Good afternoon. This is the Course Call Conference Operator. Welcome, and thank you for joining the De'Longhi First Quarter 2025 Consolidated Results. 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 Mr. Fabio De'Longhi, Chief Executive Officer of De'Longhi. Please go ahead, sir.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the De'Longhi Group Quarter One 2025 Results Conference Call. Today, together with me, are Nicola Serafin, Group General Manager; Marco Cenci, Chief Planning and Control Officer; Stefano Biella, CFO; Samuele Chiodetto, Investor Relations Director and M&A Manager; and Sara Mazzucato, IR Specialist. Today, the Group Board of Directors meeting was held at the Accademia del Caffè Espresso of La Marzocco as an introduction for the new board of directors to the professional business, and also as a way to highlight the increasing relevance of this area in the group results and strategic choices. In this regard, let me emphasize that the professional coffee area, now accounting for 13% of total business, grew on a pro forma basis by approximately 22% in the quarter, reflecting a double-digit increase for both companies.
Overseas has seen a business recovery in major areas compared to last year, including China, while La Marzocco has benefited from the continuation of upward trend in commercial machines, along with a remarkably strong development pattern in the home space that is yielding positive results in terms of growth. Last month, at Milano Design Week, La Marzocco celebrated its home espresso machine, spotlighting partnerships and collaborations, including Porsche for La Marzocco and House of Negroni. These were just some of the recent occasions where La Marzocco connected with people to showcase its profound dedication to quality and tradition, and was met with incredible enthusiasm and passion for the community. In this optimistic backdrop, the only unexpected news in the last weeks has been Starbucks' decision to stop the cold coffee project.
We believe that during this period of great uncertainty, some plans may have shifted, but as frequently stated, no upside from this initiative was factored into the group guidance or business plan. Therefore, we anticipate no impact. The household business grew by 7.2% in the quarter, confirming the strong trend in the past two years and the group's ability to deliver consistent organic, mid to high single-digit growth over time. In this quarter, we have been working on several initiatives to gather consumer preferences, investing in design and innovation and communication. In terms of products, since the start of the year, we have received numerous awards for our distinctive design across all our brands.
Just to name a few of them, the coffee, we won both the Red Dot and the IF Design Awards with PrimaDonna Aromatic, the La Specialista Touch and Dedica Duo, all of which were recently launched in the market. In the nutrition area, among many, let me highlight the Red Dot and the IF Design Awards received for Kenwood Goat and the Goat Collection products that over the last two years have had a greater success among consumers. Lastly, let me remark that we have been awarded with the Red Dot prize on some products in the Braun Ironing range, which has been recording a double-digit performance over the last two years.
In terms of communication, I'm excited to share that we've been working on the third coffee global campaign, starring Brad Pitt as an ambassador, which was launched in the summer and will be the group's largest ever in terms of consumer reach, leveraging both traditional and social media channels. The previous two campaigns delivered excellent results in terms of growth, market share, and brand equity, allowing us to consolidate our leadership position while fueling an exceptional steady growth in the coffee segment over the last eight quarters. Confident that by leveraging this investment, as well as considering the resilience and attractiveness of our categories and products, we continue to get consumer preferences even in potentially challenging scenarios. Now, let me focus on the quarterly results.
The group achieved a robust increase in turnover of 14.6% in quarter one, driven by considerable 7.2% organic growth on the household division and a substantial acceleration of the professional division to a pro forma rate of 22% alongside the consolidation of La Marzocco. Specifically, in the first quarter, the group recorded positive performance across all geographies and for both divisions. In more detail, Europe saw a 10.7% increase in turnover, driven by both divisions. In particular, household division grew by 6.6%, with market dynamics in line with what has been seen in the recent quarters, while turnover in countries such as Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and the United Kingdom increased at a significant pace of growth, thanks to the positive performance of coffee machines in the home market.
