[Foreign language]
Director, Investor Relations for FILA Group. I was appointed in May this year. We are here today to present the third quarter 2024 results. We are very happy to see you so numerous. The speakers of today: we will start with Cristian Nicoletti, CFO, on my right-hand side, who will present the Q3 results and then the five-year results of the group, then Mr. Massimo Candela, CEO, who will review the highlights of the company and he will get back with a description of DOMS and the strategic plan, and then Piero Frova, Chief Marketing Officer for School and Office, will provide you an overview of FILA's DNA. Luca Pelosin, Group Chief Operations and HR, will describe the strategic plan. At the end of the presentation, Massimo Candela will conclude with the closing remarks and will open up a Q&A session.
As you can see, the document is relatively long and there's a lot of information, a lot of material, so we will do our best to go quick through the main points of the presentation. At the end of the speech concerning the Capital Markets Day, there will be a Q&A session. Those connected via webcast, please write to the email address cmd@fila.com, and we'll then prepare the questions and address them to the relevant speakers. Those who are in the room can ask questions after this session. Without any further ado, I would now hand over to Cristian Nicoletti. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and thanks for your participation and attention. As already mentioned by Pietro, I will be fairly brief in presenting the nine months' results in order to better highlight the contents of the CMD.
As you can see, the Q3 results are positive, in line with our expectations and with the guidance for the year 2024. The nine months' results confirm the trend for the profitability, the de-leverage, the free cash flow generation, and our stake. Sales in the quarter plus 1.3% with constant foreign exchange rates, and in the nine months' period, minus 2.0% at constant currency basis. The drop, as already mentioned, is due in Q1 to the implementation of SAP EWM with disruption. The adjusted EBITDA plus 3.7% in the nine months, according to IFRS 16, and with an improvement in margins equal to 21% versus 19.4% in 2023. This is a better performance thanks to a sales mix and to the continuous improvements from the viewpoint of industrial processes that were implemented at a group level and in particular in North America.
Free cash flow to equity in the nine months equal to zero versus the EUR 6.4 million in 2023. I'd like to point out that in 2023, the result was equal to EUR 60 million. So the result is fully compliant with the group expectations and with the guidance as of the end of the year. We would like to highlight the improvements in terms of lower absorption of CapEx and better interest. Then we have leverage of 2.3 times, down 0.4% versus the same period. As for the adjusted net profit, we have a growth equal to 15.1% with the consolidation of the nine months' results of the Indian subsidiary. We will then analyze the most important economic and financial indicators. All elements confirm our guidance. Both sales 2023 constant on an organic level. We have a growth in EBITDA, free cash flow to equity between EUR 40 and EUR 50 million.
Afterwards, I'd like to show you a snapshot with the main figures concerning sales, EBITDA, net profit, and net debt. Again, in compliance with what I've just said. Let's come to sales. Here you see the sales results at nine months and for every single quarter with delta for quarter and comparable effects. As far as the quarter is concerned, we see a growth of plus 1.3%. The drivers of the growth are Southern and Central America with a plus 7% growth. And in this case, we have a devaluation impact in Argentina. The impact is almost entirely the cause of the difference between the reporting datum and the FX data. Then we have Europe growth plus 3% thanks to a good back-to-school trend. And North America is basically flat. As for the single quarter, in terms of growth, we have a better result than the second quarter 2024.
Then we have the same type of analysis, but on the EBITDA. Again, the nine-month result with delta versus and then the margin and versus the single quarter. These data are according to IFRS 16. EBITDA is basically compliant with the single quarter 2024 with a better margin plus 0.4%. The drivers of this growth are again Central and South America plus 7.3% with a margin equal to 21.1%. In this respect, I'd like to point out that there we have a company which is about to be right-sized in the Dominican Republic with a negative EBITDA by EUR 1 million, and Argentina has a negative value of EUR 600,000. Europe is basically flat with an impact of Russia for EUR 0.7 million down, and this company is about to be closed. We expect to liquidate the company by the end of 2024. North America grows by 1.3%.
It's a very proportionate growth that is in line with the sales. Lower margins due to efficiency gains in terms of industrial processes and organizational processes, but also due to mix decisions. The group decided to focus on better margin products. Now let's come to adjusted EBITDA. As usual, we provide you with a breakdown of data with IFRS 16 and without. Data without IFRS 16 are the usual historical data that FILA always represents. Here we have an improvement in EBITDA in the single quarter by 1.1%, with margins growing by 0.7%. What are the main differences that have led to better EBITDA from the viewpoint of EBITDA? We have reorganizations in America with the closing of some leasing contracts, Central and Southern America, especially Mexico, and the deconsolidation of the Indian company. Free cash flow to equity, we confirm what we have just said.
That is, we have a value which is almost equal to zero in cash generation. In 2023, we took over EUR 6 million in terms of cash generation. In 2023, our result was equal to plus EUR 60 million. The current free cash flow to equity generation and the nine-month result confirm our target between EUR 40 million and EUR 50 million as of the end of 2024. This trend confirms what we said in the beginning. We have the deconsolidation of DOMS from the viewpoint of cash flows, which is basically neutral. The lower contribution from the viewpoint of EBITDA was completely offset by the lower cash absorption in CapEx, with an improvement by about EUR 19 million. In this case, well, this is the result that pertains to DOMS for all the investments carried out in 2023 so that the company can now grow.
And then we have a drop in interest by about EUR 7 million thanks to the current financial efficiency measures that were implemented by FILA at the beginning of 2024. Please note that the last quarter, due to seasonality effect, is the quarter when cash generation is the highest within FILA. In terms of leverage, as I said in the beginning, we have 2.3 versus 2.7. Our target is absolutely in line with the consensus of approximately 2% by the end of the year. Based on these remarks, we confirm our outlook, and this is an important foundation to develop the Capital Markets Day with our outlook for 2026. And now I'd like to hand over to Mr. Candela for the investment analysis. Thank you. Thank you. And again, hello to everyone.
Before I start, I'd like to greet you on behalf of our chairman, who unfortunately could not attend today's meeting because he's ill.
Well, for us today is a very important day. During the past year, we've gone through quite significant events with the IPO of DOMS. So on the one hand, we like to start and draw some conclusions. On the other hand, when last year we deconsolidated DOMS, well, many people asked me whether FILA would be able to perform and to generate the cash that we had generated in the years before. So today our target is to have a look at these year's numbers, but we also would like to give you some flavor about our expectations in the years ahead.
This is quite a courageous act because we are all aware of the fact that the economic and political instability is becoming increasingly severe, but we are quite confident with our outlook, and we will provide you some indications about the dividend policy and the deleverage policy that we aim at pursuing in the years ahead as well. If we look back to the previous four or five years, we can say that we've gone through quite complicated years. We performed an important acquisition in America just before the COVID pandemic. Then during the COVID pandemic, we were strongly hit because schools were closed for many months in many countries. After that, we had to come to grips with a lot of challenges, both in terms of inflation and logistics.
