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Earnings Call: Q3 2024

Oct 30, 2024

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the Prada Group 9 Months 2024 Revenue Update. I'm delighted to be with you again, and with me today is our Group CEO, Andrea Guerra. We will start with some remarks and then move to Q&A. Before we start, please be reminded that during today's call, we may discuss forward-looking statements which are subject to risks, uncertainties, and factors beyond our control, and the actual outcome and returns may differ materially from such statements. Please refer to the disclaimer included in Slide 2 of our presentation, and with that, I will hand over to Andrea Guerra.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

Good afternoon to all of you. We're pleased to report another solid quarter from a quantitative and a qualitative point of view, again consistent on branding, image, and cultural positioning of our Prada Miu Miu brand. Our nine months ended up 18% on a like-for-like basis, with Prada plus 4%, Miu Miu plus 97%. For sure, we have been trailing a more complicated quarter, I would say more for the industry, with some weeks in specific regions of the world, i.e., China. Prada's dynamism and desirability has again long roots in creativity and fashion shows, its polyhedric brand equity, and Luna Rossa high performance in sports, innovation with partnership with Axiom Space, and the unveiling of the spacesuit developed for NASA. Prada is, and Prada continues in the long term, to constantly and positively carve a cultural landscape in our society.

I think this long-term trajectory of Prada will continue to pay off. On the other side, Miu Miu positioning and very distinctive identity nowadays is very clear and liked by the global audience. Today, we're growing fast, but always keep in mind that on absolute terms, numbers are not so big. We're very proud of the trajectory and very proud about the unique energy of our Miu Miu team. We're working really day and night to keep up with the expectations. These nine months for our two brands have really been a journey, and a journey of constant solid work, positive energy, and the results are paying off. Andrea, I will now hand over to you for some more details.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Thank you, Andrea. Starting with net revenues by channel, in total, the Group recorded net revenues of EUR 3.8 billion in the first nine months of the year, up 18% against the same period last year at constant effects. The performance was driven by high-quality retail growth sustained by like-for-like full-price volumes. The third quarter confirmed a consistent and solid growth trajectory with retail sales up 18%, notwithstanding a more challenging environment. Wholesale was up 9% versus the same period last year and up 11% in the third quarter. We kept our approach selective with independents while we continued to see sustained growth in the DFS channel. On royalties, the quarter saw solid growth of plus 16% as the business continued to enjoy good demand for both eyewear and fragrances. Exchange rates had a negative impact on Group revenue of around 3 percentage points during the first nine months.

Turning to the next slide, retail sales by brand, we're pleased with Prada and Miu Miu's performances as both brands continue to register above market growth. Prada delivered +4% growth in the nine months driven by full-price like-for-like sales, and the third quarter continued to show a positive performance at +2%, demonstrating the brand's resilience against sector headwinds. Miu Miu confirmed its remarkable trajectory, delivering outstanding growth in the nine months at +97%, including Q3 at +105%. Growth was well spread across all regions and categories. As a result, the brand contribution to the Group retail sales increased to 25% against 15% in the same period of last year. Moving to the next slide, retail sales by geography, Asia-Pacific progressed well over the first nine months at +12%.

Growth continued to be up double-digit in Q3, stable at plus 12% despite the more challenging dynamics in the region. Europe was up 18% in the nine months. We continued solid growth of plus 18% in the third quarter as well, supported by healthy local demand and tourist spending. In the Americas, retail sales were up plus 8% in the nine months, with Q3 showing a further slight sequential improvement to 10%. Japan continued to deliver outstanding growth, up 53% in the nine months, driven by solid local demand and strong tourist flows. The third quarter also saw an elevated growth rate of plus 48%, albeit in slight moderation versus Q2. Lastly, the Middle East also delivered a solid performance, up 24% in the nine months, with Q3 in further acceleration versus Q2. And with that, I will hand back to Andrea for some closing remarks. Thank you.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

Thank you, Andrea. As you were referring, the world today has different speed in different regions. For sure, we have been pleased, and we're still pleased by our domestic European region. I would call it resilient and dynamic. On the other side of the ocean, an improving North American region with some ups and downs, classic of a pre-election period. In Asia and South Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, I would say that the region has some easier comps from now on, but still tough. It's a region that in the next three, six, nine months can help a more positive outlook of the region. Japan, being a major market, slowed down a little bit from the end of July, but still a great place to be. As we have stated more than once, China is more complicated today and not necessarily improving in the near future.

