Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, hello, hello to everyone. Great pleasure to welcome you once again here in the Salle Pleyel for our annual General Assembly. You are loyal, many of you, as ever. This shows the interest that you have for our group, our group and your group, and I really thank you for that. I would like to thank those of you who are with us for the first time here today. You are welcome, of course. The current General Assembly was convened in line with the legal and regulatory dispositions which exist. No request for an inscription of a resolution project or point for the minutes for the agenda was formulated after the publication of the meeting on the BALO on the 19th of September. There is a present sheet which was made available with the mentions prescribed by the legislation.
I declare this annual General Assembly open. As Chair of the General Assembly, I suggest that we make up the Bureau of the Assembly. I will therefore request that Madame Patricia Ricard Giron, representing the company Paul Ricard, and Mr. Jonathan Rubinstein, representing the Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, to act as scrutineers. I designate Mrs. Anne-Marie Poliquin, Secretary of the General Assembly. Also present in the Central Bureau, Mrs. Patricia Barbizet, Senior Member, and Mrs. Hélène de Tissot, Vice President, Executive Finance and Tech. The statutory auditors are represented by Mr. Marc de Villartay from Deloitte & Associés. We are now going to be sharing with you the provisional quorum. I note that it's 80.92%, representing 203,658,059 for 6,000 shareholders present, all represented. The final quorum will be provided to you before the opening of the voting on the resolutions later on the General Assembly.
Therefore, has the quorum, as prescribed by legislation, the legal documents in digital form are available for the members of the General Assembly and they are deposited on the desktop. They have been made available for the shareholders in the time frame set out by law. The General Assembly is therefore made up and can deliberate on all the resolutions which appear on its agenda. The General Assembly comes together to deliberate on the resolutions which are mentioned on page 45 of the brochure which was provided to you when you arrived. Now let's move on to the central topic of this General Assembly, the presentation of our management report for the fiscal year 2024-2025, as well as insights looking at what lies ahead for your group.
Before coming back to our performances and what we have accomplished, I would like to take a few moments to celebrate what has inspired us, what inspires us, and what has been driving us for now exactly 50 years, five decades. Our history, our narrative is unique. It begins by the unexpected alliance of two entrepreneurs, visionary entrepreneurs, originally competitors, Paul Ricard and Jean Hémard, who decided to unite their strengths to create an international group. In 1975, they imagined together a shared future for their two companies, carried by the ambition of conquering the world. If they could see the group, the global group that Pernod Ricard is today, I know that they would be proud of everything that has been accomplished and of how their vision has flourished.
I would like you to discover now in pictures a quick overview of these 50 years of history and of this spirit, this so unique spirit which makes up the identity of your group. The beginning of the story, 1975.
On ne peut pas réussir tout seul.
You can't succeed alone. It's a team that succeeds. Two families coming together, making up the group. Pernod Ricard. 1980s and 1990s conquest. Pernod Ricard stretches globally with the United States, Ireland, Asia, Cuba. The new millennium. Ever bigger ambitions with Patrick Ricard and Pierre Pringuet. The company becomes one of the world leaders. Whilst retaining the spirit, let's not forget that we are here today. It's because there was Pernod, it's because there was Ricard originally, and because then became Pernod Ricard. 2015 to today with Alexandre Ricard, expansion with new brands. A group which continuing to gather pace, digital acceleration, premiumization, innovation. Almost complete and diversified portfolio over 200 exceptional brands, present in over 160 countries worldwide. Passionate teams which embody the values of the group. Thank you to everybody who has made up and contributed to the group.
Tous les Convivialistes.
Of Pernod Ricard. You know who they are, we know what we owe them. Grounded, passion of challenge, together beyond borders. Authentic and proud of being so.
Il ne faut jamais oublier de.
We must never forget where we come from, to know where we want to go.
When he says the magic of sociality, when he says the magic which is born from each encounter, from each social interaction, and nothing, nothing is more powerful than unveiling the magic that makes each human connection so special.
Since, of course, for now 50 years, we have been favoring meetings, shared moments, and I want to give homage to the generations that have preceded us. Some of the iconic managers of our group, leaders of our group, are today here with us in this very venue, and I would like to thank them, to thank them from the bottom of my heart. You have been builders, and it's thanks to your boldness, audacity, thanks to your will to be entrepreneurs and your strategic vision. We have foundations which are solid to rise to the challenges of today and build the Pernod Ricard of tomorrow. Thank you, thank you once again, all of you. Our story has always been closely linked to that of the world in which we live.
The entrepreneurship, the exceptional success of our entrepreneurship of Pernod Ricard has many stumbling blocks and its competitive advantages that we have gleaned over time, which enables us to overcome these challenges. We have a portfolio of over 200 exceptional brands, which is the most complete and the most diversified in our industry. We have a distribution network which is the most wide-ranging globally. Finally, especially, I would say we have this culture which makes us strength, which makes us who we are, the commitment and the will of our teams to succeed. Really pushed these teams since the very first day. This passion for challenge and this passion for our brands. These fundamentals are absolutely precious. They are all the more precious when the situation is complex, as is the case currently. Inflation, of course, is still impacting purchasing behavior.
The confidence of the consumers is down, notably in China. In addition, there's the impact, a negative impact of currency changes and the evermore promotion within the companies which are necessary. This economic climate cannot be dissociated from the instability due to the current geopolitical context. What's happening throughout the world impacts directly our activities, starting with the increase in tariffs and other restrictive legislations in some of our key markets, such as notably the United States and China. We need to face up to those headwinds. We need to be agile. We need to be evermore agile. That is precisely what we are doing in this context, which is so complicated. We are showing resilience. We are protecting our margins in the current previous fiscal year. We are organically down 3% with regard to turnover, with EUR 11 million. The ROC, EUR 2,951,000, an organic down 0.8%.
We have retained our profitability, our organic operational margin, which is up by 64 basis points. The net result part of the group is EUR 1.6 million, + 10%. Free cash flow is EUR 1.1 billion, + 18%, and the net EBITDA, 3.3 times. I've gone through it quickly because Hélène will be going into more detail with regard to these figures, commenting on our performance from a financial point of view shortly. These results are happening in a context which varies very much from one area to the next. Our geographical exposition has enabled us to mitigate the decrease in sales in three of our priority markets, notably China, America, and travel retail.
Asia, our turnover is down 3%, as I said, organically in America, 2% in Europe, and down 4% in the markets, Asia, rest of the world, which is a total decrease of 3% at a group level outside the United States and China. We'll come back to that. Our turnover is internally up by plus 1%. India, Japan, Nigeria, Turkey, South Africa, for instance, have shown solid performances. Overall, we have progressed or maintained our positions in 12 of our 17 main markets. As a quick reminder, Pernod Ricard is the leader of premium plus spirits outside the United States.
In detail, with regard to our key markets now, we have over the fiscal year 2025, first in the United States, a spirits market which is growing but slowly impacted by confidence of the consumers, which is quite flat, and the uncertainty linked to what is happening with regard to tariffs. Our sellout performances, that's a selling to consumer, is getting closer to those of the market, thanks to solid execution and investments carried out and put into our brands. India, another strategic market, of course, benefits by high underlying demand by the consumers and demographic situation, which is very strong. Jameson, notably, is working exceptionally for us and became the first brand over the past fiscal year, first brand of imported spirits with over 6 million liters sold.
In China, the macroeconomic environment and the confidence of the consumers, which is very much down, is impacting our sales substantially, notably those of Martell. Several of our premium international brands, Jameson, Absolut, Olmeca, are going well, notably pushed by a younger Chinese population after a difficult year in global travel retail, notably linked to geopolitical reasons. We are expecting an improvement with the suspension, finally, of the imports of cognac towards duty-free in China. Conviviality can't be told, can't be written. You have to live it. Throughout the year, our brands have taken part in festivals, events throughout the world, moments which have been dynamic, shared moments, authentic moments. I invite you to discover what the Pernod Ricard experience actually means.
That is where our brands come into their own in our different markets, and through them, they are the raison d'être, where your raison d'être of your group makes total sense. No moment, no second goes by without somewhere in the world, women, men, are living the experience of conviviality of Pernod Ricard. That is also the power and the asset of our geographical footprint, of our world footprint. As you have seen, geographic balance is a major asset. Our diversified portfolio is another competitive advantage, a main one, notably in the current context. Our brands have made solid performances. Jameson, organic growth of 3%, notably, is up in most of the markets. Absolut is growing in every area of the world except in Western Europe, and that is linked to the slowdown in Germany amongst our local brands, our strategic ones.
Kahlúa has an organic growth of 7%. Strategic local brands with excellent performances on the American market. Bumbu, which is part of our specialty portfolio of brands, is number one of super premium rums with an organic growth of 24%. We're going beyond half a million of crates sold. Our portfolio is diversified and also rests on two economic models which are very complementary. On the one hand, aged spirits anchored in exceptional terroir territories have know-how which is unique. Timeless brands with a very capital intense, of course, which is a barrier to entry, which is very efficient. On the other hand, there's our non-aged spirits, trendy, used in cocktails, a bit more versatile, which can generate volumes rapidly and from a financial point of view, a lot of cash flow.