The numbers that we have been able to achieve and deliver in this past five years provide us with credibility, and so we can be confident enough that our estimates are solid and sound. As far as DOMS is concerned, as we've always said, and maybe even beyond our own expectations, has been a success case, a unique success case. First, because India is not a very easy country to start a business, but we've been very happy to see a clone, let's say, of FILA, because our partner allowed us to basically implement what we had been requesting for years in terms of design, innovation, product policy, price policy as well. If you have a look at the income statement of DOMS today, well, you certainly realize the demographics there is completely different than in Europe.
However, the parameters that you can see in the profit and loss accounts are basically the same as FILA's. Well, you can do much better than us. Well, incidentally, on Saturday, we approved the six-month report, and DOMS accounts close at the 31st of March. So as of the 30th of September, we approved the half-year report. I do not know whether you have the chance of looking at the results, but the company closed with almost a 19% growth in terms of top line. In six months, top line reached almost EUR 600 million in 2011. Well, the company had a turnover of EUR 10 million per year when we acquired it. EBITDA grew 35%, and EBITDA too is almost reaching 19%. So the profitability is absolutely exceptional for the Indian market. The net result increased by more than 40%.
20 million cash, positive cash, is recorded by the company, and DOMS is starting implementing a quite aggressive strategy in terms of outbound growth. The market acknowledges these numbers as absolutely exceptional. As of today, DOMS' valuation is at EUR 1.8 billion. We still have 30.6% stake, so we have about EUR 550 million in terms of valuation of our stake. Concerning DOMS, we will go back to these numbers later. Of course, we are very happy with these numbers, but DOMS will become our pivot for our future strategy. Throughout these 14 years, we've created a very strong management team connected with us with an important know-how, but at the same time, this company is able to work with very competitive costs.
In our future strategy, considering that the world is becoming increasingly complicated, and China may not be a reliable partner for long-term industrial projects any longer, so India is an ideal alternative for FILA in order to keep or even accelerate its profitability and growth rate. Now, why have we delivered in these past five years, and why, despite the complicated macroeconomic situation, are we optimistic for the years ahead? There are a few reasons, most of them of strategic nature. After the large acquisition period that started in the year 2000, and the last acquisition was performed in March 2020 during the COVID pandemic, well, FILA today has very strong brands in its portfolio, highly acknowledged in the markets. Just to mention a few: Giotto for the school market, well, very well known in Italy. It's a brand leader in the school sector in Europe.
Then we have Canson, which is a very strong brand for paper, both drawing and fine art paper. It's a leading brand worldwide. Then Ticonderoga, which is a brand that in the United States has more than 50% market share, and this year it is even growing. This may sound counterintuitive. However, as of the end of October, the brand Ticonderoga is increasing organically by 7%, and this is very important for us, of course, because, again, the consumption of our products is not necessarily impacted by the development of the digital technologies. This being said, I'd like to spend a couple of words on the track record that FILA has in terms of M&As. So we have now so many brands thanks to mergers and acquisitions. The aggregation period is now over. All synergies have been accomplished. The last one in the United States back in 2019.
Well, when we went public, FILA had EUR 275 million turnover. Today, December 2023, the company reached EUR 780 million turnover. The EBITDA, EUR 48 million when we went public, today EUR 136 million. After a peak in the leverage, more than five times the EBITDA but due to acquisitions, today, with the numbers that we have confirmed and according to the consensus by the end of the year, we will go below 2%, two times in terms of leverage. This is an important element because this confirms our outlook for the years ahead, and that's why we say our expectations are very sound and strong. Our strategy is not a recent one. It was not developed after the COVID pandemic. It goes back to the early 1990s when we decided to invest with a clear strategy. We decided to invest in brands.
We said we want to invest in companies with production facilities to diversify geographically in order not only to tap into wealthier countries but also countries with the highest demographic growth, but we had to invest in supply chains in order to better cope with tariff issues, and, well, as far as this last aspect is concerned, well, we were long-sighted because if you read the news today, there are plenty of articles about tariffs, so we are a small company, but from a strategic level, we are a bit underestimated in terms of choices that we make. Why are we so confident about the accomplishment of the projects? Because we have a lot of diversification, not only in terms of markets but also in terms of supply chain.
And this will allow us to react in terms of weeks to any strategic, political, or tariff decisions that may be made by the new U.S. administration. So apart from events that we cannot foresee, but I do not think the new administration will make unreasonable decisions. Well, this being said, we think and we are confident that we will be able to properly react to all the strategic areas we are in. And this is very important because this result is achieved in terms of, well, throughout a decade. Well, we started in 2011, but until last year, we didn't import any products from India because India had to achieve important product and quality standards in order to allow us to have access to their production and to sell their products to sophisticated markets like the American and the European markets.
This is a situation that is built throughout a decade, and it's a production diversification that has an impact in terms of profitability and working capital too. We were sometimes criticized because our working capital is a bit higher than it should be, but, well, maybe it's a mistake. But as of today, we have a competitive edge, which is a great added value because we can cope with any macroeconomic event, for example, China, and the gap with the Western countries, then Brazil with barriers, or Turkey, for example, with their tariffs. But thanks to our organization, we can be very flexible, and we can pursue our strategic growth project. And I think numbers will come in a following slide, so we will then go back to numbers afterwards.
But, well, it is very important to point out that despite DOMS' deconsolidation, this year we are generating cash between EUR 14 and EUR 15 million like in the past years, and that's important. There was a sort of misunderstanding between the deconsolidation of DOMS and our cash generation ability. In the years ahead, we expect to even accelerate our cash generation for a very trivial reason: debts are dropping, and so interest rates are dropping as well. And then, well, as I said, we will disclose our de-leverage targets because, last but not least, we are in an inefficient sector, both from the viewpoint of distribution.
We've got 6,000 shops in Spain, 1,000 shops of fine arts in Italy, 800 in France. So if you add all the other countries in the world, you might easily understand what this means.
It is an industry that, given the macroeconomic situation, plus problems related to tariffs that might arise, will probably speed up in terms of aggregation. Of course, we want to be protagonists in this. We have no intention whatsoever of losing control, losing ground, or giving up the next growth phase. Clearly, de-leverage is a priority. It has been like that over the past four to five years, and I dare say that very few might have agreed on the fact that we were going below two over the past few years. I think they might be happy with the estimates we're giving for the next few years. Luca, the floor goes to you for the next topic, and then we will go back to talk about numbers. Let's briefly talk about DOMS. Buongiorno a tutti. Good morning, everyone.