Having said all of this, we know it, and we will continue to be very agile, constantly reassessing our commercial and financial performance top and bottom line. We're confident to finish the year even if we have a high comp quarter in front of us with solid and sustainable growth above markets. With this, thank you for having listened to our remarks, and I would open up the floor to your questions and observations if any. Grazie. I will turn it back to the operator.

Operator

Thank you. As a reminder to ask a question, please press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Once again, it's star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please be aware that we'll take and answer one question at a time before moving to the next question. Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our first question. The questions come from the line of Chiara Battistini from J.P. Morgan. Please ask your question.

Chiara Battistini
Analyst, J.P. Morgan

Hello. Thank you very much for taking my question. The first question, please, on the nationality performance in the quarter, and especially by brand. I guess Miu Miu must have accelerated across nationalities, but I was wondering on Prada specifically, the sequential deceleration, whether it was caused by the Chinese consumer or there was anything else on the other nationalities to flag, please?

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Hello, so Andrea, I think you can take this question.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

Thank you. Ciao, Chiara, grazie. And so, on the clusters, and leaving aside, as you said, Miu Miu, because of course the group-level trends were very good across all clusters. Prada brand, starting with Chinese. Chinese are low single-digit positive year-to-date, and Q3 was a touch softer, low single-digit negative. We saw an improvement over Golden Week positive, but we've been observing that trading is better around the holiday period, so really no news to report. North Americans are slightly positive in line with Q2. Europeans positive, mid to high single-digit in Q3 versus low double-digit in Q2. And Japanese maintained a very good trend, albeit in moderation versus Q2. We mentioned before, by the way, that looking at the evolution of sales by nationality vis-à-vis also a pre-COVID period, it is more balanced. That's sort of a silver lining.

So sales to Europeans and Americans as a share of total have increased at the expense of sales to Chinese as of today.

Chiara Battistini
Analyst, J.P. Morgan

Grazie. And the second question is on Miu Miu, and this incredible momentum and acceleration you continue to show. I was wondering, anything to call out in terms of what's driving this in terms of assortment being extended or the marketing coming through? Anything really that you would point out to supporting this momentum? And on the CEO, if there is any update on the replacement of Benedetta, please. Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

In terms of Miu Miu, I think it's now a consequential four years that the team decided to head in a certain direction from an image, identity, creativity point of view, even with a retail network that also made more sense. So nothing really to report. We are managing the growth, and we are rebalancing the mix between products, and we are working really day and night to make this growth sustainable. So we are really, I want to say relaxed, but you're never relaxed. We are really working to make 2025, 2026, 2027 a positive trajectory. I always want to remind, even if we have this stellar growth, that the absolute numbers are not big. So we have a journey to do. In terms of the CEO, we are working in a very healthy manner today, and this has been for the past years.

I think that in the next one, two, three months, we will be able to finish up and announce the new CEO.

Chiara Battistini
Analyst, J.P. Morgan

Grazie mille.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Pleasure. Next question, please.

Operator

Thank you. We are now going to proceed with our next question. The questions come from the line of Louise Singlehurst from Goldman Sachs. Please ask your question.