The professional business division, instead, benefited from the strong return to growth of overseas, as well as the significant increase of La Marzocco. In the Middle East area, recovery continues with a 25.6% increase in quarter one, thanks to the organic acceleration of some countries such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey, and despite the ongoing geopolitical tension in the region. In the America area, we experienced an 18.7% growth in quarter one, thanks to positive performance in both the professional division and the household segments, as well as the partial increase in perimeter. We highlight a significant expansion in coffee for both professional and household divisions, while the nutrition sector witnessed a decline from last year, also due to a challenging comparison. Finally, the Pacific turnover increased by 23.7%, with positive contributions from both divisions. The household segment was driven by China's accelerated expansion and Japan's mid-teens recovery.
The first quarter of 2025 observed positive performance from both of the group divisions. Specifically, the following should be noted for the household division: Home coffee achieved an expansion in turnover of around 10%, in line with the structural evolution of the market seen in recent years. We emphasize the positive contribution of all product categories, with significant growth in the quarter of pump machines benefiting from recent product launches. In the quarter, the nutrition and food preparation segment slowed to a low single-digit rate due to challenging comparison with the previous year, despite the good performance of Kenwood kitchen machines and other products such as blenders and fryers. Finally, we highlight the positive performance of the other categories: comfort, home care, and others, with Braun Ironing range confirming the substantial upward trend recorded in the last two years.
Regarding the professional division, we highlight a solid expansion of the business, which expanded by 22% on a pro forma basis. Both brands achieved double-digit increases, with overseas significantly recovering from the weakness highlighted in 2024, and La Marzocco continuing to strengthen its position in the home luxury segment, thanks to increased brand awareness and exclusive collaborations. Looking now at the evolution of operating margins in the quarter, the net industrial margin increased to 52.3% of revenues, from 50.9% in 2024, driven by positive mix, higher volumes, and cost efficiencies. The adjusted EBITDA margin stood at 15.4%, a marked increase compared to 14.2% of last year, backed by the expansion of volumes and improvement of the mix in the household division, as well as by the consolidation of La Marzocco for two additional months.
Margin improvement was achieved despite increased media and communication investments to support the business growth and the launch of the new campaign. I'd like to point out that the adjusted EBITDA margin increased thanks to an improvement in household division profitability over the previous year, as well as a margin of more than 23% in the professional division. Regarding the tariff uncertainty during the last conference call, we highlighted a potential net impact of EUR 15-20 million for the full year 2025. Since then, the situation has evolved, but our teams have been working on a comprehensive tariff mitigation strategy focused on sourcing diversification, commercial actions, and cost control to minimize the potential effect.
As a result, we've been accelerating the relocation process with the aim of manufacturing 95% of the US products in Southeast Asia and Europe by the summer, and we are now fine-tuning commercial actions with retailers. By taking these actions, the possible impact should be revised to a total net effect of around EUR 15 million for the entire year 2025. In March 2025, the group net financial position stood at EUR 482.8 million, up from last year, thanks to cash flow generation before dividends, buybacks, and acquisition of EUR 320.1 million in the 12 months.
In the first three months of the year, cash flow before dividends, buybacks, and acquisition was negative for EUR 124.2 million, mainly due to the effect of the cash absorption related to inventory increases, which followed the ordinary seasonality of the business and grew on an extraordinary basis in order to minimize the potential risk deriving from the current scenario. In conclusion, during Quarter One, we achieved a 14.6% increase in revenue and further improved profitability, driven by strong acceleration and the expanded scope of our professional division, alongside a robust momentum and geographical diversification in the household business. These dynamics once again confirm the strength of our brands and resilience of our core categories. That demonstrates our potential to deliver sustainable and consistent solid mid to single-digit growth over time while maintaining the best-in-class margins and cash flow generation.
