Hello, and welcome to the nine-month 2024 sales and financial data call. My name is Jess, and I'll be your coordinator for today's event. Please note, this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen only. However, there will be the opportunity to ask questions. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question at any time. If at any point you require assistance, please press star zero, and you'll be connected to an operator. I will now hand over to your hosts, Stanislas de Gramont, CEO, and Olivier Casanova, CFO, to begin today's call. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Jess. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this third quarter call. I will take you through a presentation of the results with Olivier Casanova. I'm Stanislas de Gramont, and of course, we'll have a Q&A session afterwards. Starting with maybe the key figures at the end of September twenty twenty-four. It's a strong quarter. We have delivered this quarter EUR 1.985 billion in sales, which is 4% growth like for like. That takes us to the nine months at 5.6% growth, like for like versus twenty twenty-three.
ORfA for the first nine months is at EUR 444 million, up 14% versus 2023, where we are slightly below last year in Q3 at EUR 200 million,- 4%. If we look at the way our sales has been built between organic and acquisitions and the currency. Over nine months, we have, as I said, 3.5% full reporting growth, of which 5.6% organic, 3% - currency effect, and a scope effect of 0.9% acquisitions. While on the third quarter, which is the next slide, we actually post a pretty good level of growth considering a more demanding base on third quarter last year.
In fact, our organic growth is +4%. We have a slightly lower currency effect at -2.1%, and scope increases with the integration of Sofilac in our numbers at the end of September, leading to a 3.4% growth in reported sales over the quarter. When we look at the currency effects, we see, and now in the little box, that year- to- date, it is minus 168 million euros, and we see that that effect tends to become smaller as quarters go by 75 million Q1, 52 million negative Q2, and 41 million negative Q3. As we see the currencies involved, we see the usual ones, I would say the Turkish lira, the Argentinian pesos, the ruble, the Egyptian pound, the Brazilian real, the Japanese yen.
But we also see a negative currency effect on the Chinese yuan, and as you know, we have substantial sales in that currency. When we look at the way we have built our sales between professional and consumer, you remember that professional is 10%-12% of the business. Consumer is 85%-90% of the business, depending on the quarter. Now, when we look at the nine months, we have a professional that is slightly negative versus year ago, like for like, -1.6%, posting +4.1% reported. When consumer is actually growing at 3.4%, 6.6% like for like, and the same consumer business is accelerating in the third quarter at 5.8% total growth, 8.1% like for like.
That's becoming a very interesting number. While we had a difficult quarter in the professional business, at - 12% reported, - 20%, 22% like for like. Starting with the professional business, I think the first reason why we have a lower third quarter is due to an exceptional third quarter last year. We had last year, in Q3, an organic growth, a staggering 43% organic growth, driven by large deals in China and the U.S.. And as you know, the professional coffee market is driven by large deals. But those, however, big and exciting they are, they also involve a certain volatility quarter by quarter.
We can say that the rollout of large deals have been more concentrated on the first half of the year than was initially anticipated, making it a bit bigger than it should have been, and thus impacting negatively the second half of the year. This base effect, in fact, will still be present in the fourth quarter. Now, when we look at our professional coffee machines business, our core business, that is the one excluding large deals, is growing and is growing above 5% in the third quarter. And that, I think, is reassuring on the health and the potential for growth of this professional coffee market. And last, as I mentioned, we have the first consolidation of Sofilac, Charvet, and the La Cornue brands in the group accounts in this quarter.
Turning on to the consumer, we see an accelerated growth in the third quarter in markets which are still favorable. Of course, the geopolitical and macroeconomic environment remains uncertain. I mean, there's no, it's in the news every day. But in that context, small domestic appliances markets are well-oriented, and they are well-oriented, driven by innovation, driven by trade-up by consumers in many markets, in many countries. In fact, we have seen since the beginning of the year a pretty robust growth in group sales, 6.6% like-for-like, that turns into an 8% organic growth in Q3. We have a loyalty program in Q3 this year in France, that we didn't have last year, but excluding the loyalty program, we still post 7% growth in that quarter.
That has been driven by a strong acceleration in organic growth in Europe and North America. Europe and North America represent two-thirds of consumer sales, and themselves, they grow by 13% in the third quarter of this year. In fact, when we look at the sequence of sales year-on-year growth or quarter-on-quarter growth since Q3 in 2022, we noted in the second quarter of this year that the 5.9% growth of 2024 was against the 5.2% growth in Q2 2023, thus having no base effect anymore. This 8.1% growth in Q3 2024 is again against the 5.5% organic growth in Q3 2023.
