Moncler Spa Ord

Good evening. This is the Corusco conference operator. Welcome and thank you for joining the Montclair nine-month 2024 Interim Management Statement 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 Miss Elena Mariani, Strategic Planning and Investor Relations Director of Moncler. Please go ahead, Madam.

Thank you, Operator, and thank you all for joining our call today. The Interim Management Statement Call is hosted by Luciano Santo, Chief Corporate and Supply Officer, and by myself. I will start providing a brief overview of our results, and then Luciano and I will be happy to take your questions. Before starting, I need to remind you that this presentation may contain certain statements that are needed reported financial results. nor other historical information. Any forward-looking statements are based on group current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause results to differ even materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements, many of which are beyond the ability of the group to control or estimate. Let me also highlight that given the nature of our business, interim results can be influenced by seasonal effects and therefore cannot be taken as a proxy for full-year trends or results. Finally, I remind you that the press has been invited to participate to this conference in a listen-only mode. Let's now move directly to page three, where we briefly comment the group nine-month revenue development focusing on growth at constant effects. In the first nine months of the year, the group generated 1.87 billion euros of revenues, up 6% year-on-year, with Q3 at 636 million euros, down 3%. The Moncler brand was up 8% at constant effects in the first nine months and down 3% in Q3, which remains the largest wholesale quarter in the year, so the one with the channel mix mostly skewed towards wholesale. Stone Island revenues were down 5% at constant effects in the first nine months and down 4% in Q3, with a strong double-digit positive DTC and a negative wholesale channel, as our focus remains on elevating the quality of our distribution network. Now, moving to page four of the presentation, I would like to highlight some key Moncler brand initiatives launched during the course of the third quarter. First, the collaboration with Love From, which marked the first ever outdoor product creation by Sir Johnny Ive, the historical Apple designer. We're very proud to have worked with him, a true design legend, and the products have been extremely well received, particularly in the U.S., The collection included three very sophisticated shell jackets that connect to a central Moncler down jacket with the help of a magnetic button, the symbol of the collaboration, which you can see in the picture. Secondly, the launch of the fall-winter 2024 Moncler collection, accompanied by a very strong campaign shot in Paris. The products, the fabrics, the textures are bringing a clear sense of sophistication, capturing the essence of Moncler's wide range of timeless offerings. Moving on to page five, let's focus also on Moncler Grenoble as we always try to balance the three dimensions of the brand. As you might recall, Moncler Grenoble is now an all year round dimension. In fact, this year we launched our second pre-fall collection inspired by outdoor lifestyle, trekking and hiking activities. Finally, we launched the first eyewear collection for Fall Winter 24 under the exclusive licensing agreement with SLO Luxottica, which we had signed in November 2023. This partnership, as you might remember, encompasses the design, production and global distribution of Moncler eyewear. So this is the first of many future launches in partnership with them. Moving on to Stone Island on page six, let me highlight a couple of important initiatives launched in Q3. First, we unveiled the next chapter of the community as a form of research project, as distinctive members from the Stone Island global community were captured in archival icons and signature items from the New for Winter collection. In the new campaign, we featured personalities from the worlds of music, entertainment, sports, and art, including Liam Gallagher, Philip Stark, and even Peggy Gu, our first ever female ambassador. We're very happy about this campaign that has been enhancing the brand's visibility globally. Secondly, over summer, we introduced the New Stone Island website, fully aligned with the brand DNA and its philosophy. The site was entirely rebuilt to create a truly authentic Stone Island experience, And all the technical capabilities and operations were brought in-house. So all the aspects of our e-commerce business are now fully internalized in line with our ongoing efforts to take control of our distribution channels. Now, let's focus on revenues, starting with the Moncler brand on page seven, where we analyze the performance by region. The first consideration is that in all the three geographies, the DTC channel continued to outperform the wholesale channel. So this is true for Asia, India, and also America. Starting with Asia, that as you know, includes APAC, Korea, and Japan. Revenues in this region decreased by 2% in Q3 due to more challenging macro conditions affecting consumer confidence in the whole region, and also a normalization of tourist flows into Japan following the appreciation of the local currency. In EMEA, revenues were down 3% in Q3, mainly due to a decline in the wholesale channel. The DTC channel instead remained in positive territory, but it was impacted by a sequential deceleration in tourist inflows into the region and also by a weak direct online channel. And finally, the Americas region was down 6% in Q3, where the sequentially weaker performance compared to Q2 was entirely due to the wholesale channel, while DTC trends remained broadly aligned with what experienced in the previous quarter. So moving on to the revenues by channel on page 8, the DTC channel in Q3 was flat year-on-year, impacted by more difficult macro conditions that affected consumer confidence in several markets, but also impacted by a relatively weak performance of the direct online channel, which underperformed the physical retail channel in all regions. The wholesale channel instead was down 9% in the quarter, with America being the weakest region. Here revenues were impacted by challenging market trends in the wholesale channel, but also even more importantly by the ongoing efforts to upgrade the quality of our distribution network. I also wanted to stress that the guidance for the year in terms of development of the wholesale channel is unchanged. We continue to expect for the Moncler brand a decline of the wholesale channel in the region of high single digit, somewhere between minus eight and minus nine at constant effects. And as mentioned earlier, Q3 is still the most significant wholesale quarter in the year, so the quarter where the share of wholesale is the largest. However, if you look at the big picture and at the development of the channel mix for Montclair, you can notice that compared to last year, in the first nine months, we have gained further three percentage points in the mix in favor of DTC, and we expect the positive channel mix to continue. Now, moving on to Stone Island regional trends on page 9, you can see that Asia revenues grew by 17% in Q3, driven by a continued strong performance of Japan, boosted in particular by local consumption. When looking at Korea, trends improved compared to Q2, but remained relatively soft. And finally, China and the rest of APEC slowed down sequentially due to a more difficult macro backdrop. EMEA revenues were down 6% in the quarter, but this masked a very different performance of the two channels. DTC continued on a very solid double-digit growth trajectory, while the wholesale channel declined due to the actions taken to improve the quality of our distribution. And same for Americas, which saw a decline of 28% in Q3. The positive performance of DTC, which accelerated sequentially compared to Q2, was more than offset by the ongoing decline in the wholesale channel. Looking at trends by channel on page 10, you can see more clearly the different development of wholesale versus DTC. In Q3, DTC was up 28% for stone, with revenues up double digits in all regions, with Asia outperforming in particular. Wholesale instead was down 19% in the quarter, negative in all regions and impacted both by the still difficult market trends in this channel, but also even more importantly, by the very strict volume control, which we adopt to continuously improve the quality of the network. Also for Stone Island, the guidance for the year in terms of development of this channel is unchanged. We continue to expect a high team's decline in wholesale revenues for fiscal year 24, just a touch less than minus 20% at constant effects. And let me take one second to highlight also for Stone Island the ongoing evolution of the channel NIC. with BTC now accounting for 46% of revenues, gaining more than 10 percentage points compared to the first nine months of last year. Finally, let's briefly examine our store network on page 11. At the end of September, the Moncler DOS store network reached 285 units, a net increase of 8 units compared to the end of June, including the opening of Suzhou Metro and Huan Shinkan Place in China, as well as the relocation of our Royal Hawaiian Store in Honolulu. And for these last two, you can see some beautiful pictures on page 12 and 13. The Sun Island Network instead counts 91 stores, and this quarter we would highlight in particular the opening of the Shanghai Taikulin Kiantan store, for which you can see some pictures on page 14. I'm going to stop here now and I will hand over to the operator for your questions. As usual, I kindly ask you to stick to a maximum of two questions per person. Operator, feel free to open the line. Thank you.