You can see this even more clearly here with regard to main competitors whom we will not name here. Our portfolio is broken down 50/50 between aged spirits and non-aged spirits. This balance is one of our markers of differentiation, and our objective is to maximize the potential of those two very complementary models whilst capturing the different moments of consumption identified. Our model has evolved down those lines, and we've simplified organization in order to be ever more focused on the expectations of consumers. I'll come back to that shortly. Maximizing the potential of our portfolio also goes through a management, a dynamic management of said portfolio. As you are well aware, over the past two fiscal years, we have finalized the sales of Clan Campbell, of Becherovka , of our wine portfolio, also of several Nordic brands, and we have announced several sales.
This very year, notably that of the whiskey Imperial Blue, and that will be finalized at the end of November, and that should have a positive, immediate positive impact on margins and growth of turnover. These strategic sales enable us to refocus on our brands with a strong potential, which is absolutely current with our strategy of premiumization and our objective of profitable growth over the long term. During the very best out of our portfolio is also cultivating on an ongoing basis the desirability of our brands, associating on the one hand with iconic and culturally strong experiences such as Absolut, Coachella Festival, or also other iconic brands with prestigious partnerships such as Chivas and Ferrari, or Jameson and the Major League Soccer in the U.S., but also Kahlúa and Dunkin'.
Beyond our geographical global footprint and our diversified portfolio, the third competitive feature of Pernod Ricard, well, it's our teams, our teams of the world over, which are once highly performing and committed. They are the face of our group, of your group. It is these teams, these men and women who embody and ensure that the Pernod Ricard spirit lives. I want to thank them warmly from the bottom of my heart today in this complex environment that we are living through. They're continuing day in, day out to show their commitment to be resilient, to show their agility and creativity, which is remarkable. In the current environment, I am specifically proud of sharing some of the awards that we have received this year. Best Companies for Women in India, Top Employer in China, Great Place to Work in Turkey, in Greece also, notably.
In particular, this year, once again, your group is recognized to us amongst the best employers 2025 by Forbes and is part of the companies identified as the best in the world by Time Magazine, taking into place criteria such as employee satisfaction and transparency with regard to sustainable development. On this topic, as you will be aware, our commitment does not date back to yesterday. My grandfather, Paul Ricard, already was committed for preserving biodiversity through the L'Institut Océanographique, which remains very active today, thanks to the involvement of Patricia. We are looking to have growth, which is at once sustainable and responsible. We want to create value over time for all of our stakeholders, I would say, from the bar to the terroir. We want to share and preserve to share. That's what guides us. Noémie Bauer is now the CSR Director of the group.
She will be sharing with us our commitments and the means that we implement to respond to these commitments and to be in line with them. Noémie, please, for sustainable and responsible growth.
Thank you, Alexandre. Hello everyone. I am here to present the progress made with regard to CSR this year. It remains a major stake for our planet, of course, but also for every one of us in spite of the current context. Our strategy that we launched back in 2019 enables us to carry out several points: an optimized use of our resources, a controlled management of our risk, and the integration of new regulations with regard to sustainability. We are fortunate enough at Pernod Ricard to have started our CSR actions very early.
Today, we have fantastic progress made already, and we can simplify our chapter and our road towards 2030 by targeting more actions for ever bigger impact. 2025 was a key year. We attained half of the commitments that we took back in 2019. We have also published our first report of sustainability linked with the new regulation, CSRD, and we have also been recognized externally. As Alexandre has just presented, I will now be talking about the major advances made on each of the four pillars. The first one, we want to preserve our territories. We are very proud of having attained our objective of regenerating agriculture in all our wine-growing regions. We see three advantages to that: the resilience of our crops, the securing of our supplies in natural ingredients, but also the reduction of carbon emissions.
We have registered a decrease of 10% of carbon emissions linked to agriculture, which represents in total 45% of the emissions of the group. Good news. We have already 39% of our natural ingredients, which have been certified according to sustainability standards. We want to value human beings. Our mission is clear. We want to offer an environment of work which is safe and valorizing and fair. We have reduced by 55% in three years the rate of frequency of accidents with time off. We have 40% of managers, women managers today, and that is practically the double of what we had 10 years back, whilst remaining fair from a wage point of view. Every member of staff has at least one training course per year because we consider training as absolutely essential with regard to development.
Our main pillar, if you will, the third pillar, we need to act in a circular manner. We want to reduce our environmental impact throughout our chain of value. Sometimes, by collaborating with our suppliers in our production sites, we have already reduced by 42% our carbon emissions, and we are therefore well on the way to attain our objective of minus 54% between now and 2030. We have also reduced by 15% the usage of water on industrial sites. Our suppliers, we have reduced by 13% our carbon emissions, notably linked to procurement, logistics, or to packaging. And packaging, precisely, we have attained 99% of recyclability. Fourth pillar. In order to create moments of responsible conviviality, we promote consumption of alcohol with a balanced convivial and without any excess.
We launched in 2022 a campaign for the general public, which is named "Drink More Water," which has attained today almost a billion people. We also promote responsibility with other stakeholders, like the visitors to our grand homes or bartenders, so that we train for eco-responsible activities in bars, hotels, and restaurants. You'll have understood our progress has been remarkable. That's the reason for which we can simplify our roadmap 2030 by focusing our actions on 10 pathways, which you can see on screen here. These are looking to work for the resilience of the group, but also the creation of values for our brands.
As Alexandre said, thanks to our CSR policy, we are part of the companies that are most attractive and most committed. To launch officially the second chapter, I invite you to show you a few pictures, and I thank you very much for your attention. We're proud of progress accomplished with our partners all along our value chain to reduce our environmental impact by contributing and creating a fair work environment that is welcoming for all employees, with bold campaigns by relying on the strength of our brands in order to promote a balanced and convivial consumption.
Today, we must launch the Bar World of Tomorrow: Drink More Water, Cognac and Champagne, eco SPIRITS, Be the One, Power On. And the second chapter, our roadmap for 2030. Good Times from a Good Place. Be responsible, and let's reassert our commitments in favor of social progress and that are environmental as well. For our teams, for our planet, and for the future of our business. Today, more than ever, we have this unique occasion or opportunity to decide who we want to be and what the future will look like and what heritage or legacy we leave behind us.
Thank you very much, Noémie. Let's now turn towards the future, and a lot of you I have welcomed in front of this room have asked me questions. What does the future look like? Our ambition is a clear one: making of Pernod Ricard the house of reference for brands and premium experiences. If the time is demanding for our sector, as for many others, in fact, we are benefiting from wins that will push us for the long term. There's a demographic growth and an increase of middle class that are supporting our development. Our innovations respond to the constant evolution in behaviors of our consumers.
The cocktails and ready-to-drink, for example, is especially dynamic and helps us invest in new moments of consumption. The beach parties in the U.S. are one example. It is with great pride that we have launched the 4.5-degree bottle at Ricard last summer here in France. The small format of 20 cL is the fruit of more than 10 years of research. The success was such that this limited series will be relaunched in a definitive way.
Finally, the tendency to consume less but better is very favorable to our spirits, our Premium Plus spirits segment, the most dynamic in the alcohol industry that grew by 7% on average per year in the last 10 years. In all times, human beings have needed to come together, share things, and celebrate. This need has traveled through times and cultures. It is universal. It is timeless and very deeply human.
At Pernod Ricard, we have decided to make it our raison d'être, our purpose. We are conviviality creators. We make of every encounter or meeting a source of inspiration. This is truly a conviction supported by all of the employees in the group. In a polarized world where everything accelerates, goes fast, we believe it is crucial to preserve what makes the essence of our humanity: joy, the importance of being together, and sharing small and big moments.
Sharing a drink is one of the oldest ways to favor meetings, encounters, and cultivating relationships at Pernod Ricard. We are very proud to be the depositories of this legacy. Let's look at these wins that are favorable and the volatility and uncertainties we think are present today, but we are able, with our strength, to look at the future in a positive way.
Volatility, uncertainty, well, constitute the world today, but a presence that is well divided between the different regions in the world are key to absorb the geopolitical and economic shocks that have become part of our daily lives. Our brands are distributed in more than 160 countries, and we are lucky. This is nothing due to just pure chance or luck to have a strong geographical footprint in a well-balanced way between mature markets and emerging markets and the different regions of the world.
Our portfolio is a cross-cutting one with different categories of international Premium Plus spirits that can adapt to any time in conviviality in a changing world at a fast pace, a very fast pace. It is an essential factor of resilience and adaptability to quick evolutions and the consumption trends that evolve. The balance is thus a key element in our strategy, at the same time in terms of geographical footprint or spread and in terms of the portfolio.
To the balance, we have an investment strategy that needs to be added in marketing and innovation. We are continuing to invest, indeed, in marketing and innovation in order to answer to consumers' expectations and to increase the value of our brands and finally to prepare the future. I will let you discover in images a few emblematic new items launched in the last month. Here we are. Last month, some of the brands that you saw appearing on this video, Ramazzotti Spritz Arancia Zero , has become the first brand in Germany that is alcohol-free, and that was launched only a year ago.
The spirit of progress that animates us and of continuous progress, shall I say, this is applied to our organization that we want to be even more and ever so agile with a global service at the service of the performance of the markets because we want to take full advantage of the size and the scale effect of our group on the one hand and on our proximity to consumers on the other hand.
At the head of this organization, the Executive Committee that I have here present, and I thank them very warmly for their leadership that is essential in these difficult times. A great thank you, especially to Philippe Guettat, who after more than 30 years of international experiences within the group and two at the head of our brands, has decided to leave the company.
