Hello and welcome to the Groupe SEB Provisional 2024 Sales Conference Call. Please note this call is being recorded, and for the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen only. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the call. This can be done by pressing star one on your telephone keypad to register your question. If you require assistance at any point, please press star zero, and you will be connected to an operator. I will now hand you over to your host, Mr. Stanislas de Gramont, CEO, to begin today's conference. Thank you.
Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, everyone. Welcome to our Provisional Sales Conference. I will, as usual, be running this presentation together with our CFO, Olivier Casanova. We will be talking for 20, 25 minutes, and then we will, of course, be taking all your questions. So thank you first to be here, and thank you for being with us to celebrate or share what has been a pretty solid growth year and solid growth over the full year. As you've seen in the press release, we have an annual revenue that is up by 5% organically, spot on our expectations and our guidance. And that's in a small domestic appliance market, small domestic equipment market, including cookware. That has been buoyant overall, and we'll see with Olivier the detail of some regions.
That dynamism of the market, as usual, has been mainly driven by innovation and innovation and innovation. 2024 is a landmark because you will all remember that we had a huge 2021. That was the COVID crisis where people stayed home, and there were some question marks whether the market would resume and whether we would resume anytime soon the same level of sales. 2024 is a landmark because we have beaten in the consumer business our record sales levels of 2021. I think this means that that confirms that our industry is one of structural sustained growth. That means that, yes, there was a positive blip during COVID, but we know all this is now behind us, and that's great news. The industry, we believe, will continue to grow because of the structural reasons why it's one of growth.
Conversely, in the professional business, you remember that we had an exceptional year last year at 27% overall growth. And 2024 is a year of consolidation at high levels in this professional business, declining by around 5%. And last but not least, in this introduction, we've been making more acquisitions and strategically enforce further our business in the consumer and in the professional business. Now, if I go directly to the sales performance, and I'm on page six for those who follow the slides. As I said, full year sales, EUR 8,266 million, 5% like-for-like growth versus 2023, with a fourth quarter at EUR 2.241 million, spot on our expectations at 3.6% like-for-like growth. When we look at how this growth decomposes between organic and reported, we see that organic growth, EUR 400 million, 5% growth. We have a negative currency effect of EUR 205 million minus 2.6.
We have a positive scope effect, the acquisitions that were integrated in the year, notably Sofilac, for 0.8% of growth, leading to this 8266. When we look at the way this currency effect spreads between currency first, well, we have the usual suspects. You see the Turkish Lira, we see the Argentinian Peso, the Russian Ruble, the Egyptian Pound, the Brazilian Real, but also the Japanese Yen and the Ukrainian Hryvnia. We see the Chinese Yuan that has had a negative contribution, and of course, that weighs a lot on us. But at the same time, we see that this currency effect has been reducing quarter after quarter. This EUR 205 million negative currency effect splits or spreads EUR 75 million in Q1, EUR 52 million in Q2, EUR 41 in Q3, and EUR 38 million in Q4.
Now, when we look by big business segments, starting with professional, as I said, the full year is minus 4.5% like-for-like. The plus 1.4% represents the additions to the perimeter, mainly from currencies. And at the fourth quarter, we have a decline of 12.3% like-for-like and minus 6% in total. While it's in the consumer business, the year is very solid, and we grow the year 6.3% like-for-like. As I say, we beat 2021 record. And at the same time, Q4 against the high comparison base is at 5.5% like-for-like growth. I'll take you through the details of the professional, and Olivier will navigate us through what happened worldwide on the consumer business. As I said, professional, it's a year of consolidation. It's a year of consolidation at a high level.
Yes, we have an organic decline in 2024, but that's on the back of an exceptional 2023 comparison base. 27% was the growth last year. Notably, this is the second highest year in terms of revenue growth of total revenue, sorry, for professional coffee. As you know, in professional business, we have big contracts, and we have what we call core business, recurring business. That recurring core business is up by around 7% over the year, and that has been pretty consistent through the various quarters of the year. So that tells us that, and that answers one of the questions, but is it something structural? Well, no, because the structural business, the recurring business or the core business is still growing 7%. It's growing also on the back of the ramp-up of new customers in Mexico, but also in China, but also the development of new markets.