Massimo has already raised some interesting points and given you a few highlights. Well, DOMS was a brilliant insight. It is an adventure we have embarked on 14 years ago. And as Massimo said, we created a clone of FILA with them. And I would also add to this that we improved what FILA represents because thanks to the scale economies that may be implemented in a country where volumes are definitely higher than what we can observe in Europe and in the U.S., we can accelerate the vertical production integration. So we will benefit from production goods or semi-finished goods that, as FILA Group, we were forced to buy from third parties until now because they can go that extra mile. And we'll make a couple of examples. For example, packaging material. They produced this material internally. I'm referring to cardboard boxes rather than metal boxes.
This partnership has been going on for 14 years. As I said earlier, we've got a professional relationship, and not only professional, which is very close. They grew with us, and they acknowledge this. The majority shareholding of DOMS is in the hands of our partners, and in FILA, they've got a track record of growth. I won't talk at length and elaborate on this. You know very well what I'm talking about. This growth will further accelerate because one of the reasons for what happened in December last year in terms of shareholding depended on the ability to double the production capacity of the Indian facility. It is a huge facility. We have transferred all our know-how and all our technology to that facility. It is not a facility that is not labor-intensive.
It is a capital-intensive facility despite the fact that we are in a country where the cost of labor is among the lowest in the world. We were smart and lucky enough to make DOMS grow because today we can rely on a facility that is located in the best country in the world, and it is a best practice in our industry because the cost-benefit ratio in that area of the world is definitely the best on absolute terms compared with anything else we might see in other countries in the world.
[Foreign language]
I think we've told you basically everything. I think you all read the presentation. So maybe we could leave any questions to the Q&A session. Thank you very much, and good afternoon to you all.
[Foreign language]
I always like to talk about what we do because it's very stimulating. It reminds us of who we are, where we are headed. Many things have already been said by my colleagues, so I'm not going to say anything new, but I think it's easy to understand what we are now, what we're going to be in the future. First of all, let's talk about markets. We serve two big service units, offices and schools. School and office might be scary. Think about schools that represent 80% of our sales. And then we've got the other business unit that is fine art, which represents 29% of revenues. We've got a smaller one, which is not mentioned and we're going to talk about in a minute, which is the industrial sector. So maybe you might ask, what are the industrial products? I will briefly explain what these are.
FILA is one of the main players on both markets. It is ranking third or fourth, or at least amongst the first three or four players, and the first in the fine art world. There are differences I'm going to explain in a minute. Both markets are historically fragmented. There are many players, especially in the school sector, mostly local brands, smaller brands. I could make lots of examples, but they are there because in our world. But this is a very positive factor. First of all, we've got a deeply rooted market and present locally. This is very useful to consolidate our position and for future M&A operations. These two worlds have two different target groups. When we talk about schools, we are talking about primary and secondary schools for 18 years of age. Whereas the fine art, who's the target group?
Basically, four categories: fine art students, those who use fine art products to go to school, professional artists, those way less because they prefer other instruments, and artists do exist, believe it or not. But also amateur artists, those who paint on Sundays. So it is a very lively market, but it is a very voluntary market. That's a big difference. School depends very much on population trends, and of course, there's compulsory schooling. So a child equals a pencil, whereas fine art is more on a voluntary basis. Of course, we've got high school that major in fine arts, and of course, students there are forced, in quotes, to use these products. There are others that use these products on a voluntary basis. We've got EUR 10 billion as a market size, EUR 1 billion for fine art market size.
Of course, this does not include those who go to buy directly on the market, so the private labels. Look how this group covers this market: writing, drawing and coloring, fine art and crafts, paper, modeling. These are five product categories of three segments: school and office, fine art and industrial. A unique product range, unique, really, in our industry. We've got 30 product families. The most important one is pencils, crayons, and graphite pencils that represent 30% of our sales. A portfolio of consolidated brands: Pacon, an American brand, Giotto, which is extremely important in Europe and South America, Ticonderoga, this beautiful pencil you all have in your hands, launched in 1913, EUR 70 million of revenues, and then Arches and others that you can see here on the slide. What are the key factors for schools and offices? These are complex markets. We're trying to summarize them.
First of all, population trends. This is something you all know about. Population trends have a big impact, especially on school products, but let's never forget that more than 60% of revenue comes from the U.S., whose population trends are positive. So it is actually countering the negative population trends we are witnessing in Europe. So all things considered, the scenario is still positive. Then digitization. We've talked about this. We don't believe that digital can actually replace products for manual skills because paints, brushes, crayons, paper are essential for learning, for cognitive development, for motor abilities, for the tactile side of children's development. People have been talking extensively about digital. Well, in the U.S., there has been a pretty lively debate. It's very important to reconcile manual skills with digital products.
I believe that digitization could be a driver for culture because digital can allow for an integration between manual and physical activities, tutorial subscriptions. There's a whole world that plays for us, teaching our students and our target groups to use our products to draw or to paint. Then the supply chain. We have to be present on the points of sale when necessary. Think about the back-to-school period. We have to be there. It lasts two months. We are very, very well equipped in all our countries, especially with our major subsidiaries. I was told to speak slowly. Luca, I think you're confirming these trends. Eco-sustainable products and safety, another very important point. Less plastics, less hazardous substances. This is something that is strongly advocated in the school world. Then a very important point that plays in our favor.
So safety regulations are stricter, and they will become a critical factor that will help us stand out. I don't want to be misunderstood, but many products from unknown brands are not certified or have unsuitable certifications, whereas only the biggest companies, the structured ones, will have the chance to abide by these regulations. They sometimes are very, very binding and strict. Last but not least, affordability and emerging markets. You know that there are emerging markets to consider in Africa, where the average age of the population is pretty low, so we expect important growth from these markets. We've got excellent solutions in terms of production, distribution, and marketing. So I think we will be able to guarantee the affordability of our products. What are our strengths? They have been mentioned by the previous speakers, so I won't talk at length.
Strong market positioning, products, dominant position for Canson and Ticonderoga. I like to mention that because we still are very excited when we hear about the sales of Ticonderoga. The target for the market is pretty big. I haven't mentioned Mexico. Mexico is a country that is growing very much. Our brands account for 40% of the market share in Mexico. Private labels, I'm not talking about unbranded products. Well, private labels, well, they may vary according to product categories. I've given you an average, and they are strongly present in the countries, especially like the U.S., France, and England. The capillary distribution, this is essential in our industry. It is essential to be there. We are heavily represented in school, in stationery stores, then, of course, large-scale retail trade, online distribution.
We are not selling directly online, though, but the main key players are selling our products like Amazon and others, and of course, all the channels that cooperate with our main clients. We've got a few key drivers here as well. As I said earlier, in this case, too, the market is very fragmented. We are the first player in fine art. Once again, this sector is very much based on voluntary engagement. The pandemic has led to a great increase in volumes. We're going back to a more stable volume, but the pandemic has changed things a little, like it happened in many other sectors. What are the key drivers? Well, paradoxically, population aging, the fact that population is living longer, life expectancy has changed. So, of course, senior citizens have more spare time. They can spend time focusing on their hobbies, and that's very important.
