Good afternoon, this is the Chorus Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Amplifon first quarter 2024 results conference call. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Should anyone need assistance during the conference call, they may signal an operator by pressing star and zero on their telephone. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Ms. Francesca Rambaudi , Investor Relations and Sustainability Senior Director of Amplifon. Please go ahead, madam.
Thank you. Good afternoon, and welcome to Amplifon's conference call on first quarter 2024 results. Before we start, a few logistical comments. Earlier today, we issued a press release related to our results, and this presentation is posted on our website in the investor section. The call can be accessed also via webcast, and dial-in details are on Amplifon's website, as well as on our press release. I have to bring your attention to the disclaimer on slide two, as some of the statements made during this call may be considered forward-looking statements. With that, I'm now pleased to turn the call over to Amplifon CEO, Enrico Vita.
Thank you, Francesca, and good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Today, I'm pleased to comment on a simply excellent quarter. Definitely the best way to start the 2024. I'm very happy not only for our financials, but also because we see the results of all the hard work we did last year in response to a market demand, which in Europe, as you know, was weaker than expected. The further good news is that at last, in Europe, in Q1, the market demand finally seems to have started to normalize, and it was back to growth. We estimate something in the region of +1%. Also, it is important to remark that this growth was impacted by the early Easter of this year compared to last year, when Easter occurred in April.
Obviously, we will have a benefit in April of this year for the same reason, but I will come back to this at the end when we talk about the outlook. L et's immediately review some of the quarter's key numbers and achievements together. Revenues were up circa 9% at constant exchange rates and circa 6% at current exchange rates. The composition of the growth was excellent, and in fact, the organic growth was at a remarkable 5.6%, especially considering what I said about the early Easter. In addition to the usual mention of our performance in the Americas, today, I would like to highlight our performance also in Asia Pacific, which delivered circa 9% of organic growth.
M&A contribution was also strong, at around 3% overall, accelerating further during this first quarter, also thanks to more targets willing to sell at attractive multiples for us. In particular, I would like to mention the continued growth of our directly operated stores network in the U.S., thanks to the recent acquisitions of two of our main franchisees. Today, we can count on a network of directly operated stores of nearly 400 stores. Hence, we are moving forward with conviction and at full speed in one of our strategic priorities. Regarding the EBITDA recurring, we delivered around EUR 137 million, thanks to a record margin increase of 100 basis points versus 2023, while in absolute terms, the increase was of circa 11%.
Concerning profitability, I wanted to mention again the APAC result, where we see and we are now reaping the fruits of all the work done over the past, over the past months, and where we now see the benefits of the full integration of Bay Audio. Finally, we posted a net profit recurring of circa EUR 36 million with a margin at 6.2%. As said, all in all, we are very happy about our results in this initial part of the year, and now I will end up... I will hand it over to Gabriele to give you more information about our financials.
Thanks, Enrico, and good afternoon to everybody. Moving to chart number four, we have a quick look at the group financial performance in Q1, which, as already commented by Enrico, posted a truly excellent start to the year. In the quarter, revenue at constant FX increased by around 9% versus 2023, with a strong and above market organic growth at 5.6%. Despite the negative impact of early Easter in March, which occurred last year in April, with one trading day less in the quarter, equivalent to circa 1.5% growth. The very tough comparison base. In fact, the revenues in Q1 2023 were 9% higher than in Q1 2022. T hen the global market demand is still driven by a strong U.S. market, with Europe back to growth and progressively normalizing.
M&A contribution from bolt-ons, primarily in Uruguay, U.S., and China, strongly accelerated and was over 3%. FX was negative for 2.7%, primarily due to Argentine peso, U.S. dollar, Australian dollar, and New Zealand dollar depreciation versus euro. EBITDA recurring came in at circa EUR 137 million, with a record margin of 23.9%, up 100 basis points versus 2023, thanks to the field productivity measures successfully implemented in H2 2023. Moving to slide number five, we have a look at EMEA strong performance. Revenue growth at constant FX was 4.3% versus 2023, with a solid and above market organic growth at circa 3%, despite the early Easter and one trading day less in the quarter. M&A contribution related to bolt-ons, mainly in France and Germany, was 1.4%.
