Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. I am Gelly, your chorus call operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Sarantis Group conference call and live webcast to present and discuss the Sarantis Group full year 2023 financial results. All participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, you may signal an operator by pressing star and 0 on your telephone. As a kind reminder, you may also join the webcast by clicking on the link provided on the invitation. Please be reminded that this presentation contains the formal disclaimer with regards to forward-looking statements. The presentation and discussion are conducted subject to this disclaimer. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Ioannis Bouras, Deputy CEO, and Mr.
Christos Varsos, Group Chief Financial Officer. Gentlemen, you may now proceed.
Thank you. Hello, everyone. Welcome to our call about the annual results of 2023. So we may proceed with a short presentation regarding the results. We have already received the press release and all the details. However, we have a short deck that you can see also, the ones following the presentation via webcast. And the presentation will be available also after the call in our website. So, I would like to start by saying that if you see the first slides with the numbers, that we are very proud ending 2023 with significant growth in all of our KPIs, in the financial KPIs into the business. Strong organic growth revenue. Just to remind here to everyone that this is pure organic growth for the Sarantis Group because Stella Pack will be coming into our numbers from 20 to the start of 2024.
So strong growth +8.30%, a bit better than we have said in the nine months and the six-month results. Strong finish of the year 2024. EBITDA €61.6, +35%. EBIT €47.1 million, +46%. And of course, EBT €48.6, +53.2%. So all the numbers, the ratings, and the percentages are going to the right direction from top line to the bottom line. Of course, as we said previously in our previous calls, the focus on our margins is critical and qualitative and quantitative KPI at the same time, providing confidence that the things that we are doing in the business they are building a very sustainable growth engine. And of course, with a very good flow-through of the numbers from the top line down to the bottom line. So gross profit significant growth this year. EBITDA margin 12.8%, +254 basis points, which is a significant improvement.
That is resulting EBIT and EBT, significant growth in terms of percentages as well. Very healthy balance sheet, very strong cash position at the end of the year. It's, I think the work is happening there is significant from the whole team, improving by 12 days working capital. And the net cash position EUR 43.6 million. Christos Varsos will have more details in the following charts of the presentation. And of course, as always, this is our job as well, enhancing shareholders' value, with a proposed dividend of EUR 15 million, which is around 38.2% of net profit. So, very strong numbers, we believe, a good year for us in terms of numbers. So we can move on to the more specifics, a little bit on the categories.
Consistently on the way we have presented six-monthly results, is the way we are looking at the categories and how we are moving on in terms of top line. Beauty and skin, personal care, home care solutions, private label—for, for transparency, we have it separately, but private label is in the home care solutions category. And of course, strategic partnerships. We have a strong growth in beauty and skin, which is a strategic priority for us disproportionate growth. The growth continued for the full year, 32%. And of course, it's a 10% contribution to sales, but the up-and-coming segment for us and very strategic in terms of growth and mix, improvement of the mix for the whole business. Personal care is a core profit generator, as we said before. Strong growth in top line. Also, we have a good volume growth.
The top line growth is driven mainly by mix, but also some price increases at the annual highs in 2023. Home Care Solutions, we have a drop in volume, 2.6%, but growth in top line. This is, of course, coming together with price increases, but also is a normalization of the market in terms of volume as 2020, 2021, and 2022 has been significant increases because of COVID period for Home Care Solutions category. Private Label, we have a drop in top line. Just to explain here is the reason for that is that because of raw material prices dropping, we have to follow through the prices to the our customers as a Private Label business. So that's why we have a drop in sales, although it's a small part of the business, 6.4%.
As we have explained previously, and I'm emphasizing right now, private label is a complementary part of our business and is there to support volumes in-house home care solutions factories and is not a huge strategic priority for Sarantis Group. In the strategic partnerships, of course, we have a growth as well here, + 4.6 drop in volume, which including some one-off business that we lost versus 2022, which is some businesses in Serbia and Greece. But in the strategic partnerships, as I said before, it's an area that we are working on, a few bigger partnerships, more strategic, and more value enhancing for Sarantis Group. And as you can see, the contribution is 27%. If we move to the, to the markets, here, we can see a growth in every market we operate.
If you remember, from the six-month results, we have a drop in value in Greece due to some one-off business that we lost from Wella business in Greece. In the full year, we have 3.7% growth. If we exclude the Wella business, again, it's around 5.5% for Greece. Poland, +2.9%. In Poland business, we include the private label that you saw before is dropping. If you exclude the private label, it's 7.4% growth, significant growth for our branded business in Poland. It's a strong comeback for the business, and you will see later the EBIT comeback as well. Romania, very strong growth. Czech and Slovakia, fantastic growth this year, with across categories and customers. West Balkans, very good growth as well. And Ukraine, the momentum continue.
