Good morning to everybody. Thanks for joining us today, and thanks for the interest you continue to show in Essilor Luxottic. I'm happy to join you for my first earnings call as the Group CEO. We are pleased to present today strong results with a sharp acceleration of the group performance in the Q2 of the year, leading to a nice growth of revenue and margins in the first half overall. The new governance Based on the high profile Board of Directors and supported by the management team, is promoting a faster and better execution of our strategic vision and integration programs.
This allows us to upgrade our outlook for the full year 2021. Now point to mid single digit revenue growth and some margin expansion versus 2019 at the constant currency. Backed by an improving business environment in most of the areas worldwide, starting from North America and leveraging its best in class proposition. Esilor Luxottic grew 9.2% in revenue in the 2nd quarter versus the same period of 2019 at constant currency, which is a substantial acceleration compared to +1.9 percent of the Q1. Our business grew in all areas in both optical and sun as well as in wholesale and retail.
Optical was driven by value added lens brands and our optical retail banners, in particular in North America and Australia. Sunglasses strongly bounced back in the quarter in Saint Glace App Store and on e commerce platform, driven by Ray Ban and Oakley as well as Luxury Brands. This proved once again the brands matter in our business and underpins the group's strategic focus and investment effort on branded top quality offerings. Both the new divisions we introduced today, Professional solution and direct to consumer representing the wholesale and retail business of the group grew and accelerated. E Commerce continued to grow fast, up by 66 percent in the quarter and reaching 9% of the group's total business.
Our balanced focus On both the wholesale and retail channels reflects the strategic idea of network company and open model presented at our first Capital Market Day, with the goal to elevate the standards of the entire eye care and eyewear to the benefit of all its stakeholders. The acquisition of Grand Vision, closed 1 month ago, perfectly fits into such a strategic framework aimed at replicating in Europe the successful multichannel model we have adopted in North America since the acquisition of LensCrafter in 1995. We are happy with the transaction and ready to make the most of it. Like we have been pleased to see the merit of our position fully acknowledged by the arbitration court. Essilor Luxottica is rebuilding its foundations and reshaping the industry, going through such a transformational phase with energy and enthusiasm.
Vertical integration, global footprint, clear leadership as well as strategic vision and execution capability are the key trends of our group, which make us look at the future with great confidence. With that, I hand over to our CFO, Stefano Grassi, for a quick review of the group revenue drivers and our Deputy CEO, Paul Dusayan to talk about the key areas of mission and sustainability.
Thank you, Francesco. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to our first half twenty twenty one earnings release. As we're starting now a new journey for Astra Luxottica, we decided to move away from the old heritage Of SLO Luxottica, very much moving into a new structure that includes 2 divisions for the group. On one side, we have our Professional Solution division that very much represents our wholesale business. On the other side, we have our direct to consumer division that represents our brick and mortar division as well as our e commerce commercial I believe this structure truly enhance our vertically integrated business model and will allow you, all of you, to very much better and our underlying business trends for the group.
In the appendix, you will also find an extended Disclosure of our revenue base by quarter for 2019 as well as for 2020. But now let's start our journey around the different geographies as usual using and leveraging very much the new structure that we just Let's begin with the biggest geography, North America, that in the second quarter posted top line up 16% compared to 2019 level. As you can see, this number is something that we haven't seen in the past. It's actually The best quarter that we recorded in North America for SLA Luxottica. The market in North America is pretty healthy.
Our top line performance was very much supported by a strong delivery from both the division, Professional Solution as well as direct to consumer. The Professional Solutions division was up on the high single digit territory during the Q2. The Lens business in North America delivered a strong growth, well supported by ECPs as well as our strong branded portfolio. The EL360 program, the joint effort between the lens, the frames and the insurance arms of SLR Luxottica in North America It's now rolling out on about 2,100 as of the end of June. The Frame business in North America posted Top line up about 20% during the course of the second quarter, with independent, key account, e commerce, sport account, all on the double digit pace.