Cognitive activities, motor activities are beneficial for senior citizens, especially to ease stress. I don't know if you recall when there was a boom of coloring books for adults. A few years ago, there was a boom of these mandalas. So basically, these were coloring books for adults. It was a big publishing success. Well, these things are coming back now. People have hobbies. Digitization, once again, e-learning, the rise of e-learning platforms, gamification. These are all positive drivers because, of course, they offer training, sharing, and of course, they help us reach targets that were difficult to reach in the past, especially through social media. We can reach people that were impossible to reach in the past, and then sustainability, also in the world of fine arts, it is important to focus on sustainable choices in line with social media and consumers. Think about brushes.
This is a very simple example. For example, we were using animal bristles in the past. Now we use synthetic bristles and plastic material. Packaging material has been minimized. So it is part of our DNA to go towards greater sustainability. This is what the market is calling for. What are the strengths of the fine art sector? We are the first player. We are in a dominant position, above 50%, a portfolio of four global brands. You can see them up there, deeply rooted, especially faithful to the brand, loyalty to the brand. I'm referring to paper, brushes, paints, crayons, students, artists, amateur artists, also quality of the products. We've got low-end professional products. And of course, there's something negative also to point out.
With respect to the fine art segment, paints and brushes, our share is still low, bigger in the countries of origin, for example, Daler-Rowney in Germany, less at a global level, but this should be a reason for encouraging our growth. Let's now talk about the industrial market. What's the industrial market? Well, it is a marginal market for us, but it doesn't mean it is not important. The worth is EUR 30 million right now. It grew considerably over the past few years, and it was given great momentum during COVID. What are industrial products? Two categories: marking products, marking tools. Think about pencils for carpenters or, for example, gypsum that is used in the streets by workers. So these are all marking tools, basically, and they are sold in Europe and in the U.S.
Then we've got business-to-business products that are labels, special paper, and packaging that we produce through Canson and through Arches. Who are our consumers? Professionals, businesses, business-to-business as well. But the do-it-yourself sector is also benefiting from this. Those who take care of their homes, home maintenance, that regenerate things rather than throwing them away. We believe we can grow thanks to the quality of our products, a pretty broad range, and above all, a distribution channels through our subsidiaries that can prove really satisfactory over the future.
I do not have a lot to add to what Massimo said. Vertical integration, logistic optimization, and well, core products started 20 years ago, and the reasons have already been explained. 21 production facilities are operating today in four continents worldwide. Just allow me a couple of words on paper.
I think you all agree that we have the two most important paper mills in the world in France for fine arts paper, both in terms of quality of the production and recognizability of the brand, Arches and St. Cuthberts Mill in Great Britain too, and as Pietro said, we are very close to our customers. We have distribution centers in all the geographical areas. The United States accounts for 50% of the group, and they have three warehouses, one for school products, one for fine art products, and one for large American retailers. In Europe, as you may know, we have a European distribution center for fine arts located in France in Annonay that serves Central Europe with a dropshipping model again for the business unit of fine art, and we have, as I said, 11 distribution centers worldwide for the major subsidiaries.
And then clearly, minor subsidiaries have smaller warehouses that are used for local markets. Thank you. I would like to briefly go back to DOMS because I would like to dig into some of the most interesting aspects, considering also that DOMS will be a topic in the future too. So let me highlight the most important features. Well, DOMS is a success story in terms of strategic planning, in my opinion. When we invested in the company back in 2011 and afterwards in 2015, because we started, well, in two steps. In the beginning, we bought 18%, and we invested EUR 5 million. And then we integrated the stake up to 51%. So we increased our stake by investing EUR 31 millions. So you can well imagine how the value grew throughout the years. And with these 30 millions, we got the majority.
In turn, we allowed our minority shareholder the possibility to choose whether to start an IPO. So considering they were minority shareholders, this was the only protection we could grant them. When we started in 2011, well, the company had a turnover of EUR 10 million and had a negative EBITDA for EUR 1 million. 100% of the sales were private label products. They manufactured basically for the Indian competitors. So when we developed our strategy, we wanted to tap the potential and the greater abilities of these entrepreneurs. So we decided to provide the necessary funding for the company to grow, provided that the own brand, the DOMS brand, was strengthened and investments could be carried out on the brand. Well, this is what basically characterizes FILA today.
Since the very beginning and since we started investing, as you can see in the various slides, the Indian market has been growing organically by 15% per year. Since 2012, DOMS has always outperformed the market significantly because DOMS growth throughout the years has always been 24%, 25% per year. So we had a twofold target. On the one hand, we wanted to create a national champion in India by basically transferring FILA's DNA to India. Then we wanted to list the company on the stock exchange, and the result achieved exceeded even our best expectations. And once our DNA was in India, we wanted to create a production facility in order to sustain our business with profits for the decades ahead. Of course, there are many products that it doesn't make any sense to manufacture in Europe now.
Considering that we have a very efficient production facility on site, as Luca said, we can combine the huge volumes that the Indian market is requesting with our volumes, and we can profit from competitive costs and from a very high profitability level. If you go to page 38, you can see that the Indian market is expected to grow significantly in the future. The per capita consumption today in India is far away from the usual consumption levels that we can see in the USA, in Germany, in Europe in general. The consumption values in our market, in a broader sense, are expected to grow by over 13% in the next years. In 14 years of collaboration, so since 2011, DOMS is expected to have a turnover of EUR 200 million today, and they started with EUR 10 million in 2011, as I said.
You can easily imagine what we are planning to achieve with DOMS in the next years. The fact that, as you can see on slide 39, this is a new plant. We have 14 facilities on a piece of land of 43 hectares. We have now bought another piece of land next to it, and we are now building a facility on it. So this area will start manufacturing as of the end of 2025, and there will be some production facilities of FILA which are now disseminated all over the world. But we decided to transfer those plants to India on this new piece of land. Thanks to the doubling of our production capacity, DOMS will not only grow organically through the export via FILA, but they will also be able to achieve growth, thus fulfilling the Indian market demand.
Just a couple of figures on the Indian market, which is very important. There is a very old type of distribution which is actually prevailing. The e-commerce has a very tiny share. DOMS works with 125 superstockists, so wholesalers basically. There are basically a couple of superstockists in Indian state that serve the wholesalers. This is very similar to the structure that FILA has in Italy and Spain. Wholesalers, stationery offices, stationery stores are still prevailing. DOMS is serving 125,000 retail outlets on the Indian market. The target as agreed upon with the board of DOMS is to reach 1 million outlets in the next three years. You can well understand, apart from the synergies that FILA is able to generate through the production that we receive from DOMS, thus making us extremely competitive vis-à-vis our competitors and the embedded products.