We've, like, the six months, the full year, Ukrainian business delivers good growth in terms of top line, but also you will see later in bottom line. Bulgaria and Hungary, Bulgaria very strong growth as well, multiple categories. Hungary was a little bit tougher this year, in terms of volume and the way the business is structured in our market. Overall, you see the contribution of every country here. And as you can see, the big markets are performing very, very well as well for 2023. So when we move to the simplification efficiency, just a reminder, this agenda remains strong, and we continue to the journey of simplifying the business and releasing energy in the organization. As you saw from the cash position of the business, stock management has been fantastic this year.
This is helping a lot the cash release of the business. The new things I would like to mention versus the six-month here is that the two big projects that are related to our efficiency and improvement of the accuracy and speed in the organization has to do with the planning, the business planning system. It's already started the implementation, and we're expecting by Q3 2024 to be live. The new SAP implementation that is the next level in terms of ERP system in our business, we're already starting the design phase that is going to finish by Q2. The first implementation expected in the first group of countries in January 2025. Stella Pack completion acquisition, of course, is a leading Polish consumer household business, number two in the market before.
25 years of experience and, of course, presence in the market, especially in Poland, but also in Romania with sizable business and a small business in Ukraine. Together with Stella Pack, we have four production facilities. Of course, these facilities reinforcing the production footprint, the manufacturing footprint of Sarantis. Of course, this acquisition, as you may imagine, reinforcing the leadership position for in the market in Poland and, of course, made our position in Romania even stronger. Of course, that is in line with our journey of growing the category of home care solutions in the region. So, together with Stella Pack now, we have more ammunition in the journey of growing the categories in the region, in the households. Of course, the contribution of Stella in the circular economy is significant, is one of the differentiators of this business.
The business is working only with recycled plastic, and this is a big asset for us and for the future regarding our garbage bags production facilities around the group. Of course, working with waste is a significant differentiator not only for productivity, cost, and sustainability, but also is important in general for the societies and the communities that we are working in the region. So Stella Pack, the integration process already started. As you know, 12th of January, we have the sign-off, so the business belongs to Sarantis. So it's a huge project now that we started all the integration process with the teams from both sides. I would say that the process is going very nice and smooth. I think all the elements and the opportunities of this integration will be highlighted in the following weeks and months.
That's a small introduction from my side. I would like to pass over to Christos Varsos to give us a little bit more details about our specific numbers. Okay?
Thank you, Giannis. We delivered a solid full-year performance, growing both top and bottom line and expanding our margins. Net sales came to a record level of EUR 482.2 million, the highest ever achieved by the group. EBITDA rose by 35.3% versus 2022 to EUR 61.6 million, with the EBITDA margin growing by 254 basis points versus 2022 to 12.8%. EBIT at EUR 47.1 million is higher compared to our full-year outlook as of EUR 43 million as shared after our six-month results. EBIT margin came to 9.8%, a 251 basis points improvement versus 2022. With strong financial income into 2023, we finished the year with net profit of EUR 39.3 million, up by almost 50% versus 2022, while at the same time, we maintained a strong balance sheet with a net cash position of EUR 43.6 million.
The board will propose to the AGM an increased dividend by 50%, a payment of EUR 15 million versus EUR 10 million of dividend paid last year. This represents a payout ratio of more than 38% for a second year in a row. As mentioned and announced separately, the Stella Pack acquisition was concluded in January, and we are now integrating the business to the group. Last week, we also repaid Stella's external debt from own cash reserves. I would like also to remind that during the year, we have bought the remaining minority of 20% of Polipak for EUR 5 million and repaid their debt as well. It was EUR 20.9 million. Moving now to our full income statement, you can see clearly the growth across all lines.