The group development and investments over the last decade have provided us with the necessary flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness to deal with numerous headwinds. We are thus confident in our ability to handle these complexities and minimize the potential impacts of the evolving international scenario on tariffs. In light of these actions and the favorable trends observed since the start of the year, we reaffirm our 2025 guidance, projecting a 5%-7% increase in turnover, as well as an adjusted EBITDA of around EUR 580 million-EUR 600 million for the new perimeter. We now welcome your questions. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. This is the course call conference operator. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and One on their touch-tone telephone. To remove your question from the question queue, please press Star and Two.
We kindly ask you to use handsets when asking questions. The first question comes from Jane Garal of Barclays.
Hi, Dr. Brunner, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask a few questions. I have three if you could help me with. One is that your early Q1 has been very, very strong, but you have not changed the full year guidance. Is it just conservatism given where we are in the macro situation, or do you think there has been?
Can I interrupt you? The line is very disturbed. Can you say again, please?
What I was asking is that Q1, your revenue growth is almost 15%, but for the full year, you have left your revenue growth guidance unchanged. Is this just conservatism, or you had full forward of orders ahead of the tariff increase, and you are expecting?
Excuse me, sir.
Are you able to reconnect? Because your line is very disturbed.
Sure. Let me reconnect there.
Okay. Thank you. In the meantime, the next question is from Nicola Serafin of Keppler.
Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions, sir. The first one is on your guidance. You basically confirmed the net impact from tariffs in around EUR 15 million is nearly the same as previous indications, but the situation on tariffs is now worse. Can you tell us what is the gross impact you're expecting and the impact of mitigation actions that lead to the net EUR 15 million impact? Second question is on, you mentioned before, your gross margin improvement, which is quite remarkable. Can you tell us how much of this improvement was driven by, let's say, revenues, and how much from lower cost, add-on cost, if you are seeing some structural, maybe, savings going forward?
Last one on Starbucks, you said that the project with the coffee chain has stopped. Should we think of a final definitive stop, or it's just a pause waiting for maybe some dust to settle and maybe restart again when the situation is calmer? Thank you.
Okay. The first question, thank you, Nicola, for your questions. The very first question is about the guidance and the net impact of tariffs to our EBITDA, which is now approximately estimated at EUR 15 million. This is the result of multiple variables. The first one is tariffs, which apply not just to China, but also apply to now Middle East, sorry, Southeast Asia, and Europe. It also considers potential differences in costs from different sources, and it takes into account potential impacts on the demand side.
We have seen in the short term also some differences in exchange rates. All in all, we have reassessed the impact, and we estimate this now at about EUR 15 million. It does not change from our last guidance because the strategy we have adopted is to move production for the U.S. to Southeast Asia. For the new, let's say, tariffs, which have been reduced to China, these are not impacting in a meaningful way to our previous guidance. That is why you see that the number is pretty much confirmed. Nicola, maybe you want to add something on this or elaborate a little bit?
I think that this is because, let's say, between the two guidances, end of March and today, a lot of fluctuation has happened in terms of tariffs announcement, and let's say the skyrocketing of the tariffs is happening in the beginning of April, but was indeed in between of these two calls that we had. As Fabio mentioned, this is a mixed effect. We are ready for relocation over the summer to Europe and Southeast Asia, where the effect of tariffs is, let's say, the known 10%, plus there are some additional extra costs that these countries are bringing. On the other side, we have some commercial action to mitigate this and a bit of softening trends in terms of volumes. Overall, the landing spot is expected in this space.
Okay. The second question was about the gross margin. We had a pretty healthy gross margin.
It's mainly due to volume. Volume and mix. And mix, some lower costs in some cases.
We have some lower costs. We have some lower costs in terms of cost of goods. This is giving some limited, but some benefit in terms of higher gross margin. On the other side, we have some additional costs in terms of logistic costs and freight that are hitting below the gross margin. It is more volume and mix effect, the favorable part on this.
Yeah. The last question about Starbucks. No, it's very unfortunate. Let me, for a moment, say that the Starbucks deal will have no material impact on the announced plans. It's very unfortunate. It comes in a moment of major uncertainty in the United States about consumption, also about tariffs. For the moment, it is a stop, which for the moment is a definite stop.