So the ambition to recover sustainable growth in the consumer business is confirmed again. And what is very healthy is that the growth is coming from a solid base of innovation. We'll see that in a second. If we go to the evolution of sales by geographic areas, those graphs by region show the first half performance year-on-year, and the third quarter performance year-on-year. And in fact, we see happening what we are planning, but more importantly, I'll detail the performance by regions. It's interesting to see that we can have very or pretty different or big variations of performance quarter- on- quarter or semester on third quarter.
But the balance presence of the group allows the group to keep delivering a strong number, even if some geographies are not performing as well as they used to. And now if we look in the details of performance, region- by- region, starting with EMEA. We see a strong acceleration in the Western Europe. I think that's the big fact of the quarter. Western Europe grows by 13% in Q3. All major countries are growing, including, of course, France and Germany. Notable performance in Southern Europe, in Spain, in Portugal and Italy.
That growth is driven by impressive rollout of innovations in oil-less fryers, in versatile vacuum cleaners, in full auto coffee machines, in cookware that is posting a very strong performance, and we also have a positive effect with the good start of the big loyalty program. Outside of loyalty program, just to give you a reference, this 12.6% growth in Western Europe becomes 9%, so it's still a very, very solid number. In the other EMEA countries, the momentum is still very positive. Now, you could argue that 30% growth S1, 15% or 16% growth is Q3, is disappointing. Well, if you look at it on a reported basis, I think the numbers are 13, 13-point-something down to 11%, so it's very consistent.
In fact, it's more the phasing of the currencies, the valuation of the Turkish lira and the Egyptian pound last year that impacts positively or pretty up, a bit artificially, the organic growth in S1. Now, so good growth in this area. It's been several years that this area goes from strength to strength. We regularly post double digit growth in this part of the world. That growth is driven by strong management of key categories, innovation, as in Western Europe, and that is, I think, a very, very solid pattern for the group. Moving on to the Americas.
On the Americas, we have a pretty good performance in North America, posting 13% growth in North America, driven by the U.S., with new listings, with some restocking in some customers in the preparation of the high season, driven by all brands, yet in a market that is lackluster to say the least. At the same time, we see a continued expansion of our presence in Mexico, and despite the recent peso depreciation, we see Mexico posting regularly some strong growth patterns. Bit different picture in South America. We've been talking the last four quarters that South America sales were helped substantially by the fan sales, helped by the El Niño phenomenon. That is kind of coming to an end.
We are competing now with very high numbers in Q3 last year, and I think that weighs on that number. Yet in Colombia, we see continuous gains in market share across all categories, while Brazil is facing a more difficult environment, one would say, as usual. And Brazil, they had a difficult summer, so that leads to some price increases to offset currency devaluations in that region. Moving on to Asia. So Asia posts flat like-for-like sales, -0.3%, split between -1.9% like-for-like in China, and +3.5% in other Asian countries. Well, China, the story is is well of the same as it was in the first semester. We have a still small domestic equipment market that is muted.
We continue to gain share across key categories, both online and offline. We have a steady pace of product launches in woks, in thermal bottles, in rice cookers, in kettles. While we were expecting some kind of slight recovery in the second half of the year, well, we haven't seen it, we're not seeing it, and we expect now more broadly stable organic sales over the year. Now, the interesting thing is that despite China being stalled, we managed to have over 5% sales growth year-to-date at group level. Excuse me. Some good news in other Asian countries, where we see a sequential improvement in sales. Yes, we have a favorable base effect in Japan with a rather weak Q3 last year.
But we see growth in cookware in South Korea, that is not, that is not totally offsetting the decline in SDA, but still is bringing positive contribution. Excuse me. And we have very solid performance in Australia and Vietnam, expanding product offerings, new categories, and our retail network in Vietnam. When we move into the evolution of the performance by categories, I think it's pretty notable that most of our categories grow between 6% and 12%, that is very, very strong. With a special mention, of course, of home care, floor care, which is leading the pack, but also home comfort, but also beverages, driven by all categories. The food preparations back to close to 10% performance.