Focus on our core portfolio, growing across all our categories and especially the higher margin ones of beauty and skin care and personal care, helps the mix of net sales, while our ability to capture growth opportunities in 2023, and combined by pricing initiatives that we implemented in the last quarter of 2022, the first month of 2023, supported our net sales growth. This, together with the gradual normalization of raw material costs and inflationary pressures, allowed gross profit margin to grow across our categories and geographical footprint. In absolute terms, gross profit grew by 20.1% to more than EUR 182 million, improving the gross profit margin by 370 basis points versus prior year, coming to 37.8%. The above and the control of expenses supported EBIT growth by almost 46% versus 2022 and EBIT margin growth by 251 basis points to 9.8%.
to the strong operational performance expected in the EBIT line, we also achieved strong EBT with the support of financial income, which improved versus prior year, mainly due to interest income on deposits while waiting for completion of Stella Pack and effects. Net income rose by almost 50%, EUR 39.3 million from EUR 26.3 million in 2022, and earnings per share grew to EUR 0.59 from EUR 0.39 in 2022. Moving now to the performance in net sales and EBIT by business unit, split between the eight business units that we report since the six-month results of this year. We had a balanced performance across the BU and the ABUs with all of them having significant growth both in top line and EBIT. For Greece, we see net sales growing by 3.7% to almost EUR 156 million.
In the full year, Greece managed to grow further despite the termination of Wella contract that impacted the first six months' numbers and had a year with strong net sales. On a like-for-like basis, excluding the Wella sales impact, net sales would grow by 5.5%. At the same time, the EBIT and EBIT margins for Greece are growing by 24% and 174 basis points respectively, despite also the launch of new Clinéa brand in the beauty, skin, sun care category. Again, on a like-for-like basis, excluding Wella and the launch of Clinéa, EBIT would grow by 41.8%, and EBIT margin would be more than 300 basis points. Most of the countries had a double-digit growth this year, with Romania, Czech and Slovakia and Bulgaria business units having the highest net sales growth. All countries showed also significant EBIT growth, and all contributed heavily in the EBIT margin improvement.
It is important to note here also that the performance of Ukraine, which despite all the problems in the country, finished the year with more than 12% growth of net sales and +70% in EBIT terms. Moving now to our performance by category. We see balanced performance across our categories with strong growth in net sales and healthy margins with significant upside from prior year, especially in our core categories of beauty and skin, personal care, and home care solutions. In the beauty and skin category, we had the launch of Clinéa, which impacted the numbers. Clinéa was launched in May with investment behind the launch, whereas the revenue followed in the second part of the year.
Despite the sales growth of clinéa, which smoothened the impact compared to the first half of the year, still more time is required to balance it in full. Beauty, skin, care is a high-margin category, key to our core strategy for the group's growth, so investment in launching clinéa is fully in line with our strategy. Excluding the clinéa impact, the category EBIT margin would grow by 281 basis points compared to the drop of 177 basis points as depicted in this slide, and EBIT would grow by 57%. In personal care, EBIT grew by 55%, and earnings margin improved by 300 basis points to 12.8%. I remind you that this category for us is a core profit generator with large contribution to net sales as well.
In private label sales in Polipak, we had the pressure of the second part of the year, as Giannis also explained, mainly by reducing the average price as a direct result of raw materials improvement, more moves from competition. For strategic partnerships, finally, EBIT grew by 13.5% to EUR 7.4 million. Moving now to our balance sheet. We have a healthy balance sheet which provides the firepower and flexibility to invest organically, to support the digital transformation of the group, and be able to fuel M&A activity. As of 31st December, we had a stable financial position with net cash of EUR 43.6 million. Cash position was fueled on the one hand by the profitability, but also by the improvement of operating working capital by 12 days year-over-year. The strength of the group's balance sheet supports financing with better terms as we move forward.
The RRF loan for the digital transformation, we discussed this on the six-month results, was committed before the year-end but has not drawn yet. We are working on a similar arrangement for our warehouse in Oinofyta project, where we will start the building process later this year. In January 2024, we concluded the acquisition of Stella Pack, and last week, we repaid their external debt of around EUR 7 million from cash reserves. Following the acquisition of Stella and the external debt repayment, the group turned to a marginal net debt of EUR 5-EUR 10 million, thus we have significant net debt, especially when compared with EBITDA of almost EUR 62 million that we had this year. Finally, we have committed but not yet drawn EUR 34 million of debt.
We have another loan also to be committed, another EUR 8 million, which we use as a war chest to fund further acquisitions as these arise. As we discussed, we enhanced shareholders' value. As already mentioned, the board of directors will propose to the AGM the payment of EUR 15 million dividend, which represents a 38.2 payout ratio of our net profit. This is EUR 0.224 per share versus 14.3 cents in the prior year. I remind you that in the first six months of the year, we paid EUR 10 million of dividends, again a 38% payout ratio to the full year 2022 net profit. Earnings per share rose by 50.3% to EUR 0.59 versus EUR 0.39 in the prior year. Finally, we have a share buyback program in place. I would like now to pass to the operator to open the floor for your questions. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will begin the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star followed by one on their telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, then you may press star and two. Please use your handset when asking your question for better quality. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. One moment for the first question, please. The first question is from the line of Svyriadi Natalia with Eurobank Equities. Please go ahead.