We posted solid growth across all core markets. EBITDA amounted to EUR 109 million, up over 9% versus 2023, with a record margin at 29.1%, up 130 basis points, thanks to the already mentioned field productivity measures significantly paying off. Moving to chart number six, we have a look at another outstanding performance of Americas, despite a very challenging comparison base, with the revenues in Q1 2023 growing 20% versus Q1 2022. Revenue growth in the quarter was over 20% at constant FX, with an excellent organic growth at around 13%, driven by a continued very strong performance in the U.S., especially Miracle-Ear Direct Retail and Amplifon Hearing Healthcare. M&A contribution, primarily related to U.S. and Uruguay, was over 8%. The FX impact was -11.4%.
Inflation accounting impacted less than two percentage points negatively on FX and positively on organic growth. EBITDA amounted to EUR 26.2 million, with margin at 23.7%, up 6% versus Q1 2023, reflecting the business mix with the fast growth of Miracle-Ear Direct Retail, the integration of recent acquisition, and the strong reinvestment in the business. Moving to slide seven, we have a look at Asia Pac performance, where we posted an excellent revenue growth, as well as an outstanding profitability expansion. Revenues were up 13.5% at constant FX, mainly driven by the outstanding organic growth reported across all main markets, and despite a very challenging comparison base. M&A contribution was 4.7% related to China, where today we count on over 410 points of sale.
FX headwind was significant at over -5%, due to the appreciation of euro versus both Australian and New Zealand dollars. EBITDA reached EUR 24.2 million, increasing by 11.2% as compared to 2023, with margin at 28.1%, 80 basis points higher versus Q1 2023, also after the very strong growth of China. Moving to slide eight, we appreciate the Q1 profit and loss. In the quarter, total revenues increased by 6.1% to EUR 573 million, with a strong 5.6 organic growth, and versus Q1 2023.
EBITDA recurring came in at around EUR 137 million, increasing circa 11% or over EUR 13 million, with margin at all-time high level of 23.9%, 100 basis points above Q1 2023, thanks to the field productivity measures taken in H2 last year. EBITDA reported was around EUR 136 million, up around EUR 20 million versus 2023, after EUR 1 million one-off costs. D&A, including PPA, was EUR 71 million versus EUR 62 million in 2023, increasing EUR 9 million in light of the growing investments made during the last years in network, digital transformation, and innovation, leading the recurring EBIT to EUR 66 million versus EUR 61 million in Q1 2023.
Net financial expenses amounted to EUR 14.4 million, versus EUR 11.9 million in Q1 last year, primarily due to the increase in interest rates on short term and on the limited portion of long-term facilities at variable rate. Since, as you know, most of our long-term debt is at fixed rate, the higher figurative interest expenses on network leases following the application of IFRS 16, the non-monetary negative impact of inflation accounting on the Argentinian subsidiary. Tax rate, as usually, slightly higher in the first quarter versus the following quarters due to seasonality, posted a 10 basis points reduction versus 2023, leading recurring net profit at around EUR 36 million versus EUR 35 million last year. Moving to slide 9, we appreciate the cash flow evolution.
Operating cash flow before lease liabilities was in the period equal to EUR 97 million, roughly in line with the EUR 101 million euro level achieved in last year. After repayment of lease liabilities growing by EUR 2 million, operating cash flow was equal to EUR 67 million. Net CapEx, increased by over EUR 3 million to EUR 30 million, leading free cash flow to over EUR 37 million. Net cash out for M&A increased significantly, nearly doubling to around EUR 71 million versus EUR 39 million last year, following the significant acceleration of bolt-on M&A, primarily in France, Germany, Uruguay, the U.S., and China, with over 150 shops acquired in the quarter. NFP ended at EUR 883 million, versus EUR 852 million at year-end 2023.
Moving to slide 10, we have a look at the debt profile trend and key financial ratios. As mentioned, the net financial debt closed at EUR 883 million, with the liquidity accounting for EUR 215 million, short-term debt accounting for around EUR 376 million, and medium long-term debt accounting for around EUR 721 million. Following the IFRS 16 application, lease liability amounted to around EUR 507 million, leaving the sum of net financial debt and lease liability to close EUR 1.4 billion. Equity ended up at around EUR 1.14 billion. Looking at financial ratios, net debt over EBITDA ended at 1.52 times, stable versus December last year, after the strong CapEx and bolt-on M&A plan. Net debt over equity ended at 4.78 times.
I would now hand over to Enrico for the outlook and the closing remarks.
