Fnac Darty Sa Ord

for the first half are solid, and I would like to thank all of our employees for their contribution and their daily commitment. In a constantly changing geopolitical and economic context, we managed to stay on an ambitious course in the development of our everyday strategic plan. Our commitment to product sustainability and the protection of purchasing power is at the heart of our ambition to move towards a responsible consumption model. We are committed to purchasing power, and we started internally with a payment of a support bonus to 80% of our teams to help them cope with the pressure exerted by inflation and energy crisis on their daily lives. This measure was particularly close to my heart. Now, let's now move on to the key figures for this first half, slide three. Half-year sales revenues amounted to more than 3.4 billion euros, down slightly by 1.1% in published data. This reflects an improving trend with stability in the second quarter after a drop of 2% in the first quarter. Now, throughout the semester, in the context of supply chain disruption, we were particularly vigilant to ensure the availability of our products by working closely with our suppliers. But above all, we must not forget that we're coming out of two years of atypical consumption, 2020 and 2021, marked by lockdowns with a reallocation of household expenditure on domestic items, books, IT, and household equipment. Now, compared to the first half of 2019 pro forma, half-year revenue increased by 8.4%. And this seems to us to be the right indicator to reflect our performance. and it gives us the first signs of success of our everyday strategic plan the gross margin rate reached a level of 30.9 percent in the first half it's a solid increase compared to the first half of 2021 of more of 120 basis points which is mainly due to favorable product mix the growth of the dotting max subscribe subscriber base and the recovery of ticketing thus The gross margin rate is in line with the pre-crisis pro forma level for the first half of 2019, excluding the dilutive technical effect of the franchise. Finally, current operating income was 19 million euros in the first half of 2022. It was stable compared to that of the first half of 2021 and the first half of 2019 pro forma, excluding the purchasing power bonus effect of nearly 7 million euros and the impact of rolling out new businesses during the first half. Now, let's move on to an analysis by retail channels and product categories, slide four. With the reopening of all our points of sale, in-store sales recorded solid growth in the first half of 2022 in all geographic areas. This massive return of customers to our stores is a great satisfaction for us. It reflects the relevance of our omni-channel models. Online sales accounted for 22% of sales, which reflects a return to normal after two atypical years when online sales were strongly boosted by store closures. Most interesting is that the share of online sales is up by four points compared to the pre-COVID level. Again, this reflects the relevance of our omni-channel strategy. Also note the integration of the Google Cloud retail search solution, the snack.com site, which improves the online shopping experience with an easier and customized product search, increasing the conversion rate. I remind you that we aim to reach at least 30% of our revenues on the web by 2025. Now, by product category, our goods volume fell due to a very high comparison base effect over the half year. while the average selling price continued to rise. Technical products recorded good momentum, intelligence, sound, and photography. However, it was offset by the decline in categories which had benefited from the strong equipment needs for teleworking and learning at home in connection with the health crisis. I think you all know now have at least one equipped workstation at home, which was not the case before the COVID crisis. So we have a lot of potential customers in this respect. Editorial products continue to show sales growth, driven mainly by books, videos, and audio, which benefited from both the reopening of stores and the implementation of the culture of Paris and France. Diversification categories keep a strong growth on the back of urban mobility. Services are still going strong with a rise in the number of dotting max subscribers and the ticketing recovery after the last health restrictions were lifted at the end of February. Now, slide five. To conclude my introduction, I'd like to highlight three strong strands of our strategy. First, repairability. As part of the partnership concluded last March with Apple, all 143 WeFix service spaces have joined the network of Apple-authorized service centers in France. 350 WeFix technicians are already trained and approved by Apple. This partnership confirms the group's ambition to reach 2.5 million products prepared per year by 2025. Second point, enlightened, responsible, and sustainable consumption. Smack.t is the first retailer to have integrated an innovative tool into its e-commerce sites so customers can gauge the environmental impact of the various delivery methods. This tool helps to reduce the environmental impact of the group's e-commerce activities, as we are committed to. Finally, that's my third point, developing our services. We aim to become the leader in home assistance services. We have enriched the DartyMax offer by integrating a new preventive maintenance service, equipped with a video service, making it possible to identify products at risk, to better maintain them, and to anticipate breakdowns in order to extend their life. The number of products prepared so far amounted to 1.1 million over the first six months of the year, and we currently have more than 220 technicians undergoing training who will strengthen our teams. Now, for Dynamax, as you know, our goal is to reach two million subscribers by 2025. I will now hand over to Jean-Brieuc, who will detail the group's financial performance in the first half of 2022.