We've expanded notably or significantly our business in Malaysia, in Taiwan, in Eastern Europe. So that growth of our business is sustained and fed by a core business that is growing substantially, 7%, but also by geographical expansion, which, by the way, is the core of our strategy. In fact, indeed, we had fewer deliveries on the large deals, and that explains mainly the gap versus the negative performance versus last year. In the professional business, and that's a journey we started four, five years ago, we've continued our strategic reinforcement in the culinary business. Back in April, we announced the acquisition of Sofilac Group. Sofilac is a high-end professional and semi-professional cooking equipment company. They have very iconic Charvet and Lacanche brands, among others. It's around EUR 60 million, mainly in the professional business. It's present in over 45 countries, with one-third of its revenues from export.
Not fully integrated in the group. We just announced yesterday the acquisition of La Brigade de Buyer. La Brigade de Buyer is a fantastic company made of mainly three brands: de Buyer, Sabatier, and 32 Dumas brands that are symbols of excellence and expertise in cookware for de Buyer, and cutlery, kitchen knives for Sabatier and 32 Dumas brands. They have strong positions in professional cookware and premium consumer. They generated a revenue of EUR 66 million in 2024, half of which international. They have three production sites in France, 290 employees. That's, I think, the reflection of a clear determination to become a reference player in professional culinary.
If you look at the acquisitions that we've been making in the professional culinary business, Pacojet, Krampouz, Lacanche, Charvet, de Buyer, I think we are creating this embryo of very high, well-regarded brands with strong technological difference, with a massive opportunity for international expansion. De Buyer is one more part of that. I'm sure there will be questions. Without delaying too much, I will hand over to Olivier to take us through the consumer year.
Thank you, Stanislas. So, turning to consumers, you can see that we reached €7.3 billion of sales, up 6.3% full year on a like-for-like basis, and up 5.5% in Q4. Of course, we continue to operate in an environment geopolitically and macroeconomically, which is complex. But in this environment, it's, let's say, worth to note that the small domestic equipment market remained resilient and generally well-oriented. This is not necessarily in a uniform manner, but it's driven, as Stanislas said earlier, by product innovation in most product categories. So a strong organic growth over the year, and as we will see, it was particularly strong outside of China, where we registered 9% growth on a like-for-like basis. I'll come back to that.
This is, let's say, supported by a return to solid growth in Western Europe and North America, and a continued strong momentum in Eastern Europe and South America. Supor operated in a market which is still weak, which hasn't improved, in fact, throughout the year. In this market, Supor continued to outperform and achieved revenue, which was broadly stable, slightly down on last year. Outside of China, in the rest of Asia-Pacific, we have managed to achieve a slight growth over the year. This translates into the following trajectory in terms of quarterly growth. You can see that we've been above 5% organic growth in each quarter this year, and the 5.5% in Q4 2024 compares to, in fact, a high basis of comparison of plus 7.7% in Q4 2023. Let's turn to the regional, let's say, explanation.
In Western Europe, you can see that we achieved sales of EUR 2.5 billion, which were up 4.8% on a full year basis, and a strong 7.2% in Q4. We mentioned earlier that the seasonality of our loyalty program was different than last year. We did benefit from a slight, let's say, uptick in growth. But you can see in the footnote on the left-hand side that the growth, excluding loyalty program, was still very strong at 5.6% in Q4. We have seen widespread growth across Western Europe, with, in particular, sustained sales in France. France was up 7%, with strong growth, in particular, on cookware, but also in oil-less fryer and versatiles. We've seen also strong growth in Southern Europe, that is, Iberia and the Iberian Peninsula and Italy, but also in Northern Europe, notably in Benelux and the Nordic countries.
One word maybe on Germany to highlight that we've seen a return to growth this year with positive and growing sales dynamic following the merger of our sales force between WMF and Groupe SEB that we did in the beginning of 2024. And this has been translating into market share gains. And in the U.K., you remember that we had a slow or difficult start of the year. The market has been depressed, but we have seen an improvement in the second half, of course, on a lower basis of comparison, but still, let's say, worth noting. Overall, in terms of product, we are seeing good growth in cookware, in fact, in all product segments, non-stick, stainless steel, but also ceramic, of course.