From a brand standpoint, very happy, very pleased to report that Rayban and Oakley posted double digit growth in prescription as well as under some parts. In particular, our Oakley brand We're very well supported by the launch of the Kato product that, thanks to his disruptive design and innovation, Already represents an icon for our Oakley brand that is gaining a lot of visibility during the Olympics game that are in due course in Tokyo, Japan. Our direct to consumer division was up double digits during the course of the second quarter. LensCrafters was up double digit income in April, double digit in May, double digit in June. And that happened despite our traffic materially decline compared to the pre COVID level.
And we're talking about a Crafty declined that is in the 20% range during the course of the second quarter. But thanks to a strong retail execution, Thanks to a strong length mix, we were able to deliver such a strong result. San Blasat was double digit likewise ledscrafter in every single month of the second quarter, supported by a strong rebound on local demand. Last but not least, e commerce. E commerce was close to double the size of the business compared to 2019, With oakley.com, sunglassard.com, rayvan.com and ivydirect.com, all of them on the triple digit territory.
But now let's move ahead and let's go back into EMEA. EMEA just recorded the top line up approximately 4% during the course of the second quarter. It's a remarkable rebound of our performance in Europe, where you might remember, during the course 1st quarter, we recorded negative 7%. So we moved from negative 7% to plus 4% in the second quarter, with a strong acceleration during the 2nd part of the second quarter in Europe. Professional solution was solid positive in the 2nd quarter.
France, The largest country in the region was up on the mid single digit territory, but also Italy, UK, Scandinavia, Russia, Eastern Europe as well as South Africa all posted solid growth during the course of Q2. On the frame side, we were very pleased to report that the Sun business was finally flat to 2019. That has been one of our Challenging areas, if you remember, in Europe. And the month of June actually recorded a promising High single digit growth in 2021 compared to 2019. But a solid response continues to come from the optical business That again was positive once again and posted top line up on the mid single digit territory for Q2.
A brief touch on the direct to consumer side that was up mid single digit, very much driven by a strong e commerce performance, and that's Something new for us, we've already seen it in the past. While a brief touch on retail brick and mortar, I think it's important. Retail brick and mortar is still negative in Q2. Just to give you an idea, we are operating during the second quarter Our retail brick and mortar with 10% to 20% less operating hours compared to pre COVID level, but we see Some encouraging sign of recovery during Q2. In particular, in Italy, we were solid positive in May as well as in June.
Incent Glassat recorded flat sales in the U. K. In June, And we were double digit up in Turkey again during the month of June. So some encouraging sign of recovery that we start seeing in Europe. But now Let's move to the Eastern part of the world and let's touch Asia Pacific.
As you can see in Asia Pacific, our revenue declined 3 point 5% on a constant FX. The Professional Solutions division was just slightly negative during the course of the second quarter. We were very pleased with the performance that we've seen in Greater China with a top line that was close to 30% In Q2, in Australia, that did another solid quarter of double digit growth. On the other side, We have to report that India, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan continue to be on the negative trend very much due to the COVID restriction that impacted this part of the world. In China, I would probably mention The performance the remarkable performance, the impressive track record of the STELUS lenses that continue to post solid increase week after week in lens delivery.
And I got to tell you just to give you an idea of the importance that Myopia management has In China, during the course of the second quarter in the lens business, about half of the growth was very much Achieved through Myopia solutions. In the dollar to consumer side of SLR Luxottic in Asia Pacific, our sales We're negative. But we see very different trend within the region. On one side, our optical Australia business Posted comp sales on the high single digit territory despite several lockdowns that impacted The Australian country during the first half of the year, and just to give you an idea, we had approximately 560 stores They were impacted by local lockdown in Australia for a total of 40 days of closure in different time period for different cluster of But again, a massive impact on our business. And we continue to see that happening, unfortunately, in the month of July with a lockdown impacted the New South Wales region in Sydney in particular.
