Good morning, everyone, and thank you for being with us this morning for Rémy Cointreau's first half results. I am here with Franck Marilly, our CEO, and Luca Marotta, our CFO. Both of them will, of course, take you through the detailed results. Let me begin by sharing a clear and honest picture of where we stand today. As you can see in the next slide coming up, part of our portfolio has already returned to growth. Please, this slide. Thank you very much. It seems we have a small technical issue, but we will resolve this in just a few seconds. Bear with us, and apologies for the delay. As you can see, part of our portfolio has already returned to growth. In Cognac, 40% of our organic sales are back to positive territory. In liquors and spirits, that figure rises to 85%.
These are encouraging signs, which confirm the strength and relevance of our portfolio. We must also acknowledge that despite this progress, it is clearly not enough. Yes, momentum is emerging across categories, but we remain far from where we need to be. This is why, under the leadership of our new CEO, the group is entering a real turning point, a decisive moment where we deeply challenge ourselves, rethink our priorities, and set the foundations for a stronger future. This transformation is anchored around two immediate priorities. Priority number one: revitalize Cognac, the historic heart of the group and a category with strong potential. Priority number two: accelerate the expansion of liqueurs and spirits, a resilient engine already showing solid signs of recovery. Our ambition over time is clearly to provide greater volume scale to absorb fixed costs, rebalance working capital, broaden our geographic footprint, and reduce sourcing constraints.
Our conviction is that we have everything we need to succeed. We can leverage the unique strength of our portfolio, made of houses that have shaped our identity for centuries. We can rely on our highly committed, passionate, and talented teams who continue to demonstrate remarkable dedication and resilience in every market, every day. We now have a clear direction, renewed energy, and the willingness to move faster. This is the transformation we are now putting in motion. I strongly believe that we can look to the future with confidence because our brands, our consumers, and above all, our people give us exceptional foundations on which to build. The journey has begun, and together, with determination, we will write the next chapter of Rémy Cointreau. Franck, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Marie-Amélie. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm glad to be here for my first results presentation. I will begin with a quick overview of first half 2025-2026. Luca will then detail our financial results, and I will conclude by giving you an update of the group situation and the outlook. Let's begin with a review of our first half results performance. I'm now on slide six. Group sales total EUR 489.6 million, representing an organic decline of -4.2% versus last year. COP reached EUR 108.7 million, down -13.6% on an organic basis, resulting in a margin of 22.2%, down 2.7 percentage points organically. This performance reflects, first, a gross margin contraction of -2.4 percentage points impacted by tariff and unfavorable price mix, and to a lesser extent, some production cost pressure.
Despite this additional tariff, our gross margin remains strong at 70.1% organically, slightly above H1 of 2019-2020. Second, our deliberate decision to maintain marketing investment with A&P at 19.4% of sales, up 0.9 percentage points year on year. These efforts were almost fully offset by continued discipline in cost management, with OpEx declining versus last year. In this context, our net debt/EBITDA ratio increased slightly compared to March, reaching 2.96. Let's begin with our three main highlights for the semester, starting with the U.S. on slide seven, our largest and most strategically important market. After two very challenging years, our underlining trends in the U.S. continued to improve during the first half, allowing the group to return to sales growth in first half. The improvement is real and consistent, even if the pace of recovery has been slightly slower than we initially expected.
On depletions, Rémy Cointreau US shows a clear sequential improvement. Month after month, depletion volumes have strengthened, supported by a gradual normalization of inventories at our distributors. Since the start of the calendar year, we have seen steady progress, bringing total volume close to stability by the end of the period. This confirms that the worst of the correction is now behind us. On sellout, Rémy Martin is now outperforming the Cognac category. After several quarters of underperformance, the brand has regained momentum thanks to sharper pricing alignment and improved commercial execution. This marks an important turning point for the brand in the U.S. At the same time, Cointreau continues to demonstrate solid resilience, both in absolute terms and relative to its category. Despite a difficult market, the brand maintains healthy consumer demand and benefits from a strong brand equity and efficient brand activations.
Overall, these trends give us confidence heading into H2, even though the U.S. spirits market remains challenging in the current macro environment. The sequential improvement is underway. Our objective is now to build on this momentum. I'm now on slide eight. The market in China has become increasingly challenging during the first half, leading to a sharper than expected decline in our business. The overall environment has softened over the period, and the base of comparison remained high. As a result, sales in China were down mid-teens in the first half, in line with value depletions. Consequently, inventory levels remain healthy, providing solid fundamentals ahead of Chinese New Year. The execution of our Mid-Autumn Festival strategy has been complex, but the outcome is clearly positive. MAF has finally taken off.
Greater pricing agility to adapt to the new market dynamics, combined with strong commercial execution and a relevant product offering, has generated a favorable elasticity. This is an encouraging sign in a market where consumers are increasingly selective and value-driven. MAF delivered a low single-digit growth over the period, while our performance during the recent Double 11 e-commerce festival was also strong, with sales up +15%. These successes confirm that our strategy is the right one, even in a more challenging environment. Overall, while China remains difficult, we are seeing early green shoots that support our confidence over the midterm. A final word on the EMEA region on slide nine. Consumption trends remain soft across most markets in first half, reflecting a more cautious consumer and pressured discretionary spending.