Linen care that we often describe as a category with no growth, where in fact it is a very healthy 8% growth. We see that all our categories are improving, driven by a strong flow of new innovative products that are feeding that growth. One comment on Electrical Cooking: Electrical Cooking is made of two parts, a positive part in, call it, the Western world, and a negative part in China, where it weighs a lot in the SEB portfolio. That number looks contained, but in fact, it hides a stronger performance in the developed or the historical markets, and the lower performance in China.
For reference, in the cookware, we've put the cookware performance, excluding the loyalty program, which still is very, very strong. Right, I think that's it for the sales. I will, of course, take your questions, but Olivier can take us through the financial consequences of those good sales numbers.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Stanislas. So moving on to the results. So in Q3, as you can see, we delivered EUR 200 million of ORfA, which is marginally below last year. This is mostly reflecting the fact that we had a very strong profit contribution from professional last year, reflecting an exceptional level of activity in professional. As Stan explained, we had, in fact, two large contracts which contributed to the exceptional sales level in Q3 last year. When you look at consumer, the margins, in fact, are holding up very well. They are marginally above last year. They reflect, of course, the favorable volume effect. We saw the acceleration of the growth in the consumer, especially in Europe.
It's still reflecting the reduction in cost of sales compared to last year. Of course, it's a carryover from two thousand twenty-three. It's also reflecting a strong absorption of fixed cost effect resulting from the strong, let's say, volume growth this year. And then we have also a dynamic sales activation. We are investing, of course, to support the sales growth and reinvesting part of the cost reduction, which is natural, it's a natural phenomenon in the industry. To summarize, on nine months, we are delivering 444 million of ORfA, which is a 14.2% on last year, and the margins, as you can see, is a healthy 80 basis points above last year.
Moving on, to conclude, on net financial debt, it stands at EUR 2.48 billion this year, which is, Sorry, this quarter, which is comparing to, in fact, EUR 2.4 billion in June. As you know, June and September are high points in terms of net debt. We're reflecting, in large part, the seasonal activity of the business, and therefore, the buildup in inventory ahead of the strong Q4. It's also reflecting the continuation of the effect from the Red Sea crisis, which is leading, as I mentioned, at the end of June, to an increase in the stock in transit. We had an increase of two to three weeks.
of the shipping time from Asia, and this is reflecting in a slightly higher inventory. We're obviously hoping for a faster resolution of the crisis, but it looks like this effect, unfortunately, will continue, probably beyond the year end. The net debt level, of course, reflects also the cashflow generation, partly used, of course, in share buybacks, as we mentioned, and in the two acquisitions done earlier this year, the Sofilac acquisition in Professional, and an important partnership in Saudi Arabia. We, of course, expecting, as usual, a strong cashflow generation in Q4, which will help to reduce debt level to the desired level.
To conclude, on the outlook for two thousand and twenty-four, no surprise, we are maintaining outlook for the year, which means we're still expecting an organic sales growth of around 5% and an operating margin up on last year and close to 10%.
[Foreign languag]. Thank you very much, Olivier. Now, I think we are ready to take your questions on this, short presentation.
If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Please ensure your line is unmuted locally, as you will be advised when to ask your question. So once again, that's star one, if you would like to ask a question. Our first question comes from the line of Geoffroy d'Halluin from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Yes, good evening. Three questions from my side, please. First of all, regarding China, I mean, if you can comment on what did you see in the last few weeks, maybe about the Golden Week, and have you started to see some positive impact from the stimulus plan on the consumer behaviors? That's my first questions. The second question is on Professional. So, well, you know, the quarter was weak, 22% down, like for like. I guess, you know, you mentioned the comps will start to be easier by Q1 next year. So that means, you know, still tough, you know, in Q4. So how do we need to think about, you know, underlying goals, you know, for Professional in 2025?
The last question is regarding, you know, the budget reform in France. Do you expect any impact in terms of tax rate for you, please? Thank you.
Okay. I will take the number one question. Olivier will take the number two and the number three, and I will comment, and I will answer a third question. A fourth question, which is having 13% growth in two-thirds of our consumer sales is pretty remarkable, and I think it's probably something that you should think of and look at. But anyway, that's my joker question. Now, on China, we see that the market is muted. We've heard and we've seen that agitation on the stimulus plans, and we haven't unfortunately seen any sign of recovery or improvement in the third quarter or in the last month or in the Golden Week.
I think the situation is pretty stable on the low side, on the muted side. And we don't see and haven't seen any impact at this stage of any measures. Olivier, Professional?
