Puig Brands, S.A.

Good evening and thank you for joining us as we discuss our sales update for Q1 2026 that ended on the 31st of March 2026. Today we have with us our Chief Executive Officer Jose Manuel Albeza and our Chief Financial Officer Miguel Angel Serra. Jose Manuel will share some brief remarks and then we will open up the line for Q&A. The presentation and the press release are available on our website, where you will also be able to access a recording of the call after the event. José Manuel, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Varenia, and good evening. It's my pleasure to be delivering my first earning call today as the CEO of Puts. Before we get into our comments about Q1, I wanted to address what is likely front of mind for most of you. On the 23rd of March, Putsch confirmed ongoing discussion regarding a potential business combination with Stillother, in which the two companies will potentially merge their business. As of today, we can confirm that conversations are ongoing, but no final decision has been made yet. We acknowledge that there is a lot of curiosity about the progress of these discussions. However, unless an agreement is reached, there can be no assurance regarding the transaction or the terms. And therefore, at this stage, we cannot comment further on this evolving situation. With that being said, I will turn to our Q1 update. We are pleased to report that we have delivered record Q1 sales and a solid start to the year, continuing our tradition of outperforming the premium beauty market as we have done consistently for each of the last five years, including each of the last eight quarters as a public company. Let's turn to the details. We have delivered a solid performance for the first quarter of 2026, which has resulted in a record net revenue of 1.215 billion euros. This represents a 4.7% like-for-like growth and a 0.8% increase on reported basis, delivering ahead of the premium beauty mark. This performance was broad-based, where we show all our segments and geographies contributing towards growth on a like-for-like basis. Our largest segment, Fragrance and Fashion, showed a performance with a context of more moderate underlying growth when compared to Q1 of 2025. It was supported by a strong performance in makeup and a steady delivery in skincare. We had a notably negative impact of minus 4% due to foreign exchange, largely due to the comparison with the US dollar rate versus Q1 of last year. Let me share now some more color by the business segments. I will start with fragrance and fashion, which accounts for 74% of total sales. In the first quarter, the segment delivered another solid result with 897 million euros in net revenue. This represents for-life growth of 3.9% and a reported growth of 0.1%, achieved against a demanding comparison base from Q1 of last year, and with an environment of market moderation today. Importantly, we see no gap in the selling and the sell-out in this category. As expected, performance during the quarter reflected a softer trend in prestige fragrances, while at the same time, niche continued to show very strong momentum, delivering double-digit growth, once again outperforming the market. We also continued to energize our brand through innovation, with several important launches across our prestige portfolio. Carolina Herrera launched Good Girl Jasmine and Bad Boy Cobalt Absolute. Rabanne launched Phantom in Red. And Jean-Paul Gaultier introduced Divine Couture and Le Male in Blue. We also continue with our collection based approach in niche, with the launch of Lamont by Artisan Parfumeur, among other strong launches. Overall, this performance once again demonstrates our ability to navigate on a more normalized market environment, combining discipline execution, a balanced portfolio, and a consistent flow of innovation. And this is only the beginning of the year. We have a strong pipeline of innovation, and over the quarters that follow, you will hear a lot more from us on Rabanne and on Jean-Paul Gaultier. We also plan to share more with respect to our digital strategy in fragrance as we reload it further. Moving now to makeup, which represents 14% of the total net revenue in the quarter. In Q1, the segment delivered 171 million euros in net revenue, translating into like-for-like growth of 9.2% and reported growth of 3.3%. This reflects continued standout delivery. Growth during the quarter was driven by chart delivery, with strong momentum across both the Asia-Pacific and EMEA regions. We saw continued innovation in makeup at Charlotte Tilbury, including the Airbrush Flawless Blur Concealer, Pyrrhotopam Lip, and Beauty Solmage Palette. Overall, the performance of makeup this quarter highlights the continued delivery, supported by innovation and strong execution across key regions. We continue to see immense potential with Xado Tilbury