That said, the region will benefit from solid drivers to support a rebound in H2, notably innovation, distribution gains, and targeted pricing initiatives. In Africa and the Middle East, the rollout of Rémy Martin VS is progressing well in a market largely driven by the VS segment. Our performance with wholesalers is currently ahead of our objectives, reflecting strong initial traction. As a result, we will be increasing our shipments in the coming month. In the U.K. and Nordics, we expect to improve sequentially. We have secured distribution gains on The Botanist, Rémy Martin 1738, Telmont , and Bruichladdich that should start to deliver in H2. We are also implementing smart pricing initiatives during the peak season, ensuring competitiveness while remaining aligned with our value strategy. In parallel, we are leveraging our innovation pipeline with recent launches supporting brand visibility and product testing.
Across Europe with third-party distributors, our brands continue to gain traction. A new METAXA campaign was launched in key markets, driving awareness and recruitment. For Cointreau, on-trade activation will contribute to sustaining momentum despite softer category trend. We also expanded our presence through new launches, such as Passoã Rosé in Italy and Spain, and secured additional distribution gains in Germany. Overall, while H1 remains soft, the region is building the right momentum and assets to support the expected improvements in H2.
Thank you, Franck. Now, let's move to a detailed analysis of the financial statement, starting with the H1 income statement. As previously mentioned, organic sales were down by 4.2%. Based on this, gross profit decreased by 7.4% in organic terms, implying a 2.4 to 140 basis point deterioration in gross margin. This is still representing a slight improvement compared to pre-COVID levels.
This H1 gross margin contraction has been driven by incremental customs duties, clearly, and unfavorable price mix effect to the top line, and to a lesser extent, some manufacturing and logistic cost pressure. Sales and marketing net expenses were down by 4.6% organically, so more or less in line with sales. Inside this total, we can say that A&P expenses were up plus 0.5% organically, representing a ratio of 19.4% of sales, which means an organic increase of the A&P pressure compared to the top line of 0.9 percentage points. Despite continued pressure on sales, we have, as you can see, decided to maintain our investment forward behind our brands to protect their desirability and to be prepared for the recovery. However, we have done so while keeping a clear focus on efficiency and selectivity.
Accordingly, we increased, since some quarters, the share of BTL below-the-line spending relative compared to the above-the-line ATL during this period. As a result, the share of BTL investment is higher now or the above-the-line spend. What is inside that above-the-line? As a reminder, it is traditional media, digital, PR, and that represented 45%, less than 50% of the total A&P, while below-the-line clearly represented 55%. On top, as a transversal point, digital investment inside A&P represented more than 65% of the ATL, so two-thirds. Two-thirds multiplied by 45, we can say that around 30% of our total A&P spend is linked to digital activities and support. Talking about OpEx, let's start with distribution costs. They decreased by 10.6% organically, mainly due to a one-off related to a compensation indemnity.
Administrative net expenses were almost flat on an organic basis, reflecting continued ongoing discipline on overhead costs following optimization made during the last two years, essentially, but not only. Overall, as a result, current operating profit was down 13.6% organically and more or less the double, - 26.2% on a reported basis. Why that? Because we have to take into account a negative currency impact of EUR 18.7 million on a bottom line. Talking about margin, COP margin stood, as Franck already highlighted, at 22.2%, down 2.7 percentage points as reported, of which 5.4 clearly organically. Compared with H1 2019-2020, the margin is down by 4.7 percentage points despite a slight improvement in gross margin, plus 0.4 percentage points. Why are we down compared to pre-COVID level term margin? Because of the sharp increase of A&P investment, 4.4 percentage points.
Overheads were slightly increasing, but more or less in line, a touch more than the top line. Let's move to slide number 12 to dig inside the group current operating margin breach. It was down 5.4 percentage points as reported, as said, reaching 22.2%. This breaks down into organic decrease of 2.7 percentage points and a negative currency effect of the same magnitude, 2.7 percentage points. The organic evolution of the current operating margin largely reflects a deterioration of the gross margin, which nevertheless remains, I repeat, it's very important, above pre-COVID levels, + 0.4 percentage points. This deterioration was likely amplified by the sustained level of A&P spend, along with continued discipline, as you can see, in distribution and structural costs.
To be more precise, gross margin was down 2.4 percentage points, of which more than one-third is linked to incremental customs duties alongside an unfavorable price mix on the top line, both in mix and in pricing in the current environment, clearly. To a lesser extent, inflation related to the cost of goods, particularly on the Cognac eau de v ie that has been bought and supplied some years ago. Second point to highlight is the A&P ratio. It increased by 0.9 percentage points, as already said. Third, talking about OpEx, the ratio of distribution structural cost was down 0.6 percentage points and decreased by EUR 9 million in absolute terms. This is an important key achievement considering, as you remember, the reintegration of more or less EUR 10 million of last year's overhead one-off savings. It is clearly a good performance in our opinion. Slide number 13.
