Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this conference call for Barco's first half results for 2024. My name is Willem Fransoo. I'm here in the room with our co-CEOs, Charles Beauduin and An Steegen, and also with our CFO, Ann Desender. An Steegen and Ann Desender will take us through the presentation of the results this morning, and this presentation is also available on our investment portal on the website. After the presentation, there will be time for questions. I would now like to give the word to An and Ann to take us through the slides.
All right. Thank you, Willem, and good morning, everybody. I'm gonna start with a summary of our first semester results. For sales, we landed at EUR 434.5 million, which is about 16.6% lower than last year. We do see sales significantly picking up already in the second quarter, especially in the Americas, where we actually see for the second quarter, year-over-year sales growth. Order book is at record high, EUR 533 million, and that includes already orders for new product launches that are still gonna come in the second half of this year. Book-to-bill, more than one, and also Eco-label. So revenue coming from Eco-label products increased with four percentage points to 64% of the total revenue.
EBITDA landed at EUR 35 million, which is 8.1% of sales and 4.4% lower than the first half of last year. Gross profit margin was pretty resilient, so we actually saw improvements in healthcare and entertainment, but that was offset with a decline in enterprise because of the lower ClickShare sales. OpEx is under control. R&D, we kept on investing to support, of course, the new product introductions for the second half of the year. Free cash flow landed about EUR 15 million. That is a step above of more than EUR 38 million since last year, and the net income is at EUR 9 million. Now, the outlook for the full year, we expect to resume growth in the second half.
Although the visibility remains challenging, we expect growth for the second half over the second half of last year in sales, and we also expect a strong recovery of our EBITDA for the second half of the year, which is now expected to land for the full year between 11% and 13%. So we started the year slow. We had a slow first quarter, but we see significant improvements in orders and sales for the second quarter. As I mentioned already, especially for the Americas, where we, for the first half, are flat in sales compared to last year, and we see this, we see the growth in the second quarter. This growth is mainly driven by our Diagnostic Imaging business unit, where we see solid performance and also strong demands for premium portfolio. We see also,
In the first quarter, we saw a softer demand in entertainment, but that demand has been picking up in the second quarter. Also, order and sales for our control rooms, driven, of course, by the geopolitics, but also by the need for security and data insights, has been growing year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter. EMEA remains weaker, so the investment client, customers delaying actually their investments. Also, the decision making from lead to order, from order to sales is slower in EMEA. We also had, for our Meeting Experience, a higher-than-usual inventories in the channel at the end or at the beginning of 2024. Of course, because the market is still in decline and we're growing actually in line with the market, but it took us longer to destock that inventory in the channels.
Cinema sales was also weaker in EMEA. That again had to do with the Hollywood strikes and a limited movie slate, which we expect to pick up again towards the end of the year, and especially also next year. And also for EMEA, we see growth in control rooms and also an increasing share of software in our portfolio there. APAC was down 13%. We also see pickup in orders for the second quarter in APAC. China remains flat, and we see actually stronger demands in cinema already. Now, we had also a very high comparison basis, especially for entertainment, compared to last year. So that's also a reason why APAC sales is a little bit lower for the first semester.
Also worth to mention is that, with our strategic transformation in control rooms, we abandoned several countries, markets in APAC, including China, and that is also basically impacts some a little bit our results for APAC. I'll hand it over to Ann now.
Thank you. All these figures roll up here to the group figures. And shortly, perhaps on the figures as such. So orders landing in the second quarter at EUR 243 million, and sales, EUR 238.6 million, which is compared to the first quarter, at 10% up on orders, and on sales was up 22%, second quarter versus first quarter. So to speak, that call it the dip and the softness in the first quarter has picked up again and is largely improved. Orders above sales, which means that we have been able to build up our order book to the tune of EUR 38.5 million, including in there also indeed pre-orders for new product launches, which will be shipped in the second semester.