Louise Singlehurst
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Hi, good afternoon, Andrea. And Andrea, thank you for taking my questions. I wondered actually if you could just talk to us about you've given the commentary about this being a more complicated environment clearly for the luxury peers. It's just very interesting to see such phenomenal growth at Miu Miu and then obviously the slower growth at Prada in this environment. I mean, Andrea, can you share with us how you're thinking about the budgeting and the process as you look into 2025? So at Prada, with the lower growth, is that more about cost savings at this point? And Miu Miu, is that more about pushing the pedal down for more space expansion into 2025 and obviously 2026? That'd be really helpful. Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

So first of all, we are, as usual, commenting the nine months, but obviously when you are in this period of the year, we are working on next year. And the way we close the presentation, which says we are confident with our strategy and to the strength of our brand and organization and remain committed to deliver solid, sustainable market growth. I think this says it all. To give you some more details, so first of all, we are very proud of our Prada growth. I mean, if you turn back to the last one, two, three years, the healthy growth, and we're still on a positive stance. It was not easy, but we were able to achieve it, and I think that we deserve to regain some market share.

I think that this is what is fueling our energy and our motivation every day in all parts of the world. We had and we still have consumer relationship and retail excellence homework to be done. I think that that allows us to be optimistic about our next future. We think that we can still, obviously, if the market crashes, no one can do anything. If this is the environment, I think that we can continue to see a healthier growth compared to market average. This is on the Prada side. On the Miu Miu side, it's time today that we also enlarge a little bit our square meters. We have been on a like-for-like basis on Prada and Miu Miu for the past two, three years mainly.

We are going to enlarge a little bit our square meters, which means most of the time enlarging stores because landlords want to give us a little bit more space. And on the other side, beginning to fill some cities and regions where basically Miu Miu is not present or is not relevant today. So this is how we're moving on 2025. In terms of margins, first of all, I think that what we have shown in the first six months, I think we are committed to show it even in the second six months in terms of our ability to leverage our costs. And I think, again, we have room to catch up a little bit more even in 2025. Obviously, the two brands are in a different world today, so we need to keep Miu Miu as light as possible.

On the other side, we need to keep Prada as efficient as possible.

Louise Singlehurst
Analyst, Goldman Sachs

Thank you. Super clear. Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Next question, please.

Operator

We are now going to proceed with our next question. It comes from the line of Chris Huang from UBS. Please ask your question.

Chris Huang
Analyst, UBS

Hello. Hi. Thank you for taking my questions and congratulations on the results. I'll start with the first one. I'm focusing on the Prada brand. In Q3, it was growing 2%. So can you just provide some thoughts around the margin implications, assuming if the Prada brand continues to grow at this low single-digit level into Q4? Are you able to maintain your margins given the continued investments you're putting into the brand?

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

So I will begin answering your question, then we can ask Andrea if she wants to give some more details. So with Prada, we have been on a journey of retail excellence, brand investment, store investments. But on the other side, our eye on bottom line, our eye on efficiencies is there. We have room to discover new efficiencies, and we are doing it. So we're trying to keep as much as balanced as possible the top line and the bottom line. Always keep in mind, as we always said, that the top line journey is our favorite journey today. But we are ready to deliver a better margin compared to last year and in a trajectory, in a positive trajectory of the H1. Andrea?

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

No, not much to add also because it's a revenue call, so we won't get into specific margin guidance. But also because, I mean, there's really nothing newer to add to what we've said previously. Andrea just reiterated that growth remains the priority. And so far, we can add that we are on track to maintain this progressive trajectory on margins as well. The last point I would add is we have the advantage of being a multi-brand group, as we referenced to before. And considering the performance of Miu Miu, that also means that in the impact that is having on the group margin, that also means that we're able to invest more behind Prada that we would otherwise do if Prada brand was a standalone monobrand company.

Likewise, Miu Miu would probably not be experiencing this type of growth today if it hadn't been part of a larger group with the Prada brand driving margin and cash generation and therefore allowing reinvestments in the previous years.

Chris Huang
Analyst, UBS

Thank you. That's super helpful. And then secondly, on the revenue to under top line, I mean, so far in the Q3 earnings season, we have some of your peers calling out the exit rate, and Q3 seemed to be a little bit stronger than the quarterly average. So I'm just interested to hear, are you seeing similar trends? And if you can give any early indication on how things are shaping up in October, if there's any further acceleration?

