong year for Nutribullet again, with positive growth across all their geographies, both United States and Nutribullet helped to support our sales in North America, as well as supported our performance in nutrition and food preparation in the remainder of the world. We are still at an early stage of, let's say, deployment of Nutribullet across the markets. So we will continue the international expansion, which doesn't mean necessarily to enter new markets now. I mean, we have entered already the market, and now it's getting stronger in the markets. So the product range will support that. The focus will be maintained on blending as a priority, particularly in the new geographies. I would say I would underline the introduction of portable products. Portable blending is becoming more important in North America, and we think it has also some potential in Europe, as well as we are extending our leadership now, not just in the single serve blending, but as well as on more traditional dash power blending, where we are enlarging our product range. I highlight that it might appear as not a major widening of the range. In reality, in traditional food preparation, blending represents approximately 40% of the market. And with these two initiatives, we will enormously increase the scope, the potential of Nutribullet in various categories where the brand has reason to win in the United States, in the UK, in Australia, and in many other markets in Eastern Europe and Middle East. So we continue to have a growth prospects for Nutribullet also in 2024. In terms of guidance, you are right, we have given the new guidance, but you should expect probably, we have good momentum in the household, we're going to have a strong We think first half may be a more difficult comparison in the second half. And with regard to La Marzocco, we expect for the first year probably a low, low single-digit growth, not a high one, because of the strong growth that the company has experienced in the past two years. Not dissimilarly to what happened to Eversys. And then... With regard to financial expenses, yeah, again, despite the payment of La Marzocco, the cash out, which is approximately 350 million euros, we still have about 350 million net financial position at the beginning of the year, which is fairly in line with what we had last year. So I don't expect major swings in terms of cost of financing as well as on the yield on our investments. So I expect the financial cost to be fairly in line with the ones that we had in 2023. Okay.

Thank you, Enzo. Maybe on the product launches in the coffee business. So just if you can comment a little bit.

Paul, if you want to maybe say something about the products. Yeah, definitely.

We have, let's say, a significant roadmap. We have some products that you have... Just seeing in the market that where we are planning, they are quite significant to what we are planning to roll out globally, and Rivelia is one of these products. Then we have a couple of new significant launches also in the range of our cappuccino machines. There is Magnifica Plus and Magnifica Next products. that are two products where in the mid-medium range we are expecting significant traction and a significant benefit also for our market share to strengthen our position in the mid-range of the products.

Okay, so basically the continuation... in terms of product launches versus last year. So you don't expect a new Rivelia or something similar to be issued?

Rivelia has been launched. We are quite familiar in Italy because it has been launched in Italy. But just to share, Rivelia is in launch in Germany at this moment. So it's definitely a launch 2024. And in moving to pumps, we have a significant launch with a digital version of our La Specialista that is coming and a couple of pump machines in the low-mid range by year-end, in particular in the U.S. market.

Okay. Thank you.

The next question is from Andrea Bonfa, Banca Acros. Please go ahead.

Hello. Good afternoon to everybody. Thank you for taking my question. Actually, most of my questions have already been answered. So if you don't mind, I would like to ask you a detail on the Forex impact on EBITDA, the $28 million. Is it possible to have a kind of breakdown of what were the currencies which impacted the most? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Andrea, for your question. Maybe you want to answer this.

In particular, U.S., Australian dollar, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar. Yes.

Yes, it's U.S. dollar. Okay, thank you very much. And if I may, the Chinese renminbi, was it having an impact in both ways or not? Or was it neutral?

No, no, it's favorable. In the Chinese renminbi at the EBITDA level, it was favorable. Negative was Canadian dollar, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, US dollar, and the pound a bit lower.

What is the pre-impact of Chinese yen? Chinese yen is favorable for 10 million. 10 million. So the major is favorable, renminbi for 10 million, the other all negative. All negative.

Okay, thank you very much.

The next question is from Hela Zarouk from OdoBHF. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for taking my questions. I have one question on the bridge of EGS to DBDA over the Q4. We can see that the price mix effect was negative. Could you have some colors about this? And over the 2024 year, what should we expect from the price mix effect? and maybe also on the ethics effect that we should expect for this year. Thank you.