Professional, as you said, we have obviously an impact from those two large contracts, which will continue in Q4 and in the early part of next year. What is important is that the underlying business, which is reflecting, in fact, the healthy potential of the professional coffee market, remains there, hence our growth above 5% on, let's say, the recurring business, beyond those large contracts. I think it's too early to comment on what will be the full year next year for Professional. But I think you can expect, of course, this effect of a high comps base to remain at least in the early part of next year.
But we remain very bullish about the prospects for the coffee market as a whole. We know there are strong fundamentals in China, of course, in large part, but also in the U.S. It's driven, as you know, by increasing volumes, increasing consumption and adoption of coffee around the world. But it's also driven by the switch that we see to a full auto coffee machine, and this is where, of course, the strong position and the strong leading market share of Schaerer and WMF is playing to the full extent. So we remain very positive about the long-term and midterm prospects of this business.
Regarding-
In France?
Regarding the budget in France, as you've seen, our, let's say, tax rate at the group level is hovering between 21% and 24%. We expect some impact, but moderate at group level from the tax reform which is being discussed at the moment, and this will lead to a tax rate probably towards the high end of the historic range.
Okay. [Foregn language], Olivier. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
... The next question comes from the line of Alessandro Cecchini from Equita. Please go ahead.
Hello, everybody, and thank you for taking my questions. The first one is actually on very good performance in Western Europe and in the U.S. Very, very good. So, I would like to you what is your, I mean, feedback about business environment, current business environment, of course, ahead of the Christmas period. So your current feeling about these two geographies after a very, very solid third quarter. This is my first question. My second question is about instead about logistic costs. Of course, you are having some headwinds at the moment. If you could quantify, probably could be very interesting, but apart from this, how do you see the group for entering, we'll say 2025?
So just to understand how are you dealing with this issue and how you would like, I mean, to manage the cost for the next year. And finally, about the net working capital on sales, if I am not wrong, so last year you had 14.6% on sales about commercial working capital, so probably this year will be higher. And so if you could, I mean, elaborate a little bit more on this could be helpful. Thank you.
Gracias, Alessandro. I will take the first one, and Olivier will take the other two. I think for Western Europe and U.S., we have an environment that is the global consumption environment is not extremely buoyant or booming. I mean, we see that Germany is in or around recession. We see that in France, the growth lackluster. We have a pretty solid U.S. economy, and we see that our markets are performing better than the economy, and we see that we're performing better, substantially better than the markets. So I think it's that there are two elements to that comment. The first one, the markets react to innovation and to trading up, and I think this is what's happening.
The categories I'm quoting in fryers, in versatiles, in versatiles, in full auto, in cookware are big categories. They are categories where consumers have a strong appetite for innovation and trading up, and I think we are playing a strong role in developing ourselves or even this category. That's the first comment. The second comment is that we have we've been telling you and sharing with you in the last two or three years, the fact that we have a strong and continuous innovation pipeline.
I think these results are a reflection of the fact that past those inflation, hyperinflation years and and big perturbation of 2022 and the first half of 2023, we are back on the historical path and trend of the group, which is to be able to grow even in mature markets through strong and great category management and innovation our base business. Now, U.S. is more skewed towards cookware, but in cookware, in the U.S., all our brands are growing, All-Clad, Imusa, T-Fal. We're growing in all the sales channels. And again, it is also through innovations and trading up that this growth is happening.
You may have in the U.S. some elements of a couple of growth points of inventory management by customers, buying forward to anticipate logistics issues or challenges, the harbor thing, the sea freight thing. So, it's, I think it's a good transition, but the U.S. number at plus thirteen is very, the North America number at plus thirteen is very solid, and the bulk of it is sales driven. Olivier?
Okay, so, on logistics cost, as we discuss, of course, we've been, as you know, impacted by the tensions that we've seen the last few months on shipping costs. That impact, however, has been, let's say, minimized. Certainly, it's a fraction of what it was maybe at the height of the COVID crisis. The reason why it's been limited is we have been able to use our yearly contract to minimize the impact of spot rates on our average rates. It has impacted us, however, a little bit in Q3. It will continue for, let's say, a few more months.
It's difficult to tell right now what the shipping will be, what the shipping cost will be in 2025. It depends in part on whether there will be a resolution of the Red Sea crisis or not. So your guess is as good as mine. And on top of that, the timing of negotiation of this contract is more, let's say, early 2025 than today. I think it's a little bit early to predict, but let's say if I were to make a guess, I would say that I do not expect a very large decrease in the shipping cost next year. This is not going to be a very strong, let's say, a tailwind.