Thank you, Gabriele. W e are at the end of today's presentation, which contains several very positive messages. First, the market demand in Europe is back to slight growth after several negative quarters. Second, our field productivity measures are delivering very strong results. Third, we are progressing fast and delivering on our strategic priorities. Hence, we are very pleased with our performance in Q1, a great quarter, which strengthens our confidence in a very positive 2024 even further. Finally, I want to share that April was very strong, too, up by a remarkable high teens, also thanks to the early Easter in March 2024.
Regarding Q2, please also note that due to a very peculiar calendar situation in June, we will have five weekends in the month, so at the end, we will have only one more working day in the quarter than last year. We are therefore confirming with even more confidence our guidance communicated two months ago, and say that all in all, let me say, a strong set of good news for today. With this, I wanted to thank you all for your attention, and we look forward to answering your questions. Francesca, over to you.
Thanks, Enrico. I kindly ask the operator to open today's Q&A session. Please kindly limit your questions to maximum two initially, in order to give everybody the opportunity to ask questions. Now, I turn the call over to Judith, in order to open for the Q&A.
Thank you. This is the Chorus Call Conference O perator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. To remove yourself from the question queue, please press star and two. Please pick up to receive when asking questions. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. The first question is from Niccolò Storer with Kepler. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my two questions. The first one is on growth in in Europe. If you can share with us some comments by country, in particular referring to France and Germany. Apparently, Demant said that France still negative, while Germany back to a more reasonable growth. Can you confirm these numbers, and elsewhere, if you can comment also on other key markets for you? And the second question is on M&A. You have out a guidance for above 2% contribution.
Considering the strong start to the year and the fact that in one quarter you already spent more than in the last three accumulated, do you think that maybe this above 2% could become easily above 3%? Thank you.
Thank you, Niccolo, for your questions. W ith regard to the growth in Europe, let me say that first of all, that the good news is that, Europe was back to slight growth, which is, in my opinion, a good news in consideration of the fact that as we shared with you many times in the last quarters, Europe showed a negative performance in the last three, four quarters in a row. T he good news is that Europe is back to growth, and, also, in order to evaluate this growth, in my opinion, is also important, to take into consideration the fact that, the early Easter effect, which is a major one, in countries like, France, like Italy, like Spain as well, of course.
T his +1% that we estimate should be seen more as a +2, +3% on a, let me say, working base adjusted basis. W e see similar trends in basically all the different markets. I wouldn't mention any market which is more positive than others, and all of them in the region of +1%, I would say. W e do not see anything any market which is performing clearly differently from from the average. With regards to the second part of the question, and therefore the M&A, clearly we are very happy about our M&A contribution in the first quarter.
Definitely also in the second quarter, as you know, we have already completed the acquisition of another of our major franchises in the U.S. I would say... I wouldn't say easily go above 3%, but definitely we are very... I wouldn't, but definitely we are confident about reaching something, something more than 2%-3%.
Perfect. Thank you, and congratulations on results.
Thank you, very much.
The next question is from Robert Davies at Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Thanks for taking my questions. My first one was just jumping into, I guess, the growth rate you've seen in the Americas. Could you give us a little bit more color, what you're seeing from that region? What's sort of driving the strength in the growth? My second one was just on... You mentioned the benefits of some of the productivity measures you've taken last year. Can you just give us a bit more color on the phasing of those productivity benefits over the year, whether they're sort of front-end loaded, back-end loaded, equally weighted, et cetera? Those are my two questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you so much for your questions. W ith regards to the first part of the question, and therefore our growth in the Americas, from a market point of view, in the first quarter, we have seen still a strong market growth in the U.S. According to HIA data, the U.S. market in the first quarter grew by about 10%. I would also take into consideration in this regard, the fact that these are selling data, so they are less affected by the Easter, can be affected by product launches, by selling, stocking in, and so on and so forth. But definitely we have seen a strong market in the U.S., which also coupled with our strong performance in our direct, directly operated store network.
A lso our Amplifon Hearing Healthcare was the main, were the main drivers of the growth in the region. With regards to the second part of the question, and therefore the productivity measures, you know, that I've been anticipating the fact that we were working on this since now some months. I am extremely happy to see that the work that we have done are now delivering a strong, stronger results. I would expect similar benefit also going forward. Of course, this is not a guidance on the total EBITDA of the company, because we might also decide to reinvest part or any or or things like this.
Definitely, we are very happy about what all the work that we did last year, which was very well executed and which are now paying a very strong dividends.
Thank you. Could I just squeeze one follow-up in, just around the strength in the APAC region? Some of the hearing aid manufacturers seem to say there is some softness in that region. I'd just be interested in what you're hearing on the ground, within China specifically.