Well, no, very good question. Thank you. Then I will hand also to Nicola, but just a quick comment. No, it's important because we have seen an improvement in our cost base, And we are now utilizing this. We are maintaining the price point but using this savings in order to support commercial initiatives in the most topic times with the most important customers, which has helped in protecting market shares and capturing sales opportunities. We expect continuous saving, as said, maybe offset partially by the higher logistic costs due to the war. But this will allow us to continue in managing the market in this way. But we don't expect to have all-in-all erosion in our profitability because we have a solid pricing policy and then maximizing the sales opportunity with these initiatives that are funded by the overall P&L with key customers in the key moments, in the key markets.

But Nicola, if you can add something maybe more around it. Based on this, as I mentioned before, we have been quite a bit of promotional actions in the last quarter of last year to support the positive momentum of the growth. of the quarter. We are still keeping a positive mix to be sure that we can use the promotional lever and fully in line with what Fabio has mentioned. We keep the price positioning steady for the year, but any time that will be possible we will utilize the promotional lever to support tactically any growth opportunity.

The next question is from Fraser Donlon from Berenberg. Please go ahead.

Hi, Fabian Thiem. It's Fraser here. Thanks for the presentation. I have three questions. The first is just on Eversys. I was wondering if you could give an update on that business's capacity expansion and the cold brew coffee project that it's been working on. The second question, I was interested in what you were saying about the pump coffee machine launches. Could you maybe just remind me of the size of the markets? for pump machines and your share and whether you feel like you're maybe taking share in that segment. And then the final question was just kind of a usual one about stock levels. I think some of your competitors mentioned that they see inventory levels now at quite low levels with their distributors. So I just wondered kind of how you guys see that. And also if you factor any kind of like restocking into the guidance or whether that really is just the sell in and the sell out, let's say matching up to each other. Thank you very much.

Okay, Eversys had a phenomenal 2023 with a 30% growth year-on-year. We expect a more quiet 2024, but the prospects for the company are intact, and we think that we will be working on improved distribution. And then on top of that, we're still working, actually working a lot, on the project with Starbucks that you might refer to. It's a project that is moving on. We have a few gates, and we expect to have development before year-end, but it's too early to say that we have a full deployment into Starbucks. I mean, we have a very important gate at the end of the year with the first important project batch shipment, and then from that we will know if it's a go or no go for the project. But again, the project is moving on in line, broadly in line with our original expectation. And the capacity expansion would be used for Starbucks as well as for the organic growth of the company. Despite we built a new factory probably only three years ago, the capacity was almost fully absorbed by the growth that Eversys experienced over the past months. With regards to pump coffee machines, maybe hand over to Nicola. as well as you want to comment on the stock levels of trade, which are very low now.

On pump coffee, as I mentioned, we are planning a launch on the Specialista range, so the more premium, high-end products. uh grinder pump with grinder on with a digital display solution because it's a part of a our lineup where we didn't add a digital interface machine and where we see opportunities in terms of of segments in the traditional pump pump market is uh is a bit steady in this moment after the large growth that he had during the COVID and the market was negative last year and we think that it could be a great opportunity to boost with a couple of price competitive solutions that we are envisaging looking forward in the market. Still we have a significant market share there because in Europe we have at least a More or less one-third of the market is covered by us. In terms of stock-level retailers, the situation is being more than normalized because after the spike in 2022 of stock at the retailer level, Now retailers are managing in a very conscious way their stock level, and on average they have a stock level that is lower than the pre-pandemic levels. And definitely cost of money is suggesting also to them to have a wise. So this is why we try to take any action to support and capture opportunities that can come from this.

Perfect. Thank you very much.

The next question is a follow-up from Andrea Bonfa, Banca Acros. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thank you again. Going back to the Forex impact on your EBITDA, as far as this year's guidance is concerned, do you have any impact built in as far as Forex is concerned, in particular

in the Chinese yuan thank you well for the moment we expect probably some negative impact in the first half and then a fairly stable impact zero impact almost zero non-meaningful in the second half at current currencies

Okay, thank you very much.