We benefited from the rollout of innovation in small domestic appliances, of course, in electrical cooking, notably oil-less fryers, in floor care, in versatiles, and to name but a few, in full-auto coffee machines. As we said, solid growth in Q4. Turning to other EMEA countries, EUR 1.2 billion of revenue in 2024, plus 22.5% on a like-for-like basis, 12% on a reported basis. The difference, of course, is explained by the depreciation of the Turkish Lira, the Russian Ruble, and the Egyptian Pound in particular. We have seen, of course, excellent full year performance in Eastern Europe. The markets there remain very buoyant. In these markets, we benefited in particular from the successful launch of our product innovations, versatiles, oil-less fryer, garment steamer as well, and as well as full-auto coffee machine and cookware.
We're seeing also strong growth in Turkey, despite, of course, a complex environment marked by substantial inflation and depreciation of the currency. And finally, in the region, it's worth noting the important strategic development that we did last year with the acquisition of the majority of the control of our distributor in Saudi Arabia, which for us is an important market for the future. And know that we will accelerate our sales in this market going forward. Moving to North America, we had a revenue of over EUR 1,800 million in 2024, up 7.5% on a full year basis, like-for-like, and a solid 4.9% in Q4. If we look at the different countries that made the region, in the United States, the market remained slow, but we consolidated our leadership in cookware. And we benefited from a gradual recovery or improvement in the market as well in linen care.
This is driven, of course, by innovations, which is helping with trade-up, but also helped by new customer listings and range extensions. In Mexico, we continue to have a very dynamic market, and in this market, we are registering further market share gains, of course, in cookware, but also full-auto coffee machines or fans. We are also extending further our ranges into electrical cooking and floor care, and we've been, of course, offsetting the depreciation of the peso since the summer, and then finally, in Canada, we are returning to sales growth and benefiting in part from, of course, a low basis of comparison last year. Turning now to South America, we achieved sales of EUR 354 million, up 13.5% on a like-for-like basis. In Colombia, we consolidated our leadership. We achieved very strong double-digit growth, excluding fans.
We have been growing and improving our competitive positions in all categories, of course, on our main historic categories, cookware, kitchen electrics, and food preparation, but also expanding into new categories, full-auto coffee machines and Versatiles in particular. In Brazil, we have a positive performance over the year. Although in Brazil and in the rest of the region, we have, in fact, two quite different halves in 2024. You remember that there was a strong El Niño effect, which boosted sales of fans in S2 2023 and in the first half of 2024. And that, let's say, positive effect waned in the second half of 2024. And at the same time, we have seen also further depreciation of the currencies in the second half, which impacted a little bit the performance in the second half. Turning now to China, we had a revenue of EUR 1.9 billion.
So, as I said, slightly declining or broadly stable over the year. The market remains weak. There is a weak consumption and a relatively promotional environment. But in this market, Supor continues to outperform, thanks, of course, to its product innovation in woks, in mugs, in steamers, in Linen Care, which is leading to market share gains, both in our two big, let's say, business units, cookware and kitchen electrics, where we have been consolidating our leadership. If we turn now to the rest of Asia, €483 million of revenue, +2% on a like-for-like basis, and +4% in Q4. So we are, let's say, satisfied with solid performance in Australia, for example, but also in Vietnam and Malaysia, where we are gaining market share. We're expanding our product offering and our network.
The situations, of course, remain still difficult in Japan and South Korea in particular because of the weakness of the consumer demand and the weakness of the currency. So overall, if we step back on the following chart, you can see that we had, in fact, 9%-10% organic growth full year, both in EMEA and in the Americas. In Asia, we are broadly stable or slightly down, minus 0.7% full year. And as I mentioned, excluding China, we had a growth full year of 9%. So now, Stanislas, I will hand over to you so that you can give us a bit more perspective on the product category basis.