The visualization of our EBITDA versus last year. So, last year was at 12.5% EBITDA margin. First semester this year at 8.5%. Needless to say that the biggest impact is coming from lower volumes, lower sales. Gross profit margin has been quite resilient. The negative impact is linked to lower sales in Enterprise, and in particular, in ClickShare, where we have high margins. When you look to the gross profit margin in both Entertainment and in Healthcare, there we see an uptick. So all of the better product mix, more and more software, also the actions which we have done throughout the years with going to China, the focused factories are really yielding results. We have been containing our OpEx.
If you compare OpEx first semester versus last year, this is down EUR 6 million. This is despite, or I would say, we did not cut on R&D investment, with a clear eye on the new product introductions which are upcoming. Where it is coming from, it's really a whole set of cost containment measures. The control rooms reset last year clearly has its impact now. Some... and then across low, I would say, attrition, which has then not our headcount actions, attrition, which has then been offset with organizational efficiencies. If we look to the total headcount mid of the year compared to the beginning of the year, then we are 170 people less, direct, indirect, and direct people.
Indirect people, 120 people less. So landing with that at an 8.1% EBITDA margin. Taking it to net income on slide seven, starting from the EBITDA of EUR 35 million. Depreciations are higher than last year as expected, including in there also depreciations on Cinema as a Service deals, which we are having. Restructuring cost EUR 7.8 million, including the last phase of the strategic review and reset started last year on control rooms, including the closure of the Changping factory, which was already at the beginning of the year. And then numerous diverse actions, but also positive impact, including integration of Cinionic into our Barco activities, where we now have again 100%.
Interest and taxes: interest positive, taxes 18% of last year, lower number on a lower EBITDA figure, of course, and then, landing to, a net income of EUR 9 million. Moving over to free cash flow, like Ann indicated in the summary, landed positive on the first half, rounded to EUR 15 million, which is a considerable step up compared to the first semester last year. And the main step up is linked really to the lower working capital. Gross operating cash flow, EUR 13 million, which is EBITDA minus restructuring cost. CapEx, we kept at, EUR 19 million, which is quite in line with last year, where we had EUR 21 million. Two bigger items included in there, Cinema as a Service contracts, which is good for EUR 6 million.
Manufacturing footprint, we opened the Wuxi factory in in China, included in there EUR 5.6 million, and then more recurring CapEx included. The working capital has been reduced compared to the beginning of the year, EUR 9 million, compared to over a year ago, at EUR 37 million rounded. Though despite in all honesty, quite still a lot of opportunities to further decrease that. And particular into the inventories, we saw this declining, decreasing as of the second quarter, but it really remains a focus area to further go down with the improved top line in the second semester. ROCE landed at 11%, net cash at EUR 173 million rounded, which is EUR 17 million round lower than the beginning of the year.
Included in there, up, of course, the free cash flow and then the, the down, you could say, dividend, share buyback, and then the buyout of the minority investor into Cinionic. Moving over to the sustainability KPIs, I'm picking out two here. First, Eco-labeled revenues, so 64% compared to 60% in the first semester last year. So a further progress over there is being set, the measures and the definition becoming more stringent every year. Now, also including software and service revenues. So if we would restate or compare apples to apples, then actually would be at 70%. But anyhow, it's- it is what it is. And so the new definition, 64%, and we remain our target for next year to go to 75%, including this more, call it, stringent definition.
Driven across BUs and across the different divisions uptick. But if you take out two, which have a really positive impact, then it's within diagnostic imaging and then within cinema in particular. The new product introductions coming in the second semester will also... they are all Eco-labeled. So in that sense, we'll take the progress further. And looking to the Net Promoter Score of our customers, where every year we have a deep survey twice per year, with more and more replies, with more and more, I would say, substance to it. We do a lot also with the results and any of the comments which we get to really work on any comments of detractors, you could say so.
With that, actually quite pleased with the further progress on our results, landing to a net promoter score of 52 this year, four points up versus the year before. The largest improvement, so we see it really across the regions, but the largest updates are in Meeting Experience and in DI, Diagnostic Imaging. And it's also really driven by better points on or even better points on aftersales and service. With that, I hand it back over to you, An, with some more color-
Yeah.