for the long term. For a brand so attractive for consumers, it's distributed only in about a fifth of the footprint that it could be in. Turning now to skincare, which represents 12% of the total net revenue in the quarter. In Q1, the segment delivered 147 million euros in net revenue, reflecting solid lay-for-lay growth of 4.7% and a reported growth of 2.1%. Overall, performance was resilient, supported by a balanced contribution across the portfolio. During the quarter, we continued to support growth through targeted innovation. Our dermocosmetic brands, Uriage and Apivita, maintained positive momentum, driven by the strength of their core range and relevance with consumers. We saw continued momentum of Uriage's hero franchise Semox CH+, thanks to its new advanced formula with adiomimetic ceramics. We also relaunched our Alsanca range Variesum, which includes two new hero products, and launched the reformulated version of Chateau Tilbury Iconic Magic Cream. In terms of geographic expansion, this quarter includes the rollout of Loto del Sur in Mexico and Chile, extending the brand beyond its own market of Colombia for the first time. Overall, skincare delivers consistent growth, underpinned by innovation and the continued strength of our RedMap platform. We also continue to be excited with the prospect of growing these brands for the long term, and the distribution potential for them across geographies and channels remains large. By geography, in Q1 2026, EMEA delivered net revenue of 656 million euros, representing 54% of total net revenue. This translates into like-for-like growth of plus 3% and reported growth of plus 1.9%, reflecting continued solid performance in a more moderate consumer environment. Growth in the region was led by fragrance and fashion, as well as makeup, which continued to resonate well with the consumers. Compared to the prior year, growth moderated, as expected, following a stronger comparative and a more cautious demand environment. I would also note that the ongoing situation in the Middle East had an estimated minus 1.2% impact on Q1 revenues, largely concentrated in March. We are closely monitoring developments and currently expect some ongoing effects, while continue to operate prudently across the region. The Americas generate $428 million in net revenue in Q1, representing 35% of total revenues. On a like-for-like basis, the region delivered growth of plus 2%, while reported revenues declined by 5%, reflecting adverse foreign exchange effects, mainly driven by the US dollar during the quarter. Underlying performance remained healthy, with growth led by Carolina Herrera within Prestige as well as by Redo in Niche, confirming the continued strength of our RAN portfolio across the region despite currency headwinds. In a pack which represents 11% of total net revenue, sales reached 131 million euros, delivering a very strong life-for-life increase of plus 26.1% and a reported growth of plus 17.9%. This performance reflected continued momentum across the region, driven by niche fragrance and Charlotte Tilbury, and demonstrated the effectiveness of our ongoing investment, brand opportunity, and traction in APAC market. APAC represents over a third of the global beauty market, yet accounts for just 11% of food sales. We have been investing behind, reducing this gap for several years, and we believe now is the right momentum to accelerate. Turning to our outlook, we continue to expect to outperform the premium beauty market on a like-for-like basis, reflecting the strength of our brand portfolio, the relevance of our innovation pipeline, and the discipline execution across regions and categories. At the same time, we expect that adjusted EBITDA margins will remain stable, broadly in line with full-year 2025 levels, despite operating in a more challenging cost environment. This reflects our focus on cost discipline, prioritization of our investment and inherent resilience of our business model. before i wrap up these remarks i want to reiterate that due to the confidential nature on the ongoing conversations between putsch and still other there is very little that can be said on the topic and we have shared those comments already We also want to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience and understanding as we postpone the Capital Market Day, which we were also truly looking forward to, on account of these ongoing discussions. In due course, we will look forward to sharing more. In the interim, we remain focused on executing our strategy with agility, supporting our brands and driving profitable growth. To conclude, Q1 reflects disciplined execution and a strong foundation for the year ahead. Our strong pipeline of innovation and initiative for the year reinforce our confidence in the outlook and our ability to deliver it. With that, I'll hand it over to Varenya. Thank you.