Moving on the remaining items of the income statement, we can say that in H1 2025-2026, the operating profit included almost no other non-recurring income or expenses. Financial charges were almost flat and slightly increased from EUR 21.1 million to EUR 22 million, but I will be more precise going into more details on this on the next slides. Talking about tax rates, it increased from 27.5% to 28%, but it is a global and first-site analysis because it is mainly due to the additional charge related to the exceptional corporate tax contribution in France linked to the 2025 French finance law. If we exclude these non-recurring items, tax rates are actually decreasing from 27.7% last year to 27.3%, a small one, but a reduction of 0.4%. For the full year, as a guidance, we expect the tax rate to land at around 29% including 1.5 percentage points of exceptional tax.
As a result of that, net profit group share came in at EUR 63.1 million, down 31.3% on a reported basis, i.e., a net margin of 12.9%, down 4.3 percentage points. EPS for the semester came out at EUR 1.22, down 32.6%, as reported. As promised, a few comments on slide number 14 on net financial expenses, which amounted to a EUR 22 million charge in H1 2025-2026 to be compared to EUR 21.1 million last year at the same period. Net debt servicing costs were slightly down in absolute terms, as you can see. As a consequence, our cost of debt, pure cost of debt, decreased from 4.17% to 3.78%. Net currency losses increased from a loss of EUR 0.5 million last year to EUR 1.1 million, primarily due to the hedging of intra-group financing. Finally, other financial expenses stood at EUR 4.8 million in H1 2025-2026.
For the year, globally, we expect as a guidance, financial charges to reach less than EUR 50 million. Now, let's analyze one of the most important charts, as you know, in my opinion, for a company like Rémy Cointreau, which is a business model which is based on buying today what we can sell tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, which is the free cash flow. Free cash flow generation and net debt evolution on page number 15. Free cash flow was negative in H1 2025-2026 and stood at EUR 16.5 million to be compared to negative EUR 107.6 million in H1 last year. Last year, we had EUR 28 million of tax refunds in 2024-2025 related to prior overpayments done by ourselves to the tax bureau.
This represents, on a comparable basis, an improvement from -35.6% to -16.5%, still negative, but on a comparable basis, improving. If we exclude this tax repayment refund, quite an exceptional one distortion, free cash flow evolution reflects a meaningful decrease on the first line, which is EBITDA, partially offset by two factors. First, a significant decrease of the other working capital items outflows. Actually, we had a positive variance effect of EUR 59.5 million. Why? Why the working capital outflow related to eau de vie and spirits in aging process was slightly up by EUR 10.8 million due to lower eau de vie outflows for the same level of purchases. At the same time, we can say that the H1 balance sheet eau de vie that you can read inside our reporting and not in this slide already recorded a reduction in commitment compared to the future.
If you compare this year's long-term off-balance sheet commitment to what we reported three years ago, the same time when we signed the long-term contract engagement, you can see that there will be a saving of more or less EUR 110 million. As I repeat, I repeat that it is not visible in this slide, but it's very important. Our future commitments have been reduced substantially and is clearly visible in off-balance sheet reporting. The first impact on our financial account, so let's back to this year's result, will be only recognized and visible at March 2026. Overall, global working capital outflow evolution is favorable and has been reduced by EUR 48.7 million, mostly driven by some phasing effect in trade payables between H1 last year and H1 of this year. Why that? Because it depends on the timing, the phasing of the buying, essentially A&P activities.
Second element, it is a decrease of EUR 7.2 million of CapEx outflow following the optimization action that we decided to protect cash. In parallel, other cash flow items, inflows decreased by EUR 7.9 million, and this was mostly driven by our equity investment made through RC Ventures for minority shares in some companies. As a result, at the end of September 2025, our net financial debt stood at EUR 686.7 million, so slightly up EUR 11.3 million compared to March 2025. As a consequence, A ratio is up from 2.4 in March 2025 to 2.96 in September 2025. If you compare ourselves to September last year, so in one year, not only six months, net financial debt increased by EUR 42.4 million, and A ratio clearly is increasing more from 1.90 to 2.96 in September 2025. Now, let's move on and talk about the impact of the currency hedges.
A very technical slide, I know, but in this moment, it's important to be as precise as we can in this very complex and volatile environment for currency. The group, as you have seen, reported a negative translation impact of EUR 21.7 million on sales and a negative transaction effect of EUR 18.7 million on COP in H1. This mainly reflects the evolution of the US dollar and Chinese RMB. In H1 2025-2026, we recorded a deterioration of the average euro dollar conversion rate from 1.09 to 1.15 per euro and the euro RMB conversion rate from 7.84 to 8.28 RMB for 0.10 euro. This was conversion. Our parties of hedging determined that our average hedge rate deteriorated from 1.07 to 1.13 US dollar per euro in H1 2025-2026 and deteriorated at the same time from 7.66 to 8.37 RMB for 0.10 euro.
