Today, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the 3i Group plc half-year results presentation webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. Participants can also submit questions to the webcast page using the Ask a Question button. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand over to the Chief Executive of 3i Group plc, Simon Borrows, to open the presentation. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Welcome to 3i's interim results presentation. This was another good half for 3i. We delivered a total return of 13%, and that gives us a net asset value per share at the end of September of GBP 28.57, compared to GBP 22.61 at the interims last year. That is after the payment of a GBP 42.50 per share second dividend and a GBP 0.78 per share gain on foreign exchange translation. We ended the half with a gross investment return of 14% from private equity and 9% from infrastructure. Private equity delivered another good return, with 98% of the portfolio by value growing earnings in the 12 months to the end of June 2025. Action continued to deliver a very good performance, and we saw good growth from the broader consumer portfolio.
We secured two good realizations in the first half, as well as a significant capital restructuring and distribution from Action in October. Our private equity portfolio is defensively positioned and is generally trading resiliently. The challenges we see for a limited number of assets are reflected in their valuations. We remain cautious about the general macro environment and continue to be careful in evaluating new investment opportunities. Earnings growth across our top 20 private equity portfolio has been good. Companies making up some 86% of the portfolio value have been growing earnings by more than 10% over the last 12 months. We have only four mostly smaller companies where earnings have declined over this period. We saw earnings momentum drive positive portfolio value moves in the half, and there were no notable write-downs in this period. Action has continued to expand and grow.
In the first nine months of the year, net sales were up 17.4% and operating EBITDA were up 16.3% to GBP 1.563 billion. Like-for-like sales to the end of September were up 6.3%. Once again, the volume of transactions has been the prime driver of like-for-like growth across Action's estate. LTM operating profit to the end of P9 grew to EUR 2.3 billion. P10 was a challenging month. That's due in part to last year's very high like-for-like growth and perhaps this year's unusually mild and very un-Christmassy weather. Net sales to the end of October stood at EUR 12.54 billion. Year-to-date like-for-likes to the end of P10 were 5.7%, reflecting the high growth hurdle from last year and the continuing softening consumer environment in France in particular. Up to and including last week, we've added 272 new stores.
We're now on track to add approximately 380 new stores by the end of the year. That will be a 13% increase in store numbers over the calendar year. We now have 180 stores in Italy and 90 stores in Spain, as well as eight in Switzerland and five in Romania. These two new countries have started very well. We do believe Action's like-for-like sales at 5.7% are well ahead of many European retailers, a number of whom are experiencing negative non-food like-for-likes. That performance by Action is very impressive when you set it against Action's cumulative 56% growth in like-for-likes over the previous four years. Action's low prices, a mix of necessities and surprising products, continue to attract a growing volume of transactions in all 14 countries where we operate.
The French like-for-likes are positive to the end of P10, but they are some way below the rest of the group. France accounts for about one-third of like-for-like sales. That means that the non-French network is delivering like-for-likes of almost 8%. France is a challenge, but we are well set for a big sales season to come, with a strong Christmas assortment, good availability from the supply chain, and some very competitive prices. 3i acquired a further 2.2% stake in Action in September from GIC. We settled that transaction by the issuance of 19.9 million shares and took our holding up to 60% of Action at the end of the first half. Action completed another financing in October, raising EUR 1.6 billion in the U.S. and European debt markets. Once again, demand for Action's debt was strong.
Over two-thirds of that new debt was fixed at an all-in EUR cost of under 4.6%, and pro forma leverage stood at three times at the end of October. Action also took the opportunity to undertake EUR 3.1 billion of leverage-neutral repricing and extension of part of its current debt package. That delivered a further interest cost saving of EUR 14 million on top of the EUR 33 million we've achieved previously. We used GBP 755 million of our GBP 944 million distribution to increase our stake in Action further to 62.3%. That left us with net proceeds of GBP 189 million from the share redemption. I'd like to end this section on Action by commenting on Action's March CMD guidance. Firstly, this year's store opening program is going well. As I said a minute ago, we now expect to open approximately 380 new stores.
That's an increase over the March guidance we gave you. It is also worth highlighting that trading from these new stores, which are not in the like-for-like numbers, has been ahead of our expectations so far this year. On like-for-likes, while most countries in our store network are broadly in line or ahead of plan, the market in France, our largest store network, is clearly challenging. We've seen a meaningful step down since the second week in September, which continued through P10. Food inflation is very challenging for those on low and average incomes, and the savings rate is at an all-time high in France, reflecting those with more cash having concerns with the political situation. There is a risk that France pulls us below the 6.1% like-for-like guidance for the year. Frankly, it's too early to tell. On EBITDA margin, the sales mix is supportive.