Thank you, José Manuel. With that, we come to the end of our prepared remarks and we'll begin Q&A. To ensure broad participation, we request that you limit yourselves to one question only. If time permits, we will return to you for any additional questions.

The next question comes from Joffrey Belliccia-Meller from Bofe Securities. Please go ahead.

Good evening. Thank you very much for taking my question. I guess I will stay away from the potential deal and discuss the guidance. You reiterated the guidance, which remains qualitative. So has your outlook on the growth of the prestige beauty market changed for the year? Or how should we think about it? I remember that a few months ago, Marc was discussing the 5% growth in consensus as being the right ballpark for the year. Do you confirm that this is still a number?

Thank you, Geoffrey, for your question. First, let me give you a little bit of color of how do we see the... performance of the premium market. We see that premium beauty still remains a very attractive consumer segment, and this is due to the global population with a strong appetite for innovation and for self-care. Having said that, inside of this premium beauty, we see fragrance. This is expected to remain, for us, the more dynamic category, and we see particularly growth focus in China, in Latin America, in Middle East and Africa. We also think that this segment is driven by the permutation of the fragrance. And in this case, as you know, we'll have a very strong portfolio of niche brands, which is growing faster than the overall fragrance market. Having said that, and after many years of sterile growth, we are seeing that the fragrance market is normalizing and is going towards historical levels. And we are also seeing that brands are taking different strategies to growth with more promotions, with more price offers, and also with innovating in mass. In this sense, we are not going to play this game. We will lean on the strength of our brands, and we remain confident that we will outperform through innovation. So it's hard to say now how do we foresee the market evolving, but if we have a look at Q1, we can share that selective fragrance market is growing around 3.5 in Q1-like, 4-like terms. This is based on the data at that time. We'll see the impact of the Middle East in the future months. We can share also with you that makeup is growing at a low, middle, single-digit growth. And we've seen derma, middle, single-digit growth. So we foresee a continuity of those first data for the year end. Hope this answers your questions.

Thank you very much. It was very clear. Thank you.

The next question comes from Aaron Adamski from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Good evening, Jose Manuel, Miko, and Varenya. Thanks for taking my questions. I have two. First, on the US launch of La Bomba, can you share with us how much did it contribute to the Q1 fragrance growth, and should we expect that benefit to continue or to reverse in the second quarter? And then my second question on capital returns, I noticed a slight change in outlook slide at the end around the capital return alternatives. And I just wanted to ask if we should read into that if that suggests if there is a possibility of a share buyback in the near term. Thank you.

Thank you, Aaron. First of all, let me take the first question about La Bomba. As you know, we launched in Europe and Latin America last year La Bomba, which became the number one launch in 2025 with great results exceeding our expectation. We just launched La Bomba in the US two weeks ago, so it's quite recent. We are ranking top five in those two weeks. We are expecting We are expecting no cannibalization in Good Girl, as we are seeing in the first two weeks. And we are extremely confident in these results. In the countries where we launched last year, we see continuous growth and continuous gaining on market share. Last year in Carolina Herrera, and this year Q1 also in Carolina Herrera, thanks to La Bomba. In terms of capital return, I'm going to hand out this question to Michelangelo, our CFO. Michelangelo.

Thank you, José Manuel. Aaron, with respect to capital allocation, our priority essentially will be remaining following our policy when it comes to dividend payout. So in this case, just a reminder, would be 40% of net profit reported levels. Again, the next one will be approved in our AGM that's going to be hold on the 29th of May. And then we continue to evaluate the different alternatives, but always bearing in mind that we're aiming not to have a capital structure of net debt over EBITDA levels below two times. So no real change whatsoever to our capital allocation structure there. I hope that answers your question, Aaron.

Yes, that's very helpful. And if I could just follow up quickly on the new Jean-Paul Gaultier launch. I think you mentioned in the press release. Can you give us a sense on how many distribution points you're targeting with this new product this year and whether it will also launch in the U.S. at some point this year? And should we expect that to have a meaningful impact on the numbers or no? Thank you.