In terms of working capital on sales, I think as we've said consistently, we think our normalized level is somewhere between 15% and 17%. Last year, at 14.6%, end of December, we were slightly below, let's say, the normalized level. Of course, as I said, we expect to continue to suffer from the Red Sea crisis and therefore to have higher stock in transit, even at the end of the year. This will be even, let's say more so, because Chinese New Year is earlier than this year in 2025.
And so we expect overall to be in the upper part of the 15%-17% range that we have mentioned consistently.
Okay, thank you. So just a point on logistics. Basically, if you don't see a decrease, of course, this base case, we could imagine next year to have some headwinds, because of course, your contracts that you took at the beginning of this year, of course, will be ended, or you have a very long period of contracts to cover the vast majority already of twenty twenty-five. So just to elaborate on this.
You're getting into a level of precision which I would love to be able to give you at this stage. But no, what I'm saying is that yes, shipping costs have been higher for a few months now than last year, and certainly than our expectations. However, as you know, they have been coming down. Now, they're not coming down very fast, but they have been coming down. So net-net, as I'm saying, I do not expect a very strong either increase or decrease in the average shipping cost for the year.
That's my guess at this point of the year, but again, it's a bit of a blind, let's say, guess because we haven't really started the negotiation with the freight forwarders-
Okay
... and the shipping lines at this stage. So, more to come, probably, when we announce our full year results, and we'll probably be able to be a little bit more specific. But the point is, don't expect a massive, let's say, tailwind from a shipping cost decrease next year, but don't expect also a massive headwind.
Okay, very helpful. Last point. So basically, so if you see, I mean, professional, that is, I mean, so still facing tough comparison, Latin probably, I mean, the El Niño situation, still there. I presume that your guidance, you are still very, I mean, positive on Western Europe and North America to be still the engine of growth for the fourth quarter. Is this the right qualitative comment?
Yes, very much so, and I would say, if you, if you, refer back to our capital market day, a year ago in December, we said we have three engines. We have our core business in Europe and the Americas, which is two-thirds of our consumer sales. We have China, which is a quarter of the total group, and a third of the consumer sales, and we have professional, which is 10-12%. And we said we expect the group to grow over 5% organically, using those three growth engines. And in fact, if you refer back to the last four or five quarters, that's what we do. And we do it every quarter with pretty different levels. We know that...
It's not that we choose to slow down the professional or China, but the fact to have a balanced portfolio of activities and of geographies allows us to focus our investments, to focus our efforts where we think there is good opportunities, and to absorb the negative impacts where we see that we have some base effects or some cycle effect, which is the case in the professional business. We were not surprised by this third quarter performance. One could argue that this is a bit more than expected, this is a bit less than expected.
But since the beginning of the year, we knew that it would be more balanced between professional and consumer than it was in the first half of the year. We knew that it would be more balanced between emerging markets and mature markets on the consumer side. So on our side, we're not really surprised of that evolution. Yes, the numbers themselves sometimes are a bit more buoyant than we would have expected, or a bit less positive than we would expected, or a bit more negative. Put it the way you want. But I think keeping the guidance at 5% plus organic is the essence of what we've been telling you in the capital market day last year, and I think we are on track to do that.
Okay. Many, many thanks.
Pleasure.
The next question comes from the line of Marie-Line Fort from Société Générale. Please go ahead.
Yes, good evening. Thank you. For the consumer business, could you tell us what is the proportion between volumes and prices in your organic sales growth for Q3? And with the decrease in Forex impact on your sales, is it correct to project less pricing impact in 2015? My second question is about-
Maryline, Maryline.
Can you repeat the question?
Can you repeat the question you mentioned 2015? It's not clear.
... No, twenty-five, sorry.
But on [Foreign Language] .
So what is the split for the Q3 between price and volume?
Okay, that's the first question.
The consumer division.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the first question.
With the Forex decreasing quarter after quarter, is it correct to predict that your price effect will be less important next year than 2024? This is my first question.
Okay.
The second question is about the retailer attitude in before the Christmas season. Are they in a process to restock? What's the building inventories strategy? And the last question is about your partnership between Rowenta and Narwal. Could you tell us a bit more about the nature of the partnership? And do you project to have new products in this partnership, and how will you share the value?
Yep. Olivier, you take the-
First question in two parts, and I will take the two after.