Thank you. This is the Corusco Conference Operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their social telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. 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 Melania Grippo, BMP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Good evening, everyone. I've got two questions. the first question you reported the flattish trends in retail i was wondering if you could tell us what do you see after the start of q4 in terms of current trading and my second question is on the chinese and mainland china how has the chinese cluster done in q3 and also mainland china thank you

Hi, Melania. Thank you for your question about the trend of our DTC channel in Q3. I mean, we reported a flat result. That honestly, of course, is quite disappointing. And in the month of July, that was, let me say, not bad, substantially in line with the second quarter. But the business started to deteriorate, significantly deteriorate by the end of July. And deterioration continued through the month of August and September. September, a little bit better, but only because based on comparing with last year was easier. But again, in all the different regions, the business was not particularly strong. The only exception important to comment was Japan. Japan was positive, but it was much better in July, quite strong in July. Good in August, but much, much less in September because the price gap that was about 5% in July and the beginning of August due to the revaluation of the Japanese yen became flat. So in September and right now, there is no price gap between Japan and China. And of course, this made less convenient shopping in Japan than before, than in July. Talking about the current trend, of course, there are no significant comments, honestly, because there are no significant variations compared to Q3. The only comment I feel is important to make is about China, the golden week, the very first week of October, that was good and better than last year. Of course, we're talking about one week out of the 30 weeks of the quarter, so totally meaningless from the business point of view, but again, quite important for us because it's once again a demonstration that our brand is in China is very strong. And talking about China specifically, business in China in the quarter was slightly negative, honestly not that much, but the Chinese cluster was positive. So the Chinese cluster grew in Q3. It was not as much as in the previous quarter, but it was positive thanks to Chinese customers shopping in all the different regions, including Japan, as I said before, and contributing to the good performance of Japan mostly in July and August, but not only Japan, also Korea and also Europe, less than what we expected, less than what we hoped after the very strong performance of Chinese customers in Europe in Q1, but better than last year. So overall, Chinese cluster fairly good.

Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

The next question is from Chris Huang, UBS. Please go ahead.

Hello. Hi, it's Chris from UBS. I have two, please. The first one, just to come back on the comment you made on the Chinese cluster. If I got it correctly, your comment was that the Chinese cluster globally was still positive, still growing in Q3. So my first question would be, and how about the other clusters, excluding the Chinese? Because if I looked at my model, it kind of suggests that the other clusters are probably in negative territory. And can you kind of help us understand which kind of clusters slow the most? Is it the Europeans or the Americans? That's my first question. And then secondly, I know you don't like to comment on a quarterly basis the breakdown between like for like and space. But if I looked at the retail store network of your Moncler brand, it seems like this pace of opening picked up a little bit in Q3 compared to H1, especially in Asia. So, you know, are there any maybe qualitative color you can give around the kind of like for like and space breakdown for Q3? And kind of related to that, I think your previous guidance for space for this year is going to be around mid single digit to high single digit. So wondering if you have any update on that as well. Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you for the question because actually I commented the Chinese cluster that was positive but other clusters were not. Korean cluster was negative and Japanese cluster was negative. Japanese cluster notwithstanding the good performance of Japan but again business in Japan was driven in part but significantly by Chinese customers coming to coming to Japan, and again, most in July and August, because September, for the reasons I said before, the inflow of Chinese customers was much, much lower. So overall, Japanese cluster was slightly negative. Europe, I mean, European and American customers more or less a flattish, nothing, nothing to comment, no better, no worse than last year. About, yes, like for like space, of course, I mean, you said, so I'm not going to say it again, we don't report the like for like by quarter, but of course, reporting a flat result In the DTC channel, considering that there is a space contribution, whatever it is, I'm not going to tell you what it is, but of course assuming a space contribution, of course it implies a like-for-like, a negative like-for-like for the quarter. Even if, again, don't ask me how much it was. But, I mean, this is implied in the numbers. Talking about space contribution, that is not relevant, honestly, not at all in the single quarter. But, I mean, we tend to look at it on a normal basis. We confirm our, let me say, overall guidance. that is expected to be in the region of mid to high single digit.