Sure, Aaron. This is a very important launch for us. This launch will happen in the second semester of this year, and this will be the first time we launch a feminine fragrance in Jean-Paul Gaultier for the last 10 years. So we feel that there is an important opportunity in the feminine fragrance, which represents roughly 65% of the total market. We are well known but our strong position in masculine fragrance market which represents roughly 35% of the market and where we have a market share of 16.6%. So our ambition for the next years is to capitalize on the feminine market. We launched La Bomba last year. We have this important launch of Jean-Paul Gaultier in the second semester of 2026 with a very good momentum because the brand is enjoying a lot of momentum worldwide. And we will continue in the next two years capitalizing on these feminine launches through innovation. So we see that innovation is the name of the game from our side, and we want really to make a statement in the next three years with those important feminine launches. Hope that clarifies your question, Aaron.

Yes, very good. Thank you.

The next question comes from Celine Panuti from JPM. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Good evening and congratulations on your new appointment. My question, I understand you cannot talk about the deal, just my question is nonetheless understanding the motivation of talking or thinking about a merger. I think two years ago, we followed the IPO of Putsch. Clearly, your performance, and even today, you talked about the opportunities ahead. You seem to be very optimistic, and you flagged as well, Asia is still a lot to conquer. Why is it that Pooch cannot conquer all of that on a standalone basis? What has changed versus the narrative of the IPO? And as well, the fact that the family had been engaged on a solo basis for more than 100 years. And just have a follow-up question on, could you tell us how big is niche as a percentage of the total fragrance category? And when you said double digits, and I see how strong Asia is, and I think you mentioned it's one of your biggest brands. Am I right to believe it could be like in the 30% type of growth? Thank you.

Thank you, Celine, for your question. I really understand that there is a lot of curiosity about the progress of this discussion. However, unless an agreement is reached, there cannot be assurance regarding the transaction or the terms. Therefore, at this stage, I cannot comment further on this evolving situation. as of today the only thing i can confirm to you that conversation are ongoing but not final decision has been made yet and not agreement has been written i will say that that's proud that puts we are very proud of our first q1 results okay we are pleased with those sales and and we see that a solid start of the year Concerning your second question around niche, niche is enjoying a strong double-digit growth in each one of our four niche brands and in every single market worldwide. We see huge potential for niche. We experience amazing growth in Asia, but we are also seeing huge opportunities in North America. As you may know, the U.S. represents roughly 25% of the total niche global market. And we only account input for 15% of our sales. We are only $150 in terms of wholesale. Our main competitors are roughly 600 plus dollars. So we have a tremendous opportunity that we are going to take starting this year through expansion and escalation, which will be selective and productivity driven. We will increase our reach, but for sure without compromising our positioning and our productivity image. Hope this answers your question.

Yeah, this one, yes.

Thank you. Thank you, Celine.

The next question comes from Mariano Sachtman from Santander. Please go ahead.

Yes, good evening, Jose Manuel, Michelangelo, and Varenia. So my question is on Asia-Pacific, which was very, very strong. So could you provide more color, any particular country that you could flag on this superb growth? Also, if you could share approximately how much can be attributed to Nietzsche versus Charlotte Tilbury? And then lastly, on Asia-Pacific, If you could also comment on this acceleration that you're expecting, any plans that you could share for the future of this region. Thank you.

Thank you, Mariano, for this question. APAC represents roughly, in the global beauty market, around 39%. And in our case, in the case of Butch, it only accounts for 11%. Having said that, we have a very interesting late-for-late growth this quarter with plus 26%, and we have been enjoying double-digit growth for the last three quarters. So we think it's the right momentum for us to take the opportunity of APAC. In the last five years, our main focus was in the U.S., where we are reaching roughly a 21% penetration. And now it's the right moment for Asia. So if we want to go deeper into Asia, what we are doing is to focus in two different strategies depending on the area. For Northeast Asia, we are going to focus on consolidating our niche brands and charter delivery. As I was saying before to Celine, our niche brands are enjoying an amazing double-digit growth and Charlotte Tilbury is growing in a very fantastic path. So we are quite happy and we will focus on these niche brands and Charlotte Tilbury, as you may know, over the last years we created a subsidiary in Japan, we created a subsidiary in Korea, And we are going to take this opportunity to really focus on Northeast Asia. If we have a look to the other part of APAC, we see Southeast Asia, India and Oceania. Our focus will be in prestige fragrance and in derma. So we are setting a high level of ambition, but without compromising our profitability. We are excited with the results. The teams are extremely motivated, and the first results are extremely encouraging. I hope this answers your question.

