Welcome to the Aramis Group Q3 2025 Conference Call. My name is Alan, and I will be your coordinator for today's event. Please note this call is being recorded, and for the duration, your lines will be on listen- only. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you require assistance at any time, please press star zero, and you'll be connected to an operator. I will now hand you over to your host, Fabien Geerolf, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Aramis Group's Q3 2025 Revenues Presentation. I'm Fabien Geerolf, CFO of the group, and today with me to comment on this Q3 performance, Guillaume Paoli, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the company. Before starting, the usual reminders: this conference is recorded, accessible both over the phone and internet. A replay will be made available on the company's website at www.aramis.group. A slideshow is available on the website for download. Let me also remind you that today's presentation contains forward-looking statements and that future results may differ materially from the statements or projections made on today's call. In particular, the risk factors that could affect those statements are described in our 2024 Universal Registration Document filed with the French Financial Markets Authority. This presentation will be, of course, followed by the usual Q&A session.
Finally, I'll remind you that Aramis Group has a non-calendar fiscal year with annual results closing at the end of September. As a consequence, the Q3 2025 revenues we are going to report today refer to the calendar period from April 1st, 2025, to June 30th, 2025. I now leave the floor to Guillaume that will drive you through the main business and market highlights. Guillaume, please go ahead.
Thank you, Fabien. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being with us today. It has been a more challenging quarter for the European used car market, which contracted by 6% [unintelligble content]. Despite this headwind, Aramis Group delivered a +2% growth in retail volumes, representing an eight-point outperformance versus the market. Customer satisfaction, which is the core purpose of our group and key to long-term profitable growth, reached a new record high with an NPS of 75, thanks to our 2,400- plus highly committed and engaged team members. These results are a combination of uneven performance across our geographies, with external factors playing in, local operational challenges, and also deliberate choice to improve here and there unit profitability to ensure healthy growth going forward. Finally, we're continuing to execute our profitable growth strategy as shared last November during our Capital Market Day, built on strategic pillars.
We're converging on our operating system, leveling up performance progressively across our geographies. We're leveraging our European scale, bringing new benefits to customers and creating value for the group. We are raising the bar, improving our model from sourcing to delivery. Together, these pillars are helping us navigate a more volatile market environment while preparing the group for long-term success. On slide number four now, let's begin with the broader market context. The European used- car market for vehicles, slide number four, please, operator. The European used- car market for vehicles under eight years declined by 6% year-on-year in Q3. This is the result of continued macroeconomic uncertainty and pressure on consumer purchasing power. Despite this, we grew our B2C volumes. This is due to the resilience that comes from our flexible integrated vertical model, which allows us to adjust quickly to shifts in supply and demand.
Also, our focus on short stock turn ensures that we can maintain a healthy margin structure. While the context is somewhat difficult, our fundamentals are strong and our outlook remains constructive for the quarter ahead. Moving to slide number five, please. Let's now zoom in on our performance. Slide number five, please. I understand there's a kind of lag. Sorry about that. In Q3, our retail volumes rose by 2%, an eight-point outperformance. This is absolutely not a one-off. Over the past three years, Aramis Group has consistently outperformed its reference market, both in terms of volume and revenue. This is made possible by our integrated model. As I said, we have diversified sourcing channels, giving us a steady supply of cars even when others face shortages. Our refurbishment center operates at industrial scale and enables us to turn around cars quickly and cost-effectively.
Our digital platform attracts more than 70 million visits per year, enabling us to serve customers at scale. All this results in tangible growth. We delivered over 29,000 cars to private customers in Q3. We are not only gaining market share, we are doing so in a way that is disciplined, and margin-aware, with a long-term focus on customer satisfaction. On slide number six, Aramis Group achieved a +3% year-on-year revenue growth despite this adverse market context I was discussing. Customer satisfaction reached a historic high with a Net Promoter Score of 75. Our investments in experience, quality, and transparency are paying off. At the same time, our employee engagement, measured through employee Net Promoter Scores, remains high at 52, well above industry benchmarks. This dual satisfaction is not coincidental.
It results from our unique threefold model with a vertical integration, a proprietary operating system, and a high-performance culture, customer-centric, with embedded lean principles and local empowerment. I'll now hand the floor over to Fabien for more details on the top-line results.
Thank you, Guillaume. I'm now on slide eight for more details on the revenues by segment. Overall, our B2C sales are up by 3% versus last year in Q3. B2C refurbished volumes decreased by 2%, resulting from a combination of adverse factors during this quarter. An overall context of a market slowdown in Q3, as explained by Guillaume earlier, our decision to prioritize unit profitability over growth, particularly in the U.K. and in Italy, and temporary challenges in Spain and Austria. We will explain in more detail those country-specific in the next slides. The refurb growth has also been slowed down in France and in Belgium by the dynamism of the preregistered segment, which grew by 22% in the third quarter, above our expectations. This strong preregistered growth demonstrates the group know-how in seizing the opportunities in this specific market segment and despite adverse market conditions.