But we will resume discussions probably next year for the following year. For the moment, for us, we incorporate in zero in our numbers. Thank you.
Gentlemen, we have Jane Garal again from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you. Is my line clear now, or it's still very difficult to hear? A little better. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Your Q1 revenue growth is clearly very strong at 14%, and you haven't changed the full year guidance. Is this conservatism, or was there some pull forward in demand Q1, which is why you are leaving the full year guidance unchanged? Yeah. The first question, sorry, are there any other questions? Yes. That was one.
Second, if you could just comment on the weakness in the food preparation segment, is that some timing issues there, or do you expect the nutrition and food preparation segment to be down this year?
Okay. On the first question, we are not changing the guidance because we were foreseeing a much stronger Quarter One due to the change of perimeter. I want to remind you that in this quarter, we are consolidating three months of La Marzocco, while last year we had only one month of La Marzocco. In reality, our organic growth for the quarter is 8.8% for the group, which is higher than the full year guidance, but we are considering that we have a tougher comparison in the second half. In the end, we are moving along with our plans, and that's why we are confirming our guidance. Second question about food preparation.
Again, we have a tough comparison with last year, in particular with the United States, where we're seeing probably also some uncertainty and weakness for the moment. Maybe, Nicola, you can elaborate on this.
Overall, the food preparation aside of the effect of the United States is positive. It's still positive. Overall, you see at the group level a slightly negative result that is mostly due to the trend in the first quarter in the United States, where food preparation is double-digit negative. Aside of the U.S., the overall trend would be positive.
Thank you so much.
The next question is from Natasha Rosen of UBS.
Hello. It's Natasha from UBS. Thank you for taking my questions. A couple of follow-ups, please.
Just on the overseas contract with Starbucks, could you use any of the projects or the products that you've been working on to sell to other customers, or are you going to try and keep all the work that you've done in case Starbucks comes back? Can you share how much investment has gone into this project so far? A second question just to come back again on the impact on tariffs. I think you talked about some commercial decisions. Does that mean price rises in the U.S.? Has there been any change in pricing in Q1 in the U.S.? My last question is just on very recent current trading. Any change in trends that you've seen since the start of Q2? Thank you.
Okay. First question on overseas.
Indeed, with the partnership with Starbucks, we have, let's say, developed an incredible know-how on cold brew, which, let's say, is our intellectual property as the cold brew unit is our technology. Therefore, we can really use and capitalize on this in the future with new developments, which might appeal to the market and eventual new partners and customers. It is a bit too early at the moment to, let's say, consider this, but definitely, there is an option there. I also do not necessarily rule out that there are maybe further discussions with Starbucks, not for the moment, but in the near future, once maybe the scenario will be different. At the moment, I think in a nutshell, yes, we have developed a strong technology, but you should not expect us to launch a product in the short term addressing the cold brew opportunity in the market.
In terms of costs, we have invested substantial time and resources in R&D. Partially, these, let's say, investments have been already paid by Starbucks, but they would be fully compensated in the reminder, as is already very clear in the contract and in between the parties. Therefore, we'll have no material effect on our profit and loss, although we will have some chargebacks for our investments and our costs to Starbucks. Second question is about pricing. We have priced initiatives. Maybe, Nicola, you can?
Yes. Going to the U.S., we'll have taken some actionable price raise that has had no impact yet in Q1 because these were announced by the end of Q1, and they will start by this month.
These are part of the mitigation initiatives that we mentioned before to offset and mitigate the overall impact of the tariffs and extra costs that we have in the U.S. in the production for the U.S. from Southeast Asia and from Europe. It will come. About the current trading, in Q1, U.S. was overall negative in the household business, or let's say slightly negative, with coffee still positive. We have, let's say, an optimistic view on coffee because it was not affected while nutrition was double-digit negative. The major area of attention is nutrition. Overall, this is something that we are still seeing nowadays as a start of the second quarter. Overall, this is more than compensated by the growth of the professional coffee.