Jean-Brieuc L'Enrique, thank you very much. I'd like to start by diving into the details for each region results, and before commenting on the group's operational and final performance for the half. Let's start with France and Switzerland, slide seven. Loan revenue was down only minus 1.2% on a reported basis, and 1.9% down on a like-for-like basis to the half. This is good resilience, which allows the group to outperform markets and further gain market shares throughout the half. And this was confirmed by data coming from the Banque de France published on July 20. Looking at the product category breakdown, telephone, sound and photography up compared to last year. Similarly, books continue to show solid momentum with all stores remaining open and the beneficial effect of the post-cultural financial aid given to nearly 2 million young beneficiaries only one year after its launch. Conversely, IT equipment and televisions suffered from a high comparison basis, and this is due to the pandemic and the Football Euro Cup that was held in June 2021, and that boosted TV sales. Home appliances suffered from a decline in volumes linked to sluggish consumer trends during the half, following a high level of sales last year. At the same time, diversification categories continue to perform well, in particular games, toys, and urban mobility. Thatcher et des Couvertes showed growth in revenue compared to the first half of 2021, a time during which all stores were actually closed for several months. However, in-store traffic for H1 2022 is still down compared to pre-crisis levels. Finally, services performed well, driven mainly by solid growth from Dartimax subscribers, and the recovery in ticketing since the last round of restrictions were lifted late February. Now, bear in mind, some shows and events are being postponed due to the health crisis, and yet consumer appetite remains strong, mainly for concerts and shows. Current operating income for the zone was at 17 million euros, down compared to H1 2021. In a half year, Current operating income includes the impact coming from both the one-off purchasing power bonus the group paid out in March 2022 to employees, as well as the operating expenses mobilized for the rollout of new activities. This includes the partnership between WeFix and Apple with training given to 350 technicians during Q2, and also the opening of 14 new FNAC shopping shops in Manor stores in Switzerland. Let's now move on to the Iberian Peninsula, slide eight. The region posted strong revenue growth of plus 7.1% on reported basis, 6.2% up on a like-for-like basis for the half. Growth was driven by a solid store performance, boosted by a comparison base effect that was more favorable than in other regions. Remember that the region was penalized by protracted health restrictions last year. Thus, after a first quarter, 2022, up 7% on a like-for-like basis, The zone posted growth of plus 5% in the second quarter. All product categories drove growth in the area, especially books, telephones, photos, and sound. IT saw more normative growth, given a high base effect. And lastly, services posted solid growth over the period, driven in particular by good credit dynamics. The Iberian region continues to be affected by a high inflationary environment, and a particularly aggressive competitive environment in Spain, especially for technical items. These effects penalize the zone's current operating income, which remained negative in the first half of the year, negative 1.9 million euros, but up 2.3 million euros compared to last year. And that is thanks to solid commercial results and good cost control. Now let's turn to performance for Belgium and Luxembourg. Slide nine. Luxembourg posted a decrease in revenue, negative 7.3% on a reported basis, and negative 7.6% on a like-for-like basis, and this is on a backdrop of steep increase in inflation. Product categories were penalized by a very high basis of comparison, in particular for appliances, which suffer from lower sales volumes. Nevertheless, there's an average basket that remains high. On the contrary, Services posted good performance in the first half, driven in particular by the continued rollout of Vandenborg Life, which is a repair subscription in Belgium which is equivalent to Darcy Max. Compared to H119, sales are nevertheless on an upward trend. And in a country where salaries and rent are indexed on inflation in itself quite high, the team's solid commercial execution enabled the region to outperform the market and post a resilient current operating income of nearly €4 billion over the half year. Let's now turn to the income statement, slide 10. I'm not going to go back over revenue and gross margins, as Enrique already commented on that at the beginning of the call. Let's move on to operating costs, up 45 million euros compared to H121. This increase is mainly due to the impact of the closure of some stores in the first half of 2021. That was due to COVID restrictions. And in light of those restrictions, the group actually benefited from short-time working measures. In addition, MacDarty committed to shoring up purchasing power of employees most directly affected by current inflation, and that is why, last March, the group paid nearly 80% of employees a one-off purchasing power bonus that amounted to nearly 7 million euros. It also granted an average increase to the overall pay envelope that was higher than in previous years. In addition, rollout of new activities during H1, namely the WeFix partnership with Apple, and the opening of 14 new FNAC shopping shops with MANA, this generated exceptional rollout costs. And lastly, the relevant performance plan put in place by the group and implemented across all departments made it possible to offset nearly the whole impact of inflation that it had on salaries, rents, and energy during first half. Thus, in keeping operating costs in check, the group posted a slight decrease in costs expressed as a percentage of revenue compared to the first half of 2019 on a like-for-like basis. Current operating income was 19 million euros for H1-22. That's down compared to H1-21. However, excluding exceptional items, namely the purchasing power premium bonus and the impact coming from rollout