In China, our business, direct to consumer, was still on the double digit negative in Hong Kong, while the Mainland China Show encouraging sign of recovery in April as well as the month of May, but then the restriction that impacted the southern part of China in the month of June created a deceleration of our trend over there. For the rest of Southeast Asia, We continue to see negative trend here very much due to the strong limitation that we see on the travel retail side. But now let's touch our last region that is Latin America, where you do see top line up on a 2% base On a constant FX basis, the Professional solution delivered a low single digit growth during the Q2. We were positive on both lands as well as frames despite still a challenging situation for the vast majority of the Latin American countries during the course of the second quarter. In Brazil, April and I would say the vast majority of the month of May, the population Was impacted by a severe restriction, in particular in shopping malls, and we see that impacting our business.
But then in the month of June, we start seeing a good recovery, in particular on the ECP channel as well as in our sports channel in Brazil. From a lens mix standpoint, we are very pleased to see favorable pricemix, thanks and well supported by our Varlux and ISAN lenses in Brazil. From an other country mix standpoint, happy to report Mexico as well as Argentina, both solid growing during the course of the Q2, while Colombia is still very much on the challenging territory due to the political turmoil and the impact of the COVID restrictions. So on the direct to consumer side, sales in the quarter landed just slightly negative, with April that was double digit negative, While May June were both on the positive side, very much led to a strong recovery in our Chile operation. And this promise is trained.
That's a good news. It's also continuing through the month of July. With that, let me hand it over to Paul, who will give us more color around the great initiatives that we're building up with respect to our mission and sustainability.
Thank you, Stefano. Good morning to you all. It's great to be here and together with Francesco to be able to share such great results and momentum. Now I would like to focus on a topic that is very important to Essilor Luxottica and to us all, Mission and sustainability. Sustainability is deeply rooted in Essilor Luxottica DNA, And both companies have a long history of corporate responsibility.
It is very much part of who we are. Today, we are proud to announce that building on our past momentum, our teams have defined a single company wide sustainability approach that ties into our mission. It is a wonderful milestone for us. And I would like to thank our team for their outstanding effort in combining their expertise and delivering a Clear and unified road map. This is a great example of the progress we have made in our integration another proof point on how we are working as one company.
The approach named Eyes on the Planet Structures our new sustainability road map around 5 pillars: carbon, circularity, World site, inclusion and ethics. Each of these topics are deeply rooted in our organization. You can find more information on the new sustainability section of the company website. I would like to touch on 3 of these pillars today. Starting with carbon, Our contribution to fighting climate change.
Together with Francesco, I am pleased to announce that Essilor Luxottica It sets a target for itself to achieve carbon neutrality at its facilities by 2025, starting in Europe by 2023 for Scope 12. A lot of progress has already been made in reducing our carbon footprint in recent years. And with this pillar, we will continue to do so by focusing We will invest in new processes that reflect our commitment and continue to update our equipment and technologies with energy usage in mind, in addition to investing indeed in initiatives to protect and restore natural ecosystem, to name a few examples. The second pillar I would like to highlight is circularity. With our strong intention to improve product design and function, waste management and materials we use.
We will continue to make bold moves across the entire production cycle, including a shift From fossil based materials to bio based materials, which produce fewer emissions and are easier to recycle. This is also reflected in the recent investment in Mazu Kelly to develop and produce a highly sustainable type of acetate. And I would like to conclude with our world site pillar, which in line with our mission aims to bring good vision to everyone, everywhere. We remain committed to our goal of eliminating uncorrected provision by 2050. It is frankly an anchor for the industry, and we have some of the best Financially partners and NGOs around the world partnering with us to achieve this goal.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight the news announced last Friday. All 193 member states The United Nations have unanimously passed a resolution committing to making eye care accessible for the billions of people living with preventable vision impairment by 2,030. The inclusion of Eye Care in the sustainable development goals supports Essilor Luxottica Own ambition and road map launched during the UN General Assembly in 2019 to eliminate Uncorrected for vision in a generation. As we celebrate this milestone, I would like to thank all our teams their contribution over the past decade in elevating good vision onto the World Health Agenda. So as you can see, SCLAR Luxottica today not only has a fantastic and clear mission, which is now officially supported by the UN.