To name that, opportunity in terms of growth are coming from China in this moment that is growing and more than compensating the U.S. trend.
That is very clear. Thank you so much.
The next question is from Andrea Bonfa of Banca Akros.
Hello. Good afternoon to everybody. My first question is a clarification. I understood that like-for-like growth without acquisition was 8.8%. In my calculation, it was 7.8%, just to clarify that point. The second one is, again, on the implied guidance for the next nine months. Of course, we need to take into account the tariffs impact, which are roughly EUR 15 million at EBITDA level. This still would imply some 3% growth on the bottom part of the guidance, or quite conservative, I would say. Is that, I mean, an element of prudence? This is basically my second question.
The third one, is it possible to have the like-for-like EBITDA growth without the two-month or La Marzocco? Thank you very much.
I was referring to 8.8% growth year-on-year, which is on a pro forma basis. Considering the same perimeter for La Marzocco, including the two months of La Marzocco in 2024. Okay. It is not like-for-like? It is not like-for-like. It is a pro forma. Okay. Clear. The second question is about the guidance, the growth. Yes.
For the time being, we have also a second quarter that is in line with the guidance. If we consider the growth that we have in the first quarter, that we are incorporating the two-month or La Marzocco with this 14%, the current trading is in line with the guidance.
The expected fourth quarter, where we are expecting a tough comparison, this is the best estimate that we have at this time to be in that space for the whole year.
The third one? There is a like-for-like. No, the third one. Like-for-like of the La Marzocco. The like-for-like of La Marzocco.
The next question is from Alessandro Cecchini of Equita.
Hello, everybody, and thank you for taking my questions. The first one is actually on the probably, at least for us, main positive surprise for the quarter is the performance of the professional business that was plus 22%. Just to better understand, what are your expectations for the rest of the year, looking at order intake.
Just to understand if this quarter benefited from some special context or you see really a very strong momentum and probably professional is, I would say, less cyclical than the rest of the business. This is my first question. The second question is a clarification of, I mean, you stated that your second quarter organic top line is in line with the guidance. Is it already including potential benefits from a better air conditioning season, or we are still waiting for, I mean, because I remember the last year was really negative, the air conditioning season? Finally, on the nutribullet, it seems to me that, of course, U.S. is more a replacement market, so it is likely down, as you said, but I would like to understand your strategy this year for, I mean, geographical expansion in Europe.
Finally, in your DNA, you probably accounted for some PPA due to La Marzocco if you could quantify this number. Thank you.
The first question about professional, yeah, indeed, a strong performance for professional. The growth, as said, is for both brands. Exceptional result at La Marzocco, where we performed extremely well with, say, the prosumer, the professional coffee machines for the home, with a very strong double-digit growth. Also positive growth coming from the bar equipment. We see good order intake for La Marzocco, as well as also overseas, has delivered a good quarter with a double-digit growth, at the same time with an order portfolio which is building up very nicely also for the rest of the year. We think that we will meet probably in the next quarter our ambitions for a double-digit growth for this division.
I think that on a note, household is also, we think, potentially a counter-cyclical business. We have highlighted often that in the difficult times, consumers tend to reallocate their expenses. Probably they will cut back on their major family expenses. I'm thinking of buying new cars, maybe moving to a bigger home, spending in major refurbishment for the home. They have more, let's say, cash and pocket money available for household appliances, which are often useful gifts. A very cool gift in the moment is, for sure, coffee machines. We expect, in this scenario, to continue to perform well with our coffee machines and food preparation products mainly. Second question is about Icecond. No, second question. No, there was one about Icecond and nutribullet. No, second question is about the growth for the remainder of the year or the second quarter in air conditioning.