Okay, that's super helpful. And if I can just clarify a little bit, like, is it fair to say that your space contribution in Q3 kind of was a little bit faster than in H1 in general or not really?

Chris, we just commented on the fact that we don't talk more specifically about this, and the indication for the full year is unchanged, so I think it's probably enough.

Okay, thank you.

The next question is from Anlor Bismuth, HSBC. Please go ahead.

Yes, hi, good evening. I have two questions, please. The first one is about the recent Genius event that happened in Shanghai in October, so recently. Do you have some statistics about the event itself to share? Have you seen some kind of pickup in store traffic or more customer engagement in China post-event and also on a global scale? And my second question is in terms of margin. So for full-year, the consensus is at 29.3%, implying an EBIT margin in H2 of 34.7%. So depending on where Q4 sales will land, do you think it's still a reasonable assumption? Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you, Anna, for the question about the Shanghai event. I would like Giro Fusinotti to be here because I'm sure he could provide much, much more color than what I can. But in any event, I was there. And so I can tell you that the Shanghai event was literally monumental. It was literally extraordinary. Any time, every time we hold an event, a genus event, whatever, we keep saying this is the best ever. And I have to say that with all due respect of the previous event, this has been, in my opinion, but not only evident, the best ever. Talking about, I mean, some more colors, some numbers, not numbers, but again, some results. From the quality of the event, I can tell you that it was a very Chinese event and a very global event. We put Shanghai at the center of the world, raising our voice on creativity and innovation and spreading it out around the globe. So again, this is something that I perceived, but I mean all people attending that event had the same perception. From the results point of view, I'm not talking about the business results, of course, but the impact, the mediatic impact was very, very phenomenal. And so this year, of course, we achieved the results that we wanted to achieve before the event. Of course, the event was a brand event. with a long-term return on the event is not something we expect the day after to see business results becoming very, very strong. But again, it was some kind of tribute to that market, to the Chinese customers that have helped our brand a lot over the past years. many, many years. The second question you asked was about margins. Of course, operating margins, I mean, needless to say, totally depend or mostly depend on our top line. So again, Based on the current trend, it is very, very difficult to match the operating margin we reported last year. The margin implied in consensus, which is in the region of 29%, is something we consider reasonable, but very difficult to predict because, again, as I said before, we still have the two most important months ahead Of the year, the two months that last year did best, November and December, were very strong last year. So the comparison is very, very tough. So again, we are very, very prudent. But based on the current trend, we believe that the operating margin implied in the consensus is something positive. challenging but not impossible.

Thank you. The next question is from Oriana Cardani in San Paolo. Please go ahead. Yes, good evening.

Thank you for taking my two questions. The first one regards the pricing policy for next year. What price actions have you already taken or do you plan to take in 2025? And my second question regards the Grenoble collection, how it is evolving compared to other collections, and what is its current impact on total sales? Thank you.

Okay, Oriana, thank you for your question. Pricing policy. Talking about Montclair for next year, we expect... a price increase in the region of mid-single digit, totally driven by inflation. Unfortunately, our production costs keep growing, not as much as two years ago, but in the region of mid-single digit, as I said before, due to the increase of labor costs, that is, let me say, the most important driver of such increase. For Stone Island, just to let you know, This increase will be a little bit lower, let me say, mid to low single digit, and also Fulton Island totally driven by inflation. Talking about Grenoble, first of all, the contribution of Grenoble is slightly growing season after season, and this is due to the fact that the winter collection is becoming more more and more impactful, but also because, as we said, as you know, I'm sure you do, we introduced last year the spring-summer collection, and this collection is covering some demand for that season for outdoor activities like hiking, biking, whatever. And it's doing very well. So overall we are very happy about Grenoble that right now represents about a single digit of our total business. Let me also comment on the fact that on Sunday there was the first Ski World Cup race and for the first time ever we dressed Lucas Braten that is a former Norwegian athlete now running for Brazil. And his performance was literally amazing. So we are also very, very happy and very proud of this performance. Thank you.

Understood. Thank you very much.

The next question is from Chiara Battistini, JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Miss Battistini, your line is open. Maybe you're on mute.

You can move on to the next.

Yes, the next question is from Luca Solka Bernstein. Please go ahead.

Yes, good evening, Luciano and Elena. Traditionally, I remember the third quarter is very dependent on tourists, especially tourists buying the winter products in Europe. So I was wondering when it comes to Europe, if... the impact of lower tax-free spend than we had in the past is possibly one of the reasons why the quarter was not as brilliant as one could have thought. Always talking about tourists and looking at Japan, I wonder if you could potentially dissect how much of a professional Daegu exposure you had because you said that in fact you were exposed to Chinese tourists visiting Japan. I wonder if there's a way for you looking at who is actually buying to get a sense of how much this was sort of genuine tourists coming to Japan and how much this was professionals organizing a parallel market which could explain I guess why as the Japanese yen has rebounded, this portion of the business has slowed down quite significantly. And then my second question is on nationalities. You've been kind enough to give us a sense of how different nationalities have performed. You mentioned the Chinese, the Koreans being on the back foot of being negatively American and the European being sort of flat. I wonder if you could remind us of their weight in terms of sales or at least the importance of the different nationalities or the most important nationalities in your sales. Thank you very much indeed.

Hi Luca, thank you for your three questions. I will start with the last one because it's the easiest one and then I will leave Luciano to answer the other two. As you know, we've typically verbally reported practically only the Chinese cluster, which is about a third of retail revenues. Then, you know, in terms of color, I can tell you that probably we are slightly more exposed than others to Koreans and Japanese and a little bit less to U.S., probably in line in terms of Europeans. But this is typically what we comment. Luciano, I will leave you the other two.

Yes, Luca, talking about tourists in Europe, talking about first Chinese customers in Europe. As I said before, our hope was an expectation, but after the first quarter and after the Chinese New Year, we saw a lot of Chinese people, Chinese customers coming to Europe. and the shopping in our stores. And so our hope was to continue, was this trend to continue. Unfortunately, this was not the case, but overall, tourism in Europe has been positive as compared to last year and driven not by Chinese a little bit, because Chinese were better than last year, but also by other nationalities. Talking about Japan, in Japan the impact, the contribution of Chinese customers to the business was quite important as compared to the past. Let me say that much more important than ever because in the past the contribution of tourism was not material at all. And again, it deteriorated after the price gap disappeared and the difference, the price gap was flat. About Daegu, I have to tell you that the price gap between Japan and China was, the maximum price gap was 5%. Honestly, 5% is not such a price gap to generate this kind of traffic of Daegu. A second point, important to highlight, because we have a policy in place, a detailed policy, that is effective in all the different regions, including Japan, but also Europe, because in Europe in the past, there was this kind of question. Our policy is to limit the amount of products that people can buy. And this, of course, is limiting and mitigating any Daegu risk. So long story short, I don't believe that Daegu has never been a significant issue for Montclair.

And Luca, the other small thing I would add when it comes to Europe is that remember the impact of the Olympic Games, at least for what concerns us. We mentioned this already back in July. There was some impact because we have seen less tourists, at least the type of tourists that we typically see in our stores. And also we've seen less locals in Paris. And perhaps compared to other brands, we have not recaptured tourists that much in other parts of France. And so this was another element that needs to be taken into account when looking at the European performance.

That's very interesting. Thank you very much indeed, Elena and Luciano.

The next question is from Edouard Aubin, Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good evening, Elena Luciano. Luciano, if I understood correctly at the beginning in the prequel remarks, I think you mentioned the online as... one of the main reason or one of the key reason why sales of DTC at Montclair were quite weak. Could you be kind enough to tell us, you know, why was that the case and remind us what's kind of the share of online in DTC? So that would be number one. And then number two, in terms of, you know, I know you guys track many different metrics in terms of trying to assess your desirability or the desirability of the brand. What makes you confident that the desirability of the brand is still on the way up and that the shortfall in Q3 is just a commercial issue and is not related to a weakening of the desirability of the brand? Thank you.

Yes, important question because it gives me the opportunity to talk about online that impacted, as I said before, the DTC results in the third quarter. also of course the online business is a business particularly important in europe in europe that was i mean i said we said before a more or less a flat fish slightly positive that business in europe was impacted by what i said before i mean the olympics in paris but also was impacted by a very, very weak performance of the online business and that again in Europe is particularly important. Why is that? I think that the online business is facing evident difficulties for everyone in all the different aspects. I mean, companies that are pure Online business, I mean, have been struggling. Some of them have disappeared. Others are in serious troubles. and this is because i mean it's not something new is because evidently they lost an important part of their customers that may or may not be aspirational customers for sure customers that were looking more for entry price and but in any event i mean this is a situation that i believe is quite common in the industries in our industry. And again, we are not, I believe, worse or maybe better, but for sure not worse than others. So this is the situation. The situation started about a year ago because until July of last year, our online business was growing very strongly, double digit. In July, all of a sudden, the business started to slow down. And right now again Q3 was particularly disappointing, but I mean overall the trend is quite volatile, a little bit up, a little bit down, but again for sure not positive.

And one small thing, Ed, in terms of contribution, online sales, I mean, we disclose it on a yearly basis, but last time we gave this number, we said it's a mid-teens percentage of total Moncler sales, and it's for the vast majority direct.

The desirability of the brand. We have several metrics that we use to monitor the desirability of the brand. But also, again, having 285 stores and having our people talking with our customers every single day, all the day long, is the best metric to understand the interest of the brand. And this is the main reason why we believe that desirability is still good. Of course, in some regions, I talked about China before, We are quite sure that in China the brand is particularly strong, notwithstanding the current business trend. So to answer your question, for sure it is a commercial trend. It is the slowdown of the economy, but not a lost or a slowdown in interest about the brand. But this is something we touch and we perceive in all the different regions.

Yes, a genius.

I mean, we talked about that before. It was a demonstration. I mean, 8,000 people coming to that event. I mean, it was a tangible demonstration of the interest for the brand.

Great. Thank you so much.

Next question is from Charles Scotti Kepler. Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thank you for taking my questions. I have two. The first one, just coming back on your performance in the wholesale channel, some wholesalers are struggling and trying to liquidate products, especially in Asia, which is also fueling parallel markets. Do you need to further accelerate the wholesale rationalization, especially at Montclair? And if you could also remind us the retail penetration of nuclear by region, this would be helpful. And secondly, some of your competitors are dealing with large inventory. If I remember correctly, you were quite cautious on volume growth in 2024 at the beginning of the year. which proved true because I suspect that the volume probably turned negative. I think there did a lot of digits negative in Q3. Could you confirm that inventories and working capital are under control and that the sales rate is still holding up well? Thank you very much.

Yes, okay. I mean, about your first question, wholesale and the risk of parallel. Of course, this is a risk, but for Moncler, honestly, I think that our business policy, our business strategy in this channel has been very clear and very selective since ever. So we tend to sell to our wholesale customers not more than what we believe they can sell out. Of course, this is not a 100% mitigation of the risk, but for sure is the best way to significantly mitigate the risk of parallel. Honestly, I mean, we don't see the parallel to be a particularly strong problem anywhere in the world. But on the other hand, you are right. for many reasons, also other reasons, we are and we keep implementing a distribution strategy that is focused more on the DTC channel than on the wholesale channel. Also because we keep selecting, we keep, let me say, enhancing the wholesale distribution, selecting only the best stores. So this is something that We have implemented a C-Saver, but we keep implementing this strategy that will further move the contribution of the DTC business up and the contribution of wholesale down. About inventory, of course, when there is a slowdown in business, there is a potential risk of inventory Honestly, again, the way we plan our DTC business is since ever very prudent. And of course, you know, I mean, I'm sure you do, but let me say it again, we normally plan the DTC business very prudently. And then if the market demand is higher than what we plan, now we have the supply chain that is able to react up to a 10% of the total demand. This year, of course, considering the performance of the third quarter, we have not reacted. So we have an inventory that is based on our original assumptions that were, as I said before, very prudent. So no risk at this time of too much inventory.

And just one small clarification on the wholesale exposure by region. Basically, if you look at the average of the group, even if we think about 2023, you can consider that the Asia exposure to wholesale is very, very minimal. while the other two regions obviously are slightly higher. Maybe one interesting fact to notice is that America used to be the region with the highest exposure to wholesale. Now it's not the case anymore, particularly after the conversions we have performed.

Thank you very much.

The next question is from Thomas Chauvet, Citi. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Good evening, Luciano and Elena. I have two questions, please. The first one on your retail footprint for next year, given the rapid change in the global demand environment you saw in your key markets, are you tempted to scale down your store opening plan for the Moncler brand next year? Can you comment on what will be the major flagships and how much would you expect that to contribute to more clear sales growth next year compared to the mid-to-high single-digit space contribution this year? And secondly, Luciano, coming back to your comment on the group EBIT margin decline this year, are you expecting a decline for both brands? I know you don't disclose them, but directionally, And with regards to Stone Island profitability, I was wondering whether you expect EBIT margin to expand from here. I mean, I know there are a lot of investments in retail, infrastructure, people, et cetera, but sales are stable this year, around 400 million. You've got significant change in channel mix towards DTC, in geographic mix towards Asia. So I guess some of that could be a, quite supportive to profitability. If you could give us an update on where you are versus your ambitions for Stone Island profitability in a stable year. Thank you.

Thank you, Thomas. About our retail footprint and our plans for the future, honestly, at least for 2025, we are not changing our plans of course the number of stores we expect to open will still be in the region of what we did in the past more or less 15 new stores and there will be an equivalent number of projects of expansion and or relocation of course still under our policy, our strategy that has been since ever very, very selective. So only in locations, new openings, only locations where we believe that a Montclair store is missing and we can generate good business and also we can enhance the image of the brand. But for the time being, considering the that most in some regions, and I'm not talking about North America, but you know that our footprint, our footprint, in North America is very, very light, let me say light. And so there are many opportunities. And independently on the current business trend, I think that is good for the brand, it's good for the future business to continue to implement this plan. Yes, the other question was about the margin. I mean, of course we don't report the margins by brand, But needless to say that at this stage of the development of Stone Island, we are investing more in proportion than what we are investing in Montclair. Needless to say that this year, for the first time, we invested very well, I would say, but also a significant amount of money in the advertising campaign that is visible around the world. that, in my opinion, very effectively and properly expresses the identity of the brand. And so it's money that we are very, very happy to spend. But of course, it's not only the money we spend in advertising, but also the money we spend to make the organization stronger than what it was in the past. When we talk about expansion in the TTC business and that expansion requires the growth and the development of a stronger retail culture. Of course, we're talking about training, but not only. We're talking also about the people we need to inject in organizations. So long story short, profitability in Stone Island for sure is lower than in Montclair now. but is to be considered an investment for the future growth. As we said in the past, and I'm saying that again, there are no reasons, no structural reasons why the capabilities on island could be different in the future from Montclair because the business model Brands are totally different, but the business model is prospectively in the future will be similar to Montclair. So again, I hope I answered your question.

Thank you, Luciano.

The next question is from Louise Singlehurst, Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Hi, good evening, Eleanor, Luciano. Thank you for taking my questions. Just two follow-ups for me, if I can do, please. Just firstly, on the margin again, Luciano, I think you mentioned current margin forecasts, like the consensus number, it's a bit challenging but not impossible. And given, obviously, the slowdown that we've seen in Q3, plus the store expansion, the genius investment, that's a really impressive kind of outcome when we look to the full year. Can you just talk about the flexibility there? or where you're seeing any cost savings that you're implementing relative to the budgeting process earlier in the year. Just be very keen to understand that if we can do, please. And then secondly, a follow-up on China. Just in terms of any comments or soundbites from the mood on the ground, obviously you've been there recently for the exciting Genius event, but anything from the team operationally with regards to the stimulus measures that have been recently announced or any thoughts on impacting the sales trend? Thank you.

Yes, thank you, Louise. About margins and flexibility, of course, the event we held in Shanghai was extremely impactful, but needless to say, we spent a quite important amount of money, but this was totally planned and totally within our marketing budget that is, as you know, 7% of our total revenues. on a yearly basis. So nothing more than what we have been spending in the past because this is some kind of golden rule. Of course, when a business starts to slow down or to deteriorate, we have some kind of flexibility. Part of flexibility comes from the fact that a significant portion of our expenses are variable. And the other part is much more proactive and it depends on our capability to save money in our expenses. That means to slow down some activities, to slow down some projects, giving a priority projects that are extremely important for the brand and still important but less than others. And so it's some kind of delay of some activities of some projects that normally in the past and not only also right now as we speak is allowing us to and reduce a little bit our expenses. Of course, this is what we are doing, because again, we are navigating in a certain situation. And so to your point, you are right. We need, of course, to maximize as much as possible our top-line potential, but on the other hand, to keep strictly under control our expenses. about the recent omniscience announced by... The mood in China among our people, given that we have been there.

How do we feel?

Yes, the mood of our people. I mean, our people were literally excited. Probably is not enough. Let me say thrilled or whatever word, I don't have the words to express how much they were proud to be part of this company. Of course, this is something that, again, I didn't say before. I mean, the impact of this event was great from the media point of view for our customers, for our potential customers. but also it was great for our people because the impact in terms of motivation for our people, I mean, the sense of belonging of our people was honestly, and the perception was evident because again, the few days we were there, it was really tangible and evident. The sense of belonging was great. And so again, a great event also on this side. About the measures that have been announced by the local authorities in China, of course, difficult to judge. because other more technical people may do a better job than what I can, but what I can tell you, my personal opinion, my perception, is that measures may be effective, but they are intended to stimulate the consumption of essential goods with no impact, at least in the short term, on our industry, on the luxury industry. Of course, if this measure will be able to stimulate consumption to improve and to increase the economy, of course, longer term, there will be a benefit for all the different industries, including Lashley. But for the short term, I believe that the intent of this measure is to help the basic necessity goods.

Thank you very much. The next question is from Andrea Randone, Intermonte. Please go ahead.

Thank you and good evening, Elena and Luciano. Just a couple of questions. The first one is a follow-up on the online channel, if you can give us a brief comment on Stone Island's new website. And more in general, how is going customer engagement online? I mean, if online sales are lower, is it true that customer engagement is still on? working. The second question is about something other luxury players were saying, and I mean new nationalities are growing for you, like, I don't know, Indians. Is it true? Thank you.

Okay, about our first question, this is an interesting question because I didn't uh mentioned no i did the new online the new online site forest on island and that honestly i mean we like it a lot much much better than before and results honestly i mean after the first a couple of weeks that uh of course there was still something to um to fine-tune, let me say this way, the channel is doing well, better than last year. Again, too early to judge, but in any event, we are very happy about the impact of the of the online channel for the foster island um okay the the i mean the the second question was about the customer engagement of course we tend to monitor very closely some very essential metrics one is rich the second is engagement Then when we engage customers, we hope to serve them. And again, we build in this way our customer base or community. And so again, this is something that the role of the online is extremely important. Also, again, we keep talking about the online business, the physical retail business. I mean, we never talk about omnichannel. That in the past was the most inflated word. But now it's not just a word. It is a reality. The online channel is extremely important, whatever the business we do, because, of course, people tend to navigate the online channel to see what they like, and then maybe they go to the physical store, they try it. They try the garment and they decide to buy it or they first go to the physical store and then when they have time at night, maybe they place the order online. So again, multi-channel is a reality and is the way we look at both the channel retail and physical retail and online.

And Andrea, just a couple of things, because we do measure search, the interest from our customers or potential customers, they reach the engagement very closely. And I'm sure that when Gino will be here, when we report full year results, he will talk more broadly about this. But I can tell you that even numerically, reach and engagement, as well as the search interest on the brand is still up. for Moncler, so there is not necessarily a correlation between the online sales and the statistics that we see related to the brand in terms of interest and search and reach online.

Yes, your last question was about new nationalities including Indians. I mean, we believe that in the future they may represent an important contribution to business in the luxury industry. Right now, honestly, the contribution is not particularly significant. It's not material. But again, in the future, I mean, this cluster may increase, but it will totally depend on the development of the economy in that country.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Next question is from Liwei Hu, CICC. Please go ahead.

Good evening, Luciano and Inina. Thank you for taking my question. So the first question is, if you look at the two brand performance, actually Asia was the best performing and our revenue from Asia has actually increased. So this is in sharp contrast, you know, the revenue contribution has increased. This is in sharp contrast with our peers, you know, for whom Asia has been a big drag. So my first question is, what are our secret weapons in Asia that helped us to outperform in Asia. Yeah. And the second question is, I think recently a lot of the peers and experts in industry talk about how important it is for Chinese to have a positive wealth effect So during the first week of October, the Golden Week in China, our stock market was doing very well. So I wonder, do we see any immediate correlation during this Golden Week where the good stock market has helped with our sales in China? Thank you very much.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. About the first question, I'm not sure if I know what the secret weapon is. I have to tell you, to be fair, that in Asia we did... fairly well but i mean asia includes japan i think that in japan we did well but other brands did better also because probably their price gap with china was higher i don't know but in any event just to be fair i think that where we did well and again talking about the golden week We continue that list, the first week, the first 10 days of October to do well was China, mainland. And again, the Chinese cluster grew in Q3. So this is something we are very happy. I mean, a secret weapon, I think that In China, as much as in all the different regions, we implemented since ever a very clear brand strategy and a very clear distribution strategy driven by the brand strategy. So we have been, since ever, very selective. We don't have a very high number of stores. And also over the past two, three, four years, we implemented the strategy to open, I mean, to expand the existing stores, the existing more powerful stores, and to convert these stores into flagship stores. This was the case, again, of Beijing, Sanlitun, China World, Plata 66 in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, a new flexi store. So this was and still is the strategy. Of course, I have also to tell you that in China, and not only, but in China, Particularly, I have to tell you that there is a retail culture, a customer service culture that is particularly strong. And this for sure has been a component that has helped the brand to become so strong and to deliver good results. So I don't know if this is the secret weapon, but again, in China, for sure, we believe that the brand is strong and results, of course, up and down because Q3 were not amazing, but still not so bad. Golden Week, I mean, this is, I mean, the speculation, honestly, I'm not in the position to, not to agree, but I mean to confirm, actually. I don't know. Maybe the stock market may have been a driver, but honestly, I don't know. I can't confirm whether or not this is true.

Thank you very much. Best of luck. Thank you.

The next question is from Chris Gao, CLSA. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good evening, Luchen and Elena. Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on the great success of Genius Event in Shanghai F2. So the first question is related to the third quarter D2C performance. So for the D2C slowdown, just want to understand more from the perspective of new customer versus existing customer. So is this slowdown more because of the new customer recruitment or existing consumer spending? And also for 4Q to date, there's some pickup. And which group have you seen driven more growth from our perspective? Is it driven more by new or existing customer? And the second question is related to Grenoble. We're very excited to see the launch of the Grenoble-only store. And how would you comment on the store productivity and the retail matrix to now? Does that meet your expectations? And how many more do you plan to have for the remaining time of the 4Q as well as next year? Thank you.

Okay, Chris, thank you for your question. Thank you for your appreciation about the event. I mean, the slowdown in DTC, how much was existing, how much was new customers? I mean, it's something that is difficult to say. I think that was a combination of two for sure. There was a contribution of existing customers. Because, I mean, this kind of traffic impacted, this kind of drop in traffic impacted, I mean, all the different populations, all the different customers. So I think that it was equally distributed between existing and new customers. Honestly, nothing that provides any particular reading for our business. except the fact, I mean, we said before that this trend was quite evident, I mean, and you live there and you can confirm that there is an evident slowdown in traffic in all of the different shopping malls. About Grenoble, yes, I mean, we opened, yes, we opened only one store in St. Maurice, As you know, we may open a second store in a very important ski resort, but giving metrics about this store is not meaningful at all. I can tell you, as we did in the past, that that store did and is doing much better than expected. Of course, much better in winter than in summer, but this is also related to the fact that our Grenoble collection for spring summer is quite new. We just introduced it last year. So, I mean, the recognition of Grenoble brand is mostly under the following collection. But again, we are very happy about the performance of that store in St. Moritz, and for this reason, we are planning to open a second store probably next year.

Super helpful. Thank you, Luciano.

The next question is from Peralta Dania, RBC. Please go ahead.

Okay. Thank you. Evening, everybody. So firstly, I was just wondering if in the context of weaker traffic and high revenue concentration in a few months or quarters of the year, whether you'd be considering increasing your advertising and promotion spend in absolute and relative terms outside of the 7% framework that you typically stick to? in an effort to drive higher traffic into stores in the Q4, Q1 period, also taking into consideration that you have very tough comparatives. So can you sort of invest to drive growth type thing in your peak trading period given the wider backdrop? And then my second question relates to LVMH and the minority stake that they've taken indirectly through the double R holding structure and also the board seat that they now have at Montclair. Could you please provide some insight into what the future plan may be with respect to LVMH's modest involvement in the business? Do you envisage any significant changes, and should we expect further collaborations with some of the brands within the LVMH portfolio? Thank you.

