Essilor Luxottica

Hello everyone and welcome to the Essilor Luxottica first half 2022 results presentation. At the end of the presentation there will be a 30 minute Q&A session where you will be allowed a minimum and maximum of two questions.

If you would like to ask a question you may do so by pressing star 1 on your telephone keypad. I now turn the call over to our host Francesca Mulleri, Chairman and CEO.

Thank you for joining us. Before commenting our first half results let me spend some words to celebrate the memory of Leonardo del Vecchio. It's already a month since he left us and we all miss his patience, his dedication and commitment to innovate our company and the whole industry. I am honored to have the responsibility to continue the journey he started. and to grow a Silor Luxottica inspired by its values, vision and strategy. Leonardo would have been particularly proud of the results we are presenting today, with the achievements of the second quarter and the first half of the year. In a deteriorated macro environment, our open and flexible business model as well as our diversified footprint continue to drive the growth of our sales and margins. We are the only player in the industry with a leading presence in all the geographies and all the business segments, which help us to mitigate the market headwinds and to capitalize on its positive trends. In addition, Our fast and effective decision-making process greatly helps us to adapt quicker and better to the evolving customer needs. This is the kind of result we target. As a network company focused on the evolution of the industry and the upgrade of the category, driven by a sustainable and inclusive business platform, for the benefit of the company and all its stakeholders. At this stage is not comparable revenue grew in all the countries worldwide, excluding China and Russia. What we are especially proud of is our strong margin expansion. In the context of rising inflation on energy, labor, transport, and raw materials, we managed to deliver a 100 basis point lift. in the adjusted operating profit margin, up to 18.4%. Free cash flow delivery was also solid and continued to support our investments in the innovation of products and services. We look forward to meeting you in September at our Capital Market Day in our brand new digital and design hub. where you will have an immersive experience into the future of our company and industry. And with that, I will leave the floor to Paul and Stefan.