That's the reason why mathematically we have a loss in bottom line. Looking at our forecast, which is most important, looking not in the past, but for the future, for the full year 2025-2026, as you can see, assuming a conversion rate of 1.15 on EUR/USD and 8.26 on EUR Chinese RMB, as well as a hedge rate of 1.12 on EUR/USD and 7.94 of Chinese RMB, so better than conversion, we anticipate a negative impact between EUR 50 million-EUR 60 million on sales, of which 60% will be in the H2, and between EUR -25 million-EUR -30 million on negative in COP, of which only one-third will be in H2. A dephasing between conversion and transaction. As you can read on the slide, you can have also the forex sensitivity by currency.
As the evolution of euro dollar and also euro RMB exchange rate remains very volatile, we will continue to share with you an update every quarter. At this stage, for the full year, we have already covered 95% of our net US dollar exposure, of which around 60% on options. We are still flexible. On Chinese yuan, it is 80% of our needs that we cover net, of which 40% touch less on option. Now, let's move to the balance sheet, slide number 17 overview, where total asset liabilities stood at EUR 3.46 billion, up EUR 87 million compared to last year at the same time. On the asset side, global inventory increased by EUR 129 million to reach EUR 2.1 billion due to the purchase of young eau de vie and also an increase of our inventory levels given the current context.
Inventories now represent 61% of our total asset, up three points from previous year. This was the left side. Talking about the right side, the liability side, shareholder equity is up by EUR 25 million, mainly driven by the net income partially offset by the payment of the dividend related to the fiscal year 2024-2025. Net gearing, so the group's net to debt equity ratio, was slightly up over the period from 34% to 36%, reflecting the increase of our financial debt. I get the mic back to Franck.
Thank you, Luca. To conclude on the short term, let's now turn to slide 19. A few words on the guidance we updated a month ago. We are today confirming our expectations both for sales and for COP. In more detail, we expect organic sales growth to land between flat and low single digit.
For COP, we anticipate an organic decline ranging between low double digit and mid-teens. This guidance includes the impact of tariffs, which we estimate at around EUR 25 million. Finally, we expect a negative forex impact of between EUR 50 million and EUR 60 million on the top line and between EUR 25 million and EUR 30 million on COP. As we confirm our guidance for the year, it is also clear that the environment ahead demands more than short-term adjustments. We need to step back, reassess our assumptions, and rethink how we operate across the entire group. It is time to challenge the way we think and act, and to lay the foundation for the next phase of Rémy Cointreau's long-term journey. As we step back, it is important to recognize the environment in which we are operating today. I'm on slide 21.
What we see is a transitional context, one that is mostly cyclical rather than structural. The industry continues to face a series of global headwinds, including the persistent increase in the cost of living and the ongoing geopolitical tensions. If the U.S. consumers remain relatively resilient, but they are also more polarized and increasingly price sensitive. Societal anxiety is also weighing on shopping behavior, adding further volatility to demand patterns. These pressures are contributing to the evolution of consumer dynamics. You're already familiar with them, so I will not detail them here. Taken together, this shift defines a landscape that is challenging, yes, but also full of opportunities for those who adapt with agility, discipline, and clarity of focus. When I joined the group last June, my first priority was very simple: take the time to listen.
Over the past month, I traveled across our regions, met our teams, visited markets and partners. This listening phase was essential. It allowed me to understand our strengths, our challenges, and what truly matters to our people and our consumers. Based on this diagnosis, it is clear that a transformation is needed, and transformation requires rhythm. There is a time to listen, a time to rethink, and a time to reignite while acting fast. This slide reflects the timeline I have set for us. We are currently in a rethink and reset phase while targeting quick wins that will help us regain agility and improve performance in the short term. By June, we will be able to articulate a clear annual guidance, and by next November, we will present a detailed midterm roadmap. From this first diagnostic, I have identified five short-term priorities.
First, accelerate decision-making by building a more agile, business-driven organization. Second, optimize and strengthen our commercial resources, ensuring we are fully equipped to capture market opportunities. Third, redefine how our brand expresses their DNA to ensure relevance amid evolving consumer trends and unlock additional growth. Let me be clear. This is not about changing who we are or diluting our identity. It is about redefining our own limits, understanding how far we are willing to stretch a brand while remaining true to our identity. In today's environment, we must be less dogmatic and more pragmatic. Redefining our DNA boundaries means embracing these opportunities where they make sense in a way that strengthens our brand rather than limiting them. Fourth, stay true to our value strategy while revisiting mix and pricing with greater sharpness and alignment to today's market conditions. Here again, let me be clear.
This is not about changing our strategic North Star. We remain fully committed to our value strategy. It is part of who we are, and it has served us well over time. We also need to be less dogmatic than we were two years ago. At that time, we made the deliberate choice to make no concession. Yet today, the context has changed, and reigniting volume growth has become essential. Lastly, shift our A&P allocation model and review our brand portfolio to better manage the long tail and maximize ROI. These priorities will help us stabilize the business, regain momentum, and prepare the group for the next stage. Because once we emerge from this crisis, we must, and we will, go further. We will broaden our horizons and shape the medium-term future for the company.