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

So I would like to stress one fact. October has no meaning in Q4. That is, Q4 is made of 45 days from mid-November to end of December. Those are pretty important days. Yes, October had a slight increase, but I mean, to me, has no meaning. If you are satisfied, we can go to the next question. I don't know.

Chris Huang
Analyst, UBS

Yes. Thank you very much.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Okay. Thank you. We can go to the next question.

Operator

Thank you. We're now going to proceed with our next question. The questions come from the line of Erwan Rambourg from HSBC. Please ask your question.

Erwan Rambourg
Analyst, HSBC

Yeah. Hi there. And congrats on double-digit growth in all regions. Quite counterintuitive given what we're going through. So two questions and maybe a clarification. The first question is, you've seen a slight acceleration in the Middle East and in the US, and I'm just wondering if this is linked to a particular launch or is it the fact that Miu Miu is maybe a bit late in those markets? Is it something else? And maybe related to that, what are your hopes and fears around the US? I think you mentioned the election making possibly some people nervous, but at the same time, equity markets are very strong. How are you thinking about the short term in the US?

Second question on the Prada brand, if you can help us understand qualitatively elements of mix versus volume versus price and maybe link to that, how do you think about price next year? And then just the clarification, you said October had a slight increase. What do you mean by that? Should we have in mind that whatever you saw in the first nine months is consistent with what you've been seeing in October either by brand or by region? Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Yeah, so let me take the first two and allow and let's listen, Andrea, to the third one, to your clarification question. In terms of acceleration in the Middle East and the U.S., these are two regions where we have taken conscious decisions a year ago to, let me say, sometimes I go a little bit to the extreme, but I wanted to say to restart from scratch in terms of local organizations, local commercial, local retail, local consumer relationship, and we have invested significantly in the last 18 months in those teams. So I think that those two journeys are very important to us because we also want to demonstrate to ourselves that whatever goes on, we can recover some market share that we feel can be ours.

So those two markets, I don't want to be optimistic because it's a critical moment for the industry, but we are seeing those two regions with different sets of eyes compared to the past. In terms of Prada, has been for sure, China has been the main detractor. If we remove China, we really had a very, very healthy quarter for Prada again. So I wouldn't go in too much understanding too many details. I think that the positive stance is still there. The brand is incredibly desirable. So no real question marks. I don't think we, in our internal projections and forecast, I don't think we made mistakes on Q3 in understanding where we would have landed. Andrea, on October, if you want to add and clarify anything.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Yes. So on October, I think the take, again, because getting into the monthly performance, Andrea already said it, there's really very limited value also considering the fact that in China, in particular, October was also positively, I would say, impacted by the Golden Week. So the key takeaway for October should be that we've seen no significant changes in trend vis-à-vis year-to-date and vis-à-vis Q3 because they also have the same growth rate. There was another question around, I think there's two more. I mean, there was mix and volume and mix, i.e., volume and price, and there was also then, I think, on U.S., Andrea, probably you'll take that one on Prada components, drivers of growth because Miu Miu is contributing significantly on volumes. If you look at Prada, there is both slight volume positive and pricing and mix positive contribution. Andrea, do you want to?

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

Yeah, yeah. On U.S., it's exactly what I said before. I mean, we have heavily invested in our teams in the Middle East, in the United States, and it's exactly what I was trying to say before.

Erwan Rambourg
Analyst, HSBC

Yeah. No, very useful. Thank you so much.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Thank you. Next question, please.

Operator

We are now going to proceed with our next question, and the questions come from the line of Luca Solca from Bernstein. Please ask your question.

Luca Solca
Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Thank you very much and good afternoon, Andrea and Andrea. The first question is about pricing. There's been a lot of debate on whether the industry has increased prices too much and whether price increases are one of the reasons why we've seen a more muted consumer demand environment in the second half of the year. I wonder what your benefit from price inflation will be in 2024 and how you're thinking and reasoning about price increases for next year. This would be my first question. I have another question about products.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

So when we look to pricing and to our, let's call it, position, my view on pricing is the following. As Prada, we have not moved all our prices up, but what we are trying to do is to stretch the price range. I think that we are well positioned on entry prices, but we have yet quite a substantial territory in extending the price range upwards. We have always been a little bit too short with our price range. So it means working on the products, working on consumers. We have worked heavily on our retail environment and the opportunity to allow transactions on a more private manner in stores and out of stores. So we feel that we have a, let's call it, price mix effect that is, yes, we will continue to maintain our price structure with low single digit every five, six months.

But on the other side, the real value to us comes in stretching our price range. I think that that is the real gold mine opportunity we have.

Luca Solca
Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Understood. Thank you very much indeed, Andrea. I realize that you're not providing progression by product category because you consider it's not particularly relevant yet. I wonder if you could tell us a bit about how, for the two different brands, the key contributors would be, or if you see a relatively level contribution from the various product categories for both Prada and Miu Miu?

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Yeah, so I'll give you a qualitative. In Miu Miu, I'm happy to report that we are moving in a more balanced mix of different product categories with, I would say, a final success on leather goods in the past 24-30 months. First with the family, second family. I think today we cover probably the desire of 60%-65% of our consumer with leather goods on Miu Miu. So happy. And it's a very good balanced mixed growth in leather goods on Miu Miu. So I would state it like that for Miu Miu. In Prada, the overall growth of the nine months has been pretty even. If something was slightly overproportioned, it was leather goods.

Luca Solca
Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

I see. And maybe if I could squeeze in a third, I hear you say that you see opportunity for stores to be bigger. I presume and I imply from that that you're quite happy.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Talking about Miu Miu,

Luca Solca
Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Yes.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

I was talking about Miu Miu. Okay.

Luca Solca
Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

That you're quite happy about retail-based productivity for Miu Miu. And I wonder if you could give us an indication on where you stand for both Prada and Miu Miu and whether the gap has now completely or largely been bridged.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

When we are talking about stores, I wouldn't say anything special rather than we need some more space for Miu Miu. In terms of productivity, obviously, it's very easy to see. I mean, all the growth you see is like for like. So all of that is productivity increase. So I would put it like that. And on the other side, I think the productivity of Miu Miu during the past 24 months for the retail network we have is limiting a little bit our ability to give a good level of service to our consumers. So this is the reason why we are enlarging a little bit our square meters.

Luca Solca
Analyst, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Understood. Grazie mille. Thank you very much indeed.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Yeah. Next question, please.

Operator

We are now going to take our next question. And the questions come from the line of Chris Gow from CLSA. Please ask your question.

Chris Gow
Analyst, CLSA

Hi. Hi. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question and congratulations on the great results. I have two. So firstly, my first question is related to the breakdown of Chinese customer spending onshore and offshore. And also, can you share a little bit more on your view regarding Chinese tourist spending in Europe, in Japan, and in other offshore markets? So which part is better than your expectation, and which part do you think is relatively more difficult than others? This is my first question related to Chinese customer. Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Andrea.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Hi, Chris. And without getting too much into the details, what I'll say is first, in terms of spend, the split is still roughly 65, 35, 65 local and 35 international spend. And with an increasing proportion of spending outside China, the spending remains largely concentrated in Asia. And I'll stop there.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Is there a follow-up or another question?

Chris Gow
Analyst, CLSA

Thank you. My second question is related to your wholesale channel. We see you have been very strong in your wholesale channel in the third quarter compared with second half. So could we dig deeper into the key reasons behind or any timing difference behind regarding the wholesale outperformance? Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

I'll take this, Andrea. It's purely timing effect. So no differences, no change in strategy, nothing to be reported.

Chris Gow
Analyst, CLSA

Okay. Thank you. So any regions that are substantially seeing that kind of timing difference, U.S., Europe, or what regions could we see going back?

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

I wouldn't go into those details. Thank you.

Chris Gow
Analyst, CLSA

Okay. Thank you very much.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Thank you. Thank you. Next question, please.