We are very happy to welcome Jean-Etienne Gourgues at the head of the executive committee as Executive President in charge of brands after a long experience in the group to date, 25 years in the group, as you can see on this slide. Jean-Etienne wanted to sit in the back, and we obliged him to sit in the front row. Our sector is very sensitive to economic cycles. Let's be clear, the growth of a sector and the global GDP are closely correlated.
After the super cycles that marked the after-COVID period with an exceptional dimension, our industry is again confronted to these upheavals in the world with a normalization that is exacerbated by these headwinds that I mentioned and illustrated previously. Our sector is sensitive to the time, but the business model at Pernod Ricard, with the unique balance that I shared just now, sets us on a trajectory for growth that is sustainable and profitable in time. We have known three years of exceptional growth right after the COVID period.
When you remember, the need for conviviality just exploded. We talked about revenge conviviality at the time. Then the market normalized. We have then entered into a period that we called Perfect Storm, marked by a macroeconomic and geopolitical that were especially difficult, as I mentioned before. The current fiscal year 2025 and 2026 will be, or is, a transition year before the expected improvement of the organic growth of our revenue. I'll come back to the outlooks in a moment.
Our current operating margin, our PRO, is making progress slowly but in a sustainable way, as we announced in our pluriannual strategic plan in 2018, focusing on profitable growth with organic growth by plus 39 basis points on average since 2019. Our demand and profitability is translated with measures of efficiency.
We have fully achieved our initiatives of efficiency at the height of EUR 900 million in 2023, closed in 24-25, and a new objective of EUR 1 billion spread or divided between the next years, starting with the current fiscal year. Our financial policy is well balanced, and we are offering a dividend per share that is unchanged compared to last year, EUR 4.70, submitted today to your approval. I will invite now Hélène de Tissot to present in detail our financial performance.
Thank you, Alexandre. Hello everyone. I will now present the consolidated accounts for fiscal year 2024 and 2025. Let's start with a few synthetic elements or a summary. Our financial performance is solid and resilient in a more difficult context. Our revenue is behind by 3% in organic, with decreases in China, in the United States, and global travel retail in Asia that are impacting negatively the market mix.
Nevertheless, a number of other markets are resilient or in strong growth, which helped your group in most of these markets to consolidate or win market share. This well-balanced divide between developed and emerging markets is one of our strengths that helped us during the fiscal year to compensate partially for part of the cyclical difficulties met in certain markets, and especially in China and in the United States.
For the third consecutive semester, volumes are in growth or growing and precisely by + 2% for the fiscal year 2024-2025. Despite a revenue that's slightly declining, we have delivered a strong progression of the organic operational margin with + 64 basis points. This performance is a result of the full achievement of the last fiscal year, the program that we started in 2023-2025, with an amount of EUR 900 million and a strong discipline on our costs.
We have also maintained the operational margins in published data despite strong negative forex effects, mainly due to our emerging exchange rates or money. Our free cash flow is up to $1.1 million in growth, 18% thanks to rigorous management, and we are pursuing our investments to ensure the long-term growth with EUR 1.2 billion invested in CapEx and strategic stocks invested for our aged alcohols and then are normalizing after their peak in fiscal year 2023-2024.
The management of our portfolio was very dynamic in fiscal year 2025, with the finalization of the disposal of our wines and the announcement of the divestment of Imperial Blue announced a closing announcement at the end of November, as Alexandre mentioned. I suggest now to comment our accounts. We developed a substantial improvement of organic operational margins with sustained investments in the desirability of our brand to support our long-term growth. The turnover is EUR 10,959 million, down by 5.5% in what was published and - 3% organic.
The gross margin is impacted by a mix of market that is unfavorable but benefited from supported programs. The advertising and promotional fees represent 16% of the revenue. We apply a rigorous discipline and structural costs that are declining by 4%. Consequently, the PRO is at EUR 2,951 million, down by 0.8%, a ratio of operational margins 26.9%, an increase of plus 64 basis points in organic and a stable published data despite the negative exchange rate. Sorry, I went too far. Let's now go to the net result share of the group.
It's at EUR 1,626 million, a growth of plus 10% because mainly the decrease of current charges compared to fiscal year 2024-2025. These charges are linked to restructuring operations and are benefiting from a favorable comparison basis due to the fact that there was a depreciation of the wine activity the previous year and partially compensated by the recovery of the depreciation of Kahlúa. The interest rate is high, and the average cost of debt is approximately 3.2%. What I suggest now is to move on to the evolution of our net debt.
Our cash generation is solid with a free cash flow of EUR 1.133 million, an increase of 18% compared to the previous year. Due to the fact of an improvement of these needs in working capital, thanks to the optimization of stocks and finished products, normalization of investments in strategic stocks and CapEx after the peak reached in 2023-2024, investments that remain supported in order to secure the long-term growth.
For 2025 and 2026, we are planning a strategic investment amount that is inferior to EUR 900 million. Our active management of the portfolio gave a positive M&A activity. Net debt is down compared to 2024 to reach EUR 10,727 million, thanks to better cash generation and the impact of forex on our U.S. dollar debt that is lower compared to euro. The ratio net debt over EBITDA at average point has progressed to 3.3 times, mainly due to the fact of the PRO published.
On the slide, a reminder of our financial policy that remains unchanged with our four pillars in order of priority, which are investment in organic future growth, our strategic stocks and CapEx, the active management of the portfolio with operations of mergers and acquisitions that create value, a distribution rate of dividends of 50% of the net results in current operations with an objective to increase the dividend feature, and last priority in other cases, repurchasing of shares when all three priorities are fulfilled.
Let's now take a look, if you like, at the revenue of the ongoing fiscal year that we communicated two weeks ago. For the first quarter, as anticipated, we have a - 7.6% organic impacted by the decrease of sales in China and the United States. As indicated last August, the withdrawal has been amplified by the adjustment of stocks in these two markets, China and the United States, that weigh for about three points of growth. Our geographical exposure that is well balanced records solid performances in several markets in most of the regions, whether in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North America, or Europe.
These positive performances contribute to lessen partially the withdrawal observed in our main markets. The markets in growth during the first quarter are namely Canada, Turkey, Japan, and South Africa. The revenue in the United States is down during the first quarter by 16%, amplified by stock adjustments. The performance of sales such as Jameson, Kahlúa, compared to our competitors, we see a gap in the performance on the American market that is being reduced.
Our revenue is impacted by the reduction of precautionary stocks implemented for fiscal year 2025 in reason of uncertainties that weighed on the tariffs between the European Union and the United States, uncertainties that ended last July. Thus, adjustments in all these geographies. In India, the turnover is in growth by plus 3%, with an underlying growth that remains dynamic, except for the state of Maharashtra, where demand is impacted by changes of rights that came into effect in July.
Outside of the impact on this state of Maharashtra, the growth in India is up plus 7%. In China, the revenue is decreasing by 27% in a macroeconomic context that hits costs and the demand of consumers. The revenue has been also impacted by the stock adjustments, as anticipated, and the calendar effect that came late for the Mid-Autumn Festival, which date is two weeks later than last year on October 6, which was on the 17th of September the previous year.
The revenue of global travel retail is declining by 15% during the first trimester, with a recovery in our Martell sales for Chinese duty-free expected during the second semester. We expect a return to growth for travel retail over the year. I thank you for your attention, and I will give the floor back to Alexandre.
Thank you very much, Hélène. Let's now move on to the short and medium term for 2025 and 2026. For those, this fiscal year that started on last July, we describe this year as a transition year, and we plan to see an improvement in our organic revenue that will materialize during the second semester. We are following our investments in order to continue to increase desirability of our brands, thanks to an optimized resource allocation, a strength in efficiency, innovations, and experiences with a ratio of fees for promotion and advertising maintained at 16%.
We will preserve our organic operational margin as much as possible, thanks to strict control in costs, and, as I said, the execution of our program of operational efficiency for an amount of EUR 1 million and starting during this fiscal year. Finally, the implementation of an adapted organization for the challenges in the future.
Our ambitions are to continue to deliver strong cash generation with investments that are strategic and below EUR 900 million, an optimization in working capital, and an improvement of the cash conversion compared to fiscal year 2024-2025. Finally, we are planning an impact of exchange rate that will be significantly negative. For the midterm and for the two following years, we expect an improvement in the organic growth of our revenue, a range between 3% and 6%, and a progression of our organic operational margin as well.
This increase of organic operational margin will be supported by efficiency measures. This EUR 1 million of efficiency that I mentioned before generated by the optimization of operations and the implementation of an adapted organization adapted to the future challenges. We plan the maintaining of the consequent investments behind our brands with a ratio for advertising and promotions with a revenue of 16%, agility and reactivity to maximize opportunities at the level of our brands and markets.
In terms of cash, we are aiming at a conversion ratio of about 80% and beyond to finance our priorities and our financial policy as well, of which investment strategic events that normalize for an amount of EUR 1 million. We trust our strategy. We are confident in our operational model and the commitment of our teams in order to generate sustainable growth for the long term, a value for the long term. Pernod Ricard is a story of growth and vision to the benefit of all our stakeholders, and in this meeting, our 50th anniversary marks a key moment in our history and the opening of a new chapter.