-on the different divisions.
Yeah. Okay, let me start with Healthcare. So in Healthcare, orders and sales declined 12% and 11% respectively. We did see, of course, an improvement already in the second quarter in order and sales. Gross profit margin really did improve about 3 percentage points, and that was due to a better product mix, but also due to the fact of cost efficiencies now that we actually could transfer all our medical displays as planned to our Suzhou factory. EBITDA dropped from 10% last year, first half of last year, to 8.8%, in last semester, and that was mainly due to a decreased top line.
So when we go to diagnostic imaging, very healthy market dynamics in diagnostic imaging, resulting actually in a robust business performance, especially in the Americas, again, where we saw in the second quarter, year-over-year growth, and there is definitely also there the strong demand for our premium solutions. As I mentioned, and it's definitely also valid for diagnostic imaging, the ramp-up of our product factories in Suzhou are really yielding now these gross profit gains, and we see the effect actually in diagnostic imaging. We also, in June, launched our home reading radiology portfolio of displays. This is basically a brand-new set of home reading radiology displays. They have multimedia. They have also secure, actually, connectivity with the infrastructure of the hospital to guarantee the same quality at home as in the hospital.
They are also adapted for the ergonomics of the radiologist at home. So this was a highly anticipated new product with already quite some pre-orders, and it's doing well, actually, in order intake at this moment. In the entire portfolio of DI, we see also more and more software entering in our portfolio. Also, basically including AI assist features that help actually the doctors in their diagnosis. And also, the momentum in digital pathology continues to grow, and also throughout the rest of the year and next year, we will bring additional displays for pathology on the market, but also software platforms, workflows that make the life of the pathologists and actually the lab assistants preparing the samples in pathology towards the pathologist, actually make it more easy.
So that is also a software platform that we are launching next year. For surgical and modality, there we see actually the first indications from our customers that they are getting back to normal inventories. We did suffer from that actually last year and also the first semester. We also see that software is gaining actually in the portfolio mix of surgical and modality. Also here, of course, the ramp-up in Suzhou is definitely benefiting also our modality business. We are more cost-effective and cost competitive with ramping the products there. And also towards, for instance, our Japanese customers, that at this moment do benefit from weak yen. This is actually for us, a very, very good step up in being cost competitive in modality.
Also for surgical and modality, we continue to invest in this software-enabled visualization. That goes along with a new Nexxis platform that we're rolling out now, but also smart displays. And the smart displays, you have to see, they include all your senses, from voice, eye tracking, touch, just to make the life of the surgeon in the operating room more easy. And there, we basically are launching a new flagship smart display product portfolio in the first half of next year, which is called Brilliant Assistant. When we go to enterprise. So in enterprise, we saw a decline in orders and sale of about 22%. We did see sales grow with about 33% in the second quarter there.
Gross profit was affected with 6.4%, EBITDA with 11.5% compared, EBITDA margin compared to last year, and that is mainly due to the lower mix of ClickShare in the sales portfolio. So when we go a little bit deeper into Meeting Experience, Meeting Experience and the video conferencing market remains slow. It's at a single-digit decline. Barco sales sell-out is actually in line with that single-digit decline. But we suffered in the first half of this year with an unusual high stock that was taken in at the end of last year through our distributors. That had to do with changing channel programs and partner programs that we introduced in January of this year.
We see also some increased competition in EMEA from more, price-sensitive, sometimes also Chinese competitors. The ClickShare Bar, this is basically a video conferencing bar where we included ClickShare, so it's very compact. It's a plug-and-play. It's actually designed for low and mid-size meeting rooms. We've launched that actually in the first half, and it's doing very well in the market, and it's really successfully introduced, and it's selling well. And last but not least, our R&D teams are now preparing our next generation AI-enabled platform, which will be compatible and will be certified with the Microsoft standards, and that is due on the market by mid-next year. Control rooms, in general, the market is really being boosted by this need for more security and need for more data analytics.