You can well realize how big the potential is on the current Indian market. The target is to become the number one player on the Indian market. Our goal is to reach 40% market share, outperforming the growth of the Indian market by two times, thus covering 40% of the Indian market. We think DOMS will be able to double the current sales. The sales achieved by March 2025, EUR 200 million. At run rate, they will be able to achieve sales for EUR 400 million. As far as the relationship with us is concerned, so you've realized the strategic importance of DOMS from a production viewpoint. We should not forget that there is a macroeconomic situation to take into account.
Modi has brought the country into a neutral position, well, considering the positioning of the different countries in the world, the NATO countries on the one hand, and well, the other countries, China and well, the BRICS countries, although Brazil, India changed their position according to the situations, but India has a very neutral political position, and this allows India to obtain a lot of daily flows, and these are capitals. This is a capital which comes from China, and India has so far benefited from sales markets such as the United States with simplified policies or European markets, and they also have access to low-cost raw materials, for example, Russian gas. They are importing Russian gas at much lower costs than the costs that Europe paid before the war in Ukraine.
The efficiency of DOMS is therefore fully matches the ideal political situation that we will be able to benefit from in the years ahead. Our agreements go even further than that. We are negotiating the renewal of the shareholders' internal agreements. The shareholders' agreements in our market have a deadline of five years usually. In India, instead, shareholders' agreements last basically forever, so we have been developing and negotiating the shareholders' agreement very clearly, but basically, DOMS will have a preference, a privilege for the distribution of the brands on the Indian market in Indonesia and in Thailand. FILA instead is already starting to distribute DOMS products all over the world, and besides the distribution of DOMS products, we will also have access to DOMS production facilities for our own products.
We basically have a non-compete agreement in the markets where FILA is active, so North, Central, and Southern America, and all the other countries except for the countries that I mentioned. Another important point is that we have four board members as of today. If FILA retains at least 25% stake shareholding in DOMS, below 25% stake at steps of 5%, we would lose a board member basically. But I would say we have no plans to go below the 25% shareholding at least in a reasonable time horizon. So this is a no-brainer basically. We will sign the shareholders' agreements soon so that you'll know that above the 25% shareholding, the governance is fulfilled and guaranteed. Well, considering that we've gone into the details of DOMS, I would then leave for questions in the Q&A session.
Finally, Luca will go into the details of the strategic plan, and then we will open up for questions. I have to leave. I'm going to DOMS. Allora, questa mattina abbiamo approvato nel consiglio di amministrazione il piano strategico. During the board meeting of this morning, we approved the strategic plan 2025-2029 that provides for continuity versus the previous strategic plan, as well as with the strategy that has been implemented by FILA in the past 30 years. In our strategic plan, there are four main pillars: value creation in an evolving market. At the same time, we provide for solid and sustainable cash flow generation within the framework of a sustainability path with a strong group governance. We have a lot of projects that are shared with the holding company, with the major shareholders, subsidiaries, sorry, that will be implemented within the next five years.
Just a couple of words on the key initiatives. Starting from the macroeconomic context, we cannot but say that the economic outlook for the following years are not very positive. In the United States, they are definitely more positive than in Europe. For this reason, we agreed upon a strategic plan which is based on some key aspects: caution, well, for the aforementioned reasons, then efficiency gains within the group with reorganization measures, as we will see later on. This is for sure an important goal for the next five years. We want to increase our efficiency even further. To do so, we are looking for initiatives in order to grow the top line as well. The initiatives are as follows. We will divide the two business units, School and Fine Arts.
As for schools, especially in the European market, in most countries, the number of consumers is going to decrease because of the very low birth rate of the past few years. Here you see some figures. Luckily enough, the trend is exactly the opposite in the United States. School consumers are children aged five to 14, and in the U.S., they are expected to grow. In Europe, these consumers are going to decrease. At the same time, the purchasing power of households has dropped in both continents, well, more in Europe than in America and the United States. The most important initiative, as Massimo said, is therefore to cover an area of the market that has not been covered by the company, by the group yet, the entry-level area.
Starting from next year, we will start distributing DOMS products in the areas where our subsidiaries are located with a selected number of products in order not to cannibalize Giotto products. We want to keep our market shares in the areas where we are strong, but at the same time, we want to get market shares in product categories that have not been distributed by the group yet. Well, we will do so through M&A transactions if it makes sense, or we may look for partners, as Massimo and Piero said. In Africa, for example, we are historically present, and Africa may give us some opportunities in the years ahead in order to strengthen our presence in the continent.
We expect a number of potential consumers that is growing in all the countries where we are present.
After COVID, we have observed an increase in the number of competitors, especially in terms of private labels and entry-level products, especially products coming from China, so in this case, too, competition is getting stronger, so what we're going to do in line with what we have said and maintained so far is to transfer production of entry-level products to the DOMS hub, and this way, we want to gain more ground and regain the so-called lost competitiveness and win back the market shares that our competitors have eroded or at least tried to erode over the past few years. We are paying greater attention to business units that are considered to be less important for the group and that until now have recorded turnover with some good margins in historical markets that, of course, see the presence of subsidiaries that we have taken over over time.
So we will focus more on the potential business of B2B paper and digital fine art paper. It is a family of products on which Canson are historically very strong, as well as, as Piero was mentioning earlier, the industrial division. In this case, it is an important division of the company that we have taken over. So we want to develop a business model also in the other subsidiaries of the group. Lyra is already strong. So as Piero was saying earlier, we have no intention in focusing on direct e-commerce sales, but it is a market that is growing. So when we talk about digital transformation, we are referring mainly to two pillars. On the one hand, we want to establish partnerships with all the clients that are selling online, so not only Amazon.
And the second pillar is to exploit the tools that are currently available to get closer to the end consumers, to have a direct relationship with them, to make them be more loyal to us, and of course, to make them know more about the offer that we can guarantee in terms of product supply. So our strategic plan is conservative, let's say it's prudent. We've got a number of initiatives to make the group more efficient. We have already announced a resizing of the facility in the Dominican Republic where fine art brushes, canvas for artists, and other fine art products were produced. We have already transferred part of the production to our facility in India. We have already announced the shutdown of a facility in England. Production will be transferred to Bracknell, so their main English facility.
And at the same time, we've got some fine art products, entry-level, that will be transferred to DOMS. There are other initiatives in the pipeline for the next five years of our plan to guarantee more efficiency, not only in terms of organization, but also in terms of production and in terms of reorganization. And sorry for the play upon words of the organization. So we want to be more efficient. We want to boost efficiency also in the facilities that are going to be affected by the reorganization. With respect to the transfer of production to India, well, we've already talked about that in detail. So there's nothing else to add. Working capital. Well, over the past few years, we have definitely improved in terms of management. We still believe there's room for improvement and to do something better.