We will continue to implement our very know-how, our commitment, and our passion to the service of a fundamental need for meeting and exchanging. We will continue to create these moments of sharing that are authentic and sincere and to promote the pleasure of, which is very simple, but that we have a tendency to forget, which is very simply the pleasure of being together.
The pleasure of being together is also being with you, our shareholders, the day of our general meeting, of course, but also all along the year, thanks to our Club Premium, which helps us exchange, discuss, and helps us discover our brands, our legacy, and the innovations today for tomorrow. I invite you to take a look at these meetings of the Club Premium that mark this very special year, that of our 50th anniversary.
Today, we were able to visit Paul Ricard's house. I was lucky to taste the new Chinese whiskey, The Chuan. We were invited to the masterclass The Glenlivet for the 200 years of the brand. As a creator, Paul Ricard has launched these values. He was generous. We feel that the family values are at the center. The motto, 50 years of conviviality, is very well picked or chosen.
50 years, so in 1975, there was the association of Pernod and Ricard. It's a date that is historical and which was really the starting point for the evolution of this group. This company, this family-run company in the beginning, has known rapid growth. It's a group that has entrepreneurs looking for performance in terms of results and products. I think that Pernod Ricard is going to grow very much in emerging countries and has a whole interest to develop the brands that will produce directly in these countries.
I think it's important, in fact, as a shareholder, to look into the products, to really be interested in what the company is doing at all the innovations. It's really interesting to be a Pernod Ricard shareholder. You can discuss, strengthen links. Conviviality is very dear to them, sharing as well. So, we're now getting to the presentation of our governance, and I would like to seize this opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart the members of the Board of Directors.
They're all with us here today, here in front of you, for their trust and the quality of the exchanges that we've had throughout the course of this very year in an operating context, which, as you'll have seen, is particularly demanding. I will now give the floor to Patricia Barbizet.
Alexandre, thank you, dear shareholders. This year, once again, it's a pleasure to introduce to you the board as my quality of senior member and Chair of the Committee of Nominations and Governance. So, you have here the different members of the Board of Directors, some 14 administrators, board members, six independent, and two representing employees. In addition, seven nationalities are represented, and there's a balanced representation between men and women. This year, the makeup of the board is going to evolve with the departure of Namit a Shah, who wanted to step down and not renew her mandate.
The board is proposing the nomination of two independent members, Mr. Albert Baladi, who was formerly the CEO of Beam Suntory, and Monsieur Jean Lemierre, who's currently the Chair of the Board of Directors of BNP Paribas, and recognized for his experience both financially and internationally. Patricia, if you may allow me, I would like to seize this opportunity to thank warmly, in the name of all members of the board, Namita S hah, for her major contribution to her work and her commitment within the CSR committee, notably.
We have also benefited from her know-how, her intimate knowledge of two of our key markets, the United States of America and India, and her competencies, which stem from the different sectors she's been involved with. Namita will no longer be sitting on the board because, and I quite understand her, because of the professional responsibilities, which are particularly demanding currently. We understand and completely respect that choice, and we wish once more to express all our recognition for the quality of everything she's accomplished and offered us. Thank you, Namita.
The board of Pernod Ricard has a 97% presence at our meetings, which really shows the commitment of the directors. There are also complementary skills and competencies which facilitate exchanges and discussions and which ensure that the decisions we take are even more efficient. Every year, I also report to the General Assembly what I have accomplished as a senior member. I've met with our main investors, with the Pernod Ricard teams, and I've led our annual roadshow on the questions pertaining to governance with our major and institutional investors in France and abroad.
We exchange with them, notably with the makeup of the board and the topics which are at the heart of our debates. Also, in the continuity of our three-year assessment, I've carried out an annual assessment of the board with interviews with each of our members to talk notably about the organization and the modus operandi of the board. I've also chaired the executive session, which happened outside the presence of the top management.
For the preparation of our meetings, the board is assisted by five specialized committees that you see on screen here. There's an audit committee, a committee for nominations and governance, a compensation committee, a strategic committee, and a CSR committee. The makeup of the audit committee, which you have here on screen, is chaired by Philippe Petitcolin, who chairs this audit committee, and the nominations of governance, which I chair. A great honor.
The other three committees of compensation are chaired by Kory Sorenson, the strategic committee chaired by our CEO, Alexandre Ricard, and the CSR committee by Patricia Barbizet. I now invite Kory Sorenson to join us to talk about the compensation and present of our CEO, looking at the different ex-post and ex-ante topics.
Thank you. Hello everyone. As the chair of the compensation committee, I am going to be presenting the policy of remuneration of the corporate officers' managers. I'll detail the ex-post vote, which is mentioned in the ninth resolution, and the ex-ante, which appears in resolution number 10. You'll find all these components on page. From page 27 to 32 in the convening brochure.
The elements of remuneration paid to Mr. Alexandre Ricard for the exercise 2024-2025 fiscal year, that's in the ninth resolution, includes the gross set remuneration of EUR 1,325,000 unchanged, annual variable remuneration of EUR 1,466,775 corresponding to the target. The detail of how each criteria was attained features in the document you have received.
An attribution of 27,000 performance-related shares corresponding to 60% of the maximal amount authorized for the policy of remuneration in line with the commitments taken to the shareholders last year. This attribution is submitted to performance levels internally and externally. With regard to additional pension, an attribution of 3,400 shares and EUR 256,812 gross was paid. Mr. Alexandre Ricard also has a company car and a providence and health cost regime. I also would add that Mr. Alexandre Ricard benefits from no remuneration as Chair of the Board of Directors.
Finally, it is important to note that out of the 59% of the shares attributed in the long-term plan 2021, were paid in 2024-2025, which testify to how rigorous the performance criteria are, the alignment between his remuneration and your interests as shareholders. This is pertaining to the profit sharing. Now, looking at the managers, the directors, corporate officers, which is in the 10th resolution. The Board of Directors ensures every year that the major funding principles are adhered, improvement of performance, alignment of the interests with the shareholders, and competitivity.
For this year, the board, on the recommendation of the remuneration committee, proposes the proposal of the following adjustments in view of the criteria linked to the sustainability and responsibility strategy in the annual and long-term variable remunerations is the suppression of the Suntory being removed. The other elements of the remuneration policy on screen remain unchanged with regard to the preceding fiscal exercise.
With regard to the level of attribution of the long-term profit sharing for 2024-2026, the Board of Directors proposes to retain attribution of performance-related shares at the same level as the previous fiscal year, 60% threshold, which means that the policy is applied rigorously and in a measured way. The remuneration target of your CEO will be balanced with 73% of his remuneration, which is submitted to performance-related conditions. Given those components, we propose that you approve the ninth and 10th resolutions, and I thank you for your attention.
Patricia and Kory, I thank you for your presentations. I would now invite Mr. Marc de Villartay from Deloitte & Associés presenting on the name of the statutory auditors the components for the General Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, hello in the name of the College of the Statutory Auditors, KPMG, and Deloitte. It is my great pleasure to report to you with regard to our assignment and the reports that we have written for the exercise which closed on the 30th of June 2025. We have written several reports, and I propose, in line with what generally happens during this assembly, to not read them in their totality, but to provide you with a summary thereof.
Here we go. Let's start with our reports on the consolidated accounts and the annual accounts. These reports have been made available to you in the context of the current General Assembly, and you will find them on pages 393 and 396 and 423 to 425 of the Universal Registration Document, URD. As a reminder, our work's objective is to obtain reasonable assurance with regard to the sincerity, the regularity, and the fact that the accounts are correctly reported and to check and verify that they don't have any significant anomaly.
Our reports on consolidated accounts and annual accounts mention the key points of our audit. Regarding consolidated accounts, the key points of the audit are the assessment of the brands and fiscal-related risks. With regard to annual accounts, the key point of the audit has been the assessment of the value of utility of the participation titles. Our reports on accounts include for each of these key points of the audit the description of the identified risks and the response that we have brought to said description.
As a summary, we have certified the consolidated accounts and the annual accounts of your company without any reservation or observation. Our reports also have the conclusion of some specific verifications as scheduled by legislation that we have carried out on the basis of information which are required in the management report. In line with this, we tested the exactitude and sincerity of the information supplied with regard to compensation and advantages paid to the corporate officers and also of the concordance with the annual accounts and their sincerity with the information relating to payment time frames.
Finally, in the context of the ESEF regulation, we verified and checked the presentation of the accounts in line with the format of unique electronic European information, ESEF. What I would suggest now is that we move on to a special report with regulated agreements, page 426 of the Universal Registration Document, URD.
As a summary, no new regulated agreement has been submitted to the approval of your General Assembly, and no regulated agreement already approved by the General Assembly in previous fiscal years has happened and carried on over the course of the exercise. We have also published four reports, which you'll find from pages 452 to 455 of the Universal Registration Document, which pertain to resolutions which are submitted to your approval, which will be submitted to your approval in the context of the extraordinary part of said assembly.
First off, pertaining to the 15th resolution with regard to the reduction of capital by cancellation of shares held in the limit of 10% of the capital for a period of 24 months. A report on the issuing of shares and/or of different other securities with maintaining and/or suppression of the preferential right of subscription in the context of the 16th to 20th resolutions. A report on the issuing of ordinary shares and/or of securities giving access to the capital with members who have company corporate savings plans in the context of the 22nd resolution.