Yes. Merci, Olivier. Thank you very much. So that's the way our product categories have evolved over the year. And the first satisfaction is that all product categories have been positive. I'll start with the right, with the hero category, which is home care, home cleaning mainly, that has had over 12% growth last year. That is driven by innovation, innovation on the versatile vacuum cleaners and washers. We see an unusually high food preparation at double-digit growth. Well, that's in part impacted by a strong loyalty program we had in France with a major customer. And what's interesting is that all the other categories, Linen Care, cookware, beverage, and also electrical cooking, have been driven by innovation. The explanation of the low positioning of electrical cooking is mainly driven by China's negative market performance.
Now, on with the analysis of the business, both consumer and professional. Let's see now how we can conclude this year. As I said in the introduction, it's a year of solid and steady growth. The year-end 2024 is spot-on in line with our expectations, showing an organic growth, sales growth of 5%. We confirmed an operating margin close to 10%. That was our guidance, and in fact, we expect 2024 ORFA to increase by about 10% based on 2023 ORFA. We don't give a number, but that gives you a pretty precise indication. Right. Without further ado, I will now hand over to the audience to take your questions.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you'd like to ask a question or make a contribution on today's call, please press star one now on your telephone keypad, and to withdraw your question, please press star two. The first question comes from the line of Louise Bieser calling from UBS. Please go ahead.
Good evening, and thanks very much for taking my question. So the first one is with regards to the professional business. I was just wondering if there's any indication you can give us around how you think about the organic growth for 2025. I understand, obviously, that the comps were tougher in Q3 and Q4, so any indication would be helpful. The second question is around the consumer business. I mean, the consumer growth is still very good in all regions except China. Any color you can give on China, more specifically in terms of the recent trends and whether you think that there may be a start to shift in terms of the trend because Q4 remained quite weak? And especially if you can comment also around the government's announcement of extended subsidies to the rice cookers. And the third question is with regards to tariffs, please.
Is it fair to say that products sold in the U.S. are mostly manufactured in the U.S. or China, but not in Europe or Mexico and Canada? I don't think I've seen manufacturing that you have there in Mexico and Canada. So is that correct? Kind of like just trying to understand the risk from potential tariffs on your business. Thanks very much.
Yes. I will let Olivier take the first one, and I will take the other two.
Okay, so as we said, in fact, our professional business is, let's say, the market for our professional business has a growth between 5% and 10% organically. In coffee, in particular, this is true for the full-auto coffee segment. In fact, we estimate that the demand for coffee consumption in the world is growing at around 3%, 4%, but there is a substantial shift of the demand towards full-auto coffee machines because they, let's say, correspond. They are more efficient, in particular as the recipe becomes more complicated, and therefore, there is an additional boost of 4%, 5%, 6% for the full-auto, let's say, segment, and therefore, we estimate that the growth of the full-auto coffee machine market is somewhere between 5% and 10%.
Now, this is not necessarily consistent every quarter or indeed every single 12-month period because it is also dependent on, let's say, the timing of the big contracts. And those are not, let's say, they are few and far between, and they tend to work in waves. And so this tends to blur a little bit the picture. But fundamentally, the market is growing at this speed. And this is similar to, let's say, on the culinary side, in part because also there is a lot of potential for market share consolidation in a market which is still highly fragmented.
I guess this is why we don't give a quarterly guidance because that doesn't really make any sense to guide on a growth on a quarterly basis. I'll take your next question. I'll take the third one first, which is on the U.S. tariffs. What have you seen? Well, the first straight answer is we don't manufacture any products in Canada and Mexico sold in the U.S. We have our sourcing. Well, U.S. is around 10% of our consumer business. And our sourcing is a mix of Europe, Turkey, and China, but also Vietnam, substantial. So we have, as you say, as you know, an integrated supply chain model. We have factories in several parts of the world. We have a pretty high reactivity. So we are preparing ourselves, of course, to various scenarios.
We are preparing ourselves also for those scenarios that don't have any alternative to use our suppliers and to use price increases potentially to compensate. But we don't see tariffs in the U.S. at this stage with what's currently in the industry as a substantial material threat to our business next year. Your second question was on consumer China, whether we see a shift and what about the government announcements. Well, consumer China, as you've seen, is roundabout steady between Q3 and Q4. You might argue that Q4 number is slightly lower, but Q3 last year was plus one, Q4 last year was plus 3.3. So there's a base effect. But in any case, it is stable, negative-ish, and it's not very exciting still. Yes, there have been some government announcements to incentivize the purchase of rice cookers.