Yes, thank you.

The next question comes from Jeff Stent from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.

Okay, thank you. Just one question and one housekeeping question. The question is, you know, just following on from the last response, would it be fair for us to assume, therefore, that we should see, you know, very strong growth in APAC for the foreseeable future, given that it's going to be much more of a focus for you than it has been, and you'll be putting more resource in the region. That's the question. And the housekeeping, if you could just confirm that the Middle East impact, the 120 basis points, that was just on EMEA as opposed to the group as a whole. Thank you.

Yes, thank you for the question. Starting with Middle East, Middle East roughly represent about 4% of our total sales. I can be transparent with that. And the impact in this first quarter was 1.2%. We see that first half we expect this impact to be 1%. So we are very careful of the situation and our first priority is the safety of all our employees. We can also share with you that travel retail is the most affected part of the Middle East business. And we see different levels of performance between Saudi and Dubai. But overall, we are taking good care of the situation. Your second question.

Just to confirm, the 120, that's on the group level as opposed to EMEA or EMEA?

Jeff, then... So the rough impact is 1.2% on the EMEA region. Just to help you with the math, it's around 8 million euros.

Concerning APAC, it's a priority for us in the long term. We are focused on how to perform in the long term. I really want to see that this level of ambition is going to happen without compromising about profitability. As I was saying before, we have huge potential for growth. If we take a brand like Charlotte Tilbury, for example, it's in a very reduced distribution, no more than $15 in China, not yet present in Korea, in Japan, or in Taiwan. If we think of our niche brands, we see high potential to grow. We are gaining market share, increasing our productivity per door, and we are extremely happy with those results. We will take a careful approach, but for sure, Asia is a long-term priority for us. Thank you. That answers your question.

Great. Thanks.

The next question comes from Tom Randall from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Good evening, all. Thanks for taking our question. Just the one from us. So we had noticed there wasn't any color given around Barbara's stern. So if you could provide an update on how the new strategy for the brand's going and any context on what extent you've pruned the SKU count and by how much you've reduced the distribution as you'd spoken about at the full year results. And are you seeing any good results so far? And what sort of timeframe do you expect the turnaround to take? Thank you very much.

Thank you, Tom, for your question. It's been roughly two years when we acquired this brand. In Putsch, our first two years are really dedicated to We then analyze the brands. So what we have been doing for those two years, first we put a lot of focus on reducing distribution. We cut roughly 30% of the existing doors. We also put a bit of focus on reducing the number of SKUs. So that was the first part of the brand. Second part, we have been working together with Barbara in new launches. We just launched our first product together, Peptide Serum, which launched three weeks ago with great results. It's today top two SKU in our portfolio. And we plan to launch our second launch together by the second half of the year in the anti-aging sector, with huge expectation as our number one launch. So main focus those two years have been about that. We have not go to new markets. We have concentrated in the markets where we were, roughly US, UK. and Germany. And as time goes by, we will start to first increase distribution in indoors, improve the existing location as we have been doing up to now, and we will analyze future market in the years to come. Hope this answers your question.

That's great. Thank you very much.

The next question comes from Luis Calaco from JB Capital. Please go ahead.

Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Just one question from my side regarding the makeup business. This quarter had a relatively softer comparable when we compare with the next quarters that we're going to have. What type of growth can we expect for the makeup, bearing in mind that you came from 90% growth in the third quarter, 27% in the fourth quarter, and now 9.2%. What type of growth can we expect, and can you comment on how this is explained by the sell-in and sell-out of the segment? Thank you very much.