B2B revenues increased by 2%. The B2B segment activity, which had been decreasing in the past two years, is now slightly growing again, driven by the volume of vehicles purchased from private customers as we are further developing this sourcing channel in several countries. Finally, revenues from services increased by 6%, driven by the B2C volume growth and the increased penetration of financial services versus last year's Q3 from 42%- 44%. I'm now on page nine to take a closer look at the revenues by country. During Q3, we had significantly divergent growth rates from one country to the other. In France, revenues were up by 11% in Q3, in a market declining by 5%. This growth is based on solid foundations all along the value chain, from sourcing to sales.
France has intensified the rollout of its point of sales, with four new locations open in the fiscal year. In Belgium, volumes increased by 10%, driven by both refurbished and preregistered segments. This growth was also supported by the sales of cars coming from other countries of the group through the internal marketplace that the group continues to roll out and improve. In Spain, volumes decreased by 11% versus the 18% growth rate generated in the previous quarter as a result of two factors. 1st, we have a Q2-Q3 phasing effect this year versus previous year due to the Easter period that was moved from Q2- Q3 and has a specific impact in Spain. 2nd, the business is still impacted by the October 2024 floods in Spain, which delayed by several months the opening of our refurbishment center in Valencia.
Now that the reconditioning center was finally opened on May 5th, 2025, we experienced a more positive dynamic towards the end of the quarter. The U.K. slowed down from a 15% growth rate in H1 to 4% in Q3. Austrian volumes decreased by 27% year-on-year. We will cover specifically these two specific situations in the next two slides. Finally, in Italy, B2C volumes went down by 11%. However, if we include the deliveries to the other countries, the volumes are still growing by 17% year-on-year. We have continued to improve the unit economics during the quarter in order to set sound basis for future growth. Page 10, let me deep dive on Austria before handing it over to Guillaume for the U.K.. In Austria, volumes in Q3 went down by 27% for two reasons.
1st, because 2024 was a non-normative year as Austria benefited from non-recurring deals that boosted our growth in this year but have not been reconducted in fiscal year 2025. 2nd, because 2025 is clearly a transition year where 1st, our new management team is ramping up after the departure of the founder, still deeply involved in business operations until January 2025. 2nd, our sourcing channels are being diversified as the country was heavily relying on a limited number of significant suppliers, creating variability in the sourcing performance. In the last six months, the sourcing has been consistently diversified, and the country will carry on in the next few months with, among other things, the development of C2B activities. You can see here on the graph that, despite those very specific circumstances, Austria over the last two years has still been growing at a 9% average rate at Q3.
Now, I hand it over to Guillaume to dig deeper into the context in the U.K..
Thank you, Fabien. We are now on slide 11. We're going to take a closer look at our U.K. business. The U.K. has been growing at 20% in fiscal year 2024 and 15% in fiscal year 2025 H1, but without generating significant additional EBITDA for two main reasons. 1st, unit margins are clearly below what we can achieve elsewhere within the group. Second, this growth has been partially made through unproductive marketing investments. In the coming months, we will focus our efforts on the quality of our sourcing, which is a key component of the business, probably the most important part of the business. We want to progressively eliminate our lowest margin sourcing channels and substantially accelerate the development of the most profitable sourcing channel, such as part exchange.
The quality of our pricing, we continue investing in our tools and our teams to improve the selection of cars and improve also our pricing and repricing discipline. We also intend to better rationalize our marketing expenses. We will cut some of the low- value generating channels while concentrating and focusing our efforts on the most profitable one. As a side note, we have indicated that we have found an agreement to purchase the remaining 40% of Cazoo Founder at a fixed price of GBP 30 million, three zero million U.K. pounds, in line with our assumption in H1 2025 financial books. On this occasion, I would like to warmly thank Phil Wilkinson, the founder, for the collaboration that we had during the last four years. Now, let's move on to slide number 13. Let us now step back and summarize.
The macro environment has become tougher than we anticipated at the start of the year. Demand in the used car market is down across Europe, and our six geographies are facing different local realities. In this context, we're adapting country by country, dealing with operational issues that are weighing in on volumes and profitability. We are staying disciplined. The environment is more volatile, yes, and we see that we have a long-term upside. The 2nd half of the year will be a little more modest than the 1st. Our priority remains unchanged: profitable growth and keep improving our operational model. To conclude, let's go now to slide number 14. Let's review our updated guidance for fiscal year 2025, which we announced on July 7th.