It's very early to say because we don't have any details yet on what shape and form and amounts these subsidies would mean for us. So I cannot really tell you. We are a big rice cooker player in China. I mean, I think we sell around 15 million rice cookers per year. So it's materially substantial. We are leaders in this category. But we don't have yet the details of how this is going to work and whether it's going to be material or not. But if anything, I think it's good news to see that the Chinese government eventually is looking at ways to stimulate consumption and to stimulate consumption on product categories which are close to our business.
It can only accelerate the return to a growing China, which, as you know, we see growing mid-single digit long-term on the back of the equipment level, on the back of Chinese consumers' appetite for our product categories. Does that answer your questions?
Yeah, that's perfect. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
The second question comes from Christophe Chaput calling from Oddo BHF. Please go ahead.
Yes. Good evening, gentlemen. My first question, sorry, was as well on China and the cashback. Just to be clear, in fact, well, clear, how much of your sales in China could benefit from those cashback operations? I mean, is it 20% of the sales that are concerned or only 10%-30%? And just, would it concern the full year 2025 or a limited number of months? And the second question is about the general manager that leaves Supor. If you have specific comments, that could be great because he seems to leave immediately, which could be surprising, let's say. So again, if you want to make comments, it could be appreciated. And the last question is on the U.S. dollar. So obviously, sourcing for you, it appreciates. So it could have a negative impact on the ORFA for 2025, but you are probably mainly hedged already for 2025.
So if you have a kind of.
I have a kind of hedge.
I am out. I am out. Impact your ORFA could be great as well. Thank you so much.
Merci, Christophe. Thank you very much. I'll take the Chinese questions, and Olivier will take the American question, right? Starting with maybe John Chang. Well, John Chang is long prepared. I mean, he's going on retirement. He's reached 60. He's been four years in Supor, and he's asked to leave. So the announcement comes on the day of his departure. It is Chinese New Year, as you know, in China. So there is not much more to talk about on this topic. On the China cashback and timing, well, I'd love to have the answer. I can say that rice cooker is around 15% of Supor business, so it's material for Supor. We don't know yet whether those cashbacks would be on all regions of China. We don't know yet what will be the mechanism, and we don't know yet what will be the timing.
So I'd love to be able to answer your question, but I have, unfortunately, no more specific answers to your question. Olivier, U.S. dollar?
I think maybe to complete on China, I think at this stage, it's too early really to consider this as a strong positive. I think we all remain relatively prudent, and as we know more and more concrete details, of course, this will filter to the market, and we will answer this question in the future, but I think at this stage, let's not get overexcited by this news. On the U.S. dollar, you're right. We have a well-known policy to hedge, in fact, our exposure up to 80% of our ORFA exposure. So we reached that level at the end of last year, and we are, let's say, hedged, very well hedged against the current levels because, let's say, the strengthening of the dollar is accelerated particularly recently. So I think we can say that normally the impact should be, let's say, relatively contained on our ORFA in 2025.
Okay. Thank you so much for the answer.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one now on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from the line of Alessandro Cecchini calling from Equita. Please go ahead.
Hello, everybody, and thank you for taking my questions. The first one actually is still on the professional business. I try to maybe to rephrase. So just to think about, I mean, the underlying business, you are right, that is running at this speed that is like, I mean, what you did in 2024. So just to understand, if do you expect us in 2025 in terms of large deals similar to 2024, or if you can comment a little bit on these. My second question is still on 2025 on the cost base. I know that is early at this stage to discuss, but if you can, I mean, provide some color at the same volumes if you expect material or not material deviation versus current cost base in 2024.
And I mean, the last question is, what is the feeling in, I mean, major markets like, I would say, excluding China, so Europe and North America? What is the level of inventories for your, I mean, clients, retailers? So just to say if you think that the selling was broadly in line with the sellout in Europe and in North America. Thank you.