We also have a clear sustainability approach through which we plan to contribute to some of the key societal issues of our time and continue to make a positive impact for everyone around us. From all you have heard us share this morning, I'm confident you can see the momentum which we have enabled to create for us and for the industry. And with that, I would like to hand over to the operator for the Q and A. Thank you.
We will now begin the Q and A for 30 minutes. Please limit your questions to a maximum of We take our first question from Graeme Renwick from Berenberg. Graeme, your line is now open.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Just firstly on the first half margin, which was 130 A bit ahead of the 2019 base. How much of that was boosted by the one off cost measures, which you expect to roll off? And therefore, how much of that was a real underlying improvement in margin versus 2019?
So in other words, what would a normalized margin would have looked like without those temporary measures. And then secondly on Grand Vision, now that's been successfully completed, are you able to expand a little bit more the You're seeing there. And are you able to give us a sense of the size of the revenue and cost synergies you think you can derive from that deal? And also, are there any sort of up From integration costs or any phasing of synergies, we should be aware of that. Thank you.
Hello. Good morning, Grant. Let me take The first answer here. With respect to our first half margin, you remember last time that we spoke, We said we were entering into 2021 with a very good control of our cost base. That control of our cost base has been very much put in place throughout the first half of the year.
So We have that very much as a solid control. In the Q2, we released certain investments In particular, if you get ready for the sun season. And again, overall, I would say that this This is a good underlying trend, not very much impacted by one off activities in that respect. With respect to the GVI?
I would like just to tell something More general on GBI, maybe to prevent also some other question. GBI, as you know, is A way we complete our footprint worldwide. It was something missed in our organization. John, let me say maybe it was a mistake that we have done many years ago. And so now we have the opportunity to fix that mistake.
Now we have a new footprint. It's almost the same around the world. We have something left on Asia that we are looking to fix also that part. And Grand Vision is mainly more than just an improving for our revenues And margin and so on is really is the opportunity to deploy the model that we have in mind, the omnichannel approach Everywhere in the world and also in Europe. This is the main sense of our acquisition.
That is the reason why The price was important, but not the only things that matter on that operation. So now I'll leave to our CFO Answer on cost and synergy.
Yes. I mean, it's early to very much have a comprehensive Sure on revenue and cost synergies. Some of the work streams that we're going to undertake are the one that We have been pretty disclosure and we've been pretty open to talk about. But again, we will in due course of our journey of converging with GrandVision, We might provide more color on that. But again, it's at this stage a bit early to say.
We take our next question from Elena Mariana from Morgan Stanley. Elena, please go ahead.
Hi, thank you very much. Good morning and congratulations on your results. So I will speak to the two questions. The first one is on your outlook. So your top line guidance assumes a slight degeneration into the second half of the year versus the growth you recorded in Q2.
I just wanted to understand if this is a function of you being relatively cautious due to the uncertain macro picture Or do you actually expect the pace of top line growth to sequentially decelerate? I'm asking this because you found it in your presentation as if the exit rate was Quite good, given that June has seen a further acceleration in many areas. And still part of this question, just a clarification on the back of the previous Question. So is it fair to assume that your EBIT margin in the second half should expand as much as in H1 given that you're expecting another half year with Sales growing at a mid single digit pace. And then my second question is more a strategic one, probably for Francesco and Paul.
You've talked about brand vision as being a key transformational deal that allows you to have a new footprint. And actually now, you're slightly unbalanced if you compare Europe and U. S. Versus Asia. I know it's very early and now you have a lot on your plate, but What would be your strategy to further expand your footprint in Asia?
So do you potentially envision acquisitions there of retail chains? Do you To grow more organically. So if you could share your very long term view on this part of the world, that would be great. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Elena. Good morning. I'll take the first question on the outlook.
I would say there
are top line assumptions here. It's pretty consistent with the trend that you've seen in the first half of the year. I mean if you look at our top line, it's around 6%. We're landing on a full year guidance of mid single digits. So We are there.