In line with the Q3 trends, we now accept mid-single-digit growth in refurbished car volumes, mid-single-digit growth in total B2C volumes (previously, it was high single digit), an adjusted EBITDA close to EUR 65 million (previously, it was above EUR 65 million), and an unchanged target of continued and progressive improvement in operational working capital, measured in days of revenue. This guidance reflects short-term headwinds, but also our ability to remain on course. We are investing in the right priorities: brands, teams, digital platform, AI to enhance customer experience and team efficiency. We are managing with discipline, keeping SG&A under control, improving stock turns, and optimizing capital use. Our long-term ambition is unchanged to build the European leader for used car mobility, both profitable and sustainable. We thank you very much for your attention and for your continued support. We can now move on to Q&A.
We'll be happy to take your questions.
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question or make a contribution on today's call, please press star one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star two. You will be advised when to ask your questions. We will take our 1st question from Christophe Cherbin. Bernstein, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning, Guillaume. Good morning, Fabien. Two questions from my side. The 1st one is on the U.K. market. You're announcing the buyout of the minorities in Cazoo. In the past, we've seen that such situations were creating a loss of momentum. Are you concerned that's going to happen in the U.K.? What can you do to avoid what we saw in other markets? That's the 1st question. The 2nd one was on the internal marketplace. Can you update on the extent to which this is a big part of your setup? What is the share of the internal marketplace in the supply of France, U.K., Belgium, etc.? That would be super helpful. Thank you.
Thank you, Christophe. Thank you for your question. Regarding the U.K., I would say that typically after the departure of a founder, it's true that there is a managerial transition that can give some turbulence regarding the operation, as we have seen in Austria. In this case, the founder was not really involved in day-to-day operations. We don't anticipate managerial turbulence. As Fabien has explained, we really want to improve the unit profitability in the U.K.. We see a lot of opportunities to buy in a more disciplined way, to understand better what we're doing in purchasing and pricing with better tools, better know-how, and we're sharing group expertise. This is going to take some time. The slowing of growth that we see in the U.K. is more or less unrelated with the departure of the founder. Long story short, you're right. Usually, we see some turbulence.
In this case, we don't anticipate that. We are working hard with the team to improve this unit profitability. As to resume as soon as possible, and I won't put a timestamp on that, growth in the U.K., which is the market where we have probably one of the markets we have the most potential. As you know, it's the largest market in Europe. Long answer. On the internal marketplace, thank you for your question. As I said during the H1, we are not disclosing any figures. What we said is that if you combine the internal marketplace and the external marketplace, we are still below double digits of our total sales. We believe this is a very important asset for us, as we are the only ones, to my knowledge, to be able to share cars between geographies. This is more complex than it seems.
For the moment, it's still not very large in the total mix. What you have to understand is that we are sharing cars that have a typically lower turn, more expensive cars, more specific cars, cars that we know that in this geography or that geography, it takes a longer time to turn. Even though right now the volumes are not huge, it really helps us to maintain our stock turns quick, as we are anticipating, and we're not sharing the whole of our inventory, actually. We're sharing the cars that we know take a little longer to retail. We are still not yet the routes are not open between all the different countries. Long story short, still growing.
The combination of marketplace is below 10% of the volume, but we see that as an asset and a unique asset for us going forward, enabling us to improve our gross profit per unit, as there are sometimes some margin opportunities, and maintaining our stock turns quite fast.
Thank you. Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. We will take our next question from Alexandre Leroy, Capula , your line is open. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. I have two quick questions, please. The 1st one on the average selling price of the preregistered segment. I see it's up 6%. Is this just the result of mix, as you sometimes point out, or are there any other factors at play here? Second question more strategically on Italy. I understand it remains an attractive sourcing market, and it was made at a financial bargain. Does it make sense for you to stay if there is no significant improvement? Do you have any internal KPIs or a timeline that you maybe could share with us on the trade-off of staying versus exiting the market? Maybe the last one, I'm thinking about it as I speak. You mentioned that there won't be any change in terms of strategy from Stellantis following the departure of Philippe de Rovira.
Do you expect maybe any change in their stance regarding the ownership of your shares or not? Thank you.
Thank you, Alexandre. I'll take the two last ones. I'll let Fabien with the 1st one. I'm not sure there is a lot to comment. Regarding, I did not say there will be not a change of strategy at Stellantis. There is a new boss, a new exec team. They are going probably to evolve on their overall strategy. As of now, I'm not speaking of used car. I'm speaking of the overall strategy, which is not our concern today. Regarding used car, it's still an important part of the business. It's very connected to the new car business. As you know, having some kind of control on used cars is very important for the new car business. If you ask me, is there a little more uncertainty on what Stellantis will do regarding Aramis? Probably yes, more than six months ago.