We see in our control room business, after the transformation that we introduced last year, actually growth in both orders and sales for the first semester, and also a positive contribution to our EBITDA. The momentum around our platform, our software platform, our new platform, which is called Barco CTRL , is really building up, and we did a major release like two weeks ago, with a major set of additional features, and we expect actually orders to continue to grow actually throughout the second half of the year. For the future, Barco CTRL is actually our software platform where we will start adding applications, specific customized workflows, collaborations, applications for our verticals, and this is basically a very nice way also to increase the software offerings from our control room business.
Then on Entertainment: so in general, Entertainment, orders 10% down, sales 16% down, but again, sales picking up in the second quarter, especially for cinema and especially in the Americas. Gross profit was pretty much flat, but we also basically had a good product mix there. EBITDA was down from 12% to 9.9%, again, due to a lower top line. For cinemas, we saw demand delays, investment delays from the exhibitors in the first semester due to a limited movie slate. That movie slate again is picking up towards the end of the year and definitely towards next year. We see then the orders and the sales recovering in the second quarter, as I mentioned already.
Also, Cinema as a Service continues to grow, and actually it's part of our revenue. But as you know, it is of course a recurring revenue, which is good, but it's also spread out over multiple years. We officially launched now our new HDR light steering projector. It is very well received by the market, and towards the fourth quarter, we're launching an official commercial pilot program with a selected set of exhibitors in the U.S. For Immersive Experience, order intake really improved towards the second quarter, anticipating of course multiple new product introductions in the second half of the year. We also basically started production in our Wuxi plants in China on time.
This is today geared towards the mid-end projection, will also help us actually in cost efficiency for our mid-end projection, portfolio. Again, here, in light of also Japanese competitors that we have in the IX market, this will give us actually an advantage or at least help us to position as, generate a competitive position for us against our Japanese competitors who benefit from this weak yen at this moment. Multiple new product introductions in IX. The I600, that is our mid-end projector, very compact projector, actually geared towards all our fixed install, vertical markets.
High performing, but also very energy efficient and also cost efficient, was launched, now, actually, at InfoComm in May, and is also doing well, picking up orders. Then we have two more to come for IX. One is our flagship 3DLP QDX projector, so that is for the events-based. And then our highly anticipated Event Master, so the switcher, the image processing tool. This is a follow-up from our market leader, Encore 2, and this one basically is getting to the market at the beginning of Q4. So then, for the outlook, as I mentioned before, we... although visibility remains challenging, but we expect the top line in the second half to grow compared to the second half of last year.
We expect a significant step-up in EBITDA, and for the full year, we expect the EBITDA to land between 11%-13%. And to summarize, I would like to basically get back to actually our plans, our plan that we've rolled out like three years ago... The fundamentals, how we see sustainable growth for Barco. We have been executing duly diligently on each of these pillars, and it takes time. It takes time to introduce new products into market. It takes time to ramp up fabs and transfer portfolios to new fabs, but we are steadily improving, and this basically gives us confidence that we have the right ingredients for future growth. New product introductions, they're coming, more next year even. We basically transferred our products to Suzhou. We opened a new factory in Wuxi.
NPS, like An mentioned, we basically focus on the customer, and the customer satisfaction has been gradually improving, thanks to all the actions that we have put in place. And of course, we have heart for sustainability. We were even recognized by TIME Magazine in the top 500 most sustainable companies in the world, and that was out of a selection of 5,000. So we're committed to continue to execute on this strategy, and we are confident that that will basically help us for our future growth.
Thank you very much, An, and Ann, for this presentation. I think we are ready now to move to Q&A. So if you have a question, you can raise the virtual hand in the Teams module, and it's the hand at the top with the word "Raise" below. And I would ask to please ask maximum two questions at a time, and if you have more questions, you can queue again. I will unmute you one by one to raise your questions. And Matthias Maenhaut from Kepler Cheuvreux, you're the first, so you can unmute yourself and ask your question.