The next question is from Luca Baccoccoli in Tiso San Paolo. Please go ahead.

Hello, good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear me?

Yes, Luca, yeah.

Okay, good. So three questions from my side. The first one is just a clarification on the guidance. So based on what you said and what I heard, Is it fair to assume that starting from March, the consolidation of La Marzocco will basically add approximately 200 million euros of sales and 50 million euros of ABTDA, or is this too, let's say, aggressive assumption? And related to that, you built a coffee maker hub in the professional business, and I was wondering, excluding this era, which seems to be, let's say, a sort of transitory era, what should we expect in the medium-long term for this segment only in terms of top-line growths? and if it's fair to assume more than proportional growth vis-a-vis the reminder of the business, and if there are any synergies that you can exploit from this business combination. And finally, on the CAPEX, if you can... just give us an update on the guidance for this year, given that it seems that the spare capacity is going to end pretty soon, given the strong demand on certain product categories. Thank you.

Sorry, the last question refers to the household business or still the professional business?

Yeah, for both, Fabio, thanks.

First question on, yeah, you're right. More or less, you should expect $200 million in top line due to the new perimeter, plus $200 million and plus $50 on EBDA, more or less, for, let's say, the 10 months that we will be consolidating. Yeah, this year will be a softer year for professional. It was strong for both businesses, so we expect probably a softer year. I would say because of Asia is quite slow for the moment. There has been a force behind the growth of both Amazon and Ephesus. It was rather slow in the first month, but we still expect the coffee, let's say ABBA, to be a positive contributor to our growth in accredit also from a top-line standpoint. If household should grow, let's say, 5% plus, we expect professional on the mid-term to grow faster than that, to be Potentially, I think that can go up to 10% professional. We have expectations of a strong growth on a long-term basis. This is the reason of the acquisition. But this year probably will be softer. In terms of synergies, we expect little synergies because the philosophy of the group is we want to protect both brands. They have a different identity. We don't want to force a short-term acquisition. saving initiatives, but we see we will make the team starting working together on the supply side. The factory will be independent. Product development will be independent. We will explore joint initiative in specific geographies, like probably in Japan or other geographies. But the companies are getting to know each other. The teams are getting to know each other now. and we expect to have more initiatives probably after this early reciprocal knowledge, and then we will move on, let's say, with more detailed information with regard to potential synergies. The last question is about Investment, Nicola, if you can maybe elaborate on that.

In terms of investment, we needed for 2024 for the household business something steady and in line with 2023 that has been already a bit lower than 2022. And also in the professional business, we see a carryover of the level of investment that we have done. So for us, 2024 is almost in line with 2023.

Okay, great. Thank you.

As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. The next question is a follow-up from Isacco Brambilla, Mediobanca. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi again. A very quick follow-up. Following the release of preliminary results, there has been some concerns regarding the performance of Americas in the first quarter. You mentioned some transitory elements affecting performance in the last month of past year. Can you share any data on current trading in the first quarter and, generally speaking, outlook for 2024 in the U.S., but more generally for the region.

Yeah, a quick comment.

The United States has a very strong seasonality. For some reason, we are more exposed to probably the full sales promotions or initiatives. compared to other markets, which appear to be more stable. In the end, the U.S. has been slower in quarter four due to, say, weak heating, low heating sales following the exit of portable air conditioners. We also have weak performance on heating. On the core business, which is coffee and blending, very positive blending and very positive coffee, in particular with fully automats, while the slowdown is on the capsule market, on the single-serve business. which we expect in the long run to be a good business because, I mean, we are investing a lot with our partner, Nespresso. I think that the investment would be very high also in 2024. So we believe that on the back of the launch of a new range with virtual latte, we will expect probably a week of First half, but then a strong fall with all the initiatives.

Yes, just to add on this, the beginning of the year, the start of the year is pretty in line with last year.

Okay, many thanks both.

Very helpful.

Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone.

Mr. DeLonghi, there are no more questions registered at this time. I turn the conference back to you for any closing remarks.

So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for attending DeLonghi Court for a full year 2023 conference call.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephones.