Prada Spa Ord

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Praga Group full year 2020 results presentation. At this time all participants are in listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session please press star 1 and 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question please press star 1 and 1 again. Please be aware that we will take and answer one question at a time before moving to the next question. And please also note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Andrea Bonini, CFO. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining Prada Group's full year 2023 results conference call. This is Andrea Bonini, Chief Financial Officer of Prada Group. I'm delighted to be with you again. I'm joined by Mr. Patrizio Bertelli, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director, Mr. Andrea Guerra, Group CEO, and Mr. Lorenzo Bertelli, Marketing Director and Head of CSR. Mr. Patrizio Bertelli will start today with group highlights for the year, followed by Mr. Lorenzo Bertelli, who will provide an overview of our marketing and communication activities and an update on our ESG initiatives. Mr. Guerra will then give you a business update and I will provide details on our financial performance before Mr. Guerra signs off with some closing remarks. As a reminder, during today's call, we may discuss forward-looking statements which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and factors beyond our control that could cause the actual outcome and returns to differ materially from such statements. Please refer to the disclaimers included on slide two of our presentation. With that, I will hand over to Mr. Bertelli.

Good afternoon. Welcome to the presentation of the yearly results of the Prada Group of 2023. 2023 was an year marked by important organizational evolution for our group, which allowed us to strengthen some competencies and brought further improvement in the execution of our strategy. Our main focus was that of further increasing the appeal of our brands through product and communication initiatives, which were designed to strengthen the relationship with our customers. Together with that, we kept improving retail in order to increase the productivity of our stores. Thanks to all those activities combined, 2023 also closed with a significant high-quality growth. driven by double-digit like-for-like growth for the third year in a row, which translated into an increase of retail productivity and profitability. Let's look at numbers. Net revenues stood at €4.7 billion, up 17% at constant exchange rates. Retail sales posted the same increase during this year, plus 17%, with an excellent performance in the fourth quarter as well, which was also plus 17%. All the areas, Japan, Asia, Pacific, and Europe, grew double-digit. The Americas closed the year at constant sales versus 2022. Prada is now closing another sustained growth retail year and gained father market shares. through a well-balanced product portfolio and a major capability to innovate and interpret contemporary style. For MiuMiu, 2023 was a year of great success in consolidating the brand's image and appeal. The results are the outcome of a number of strategic choices made over the last year that span over product communication, distribution, and human resources. The group profitability further improved with EBIT margins standing at 22.5% of revenues. At the same time, we supported our brands through bigger communication and retail activities, and overall we strengthened the group structure. We also increased investments in our stores, also in the industrial and technological infrastructures. To wrap it up, I believe that innovation, dynamicism, flexibility are always very important in today's market situation, and I'm confident that our strength and organization will be able to drive the group towards further growth and evolution. Let me now give the floor to Lorenzo, who's going to talk about the main initiatives of 2023 in marketing and sustainability.

Thank you, and good afternoon. Over the last year, the strength of our brand's creativity has enabled us to continue to capitalize and strengthen in Prada continues to drive interest with impactful fashion shows, campaigns, collaborations and events that confirm the enduring success of the brand's creative codes. Both menswear and womenswear shows very well received with brand desirability boosted by a strong global talent strategy. Throughout the year, Prada presented a number of distinctive global brand initiatives for its customers. This included the second edition of Prada Sphere in Shanghai, which displayed over a century of the brand's history and culture, Prada Mode in Tokyo, and Prada Frames Symposium in Hong Kong. The Prada Cafe continued to grow in popularity with experiences in Shanghai, adding to the success of Arrows in London. Exclusive collaboration and groundbreaking partnership continued to surprise and delight our audiences. We announced to develop with Action Space, NASA's, Lunar Spacesuit for Artemis 3 mission, and we announced the visibility of our Linearossa brand with the Adidas football for Prada collection. Moving on to Miu Miu. The brand continues its outstanding performance with highly acclaimed fashion shows, new and consolidated partnerships, and engaging events that connect with the Miu Miu community on a global scale. At product level, grow was fueled by iconic and viral launches, including the successful introduction of the Arcadia and these bags. the unveil of a well-received collaboration in footwear with churches, and the second chapter with New Balance, and ready-to-wear collection drops. We also established the New Women's Tales Committee to support increasing talent in the film industry. It includes film work leaders to drive the evolution of the project. Now we'll turn to ESG, which continues to embed it through our strategy. We have continued to build upon the foundation put in place in the past couple of years. And I'm proud to report we have reduced the scope one and two greenhouses gas emission by 58% compared to our 2019 baseline. We are fully on track to achieve our 2026 size-based target thanks to several initiatives, including significantly phasing down our natural gas consumption, procuring green electricity on a global scale, and further investment in both photovoltaic plants and electric vehicles for our company car fleet. To reduce our scope three greenhouse gases emissions, we have set target to transition some of our key role materials such as cotton to lower impact alternatives and conducted our first life cycle assessment to measure the impact of some of our iconic products and materials such as renylon. Most recently, we have invested in SAF certificates to contribute to the carbonization of the aviation industry. We strongly believe that Cross-industry collaboration is key to positively contributing to long-term climate change mitigation. Collective action is key to positive impact. This is why we're pleased to report today that over 75% of our leather and textile suppliers are involved in the ZDHC program to eliminate harmful chemicals from the fashion industry global supply chain. We can also report noteworthy statistics on our people initiatives, including the achievement of 44% women presence in our group leadership team. The group's talents is at the core of our strategy and we'll continue to invest in craftsmanship. As part of the Prada Group Industrial Academy, 143 young people were trained last year and almost 80% of the participants were hired in our production area. We also significantly increased funding to support Sea Beyond, our flagship ocean educational program in partnership with EOC UNESCO. In July 2023, the program was expanded to include scientific research and humanitarian projects. Thank you. I will now pass over to Mr. Guerra for the business update.

Welcome from my side as well. Happy to be here with all of you today. And thank you, Lorenzo, for your words. Let me start by saying, as we stated in our press release headline, that a strong Q4 ends a year of excellent progress and results. Prada Group is finishing another high-teens growth in retail sales, almost all like-for-like. And I would like to pause on this and repeat it, almost like-for-like. Third year in a row. We finished 2023 on a solid base, and as we guided you with a slightly easier comp base in Q4 2023. We had, during 2023, a continuous and solid progress on our strategic journey, which has meant our retail excellence paramount project, our constant organization, consolidation, and evolution. And I think that this is giving us the opportunity to trail in a world made of constant uncertainties and constant ups and downs. Looking to our two main brands, on Prada, we had a solid and well geographical and product-wise diversified growth, with some well-deserved peaks in Asia, Japan, and Europe. I would stress the desirability and cultural relevance of Prada remain the two main drivers in everything we do and everything we have seen through our shows, our exhibitions, our new stores, and our events. consumer landlords and all our stakeholders are clearly understanding this natural multi-faceted Prada positioning moving through the style of the day from more relaxed luxury to more absolute elegance. This journey started some years ago to focus mainly and almost only on full price retail with a slowdown in our wholesale perimeter, and closing down our outlet stores. And I would say that this solid, strong decision taken some years ago is totally paying off. Turning to Miu Miu. Obviously a great success during 2023. A lot of hard work even in darker times during the last years has led Miu Miu to today's success. Creativity, design, boldness, long-term view even in tough times without looking for shortcuts has led Miu Miu to where it is today. The growth of the last 24, 36 months is even more than like for like because our net perimeter has less stores than 24 months ago today. We are committed to become even more relevant in this mu-mu fashion unique positioning. Growth has been throughout the different geographies, throughout all product categories, and with a successful, strong, promising growth in the leather goods category. The journey ahead of Miu Miu is long, is wide, and we need to stay humble. We need to stay really, really focused to allow this journey to continue for the long term. so happy of 2023 for Miu Miu, but really looking forward to a stronger future in 2024 and beyond. With this, I would now pass the word to Andrea, and he will walk us through our numbers.

Thank you, Andrea. I would like to start with key financials on slide 14. The group reported net revenues of Euro 4.7 billion, up 17% versus fiscal year 22 at constant effects. Exchange rates had a negative impact of 465 basis points on revenues, and the increase at current exchange rates is therefore plus 13%. Retail sales for the period totaled €4.2 billion, up 17% versus fiscal year 2022, and up 46% versus fiscal year 2021, at constant effects. EBIT reached €1.062 billion in fiscal year 2023, with margin of 22.5%, showing further expansion versus the 20.1% of fiscal year 2022. coupled with substantial investments behind the brands. Cash flow from operations reached Euro 1.265 billion, and our net cash position stood at 197 million, after 759 million of CapEx cash out, including real estate. Moving on to the next slide, retail continued to be the engine of growth throughout the year, up 17% versus fiscal year 22 at constant effects, driven by like-for-like full-price sales and with a positive contribution from both average price and full-price volumes. The fourth quarter delivered a strong performance at plus 17%, accelerating versus Q3, plus 10%, with solid underlying trends and also reflecting easier comps in China. This marks the 12th consecutive quarter of solid like-for-like growth. On wholesale, we were up plus 13% year-on-year. We kept our approach selective with independence, which resulted in flat performance, while we continued to see sustained growth in the beauty-free channel. Royalties were up plus 36% year-on-year, with strong growth in both eyewear and beauty. Turning to the next slide, retail sales by brand, both Prada and Miu Miu achieved above-market growth. Prada delivered a solid plus 12% growth over the year, driven by full price like-for-like sales. Growth was supported by all categories and well-balanced across gender and age groups. Q4 accelerated at plus 10% versus Q3 at plus 5%, driven by all categories. Miu Miu reported an outstanding performance throughout the year, plus 58% year on year, with a further acceleration at plus 82% in Q4, and supported by higher exposure to China and Asia. Growth was strong and well spread across all categories and regions. The brand now contributes to 15% of the group retail sales versus 12% in fiscal year 22. Encouraging progress was seen at churches with positive like-for-like performance for the full year, but there was still a negative impact from the perimeter. In terms of product categories, at aggregate level, ready-to-wear was the fastest-growing category in the year at plus 31%, followed by footwear at plus 18% and leather goods at plus 8%. All categories accelerated in Q4 versus Q3 for both Prada and Mimiu. Moving to the next slide, the group achieved double-digit growth across all geographies, excluding Americas, which ended the year flat. Asia-Pacific saw strong growth throughout the year at plus 24% against a volatile basis of comparison in 2022. As expected, we saw an acceleration in Q4 at plus 32%, driven in particular by mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, showing solid underlying trends and also reflecting easier comps. Europe grew by plus 14% over the year, a solid performance supported by strong domestic and tourist consumption. Growth was sustained in H1, particularly in Q1, and remained solid thereafter, albeit normalized on very challenging comps. America has ended the year with a flat performance, following a sequential improvement in the fourth quarter at plus 4%, supported by some repatriation of spending. Japan was the best performing region over the year, up 44%, with 38% in Q4, driven primarily by strong local demand and also increasing presence of tourists. And lastly, the Middle East delivered a solid performance at plus 10%, including Q4 at plus 8%, notwithstanding greater geopolitical headwinds in the period. Turning to the next slide, gross margin reached 80.4% in fiscal year 23, with 160 basis points expansion versus fiscal year 22, driven by average price, channel mix, and economies of scale. As expected, the level is substantially unchanged versus H1, and we don't expect meaningful movements going forward. Topline performance and phasing of expenses resulted in a particularly strong H1 in 2023, but we achieved further EBIT margin expansion, reaching 22.5% of net revenues at year end. This profitability improvement was coupled with higher marketing spend, and in general, our organization infrastructure had been strengthened significantly over the past two years, as reflected in the OPEX increase. Going forward, our focus is to moderate growth in most fixed OPEX lines to maintain room for growth in marketing. Net income stood at 671 million euros, an increase of 44% versus fiscal year 22. CAPEX for fiscal year 23 was 753 million euros, including the acquisition of a highly strategic real estate asset at 724 Fifth Avenue, New York. On the retail side, over the period, we completed around 130 renovation and relocation projects, which accounted for approximately 80% of the total retail capex. Following 26 openings and 32 closures, we closed the year with 606 directly operated stores. Excluding retail, the remaining capex included 48 million for industrial initiatives and 75 million related to IT projects. Moving to the next slide, networking capital increased by 44 million to reach 735 million euros and further improved as a proportion of fiscal year 23 net sales to 16%. And lastly, the group retains a solid balance sheet with a net cash position of 197 million euros at the end of 2023. The Board of Directors has proposed an increase of dividend per share to 13.7 cents, which compares to 11 cents last year, which would result in a total dividend of circa 350 million and a payout ratio of 52%. With that, I will hand over to Andrea Guerra for 2024 priorities and closing remarks. Thank you.

Thank you, Andrea. Now, on one side, as we all said, we're happy about our 2023, but I have to say that we're also happy for our beginning of the year in January, February. Let's talk a little bit about 2024. So some periods and quarters can be tricky in terms of comparison. Asian reopening in early 2023 led to some fast and furious shopping. Nowadays we're finally observing some international Chinese tourism, while American tourism flies to Europe as they did in the past two years. Is this going to happen with all the geopolitical new turmoil? So even 2024 can be a year of some acceleration, some acceleration, some ups and downs. So we have to go through 2024. I'm pretty sure that it will be a more linear path throughout the year, and our performance for sure will be above market growth rate. We are all in a more normal market. We are all in a more normal world. So 2024 could be a kind of year where we will observe more clearly some market share shifts. They will be more visible. Key drivers for our group during 2024, let me say are pretty similar to what we have done in 2020, 2021, 22, 23, with something more. So on one side, obviously, we will continue to fuel investment, culture, intelligence, CapEx on our brands and their desirability. We will continue to foster, upgrade, promote from internal our people and really lead our people through a 2024 with a strong motivation. obviously coming out from such a solid period could be a little easier job. We will continue to fuel the market with innovation and new products, something that our brands are pretty easy with. And on the other side, again, all our investment, all our activities, everything we have learned on retail excellence in this past four, eight, 12 quarters will allow us to trade a 2024 market and industry. We have space to gain and regain some longstanding market share back. 2024 will be another important year to evolve our organization across the world, always more and more brand-centric and digital savvy. So we are looking to a 2024 that for some means could be a little bit more complicated than 2023, looking at it from an industry point of view. I think Prada Group journey, Prada and Miu Miu brands could have and hopefully will have a journey, as I said at the beginning, with a

over average growth in all 2024 thank you and ready to answer to your questions if any thank you and i give the word back thank you sir as a reminder to ask a question please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced to withdraw your question please press star one and one again once again please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced Please be aware that we will take and answer one question at a time before moving to the next question. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our first question. And the questions come from the line of Edward Obed from Morgan Stanley. Please ask your question. Your line is opened.

Yeah. Hi, guys. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. So just to start with one question, Andrea, you talked about, you know, the beginning of the year, which was quite satisfactory despite the more difficult combates in January, February in China last year. Could you just provide a little bit more color on that? And also you mentioned the Chinese – traveling more. One of your friendly peers in Milan a few days ago talked about Chinese in Europe being at about 80% of what they were back in 2019. Are you seeing this level of, you know, Chinese spend offshore so that would be my first question and just sorry related to that on the on the trends you didn't provide but I guess we can triangulate the sales in the fourth quarter but would you say that the fourth quarter the main positive surprise came from Asia and Chinese in particular or was it more broad-based than that thank you that's my first question thank you sir so what I said

What I said is basically what I'm going to repeat now. The first two months of the year have basically moved in a direction similar to Q4. So this is what I can say more. Nothing more, nothing less with the same, let me say, obvious difference in speed between the two brands. Having said so, I would agree on the fact, as I was stating before, seeing many more Chinese in Japan and Europe in the past couple of months. I would say that we are in that ballpark of the 70, 80% of what we have seen in the past, but most probably it's a different kind of of Chinese in attitude. This is more individual travelers. That was more tour-operated and group travelers. So there are some differences. So this is how I see it. And I repeat, Q1 last year was a peak quarter for Japan, for Europe, and for some crazy shopping in Hong Kong and Macau.

Understood. And my second question is on kind of, you know, how you see the year. And obviously, you guys don't provide guidance, which is completely understandable. But just, you know, slightly more qualitatively, you talked about, you know, on the top line, you talk about above industry growth. I mean, some... Consultant experts assume a mid-single-digit type of growth. Could you guys potentially still be double-digit? Is that kind of what you have in mind? Obviously, you don't have a crystal ball, but based on what you're seeing and expecting today, that's number one on the top line. And then in terms of the margin, Andrea Bonini mentioned that you expect the gross margin to be that given that it's already record high. In terms of the EBIT margin further expansion, could we have the same magnitude of increase in 24 versus 23 that you had between 23 and 22, i.e., around 200 basis point, or is that what you have in mind as of today? Thank you.

Yeah, sir. Let me answer this way. You stated that we don't give the guidance, but at the end, you are asking for a guidance. Okay. So I think what we said is more than enough. I mean, you can read our attitude. You can listen to, I mean, everything qualitative we have been trying to say. I think it's fair today, it's February. As I said, the last year was a very, another peculiar year of ups and downs because of opening and reopening and slowdowns. Let us work. Let us go through the year. As I said, I mean, already to say that the first two months have been in line, in the trend of the Q4, I mean, it's a big one. I do not know if we're able to keep this velocity, but this is what is happening up to now.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next question, please.

We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Luca Forca from Bernstein. Please ask your question. Your line is opened.

Thank you very much indeed for taking my questions. The first question would be of price and its contribution to retail. You said, Andrea, that you took a courageous decision in the past to close factory outlets. Are we correct in assuming that the off-price contribution to sales today is less than 10%? Or would that estimate be wildly wrong when it comes to how important factory outlets remain in the business?

I think that the number you stated is more or less where we are today.

Thank you very much indeed. When it comes to the growth by nationality, we definitely saw in the fourth quarter quite a significant rebound in American consumer demand growth, at least when we looked at the some of your peers. I wonder, from a nationality-specific viewpoint, what you are seeing at the moment. Is there anything important to note? There's a sense, for example, that Chinese demand is very polarized with more of the high-end and less of a contribution from the middle class. Anything that we could potentially learn from your observatory on demand by nationality.

Hi Luca, it's Andrea Bonini. So what I would say on nationalities is starting with the Chinese market, Cluster is we've seen very good numbers, very good growth on a two-year stack, which is more meaningful, and stable, I would say, in Q3, Q4. Predominantly local, as you know, but travelers, traveler transactions growing faster, and in particular with the acceleration that we talked about in Q4, but also beginning of the year. American cluster positive overall in fiscal year 23. It was flat, I shall say, and stable in Q3, Q4. Again, no big shifts year to date. We're seeing, as one would expect, higher growth in local transactions versus traveler transactions because of the very different com basis as well. And lastly, on European cluster, again, very solid throughout the year and solid in Q4 and year-to-date as well with no significant changes.

Thank you, Andrea. And maybe my last question on MiuMiu. The performance of this brand in the most recent past is exceptional. Anything... that you've learned in terms of how you managed to energize consumer interest for this brand that could potentially be transferred to Prada so as to replicate or at least in part replicate this Vega in the Prada performance?

Let me argue on this. I think that what Miu Miu is doing today is a longstanding journey that Miu Miu has done. So we had, and this happens to many different brands, we had a couple of years, maybe three years of slowdown, and now we are recapturing our journey, our women, and our trajectory. I think that there is no exceptional things happening, and this is also the moment where if you don't stick your feet on the ground, where you are not humble, that is where you begin to make mistakes. Prada doesn't need vigor. I mean, the growth of Prada in the last three years is basically like for like something around 75%. So this is a steady, strong growth, and this is what we are expecting from a larger brand as well. I think Miu Miu is really going back to where it has to be.

Understood. Thank you very much indeed.

Next question, please.

Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Thomas Chauvet from Citi. Please ask your question. Your line is opened.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for taking my question. The first one on gross margin, over 80%. I mean, that's remarkable. It's up by nearly 10% response versus 2019 pre-COVID. So we haven't seen that kind of trajectory at any of your French or Italian peers. perhaps there were a few low-hanging fruits, but clearly the price mix and volume growth have helped. Do you see, Andrea, a cap to gross margin from here? And how do you ensure the gross margin is not going backwards? I'm not talking about 24, but do you feel that that's the new bar now for the company, for the group? I'll let you answer that and follow up.

Thank you, Tomas and Sandra Bonini. It's a level, as we said, that we are very happy about. It is best in class or close to best in class. We also said that going forward, we don't anticipate meaningful movements, meaning we wouldn't anticipate meaningful increases because from a mix standpoint, channel mix standpoint, as you know, We've done a lot also from a prices standpoint. We are in a different environment from the one of the past three years. At the same time, we're working not to go backwards. It's a very good level and a level that, again, with the ambition to maintaining it, we can then work you know, some basis points up or down, also to continue to focus, as the company has always done, on quality. And that's point number one. I think, you know, point number two, in particular, at DCR, right, we've also seen some specific factors contributing positively to the gross margin increase. I mean, the most notable, I think, on the cost lines, I mean, is certainly logistics that I've mentioned before.

Thank you. My second question, a follow-up on Miu Miu and this extraordinary growth. You said it was mostly like-for-like, I guess, volume and price mix. Any indication whether the EBIT margin is now, you know, not quite at the product level, but maybe close to 20%? And then how do you manage growth from here? I mean, do you have more ambitions to actually open store, to try to scale this? How do you protect that brand from perhaps overheating? We've seen Miu Miu historically quite volatile in the decade or two ago. I'm just curious to hear you on how you manage Miu Miu from here. Thanks.

I'll start and then I'll let Andrea Guerra to continue. So on the margin, MiuMiu has had an excellent like-for-like performance in the past three years. And that translated into significant uplift in productivity and brand profitability. From a sales density standpoint, we're getting in line with Prada. And that's also because of the stores that are smaller typically for MiuMiu. Margins are still below Prada, but that's just a matter of scale, relative size and operating leverage. But it's making big step forward. That's on margins, and I'll let Andrea comment on the trajectory forward.

Yeah, I think that it's time looking to especially to 2025 and 2026. that we have as a commitment to increase the number of square meters, which not necessarily mean to have more stores, but it can also mean to have a little bit larger stores in important places of the world. So we are committed to really keep this growth balanced between products and the incredibly good news has been 2023 around leather goods and finally having a complete great offer on leather goods. And on the other side, really focusing on a correct balance between all geographies of the world. So this will be our main objectives and main behaviors, and we will have some square meters more in 25 and 26 for sure.

Thank you, Andrea. And maybe one last quick one on Koshu and Church. I understand they're very small. These two footwear brands have shrunk steadily over the years. I think less than 50 million in sales combined for 23 years. Isn't this a bit of a distraction? What's the ultimate plan? I mean, I see you're rationalizing the snow network, but surely you must have a plan to either reboot them or perhaps divest. I mean, they seem increasingly tiny in group context, but I'm sure they take a bit of your energy, both of you, Andrea and Andrea.

You know, I think that it's step by step. So the last almost two years, as you know, we have been undergoing a proper restructuring of church business and church network. I can tell you that 2023 has been a life for life growth year for for church, and now it's a question of working. We all feel that it's a untold jewel. We need to work, work hard on the products, on the brands, on the people, on the network. I think we proved it with the work done on MiuMiu, and I hope that soon we will come back to you and dedicate time to talk to you about church. Once we have finalized this work, we will move to the car show.

Thank you, and best of luck.

Next question, please.

Thank you. We're now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Louise Singlehurst from Goldman Sachs. Please ask your question.

Hi. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for taking my questions. I'll stick to two. I wonder, firstly, if we could just go back to the U.S. and thinking about, obviously, the improvement that we've seen from Q3 into Q4 and whether you think, obviously, we're on a more positive trajectory now for that market. We've got Mr. Guerra on the telephone. He knows the U.S. incredibly well. So I wonder if there's any comments with regards to entry, high-end apparel versus leather, just to help us understand what you're currently seeing. And then my second question, I wondered if we could just check the comments just to make sure I'm understanding correctly with regards to the first couple of months of the year. I know it's very early and we've still got March to go, but I think you talked about a magnitude which was similar to Q4, Andrea, if I'm correct. And I just wondered if we could... Is that including China or presumably there's a deceleration with China given the reopening? But I just want to make sure we're referencing against that kind of team's growth that we saw in Q4. Thank you.

So regarding this, we were talking about the group. So obviously we're talking about a few weeks. I mean, we're talking about, what is it, nine weeks? And we're talking about group trends, not Chinese or nothing else. This is a group trend across the nine past weeks. In terms of USA, I think this is the most complicated question that we should have to answer. That is, I really hope that USA, North America will be the fantastic good surprise for 2024. I think there is a lot of reasons why we should see this. And let me say more than 50% of the answer is on us. That is, we are underrepresented United States. We have not always curated all the aspects of North America efficiently. We are putting a huge ton of work, even our real estate capex has been there. So I think that United States have to be a kind of leading wagon for us in our next years. And hopefully it will be a good news in 2024. Today, I have to tell you that it's a lot of mixed feelings. More positive than negative, but it's mixed feelings. One week bad, one week good. One side is east coast, one side is west coast, one time is more accessory driven, sometimes it's something else. So we are yet in a kind of nervous momentum. Let's see what happens.

Thank you.

Next question, please.

We are now going to take our next question. And the questions come from the line of Charles-Louis Scotti from Kepler Silver. Please ask your question.

Yes. Good afternoon. One question on your staff network. You said that the scope effect has been negative over the past two years. What is the outlook in terms of staff opening, net staff openings in 2024? What should we assume in terms of scope effect? And if I recall well, part of the negative scope impact was due to the closing of outlets. Can you give us an update on the number of outlets that you are still planning to close down in the coming years and what will be the growth impact on scope coming from the closure of outlets? And second question on price increases. You have been more cautious than Pierce over the past few years. considering how desirable are your brands and how strong is the momentum, do you see room to further elevate the price positioning of both Prada and Miu Miu in the coming years? Thank you.

So, regarding outlets, I think that we are on a journey and the journey has started some years ago. Obviously, there is also a question of allowing the contracts to come to the right point and we will continue. So we feel that we still have some more of what we need and this will happen in the next at least two, three years because obviously there is also contracts and relationships. So the road is there, the road will continue and I think that in two, three years, we will come to our final point. In terms of branding, positioning, pricing, opportunities, I will ask Lorenzo to give an answer.

Hi, so thank you for your question. I think generally speaking about elevation, I will say that already today, brand and MIMU are in a top spot overall in the market. We cannot complain. I think it's more about how to keep going with this elevation. and becoming more efficient and becoming let's say more relevant with the with the offers of product and and with the marketing strategy but i think already today we are super satisfied with what we are achieving so it's just a matter of keep doing that without doing mistakes and take the opportunities and um i think of already i think especially prada show something at the end of last year of which are our commitment in terms of real estate for elevating the brand in the future. So it's part of a long-term strategy, but I think we have a very clear idea of where we have to go. Next question, please. Thank you very much.

Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Chris Wong from UBS. Please answer your question.

Hello. Thank you for taking my questions. I have three questions, please. Firstly, just on leather goods, the Q4 leather goods performance was very solid at 8% growth on an FX-neutral basis. We've been seeing, you know, on various channels that you've been launching many initiatives, including leather goods dedicated campaigns. and also bringing back some, you know, models from the brand archives. So maybe can you just comment on how you have been seeing latest trends in this category? Are you seeing any acceleration and how are consumers responding to the latest launches? That's my first question, please.

So first of all, I would love to tell you what I feel about what happened in leather goods across the industry and then ourselves. I think leather goods in the industry have had a wonderful journey for many years with a huge double digit increase, volumes and prices. And I think 2023 has been for many a kind of year where that kind of pattern was not valid anymore. For us, I think 2023 overall has been for both brands a solid positive year. Prada with its dual positioning in the exclusive re-nylan positioning and iconic leather. And as I was saying before for Miu Miu with a kind of completion of an offer that could cover different moments of the day and the night and different ladies and attitudes so we are entering a 2024 with the usual hour approach which is novelties on one side and the rhythm of novelties has already been seen in the market with a strong launch at the beginning of the year for prada and a couple of launches for Miu Miu in the past 10 weeks. On the other side, as you're saying, we are also pushing on our icons on both brands with specific activities, specific animations, specific campaigns, nothing incredibly different from what's going in the world. And I think that being able to continue this balance between novelties and iconization of certain products, we can really go back and conquer and reconquer our given market shares.

Okay, that's super helpful. And secondly, just on wholesale, a little bit clarification because your wholesale in Q4 was super strong. So just wanted to check if there are any impacts from change delivery times we should bear in mind.

No, no, no. It's just a question of deliveries. No, there is nothing there.

Okay. And then lastly, I think previously you were on another call like Q3 or earlier. You were saying pricing is expected to be around mid-single digit for this year. Can you confirm this? And together with this, how do you think you know, how much do you think pricing will contribute to your growth for 2024 as a whole? Is it 50-50 pricing and volumes, or how should we think about this? Thank you very much.

So when we think about volume, when we think about pricing, there is a third aspect, which is either halfway between the two or the most complicated of the two, which is the mix. And I think that our pricing... activities will continue as usual, as we have done in the past years. On the other side, we are really working hard, especially on ready-to-wear and leather goods, in order to play a mixed game. So being able to invest in more valued products, having the proper story behind them, having the proper sessions behind them in the stores and with consumers, and being able to shift a little bit the mix of our products and our sales during the year on, I would say, on both brands. So 2024, I think it's much more a mix year than anything else. Okay, thank you.

Thank you. Next question, if any.

Thank you. We're now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Li Weihao from China International Capital Corporation. Please ask your question.

Good evening, and congratulations on the excellent results. I have two questions. The first one is on leather goods. I've seen that our new launch of the buckle bag with belt has been successfully received in China. And it has a price point over 4,000 euros. I remember around a year ago, Mr. Guaira, you have mentioned leather goods will be a key for Prada. So I just want to understand, will 4,000 euro be a new benchmark for us to build our next generation of leather goods around, or is this more of a one-off creation? It's my first question. Thank you.

Hi, good evening. It's Lorenzo Bertelli. I'll answer to your question saying that, of course, leather goods is at the core of the brand Prada and is becoming more and more relevant also for MiuMiu. I think it's part of our, let's say, merchandising strategy. to making sure we cover every price point level within the offer. So I think the buckle you mentioned, it is a very clear example of that strategy. And it's always been, I would say so far, we're very satisfied in terms of reception from the market and also from the customer. So, so far we're satisfied, but it's just the beginning of the launch.

Thanks very much, Lorenzo. My second question is on the vertical integration. I see that as part of Ms. Aguirre's clean remarks. So, I wonder how is the internalization going? You know, which direction are we going to focus on? Because I think we've seen successful examples of, you know, more innovative products coming out. I believe these are thanks to the internal capacity. So, I wonder if you could share some light you know, our internal production as contribution to our overall, and how would that evolve going forward? Thank you.