Yes. Hello. Good afternoon. I hope you can hear me. Thank you for taking my questions. I have, well, I have two questions regarding actually the costs and the EBIT. Have you seen a rise in transportation costs given the geopolitical developments now in the Middle East and, you know, the interdiction of ships and all these stuff? And what about also the commodity cost environment currently? And as a follow-up on this, I was wondering if the almost 10% EBIT levels seem sustainable, give or take with the various rationalization and other projects you are undergoing ahead. Should we consider this as something, you know, that is sustainable there and maybe rising? Thank you.
Yes. Yeah. Okay. Thank you for the question. Yes. We see some costs, transportation costs rising, from containers in, because of the Red Sea crisis. However, the growth of the cost there is not, is lower than the previous one we had in 2022. At this moment in time, there is an increasing cost, maybe double or triple in terms of prices than before. That is related to a specific part of the business. So we're already addressing actions around this and how we can compensate that increase. And, at this moment in time, we don't see the need for any significant pressure in terms of inflation or huge cost increases in the rest of the business. At the same time, I would say that there are some further reductions in terms of raw materials versus the average cost of 2023.
So we believe that the balance will be neutral for any costs that rise because of the Red Sea crisis and the reduction of the rest of the costs. So, if I may say something more here from a consumer's point of view, we have to be very, very cautious. I mean, the high inflation environment of the last two years created a different place in the market. So we need to be very, very cautious in terms of volume. And volume for us is also critical, going forward on how we can sustain our volumes and keep growing also the volumes, not only the values, right? So, we don't see any significant risk at this moment in time, if we balance both raw materials direction and the Red Sea crisis. The second question about the margin, the answer is yes.
The way the direction of travel for the business to sustain and keep an EBIT margin 9.8% and above is something that we are looking for. So this is something that we're working as a team. Regarding the future and how we see the EBIT margin, the direction of traveling on that, we have a session on Thursday that we're going to discuss, an investor day, as you may know, that we are going to explain the next five years and how we see the numbers, including the percentage of EBIT margin. But the answer is yes.
After the Investor Day also, and the press release will follow, and the relevant presentation with the five-year numbers will be on our website following the meeting on Thursday. So from Friday on, you'll be able to see in more detail all the relevant information.
Okay. Great. Thank you for this. Could you also, I don't know if you can, do that. Could you also remind us of your CapEx plans for the current year? Or are you going to say this also on Thursday, so you know, just adjusting gross how much?
Gross, if you remember, from the discussions, we'll expand on CapEx for the full five years on Thursday. However, for this year, just a reminder because we had this discussion before on the six- and nine-month results, we expect around EUR 20 million of CapEx this year. A portion will relate to Oinofyta warehouse that we plan to build, around EUR 7 million. It's a digital transformation, which is around EUR 5 million this year. And we have now Stella, and we have also the rest of the group. So in total, expect around EUR 20 million, but I think more details will follow on Thursday, where you'll be able to see the evolution of CapEx over the next five years.
Okay. Great. Thank you very much.
As a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star and one on your telephone. For our audio participants, once again, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. There are no audio questions. Ms. Svyriadi Natalia has a follow-up question from Eurobank Equities. Please go ahead.
Well, I have a follow-up on Stella Pack. I think I heard you said that after the Stella Pack completion, you have four production facilities. Is this for the group in total, or is this coming from Stella Pack? I just wanted to clarify that because I wasn't.
Oh, this is the extra ones from Stella Pack.
Okay. This is on top of the four plants you have?
Yes. Yes.
That's just coming in now.
Yeah. So total, total as a group, we have eight right now.
Okay. Great. Thank you. How has the Stella Pack going been going, the integration process and everything? You mentioned.
We have already, yes, we have already started. As I said, the integration process is going quite smoothly. There is a plan in place on how we integrate the businesses in Romania, in Poland, and, of course, how we work further on the manufacturing footprint and what improvements need to be made. That includes some CapEx investments. But this process is ongoing, of course, and we have to see things step by step. So things are doing well, and I think we'll be ready. We will say a little bit more on Thursday. But of course, the majority of the benefits or the clearer picture we'll get over the next few months. A lot of work is happening, though.