We think that I have to remind you that air conditioning comfort now accounts for approximately 5% of total group sales. For the moment, we are not incorporating any growth in this division in this segment, but mainly to be fairly in line with last year. Pretty prudent view on this. I remind you that it's only 5% of total sales, so it's not that meaningful for the group anymore. Third question is about weakness in North America with nutribullet. It is a replacement business, but at the same time, the personal blenders are also a new segment in a way for consumers. For the moment, it's a weaker market. Maybe, Nicola, you can elaborate on the strategy we were rolling out to grow in the European and international market.
Let's say that the European international market overall has more than compensated the weaknesses of the U.S., where the U.S. double-digit decline compared with last year, by the way, on the back of robust growth of last year. The overall international expansion and the growth in Europe, that is 30+%, has more than compensated this. We have also some initiatives in terms of communication. We have a partnership also with the McLaren Formula 1 team with nutribullet that is seeding interest around the brand. The overall international expansion is well progressing for the time being, more than offsetting the weaknesses of the U.S. market. The last one is PPA. PPA? On the PPA? Yes. Alessandro, on PPA, on the DNA, something more than EUR 1 million. Okay. Okay. Very little.
Finally, it's probably too early because you launched recently two high-end coffee machines, fully auto, in the U.S., Rivelia, with a very high price point, and also PrimaDonna, I think, Aromatic also in Europe. So above EUR 1,000. I would like to better understand what is the feeling from customers, retailers from these machines that, of course, are very high positioning in your ranking, of course, excluding La Marzocco.
On Rivelia and also Rivelia in the U.S., the response is quite good. This is one of the reasons why coffee has been strongly positive, double-digit growth, robust in the U.S. over also the first quarter. Overall, Rivelia and the range of products in that space are doing pretty well. For Aromatic, it has been launched a couple of weeks ago in Germany. It's too early to get the signal.
Nevertheless, we have an expectation on this to make stronger our position.
Okay. Thank you.
The next question is from Luca Orsini Baroni of OneInvest.
Yes. Good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear me, by the way? Yes, we can. Yeah. Okay. No, I just wanted to understand the impact of the pre-buying in the U.S. ahead of tariffs and whether that went on sales or whether that went on higher interest. And the second, I couldn't get the answer on the like-for-like of La Marzocco.
Okay. So the question, no, we don't see any major, say, order intake and delivery to the U.S. retailers in the short term. Actually, you see also, for instance, we had a weakness in blending. I think that for the moment, sales are in line with actual sell-out trends.
Okay.
The second question about like-for-like or the like-for-like growth of La Marzocco, we did not disclose the number of the La Marzocco EBITDA last year. We are not providing this number at the moment.
Okay. You had a big jump in gross profit, and you said price and volume. You said mix and volume. Can you elaborate on the mix side? What was the positive contributor?
Okay. The positive contributor is coming mostly for coffee. Mostly for coffee, there was a significant growth of pump with grinder over Europe also where we have a robust price. Overall, the effect is more on volume than mix. Nevertheless, mix is positive, and it is mostly related to coffee.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
The next question is from Francesco Brilli of Intermonte.
Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions.
A lot of questions have already been answered, but I just have a couple from my side. The first one is just a clarification on the guidance. You said you were somehow ready to confirm the guidance even before the very recent developments on U.S.-China tariffs. I was wondering if these latest developments add at least some additional visibility or confidence on the guidance or potentially some upside on what you are confirming as of today based on the action you had planned before and the mitigation actions planned. The second one is a question on logistics. Some companies saw some constraints in logistics for shipments to the U.S. in the first quarter. Is it something that you also, I mean, saw during the quarter, and is the situation normal at the moment? Some color on this.
The third one is on if you can provide some additional color based on what you are seeing now and what you are expecting on the phasing of the growth throughout the remainder of the year in the next quarters. I mean, you stated that the second quarter is more in line with the first quarter. Just to understand the phasing of what you are expecting on the second part of the year. Thank you.