Operator

We are now going to proceed with our next question, and the questions come from the line of Rogerio Fujimori from Stifel. Please ask your question.

Rogerio Fujimori
Analyst, Stifel

Good afternoon. I was hoping if you could break down the Miu Miu triple digit growth in Q3 between retail and wholesale, and also wondering if you could provide any qualitative color on the wholesale order book for Miu Miu, and then I was also hoping if you could elaborate on e-commerce trends for the Prada brand in Europe and North America. Thank you.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

Okay. So on wholesale is a small percentage of Miu Miu sales. So I don't think it's really. Does it make sense to give you any more details on that? We are using wholesale to reach certain customers where we don't have a proper retail presence and some U.S. department stores, especially on one category. So I think that there is no change, and there will be no change in strategy in wholesale. So it means that the order book will always be bigger than what we will deliver. In terms of your second question, maybe Andrea can take it.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

But also, look, I mean, in terms of e-commerce trends, specifically by region, I wouldn't get into that. I mean, we've discussed it previous times that we look at the retail channel as a whole, holistically, and for us, it's all part of the same customer journey, customer experience. So I would just refer to the trends that we've disclosed for retail overall.

Rogerio Fujimori
Analyst, Stifel

Understood. Thank you.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Thank you. Next question, please.

Operator

Thank you. We're now going to proceed with our next questions from the line of Liyue Hu, CICC. Please ask your question.

Liyue Hu
Analyst, CICC

Good afternoon, Andrea and Andrea. I have two questions. The first one is on Asia, excluding Japan. So we are one of the few, actually the only one in third quarter who have reported double-digit growth in AEJ region. So I wonder how do you attribute this success to operations in AEJ? So is it more because of a better China mainland performance or maybe any other countries in this region that worth highlighting? Yeah, this is my first question.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

I think it has been balanced. And as we were reporting from first minute of this call in the different parts of Asia, from Japan to South Asia to Hong Kong, Macau to China, how we're moving, I think that we have already clarified most of it. And obviously, when you are having that kind of growth, what is nice to report is that it's well balanced between the different regions. And as I said, obviously, China has been a little bit more complicated during this quarter. I mean, we are happy to read and listen to the fact that government is beginning to argue that maybe some help has to be given to the consumer, and we will see what will happen.

Liyue Hu
Analyst, CICC

That's very helpful. And my second question is on Miu Miu brand. So in my understanding, the success of Miu Miu started in Asia as an epicenter, and then it radiates to Europe and then now to the US. So I wonder if you could confirm whether that's true in terms of nationality, the pace of growth. And also just a very slight question. Are we seeing any male consumers purchasing the Miu Miu products? I understand it would be very minimal, but.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

No, no. We are observing male consumers, and we're happy to service them, and we're seeing them. We're seeing them all across product lines and all across regions. Europe, I would say I would consider Europe standing out in the Miu Miu performance during 2024. That's the place where we have invested the most in the last 24 months, and it's responding incredibly well, and this is also the place where we are opening some stores and enlarging some stores during 2025. U.S. is still a smaller segment of our business, I would say very much smaller, and we begin to invest properly in that region. So it will take time, and we are obsessed with Europe today.

Liyue Hu
Analyst, CICC

Thank you very much indeed.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Next question, please.

Operator

We are now going to proceed with the next question. And it's from the line of Charles-Louis Scotti from Kepler Cheuvreux. Please ask your question.

Charles -Louis Scotti
Analyst, Kepler Cheuvreux

Yes. Good afternoon. Thank you very much for taking my question. I have two. First one on Miu Miu and the second one on Prada. On Miu Miu, I'm just curious to hear whether the performance of the brand is actually going even beyond your own expectations. And if that's the case, I just want to know if you have enough flexibility with your own in-house workshops and suppliers to accommodate growth or if there are some large CapEx needed. And then I will go with my next question on Prada.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

So regarding this, our industrial facilities are fully prepared to accommodate Miu Miu growth. On the other side, obviously, I would lie if we said that we would have predicted to double our business year on year. So it's part of this industry. Sometimes there is an alchemy or a kind of secret recipe that makes everything what you think you're doing well to turn in something else. So yes, it has been beyond our expectations. And I'm not much worried about the pace of our supply chain, but really limiting our supply chain today. This is the real effort we're doing today.