Yeah. I thought so. I was wondering if it's going as you were thinking it would go, but probably it is much, much easier.
Yes. Yes. It's going as we were thinking.
Yeah. Okay.
If you remember, we talked about EUR 3.5 million synergies. Yes, over the next three years, it looks like we are going to this direction, and the work of the team is to go even faster. So, this is confirmed.
Okay. Thank you.
For our audio participants, as a final reminder, to register for a question, please press star and one on your telephone. There are no further audio questions at this time. We will now proceed with our questions from the webcast from our webcast participants. And I quote, Mr. Emmanuel de Figueiredo , and I apologize if I haven't said the last name correctly, from LBV Asset Management. Looking at the profitability split by region, Poland posted a much lower profitability versus the group average. Can you provide some context for this? Will profitability in Poland improve significantly in 2024 with expected synergies from Stella Pack acquisition consolidated from January this year?
Yes. As I said, during my introduction and my slides, Poland, in the numbers here includes also the private label, the almost the whole private label business, which is impacting profitability, which you saw that, private label, is not insignificant in terms of profitability. So this is affecting negatively the, the total Poland profitability. That's the one reason. So if we exclude the, the private label business, the profitability is increasing significantly. On top of that, and, we said that in previous calls, in Poland, it's the majority of the business is a household business, home care solutions business. And in terms of beauty and skincare, the, the contribution of the category is, much smaller than the rest of the countries. And that is something that is impacting the overall profitability of the country.
This is something that needs to be addressed from our side, in the future and how we improve also that category in the Polish environment. And definitely, Stella Pack, 90% of the synergies are getting into Polish profitability. So definitely, in the following period, we're going to see the benefits coming through from the synergies with Stella Pack.
Thank you. Another question, from Mr. de Figueiredo from LBV Asset Management. And I quote, "For modeling purposes, would it be reasonable to calculate that Poland in 2024 will become your number one market above Greece?
Yes. Net sales net sales-wise, yes, it's going to be the biggest market of the group, above Greece. But this is net sales, right? From profitability, we believe that still Greece will be the number one.
Thank you. Our next question is from Mr. Alexis Watson with Grandeur Peak Global Advisors. And I quote, "What EBIT margin should we expect on the Stella Pack business?
For the Stella Pack, for the first year for 2024, we assumed and we have discussed this in the past, around EUR 78 million-EUR 80 million, EUR 80 million net sales. And we expect to have EBITDA now including synergies. Including this year, we expect as Ioannis mentioned, over the next two years, we expect EUR 3.5 million synergies. EUR 1.5 million synergies will be this year. So with this, EBITDA will be should be around EUR 10 million. So a 13% margin, so accretive to the group. In EBIT margins, it should be we expect around 7.5. So it is EUR 7.5 million. So around 9.5% in terms of EBIT margin. But looking at EBITDA and so now, you know, the idea is that it accrues that's coming as a standalone business with the synergies and the synergies we expect next year, the margins will be further improved.
Thank you. Another question from Mr. Watson. After the sale of the Estée Lauder JV and excluding the investment in clinéa, what is a normal EBIT margin level to expect?
So I think this one we have already mentioned, that the 9.8% is a base for us. And as you will see in the next five years, the plans we have and we're going to share with you, investors, on Thursday, is confirming that. There is a great focus for us, the percentage margin for EBIT, that everything starts from the gross margin, of course, and all the rest of the lines. So you have to consider 9.8% as a base for the future.
Thank you. We have another follow-up from Mr. Figueiredo from LBV Asset Management. I believe you are looking at Asia as a possible area of expansion. Can you briefly provide some color on how you plan to do that?
Yeah. Mm-hmm. We have that we've done a mentioning on that on, in six-month results and, about Asia expansion of our beauty and skincare business. As part of the strategies, beauty and skin is the category that we do selective international expansion in specific countries or regions. So Asia, just to give you a brief, one of our brands, which is Bioten, is very well placed in one of the biggest retailers in beauty and skin in Asia, holding a third position in the market right now, which is a great result. And we have already shipped and we are launching now clinéa, our new clean beauty brand in Philippines, which is another initiative that we believe a lot, and the local players also believing in that.
So I would say that, in Asia, a lot of energy, a lot of investment, a lot of thinking and design going behind the growth of the market in Philippines. And together with our partners, we're working on potential expansion in other markets in Southeast Asia, where skin and beauty category is growing 20%-25% every year as a category. So winning in that category in that specific region is great for Sarantis Group and very promising. On top of that, we are scoping and we are working on new things or new projects in other territories, whether this territory can be Middle East or other markets that may be also important for us, and we believe that we can play and win with our categories and our brands.