This is a journey we are on together, listening, rethinking, resetting, and ultimately reigniting Rémy Cointreau for the next chapter. As part of the assessment phase, my objective has been to identify what will matter most for the next chapter of Rémy Cointreau. Building on the diagnostic, we have defined five strategic priorities that will guide the reset of the group. First, we need to reignite growth with a strong focus on immediate value creation through top-line initiatives. This means renewing our go-to-market, strengthening our revenue growth management, leveraging innovation more effectively, and reallocating A&P with greater discipline and impact. Second, we must reassess our brand portfolio architecture to simplify its complexity and enhance A&P ROI. This is essential to ensure that our investments are concentrating on what truly drives value. Third, we will unlock efficiencies to reverse the COP trajectory, fuel future growth, and ultimately improve cash.
That includes procurement synergies, simplifying operations, and streamlining the way we work. Fourth, we need to improve cash generation. Beyond reigniting COP growth, this required reducing eau de vie purchases, being extremely selective on CapEx, keeping a consistent and reasonable dividend policy, and reviewing our brand portfolio through a cash generation angle. Fifth, we will build a new organization that is more agile, faster, and better connected, breaking down silos and enabling teams to execute with greater clarity and alignment. All of this feeds into a broader ambition to unlock the resources needed to dissociate our performance from the macro environment and fuel the next phase of growth. This is why we are now structuring these priorities around 10 concrete levers that will be fully detailed in the next stage. Let me finish with one important message.
My intention today is to be transparent with you, to give you as much visibility as possible, and to show you clearly where we stand. We are driving a real transformation, and we need the time to implement it properly. As you saw on the timeline, there will be, of course, a moment in a couple of months when we will be able to detail this roadmap much more concretely. Today is about the directions. The next steps will be about execution. While we are building the strategic plan, we must also seize every short-term growth opportunity available to us. This is not an either-or situation. We are transforming the group while continuing to drive the business forward. One of our strongest short-term levers is our innovation pipeline. For the next 6-12 months, we have a robust and exciting set of consumer-driven launches.
First, the trend of convenience. This is exactly where our pipeline gives us an edge, where quality meets convenience. The recent RTS launch from Cointreau is a perfect illustration of our savoir-faire. The quality is truly exceptional. Second, the trend of affordability. Consumers are looking for accessible propositions that remain aspirational. The rollout of Rémy VS in Africa is a perfect example that offers potential for next year. Beyond that, we are working on a very exciting project for Rémy Martin, that I hope will see the light of day in 12 months. This will allow the brand to recruit more broadly in the U.S. while staying absolutely true to its core DNA. Third, the trend of flavors and cocktail culture. We're seeing consumers increasingly seeking flavors and cocktails. This opens up new possibilities for refined spirits and helps broaden recruitment and enhance relevance among consumers, younger consumers.
Taking mangue as an example, the silver expression will be a perfect ingredient for Mojito, the world's third most consumed cocktail. Fourth, the trend of cultural relevance. We have opportunities to bring our craftsmanship and heritage into formats that story and stories that resonate more deeply with local culture, where savoir-faire meets cultural relevance. In parallel, we're also acting on two other critical short-term levers: enhancing pricing flexibility combined with the growth of small format, maintaining strict overhead discipline, and optimizing cash generation. As we come to the end of this presentation, I want to leave you with one clear message. Rémy Cointreau is at the pivotal moment in its history. We're only at the very beginning of this journey. What I have shared with you today may still sound somehow conceptual, and that is normal.
A true transformation always starts with a vision, with clarity of direction, and with the conviction that we can and must do better. Let me reassure you, behind this vision, there is total determination, mine, and that of all our teams across the world. We are already in motion. We are rethinking how we operate, resetting our priorities, reigniting innovation and desirability, and already preparing the group for the next chapter. I'm genuinely excited about what lies ahead, and I look forward to presenting the full plan and, more importantly, to show you the first tangible results of this transformation over the next 12 months. Thank you. We are now happy to take your questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please dial pound key five on your telephone keypad to enter the queue. You are kindly asked to limit yourself to two questions only. The next question comes from Richard Withagan from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning all. Thanks for your presentation. I have two questions, please. First of all, Franck, you talk about quick wins. Let's take Rémy Martin, which remains the biggest brand of the company. What kind of quick wins are you thinking about specifically? Is this more about better marketing or more marketing? Is it about price changes? Do you think about distribution changes? Some more color on that would be useful. The second question is on the balance sheet. Does the balance sheet at three times net debt to EBITDA limit your flexibility in strategy execution? Thanks.
Thank you very much for your question. I will answer the first question on the quick wins. Quick wins means being opportunistic. In a crisis, there are always opportunities to look for. This translates into additional A&P where we're certain to get a right ROI. This is an example of what we did during the MAF Festival. I'm glad we put more money on the table as we had a very good positive return on the sell-out performance. It can be on extension of geographies as well that we are looking at right now. It can be, you mentioned, the price flexibility, price supporting activities on the trade as well. It could be into specific promotional activations in the trade, in the points of sales as well. It is depletion incentives that we gave already in some regions. It can be business developments in other geographies as well.
It's a set of different opportunities. We're looking at everything that is possible today. Everybody is in a difficult situation, and we have to be having a fighting spirit in that case and really be opportunistic while preserving our DNA, honoring, obviously, our brand equity.