Charles -Louis Scotti
Analyst, Kepler Cheuvreux

Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. And then my second question is on Prada, the Prada brand. It seems that you are doubling down on the fine jewelry with quite an elevated price point. And some of your soft luxury peers, like, I don't know, Chanel or Hermès, for example, have developed a decent-sized jewelry business. So I'm just curious to hear what's the client's reception and what's your ambitions in this segment, and if there is any plan to expand into watchmaking as well at some point.

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

We're already in the watchmaking with a nice relationship. In terms of jewelry, we started, what is it now, two years and a half ago. You can see it's visible in our stores that we have given space, that we have given prime space. We have doubled our sales this year compared to the year before, but it was not difficult in absolute terms. We would like to continue to double our business next year as well. I wouldn't say today makes any kind of difference to the overall absolute numbers, but we are very, very happy on how it's moving.

Charles -Louis Scotti
Analyst, Kepler Cheuvreux

All right. Thank you very much.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Pleasure.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Last question or set of questions. Thank you.

Operator

We're now going to proceed with our last question, and it's come from the lines of James Grzinic from Jefferies International. Please ask your question.

James Grzinic
Analyst, Jefferies International

Yes. Thank you. Good afternoon and congratulations. I just had two quick ones. The first one was, can you perhaps give us a measure of how the contribution of VIC spend has developed within the Prada brand? You talked to making the shopping environment easier for that kind of customer, presumed, to shop with you. And secondly, can you give us specific examples of what you're doing in terms of really making sure that Miu Miu can cement this new scale of brand and build to the next level of size?

Andrea Guerra
CEO, Prada Group

So, regarding your second question on Miu Miu, it's continue to do what we're doing today in a very simple manner. This is it. We don't have to make mistakes. We don't have to over-leverage the brand. We don't have to stretch it. We don't have to look for shortcuts. We have to continue doing. I mean, there are certain things which are also visible. I mean, the way we participated to Art Basel in Paris. So it was not a kind of sponsorship, was not a kind of inviting artists to a fashion show, but was really Miu Miu participating to the cultural conversation, Miu Miu participating to artistic development and the conversation on the feminine role in this century. So this is what we want to do.

I mean, if I talk to my founders on both brands, sometimes I feel that the cultural relevance, that our credibility in terms of our message to the society, to the world, is even more important than our financial numbers. And this is keeping on. And the more and the better and the best way we will continue to do, our numbers will come. So we are really into that. We are really into the brands. We're working on the 360 degrees of the brands night and day. And I think that this is what can really fuel our growth in the long term. Miu Miu on one side and Prada on the other side. Maybe I forgot your first question, but I don't remember.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Yeah, sorry. Thank you for that. It was really the VIC contribution within the Prada brand extent whether that would have moved.

So we don't go in those details. VIC are obviously an important part of our business. And I mean, we have been working and talking about retail excellence in the last, I don't know, three years. And this is part of it. I mean, the way you manage VIC is a completely different manner compared to other categories that we still love, but VIC are VIC. And this is why we are really developing stores which are different. We're developing products which are different. We're developing events which are different. We're developing, and this is 99% very successful, I would say. Prada journey here has been very, very positive. So this is why, I mean, I don't feel any pressure by the environment on the Prada trajectory. I really don't feel it. It's all in our hands.

If we will continue to do a good job, we will continue to have a growth which will be well above market growth, market average.

James Grzinic
Analyst, Jefferies International

Grazie mille.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Pleasure. Andrea, we finished?

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

We have. Thank you.

Stefano Cantino
Head of Investor Relations, Prada Group

Good.

Andrea Bonini
CFO, Prada Group

Thank you, everyone. Looking forward to speaking for the full year results in early 2025. Have a good day. Bye.

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