Okay. I'll take one and three, and Olivier will take the second one. Good evening, Alessandro. We don't provide yet a guidance for 2025 on professional. I think there are two dimensions. One is the underlying business is growing, and second, the first half comparison base is very high. Beyond that, I think it's too early to talk about large deals and their materiality for the year we are in. On the sell-in and inventories in major markets, I think the net answer is sell-in equals sell-out. You may have 15, 20, 25 million traveling here and there, but at group level, I think it is not material. We've seen some replenishment issues in some countries in Europe, in some online players that have delayed some shipments. We've seen some other customers loading a bit of stock through December for Christmas for replenishing strong Black Friday.
I mean, all in all, it's flat. Olivier, 25 cost base?
I think it's also. I think we'll talk more when we have, let's say, the comments on the 2024 results and 2024 cost base evolution. But I think there are still many elements which are, of course, not yet known. But we can say that 2023 and to some extent 2024 also saw, let's say, a large cost reduction, which corresponded to the flow-through to the reversal, if you want, of the cost increase that had been seen in the previous COVID period. So this was very material. I think we can say that we are more normalizing the evolution. So we should not expect, let's say, impact of the same order of magnitude. But of course, there will be continuous, let's say, cost reduction, of course, both on our production cost and on our, let's say, purchases and sourcing of finished goods. We also continue to benefit.
We will expect to continue to benefit from positive volume effects as we continue to expand our business. And therefore, this should lead also to a positive absorption of fixed costs in our factories.
Okay. Thank you. Sorry, just if I understood correctly that so the Chinese market is still not exciting? So you said that, yes, about the comment on China is right?
Yes. I mean, the performance of China in the second half of the year, we were expecting a gradual recovery that hasn't materialized. Supor, as Olivier has explained, is still gaining share online, offline, cookware, electrical cooking. So in all its categories, the market is not good. So do we see any material improvement in 2025? So far, no. This hint of support on the rice cooker is both direct news if that materializes for our business in terms of the materiality of the support. And it's an indirect good news that the government is investing to support consumption. But at this stage, it is still speculation. And China is breaking out for a Chinese New Year now. I think they have one or two weeks' holiday during the year. So I think we'll see more clearly what's going on in China around the end of the month of February.
Okay. Thanks.
Finally, on your last professional acquisitions, so we need to expect margins, I mean, more similar to the professional business rather than the consumer also in this case.
It's in the middle.
Okay. In the middle. Okay.
Yeah. It's relative to I mean, it's in the middle. It's in the middle.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.
All right.
The next question comes from the line of Cédric Rossi calling from Bryan Garnier. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you. Good evening, Stanislas and Olivier. I have two questions. The first one is related to the U.S. market. So we have seen a consistent growth throughout the year. It's been a while since you haven't achieved such a performance there. Did you change anything regarding the product offering or the go-to-market strategy that could explain this good performance? And my second question is regarding the acquisition of La Brigade de Buyer. So exactly one year ago, you also acquired a premium manufacturing in Sofilac, at the same time operating in the professional business and also in the premium part of the consumer division. Do you think that those two acquisitions in the medium term could also help you driving a premiumization strategy in the consumer business a little bit like we have seen in the coffee segment? Thank you.
It's well spotted, I would say. I'll react directly on your second question. Yes, there is. The boundary between super premium consumer business and professional business is pretty blurred. And La Brigade de Buyer, just as Charvet, Lacanche, have this ability to offer products which can cater for very premium consumers and professional business. So the answer is yes. We see La Brigade de Buyer as an entry gate into the professional cookware distribution networks that we don't have access to. We are presenting professional cookware because our brands are very well known, but we don't have access to professional distribution networks. So that's good. When it comes to the U.S. market, I think it's a combination of expansion of distribution, innovation in cookware, both in All-Clad and Tefal, but also Imusa, and gaining strength on the online business.
So I would say, as usual, when a business grows, it is primarily driven by innovation. And in the U.S., we had, on top of that, a strong execution both online and offline. And we don't see any reason why this would stop.
Thank you.
The next question comes from the line of Marie Faure calling from Bernstein. Please go ahead.