And finally, a report on the issuing of ordinary shares of securities giving access to the capital with suppression of the preferential right of subscription in the context of the 23rd resolution. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, with regard to all of the said resolutions just stated, no observation to formulate. Finally, this year, your company published this year for the first time information pertaining to sustainability in line with the European directive CSRD.
In this context, we have carried out verifications with regard to three points: compliance of the process implemented to set out which information needs to be published, the compliance of information included in the sustainability plan, and the respect of requirements for publication with regard to taxonomy. We have published a report which concludes to the absence of errors, omissions, or incoherence which would be significant for any of the three points just mentioned.
Moreover, in the context of first application of the regulation, we have formulated an observation on the information which appears in section 3.1.1 of the sustainability study. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I thank you for your attention, and I give the floor back to our chair. Thank you.
Thank you, Marc. We thank you for this presentation. I would now invite Madame Anne-Marie Poliquin, who's the Secretary of this General Assembly, to present succinctly the resolutions that we are submitting to your vote.
Thank you, Alexandre. Hello everyone. I'm going to be presenting in a very succinct manner, more so even than last year, all the resolutions which are submitted to your vote. You will find the integral text of said resolutions in the brochure of convocation, which was provided to you from pages 51 to 66. Twenty-five resolutions appear on the agenda, 14 which have an ordinary character and 11 extraordinary. We'll start by the ordinary ones. The third of the first three, the objective thereof is to approve the P&L and social accounts of Pernod Ricard for 2024-2025 fiscal year.
That is the first resolution, the consolidated answer of the group, that second resolution, and finally the affectation of the result and determining the dividends, as has been mentioned by Alexandre and Hélène a bit earlier in the presentation. That is resolution three, as I just said. To be noted that an account on dividend has been paid on the 25th of July last, and that the remainder, EUR 2.35 per action, will be detached on November 25th, and that will be put into payment on the 26th of November. If we can now move on to resolutions with regard to the makeup of the Board of Directors resolutions four to eight.
This year, we propose three renewals of members, one independent member, and the designation and nomination of two more. Let's start by the renewals. The mandate of Mrs. Anne Lange, independent member, would be renewed for two years, and those of Madame Veronica Vargas and the sous-compagnie Paul Ricard would be renewed for four years. With regard to the nominations, we propose to invite to sit on the board Mr. Albert Baladi and Mr. Jean Lemierre. Their mandate would have a four-year duration. Those two candidates being present with us today, I'll let Alexandre give them the floor.
Yes, thank you, Anne-Marie. I am delighted to invite Albert Baladi and Jean Lemierre. You have the candidacy being presented to you today. Let's start with Albert. Albert, please.
Thank you, Alexandre. Hello everyone. I'm Albert Baladi. I'm 61 years of age. I'm Lebanese. I left my country of origin, Lebanon, to work internationally, and this career has brought me to live in seven countries on four continents. So really a global career professionally. I've worked with Procter & Gamble, notably, and I've had the opportunity over that time to work with different brands here in France. I then moved to PepsiCo Group, where I worked in marketing at the director general level, and then I was with Yum! B rands, fast food.
I worked notably in Australia and New Zealand, looking after operations, and then I joined the industry of spirits. At the time, the group was Beam Global, which was then purchased by the Suntory Group to become Beam Suntory. Thirteen years in that group, Beam Suntory, I was in charge of each of the global international regions, one after the other, and then I became CEO of the group. So I'm very honored and feel very humbled and a lot of enthusiasm at any rate to be presented to you and to stand up here in front of you for my candidacy.
I'm very excited about it because I believe that my past experience can indeed help the group Pernod Ricard to maintain the success, the sustainable success that they know. So it's an experience of the industry of spirits, which I have. I've had the opportunity, and I've been fortunate enough to manage and to lead Beam Suntory during a period of sea changes for the industry and for the company.
I've contributed to make Beam Suntory a brand recognized internationally, globally, third in the world, notably, and I think that I can bring to the fore these competencies and skills to help the group Pernod Ricard, but it's also an experience of family-run companies. Suntory enabled me to understand and to enjoy working for a family-led company guided by strong values, by clear mission, assignment, and remit, and a long-term vision of sustainability.
The pillars, if you will, that we can absolutely find within Pernod Ricard. And finally, even if I have been working globally, my market experience is based on in-depth knowledge of the American market, a critical market for Pernod Ricard, as you are too well aware. So to conclude, I would just say that as a competitor of Pernod Ricard, I had a lot of respect for the company Pernod Ricard, a lot of admiration for it, and I have also had the opportunity to collaborate and to work with Alexandre Ricard, for whom I have a huge amount of professional respect.
We work notably within associations of the industry, and we've developed a very warm relationship over the course of the years. I'm standing again in front of you, as I was saying, with a lot of passion, a lot of excitement, and I thank you in advance for your support.
Thank you, Albert. Jean, please.
Bonjour. Delighted to be here. Two words. I'll be concise. The first one being, where do I come from? What has my career path been? And the second, why am I here? Those are the two questions which will be of interest to you. Where do I come from? I've been a civil servant for a long time. I was a manager in the Ministry of Finances here, notably with regard to the tax office, and this is a fantastic company. I won't say that I was a Director General of the taxation office, but it's a fantastic company. It's open, very rigorous, in which you learn to work.
I was elected President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It's a multilateral bank which was founded when the Berlin Wall fell to assist Eastern Europe to evolve and to move towards democracy and to move towards entrepreneurship, private entrepreneurship. Let me tell you a quick story, if I may, which I've already shared with Alexandre or Patricia. They'll have to listen to it again,
I'm afraid, but my first professional contact with Pernod Ricard was Brandy Ararat. At the time, I've always remembered this, I acquired a lot of esteem for the group. I saw their courage, determination, how bold they were to take a brand which maybe was not in the rudest of health. The quality of the relationship that they had with suppliers and the growers gave them a way to survive, not to live, but to survive. The relationships, the commercial, the business relationships with Armenia, of course.
You know the Ararat Brandy, but that was my first contact through the Ararat Brandy. I was extremely impressed by this spirit that they showed, that they brought to the table. Very impressed. Those are qualities that I saw during the presentations that we've heard today. That's it with my personal side, and I'll come back to something which is a bit less emotional. That was back in 2001, by the way, so some time back. I joined in 2008 the group BNP Paribas. I've been the President of the Board of Directors of BNP Paribas for 11 years now, since 2014. You all know BNP Paribas. It's a bank. There you have it.
Maybe yours, maybe you bank with BNP Paribas. Who's to know? In a few words, what are my motivations? It's a question that has been put to me. Members of staff have said, "Why are you coming to be a candidate here? Why do you want to join us?" Well, it's a fantastic company, Pernod Ricard. Fantastic French company. I know a number of them. It's a beautiful company. It's a company that France can be proud of. We don't say that enough. It's a global company.
More than international, it is truly everywhere. It's a company which has products, values, staff, teams, and if I may say that here, a remarkable executive team and a fantastic patron, a fantastic boss, a formidable one. That counts. That counts when you're asked to join or you say, "Would you like to join this board of directors?" That's what counts at the end of the day. That's what you look at. So what can I do? Not much. I have an experience from an economic point of view, in geopolitical situations which may appear quite complex.
Pernod Ricard, from my point of view, at any rate, deals with the situation in a dual manner. There are challenges, difficulties, of course. We talk about them, but there are also opportunities. Opportunities, and what is important is to seize the opportunities within the difficulties, to identify them. I listened carefully to what was being said earlier, and there are more opportunities than I even mentioned, but they need to be grasped, build upon them, work, work over time, and rigorously.
That is the reason. Those are the reasons indeed which drive me to want to join Pernod Ricard. Fantastic company, fantastic leadership, fantastic products, and also possibilities of development, possibilities of development for a French company. Well, that needs to be supported and worked upon. If you agree, at any rate, it would be a great honor, pleasure, and determination that I would join your board. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.
Thank you, Jean. Thank you, both of you. Thank you, Albert and Jean. Back to Anne-Marie.
I'll continue now with the resolutions 9 to 12, which have been explained in detail by Madame Sorenson, and I won't go into detail on them. I would just say that we need to obtain your approval with regard to the remuneration of the CEO, the corporate officer for 2024-2025, and on the policy of remuneration to be applied for the current exercise 2025-2026. Same for the remuneration and policy of remuneration of the directors.
No regulated agreement has been concluded, has been carried out over the past fiscal year, as indicated in the 13th resolution. The 14th and final ordinary resolution enables a company to buy its own shares, to be able to benefit its staff from long-term profit sharing. I'll pursue with the extraordinary resolutions on the agenda today. This year, we are proposing, notably, the renewal of all of our financial resolutions.
These resolutions would enable the board to take the measures which are the most appropriate in order to finance the investments during external growth operations and to associate to the success of the company all its stakeholders, notably its shareholders and its staff. First off, we would like to renew, through the 15th resolution, the possibility for the company of canceling its own shares. That resolution would be used should the company be launching a buyback share program.
There are the resolutions with regard to the increase in capital. There are several possible increases with maintenance of the preferential subscription rights of ordinary shares or securities. That is the 16th resolution, that would enable the existing shareholders to subscribe to the prorata of their participation. There's also increases with suppression of the preferential right of subscription. These are the 16th and 17th resolutions.