We can't hear you.
Matthias, can you unmute yourself?
Matthias, he hasn't muted. He hasn't muted.
We can't hear.
Matthias? Matthias, we cannot hear you.
Okay, maybe try somebody else just to see if it's Matthias.
You are muted on your side.
Okay.
I will move over to Mark first, maybe, and then I'll, we'll come back to you, Matthias. Is that okay? Mark Hesselink from ING, can you ask your question?
Yes. Can you, can you hear me?
We can, yes.
Yes. That's good.
Yes.
Yep.
Okay, good. So first question is actually on your guidance range for the EBITDA between 11% and 13%. It's quite a big range, given for the second half of the year, and I can imagine that especially ClickShare is really important for where you end up in that range. Is that true that if the ClickShare, indeed, you see it successfully in the second half of the year, you might end up towards the higher end of that range? If it continues to be a bit slow, you could end up at the lower end of the range. Is that the right way to think about it?
It's a combination. ClickShare and the mix, for sure, has a bigger impact, but overall, also the rate of growth-
Yes
... above last year anyhow, makes a difference.
Yes.
So in that sense, growing versus second semester of last year-
Mm-hmm
... requires EUR 100 million more sales compared to the first semester, for which we have reviewed the order book, the funnel, et cetera, to underpin. This is across divisions-
All divisions, yes.
All divisions.
Yes.
But needless to say, that's the margin of ClickShare or the weight of ClickShare also has a, an, an-
An-
... a bigger impact.
An impact, yes. Correct.
For ClickShare on its own, we have the destocking effect now behind us, so-
Mm-hmm
... that's why we also saw the pickup in sales second quarter-
Yes
... versus first quarter. The markets, we gradually, while the sellout was still below last year, so a single-digit lower, we do see gradual improvement there. But in the... in how fast this that will further improve, yeah, that there's there is, yeah, variability.
Yep. Yes.
But I guess it's fair to say that your visibility on the other categories is quite good, given that it's predominantly a backlog business. And for ClickShare, it's yeah, by nature, a little bit less visible, right?
Yeah. Yes.
By nature, that's for next-
Yes, correct
... because it's a lot of book-to-bill and-
Yes
... business.
Yeah.
Okay, great. And then the second, you don't... You've refrained a little bit from giving a full year revenue guidance, but you did say it's going to grow in the second half of the year. Maybe what kind of magnitude? That could give a bit more idea, and also, yeah-
Mm-hmm
... previously, you always said that all the categories would be relatively similar, all of them more or less flat year-over-year. So on which of those, the three categories did it, did it change?
It's too early to say, and that's based on the visibility indeed to say how big the growth will be, and in that sense, that's indeed why we can say we refrain from a full year guidance on the top line, and otherwise, it would be range.
Mm-hmm.
Where we do see growth year-over-year, in particular, is entertainment and in healthcare. The down which we have in enterprise, we do not have the visibility, but today-
Mm-hmm
... we say that that will be fully compensated in the second semester.
Yes, correct. Mm-hmm.
... Okay, clear. Thank you.
Oh, thank you.
Matthias. Matthias, can you try again? Unmute yourself, please, for asking your question.
I can try. Can you hear me now?
Yeah, now-
We can hear you.
Yeah. Okay, so sorry for that double mute. Apologies if I ask the same question, but maybe just on the guidance and on ClickShare, I see you guide also for growth in meeting and experience.
Mm-hmm.
Could you elaborate a little bit on what's gonna drive that growth in H2 with a market that is down, I would say is still single digit?
Mm-hmm
... What gives you the confidence you can grow in H2 in enterprise or-
Yeah
in meeting experience?
With the old guide for growth in enterprise in the second semester. So in that sense, that we will see. And it's primarily into entertainment. Yeah, of course, an important pick-up versus the first half. Yes, first half. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But-
What we have had is, if you don't know, is that we have de-stocking in the first half.