Okay, first question, any plan to increase marketing budget beyond the 7%? I mean, you know that 7% is our golden rule. And so, seriously, I mean, we normally try to... and within this seven percent of course we may i mean we did in the past and we spent a little bit more than seven percent and so it is a golden rule about i mean we can make exceptions so we are not planning honestly to make exceptions now and so for the time being i have to tell you that we still are within the seven percent but i mean at the seven percent you know we still have a reasonable amount of money to be spent in in this quarter so um honestly nothing nothing i can i can add but i mean believe me that we have a quite important plan also for this quarter and so i believe that the money is enough to support our business in the q4 not just about the money but how we spend it yes of course i mean elena is suggesting that is not only the amount of money what is important, but the way we spend that money. And this is very important because I mean, our 7% on our top line is a big amount, but not as big as other brands. But notwithstanding that, I mean, I think that the impact of the money we spend in marketing is quite important and not lower than other, even the bigger brands. Talking about Elbuemash, of course, as you know, the transaction occurred at the higher level of our holding company, the Mr. Ruffini Holding Company, RRR. And so the transaction is not impacting at all. More clear that the world still is totally dependent. However, I have to tell you that, of course, We are very happy about this transaction. We are very happy for Mr. Ruffini and we are very happy also for ourselves and very proud that the most important luxury group in the world and the most important entrepreneur in the luxury industry, not only in the world, decided to invest in our company. So we are proud and very happy. Talking about the potential business impact of this partnership at the level of RRR, honestly, we don't see any impact, but simply because the shareholder agreement and the transaction itself is not intended at all to impact the Montclair strategy, Montclair decisions, So Moncler was and still is totally independent.

The next question is from Rogerio Fujimori, Stifel. Please go ahead.

Good evening, Luciana and Lena. I have two questions. First, I was hoping if you could share with us how much price and mix contributed to Moncler brand DTC performance in Q3. And second, I was hoping if you could comment on relative areas of strength and weakness in terms of categories and price points for the Moncler brand, if you wouldn't mind sharing with us the latest trends you're seeing in your stores. Thank you.

About the price mix, thank you for your question. I mean, the price mix was not particularly significant in Q3. And also price, yes, the price was up, but again, not particularly significant.

As you might remember, we said that in 2024, we've increased on average prices by about mid single digit, more or less. And so this is the, you know, increase in prices you should take into account makes not particularly meaningful.

Yes, also Q3 is impacted by the fact that there is some kind of overlap between the end of spring summer season and the beginning of fall winter season. So depending sometimes also on the weather, we may sell more spring, less fall, or the other way around. And this may impact the price mix. But again, nothing important to flag. And then a question about the test by category. I mean, we keep investing in other categories, something, I mean, you know very well, but important to reiterate, with good results, because as we speak, I mean, not in Q3 only, but in the first nine months of the year, the best performing category is network, of course, from the growth rate point of view, because network including the traditional Tico and the, what we call Caterson, the Jessica is growing faster than outerwear. And this is again a very important for our current and even more for our future business. But it is also very important for the brand identity because in Montclair right now is a very strongly recognized brand. or outward, that has been the presence of the majority of our business and the presence of the DNA of the brand but more and more the brand is recognized also for our network so we have developed over the years a very strong credibility also in this category and something important to remind you i don't know if i tell i told you other times but in event we recently opened and a new a new factory for neutral only in italy tripling the production capacity we had previously in Italy. The factory is a brand new factory, high technology, very high quality. And this is, I mean, the result of the credibility we have developed over the years. And also the complexity, it is needed for the complexity of our product that is becoming more and more, let me say, rich, complex. But again, something we are very happy, very proud to say.

And Rogerio, one small additional thing when you talked about the different performance by category. One thing I wanted to add when it comes to the brand dimensions is that when you look at the performance year to date, we had a very strong performance from the main collection and the Grenoble. remember that the timing of Genius was different compared to last year. So last year we had a big Genius event happening in February and then we had multiple launches happening across Q2 and Q3 in particular. This year Basically, except for one in the first quarter, we didn't have any launches. So we didn't have any genius business in Q2 and Q3. We had a big event right now, and now we're starting with the launches. We're going to have three now happening in Q4. And so keep this in mind, because obviously the timing of the event and the launches were materially different compared to last year.

Super helpful. Thank you.

The next question is from Ji Zhang, Alpha Value. Please go ahead.

Thank you for taking my question. Two for me, please. First one in China. So you mentioned Chinese remain positive. during the quarter thanks to the shopping offset of China. Could you please break down the share of onshore shopping and offshore shopping from Chinese consumer? And secondly, on price gap. So you mentioned the price gap between China and Japan becomes smaller thanks to recovery of yen. But you mentioned in the H1 call that the gap Asia and Europe remain unchanged or continue to reduce. Please. Thank you.

Okay. About your first question, Chinese cluster was up. Business we did in China was slightly down. and that means that um of course the the business that grew was the business the offshore business had been a business we did with the chinese customers outside their country and in japan for sure when there was most in july and august when the price gap was about five percent between japan and china but also in other regions in korea and and in europe Price gap with Japan again now is flat. With Europe, it is exactly what you said, 1.36%. 1.37, which is higher than what we believe is our final goal, that is 1.3, 1.30. Of course, next year will be slightly better. Again, we expect in a couple of years to reach this goal of 1.30. So for 2025, will be a little bit better than the 1.36 you said is now.

And just one thing about the Chinese cluster. In the third quarter, approximately 60% of the business was in mainland China and about 40% was abroad.

Very helpful. Thank you very much.

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

Thank you, everybody, for participating in this call. As usual, for any follow-up questions, do not hesitate to contact us tonight or in the coming days. We have published today our 2025 financial calendar and the next earnings release will be on February 13th when we will report our fiscal year 2024 financial results. That's all from our side. So thank you again and have a great evening, everybody.

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