Well, there are no official figures about China. What I can tell you about the Asia Pacific in general, is that, I'm extremely happy about our performance. I think that, in Australia, for example, we are growing, definitely much faster than, the market. With regards to China, as I said, there are no official figures. We see a strong organic performance. We see a very strong organic performance in our business. I think that our strategy to move through a number of smaller acquisitions in the spot that we wanted, with the right target, et cetera, et cetera, now this kind of strategy is paying a very good dividends.
Our performance in China, from an organic viewpoint, is it was very, very strong.
Great. Okay, thank you. Those are all my questions.
Thank you.
The next question is from Veronika Dubajova with Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Good afternoon, and thank you for taking my questions. I will also keep it to two. My first one is actually on the U.S., and Gabriele, Enrico, would love to hear if what the U.S. growth rate was for you specifically. If I kind of strip out the Argentina hyperinflation accounting contribution from the Americas growth rate, it seems like this is another quarter where you might be just growing in line with the U.S. market, not ahead of it. So curious if you can provide some clarity on that. T hen, I guess related to that, you know, is the managed care business outgrowing Miracle-Ear or vice versa, or the growth rate's pretty comparable? That's my first question. My second question is also about Americas and the margin contraction that you experienced in the quarter.
Is there anything unusual that happened in Q1 that explains this, o r is this a broader trajectory of travel for this year, given investments or mix? If you could explain that, that'd be helpful. Thanks, guys.
Sorry, Veronika, I took note about the first two. While I was taking note, I missed the third one. Can you tell me the third one again, please?
Yes, Enrico. It was, it was about the margin compression in the Americas,-
Right.
-and whether there is anything unusual, or is this reflecting some investments or mix that, you know, will be here for the rest of the year?
Yeah. Okay. W ith regards to the first part of the question, and therefore our growth in the U.S., we believe that we are growing faster than the market. A s I said, in my opinion, you should not compare our performance directly with the HIA data, because these are selling data, which can be affected by selling for product launches, by selling for any reason, et cetera, et cetera. O ur estimation is that in the U.S., we are growing faster than the market. Definitely, our Amplifon Hearing Healthcare business is growing very fast and above the Miracle-Ear. But also we are super happy about our growth with Miracle-Ear, in particular with the growth in our directly operated store network.
With regards to the margin compression in the Americas, I wouldn't take this as an indication of the fact that we are suffering in terms of profitability in the region, because this was mainly led by the fact that we are acquiring many, many, many stores. Clearly, when you acquire stores, you have a transition. When we acquire, of course, we also acquire companies which, in general, have lower profitability than the average. T hen you know very well that from a percentage viewpoint, directly operated stores have a lower percentage than franchising. Of course, we want to improve our profitability in the U.S. I would like to stress once again that our priority in the U.S. is growth.
We want to maintain our profitability, so maybe one quarter can be below, one quarter can be after. The overall target for the Americas region, in consideration of all what I said, is to have a stable, stable profitability.
That's very clear. Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Oliver Metzger with ODDO BHF. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. The first one is on the contributors to your margin improvement. Can you give us some indication which share came from operating leverage versus your efficiency program? Second question is about also your strong M&A activity. How far are you away from considering yourself as well-scaled in Germany and France? Thank you.
Yeah, thank you. Thank you for your questions. W ith regards to our margin improvement and the split between operating leverage from efficiency, I can't give you this kind of detail, of course, but clearly there is a positive effect coming from operating leverage, and there is also positive effect coming from the efficiency measures that we took starting from the second half of last year, in particular in Europe, which are including optimization of the agendas of our audiologists, protocols, training, efficacy, and so on, and so on, so forth. Which allowed us basically to reduce the number of people that we needed to be hired in order to deliver this growth. I n a way, this kind of efficiency and productivity measures are amplifying the operating leverage.
With regards to the second question, and therefore how big is the room, I mean, the room for further expansion of our network, both in Germany and in France, still there is a significant room, in particular in Germany. Today, in Germany, we can count on something like 600 stores, while in France it's more towards 700 stores. But definitely I would say there is still a significant room in Germany, for example, we are quite weak in the south part of Germany, so there is definitely room to increase the network in both markets.
Okay. Thank you. Just a follow-up to my first question. I understand you don't give, want to give, exactly this, but, if you, you mentioned Europe and, the strong improve, improvement in Europe. I s it fair to say that in Europe, the major share has come from the efficiency program?