We've had good higher-margin category performance over the first three quarters and good trading from new stores. The final outcome, as with like-for-likes, will be determined by trading in the last period, given its very high level of sales and very high level of margin. Okay, I'd now like to move on to Royal Sanders, our second long-term hold asset. Royal Sanders is having another strong trading year. They've delivered good organic growth and excellent cash flow so far this year. Our private equity portfolio, ex-Action and Royal Sanders, was valued at GBP 4.7 billion at the end of September. The portfolio is invested in broadly equal parts across our four sectors. As I said earlier, we're seeing good overall momentum in the private equity portfolio, despite anemic growth in Europe and the challenges of the U.S. tariff policy.
We certainly have more than our fair share of companies which are still able to grow in this tricky environment. We secured two good realizations with healthy uplifts over their marks and returns well in excess of our two-times target. The infra team is also producing a good performance, with some excellent returns from their portfolio and a good level of fee income. On that note, I'll hand over to James, who can fill you in on more detail.
Thank you, Simon. Good morning, everyone. Our total return on equity for the half year was 13%. Again, that demonstrates the ability embedded in our portfolio to deliver consistent compounding returns year -after -year. You can see the detail here. The increase in NAV was principally driven by value growth of GBP 2.50 per share. During the half, foreign exchange movements were positive, driven by the depreciation of the pound against the Euro. That gave us a positive contribution of GBP 0.78. The dividend payment in the half reduced NAV by GBP 0.43. That meant we closed the half with an NAV per share of GBP 28.57. You can see the components of the GBP 2.50 per share, or GBP 2.5 billion of value growth here. As Simon said, Action continued its growth trajectory with a contribution of GBP 2.1 billion in the half.
The PE performance increases of GBP 219 million significantly outweighed the performance decreases of GBP 43 million. That was despite a challenging macroeconomic background in many of our core markets. Royal Sanders and Audley were the standout contributors to the GBP 219 million increase. There were no material detractors in the half. As part of the valuation process, we took four multiples down, but the combined impact was relatively modest at GBP 24 million. The quoted investment portfolio had a good half, with a positive contribution of GBP 139 million. That came from the combination of increases in both the 3iN and Basic-Fit share prices. The uplift to imminent sale of GBP 25 million relates to the premium we received on the sale of Mate. The portfolio ended the period with a value of GBP 29.3 billion. We continue to apply our valuation process consistently, and markets have been broadly supportive over the period.
Starting with Action, we continue to value Action on a post-discount multiple of 18.5 times its LTM run rate, EBITDA, of EUR 2.5 billion. As at 30th of September, that gave us an enterprise value for Action of EUR 46.9 billion. The value on the 3i balance sheet, which takes into account our increased shareholding level as of 30th of September of 60%, was GBP 21.5 billion. If we look back a year to September 2023, when Action was valued at an EV of EUR 38.2 billion, and compare that EV to the outturn for the LTM run rate, EBITDA, this September, you arrive at a forward multiple of 15.1 times. These are then the multiples we consider when comparing Action to the peer group. These are the usual two charts we present, this time covering the period from September 2023 to September 2024.
Whilst there have been some movements within the peer group, we continue to see that the average multiple is stable. We remain comfortable that Action, with its strong operational KPIs, should trade at a premium to the average. The other important point to note is that there have been two third-party trades in Action's equities since our last year-end, one in September with GIC and one in October with a broader group of LPs. In that second case, there were both buyers and sellers among the LP group. Both transactions were completed at valuations corresponding to Action's June NAV, which reflected the 18.5 x we use today. Let's now have a look at the valuation multiples of the rest of the portfolio compared to the peer sets.
This chart shows the valuation multiples for our PE assets in dark blue and the average of the multiples from the relevant valuation peer sets in light blue. The red arrows highlight assets for which the multiple was actually reduced in the half. In each case, these decreases reflect company or market-specific factors in combination with an assessment of proximity to exit. The weighted average multiple ex-Action is 13.1 times, which for a portfolio aiming to double value over a four- to six-year time period, we think is fair. During the period we secured the sale of MPM and Mate, those transactions reinforce the integrity of our valuation policy. We gave the detail behind these transactions at the recent PE CMD presentation, so I won't go over that again. It is, however, worth noting that both assets were sold at good premiums at their opening book values.