Those increases will be done by offer to the public, or they would be reserved to qualified subscribers. Through the 18th resolution, we are proposing to approve an increase in the number of securities to be issued in the event of a share capital increase, subject to a limit of 15% of the initial issue carried out under the 16th, 17th, and 19th resolution. Should there be a major demand, this could come into play.
The other resolutions are looking at increase of capital, which would be done by remuneration. That's the 20th resolution to issue ordinary shares under securities or the delegation of authority to increase the share capital by capitalizing premiums, reserves, or profits. Resolution 22 and 23 are looking at the increase in share capital to our staff by either profit sharing or a similar.
Through the 24th resolution, we are suggesting an amendment of the articles of association so that they be in line with the attractivity law of the 13th of July 2024. The 25th and final resolution, this time, would authorize the board of directors to carry out any required legal formalities following on from decisions taken during the course of this general assembly. This presentation of the resolutions being concluded, I will now give the floor to Mr. Alexandre Ricard.
Thank you very much, Anne-Marie. What I suggest now is to open up the Q&A session. But before beginning our discussion, I'd like to inform you that we have received a questionnaire sent by the Forum of Responsible Investment, the FIR, on October 1st. As last year, the board that took place this morning decided to answer by a written letter, and it will be published on our company website. It was published before the beginning of this general meeting. These elements, I made more precise, I declare this Q&A session with our shareholders open. Let's start with number two.
Claude Ange for a question that will be on the Elliott Fund. And it's captain, Paul. The Elliott Fund that attacked Pernod Ricard the first time in 2018 is coming back to attack, taking advantage of these difficult times that the company is experiencing, a decrease of the sales in the U.S. and China by 10%, the problems on the stock exchange. Elliott has approached a certain number of shareholders in the company. Wellington, shareholder withholding 5%, Vanguard 1.5%, Artisan Partners, but also the widow of Pernod Ricard, Corinne Ricard, who is trying to sell her shares.
For this last person, there was an immediate reaction by stipulating that from now on, inheritance would have a preemptive right for any share of all the members of the family. This means it's applied to Madame Corinne Ricard, cannot be applied to all great shareholders approached by Elliott.
How can we make sure, then this is my question, that these activist funds do not attack Pernod Ricard again by asserting to improve the governance of the company? In short, how can we make sure that the company can work, produce, sell in full serenity, in a peaceful way, without always wanting to take a look in the back mirror to see what does, says, or thinks Elliott? Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for this question. Before answering, in 2015, when I took the lead of the group, there was no more growth. We had a top line, as we say, turnover at zero. What we tried to do from 2015 until 2018, when we presented our strategic pluriannual plan, from 2015 to 2018, the whole challenge was to recover and to find growth again. We had no need to rewrite history. The growth model at Pernod Ricard was broken. Yes, two years at zero in growth. The obsession of all the organization, and I'm saying the entire functions, all employees, was growth.
Not one meeting that didn't start without a question: What are you doing for growth? Was it for turnover or communication or reputational aspects or human resources or engagement? Everything was focused on growth. In 2018, after moving from 0% to 2% growth, 2% to 4%, and then 4% to 6% growth, came the time of what we called profitable growth. This was meant positioning ourselves and to make this growth in turnover a growth that was more expansionist with operational margins. This is when Elliott came in by highlighting skepticism when it came to this profitability, but that we delivered.
For proof, the slide where we see the evolution of the margin before and after this pluriannual plan in 2018, we clearly see this inflection point of the growth, margin growth. To answer your question, maybe in two parts. The first part, the only way to avoid activists is performance. Not the performance in a sector, but a relative performance, because of course, at some point, a sector, it remains what it is. There are cycles in these sectors, and this is the low part of the cycle.
I hope it will not last, but it's our performance, our relative performance in the sector that will make the difference, and that can protect us. Starting when, and this is what our investors qualify when they talk about controlling what can be controlled, to note our cash flow. Honestly, $1 billion that we generated in fiscal year was done thanks to great internal work in all the lines of the cash flow on the ground. We worked on the cost. We controlled the cost strictly in a disciplined way. I'll come back to that. Winning market share as well.
The reality is that, as I said before, we won or maintained market share in 12 of our 17 first markets, top markets. Of course, the elephant in the room, as we say, are the United States, but that has been the case for more than a year. The performance in the U.S. comes close in a linear way every month, month after month, to that of the market, being very active in terms of innovation. I believe that this year, the pipe of innovations that we have planned is perfectly remarkable.
Finally, preparing Pernod Ricard of the future, this with our fundamentals, and in one word, the protective pill, if we could name it as such, is the first, is performance, the relative performance. We are doing everything we can, everything we can to control it. The second topic is my family. For me, my family is a real source of pride because when I see the way in which my family has been supporting us, when I say us, it's not me, but it's the entire management in the group, Pernod Ricard.
My family is very involved and follows very closely. It's most or all of their legacy, and they're the first of the activists, an activist that knows the situation. It means they see things and they ask the right question, including on this balance. That is not an easy one, and same for everyone, the question of finding the right cursor between short-term discipline and short-term performance, but aiming at long-term performance and Pernod Ricard of the future. This is what we're trying to do. All the employees at Pernod Ricard, I talked about the ex-com, they have two jobs, the executive committee.
They work on the daily aspect, and they're preparing at the same time for the future. These are these two factors: performance and having this reference shareholder, these very faithful shareholders. There's one who was part of the board. But you all, you all who believe in the performance of the group, believe in this history to create value in time. Of course, submitted as cycles, but things will come back in order.
We are trying to work, and let's try not to be too distracted by other hazards and things that could change, because our reality is that we are focusing on value creation for the future, and this is our main commitment. Thank you. Maybe to change sides. Question number one.
Hello. Mr. Agali, individual shareholder for less than 50 years. Two short questions. Thank you very much for your presentation. Thank you for reassuring us about the dividends. My first question concerns dividends. Why, given our financial situation and the current contextual situation, why don't you plan a possibility to reinvest at least partially in shares as your counterpart, Rémy Cointreau, who are in the same situation? Second sub-question, I'd like to come back to your question on Mr. Alexandre , because we are on the ground, we must look at stars.
You offered an overview of your beautiful, or our beautiful, or magnificent portfolio with 200 brands. Maybe there are places where we're not yet at the top position. I think I read in the last weeks that there are opportunities maybe in Champagne or regions where you'd like to strengthen your position with the savings that you said. We should have the means to do so. Thank you very much for your answer.
Yes, thank you very much for your two questions. The first, one part, one point. The difference between the Pernod Ricard business model compared to what we could call more focused actors on cognac, as I said in my presentation, spirits, aged spirits represent a barrier by the need, the capitalistic need they represent. In a low cycle period, cash flow is under tension, which is not exactly the case at Pernod Ricard. For shares or the dividends in shares today, it's not something topical, but this is something that the board of directors review at the end of the year, the fiscal year.
Today, the statement is very solid, three times. It's above where we would have rather seen the lever, but we've seen higher levers. Of course, our commitment is, as time goes by, to come back to these lighter, lower levers. In the meantime, it is not typical to pay dividends in shares for the moment. Concerning the brands, we have a management strategy that is very dynamic when it comes to the portfolio. In the last years, in the five last years, for example, we were very active, apart from the last 18 months, on targeted investments. The main of them corresponded to fill the gap in segments where we were not or not very present.
I'll name three: the segment of aromatic whiskies. We had no presence, not to say not any at all. We acquired an aromatic brand dedicated mainly to the American market, and it's called Skrewball Whiskey. You won't find it in France, maybe one day, but you need it like peanut butter. Then we acquired a certain number of American whiskey brands. We were more present with the most strategic one called Jefferson's, a bourbon that comes directly from Kentucky. Finally, a segment where we were present but not enough, which is the most dynamic one in spirits, aged spirits.
This is Tequila with Código. To this is added other segments that are working very well to know the ready-to-drinks. We were present in innovation, but acquisitions in North America and Canada, namely most specifically, and non-alcoholic beverages with a non-alcoholic tequila called Alma ve. For 18 months, we are rather going in the opposite direction. We are getting rid of a certain number of brands who are less strategic. Even if they played a part in the past, I already named them during the presentation.
You should expect to see this pursuit of this dynamic management of the portfolio on both sides, meaning we will see the opportunities and seize them when it comes to targeted opportunities if they are meaningful in terms of our strategy. We will follow our disposals for brands that are not that strategic or not in line with what we want to do in the future. So we are continuing to be very active on these topics. Thank you very much. Maybe at the back of the room, question number eight.
Hello? I'm an individual shareholder for at least 50 years or more, but I would have a comment to make on your strategy. If you could change it to adapt it to the context or surroundings. You talked about conviviality, and if you go on the street or to cafés, people don't drink Clan Campbell or Tequila or I don't know what. They drink beer. So without wanting to be a competitor and buying Heineken or Carlsberg, maybe you could envisage positioning yourself in beer. That is all.
Thank you very much for your question. That is France. We need to know that on the first global market, the most challenged segment is that of beer. That has been the case in the last 20 years. It's just based on facts. This is data in the industry that show it and prove it. In the last 20 years, beer has lost 20 points of market share, where spirits have won 20 in market share. So to simplify it, and it's easy to remember, this is the first point. The second one is that we listen, and we have set up a whole system dedicated to the knowledge, the continuous knowledge, because things change.