On the balance sheet structure, I will answer. Today, in terms of global resources, we are clearly well equipped compared to the crisis of 2008 or the previous one. The group has a lot of weapons to face. Clearly, it is more the EBITDA depressed in the last two years, and this year, we are guiding for a negative impact. On top, we have the Forex negative winds that are causing the increase of the ratio to almost three now. Let me surprise you. It is welcome and candid, friends. Three is very good news. It is spicy news. It is obliging ourselves to react, to rethink, not to sleep with a large pillow, but with a cervical pillow that drives your head more right. Everything, as Franck, as I highlighted, will be more focused on cash generation.
P&L for [uncertain] company, even more for aging company, is only a small part of the truth. We have to think more, more than we're used to, in terms of free cash flow and balance sheet shift on a very long term, even before P&L. It is not limiting. It is candid friends waking up every day with the need and eager to improve ourselves on the cash generation side.
Yeah, thanks, Franck. Thanks, Luca.
The next question comes from Trevor Stirling from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Franck and Luca. Two questions from my side, please. The first one, in terms of sell-out trends, it sounds as if you're getting a little more optimistic on China. Those numbers you were quoting from Mid-Autumn Festival and D11 sound very positive. Maybe if you have any more, is that right? We're exiting the half in much better shape in China, but at the same time, perhaps things are getting slightly worse in total in the U.S. Relative trends are a little bit better. Industry trends are a little bit worse. If you can comment on that, that would be great. The second question, Franck, I'm intrigued by your reset and reignite and your questions around moving from dogmatic to pragmatic. It sounds as if, in particular, you might be looking, reexamining your pricing strategy in the United States.
Is that the right way to interpret what you said?
Thank you, Trevor, for your question. There are many questions and one question. Let me start with China and be very pragmatic. As I mentioned before, some of the quick wins were to reinject some A&P with a measured ROI, obviously, as a target. That's what we did with our Chinese organization. I'm glad we did that because Club was the only brand positive in Cognac during the MAF. We had a good double-digit increase, actually, in sell-out. We were very proud of that. It is obviously down to the great execution of the team together with our distributors. This is one clear example it can work. To your second question, price elasticity, yes, there's no taboo about that. We're in a crisis. I mean, we could talk about brand margin. We could talk about elasticity, the impact it can have.
At the end of the day, what do we want? My number one objective is to grow the top line. We need to reconquer our position. Obviously, we're looking, targeting a profitable growth. We need volume. We need to reignite the top line, starting with Cognac, our stronger categories, to fuel the other brands as well in the second stage. This is really the top priority: grow the volumes. Price elasticity, yes, it is something I'm looking at, absolutely, in different regions, including the U.S., as you mentioned, the U.S.
To complete on the.
Thank you very much, Franck.
To complete this point with some indicators of the temperature of the depletion and the best approach of sell-out, let's start with the short term and then go to the guidance for the full year of depletion according to the top line. What happened in the last two months to three months, with some volatility between months, we can say the last two, three months in top line, talking about sales, has been improving, as you can see. Still negative, it's improving. In terms of value depletion, to be more granular, in October, China, as I liked it, was clearly very positive, also for a calendar effect, but not only because Mid-Autumn Festival has delivered a very, very good growth, clearly beating the markets and with Club playing the big guy role and 11/11 as well.
Overall, every time we have the possibility to get in touch with the consumer in China in a very humble way, we are beating competition. It is more volatile because of the context and the lack of trust of the wholesalers. The indirect part, which is weighing more than 50%, is more volatile. It is true compared to the month of, compared to June, July, our result in China overall in terms of depletion is a bit down. U.S., it is improving, still on negative land, but it is improving constantly. This is the reason why the top line at the end of Q2, so the H1, was positive on Céline, and immediate depletion is still negative so far, but improving a bit. This is the short term. What is important is to look to the full year.
One last point, a technical one, which I never touched base, but I think is important. Talking about the year, top line for the group, it's low to mid low to flat to low single digit, 0-2, 0-2.5, something like that in your translation. Americas, clearly U.S., in terms of top line, Céline will be high single, low double because we have a restocking part, which is already there, and then the compound part linked to the depletions. For what concerns value depletion, we are improving, but still for the year, we are targeting at the Americas level, so including Canada, Latam, flatish minus. For the U.S., a touch lower. In value depletion, something between low single digit decline. Are we stocking? No. Because we are destocking.
That's an important point that I will be back maybe also next week in London even more clearly if you want. Overall, the absolute value at comparable unit value per product sold is showing this year, like last year, that the absolute value delivered in depletion is bigger than the Céline. Plus one in Céline and minus one in depletion, if you want, is giving a destocking because we destocked so hard in many markets in the U.S. in the last two years and a half that the base can be rebalanced and that's much more healthy. Talking about Asia-Pacific and China in terms of a full year algorithm, top line will be around mid to high single digit decline with value depletion better than that. Still negative, but better.