As of now, we are buying a lot of cars from them. Over 10% of our supply comes from Stellantis with very good conditions. We have a very good relationship with the people that we work with. We have freestanding members in our board. We have no sign of any changing. We'll see going forward. As of now, there is no change. Regarding Italy, to be very clear, we are not happy at all with the way the performance of the subsidiary over the last two years. We have entered a few months ago, a few weeks ago, a much more aggressive management of Italy. Our CRO for the group, Alejandro Garcia-Mella, is there very often, every week. The Head of Strategy is supporting locally. He's Italian. We are seeing now already after a few weeks, a few months, some significant progress.
I hope, I expect, we'll have some good news for the Q4. To tell you at the FY 2025, I've always believed that, and it's not just a belief, I see a few competitors that we know locally, that there is a good business to be made in Italy. It is more an execution problem. We will get back to you, hopefully, with some good news at the Q4. We see some positive signs. It's too early to give you a KPI, Alexandre. On the last point, I'll let maybe Fabien answer.
Yeah, Alexandre, on the last point, on the average selling price of the [prereg]. Yes, I confirm it's really mainly a mix impact, a mix effect. You know that on this market, we are being opportunistic. What we want is to select the best cars for our customers. Of course, there are a lot of, by definition, there are a lot of changes in mix from one quarter to another. We don't see that as a long-lasting trend.
Merci beaucoup [Foreign Language].
Thank you. Now, I will hand over the floor back to the host for web questions. Please proceed.
Yeah, we don't see any question right now, any written question. Do you see any written question, operator, or is there anyone?
If you could check your team's chat, please.
Okay. Thank you. We have a question about Austria. Can you elaborate on the non-normative operations in 2024? Was the sharp increase in sales of preregistered vehicles concentrated at some point in the quarter? What can we expect in Q4? Can you comment on price trends? It's a lot of questions. Yes, I can elaborate on the non-normative operations in 2024. Austria was operated by its founder and had some special relationship with some of its suppliers. It's true that in 2024, we had some large deals, which are very unusual even in the industry, very large deals with a lot of cars that were purchased at a rather low price. That's something that is directly related to the context of this supplier. The context has changed compared to last year. We did not have these significant deals this year.
This year, we are doing a lot of small deals, which is also more probably robust and sustainable for the future. On the sharp increase in sales of preregistered vehicles, no, it was not concentrated on a specific month, or it was not a one-off deal that we have observed. In fact, if you look at the trend of preregistered, we had quite probably similar volumes to the previous quarter. We continue. Last year, there was a decline during Q3. There is also embedded in the high growth that we are doing here a positive base effect on the preregistered segment in Q3. You had a very general question on what can we expect in Q4. We have updated our guidance. You see that we have updated our guidance for the full year.
If you incorporate the numbers that we are publishing today, you have more or less a bracket on what to expect at Q4. In fact, we see that the contexts are very different from one country to the other. For sure, we will still have the negative base effect, for example, in Austria. It will not change because we had a very high Q4 last year, a very high Q3 as well. The negative base effect in Austria will continue. In some other countries, we see more positive trends. I said that, for example, for Spain, where we have reopened our reconditioning center here, where our point of sale, which was the 2nd- biggest point of sales for Spain, has fully reopened and where, of course, we expect a more rapid recovery. The last question, I think I addressed it. Can you comment on the price trends?
I think that what we know is that what we see on the preregistered is mainly mixed effects. Maybe you want to comment a little bit on the refurb.
On the used car business, we see there was a slight decrease by 2% of the price in the last quarter. We expect now more or less a stabilization, as we have said, since the Capital Market Day. It's a lot of offer and demand. We believe it's going to be stable. I don't know if we have any other questions, either on the phone or by... Okay. Thank you all for your attention. I think we are on a... Even though I understand that this quarter has been a disappointment for us as well, we would have preferred to do more growth. This is also the nature of the business. Sometimes, some quarters are a little less good in terms of growth. We want to build a sustainable business, okay? This is why we are working hard on Fabien in particular and with the teams on unit profitability.
We're not interested in dilutive growth. This is probably the easiest business in the world to grow, losing money. You just need to buy cars and sell them more or less at the same price that you bought them. You're going to do a lot of growth, but it's not good growth. We are looking for a sustainable business. We've been in this business for 24 years now. We know this is the right thing to do. Bear with us. Thank you for your attention. Speak to you soon. Happy holidays for all the ones that are taking holidays. Thank you.
Thank you.