Good evening. Welcome to the Presentation of First Quarter Revenue 2023 of Fnac Darty and the planned acquisition of Media Markt in Portugal. Mr. Enrique Martinez, CEO of Fnac Darty, and Jean-Brieuc Le Tinier, CFO, will take the call. Over to you.
Thank you very much. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for being with us for this conference call for presentation of our first quarter 2023 results. Our press releases and the presentation that we are going to be giving during this call are available on our website. I am delighted to be with you for this conference call for two reasons.
First of all, the stability of our revenue and gross margin in the first quarter show excellent performance, excellent results which demonstrate the capacity of our group to adapt to meet the needs of our consumers and to provide value against a backdrop of growing pressure on purchasing power. We are announcing the acquisition of Media Markt in Portugal. 25 years after the opening of our first store in the country, we now have the opportunity to consolidate our position as number two on the market, on this very dynamic, high growth market and to provide to our Portuguese clients a full range of products and services as part of our Fnac Darty project. Before going any further, I'd like to give the floor to our CFO, Jean-Brieuc .
Thank you very much, Enrique.
Fnac Darty posted held up very well in terms of revenue in the first quarter. Our figures are stable on a gross published basis. This can be compared to first quarter 2022 results, which we can now qualify as normal after the pandemic period. First of all, these results display strong growth in our in-store sales against a backdrop of a sustained number of visits. Our stores are repealing with their product, the quality, the advice of our sales staff. Our online sales are now at a high level of 22%, four points better than the pre-COVID level, confirming the quality of our digital offering.
Finally, click afterwards, click and collect, which is a key indicator of web performance, is now accounts for 49% of online sales, up two points on 2022, bearing outside choice of an omni-channel model. With the stability of our sales, we've also been able to maintain the stability of our gross margin in the first quarter. In fact, the gross margin is up 20 basis points after a restatement for the franchise effect. These good results are due to the positive contribution of services and in particular, deployment of Darty Max and a pickup in ticketing. Let's look at the commercial performances by region and product category. The France Switzerland region held up well with sales at -0.3% on a like-for-like basis due to the strong performance of in-store sales.
In France in particular, the group continued to outperform the market in the first quarter, according to the most recent figures published by the Bank of France to end of March. We should note that the scope effect on the region is almost neutral. In Paris, the scope effect is slight, is negative with the closure of the Italie Deux Parisian store. In Switzerland, it's positive with the partnership with Manor in the second quarter, and in particular in the second half, we should expect a negative scope effect in Switzerland, given the decision to leave the German speaking region of Switzerland by end of May, notwithstanding the continued growth in French speaking Switzerland with 27 in stores versus 23 at present.
On the Iberian Peninsula, sales are down 1.6%, with a contrast between Portugal, which is up slightly, and Spain down, given the major pressure on spending power of consumers. Finally, the Belgium Luxembourg region is on the rise again with an increase of 3.1% on comparable data. Sales are also driven by the new store in Brussels in May 2022. Moving on to performance per category. Editorial products are up strongly driven by the increase in traffic in stores. The shift in spending from household goods to leisure pro and cultural products is significant. Video and audio products, in particular vinyl, also post strong results, as well as gaming, which is up strongly, given the strong uptick in PS5 sales.
Services continue to rise across all regions with a continued growth of Darty Max and encouraging pickup in ticketing. Technical products posted reflected the strong growth in telephony as well as leisure products such as sound and photo. The whole category, however, is down with the decline in hardware sales, in particular computers. Household appliances are down quite strongly in volume, both in large and small items. Given the pressure on purchasing power and after a strong pickup during the COVID period, the pandemic period, consumers are on a wait and see basis. I'll now hand back to Enrique, who will present our acquisition project in Portugal.
We've been in Portugal for the past 25 years. We've achieved a great success there.
The acquisition project of Media Markt in Portugal, which we presented, is really extremely satisfying. With this transaction, we will be able to increase our revenue by approximately 1/3 and consolidate our position as the number two player in the country by integrating the 10 Media Markt stores and bringing on board 400 Media Markt employees who will join our current team of 1,700 employees. We'll be able to build an ecosystem of products. This transaction consists in buying a network of 10 stores and a website spread across the region, the densely populated regions of Portugal in the north, the center, and in the Lisbon area. The geographical presence is therefore very complementary with that of our 35 Fnac stores.