For EMEA, top line will be low to mid single digit decline with better performance in depletion, but not a fantastic one. As a transversal channel, one point on travel retail. Double digit in sales, double digit in sell-out. It is enough? No. We count a lot to re-improve and to re-accelerate on this channel for the future as well. One last point in terms of division, clearly, this is a year of Liqueurs and Spirits and less of the Cognac. We are improving Cognac. We are still lagging behind the performance of Cognac of Liqueurs and Spirits division. This is a bit more dilutive. It is an impact on the profit and loss. Sorry, I was a bit long, but I think it's interesting for you, both in the short and for the full year guidance.
The next question comes from Laurence Whyatt from Barclays. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning, Franck. Good morning, Luca. Thanks very much for the question. A couple for me, if that's okay. Just firstly, on your inventory on eau de v ie, we've seen a number of sort of, I guess, false starts in both China and the U.S. where you sort of been expecting improvements, and perhaps they haven't materialized. Perhaps they're coming through now. In terms of Cognac, of course, you need to lay down stock many years in advance before the product is produced. As a result, given that perhaps China and the U.S. are somewhat weaker than you predicted years ago, are you potentially sitting on still quite a lot of stock in terms of aging eau de v ie ready to go into bottle now?
I wonder if you'd give a commentary not only on your own inventory, but perhaps what you see in the wider Cognac sector, if you're seeing that the industry perhaps has a lot of stock or the right level of stock for what you're expecting in terms of Cognac sales over the next few years. Secondly, with regard to a lot of your comments, Franck, you're clearly pushing more volume growth. You talk about volume growth becoming more essential. Slide 24, when you're talking about your new products, a lot of those seem rather entry-level products with relatively low price points versus the rest of your portfolio. You also talked about revisiting mix in your portfolio.
If we see sort of lower price point products across Rémy, what sort of expectation can we have on the margin going forward, given that was one of the key areas of gross margin improvement over the past few years when you premiumized your portfolio? Thank you very much.
I would let Luca answer the first question and answer on the second question.
Yep. Eau de v ie stock, we have EUR 2.1 billion stock. 80%-85% is eau de v ie of Cognac, so it's clearly. We have a lot of stock, clearly quantity is unbeatable. It is more in terms of the spectrum of the stock that we need to reassess the priorities than in terms of do we have an overstock which we'll not be able to sell considering the footprint, our future plan. Knowing that the first priority of our new General Manager of the company is to reignite and put the top line as the first priority is reassuring a lot also this financial because all innovation projects will be driven to speed, to foster the working capital speed to market. If you look at the eau de vie free cash flow for the H1, more and the guidance for the year will be more or less EUR 100 million.
More or less what I shared with you some months ago. Inside that, the point is we are increasing the speed of the exit rate, if you want, of the volumes of the Cognac to be able to accelerate the capital rotation. All the innovation projects will be focused on that. Also, your second question, which will be answered by Franck, every time you are able to increase volume, we will be able to generate cash. The only point that you might, for the future, as all analysts, reconsider, and we will be more precise also during next quarters and the following years, is that considering all the context, tariff, and a more convenient and more pragmatic approach by the company.
Gross margin in terms of ratio is a little bit less a global priority compared to the global amount of massive margin in absolute value and generated cash. That puts pressure on the profile of the P&L. I insist on what already Franck said, ROI and streamlining and focus on A&P and clearly rethink the way we are doing things to be able to generate additional synergy in overheads. We cannot count on gross margin go to 72%, 75%, 77% like we were projecting before. It is another world, a world in which gross margin is less of a help in terms of ratio, but in which top line increase can give a lot more of cash to increase the improve the return on capital employed.
Thank you, Luca. I fully agree with Luca on the fact that growing the volumes will grow our cash, obviously. To grow our cash, there are many perspectives, let alone the reduction of our cost of goods. There are many ways to reduce our cost of goods, and we started working on that already. Optimizing our A&P is crucial, obviously. Where is it generating value creation? In what region? On what brands? Setting priorities is extremely key. Cognac is very key, and there are many, many opportunities ahead. Cognac is far from being dead, like I read in the newspaper at some stage. We need to work on streamlining our overheads as well, which is important. The whole objective is not just to put this in cap, but also to grow our A&P capacity to be more competitive in this difficult environment.
On your question on Cognac stock, going back there, it is my key priority because we need to deplete the levels of stock, obviously. We will be having a great financial impact on our company. Not only that, Cognac is a high proportion of our business. We have extraordinary brands between Rémy Martin, but also Louis XIII. We do not talk so much about Louis XIII. We need to reignite Louis XIII as well. It is an amazing brand, the maximum of the brand equity. Talking about lower prices, yes, of course, to a certain extent, we are preserving our brand equity. This is very important. There are just some euros, dollars, some reduction we need to make to be more competitive. Some euros can make a difference in the sell-out perspective. Of course, there will be an impact like on your question on the gross margin.
As Luca perfectly illustrated, we're in a different world. There will be a natural erosion. What we're looking at is for volume. At the end of the day, top line and cash. We're looking at generating cash. There should be no taboo on this as well. Again, we're not talking a dramatic reduction of prices or whatever. It's just being flexible to be in line with the realities of the market. I said to you early on, I spent a lot of time on the field. I probably need to spend even more time. I very much enjoy visiting the stores and making comparisons by category. I think we need to go a little bit further. It doesn't take so many efforts. That's why I call it a quick win.