So, I think I give you also the flavor of this is Asia, which is, of course, we have a successful case that we need to build on. But also, as a group, as a team, we're looking also for other options and new opportunities in other attractive markets around the world.
Thank you. Mr. de Figueiredo has another follow-up. Can you briefly provide the rationale for the buyback program and how many shares you would expect to buy in 2024?
Well, we, we have an ongoing buyback program, and we'll put it also again because the current buyback program finishes in April, and we'll put it in the next AGM to actually renew it. The idea is that we continue buying the same way we have been before. I cannot mention specific amount for the full year, but we will continue buyback as we deem along.
Thank you. The next question from our webcast participant, Thibaut Maissin , from the company Gay-Lussac Gestion . And apologize again if I am not pronouncing these names correctly. And I quote, "Thank you for the great presentation. Can we have a sense of on-volume dynamics since the beginning of the year? What about the pricing environment? Please differentiate it between the different product categories.
Regarding pricing environment, I think, that's why I said that before that volume is really critical in terms of if you want to keep growing, you need to grow your volumes. Pricing, very minimum, across the markets. There is a lot of pressure from a consumer point of view. Of course, corrections can happen or new propositions, but, I think you have to work internally on your mix, on your cost of the products, internal costs, and not commodity costs. And pricing will be minimum, in the different markets after, two or three years of significant inflation. When it comes to the categories, I think, the start of the year, for 2024, I have to say it has been positive. Beauty and skin for us is a category that we believe, from a volume point of view, we have to continue the growth and value.
As I said, it's the disproportionate growth for us. That's a big, big one. Personal Care, the mix of the categories and the volume will be more or less flat for the ongoing categories and for 2024. We don't see significant; there's a lot of competition there. Home Care Solutions, we have to grow category, and this is our objective. And we believe that things will be more positive in 2024 after the removal of some COVID-related categories from the previous years. So depending on the category, of course, different dynamics in terms of volume. Volume is always difficult, but at the end of the day, volume is the real growth.
The focus of the business is also growing volume per category and is going to be very precise on the way to change the volumes in different markets and categories.
Thank you. Another follow-up from the same participant. "Will you be providing a working capital objective or a free cash flow guidance during Thursday's call?
Yes, we will be providing free cash flow guidance for the next five years on the Thursday's call.
Thank you. And we have a final question from Mr. John Kalogeropoulos from Beta Securities. Actually, it's two questions. And I quote, "Do you see any further improvement in WC days in 2024?" and the second question is, "Dividend payout assumption for 2024 to be on the same levels as 2023?
So in terms of working capital improvement, yes, we'll have improvement, we'll have more improvement, and it is a key strategy for us across the countries to make sure that we improve the working capital days, moving forward. So you'll be able to see also this moving forward as well. In terms of dividend payout assumptions, yes, it is fair to say that we'll continue on the consistent level of 38% + as payout rates on moving forward, obviously in higher profits.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Bouras for any closing comments. Thank you.
Nothing special from us. I thank you for joining the call. We are in a very happy position to present these numbers for Sarantis Group. Again, the team is working very hard on making all the strategies come to life. And of course, a lot of work behind the specifics, the details that our business is facing in the region. And of course, one of the key themes that we are working together with everybody in Sarantis Group is to be the key cog in this, as we say, is adaptability. The environment is always fluid, and changes happen. But we are very strong in terms of keeping the framework, everything within the framework that we have in growing the business and very focused on our results delivery as well, the numbers delivery, which is critical for everyone.
We are very happy also to see it get also the from the consumers, from our stakeholders, that all the thinking and the strategies that we're implementing are working quite well in terms of delivery. More of all of these things and a little bit more detail in terms of the future, we will be happy to share on Thursday. So I think Thursday is a critical day for Sarantis. I think since many, many years, Sarantis, I think it's the first time that Sarantis is presenting a future plan for the next five years in detail. And I think, together with the rest of the executive team, we will be able to give you a full picture of what we are exactly describing, how this will be executed and how we believe and we're supporting our future forecast for our numbers as well.
So that's one that's a critical one, I believe, for it's a step change and, of course, a milestone for Sarantis Group. So thank you again for being here today. Maybe some of you will see you on Thursday, either face-to-face or virtually.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now concluded, and you may disconnect your telephone. Thank you for calling, and have a good afternoon.