This acquisition will enable us to add to our range of products, in particular electronic and household appliance products, in addition to our very strong offering in editorial products and consumer electronics. We will also strengthen our supervision and services, product repair. The company is slightly profitable in terms of ROC, and the country will benefit from operational and commercial synergies. The implementation of the transaction, however, is subject to approval of the local competition authority, but I'm confident we will close between now and the summer. In conclusion, this transaction is fully in line with the core of our Darty Fnac project. I'm very satisfied that it will be able to establish in the development that we've achieved successfully over the past 25 years.
To conclude, well, we are very satisfied with our performance in the first quarter. Admittedly, the first quarter is not the most important of the year. In a challenging environment where consumers are adjusting their purchasing behavior to the constraints that weigh on their purchasing power, it is very important to be agile, responsive, to adapt our offerings and services. This is what we have done with some success.
In addition to containing our costs, we have been able to focus on the longevity of our operating model. We have developed a major investment plan for our stores to reduce energy consumption. As of the end of March, we had already renovated and converted to full LED 20% of the stores that we own, which sets us on track to achieve the 15% decrease in electricity consumption that we're aiming for and that we explained in February. We are planning to renovate 60% of our properties by the end of 2024 and 100% by the middle of the next financial year. We are following the macroeconomic situation very closely and consumer trends in our sector.
Our performance over this first quarter enables us to confirm our guidance. That is to say, current operating income around EUR 200 million, cumulative free cash flow from operations at about EUR 500 million, and free cash flow from operations of at least EUR 240 million annually starting 2025. To conclude, I'd like to talk about the arrival of new board members. In recent months, the board discussed how we might include new members for more diversity. We are very happy to be putting Olivier Duha up for nomination at the next shareholders' general meeting. He is the founder and co-president of Webhelp. He created a unicorn and a true global success story in a matter of just a few years.
I strongly believe that his talent and his skills will be of great value to the work of the board, which will now have 14 members, of which 11 independent board members, six women, and two staff representatives. I thank you for your attention. Jean-Brieuc Le Tinier and I would be happy to answer your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your phone. First question, Marie-Line Fort, Société Générale , you have the floor.
Yes. Good evening. Thank you for giving me the floor. I had a few questions on your first quarter revenue. For Belgium in particular, you talked about tax measures in your press release. What was the impact of that? Was it significant?
On sector trends in France, the Banque de France document explains that for consumer electronics, there was a drop in value and in sales volumes. There may be a mixed effect or a kind of deflation, and I wanted to know how you interpreted that. Is it competition or is it related to specific product categories? Those are my two first questions. I also have questions about Portugal. You talked about synergies without necessarily going into numbers. I know you may not be able to. Could you tell us in qualitative terms about these synergies? Is it in terms of purchases costs, the product offerings that you mentioned in brief?
What about the sales momentum within Media Markt in Portugal in recent years as compared to your own sales? You mentioned that it was already profitable. How does that play out as compared to the numbers for the Iberian Peninsula? Thank you. It's a lot of questions.
All right. For Belgium, there were tax measures for consumers to help support consumption. We have this new store doing very well indeed in Brussels.
Could you tell us a little more? Because these effects may not last. What do you think the effect might look like in the future? Would it account for half of growth or more?
Well, for the moment, it's a positive trend for consumption. Last year in Belgium, wages increased considerably.
That was one aspect. Energy costs increased considerably in Belgium as well, which affected consumer purchasing power in 2022. If you look at energy costs today, they are starting to drop. Consumer behavior could change in our favor because they still have 10% extra in wages. We'll see how that plays out through the year. I can't really quantify the exact effect of the tax measures. Now, on France, you talked about volume and prices. To answer you directly, the effect isn't as intense as it was last year. There's transport costs. There's the dollar stabilizing. It's quite stable, I would say. Of course, there's a mixed effect for different categories, different segments within product categories that could explain that.