With respect to the EBIT margin, let me put it in a kind of different angle. Our updated guidance clearly indicates that we have a margin expansion for the full year. That guidance implies a margin expansion for the first half of the year as well as for the second half of the year. In particular, for the second half of the year, we wanted to keep deep flexibility, I would say to relieve the investment that we believe are strategic for the company when we do see that we have the proper market Condition to do so. And that is the reason why we kind of release the guidance in that way.
We have some important strategic investments, The Olympics game in Tokyo, we're going to have a major and important media boost plan on the land side. We have the back to school season. And obviously, in the Q4, there's going to be the holiday season with the Black Friday. But again, we want to have the flexibility to release investment when we have the proper market condition to do so.
But again, it will be a
margin expansion There has been margin expansion in H1 and it will be margin expansion for the second half of the year.
To Asia expansion. So the question is really complex because We divide Asia in different parts, and we have a different strategy. Saying that we are already the biggest operator in that area as retail and wholesale lenses and frame. So It's not big as we are in the other area of the planet, but at the same time, we are still there And we know very well that market. Now we are approaching in a different way China, India and the rest of Asia.
And in China, you know we have articulate footprint. We have plants. We have Strong wholesale, we have retailers in the premium places. And now we are really focusing on the Extension of our presence on the clinical hospital part with the pellets operation, this Strong relationship that we're having with the doctors there. And that is it will represent the main Drivers for our growth in the next 1 or 2 years, and that means also a different approach to retail strategy.
You know that one of the biggest retail organization is really represented by stores that are inside hospital. They are fully connected with the clinical part, the site visit, the major and so on. So that is the part where we are focusing in China. And at the same time, we are integrating our strategy with E commerce approach and new interaction with finance consumer. For India, we are planning to have a really Strongest strategy to present there.
You know that there are some constraints to run multi brand retail In India, so we are talking with many partners, and we are pretty sure to find the right one and start really to have a stronger strategy and EMEA. For the rest of Asia, we have some good presence. We are looking at Some really small mid sized acquisition to reinforce our footprint. And we wait. We have really to wait the evolution of those countries.
And we have to That when also the countries and the channels will be ready to manage our kind of product and lenses. That is the view that we have.
Our next question comes from Luca Zolker from Bernstein. Luca, please go ahead.
Yes. Good morning. I would like to focus my questions on the directed to consumer portion of the business. I wonder how satisfied you are with space productivity with sales per square meter in the A retail change, and if you could give us maybe your perspective on the different parts of the retail business, I imagine that lens carters in the U. S.
Might be benefiting from the very strong resurgence in demand, But I wonder about sunglass art and other retail activities you have worldwide. Secondly, you have achieved virtually an almost 10% digital sales this year. What is your ambition and how do you see this business proceeding going forward? Is it fair to expect that it'd be That's significantly more material considering your activity in sunglasses. Thank you.
I'll
take the first question and then Francesco will comment the question on the Online business.
We are quite happy
in respect to the productivity that we are seeing in our stores. Sila is a journey. It's a journey of continuous improvement. It's a journey of continuous investment in our store footprint, Which is not only that they say a matter of size of the store. With the material and important role that the online is playing, with the role of omnichannel that Francesco Very much described before, it's going to be very important and in a way fascinating also to understand how our productivity of the stores, which now encompass the physical element as well as the digital element that come into play in an omnichannel relationship can be effectively measured.
And this is something that we probably didn't face that strong a few years back.
I think what is very important
Is that we continue to invest to make our store up to the latest and greatest technology. But more important that we continue to invest to converge and create that omnichannel proposition that is very much the quintessence of our growth in physical as well as digital. That is very important. And I think this will imply also different way of looking And measuring productivity within the physical retail environment. Francisco, on the
Yes, online It's a big question. But I believe we have to better understand the strategy And understand how our strategy will impact on online business. So I don't care how big it will be, but how Relevant will be in our complete omnichannel strategy. Sales online sales are, of course, we are happy with the growth. We are happy with the relativity.
And it's the way to push branded lenses and frame around the world. But it's not that the point of our online. Really, we are focusing more on full integration between online and physical footprint. And that is not just for our store, but for the store of our customer, wholesalers, And small ECP or big retailers. So this is the view that we have.