I think our manufacturing and industrial platform is one of the secrets or non-secrets of product group success. This is giving us credibility, quality, efficiency, And what I think is the most important characteristic, flexibility. I think this is what we have built in the last 50 years, and this is what we have to build in the next period. So anything we do is related to having the opportunity to innovate some processes. having the opportunity to safeguard some unbelievable know-how in some of our suppliers, constantly readapting and growing our internal manufacturing capacity to a correct level, and more and more, if you ask me, do you prefer a supply chain that gives you one dollar more on one week more before to the market, I will always repeat I want to be one week before in the market. So this is the way we're working and this is the way we will continue to work.

Thank you very much indeed.

I think this is the last question. Is it correct? Okay. So we're going Take another two questions, please.

Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. And the questions come from the line of Thierry Cotard from Society General. Please answer your question. Your line is opened.

Yes, good afternoon, gentlemen. I had a follow-up question, actually, on the margin. you show and generate a very high sales growth well above competitors, but we do see the EBIT margin 22%, 23%, which is well lower than some of your peers, including some with a lower gross margin. And when you look at the details of last year's P&L, we see no operating leverage on AMP, on TNA, and on design and development. I was wondering what do you expect and do you plan to see in terms of margin profile going forward for the group? What would be a fair long-term target for the group as a whole in the long term? And do you think at some point that you will prioritize margin over sales growth and market share?

So look, I think first of all I'm going to start reiterating the point that the priority is growth. I mean to achieve, as we said, solid above market growth. We like to keep a nice trajectory of progressive margin expansion, but that very much depends on revenue growth. and it's secondary vis-a-vis investing behind the brands to support our growth objectives. The ambition longer term is certainly to achieve what the best in class in the sector are achieving. And so in conclusion, we won't be focused on the short term. We said it many times already when it comes to profitability, but there's no doubt that we have room for further margin expansion. The other point... specifically related to 2024, to 2023, sorry, is that, you know, on A&P and marketing, I mean, that's indeed, I mean, as I just said, it's a strategic choice, right, to support the brand in a certain way. And if we look forward, I mean, that will continue to be the strategy. So if we look forward, I mean, in terms of marketing, we would anticipate to maintain a similar incidence on net revenues to 2023, if not slightly above. The aim for the rest of the OPEX is to reduce OPEX growth. In 22 and 23, there's been a significant acceleration in recruiting, including at top level. Selling and G&A also seen a normalization post-COVID when some expense levels were very low. There are some cost lines, IT, for example, where we will continue to see more meaningful increases, but others, on other cost lines, we aim to change the trajectory this year.

Okay, thank you. So what you're saying is that the setup now is more mature and broad enough, and you can leverage that into a higher margin going forward. Do I understand well?

What I said is we intend to change the trajectory this year for other OPEX lines, and therefore we would expect to see operating leverage to continue to come through.

Okay. Okay, this is clear. Thank you very much.

Thank you. One last question, please. Thank you.

Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our last question. And the questions come from the line of Chris Gao from CLSA. Please ask your question.

Thanks for taking my questions, management, and congratulations on the great results. This is Chris Gao from CLSA. I have two questions. So firstly, about Miu Miu, can we have a sense of Miu Miu's Chinese clientele growth in the year of 2023? And how much does this clientele contribute to Miu Miu's sales now? And how does the Chinese clientele growth look like versus other clientele like American and European? So I'll ask my next question after I can answer. Thanks.

So what was good about Miu Miu, and this is what I was saying before, is that especially when you have a growth of the kind of growth we had, cannot be one nationality, cannot be one product. But what is good about is that we had a really balanced growth with the highest velocity in Europe in the past periods. And I think this is also very important for our progression and our future. We are not giving percentages specifically on consumers behind the brand, but what you have to know is that we really had, and this is what makes me happy and also comfortable about MiuMiu Growth. It was well-balanced between geographies and well-balanced between products. So, this is my answer. Thank you.

Thank you. So, the second question is related to your travel retail channel. So, we ask from a group perspective, how does your travel retail channel grow in 2023? I believe this should be helped by, you know, the China reopening as well as the continuous, you know, other APEC countries reopening, and just wondering how does this channel look like versus 2019, the recovery, magnitude of recovery? And yeah, right now, how much does this channel contribute to ourselves? Thank you.

So what I can tell you is that obviously in 2023, we can say that travel has got really back to the levels of 2019. with all the ups and downs we had during 2020, 21, and 22, and has been one of the drivers, obviously, of the growth. But I wouldn't say that this channel is big enough to influence the overall success.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Thank you. We have no further questions at this time. I will now hand back to Mr. Andrea Bonini for closing remarks.

Thank you everyone for joining and we're looking forward to speaking again for our Q1 results at the end of April. Thank you. Bye-bye.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you and have a great day.