The main initiatives that make us believe we could be even more efficient in the management of working capital are placing more value on our best sellers, of course, and optimize inventory management and operational efficiency. This is going to be done through SAP upgrades. If I can briefly talk about SAP, we started this journey almost 10 years ago. We are still waiting to integrate Mexico. Probably we will go live in late 2025 or early 2026, and a SAP rollout will be complete. We will have all the subsidiaries in the same infrastructure with all the same tools that speak natively to each other in terms of management of production, in terms of planning, but also with respect to the use of collateral tools. Last but not least, the demand forecast, which we believe could be great in helping us optimize the inventory management.
We've always been sustainable. We never said that openly, but sustainability makes sense when it is sustainable on a business level. So all the initiatives that we have put in place so far and those that will be taken in the years to come are initiatives that have to bring value. And by value, I mean economic value. For example, when we talk about emission reduction, all our investments are targeted to lead to a payback that is acceptable. In the financial report for 2023, we have confirmed our sustainability targets. We never talked about sustainable products because we always took for granted that our products are sustainable. They must be. For years, we have gotten rid of plastics from packaging. So when possible, we use cardboard instead. We are using safer raw materials in addition to what is required in accordance with the current standards.
With respect to mergers and acquisitions, I already mentioned that we are in a highly fragmented market, especially the school and office industry. There are current price expectations that are excessively high still. We want to finalize the more than 200 projects that we've got in the pipeline for the next five years, of course, without losing sight of current opportunities. So M&A are opportunities to take. And if they were to be finalized, we would have the target of not having a leverage above three. I don't know if you want to briefly talk about guidance or later. You tell me. La storia in modo tale che poi abbiamo le azioni che mettiamo in atto. Allora, grazie Luca. Thank you Luca. Andiamo a pagina 55. Now page 55. I'm going to give you an overview of the past five years without DOMS, so only FILA performance.
We want to briefly highlight historical trends and all the projects that are currently in progress that are part of our strategic plan. The highlights have been given by Luca. The ultimate goal is to reach our 2026 targets. What are the key drivers to reach these targets? We have considered the past five years. These are the most representative years for us, bearing witness to our performance. We have addressed this question many times over the past years. Organic growth is +1.5%. A livello di importanza, il Centro-Sud America. Central South America played the lion's share, especially with our subsidiary in Mexico. North America 0.9% and then 0.2% for Europe. Growth and resilience for the group, considering also the events that we had to handle over the past five years, COVID starting from 2019.
Of course, this led to a big impact on schools. In the previous years, there was a booming trend that then, of course, declined as a consequence of the pandemic and energy crisis, especially over the past two years. Of course, the conflict that is currently ongoing, population effects that we are experiencing in Europe, meaning declining birth rates. As Luca said, North America and Central and South America, our continents are basically not suffering from this effect. Based on the highlights of our strategic plan, we feel pretty confident for our outlook for 2026. In terms of EBITDA, well, the same remarks apply. Valgono the same identical observations felt on the same remarks applied regarding sales. The EBITDA
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The events I have mentioned earlier have been an impact on EBITDA. EBITDA records growth by 2.4%, more than proportionate.
It means that the group has worked to be more efficient, especially from an industrial standpoint, an industrial process standpoint, thanks also to a synergetic effect due to mergers and acquisitions. The geographies that have contributed to the success are Central and South America, 14%; North America, 5.4%, an important growth, and a decrease in Europe, -3.6%. Europe has suffered the most in terms of sales of the past five years. The social impact, the market impact was great. Currently, the group has already been reorganized in Central and South America with a resizing of the facility in the Dominican Republic and partly in Europe and the U.K., and the forthcoming winding up of the Russian company.
In terms of working capital and CapEx, sorry, trade working capital, over the past five years, FILA has recorded a decrease in the net working capital by 2 percentage points, especially in inventory, thanks to the efficiency that we have enhanced, and of course, the SAP S/4HANA introduction and the current demand planning. Also our guidance for the future is to improve our net working capital, paying attention to the effects and spillovers of reorganization on inventory in particular. Then CapEx, over the past five years, you can see a breakdown between FILA Group and DOMS. They almost doubled in 2023. Investments almost doubled in 2023. In 2023, they were double than what the group has actually taken over.
We are planning to invest 20 million EUR to bring more efficiency on an industrial level, to keep an eye on sustainability, and of course, to focus on the leverage ratio that is defined in the guidance. The free cash flow to equity shows a cash flow generation that is on average of 50 million EUR per year. All the events I've mentioned earlier when developing the economic indicators have led to some oscillations, but it's important to point out that the group always has a target of the 50 million EUR with a broader vision for 2026. We are focusing very much on investments, and we are aiming to constantly reduce the interest rates.
The group did pretty well also with increasing interest rates and helped the group counter these increasing interest rates with a constant deleverage and, above all, with the 7 million EUR decrease due to the closings that happened in 2023. These are trends that are actually confirming our guidance that it will be between 30 and 40, 30 and 50 million EUR. This is a snapshot of the current bank debt of FILA. Of course, we are year-end, so we have to consider the effect, but our debt is 300 million EUR broken down between Europe and North America equally. We've got maturities that are due in 2027, and according to our guidance, there are no criticalities in terms of payback plans and compliance with those plans. In June, the fixed rate defined by financing facilities is more or less 65%. Average interest rate is 6.5%.
As of September, we actually noticed a potential of EUR 75 million, and we have a potential EUR 89 million to consider. Already in October, FILA Group actually has opened no credit lines, no structured debt, and this is bearing witness to the ability to be financially independent and, of course, to be profitable in this regard.
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cash flow to equity, growth and efficiency, the leverage, we have mentioned all these points. There are a number of drivers to use the cash flow that will be generated over the next few years. First of all, we have to focus on the investments aimed to improve efficiency, also in line with the criteria and guidelines for sustainability.
The leverage should be 1.5 by 2026, shareholder remuneration 20%-40% in the ordinary course, and of course, take M&A opportunities.
Now let me hand over to Candela, who will describe the outlook to 2026. Thank you, Cristian. Yes, as we've tried to explain in the past one and a half hours, our outlook is based on very strong fundamentals. As we said, we have competitive edges that we have been able to achieve throughout the years. Well, it's a two-year plan, first of all, because although we are in a very crowded and inefficient industry that will sooner or later consolidate, we do not envisage any, and we do not see any short-term changes. Well, the expectations in terms of enterprise value of the companies that may sell are still unrealistic. The new tariff policies will impact on the industry. The issues with China may be disruptive.