In Europe, the major share is coming from, absolutely, yes. Absolutely. F rom labor cost efficiency, absolutely.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
The next question is from Julien Ouaddour with Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, thanks a lot for taking my question. I have two. The first one, so in France, so mixed comment about the French market from the two manufacturers who already reported. And one of them, I think, this morning, mentioned the fact that they expect the French market, I mean, like, the growth to be flat. I think in the past you were more talking about +2, +3%. Any reason why this assumption would have changed for you after what you've seen so far? I mean, you've, you've been pretty positive about, like, the market recovery. Or should we maybe see a sort of company-specific issue for your main retail customer in, like, in the country? Second question about the U.S.
A gain, strong quarters, like in Americas, you seem to be ahead of plan when it comes also to, like, Miracle-Ear franchises acquisitions, or at least you're, like, ahead of my plan. E ven if you've done already a lot of M&A in the U.S., until now this year, should we expect more acquisitions for the remainder of the year? I f you can comment about where your discussions are with the largest franchises owners at the moment, that would be... I mean, that would be helpful, any large M&A in the short term. Thanks.
Okay. T hank you for your questions. With regards to France, in my opinion, what is important to mention is that, in the first quarter, France was not negative, and this is, in my opinion, a good news. Again, in consideration of the fact that, there was an impact, which is, which was not minimal, in my opinion, coming from the early, early start. Now we need to see in this second, and in this second part of the year, if this trend is confirmed. L et me say that to have France in positive territory is already a good news. Then to say if France will be up 2%, 3% or 1%, to be honest with you, is very difficult for us.
Let's say, the fact that that is positive is already quite a good news. With regard to the U.S., definitely, you know, our expansion of our network of directly operated stores is one of our strategic priorities, so I expect to go ahead with that. I can't really comment anything on a specific or a target or see something like that. Definitely, we have the goal to continue to expand our network of directly operated stores in the U.S.
Perfect. Thanks, thanks a lot. If I may squeeze in a very quick follow-up, just like on the margin. Y ou started the year with an impressive +100 basis points, like, EBITDA margin improvement year-over-year. I mean, of course, you maintained the guidance of at least +60 basis points. Should we expect, I mean, either less margin expansion in the coming quarters, or could the margin be seen a bit more, I mean, like, a bit conservative this year?
Look, in terms of profitability, we have issued our guidance for 2024 just two months ago. Things are going well, perhaps better than planned so far. I f things will continue to go well, and you know very well that in the last couple of years we have seen the European market in particular to be quite volatile, but this first part of the year has been good. If this trend in terms of European market to in terms of growth will continue in the remainder part of the year, we will see. But let me say that so far we are happy. 100 basis points is not our guidance at the moment.
Our guidance is the one that, you know, we'll see in July, if this trend will be confirmed, if there is the opportunity, of course, to do better, which is what we always strive for.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
The next question is from Hugo Solvet, BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Hi. Hello, thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on the results. Most have been answered, but I'm left with a couple now. Maybe you can comment on the Italy growth for April. Can you maybe for us adjust that for hyperinflation? A lso, should we expect just the Easter effect of 1.5% to reverse? That would be helpful enough to have a clean number to work with for April. Second, maybe you can give your thoughts on the probe into the Italian market now that the outcome is known and has been published, that would be helpful maybe to clarify here. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you for your questions. W ith regards to the first part of the question, clearly, in April, we have delivered growth which was very strong. High-teens up high-teens versus April last year, of course, benefiting from the fact that last year we had the Easter occurring in April. The impact of this is easy to be calculated, is about circa two days on a monthly basis. I would say the impact should be something in the region of a high single digit. With regards to the second part of the question, and therefore the impact of... and therefore about the current market analysis from the antitrust authority, you...
I think we commented the last time about the output of their market analysis. Since then, no further news. Of course, we have taken the report from the antitrust authority very seriously, and we are working on it in order to identify if there is a room for improvement in our proposition to clients. We are definitely working on it, but no further news since last time we commented on this.
Okay, thank you. Just hyperinflation impact on April growth in the high teens?
Sorry, say again.
The hyperinflation impact on the high-teen growth in April.
Hyperinflation impact of...
In April, sorry.
I think, it's impossible to say at this stage. I don't know.