In MPM's case, this commanded an 18% premium, and for Mate, a 34% premium. Whilst this has been a consistent feature of nearly all 3i exits over time, I think it is particularly impressive when you consider that these transactions were executed against what remains a challenging environment for exits. Turning back to the business line performance for the half year, our private equity portfolio generated a gross investment return of 14% for the half. The gross investment return was GBP 3.2 billion. Of that GBP 3.2 billion, GBP 805 million was the positive impact of FX. The cash realization of GBP 391 million was mainly from the sale of MPM. Investment of GBP 732 million included our purchase of an additional 2.2% of Action in the period. The overall PE portfolio value ended the period at GBP 27.1 billion. In terms of the leverage position, we show that on the next slide.
As of 30th of September, there was very little change from the position at the full year. For completeness, I've added a couple of extra bars setting out the pro forma leverage position, including the Action refinancing, which took place in October. The maturity profile continues to be very well managed. I'd also like to remind you of our overall approach to leverage across the portfolio. Our debt kit team covered this in detail a couple of years ago in the PE CMD in September 2023. We favor a prudent approach to leverage assessed on a company-by-company basis. Action remains one of the largest names in the syndicated leverage loan market in Europe, and today, Action now has a meaningful presence in the loan market in the U.S. Its debt is well syndicated with over 150 leverage loan investors.
For the PE portfolio, ex-Action, we value a diverse mix of lender types, but we're always focused on simple senior-only financing structures, with over two-thirds of overall lending provided by relationship banks. Just to be clear, today we have no external subordinated debt or unitranche lending in the portfolio. Onto infrastructure. It was a better result for the infrastructure segment in the period. That improvement was largely driven by the performance of the 3iN share price, which increased by 14% over the period. The underlying 3iN infrastructure portfolio as a whole is doing well, and TCR is a standout performer. Despite some continued weakness in the freight market, Scanlines also continues to deliver a robust performance. Including Scanlines, our infrastructure portfolio is valued at GBP 2.2 billion, and it produces a very useful cash income contribution, as you can see on the next slide.
Overall cash income totaled GBP 87 million, and we ended the period with a small GBP 12 million cash operating loss. Our expectation remains for a cash operating profit for the year. Now let's take a look at the balance sheet. The group's approach remains one of conservative capital management, with net debt of GBP 772 million and gearing of 3%. We remain well within our tram lines. Our slightly larger RCF gives us liquidity of over GBP 1.6 billion at the end of the period. As of 11th of November 2025, the group's cash balance was GBP 777 million. Before we leave the balance sheet completely, I thought I'd give you a quick update on the net exposure by currency and the hedging position. In the six months to September 2025, we experienced a currency tailwind of GBP 802 million. That principally reflects the 4% depreciation of sterling against the euro during the period.
Hedging has reduced this gain by GBP 31 million, resulting in a net gain after hedging of GBP 771 million in the half. That GBP 771 million compares to a net currency loss of GBP 466 million in the same period last year. As you know, sterling has continued to weaken, and you can see the updated sensitivities net of our hedging program at the bottom of the slide in the banner. Finally, let's turn to the dividend. Here you can see our dividend policy. In line with that policy, we will pay our first FY2026 dividend of GBP 36.5 per share in early January. That GBP 36.5 per share is half of last year's full year dividend total. Now, before we get into Q&A, I will hand back to Simon.
Thank you, James.
As I said right at the start, this was another good first half for 3i, and we're expecting a second half of more good progress. Action and Royal Sanders' two long-term hold investments are both trading well, and they remain focused on their long-term growth plans. Action's expansion is ahead of plan this year, and most retailers I know would give their eye teeth for 5.7% like-for-likes in these markets. Let me put the very recent like-for-likes numbers in some perspective on this next slide. We've seen very strong like-for-likes over the last four years. This is a compounding measure, and results like that are bound to moderate as Action's store base grows. Nonetheless, we remain convinced a strong retailer should be capable of compounding like-for-likes at 5% over time in a low inflation environment.
As you can see here, the like-for-like performance has been completely eclipsed by new store growth at Action. In fact, we estimate the net store growth will amount to 13% this year. This is the largest driver of Action's growth and is likely to remain that way for many years to come. While like-for-likes are a good measure of the health or pulse of a retailer, are you winning share? The ability to roll out a format unchanged across multiple countries is the holy grail of retail. That is the real power of the Action format, which has successfully opened in 14 countries to date. Ultimately, the ability to do that supports decades of substantial growth, as Aldi, Lidl, and IKEA have demonstrated over the last 50 years.