Yes, and that is now behind us, that de-stocking. So now again, growing in line with the market. Market is expected from the market report, reports to pick up in the second half, but we have also, of course, short-term actions on our sales, on our sales force, our go-to-market, to sharpen actually, our sales in the second half of the year on ClickShare.
Okay. Just to clarify, because the press release speaks about growth and meeting experience, that's sequential growth. That's not necessarily year-over-year growth.
That is, yeah, that is, semester over semester. Yeah.
Okay. Second question is on capital allocation. I believe you have been always in the market for targets, and certain of these processes were running. Could you maybe give us an update on how these processes are evolving? And also, given the share price, if capital returns to the form of buyback or maybe on the agenda?
Mm-hmm. So yeah, our. We always manage our capital expenses there. So we have basically our CapEx investments in the factories. We have also our Cinema as a Service program. But yes, indeed, we are actively looking at potential targets. That remains the same as what we've mentioned before. We continue to talk. It always takes two to tango, and we do our exercise very diligently to make sure that we choose the right target, which is really a strategic fit for Barco. Yes, at this moment, there is no new update around that topic.
Share buyback, is that, is that any way on the agenda, or is that...
We will continue to be extremely disciplined in our capital allocation, and we say to the market that if we don't find the right target-
Yes, we will-
We will proceed to return it to the shareholders.
Okay. If I may just do a short follow-up, you spoke about CapEx. What can we expect for the second half of the year?
In line with the first semester. Yes.
Yes.
Yes, in line, yeah.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Matthias. Kris Kippers from Degroof Petercam, you're next. You can unmute yourself before asking a question.
Indeed, yes. Good morning. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Yes.
Perfect. I was earlier, Nicole was kicked out when the Q&A started. Just wanted to ask my questions still. I don't know whether to ask in this way, but looking at the guidance for the full year, we understand the movements in the top line, but what did you take into account to arrive at the new range of the margin, 11%-20%, meaning divisionally, what is the mix you take into account, given, of course, the heavy impact of, -
Mm-hmm
... of ClickShare, of course, in the mix? Thanks.
So indeed coming to a higher top line in the second semester, and that's
across all the divisions, yeah.
Across all the divisions, yeah, versus the first semester. Including ClickShare also there, we do see a further improvement versus the first semester of our gross profit margin, not only because of also more ClickShare and the mix, you could say, but across the different divisions.
Yeah.
Which you've seen also already in the first semester, also even last year. Despite, I would say, pressure on the top line, we continue to improve.
Yes.
On our gross profit margins across the division.
Through mix and also through, of course, our transfers to the factories in China.
Correct. Yes.
Yeah, we did a lot of actions on our OpEx, and we will not let that go, you would say, until any further extra top-line growth is back at the level where we want it. So it's operating leverage then on that end.
Yeah.
Is that answering your question?
Yeah.
Yes and no, of course, but yeah, I should do with those details. Then my second question would be, if you look at the second half, if you look at the amazing launches you've got across the segments, I know it's difficult to quantify, but to what extent has this been a hindrance in H1, and to what extent do you see now in the order intake?
Again
... a massive return of that? Because indeed, people were awaiting, I presume-
Yes
... the Nexxis one was one every seven years, and there were other examples of that.
Yes.
Could you give some more detail on that? Thanks.
Yeah, you're right. So I would say the new product introductions, they're highly anticipated by our customers. To the extent that, for instance, in immersive experience, you could say maybe the slower demand in the first semester had to do with the stalling of our customers anticipating these new releases in the second half. So, also in diagnostic imaging, pre-orders that are already there on this home reading display or on the flagship new mammography display, that indicates that customers have been waiting for these products. So they are on time, so we are actually... It's a full focus to make sure that we launch them all on time.
But, it's fair to say that they're highly anticipated, and that, of course, we expect also in what onset, in the growth semester over semester, that this will contribute to our second semester performance.