Yeah, I mean, very, very, very much in line with what we saw during Q1. During the first, I mean, three months, we saw this impact in the Americas in the range of 2 percentage points. S houldn't be, shouldn't be different also in April.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from Shubhangi Gupta with HSBC. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my question. I just have one question on the April growth trend. Could you please elaborate how is the growth pattern in the different regions? Is it similar to Q1? Like, U.S. is still strong and EMEA is recovering. F or EMEA, should we think about sequential recovery through this year?
Sequentially? Sorry, say again.
For EMEA, should we think of recovery as more like sequentially progressing through this year, so Q2 better than Q1, and so on?
Okay. Of course, we wanted to give you a flavor about the Q2, giving you our growth in April. Also, because this year there was a very significant effect related to the Easter. We do not want to give you a guidance about quarter two specifically, but in general terms, let me say that you should expect a similar pattern to what you have seen, to what you have seen in Q1. W hich means, Americas being the fastest growing region and then the others.
Thank you.
The next question is from Domenico Ghilotti, Equita. Please, go ahead.
Good afternoon. My first question is on the bolt-on M&A contribution. = I'm wondering if, given the visibility that you have on the pipeline today, you can share with us what can be, let's say, a reasonable amount or a ballpark indication on investment that you are expecting for this year? Also, because this will be supportive also for next year. Second question is on the inflationary environment. I f you can give us some color on what you see in terms of persistent inflation, maybe particularly on labor costs, or if you see really this easing into 2024.
Grazie. Thank you for your questions. W ith regards to the first one, and therefore, the bolt-on acquisitions, what we see, since I would say six months, is that we see more targets willing to listen to us and to sell. A lso, what we see is the multiples that maybe were growing just after the COVID euphoria now are going backwards. D efinitely, this kind of environment is positive for us, and definitely, we see the possibility for sure to be above the 2%. Now, yeah, it's early to say if it can be three or whatever. But definitely, we are very confident that this year can be a good year for our M&A activities.
With regards to the second part of the question and therefore, inflationary environment, I think that the labor cost has gone back to the usual inflation rates, which is something in the region of, let's say, 3%. While, of course, last year we were more in the 5-6%. I definitely see a situation where labor cost has gone back to the usual inflation rates growth.
Thank you. I f I may follow up on Q1 in general, your assumptions or for price contribution, are you sticking to the idea that price will be limited?
Yes. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
Okay, thank you.
Thank you.
The next question is from, David Adlington with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Thanks for the questions. First up, maybe just on CapEx. Your CapEx has gone up quite a lot, and therefore, your depreciation also gone up quite a lot. I think it's up 17% year-on-year. Just wonder if you can give us a bit more color in terms of where that CapEx spend is going. D o you see that moderating at some point in the future and also the outlook for depreciation? T hen secondly, just in terms of trading days, I know one extra trading day in the second quarter. Just wondered if you have any comments on Q3 and Q4 as well, please.
Okay. Thank you. W ith regards to the first question, and therefore, the CapEx, clearly CapEx have grown about EUR 30 million versus last year, EUR 26.6 million. CapEx are related to our investments in the network, IT, innovation, and therefore, for the full year 2024, what you should expect is a total amount of CapEx basically slightly lower than 2023. Because in 2023, 2023 has been a year of extremely strong investments. I n 2024, you should expect a lower number for the full year than in 2023. Last year were about EUR 140 million, so lower than the EUR 140 million of last year.
With regards to the second question, and therefore, trading days going forward, not a meaningful, let's say, difference versus previous year, we will have, one trading day more in Q2, one trading day more in Q3, and also one trading day more in, in Q4. P ositive from this point of view.
That's very clear. Thank you.
Next question is from, Giorgio Tavolini, Intermonte. Please go ahead.
Hi, good evening, and thanks for taking the questions.
Hi.
I was wondering if you can comment more on the EMEA mix of returning customers compared to new customers, just to have a better understanding on the margin from, let's say, higher portion of returning customers, if so? T he second question is on the managed care business. Since I didn't see many comments on the Medicare Advantage, how do you see this segment growing and contributing to U.S. profitability, I guess, higher profitability compared to the Miracle-Ear and the rest of the business? Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for the question. W ith regards to the customer mix, now we are back to the usual mix. I would say that we are back to where we were some time ago, and the situation in this regard has been totally normalized. With regard to our growth in the Medicare Advantage, certainly we are growing in this segment. We were not playing at all before. But I would say this has not been the main engine of the growth for Amplifon in healthcare. Also, in this first part of the year, we are also growing in the private part. D efinitely we are growing there, but it's not the main driver of the growth.
Many thanks.
Thank you.
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