Thank you for the questions. The first question is maybe I go back to what I said at the beginning with regard to our initiatives and actions. We have moved most of our Chinese production for the U.S. into Southeast Asia. This is resulting in some higher tariffs, 10% tariffs on Southeast Asia, with some price effect negative versus China. We have also actions on the pricing.
We will mitigate the effects of this. The most recent decision of Mr. President Trump is affecting China, but we had already a strategy to move out of China. In a nutshell, the latest decisions will have no major impact on our strategy that was already to move out of China. We think that in the short term, although we have no benefits in the short term because of these initiatives, which are resulting in a 15% negative effect on EBITDA, which we have announced, we think that we will have a platform which will be now more diversified, which will allow the group also to optimize its strategy in the future. We are more protected if things might change again because now, unfortunately, we heard many different decisions over a very short period of time. We hope that now we're going to get more stability.
We believe that this initiative, the new strategy to have also Southeast Asia as a platform, will make De'Longhi a stronger company with a better position industrial setup. We do not see any constraint on logistics for the moment, no major. The following, we have no impact at all. On the color, on the growth, we do not like to give quarterly guidance. We have a yearly guidance, which we are confirming. You know the guidance between 5-7% growth year on year. We have delivered a higher growth in the first quarter. We are going to have a tougher comparison.
In a nutshell, in the second half, I would say that you can expect, just to give you some guidance that we don't want to give on a regular basis, a stronger first half and maybe a weaker, which will anyhow meet the year-end targets, guidance met.
Thank you very much.
The next question is from Isaac Oberambilla of Mediobanca.
Hi. Good afternoon, everybody. Three questions from my side. The first one is on food preparation. There has been a bit of normalization in the first quarter after a very strong final quarter of 2024. How should we think about fully outlook for this division? Directionally, can we expect a bit of an improvement compared to the low single-digit decline of the first quarter? Second question is a follow-up on US tariffs.
Could you just confirm in your guidance you are embedding for the second half 30% duties on Chinese goods and 10% duties in the U.S. on goods produced elsewhere as for the current setup? If you can provide a sort of annualized impact for 2026, considering that this year we'll have some buffers, including the 90-day suspension and some stocks, I imagine you have created. Last question is on the U.S. market. If you can just confirm the performance ex perimeter effect in the first quarter was somewhere in the low single-digit growth areas for sales in the Americas region. If you can give us a sense of how it evolved throughout the quarter. January, February, March, a linear development or some volatility through the month. Thanks.
The first question on food preparation.
First of all, I would like to remind that we are confirming the guidance all in all. We probably can expect stronger segments and weaker segments for the remainder of the year, but we confirm the guidance. Probably we're witnessing a weaker food preparation, in particular in the U.S., while in the rest of the world, actually, nutribullet is growing its share, and we see positive momentum for the brand. We see a bounce back in the growth also at Kenwood, in particular with kitchen machine and food processors. We are now probably considering for the year a weaker food preparation for North America, but confirming that overall guidance for the group. Second, on tariff, I'm just confirming that we're confirming that EUR 15 million impact that is already fully incorporated in our numbers. The new decision of Mr.
Trump are not impacting in a meaningful way what we are doing because we have already decided to move out of China the production for U.S. Now, the product for the U.S. will be made in new facilities in Southeast Asia, namely Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and so forth. Third question is about the low single-digit growth. I confirm the low single-digit growth in North America on the back of the weakness of nutribullet in North America, but a strong performance of coffee machines and our professional division as well.
Thanks. Very clear.
The next question is from Victoria Adesina. Sorry about that, madam. From Barclays.
Hi there. Yeah, just on Eversys. I was wondering if you could quantify at all the recovery that you're seeing. I know it was down double digits at some point last year.
If you could give us some kind of inkling as to where it is now. Also, how should we be taking this cancellation of the Starbucks project? Is it a significant loss for Eversys? Just in general, what's the outlook for Eversys specifically now that that project is over? Secondly, just a clarification on retailers. Are you saying that you haven't seen any evidence of overordering in Q1 ahead of the tariffs? Is that what you were saying, or did I get that wrong?