But no, I wouldn't use the term deflation. On Portugal. We are acquiring Media Markt in Portugal, which is already profitable. We will be leveraging synergies that are organizational with ancillary roles that we will not need to replicate as they already exist. We will be working together on electronics. We already provide consumer electronics and services, and Media Markt also provides consumer electronics services and appliances. We have that in common, but it will also help us diversify with the maker Slack. We are reproducing what we did with the Fnac Darty merger in France. We are expanding our product range. Diversification in the product offering.
Without going into figures, I think what's important is that we are growing our model in Portugal with the services and the strategy that we're pursuing in other countries too. Household appliances, we're not yet active on that in Portugal, but it could be the case in the future. That can really supplement the offering today in Portugal.
I have a final question. Now, you said that the name would remain Media Markt, but once the transaction is complete, would the stores be called Darty or Fnac? It sounds like it's more of a Darty than a Fnac model.
Well, we'll have the answer for you in a few months.
Thank you.
We haven't quite decided yet, but it will not be called Media Markt for in the long run. We'll make the announcements a bit later. We don't know yet.
Thanks very much.
Next question is from Clément Genelot from Bryan, Garnier & Co.
Good evening. Thank you. I have three questions. First of all, on the like-for-like performance.
Just to see whether this like-for-like performance is consistent or whether there is a sequential improvement month after month? Next on ticketing. In the press release, you talked about the pickup in ticketing as a driver in the improvement in the gross margin in 2023. Unless I'm much mistaken, I thought the pickup in ticketing was achieved in 2022. I just wanted clarification on that and to see whether we'll get a boost due to pickup in ticketing 2023 as well.
Next to go back, I understand that we don't have a valuation. It's just to see whether there's an improvement in the with the valuation of Fnac or whether we're closer to the valuation we had previously. On monthly performance, there's no big change over the past three months.
They're different in volume terms. February obviously was smaller. January is bigger with the sales, but no particular difference compared to last year. Quite frankly, nothing particular to talk about there. On ticketing, the ticketing pickup was gradual after the pandemic. In the first quarter, we did not have a full recovery. Don't forget, there was, we ran out of stock on some of the tickets that had already been sold, From the second quarter, we should be able to have a more, a better comparison. Ticketing is doing well. Last year, if you remember, we still sort of had the limitation on traffic in January. January last year, if you remember, was far from what it should have been.
What we, our performance here is going to be what we expect for the year. On valuation, we won't give detail on this, but it was more in line with the overall Media Markt system, which reflects standard results. In the immediate future, no comment, but quite frankly, it's pretty good.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
I'd like to remind you that if you wish to ask a question, you can press star one on your keypad. Gentlemen, there are no queued questions. There's an additional question from Marie-Line Fort, Société Générale . You have the floor. Marie, are you there? Ms. Fort?
Yes. Sorry, I was on mute. It goes without saying, perhaps, but you are making this acquisition in cash. Is that right? It's my first question. My second question is, could you say a bit more about the energy costs, how things have changed since your February presentation? Is there any improvement or is it still a similar situation?
On payment... Okay. Yes, we had to pay cash. Indeed, we paid cash.
On energy costs, two aspects. First of all, reducing consumption was a priority. We told you that during the second half, that was a success. Temperatures were relatively, I mean, tolerable, so we were able to keep costs down. For lighting, and all of the other strategies, I think that that should bear fruit later this year. We really need to make sure that we implement this energy cost reduction plan. In terms of prices, it's not quite at the same level as last year. Perhaps we'll remain under forecast, but it's a bit early to say. We are also using solar energy now at a cost that is below market levels, which should help soften our landing.
We'll tell you more later this year. There are a number of variables to take into account, overall consumption and other factors. We are happy with the way things are going, and we'll do the math a little later.
Can you tell us what your target is in terms of energy? EUR 30 million-EUR 50 million less than last year, more than last year.
I'd like to remind you that if you wish to ask a question, you can press star one on your keypad. [Foreign language].
For the time being, there are no further questions.
Well, thank you all very much for taking part in this conference call, and see you very soon, and thank you so much for being with us.
Goodbye. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for attending, and you may now disconnect. Goodbye.