And now we are really focusing more on Optical business that and Sandeep. Some business is already quite big, profitable. It's what we, At the Luxottic apart, we know better manage and always we have a good result. But really the challenge now and the omni channel is there is in the optical part. And when we see at the online And many banners that we have.
And when we integrate fully and we already start, Is the question then how big will be the number of customer that they will start the Germany and online, and they will end on the physical store. And if that number will be, That is why we are increasing the brick and mortar footprint because at the end, To have an omnichannel approach that is effective, you need to be almost everywhere. And the challenge for the future for us is to use our network as one. So no matter the brand, no matter the assortment that you have in the store, what matters that our It will find there someone that can take care of it. And so We leverage this capability.
And when we think of the future, the one that can take care physically of our online Could be also an ECP or an wholesaler and not just have to be our network. And this is also where our philosophy and strategy of to be more A network than just a producer is coming out. So I believe that in the future, you will see Big changes on the market. And also segmentation, it will change completely the meaning because It starts on online. And when you look at the store as a delivery, as a place where you have to deliver something or to fix To assist, really, if you think deeply about that, you understand that the concept of the store and the assortment of the store, it changed Completely, it's new.
And that is the big news that will arrive on the market. It will change deeply The way we look at the market and the way we take care of our consumer.
We take our next question from Susie Tibaldi from UBS. Susie, your line is open.
Thank you and good morning. My first question, it will be on the top line. We have been hearing on the various geographies how the trends Well, during the various months of the quarter. Could you just please clarify at a group level, when it comes to June, was the June exit rate We improving compared to the overall quarter that you delivered and also are these trends continuing into July? Secondly, on the EBIT margin, which saw a significant improvement, It would be helpful to understand how much do you think this is due to operating leverage, which is something that you clearly stated in the release?
And how much is this helped By the integrations, by the synergies? And related to this, do you see much risk of When it comes to inflation in the market, especially in North America, could that be a risk for the second half
of the year? Thanks a lot.
Good morning, Susie. I'll take your questions here. Let me say it's off line. Yes, the second part of Q2, we definitely seen an acceleration. Clearly, the Acceleration of the vaccination campaign in North America as well as in Europe creates, let me say, safer conditions for Deconfining the population, we see that trend continuing In the month of July, in particular in North America, I would say.
In Europe, We see progress of improvement, although the pace is lower than what we see in North America. With respect to Asia, it's still a very challenging environment, probably with the only exception of China, Mainland China, if you're through the southern parts of the region. Australia, it's in a very Challenging situation at this stage with a lockdown that will impact the New South Wales region for the next 4 weeks. And then Latin America, we see some encouraging signs, which come at a good time because we know that second half of the year will imply the high season in Latin America. So we're looking at that second half, obviously, with careful attention.
But we have some trends that we see in particular in the month of June that will continue that continuing in the month of July. With respect to the operating leverage, clearly, when you do have a solid top line, When you do have a good control of car pays and you see synergies realization coming through And you also made the proper investments. The result that you see is what we got. So that's something that obviously We continue to see. But again, as I said before, we will continue to keep that flexibility.
Understanding brand market condition will allow us to release strategic investments for the group. So all in all, in North America, we have a pretty optimistic view. I think we see that some of our key channel like The sports channel, the independent DCP are very different, I would say. But the overall market in North America is pretty healthy. So, So far, so good.
We take our next question from Cedric Paul from Stifel. Cedric, your line is open.
Yes, good morning and thank you for taking my questions. I have 2 actually. So first one linked to the change in governance since the AGM and the implementation of this new organization In terms of people, in terms of organization, can you tell us what has changed internally and if you have Any flexibility to improve the speed of integration and of synergies? And the second one is on the achievements. Could you maybe update us on your best integration Achievements between excluding Grand Vizient for the time being, between SLO and Luxottica, both on the Supply chain side and on the product side?
And if you could also confirm your target of 300,000,000 Synergies by end 2021 and what kind of cost it implies if we should understand it as growth on that synergies? Thank you very much.