... Okay, thank you. If I may, just the last one, just on the working capital question for Ann. The 17.2% remains quite steep. You mentioned inventory levels. To what extent do you have visibility to have this number going down back to what? 10, 12%, we saw previously?
Mm-hmm.
Well, that is to go fully linked also with the higher sales in the second quarter, but also with yeah, the thorough reviews and monthly follow-up with all of the businesses actually, which we are doing.
Mm-hmm.
So yeah, it's a combination of out, I would say selling, but also a combination on where you get it in. More strict processes also on, on the inflow. Last time buys, the height of last time buys, et cetera.
Yeah.
and so it's actions-
Very strictly managed, yeah.
It's with actions across. So in that sense, but yeah, far and for most, higher sales really-
Yes
... are the main lever.
But the goal is still to drive, huh?
Correct. Correct.
Yeah, to the 12%. Yeah.
Also, end of life, et cetera, management, et cetera, which we are working on. Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you, Kris. Next question is for Stefano Toffano from ABN AMRO. You can,
Yes. Hello, good morning. Can you hear me?
Hello.
Yes, morning.
Good morning.
Yes, hello, everybody. Two questions. One, maybe more specific on meeting experience. You mentioned, obviously, the channel inventory reduction, but also increased competition in EMEA.
Mm-hmm.
Maybe you can elaborate a little bit more on that, and then I have another question.
Yeah, so just maybe to place again why we had such an unusual high inventory in the beginning of the year. We launched, at the end of last year, a new channel program. That had many reasons why we did that. First of all, we took services on the ClickShare portfolio back in-house. Secondly, with the launch of the Video Bar, we basically have now an open channel approach. That means that the resellers do not have to be certified by us anymore. And also, we had then different terms actually with our distributors, and that made actually that our partners actually did a larger than usual buy-in at the end of last year. So that was the reason for the higher than usual inventory.
Now, our anticipation at the end of last year was that this video conferencing market was going to pick up again, this year, and that took longer than expected. And then we said in April, the first quarter it was a negative decline. The second quarter was still a negative decline, but gradually improving. And now, again, the expectations for the second half are, is that it's gonna go back into a positive, growth modus. So that is actually, the reason for our unusual high stock. The increased competition, it's mainly in EMEA. There are some Chinese competitors today, and that has also, of course, to do, I think, with the situation in China, that, that some of these, competitors, they now actually move to the EMEA market. They are offering, video conferencing solutions at extremely low prices.
But, that is... Are they similar solutions? They are quite new in the market, so I think it still has- the verdict is still out there, if they are highly performing like our ClickShare family. So that's one thing, that need to be seen, and time will show that. They are, of course, also, yeah, they're working very much on margins, too, towards the channel. So that is one of the things that we need to address. But on the other hand, we continue to invest in our ClickShare, also in features that basically, make our ClickShare performance, but also the security of, for instance, of the ClickShare product, much more robust. And we believe that is still very, a big advantage of our ClickShare family.
And then, of course, there is the new platform that we're launching next year, which has a completely new architecture that we will bring to the market in the second quarter.
Yes. Thank you. So in the second question, you already mentioned, and I know this is a little bit difficult because it depends on how your new product introductions will do, but given the mix effects, and the continuous improvements of the operational footprint, what kind of gross margin improvements can we still expect? What is the room there? I know you cannot give obviously, a specific number, but perhaps maybe a range or an indication.
I think at this moment it's hard to give really concrete numbers, but with these actions, this is one of our major efforts. We truly believe that our gross margin, that we still have quite a lot of opportunity there to improve on our gross profit margin. With both what you mentioned, as well, the cost efficiency efforts that we're doing on our hardware in China, but also having more and more software, AI assist features in our portfolio. The two of them will give us leverage.
Yes. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Stefano. Other questions from the room? I see no hands raised at this point in time, so if you have a question, please raise your hand in the Teams module. Okay, if there are no further questions, then we can close the session. We would like to thank you for your attention, and goodbye.
Thank you.
See you soon.
Thank you.
Bye.