Many competitors are closely bound to China, and as you know, if you are so dependent on China with all the threats vis-à-vis Taiwan and Russia, you may have to face a lot of problems. Also, our American competitors that buy most of their products in China. We think that these macroeconomic changes will bring about an acceleration after 2026. FILA may have a great and one-off opportunity to become the leading company in the industry. Hence, our goal for now is to keep our leading position on the market, to keep a high level of profitability with good organic growth, a strong cash flow generation, and reduction of the leverage down to one, one and a half times. What are our expectations as of today? Based on constant conditions in America, where the demographic process is relatively stable, we expect a low- to mid-single-digit growth.
Europe, which is characterized by a much stronger fragmentation of the competition and is also impacted by dropping demographics, which is very relevant. Well, FILA has the advantage of a more competitive supply chain compared to our competitors, and this is also thanks to what has been achieved in the last 25 years. The organic growth of 1.5%-2% has been characterizing FILA's performance in the last two decades. It's quite a strong feature, and we expect a growth between zero and low single digit. In Central and South America, we expect a rather mid-single-digit growth, considering that Central and South America are not impacted by a drop in the birth rate. EBITDA, also thanks to the operating leverage, to the reorganization that has already started and will be concluded within the next 18 months, will grow proportionally with the sales.
As for the free cash flow, we confirm this value between EUR 40 million and EUR 50 million that will grow over time as soon as the leverage decreases. As we said, this year it is expected to drop below the two times. We have a 1.5 time leverage because of the dividend policy. We declare today the ordinary course of business that is, if we rule out all extraordinary issues, we expect to pay out dividends between 20% and 40% of the adjusted net profit. As for the net profit, please note that we have already agreed with DOMS that DOMS pay out 10% of the profits every year, although this may grow even further depending on the financial commitments of the company. In a nutshell, we expect two profitable years because we have to consider the macroeconomic situation, which is becoming increasingly complicated.
As I said in our guidance, we have, of course, taken the American tariff issues into account, but we expect we will be able to cope with these issues positively, as we described during the meeting, and this will be a precondition to become the leader of the industry, considering the consolidation of the market that will certainly happen in the future. Federico Milla, good evening. First of all, thank you very much for the explanations and for the information. I have a question on the 25% surplus of DOMS, and you've stated that this will remain unchanged forever, for a long time. And considering that this is a good amount of money, I'd like to know whether this amount can be used to accelerate the declared numbers. And if you invest, what are you planning? M&A transactions, or are there any geographies that you are envisaging for the future?
The numbers that we've disclosed are on a standalone basis with FILA and the business that we are expecting to generate given the current situation. The possibility to monetize DOMS' stake is there, is a possibility. I repeat, we rely on the governance a lot because it's a strategic, very strong relationship for the years ahead, and we are planning to invest a lot also in terms of production capacities in the future. But for sure, we cannot but see that 5.5% of this is basically a financial stake rather than a strategic stake. For me, strategic shareholding is what I need to protect the governance that we are going to negotiate and sign with our partners. Everything on top of that stake becomes a financial stake.
Our view on DOMS is that on the one hand, and excluding any macroeconomic issues that we cannot foresee for India, but I know that you all agree with me, there's a war breaking out now every six months. For the time being, India seems not to be impacted by that, but according to our forecast, the company DOMS will continue to grow brilliantly in the pipeline. There are very interesting acquisitions, and there are good chances for the Enterprise Value to increase even further. For this reason, we may tend to keep this stake unchanged in our portfolio. On the other hand, however, there are other aspects that need to take into account. There may be some opportunities, but not for the time being. As I said earlier, many players in our industry are still confused.
I don't know if you remember, between 2021 and 2022, there was a great acceleration both in the fine arts and in the school sector, and so most players are still anchored to valuations that are unrealistic for the time being. And the fact of having a free cash flow of EUR 100 million, let's say, allows us to decrease the leverage to one instead of waiting for two years, so we can immediately drop the leverage, or we may make other decisions. I would say for the time being, our priority is to continue the reorganization, the right-sizing. It's not just a question of defining the relationship with our co-workers in the plants that we're going to close, but we also have to build up the know-how in India. So the operations part is our priority for now.
Keeping this stake or 21% plus one share, well, this will be a rather opportunistic decision. You know, now is November 2024. When we started considering a possible IPO of DOMS, it was April 2023, so one and a half years ago. It was not a decade ago. I remember the very first valuations of DOMS, well, 150 million, then 20, then 200, then 250 million Enterprise Value. In this one and a half years, we've realized that the valuation of DOMS may be anything. As of today, it has reached EUR 1.8 billion. There may be someone thinking it may grow even further, and others that it has reached the highest level. It's very subjective, you know. I think, well, this is going to be an opportunistic decision based on the contingent moment.
Should there be a great opportunity, well, this is available cash, but not immediately because we have a lock-up agreement until 18th of December 2024. After when the lock-up period expires, after the 18th of December 2024, we may make decisions. But apart from that, I think, well, you know, since 2019, when we bought Pacon, we have generated EUR 320 million free cash flow in a matter of six years. I think this is even more important than the valuation of DOMS shareholding, which is undoubtedly one-off success story regardless of any decisions we may make. Well, there's a question asking whether there are strategies to crystallize DOMS' value. Well, if you are referring to financial instruments, the Indian market does not allow any such instruments. In other words, I've performed some analyses. Well, I do not want to talk about things you are very familiar with.
Without having a stake, this was my original question. Without this stake, is there any possibility to freeze that value that has already exceeded our expectations? Well, the answer is the Indian market does not allow such instruments or transactions. If you want to crystallize or realize this stake, you cannot but sell the stake. Then another question, other questions from Alessandro Cecchini. The first question concerning the corporate reorganization. What about the time frame, the characteristics, the costs for closing the plants, and positive impacts on the income statement? This was the first question on the reorganization. As I said before, the reorganizations in the group will take place within the next five years, and the impact in the income statement for 2025-2026 are included in the guidance that we have disclosed.
As for the one-off restructuring costs, well, for the reorganizations that have already been announced, these costs are already included in the investments that we have disclosed. For the most, the costs for the subsequent reorganizations are already included in the investment guidance that we've disclosed. With a reference to the positive impacts deriving from the reorganization, are you envisaging to invest these proceeds to enter new market areas or to increase the profits? The strategic plan foresees, as I said before, production reorganizations, efficiency gains, both for the production and for the facilities. Our strategic plan considers all these issues together, and there's not a single driver impacting on another one. The positive impacts, I repeat, are within a guidance that, as I said in the beginning, is very cautious, very prudent, based on what we've said and considering the future scenarios.
Another question on the tariffs. How do you serve the United States or vice versa? How much of the cost of goods sold are China, Mexico, Russia, and India? So how much is the United States and how much of the COGS are China, Russia, and India? Well, based on the purchases of 2023, the United States accounts for about 10%. Well, 10% is sourced from Mexico. Well, as of today, 2023, 10% from India. China accounts for about 5%, and Europe, 4%. As Massimo said, thanks to his intuition in the first years of the '90s, we have been able to build a production network that allows us to switch from one continent to another for core products in terms of one week.