Sorry. Yes. Thank you for the question. The first question is on Eversys. Yes, Eversys back to growth. We see positive development in North America in the key markets as well as in China. We expect this performance to continue to be positive also in the remainder of the year.
Now, we expect that, unfortunately, the Starbucks deal that has been announced long ago now is at a stop. In our growth plan, the Starbucks deal had no material impact. It was not embedded in the numbers yet, as we were just planning 400 units to be delivered in the second half of the year. Confirming that Eversys, despite this, will continue to nicely grow for the year and be around, say, at the expected targets of double-digit growth. With regard to retailers, confirm that we have not seen any particular build-up of inventory or special order intake from the U.S. retailers in the first quarter.
Also because most of our business in our business model is domestic. We deliver directly. This is not a direct import from Southeast Asia. There has been no effect of a front load into the retailer.
Great. That is clear.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you wish to register for a question, please press star and one on your touchstone telephone. The next question comes from Luca Baccocoli of Intesa Sanpaolo.
Hello. Good afternoon, everyone. Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah. Very clear. Okay. Good. Yeah. Also, one question on the mitigants. So I'm referring to the price increase that you have planned for the U.S. market. First of all, the magnitude of this price increase, and if this is spread all over the product categories or is only focused on the nutribullet, which are manufactured in China. The second question regards the production footprint. If I got it right, you are also moving or relocating some of the Chinese production to Europe. Is that correct? If yes, to what production you are referring to?
The third one is on the inventory level, which is higher than last year because of your tactical move ahead of the tariffs. I was wondering how long it will take you to reduce the inventory to, let's say, a more normalized level? Thank you.
Okay. Nicola, you want to take the questions?
Yes. Thank you, Fabio. In terms of price increase, we are applying price increase depending on category to keep as much as possible also competitiveness in the market, but to offset a large part of the tariffs and extra costs because nowadays in this relocation, we need to consider 10% of tariffs that we have when we are speaking of Indonesia, Thailand, or Europe of production, plus the extra costs that are related to these countries.
Eventually, the 30% of tariffs that today is in China is just giving an opportunity back of China to be in the game. The price increase will mitigate a good part of this with the, let's say, the residual part that will be the $15 million that we have estimated. In terms of production footprint, we are relocating part of the coffee production for the U.S., destinated to the U.S. in our Romania factory. Some of the production that we had in our manufacturing plant in China will be produced in Europe. In terms of inventory level, let's say that we had an inventory that was good enough to cover this relocation time.
This is one of the reasons why the tariffs, the spike of tariffs to more than 100% of China, was something that we had offset immediately in terms of potential hit because we had no need of supply from China.
Okay. Do you expect to reduce this level by the end of the second quarter or?
Let's say by the third quarter. Not by the end of the second, but along the third.
Okay. Six months on. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The next question is a follow-up from Alessandro Cecchini of Equita.
Thank you. Thank you for taking my question. Just about the new campaign, Brad Pitt. Just to better clarify, you are expecting the largest probably ever in terms of communication. Do you expect to use different or enhanced channels?
Just to understand what kind of deltas you are expecting to reach more, I mean, more in China. Just to understand your pipe. Thank you.
Hey. In terms of the shooting, it has been done. The campaign is in production at this moment. It will be on air over the summer. Obviously, it will be the largest ever because we are increasing year-on-year our advertising spend. In this increase of the advertising spend, we are also differentiating our media mix modeling. We are going across more channels to increase the reach of our consumer. This is a bit different country by country, also in terms of optimization model in terms of spending that we can have in different countries. This is what we are planning for this year.
Okay. Thank you.
For any further questions, please press star and one on your touchstone telephone. Mr. De'Longhi, there are no questions registered at this time, sir.
Okay. Thank you all for attending the De'Longhi Quarter One Conference Room. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining. The conference is now over, and you may disconnect your telephones.