There are many opportunities on how to sell more Cognac, according to me, let alone the expansion, geographic expansion. Luca mentioned GTR. I think we have some wealth of opportunities in GTR where we're trapped into 80% of our business is done in airport. GTR is much bigger than airport. There are many other channels in GTR, let alone the cruises, for instance. Channel diversification is very key as well. We're looking at that in different channels. Digital first. Digital is very important because it also gives us control of our distribution and it is generating profits. Efficiency in A&P, as I mentioned before, ROI. Also experiential luxury is important in today's world. It's more important than owning the product to some extent in some geographies. We have, my takeaway, amazing brands. We can deliver amazing experiences. We have amazing sites, production sites for people to visit.
I want to expand that activity as well to grow our visitor centers, to leverage a D2C business. D2C is very key through CRM, through e-comm, e-retail. I want to leverage a B2C business as well, where I think there is a great wealth of business, a lot of potential there. I haven't mentioned emerging markets as yet, but emerging markets are very key. I have a long list of emerging markets where we can do better, like Brazil to start with, like Middle East, like India. I know all the limitations about India, but we have to crack the system for some groups. India represents a big business. I know we're touching a different business model, but why should we not be looking at it? There are no frontiers. Where there is a will, there is a way. We need to explore any potential opportunities.
I will take a last question. The next question comes from Sanjeet Aujla from UBS. Please go ahead.
Hey, good morning, Franck and Luca. A couple of questions from me, please. Franck, just touching upon your comments on A&P, do you think the current ratio has scope to go lower? As in, can you make it more effective? I think some of your peers have been on a journey of really trying to get more out of the A&P bucket, to get your thoughts on that. Is that how you can fund some of the price adjustments you're talking about? Shifting from A&P to price adjustments. Secondly, just coming back to the portfolio, I think you highlighted in your presentation complexity to have disposals potentially on the table as well. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your question. The ratio of 20% is not a bad one. I believe in essence, it is quite competitive. It's just the 20% of the level of net sales we generate. It's just not enough in value. For what it is worth, we have to play with what we have in a good way, in a positive way. That's why I require a lot more analysis on how we spend on our efficiencies. Is it above the line? Is it below the line? What is it exactly? Is it bringing value to our business? I need really to look at strong KPIs to measure, to monitor. Like I really want to do postmortems on our novelties. Less is more. Innovation is a key driver for growth. Maybe we need to do a little bit less, but with a stronger impact.
A&P needs to support those launches. A&P is very essential. The growth is going to be fueling basically those A&P. I believe it's Richard who asked me about quick wins. Quick wins are also on the effectiveness of our procurement. We need to leverage efficiency in our procurement. What we're going to leverage or the economies we may realize will go into A&P. I really want to boost the A&P to be even stronger than what it is today. This is going to be fueling the growth, but we need to spend really that money in the right place. I just want to.
Portfolio disposal.
Portfolio disposal. Again, there is no taboo here. Portfolio is something we're considering, looking at, obviously. My takeaway when I joined this company is that we have amazing brands. Believe me, I visited most of them. I haven't been to some locations as yet. It's a matter of time. While we have beautiful brands, we have to consider our future now. It is important. We need to strengthen our core portfolios. It is important. We cannot be dilutive in our spending. We cannot just be; we have to set priorities on the geographies, on given brands, basically. I have no decision at that stage that is taken, but we're looking into it. I don't want this to be a taboo either. Nothing has been decided at this point of time.
Sanjeet, one additional comment on your first question. In this new order, which is changing with changing the rules very quick, and we need the reactivity, we need also to be able to get a different reading of the financial dynamics. We have all, as an industry, to make good improvement in that, starting from ourselves. Classical P&L, as I said, is not enough. Classical way of analysis of P&L is not enough. We need to be able to dig in and to be able to valorize what we are doing all along the P&L. Sometimes there is the feeling that, oh, starting with myself, we consider A&P quite a noble land and overheads land of cost and chunky money. It is not that way.
When we say that we need to be more convenient with different pack, small sizes, part of the gross margin dilution can also be valorized and put in place as an alternative way to do A&P. When Franck is saying clearly, efficiency is talking also as well as a different transversal way to let the profit or loss able to talk a more comprehensive and understandable language. Because otherwise, we will remain in silos, also inside our reading of the P&L, which is not what we can do in this changing environment.
There are no more questions. I hand the conference back to the speakers for any closing comments.
One very quick comment from my part. Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to get to meet you for the first time. Thank you for your great questions. I just want to say as a closing remark, if we want to dream big, we really need to act bold. We need to make a transformation as a team. Collaboration is very important. We need to be bold. We need to be audacious. We need to have ambitions. We need to have creative thinking. We need to drive all together with my team a real transformation. We need to challenge inertia. We need to challenge the status quo. We need speed, energy. That is also why I'm looking on new governance and a new organization. We will discuss that more at a certain time.
Obviously, building on the team and tapping into the great talents we have in this company. Again, thank you very much and look forward to talking to you again soon.