Of course, there are secondary products that require specific decisions should any tariffs be included, but these are non-core products, and they do not have a significant impact on the group numbers. I think you all remember, two years ago, we announced the strategic decision to leave China, and I hope today you've realized the value of this decision. If we'd made this decision today, we would be extremely late, and now we are about to conclude the process. Then a follow-up on the tariffs and how the United States is served. What about the positioning of your competitors, in particular those who sell to the United States? Well, this is a mystery, I must admit. We have a president that was elected announcing 60% tariffs against China and Walmart. He imports about 60 containers every day from China.
So, I don't know, either Trump decided to cancel Walmart or I don't know. Well, you know, it depends what was stated during the election campaign has to be offset by what can be actually achieved. I think he will hit selectively, but Walmart will definitely not be canceled. Walmart is very important to keep inflation under control, and it's inconceivable that Walmart be punished that way. What I can tell you, however, is that today in the U.S. Trade Department, well, let's say when products are imported from Mexico, the Trade Department has changed its approach completely. The law is the same. The approach is much stricter. Let's say the product is a pencil or an electric car, it is not important where the product is manufactured, but where the components come from.
Competitors which invested hugely in Mexico by building production facilities and importing semi-finished products from China, well, they will have a made-in-China product even if the product is manufactured in Mexico. The same applies to our industry. Many competitors moved from China to Vietnam, to the Philippines, but they continue to import semi-finished products and raw materials from China. With the new decisions, with the new rulings, well, these products are considered as Chinese. So we are confronted with a paradigm shift, and you can hardly make forecasts. FILA may benefit from that. This is not in our strategic plan. FILA is in Mexico. The manufacturer sources also with Mexican trees, graphite from Mexico, and in India with the trees grown in Kashmir. They produce with Indian graphite. And so our supply chain has absolutely nothing to do with China any longer.
And this will be an interesting period, you know, because it's very promising, and there may be unforeseen changes.
The more general question regarding competition, how do you see the current scenario of competitors in Europe and in America? Well, Europe has a humongous problem. There's a question of survival of Europe regardless of the pencils because they didn't get one right, really. These American policies that are very defensive and protectionist that were combined were a very important increase in China of the production capacity in addition to a very strong reduction in domestic demand is basically causing the markets to be overwhelmed by tons of products at very low market prices. So a few facilities are going to be closed down, as is happening in our industry. We've got businesses with a negative EBITDA, and this is true also for other industries.
The competitive situation in Europe is that Europe is basically overwhelmed with products that have very low prices, and this will cause problems of overcapacity in Europe. At FILA, we said very clearly how we're going to handle all of this. We began with a restructuring last year. There's going to be a form of protection. We're going to launch a range of Indian products to be competitive with Chinese products. Actually, from India, costs are going to be even lower than China. One of the goals that we had today was to explain our future strategy, to illustrate it in detail, to talk about things that go beyond our industry. Our response is very clear. It has already been implemented on the market. America is different there. Efficiency has been improved 10 years ago already.
So we are leaders in the fine art industry. We've got very small competitors, U.S. competitors. We're very strong on the school market. We just have a couple of competitors. So our competitors are really few. The system is way more efficient there. The average margin we realize in the U.S. is higher than what we record in Europe because, of course, tariffs are protecting U.S. producers. So the exacerbation of the tariff system will lead to a greater profitability of American players. Nothing miraculous there because we are operating on a market with stable population trends, consolidated market share. Apart from Ticonderoga, that is growing considerably. Ticonderoga is loved by teenagers. So we are benefiting from this increase in consumption. So the scenario is particularly critical in Europe, where we have to come to terms with a decline in the birth rate.
This crisis may affect the weakest players and might also eventually lead to an acceleration for us. Thank you, Massimo. Can we go back to the first question for a moment, Federico's question? I've read part of the answer in between the lines, but I just want to clear the air and to make sure I understood correctly. India is part of your industrial strategy, and that's clear. What I mean is that we have to keep the shares. I accept that there's no clear answer with respect to the rest. Let's say that we are the 19th of December, and our assessments induce us to go down. The short question here is, with that money, EUR 70 million or EUR 100 million, what are the priorities? De-leveraging or payback to the shareholders?
You said that, of course, valuation might be higher in India after today's market results that I believe they are excessive. Well, the share recorded a minus 8 tonight. Then you talk about consolidation in Europe, where there's production capacity that is in surplus. Also, despite the consolidation, it's too early to think about buying. If you want to keep the leverage ratio low, it's important to have very clear targets.
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Could you please maybe give a follow-up answer to what I just said? Well, these are all great remarks. Absolutely correct remarks. Well, I can assure you that there are no conditions to be in contact with our competitors right now because business people are the best at not realizing that the conditions of their businesses cannot be changed sometimes and that the decline is irreversible.
Next year, we should look at the window or look out of the window and see what's going to happen. We've got a very clear strategy. We might argue if the numbers that we have in mind for 2025 and 2026 are more or less challenging. I believe they're very good numbers because they take into account the macroeconomic scenarios. But unlike other businesses that are coming to terms with a regular decline, they are pretty sound numbers that confirm our leadership position. So why chasing acquisitions at all costs? So it is not a priority that is high on our agenda. If this is not a priority, you have listed a number of things. The best investment is on us. We've got still part of the debt that costs a bit more than our average. I'm referring to working capital lines in Mexico.
I'm referring to a few lines in the U.S. that cost more because the cost of money is higher. That's considering the same investments. But there's also the role to be played by shareholders. If you're saying that the share price is not doing well today, well, the shareholders could feel or should be rewarded, well, as it happened last year. So I think we are lucky enough to have all positive scenarios in the market that will be in turmoil, I believe, but we are very well equipped to face future challenges. I won't attach more importance to certain things with respect to others. We are in a position of making the best choices. Then we have to see if the share price is going to stay the same, is going to stay on these levels.
On Saturday, we've talked about +35% EBITDA, +40% net result. If you look at the performances of our competitors, well, the most important one and I've looked at the numbers as a top line of -2% to -3%, and profits followed a flat line. We are actually playing the lion's share on the market, and we are growing considerably on the internet, so e-commerce. DOMS is the player. All the things you said are equally important, though. Of course, there was a similar question on the working capital, but I guess you answered. There are no more questions, basically. All things considered, I think it's a good thing to be a FILA shareholder today. When the share price was EUR 14 or EUR 15, maybe that wasn't the best-case scenario.
But now we have had a reshuffling of our stakes, and I guess that FILA shares represent our DOMS shares. So either FILA is worth zero, DOMS is worth zero. So let's wait and see what's going to happen. I'm very happy. I'm very satisfied with our performance, and I'm sure we're going to deliver in the future with great numbers. Any questions? No questions. Thank you.