You're right, things change systematically when it comes to our consumers. For consumers, it happens when we analyze the situation. What we see in the new generations is that there's an interesting phenomenon. We see a frequency that is decreasing, which means that young consumers drink less regularly. Consumption, regular consumption has a tendency to focus on beer. On the other hand, when they drink, they have a tendency to be more demanding, let's say it as such.
When they have the means, that's about purchasing power, when they have the right means, because it's a great occasion, they want to focus on spirits, the segments of spirits and premium spirits, where we adapt on different fronts, innovation, because the reality is that these new generations love known brands because it's reassuring to them, but they like novelty as well. On all of our strategic brands, almost all of the 13 strategic brands in our group, we have had innovations for two, three years. We are innovating behind all of the brands.
I showed you the first one, Ricard in France, which innovated with Ricard Prêt-à-Boire Ready-to-Drink this year. This is the first point. The second point is also the RTD trend, which is not specific to France, but another part of other markets, starting with the USA, Ready-to-Drink, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, to name just a few, where there is a very strong emergence of what we call convenience, proximity, and then, of course, Ready-to-Drink cocktails.
Here again, we made some acquisitions in Canada and innovated in the rest of the markets, going even to create partnerships with brands in non-alcoholic beverages, the first being an unknown brand in France, but very well known in the United States called Ocean Spray, and we have launched last year, Absolut Ocean Spray.
Finally, for the non-alcoholic drinks, each of the markets in the group, I mentioned Ramazzotti Spritz Arancia Zero, that became number one in the market for non-alcoholic beverages, and each market is developing a brand without alcohol. So with Pernod Ricard, it's clear in our strategy, and you're absolutely right. Following very closely, and when we can even anticipate the demand of our consumers, is absolutely critical. I'll go even further than that. It's not just consumers, it's the organization as such that is evolving also to face the world today. We have the intent to pursue acting in this way. Thank you. Let's move on to question number three.
Mr. Chair, hello, Mr. de Soulages for the Association for Patron Heritage and Individual Shareholding, creator of conviviality. Let me tell you that we are in a vacation period, and here are the very top of the individual shareholders who congratulate Pernod Ricard's teams. Was it possible to applaud these shareholders who come during the vacation to be present during your general meeting? Can we get a round of applause? Thank you. I'll come to my three questions if I may. The first concerns Champagne.
From February to last July, rumors in Champagne mentioned the fact that Pernod Ricard is envisaging the partial sale of Mumm. But it would seem that since September, there is a change of the brand's appearance, aligning tradition and boldness. What about it? My second question. The social body of the Pernod Ricard company is an exceptional richness or wealth. You have been working on these for many years. You're enriching them regularly with training.
My question is, what about the employees? What do they think about the additional tax on benefits, the exceptional contributions, depriving the company from part of their resources? My third question. China. You seem to mention that in July, you accepted a commitment on a minimal price. Is that sustainable? Is that negotiable in a period that is short? What is your opinion? Thank you very much for your answers.
Thank you very much for your questions. About the date of this general assembly, it happens that in terms of logistics, this beautiful room was only available today, and sometimes reservations are made years and years before, ahead of time. Thank you very much for being here, and thank you to the teams as well who worked hard to prepare this general meeting, whereas they have families who are on holiday as well. We were watchful to make sure that if everything goes well next year, we will come back to a period that is less problematic in terms of logistics.
To come back to your three questions, the first one for Champagne, I am sorry to disappoint you, but we cannot, and we will not comment on rumors of potential disposals, acquisitions, and others, because you mentioned a rumor in Champagne, but there are rumors on all kinds of topics, and for obvious reasons, sincerely, I cannot explain these or say more about it. Depending on the brands and rumors, we need to work on the desirability of our brands. When it comes to the exceptional wealth of our social body, Pernod Ricard and the taxes, maybe Hélène, you have something to say?
I'd like to say I won't comment on rumors, but I'm not going to answer this because this is a serious topic, and indeed, debates are topical. But this overtax on whiskeys, which was a fact in the French context that is lasting, and of course, could have an impact for Pernod Ricard.
We can quantify it at about 30 basis points for our headcount, but it's around 25%. This would go up to 25%, depending on our tax footprint. We are following this very closely. Indeed, last year, if you remember, we had invited someone from Oxford Economics to give you a presentation on the impact of the footprint of Pernod Ricard at the same time in France and on the global level. We had assessed independently our contribution to the French GDP at about EUR 2.7 billion.
We also had, on the global level, shared with you the division of value creation at Pernod Ricard. There was EUR 1.3 billion for our suppliers in agri-food business, EUR 4.3 billion for our other suppliers, EUR 1.6 billion for our employees, EUR 1.2 billion for our shareholders, and finally, EUR 6 billion for the state. This is what we presented last year. Coming back to your third question about China, what happened? Maybe Hélène, you could summarize what happened very precisely, what happened?
Yes, I'm going to summarize. Indeed, China had been the object, or had launched, more precisely, an anti-dumping investigation on dumping in January 2024, which created, launched a number of questions for the Chinese authorities, for the cognac segment. We collaborated, as many other actors in this industry, to answer in the best way possible to all the questions asked. There were numerous and very detailed questions provided by the Chinese authorities. There were 18 months to conclude at the latest.
And these 18 months ended in July 2025 with what I could qualify as a satisfactory ending, because having more clarity on this topic was essential for us. The end was we accepted to increase our transfer prices. This is very technical. Our transfer prices between the production company, Martell, French company, and price invoice to our Chinese subsidiary, which is the base for the calculation of the custom fees. With this tariff, so with this agreement that was signed with the Chinese authorities in a very formal way in the beginning of July, the threat of these tariffs is now resolved.
Now our tariffs are allocated on this transfer base. We even quantified the impact on a 12-month basis, EUR 45 million for this after exiting this investigation, this anti-dumping investigation, with a total of EUR 45 million for us. I'd like to add that the total amount of the evolution of this custom fees for Pernod Ricard is at EUR 80 million of additional cost, so EUR 45 million in China, EUR 35 million in the US.
Thank you, Hélène. Do we have any other questions? Maybe we can move to number six over there.
Hello, dear Chair, Jean Richard, individual shareholder. I appreciate tremendously, as usual, the link you make between the past and the present. It's a good thing, and it's very significant of companies that are family-run. I have two observations, nevertheless. The first is that I noticed that you didn't reduce the debt very much. I already mentioned this last year, which was very high.
In these troubled times, by the way, I forgot to say that minus 3% of turnover in this period, where it's a mess all over the place, including here in France, is a performance. So in these troubled times, I'm coming back to the point, debt is dangerous, and you reduced it very little. My last idea is that you said, if I understood well, you had 290 brands. I fear that, as everywhere here, we all look at the stock exchange, we know the rule, you need diversity, you need to diversify, but not scattered.
But 290 brands, that is more important than in the past. Or maybe we should distinguish the premium brands from the others, but beware, be careful. Wanting to have too many brands, with that, will you be able to follow the necessary investments in order to develop each brand? Thank you very much for your answers.
Thank you. I'll start by responding to your second point, and then I'll let Hélène talk about the debt level. We're talking about just over 200 brands over the past two years. The number of brands furthermore has reduced significantly with the sale of a certain amount of brands. I was talking about that earlier on during my presentation. Now, behind all these brands, the true brands, if you will, the ones which count, they're not that many. We activate, on average, 15 brands per market. It's true that we have moved, and this is linked to our transformation using the lever of artificial intelligence. We have moved from a capacity to be able to activate six brands on average, what, five, six years back, to 15 on average today. That's where we're stopping for the moment.
Within the 200 brands, there are brands which, to be quite honest with you, they fill trucks, of course, and our salespeople, they're not even aware that they belong to us. I'll list a few off the top of my head here: Byrrh, Vabé, Bartissol, Ambassadeur. That's just for the Franco-French side, but you have the same thing in other markets, of course, which are brands which are completely amortized. Of course, they bring in cash, of course, but we're not investing in them. As I was saying earlier on, we are truly in an optic of a dynamic management of the portfolio, taking into account a capacity to activate. Were we to buy a brand today, such as precisely a tequila brand like Código , an American whiskey brand such as Jefferson's, it's to have the capacity, A, to invest within it, and B, to activate it.
Otherwise, we don't go ahead. Recently, we've sold Clan Campbell, Becherovka . We've sold many, many Nordic brands, notably. We've sold the major part of our wine portfolio, and we're talking about some dozen brands, some big ones, of course, and then there's many others behind. That portfolio is going to continue to evolve in order to, as you say, we really want to focus on the brands which differentiate matters and are always the same from one market to the next. That is something that we are working on on a constant basis, and this review of portfolio is practically, well, it's done on a constant basis in debt level.
Yes, I remember your comment last year very well. Of course, it is a topic that we monitor closely in order to retain a solid P&L sheet and also to improve our generation of cash. The debt has been reduced by EUR 224 million over the fiscal year, which translates the efforts made. But that said, it brought our net debt on ratio on EBITDA to move to 4.3. It was 4.1 last year. It is a topic which deserves to be managed with a lot of vigilance whilst protecting the investments for future growth, as we were saying.
We always need to find the equilibrium before the performance of the ongoing fiscal year whilst securing future growth. Securing future growth in our industry, and especially with the portfolio that we have, 50% of thereof is made up of aged spirits. That also signifies that we need to continue to invest in CapEx, capital expenditure for production, for maintenance, but also in strategic inventory.
