Dear all, welcome to the first quarter 2025 results of Maisons du Monde. François-Melchior de Polignac, CEO, and Denis Lamoureux, CFO, will be your speakers today. I'll now hand over to François-Melchior de Polignac. Sir, please go ahead.
Good morning to all, and thank you for being with us today. So, one of the key highlights for this term. This term reflects a contrasting picture for us. On the one hand, we've made solid progress in our transformation efforts, advancing even as we navigate in a persistently challenging market environment. On the other hand, sales reached EUR 221.4 million, down 9.9% on a like-for-like basis. Such results highlight both encouraging trends and areas where we can and shall improve. Regarding our strategic plan, Inspire Everyday, we have made steady progress.
Among our recent initiatives, I'd like to emphasize a few key highlights: a wider offering with the introduction of a new bathroom range and extensions in pet accessories and culinary products, among others; enhanced brand visibility, driving greater customer awareness and engagement; improved performance of our new store concepts; and a cost-saving plan that remains fully on track and supports our long-term objectives. These efforts are starting to pay off and deliver encouraging results. Stores show their best like-for-like performance in the last 24 months, at -5.7%. Spain and Italy, our largest international markets, are close to break-even on a like-for-like basis and positive in March. Yet, we are not fully satisfied, of course. Activity in France, which is our biggest market, is down by 11.8% in a consumer context that remains very challenging.
Online activity decreased by 17.6%, mainly due to a drop in pet traffic following relocation of market investments, SEA, towards brand-strengthening actions. Our SEO is progressing, but not fast and strong enough to compensate for such levels of reduced SEA. We are obviously progressively fixing the balance of SEA and SEO by market to better manage our website traffic. As you saw, we are now targeting our cumulative free cash flow objective of over EUR 100 million, over a four-year period instead of three, so for the 2024-2027 period instead of 2024-2026. This adjustment reflects two key parameters. First, of course, difficult market conditions that reflect in our current trading, notably in our core market trends, where, as you know, political instability persists in a context of challenging public deficits not allowing for positive consumption dynamics, in our view. Second, we remain committed to seize opportunities to accelerate.
Typically, our commercial center stores, as well as our most recent ZAC, or Commercial Average Zone store, that we opened two months ago, leveraging CCR learnings, are proving so successful that we want to keep open the opportunity to accelerate. In this context, I want to underline that we main focus on transforming our business to build a stronger foundation for the future. Store network, 2024 was a year of significant transformation for our retail network, and we are now drawing some lessons. The affiliation model has proven to be a resilient and effective alternative for operating smaller stores, successfully implemented in France today, and we plan to expand abroad, as illustrated by the recent opening of our first store in Melilla. This opening abroad represents a key step for us. Investing in our retail network has shown clear value, even though it requires both time and financial resources.
Our 65 revamped concept stores have not only enhanced the customer experience but also demonstrated a more resilient dynamic compared to other stores. Among these, as mentioned, shopping center locations have seen the most significant positive impact. As we continue to refine our approach, we adapt and improve with each step. In this respect, as I mentioned, the recent revamp of our store in La Baule, in France, there is an impressive performance confirming that we are gradually finding the right formula. To better meet the needs of all our customers, including B2B clientele, we have expanded the in-store B2B offering, upgraded our services, and added 15 new B2B corners, bringing the total to 40 across our network, which has created additional traction for these customers. Now, brand activity. A key pillar of Inspire Everyday is to nurture our brand and use it to deepen the connection with our customers.
As many of you know, we launched our first loyalty program, Ma Maison du Monde , on October 24. The program has already rewarded thousands of customers, and the initial results are highly encouraging, with a noticeable increase in customer frequency. Our goal is to cherish our customers, especially our most loyal ones. That is why we organize exclusive in-store events for addicts and lover members. Another key initiative has been the return of our printed catalog since 2023, which has become an essential tool for furthering our products. It has reached this spring an all-time high of over 1 million copies printed. In addition to being available in stores, the catalog was distributed as an insert in leading fashion magazines, giving it significantly broader reach and impact.
We've also strengthened our communication efforts through out-of-home and radio campaigns, all of which have contributed to a notable increase in brand awareness, which, as you can read, has been validated by the YouGov study. Finally, to connect this point to the next point, we are pleased to share that customer satisfaction as measured by the Net Promoter Score (NPS) increased by two points over the past quarter. Now, our goal, as you know, is to better support and inspire our customers. That's why we've enhanced our range with new additions such as bathroom essentials and outdoor lighting, while also expanding our selection of pet and culinary accessories to better meet their needs. Some of you may remember that was an explicit request by our customers when we surveyed them in-depth two years ago. We are also proud to inspire our clients.
Three of our creations were featured in the renowned French magazine Marie Claire. Innovation is key, and the Tangerine Capsule collection, featuring iconic Maisons du Monde products, is a perfect example of how our teams drive creativity and innovation. Better serving our customers means streamlining all aspects of our operations, from implementation timelines to product availability, in-store stock management, and delivery efficiency, ensuring a seamless experience at every step. We pass on to Denis for the financial results.
Thank you, François-Melchior, and hello everybody. We will go here a little bit deeper in details of the sales of Q1 2025. A lot has been already said by François-Melchior, but let's see more in detail. What we can see here, of course, is a decline of the sales of 10.9% over the Q1, and it's strongly linked to France and online because we can see some positive effects.
First of all, the like-for-like is only - 9.9%, but also the retail like-for-like is only minus—I mean, only, of course, in view of the current situation—only - 0.7%, which is one of the best performances since some quarters. Good evolution, and this evolution has been a little bit contrasted over Europe because if you look at like-for-like international, so in retail store, like-for-like international, then there is almost no decline, and we have some positive months in Spain and Italy, which are our two biggest markets outside France. We remember that we had one day less in February, which accounts for 3% of February performance.