Governance. It seems to be back 2 years ago, but declined. Integration, We don't have to change the speed of the integration. Integration is already done. We decide Who's leading the group?
I'm here with Paul on my side, and we really We integrate all the fundamental decision that will have to be taken in the future. Now there is a little bit of execution. That is the part left. We are really In a good position, we believe that before the end of the year, we will unify many managerial position in the country. We really move to the new idea of complete also in the sales organization.
That means to have All sales lenses and frame under the same responsibilities. Then we already started with all Technical integration, all the IT system are really in the Accusion part, we believe to have one common system before the end of next year. And many countries, the most relevant, it will be ready at the end of this year. So this is the view that we have on the integration and governance. We believe and We know that the governance now is totally fixed.
We are a normal company with a normal Management team and I believe the part of results that we had are coming from that decision. The Board is voting anytime mostly at the unanimity, And this is show that really we are just one company. Grand Vision is the next step. It's much more easy. It's not a merge of equal.
It's an acquisition. So you will go through the normal process of acquisition and integration at really Maximum speed and they will be realized, I hope, in the middle of the next year Since we have to wait the end of the year for the MTU. That is what I can exchange on that.
Yes. And with respect to the synergy and integration activities, Cedric, the pace, it's really good, I would say, fully aligned with our expectations. With respect to some of the major achievements, one of them is very much what Francesco just described on the IT infrastructure Persistent. I mean, we are progressing at a very high pace with our progressive rollout of 1 ERP platform around the group. From a front end perspective, the experiences that we're getting with the Raven authentic lenses that Very much complement our frame assortment is successful, rolled out stories in the U.
S, In Europe and some of the relationship that now we Have been able to establish on a joint effort basis in North America. We're now planning to roll them out Also in other regions. Some of the learnings from the EL360, for example, in North America is something that with adjustment, We might think about leveraging in other parts of the world, especially in some of the developing countries. So This is something very important for us, but I think even more important for us is the fact that we are very much on track with our synergy delivery.
Our next question comes from James Grzinic from Jefferies.
Yes. Francesco, Paul and Stefano. I have two very quick ones. I guess the first one for Francesco. Can you perhaps clarify, is the SAP rollout in the U.
S. Already in place? So is that something that you see before the end of this year? Is that one of the key markets you were talking to? And I'd be curious to see if you've got any Insights to share in that process.
And to Stefano, that half to swing factor from a margin perspective, is that Entirely coming from your options on reinvestments into the business, Is there anything else going on perhaps in terms of what you see on supply chain costs, raw material costs or wage costs? Or is that, Given what you spend on top line, not much of a consideration for you?
So SAP rollout in North America is proceeding quite well. We believe that the financial part will be in place For the end of the year. And then we move to logistics that is the one that is more relevant for our Full functioning in the market. But at that time, financial numbers and sales will be already unified. And so we We'll have a faster understanding of the market, and we will align also the Essilor side The same model of control that we have already in Luxottica and Luxottica Park.
So it's not just North America. We are trying to integrate some big business In that now are a little bit more isolated in the Essilor side, and we are trying to integrate big market In Europe, like France and Italy. And those projects are the most difficult because We are building a prototype. Then after that, it will really improve the pace. And we believe next year, We will close all the integration.
And in the meantime, we are already planning How to integrate the 7,000 doors of Grand Vizient?
And with respect to the 2nd question, good morning, James. Not sure I would talk about margin swings between H2 and H1. If anything, I would say margin expansion in H1, margin expansion in H2. If we're going to have difference, I'm going to see difference between the first half and the second half margin expansion, the reason for that Could be some of that flexibility that I was describing before. With respect to the Cost inflation pressure on our margin, no, we don't see it.
I mean, that's very marginal and it's very well managed by the business. So No impact in that standpoint.
So this does conclude the end of our Q and A I will hand it back to our speaker team to close.
Okay. So thanks Thanks very much to everybody. I understood that you are more than 100, and
that is amazing at the
end of July and in I think at the end of July and in Friday. So we appreciate a lot the patience you Put in your job and how you are interested in our company. Thanks a lot, and happy holidays to everybody.