You can see that with regard to these investments, which were EUR 1.4 billion for 2024, there was a peak with an acceleration of certain projects, very specific ones and significant ones from a financial investment point of view, which are the construction of distilleries. Since that peak, we have reviewed in depth and reprioritized all of our investments in order to normalize the level of investments, bearing in mind and taking into account the context, but also to protect future growth.
We've reduced these investments from EUR 1.4 billion to EUR 1.2 billion from 2024 to 2025. As I was saying earlier, I gave out a lot of figures, those investments are not superior to EUR 900 million for 2026. As such, that will be a source of lesser investment of EUR 300 million.
It's really this balance that we're looking to retain to improve our cash generation possibilities. The strategic investments, which are normalizing themselves, which we're looking to prioritize with an optimization of our working capital requirements. I talked about the EUR 900 million and the EUR 1 billion over the next four years. That is also pertaining to cash for promotion and publicity, especially in a challenging period. Optimization also of that need in Working Capital Requirement, WCR, to improve our ratio of cash conversion, which was at 74% this year, 67% last year, and on which we are looking to get back to rapidly to 80% and go beyond the 80% indeed.
A lot of focus of the teams, not just the financial teams, but cash, it's a whole organization contributes to it, to generating it, to maximizing that and this ratio of net debt on EBITDA that will improve through cash generation, through savings, and the increase in our current operating result, which was also impacted by the negative foreign exchange impact, which was EUR 110 million last year and which remains significantly, which we believe will be very negative in the fiscal year to come because the euro is appreciating with regard to the emerging currencies, but also the U.S. dollar, because last year we had an average rate of 1.09 between euro and dollar, and today the spot rate is 1.16. I haven't checked today, but it's no doubt around that, 1.16.
The evolution of foreign exchange situation is not favoring us, but it remains a factor that we have to take into consideration in the rolling out of our efficiency measures.
Thank you, Hélène. We can maybe take one, maybe possibly two additional questions. Let's go over here, the five up there.
Mr. Chair, hello. Two questions. A question with regard to the United States. First off, can you assess already the impact of the tariffs in the United States as of today, and how much do you believe that the top line will suffer in 2026 pertaining to tariffs? A second question regards dividends. The current dividend is 65% of its net profit and 65% of its free cash flow. Would it not be necessary to reduce that to preserve the P&L result? Several speakers indicate that 2026 may be very challenging for consumers. Thank you.
First question, sir. The figure is EUR 35 million. The impact over 12 months and tariffs were implemented and are in place for the European Union at the end of July. That gives us a good idea to forecast and translate into the full year. To describe our footprint on the American market, approximately 50% of our turnover is done by products imported by the European Union and 10% respectively coming from the U.K., Mexico, and Canada. The implementation of these tariffs on the European Union covers 50% of our imports to the United States.
Second question, looking at dividends, I know that is absolutely linked to what we have expressed with regard to the solidity of the P&L sheet, the predictability of our financial policy, and the improvement of our free cash flow because over the past fiscal year, the free cash flow was more or less exactly equivalent to the amount of the dividend paid, which is submitted to your vote today.
Thank you. Question number four. From number four.
Mr. Jean Baer, a question. When I look at your annual report, page 460, 461, I see that the Ricard family possesses approximately 14.3% of the capital, which means that with regard to the price of EUR 86, EUR 3.1 billion and 9.2.2 shares non-representative of the capital.
Page 460, I see there are approximately 12.4 million shares which belong to the Ricard family in different structures and represents over EUR 1 billion, which are belonging. Do you believe that there are people in families who have debts? That means that you have a policy of dividends, which is quite substantial today. The dividend is EUR 4.2 over a full year. That's over 4.80%. I also heard that you were the first activist of Pernod Ricard that in your slide on the CSR, the fourth point is the fairness of chances, equality of chances. Does the application of a Zucman-type tax, would that improve the CSR program of Pernod Ricard? So two points, the pledged shares and the CSR point.
One point with regard to the capital, etc. There are systems which have been put in place for the Pernod Ricard S.A. to be present in the capital of the group and to provide precisely this long-term vision and this integrity, or if you will, this independence. With regard now to the policy, the financial policy of the Pernod Ricard group, this policy is a policy which is discussed every year at the level of the board of directors, and that stems from us listening to all of our shareholders. Of course, not just Pernod Ricard that we listen to, but there are several names of shareholders which have been mentioned earlier on: Wellington, Capital, Harris, indeed, BlackRock, many others, who have points of view which are very clearly expressed with regard to dividends.
The board of directors discusses this policy in line with what they hear from the shareholders on the one hand and also in function of the activities of the group. They review that on a regular basis. Now, with regard to the Zucman tax, as I have no doubt, I'm certain that you know my opinion. Personally, I'll let Patricia Barbizet maybe provide her point of view or point of view which is maybe more objective or with more height. The Zucman tax is a very bad idea because it destabilizes, in principle, the confidence investors can have in France and in the French situation. I think it's a very bad idea and should not be followed at all. That is precisely the same point of view as me, indeed, Patricia.
Now, what I suggest is that we bring this 45-minute Q&A session to a close. Once again, I thank you for your questions, for your participation. So I declare the Q&A session with the shareholders closed and suggest we move on now to voting on the resolutions, proposed resolutions this year. Again, voting is done through tablets. A quick film will explain the usage of these tablets and the electronic votes and how they can be cast to vote on the resolutions of the General Assembly.
A tablet has been provided to you. It's strictly personal and can only be used during this assembly. When a resolution is to be voted on, the voting window will appear automatically on your tablet, even if it is not switched on or turned on, or you can't see the screen. The screen is black. To vote, nothing is simpler. Just press on the button corresponding to your choice: in favor, green, amber, abstention, or against, red. Then click and press on okay to validate your choice before the voting is closed for each resolution. Once your vote is validated, you can no longer modify it. Please return your tablet as you leave the venue.
I suggest that we move now on to the votes of the resolution. The final quorum is 81.23%, representing 204,419,414 shares for 449 shareholders. First resolution: approval of the parent company financial statements for the financial year ended 30th June 2025. The vote is open. Voting closed. Resolution is carried. Second resolution: approval of the consolidated financial statements for the financial year ended 30th June 2025. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is carried.
Third resolution: allocation of net profit for the financial year ended 30th June 2025 and setting of the dividend. Voting open. Voting closed. Voting carried. Fourth resolution: renewal of the directorship of Anne Lange. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried. Fifth resolution: renewal of the directorship of Société Paul Ricard as administrators. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried.
Sixth resolution: renewal of the directorship of Madame Veronica Vargas as a director. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried. Seventh resolution: appointment of Albert Baladi as director. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried. Eighth resolution: appointment of Jean Lemierre as a director. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried. Ninth resolution: approval of the fixed and variable components of the total compensation and benefits paid during or awarded fiscal year 2025 to Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried.
10th resolution: approval of the compensation policy applicable to Alexandre Ricard, Chairman and CEO. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is carried.
11th resolution: approval of the information referred to in Article L. 22-10-91 of the French Commercial Code relating to the compensation of each of the corporate officers. Voters open. Voting closed. Resolution carried. 12th resolution: approval of the compensation policy applicable to directors. Voting is open. Voting closed. Resolution is carried. 13th resolution: approval of the related party agreements referred to in Articles L. 225-38 and following of the French Commercial Code. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution carried.
14th resolution: authorization for the Board of Directors to trade in company shares. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is carried. 15th resolution: authorization for the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by cancelling treasury shares, subject to a limit of 10% of the share capital. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted. 16th resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to increase the share capital by a maximum nominal amount of EUR 129 million, approximately 33% of the share capital. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution adopted.
17th resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to increase the share capital by a maximum amount of EUR 39 million, approximately 10% of the share capital. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted. 18th resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to increase the number of securities to be issued in the event of a share capital increase with or without preferential subscription rights, subject to a limit of 15% of the initial issue carried out under the 16th, 17th, and 19th resolutions. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted.
19th resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to increase the share capital by a maximum amount of EUR 39 million through the issue of ordinary shares under securities granting access to share capital of the company or any other company without preferential subscription rights, pursuant to Article L. 411-2-1 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted.
20 th resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to issue ordinary shares and/or securities granting access to the share capital of the company or any other company as consideration for contribution in kind granted to the company, subject to a limit of 10% of the share capital. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted.
21st resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to increase the share capital by a maximum nominal amount of EUR 129 million, i.e., approximately 33% of the share capital, by capitalizing premiums, reserve profits, or other items. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted. 22nd resolution: delegation of authority for the board of directors to increase the share capital, subject to a limit of 2% thereof, through the issue of shares and/or securities granting access to the company's share capital, reserve members of company savings plans, without preferential subscription rights. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted.
23rd resolution: increase of the share capital, subject to a limit of 2% thereof, through the issue of shares and/or securities granting access to the share capital, reserve for certain categories of beneficiaries, without preferential subscription rights. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted. 24th resolution: amendment to Articles 21 and 33 of the bylaws. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted. Finally, 25th resolution with regard to the legal authority to carry out the necessary legal formalities. Voting open. Voting closed. Resolution is adopted.
Nothing more being needed, I close the session at 4:28 p.m. Precisely, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, we thank you for your attention and presence.