of new activities, current operating income for the first half of 2022 is in line with that of H1-21 and also H1-2019 on a like-for-like basis. That means excluding H1-22. Non-current items amounted to negative 14 million for the first half and were mainly the result of exceptional costs related to the restructuring of our shops, including the closure of Snack Italy 2. Operating income was therefore 5 million euros. Financial expenses amounted to 18 million euros, an improvement of 7 million compared to H121. They include the payment of financial interest on the group's long-term debt, interest on lease debts related to the application of IRS 16 and the fair value by profit or loss of the group's financial assets. Improvement recorded is mainly due to the upward reevaluation of the fair value of the group's shares in the Daphne Purple Venture Capital Fund in which Fleck-Darty invested back in 2016. After taking into account these items and the tax expense of $3 million, Net income group share of continuing operations for the first half of the year amounted to negative 1.7 million euros. Now let's move on to the analysis of free cash flow at the end of June, slide 11. In total, operating cash flows excluding IFRS 16 amounted to minus 76.4 million down from last year. This withdrawal is mainly due to the decrease in EBITDA in line with the evolution of current operating income, as I just previously mentioned. and also the unfavorable evolution of working capital requirements. But the latter was actually impacted by construction of tactical stocks at the beginning of the year in a context of the marked rise in inflation and shortages of certain components that are essential to manufacturing processes of products sold by the group. In addition, FNAGDATI ensured the supply of new manor shopping shops opened in Switzerland during this semester. As a result, By end of June 2020, the Group had a higher level of inventory than end of June 2021. As for CapEx, the Group maintained good management of operational investments over the half year. This is in line with the expectations that there was a slight increase due to investments made for the opening of new Fnac shopping shops at Manar. The Group continues to aim to maintain its annual capital expenditure at a normal level of approximately €120 million, excluding investments dedicated to modernization of logistics equipment that could be incurred during the year, and exclude investments related to the partnership with MANA. Over 2022, taking into account macroeconomic context, the Group adjusted its capex envelope down so it should be slightly below €140 million. Moving now onto slide 12, financial structuring. The Group's financial position is healthy. Equity, more than €1.5 billion. End of the first half, Group Net Financial Debt, which is traditionally higher than at the end of the year due to the cease of activity, and that's the 30th of June 2022, Group Net Financial Debt, excluding IFRS 16, was €586 million. At the end of June, the Group had nearly €350 million in cash on hand, to which we can add a credit line of €500 million, which has not been drawn to date. Maturity of this line has been extended to 2027, with another option to extend to 2028. FNAC Daati is being rated by Moody's, Standard & Ford's, and Scope Ratings. The latter two raise Group's long-term credit rating by one notch to BB plus and BBB respectively, with a stable outlook. We're very satisfied with the increase in ratings, which underlines FNAC Daati's solid financial management. This half was marked by payment of a second ordinary dividend, 2 euros per share, which was paid on June 23, and represents a payout ratio of 37% of net income group share continuing operations from 2021. At the end of June, net debt to EBITDA leverage ratio, excluding IFRS 16, calculated over 12 rolling months, thus amounts to 1.6. This is in line with the group's target of maximum leverage equaling to two times. We isolate the seasonality effect of dividend payments because it's Let me remind you that last year we paid a one euro per share in July 2021 and this year we paid out a dividend on June 2022. Leverage amount at 1.4 times at the end of June 2022 compared to 1.1 end of June 2021. As the year is not yet over, we have major year end commercial events which are crucial to our end year results. We will therefore communicate during annual results the level of shareholder returns for 2022. is in line with the everyday strategy. Like that, he still aims for a payout ratio above 30%. And I'll quickly hand back over to Enrique, who will tell you a bit about group prospects.

Thank you, Jean-Marie. To conclude this presentation, we are very satisfied with the performance of the group at a complex mark by a high-level rising inflation in a geopolitical environment still uncertain. Over this first half, McNaughty outperformed its markets while preserving its gross margin. The second part of the year is key for the group, and we remain fully mobilized. We have three priorities for the second semester. First, to continue to outperform the markets, thanks to our positioning as a benchmark omnichannel player. Secondly, to preserve our level of gross margin by managing our supplies efficiently. by offering a range of adaptive products and by continuing to develop DatiMax. Finally, and third, to continue the solid control of our costs to offset inflation as much as possible. In addition, as Jean-Brieuc previously indicated to you, we have revised our envelopes slightly downwards by 20 operational investments of 140 million euros for this year. And, of course, we continue to execute our strategic plan every day. We are resolutely committed to an informed choice and sustainable consumption that meets strong expectations from our clients. We are on the right track, and we confirm our objectives to achieve cumulative free operating cash flow of approximately 500 million euros over the 2021-2023 period and free cash flow operating income of at least 240 million euros on an annual basis as from 2025. Thank you for following this presentation. Jean-Brie and myself are now available to answer your questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to ask questions, now is the time to do it.