On top of that, in terms of day-night dynamic, March was the best month of this quarter. On top of that, on the online sales, we have a sharp decline of the sales, as mentioned by François-Melchior. The main reason is the effect on the paid traffic because we want to find the right balance between paid traffic and free traffic. The decline on paid traffic has been sharper than anticipated, and of course, it is not the target for the full year, and we, as mentioned by François-Melchior, and he will also elaborate a little bit more after, this is not the trend that we want to see on the online for the other quarter, and we are working to compensate with additional paid traffic to have a soft landing on this topic.
Regarding the affiliation, there is no mention here on the affiliation, but as mentioned, we are on the same number of affiliations at the end of the quarter, but the path is not changed, and we will continue to open. As mentioned by François-Melchior, we have opened international affiliation in Melilla, in Spain, and we will continue both in Spain and Italy, but also in France, and namely openings of new stores. No change on that target. If we go on the next page, we can see the evolution of the mix, which is the standard also slide that you have. You can see the evolution by category, decoration, and furniture, taking into account the fact that there is a mixed effect, of course, on furniture because the furniture is more driven by web rather than by store.
The evolution of the channel mix has an effect on the channel category, as you can imagine. On top of that, we did not elaborate too much on that, but you have seen on the store network, the B2B corner that also shows strong results. If we go on geography, I already spoke about Spain and Italy, but also we have to mention Switzerland, where we adjust locally some pricing strategy, and it shows a strong performance in terms of like-for-like and an increase in traffic with an increase in the basket size. We are finding the recipe for the rebound. Again, on the new concept, which is not presented later as split, but better performance, namely in March. Once said, I leave the floor to François-Melchior.
Thank you, Denis. Looking ahead, in 2025, our focus is twofold, basically. Of course, addressing immediate challenges to reinvigorate our top line while continuing the in-depth transformation of our business model for the future. We are putting strong emphasis on strengthening our brand through new designer collaborations, impactful marketing, and an enriched product offering. At the same time, revitalizing online sales is a priority.
We're launching initiatives to improve the website and the omnichannel experience, fostering better synergies between online and in-store sales, and fine-tuning, as we mentioned with Denis, our SEA strategies based, of course, on the learnings from earlier this year. Our store network transformation is also progressing well. We are continuing renovations, rolling out new concepts in key shopping mall locations, and expanding our affiliation model abroad. Finally, we are driving greater efficiencies across the organization with an additional EUR 10 million in cost savings, bringing our three-year target to EUR 110 million.
We are streamlining operations, optimizing our supply chain, and simplifying our structure to ensure we execute with even more precision. On that brief complete update of the quarter, we'll open the way, of course, for the Q&A, which I don't see any question at the moment, but we are, of course, waiting and allowing you to type a few questions if necessary. There seems to be no question. If so, of course, we remain, Denis and myself, open to direct calls. While I'm just speaking slowly to leave a last chance for the system to update itself, I don't see any questions coming up. Thank you. One question. Just a second. All right. The question is, what non-macroeconomic factors motivated the extension of the cumulative free cash flow target timeline? Will this affect the pace of store renovations?
The second question is, is the decline in online sales temporary, or should we expect it to remain at this level throughout the year? Was it planned to have such a backdrop in online sales? Thank you for the question, Thilo. On the first part, really, what we see is macroeconomics is not satisfying optimistics, certainly in France. As I mentioned, our French people around the table, we know that the government has announced looking for EUR 40 billion of savings without having any majority, a strong majority in Parliament, and a potential forecast of a new election coming in a few months. All of this, for our core market of France, is clearly putting some pressure on the consumption patterns to come. That is the macroeconomics.
It does reflect in our current trading, which is not where it should be, which is why we are extending this horizon to get our over EUR 100 million free cash flow generation. Will this affect the pace of store renovation? I would say no, basically. As mentioned, what will affect the pace of store renovation would rather be the pace at which we are 100% confident that we have the perfect balance of the different elements we are putting in our new store. As we mentioned, we keep, on the contrary, the option to accelerate at the moment. It will appear to be the best one for us in terms of timing. Yet, of course, we could adapt by country, by market, depending on the potential, the speed of the store renovation program.
On your second question, decisively, we do not see that as a long-term trend for the online sales. We did have the impact, as mentioned by Denis and myself, of the reduced level of SEA. It is, for us, a key objective to be less dependent on SEA, which is basically giving out money for one-time stock and traffic on our website and to increase the share of traffic that is coming from the power of our own brand and its capacity to be visible by customers. SEO is progressing well. This is satisfaction for us, but yet, we did not anticipate so much impact on the SEA reduction. This is why we are rebalancing the mix progressively to get this objective of less dependence on SEA, but also, of course, to better manage the sales online.
During my long answer, sorry for that, we saw no upcoming additional questions. In that case, merci, Fabien, for this one question. Again, Denis and I remain open to any other questions you might have after this meeting.
The question we have is on the renovation and the extra sales mentioned on the renovation. What we have put, and it is something that we are not sharing the full value of, of course, because it is quite confidential in view of the changing market. What we have mentioned in the press release is that in March, the renovated store was 7% above the comparable stores, meaning the store that should be in the same position in order to isolate the renovation impact. That is something that is on the way. Just remind you that we are supposed to have 100 stores renovated at the end of 2025.
Refreshment shows no question. Thank you very much for your attendance. Yet again, we remain open to any question that you would have to have after this call. Thank you. Perfect.
Thank you. Have a good day. Bye-bye.
This concludes today's presentation. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Speakers, please stand by.