Okay. Okay, very good. So, on Q3, we certainly have a strong contribution from the volume effect. This is, I think, the biggest single contributor. Prices, in fact, are on the whole slightly negative over the first nine months. As we said, it's let's say, a natural reflection of the fact that costs are coming down in a significant manner, and it's normal to pass back some of this or to use, in fact, some of this cost decrease to fuel growth in our sales and volume growth by reinvesting in some price decrease. So overall, we have over the first nine months, we have a slightly negative price mix effect, reflecting negative prices and positive mix effect.
As far as FX for 2025 is concerned, again, it's very difficult to predict current or what will be the currencies in 2025. But I would say probably if FX stays at the current level, then, of course, we should expect a lower FX effect overall in 2025. There have been very large movements, of course, in 2023, which impacted the FX impact in 2024.
As far as retailers' attitude pre-Christmas, in fact, I read your pre-Christmas comment as Black Friday. We today see a positive view on the small domestic appliance market in Europe and the United States. That's positive. I think that feeds the optimism that I was sharing with Alessandro on our Q4 prospects in Europe and the United States. That said, I mean, it's a high peak consumption season, as you know. So the early prospects are positive. The comments of our retailers, of our customers and some French customers have published in the last ten days, and they were positive about small domestic appliance. We share that.
So, so far, all good. The partnership between Rowenta and Narwal is a European partnership, or is a non-U.S., non-China partnership, to say it more precisely. We've identified some very, very strong product offers in this company. And we joined forces, where they bring some technological and product development capabilities. We bring some go-to-market and distribution development capabilities in Europe.
We see that Washers category as one with a great potential, and we think that doing with what we reckon is one of the, or the best product in the world, and a very strong manufacturer and very strong R&D company is Narwal can only benefit the overall performance of the group. That business will not be dilutive to the consumer business as far as we are concerned.
But are you going to produce the product or is it Narwal?
No, no, today, today, it is made in China, not even by Narwal. It is made by an OEM manufacturer in China. But we're not gonna make it, no. I mean, so for what it-
Okay.
It's in the room today. And we will develop the offer with them, when success will bring more product offering, success will bring an enlargement and deepening of the partnership and the collaboration.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Pleasure.
Before we take our next question, as a reminder, please press star one if you would like to ask a question. And our next question, it comes from the line of Sarah Thirion from TP ICAP. Please go ahead.
Good evening, sir. Thank you so much for taking my question. I was wondering if you may tell us how much of the soft increase in the U.S. in Q3 is linked to anticipated sales for the year-end, sorry?
... Yes, of course. Well, yes and no, I will not tell you.
Okay.
It's, well, first 13% is North America, and it's a fraction. I mean, two, three points, it's not massive.
I mentioned that because we have seen some transfers from October to September, so it wouldn't be fair to boast this number without saying, Well, hang on, there's a couple of points there which may be shifting or shifted from one to the other. You know, just to comment on that, the supply chain is rather unstable. We've all seen three, four weeks ago, the port strike or the threat-
Mm.
Of a harbor strike in the East Coast and West Coast in the United States. We've seen with a lot of great relief that that stopped, I would say, the night before or the day, the first day of the strike. So in these unstable supply chain circumstances, there's a bit more erratic movement from our distributors or retailers to source products. So it's not, it is not material, and I will not tell you in Q4. We've missed Q4 because we had huge overstock in Q3, but it would, it wouldn't be fair to just not mention it. Right?
Okay, thank you so much.
[Foreign Language].
We have no further questions in the queue, so I will now hand the call back over to your hosts for closing remarks.
All right. Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your continuous following of the group. My conclusion is, we are in a context where there's a lot of moving parts in the group's performance. We are happy about the performance we've been having in the first nine months of the year. We are demonstrating an ability to use that balance of our business to compensate the good, the bad things with the better things or good things. So we are confident that we will meet our guidance for the year of circa 5% organic sales growth and towards 10% profit growth.
Our next meetings, we have an important date on December twelfth. On December twelfth, we will hold an ESG in a virtual ESG Investor Day. I think something that was an ask at our last Capital Market Day meeting, so we'll dedicate two or three hours to that topic, mid-December. We will have at the end of January, January twenty-third, provisional sales for twenty twenty-four, and we publish our annual results on February twenty-seven. In the meantime, I wish you all a good result season, and thank you everyone for your following and your attention to the group. Thank you.
Thank you for-
Thank you.
Joining today's call, and you may now disconnect your lines.