Sure. I mean, first of all, what I, well, Luis, thank you for your question. And let me first share with you some data about how we are doing makeup. We are extremely pleased with our sellout results. If we take a look at the first quarter of the year, We have been growing market share worldwide. We have grown more than 1.4 in Germany, more than 1.8 in France, more than 1.1 in Italy. We have grown 0.2 in the US, 0.3 in Canada. So we are growing market share in every single country. We are extremely happy with the performance of our last Christmas campaign with great sell-out results. It's true that when you talk about makeup, it's mainly Chateau Tilbury and its brands in only one brand, has a very specific calendar with anniversaries to do in terms of innovation and in terms of call-out distribution. As we all know, last second half of the year, last year, we opened Amazon in the US and we also opened some doors in Australia with Mecca and in the US with Ulta. So anniversary of this opening will be compensated with a important innovation calendar for the second half of 2026 this first quarter we enjoy a growth of 9.2 percent like for like basis so we are happy for that and we are going to see In the second quarter, we're going to see important openings. For the first time, we will go to Boots with Sata Tilbury. We'll open a limited number of doors in the UK, and we have also important innovation. There is also this balance between selling and sell-out that will happen in the second quarter. We have a very important selling due to the Amazon piece last year that will be equilibrated. But we are extremely happy and confident due to the good results of our sell-out growth in every single market. Hope this answers your question.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for allowing me a follow up. I wanted to Middle East to understand the impact. So my calculation is that March was down 50%, five zero. Is that right? And can you explain where this came from and what are you baking when you say 1% for H1? Yes. What do you expect to be the collateral damages, so to speak, in terms of potential cost inflation, especially in glass, potential demand in travel retail globally, and how Europe consumer may react to a higher price point as well, general inflation in the fragrance category? And then maybe also, could you comment on America? There's been no question on this, and this region was quite weak. If you could comment on whether Latin America was negative, what drove quite a low level of growth in that region? Thank you.

So I'm going to pass to Miguel Angel to take your question before about the Middle East. So please, Miguel Angel.

Thank you, José Manuel. Thank you, Celine, for the question. So in terms of Middle East, and I think what Josema was explaining before in one of the questions asked on the topic, so we have been facing a harder pressure on the side of retail business over there versus the local business. These 8 million impact, again, this is the March impact, and we do expect that with the conflict continuing over Q2, that the overall impact on growth for the group during first half to be around 1%. That is how we are projecting the growth impacts due to the conflict in Middle East. To the topic with respect to profitability on how the cost pressures both on cost of goods or distribution could affect us, we are monitoring that reality. Given the current situation, even the evolution of our brands and again the plans we have for the year, we do still confirm our guidance for the year. to keep EBITDA margins flat versus the ones we had last year. And as a reminder, we're at 20.7% over net revenues. So that is a bit what we are expecting with respect to Middle East. And I hand it back to José Manuel to answer the question on the Americas.

So for the Americas, first of all, in North America, we have a very healthy situation with fragrance. The launch of Virgil is a good proof of that. And the way we are scaling our niche fragrance by Redo and Penhaligon. latin america as you know last quarters have this ups and down but we feel confident with the region we have a very important market share in this region we are putting as i was saying before efforts in south october we just launched last year second quarter second half sorry of the year in mexico with extraordinary results reaching already a three percent market share with a very few distribution doors so we are expanding this door And we are considering new markets in Latin America. Also, DERMA is an important priority for the future in Latin America. We have good results in Chile and Mexico, which are the main markets where we are starting this conquer of URIASH in the region. So we feel excited. And La Bomba was a great success. We have a very important launch now in Carina Herrera, which is the number one brand in the area with 212. So it's specifically done for Latin America. And we have also the launch of Jean-Paul Gaultier. So we have important expectation. Nice also was not a priority in the area. It's getting more and more relevant. We launched in Mexico with good, good results. We are extremely happy, and we see much more potential than we saw at the very beginning, and the same came for Brazil. So we are confident with that. Thank you.

Just to clarify, Miguel Angel, the 1% for H1 is at the group level, not in your region.

You're referring to the overall performance for the group in H1?

The Middle East impact.

The Middle East impact in the overall figures for the group on growth to be around 1%. Super.

Thank you so much.

Thanks, Celine. That was the last question in the queue. Thank you all for your questions today. We will be hosting our annual general meeting on the 29th of May and will be presenting our Q2 and H1 results during the week of July 27th. we look forward to speaking again then thank you