Yes. Thank you. Good evening. I just want to come back on the tariffs in the U.S. I'm not sure if I've well understood. You spoke about 10% of your sales sourcing in Europe and China. I remember also that you got some sourcing in the U.S. Could you just tell us what is the percentage of your sales that is sourced immediately in the U.S.? Immediately in the U.S. And the second question is about your.
Go ahead.
Your build-up strategy in the professional division. You made a lot of acquisitions recently, small one. What return can we expect, and what synergies can we expect from this build-up strategy?
On the second one, it's only to say, I mean, as you've seen, we acquired Sofilac, which is a very different piece of business. So now we've set up a division back in September to deal with the culinary professional business. So it's been operating for three, four months. Give us a bit of time too. We know we owe you something on that, but we're not ready yet to talk synergies and what will be the main strategic drivers of this new culinary business. On the tariff, U.S., I'm sorry for the confusion. I'll start again. U.S. is 10% of our consumer sales. That's the starting point. Within U.S., none of the products we sell are made in Canada or Mexico. Our products are made in the United States for All-Clad and Wilbur Curtis, and are made in Europe for Rowenta irons and in China and Vietnam for cookware.
Pardon? And Switzerland for some full-automatic coffee machines. All right. Thank you very much, Xavier. At least there are some guys that follow in the room. Merci, Xavier. I've never seen Switzerland in the list of countries targeted by Donald Trump, right? You're right. I was in the consumer business. So today, when we look at the consumer business, we have potential solutions for 60%-80% of our total sales pretty fast with a pretty fast reaction. And so which means that that's our conclusion. The materiality of a potential tariff hike, if it's not 100%, but nobody believes it's going to be 100% on China or whatever, wouldn't be high for the group. Does that answer your question, Eileen?
Yes.
Thank you.
Yes. Okay. Merci.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, as a final reminder, if you'd like to ask a question, press one on your telephone keypad. The next question comes from the line of Geoffroy d'Halluin calling from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good evening, gentlemen. Two questions for me, please. The first one is related again to North America. So while the growth was up about 5% in Q4, but it was a double-digit in the third quarter. So it remains very robust in Q4. But could you remind me why the growth was so elevated in the third quarter at double-digit? Any comments or any thoughts on that point, please? And my second question is related to innovations. Well, you spoke a lot about innovations, supporting the growth rate in your business. Just curious to get what's your pipeline in terms of new products, innovations for the next coming quarters, which might support, again, the growth rate going forward, please? Thank you.
All right. Olivier, you want to come here?
Okay. So I think when we presented the Q3 results, we warned that you should not expect the same growth rate in the fourth quarter. Indeed, we said that there was some, let's say, benefit from advancement of deliveries related to the seasonal peak in Q4 that impacted Q3, in part, I think, because of instability of supply chains. And I think some of our customers took delivery earlier. And that was, therefore, the, let's say, performance in Q4 is totally in line with our expectations.
We talked about a couple of points. I think it probably bridges with your question. The innovation pipeline is a continuous pipeline. I mean, we've been saying for years that we are operating on many product families, that all these product families are very dynamic and fed by the innovation pipeline. We see, with markets stabilizing post-COVID, that this innovation pipeline now reflects on the sales. We expect 2025 innovation pipeline to be of the same kind and magnitude as the one we have in 2024. It is not a sales guidance for 2025. Just to be clear. All right?
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions. So I will hand you back to Stanislas de Gramont to conclude this conference.
Yes. Thank you. First of all, thank you very much, everyone, for following us through 2024 and, of course, for many of you for the last three, four, five years. 2024 is a year where we definitely put behind us these COVID crisis years, ups and downs. I think the group is solid. The group is solid because it has recovered solid sales growth, because it is generating satisfactory financial performance in spite of a temporary setback on the professional business, which, as you say, as you know, is relative to the business. The group is solid because its growth is based on multiple categories. Its growth is based on multiple geographies. We are solid because we believe that we are creating a second major leg for the group sales and financial health through the development of the professional business. Thank you very much for following us.
Thank you for being with us today. The next meeting will be on the 27th of February for the full-year annual results. That's before market opening, and as we're in France, we can say Happy New Year until the 31st of January, so Happy New Year to everyone. Thank you.
Thank you for joining today's call. You may now disconnect.