When we model Action's development over time, we use these basic assumptions: 10% store growth per year, 5% like-for-likes, high free cash conversion, and a nudge to the EBITDA margin every so often. These four elements are all you need to confirm the enormous potential of Action. Action's extraordinary growth over the last five years has been a key contributor to 3i's compounding returns, and we are confident that Action will continue to support strong returns for 3i as a result of its customer focus, white space potential, and remarkable store payback periods. With that, we will now close the presentation, and we'll open the lines for questions. Thank you.
Thank you. We will now conduct the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. As a reminder, participants can also submit questions through the webcast page using the Ask a Question button. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. We will now take the first question from the line of Manjari Dhar from RBC. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Morning, Simon. Morning, James. Thank you for taking my questions. I just have three on Action, if I may. My first question is just on the seasonal performance. I suppose given the softer seasonal start you've seen, I just wondered about how you're thinking about the ability to sell through seasonal ranges for the remainder of this period and how you feel about the likelihood that Action might have to clear some of that product at lower margins later on. My second and third questions are both on France. I just wondered if you could give some color on margin mix by country and maybe how the French margins compare to group average.
Finally, I just wondered, given the challenging backdrop of France and the fact that France is such a significant part of Action's sales exposure, does that change the way that Action thinks about distribution of future store openings near-term? Or do you think that maybe you might shift those openings away from France now? Thank you.
Thanks, Manjari. I think on the seasonal performance, I mean it when I say it's simply too early to tell. We really can't tell how much people are holding back from these more seasonal Christmas categories because they've literally got no money or because it's the weather or because it's something else. You often get Christmases where trading can be pretty back-end loaded. We need to wait and see, frankly. In terms of seasonal write-downs, we have a very modest history of this. We've got a great set of products for Christmas, and I would be surprised if it means anything significant in terms of seasonal write-downs. In terms of the France margin mix, it sort of reflects a lot of features. There is a good level of FMCG purchasing that goes on in France, which takes the margin in one particular direction.
We have many of our biggest, highest volume stores in France, which trade at very strong margins given the sales leverage and sales densities those stores achieve. They are almost unmatched anywhere else. We do see more of those sorts of store contributions cropping up in some other urban centers in other countries, as well as in the Swiss stores, which are very much ahead of that. It is a curious mix, France, but the margin is still a very healthy margin in terms of store, EBITDAs, etc. In terms of the store expansion, we are still set on opening 1,200 stores in France. It is a remarkable business for us, and we believe it will continue to be so. We are still, in our view, taking share even at the current like-for-like level.
We've been voted France's favorite retailer for the last three years on the trot, so the customers clearly like us.
Great. Thank you for the color.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Haley Tam from UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning. Thank you very much for taking my questions. Could I ask one on Action or a couple on Action, please? To start with, just to clarify on the like-for-like slowdown in October, which was clearly focused in France, can we just confirm whether like-for-like was negative in France in October and perhaps help us to understand what the particular challenge was for you in France? I think we've heard from some other retailers that consumer confidence and political uncertainty have clearly had an impact on higher value spend, but there's been more resilience for staples. Just trying to understand why your experiences differed.
Second question, just in terms of the increased stake in Action, which is now 62% approximately, could you give us any update on the split of the remaining 38% in terms of what proportion might be LPs versus other GPs and how long on average or the spread of duration of investment that there is in the other 38%? If I can just ask a final question on Action, in terms of very clear comments you've given about 2025 on slide 13, thank you. Simon, as well, thank you for your longer-term comments towards the end of the call. I just want to clarify again then, therefore, there is no change in your medium-term ambitions for Action. Thank you.
Thanks, Haley. Let me talk about our French like-for-likes in October. They were indeed negative, and that is why the group was at a low single-digit positive number. As I said, they are about a third of the like-for-like sales basket of stores. I think the two previous P10s in France have both been 13% and 13%. These were very significant sales levels to be on top of. Unlike previous Octobers, we saw very little buying of the seasonal products focused on Christmas. They had really quite a lean year, and that has made all the difference. We have not seen as big a difference in other categories, but that is where we really saw the difference. Having seen lighter baskets at certain periods of the month, pre-paychecks and things like that in prior months, as we have talked about before, we saw lighter baskets in all weeks in France.
That was another defining moment. We have seen that since the second week in September. They are the reasons for that, I would say. Our knowledge is that some of the domestic discounters have got very significant negative like-for-likes throughout the year, and some of the supermarkets, despite food inflation, have negative like-for-likes as well. We do not think this is necessarily at odds with what is going on in the rest of the market. In terms of the stake, the other 38%, broadly speaking, 13% is held by Hellman & Friedman, and the balance by the LPs with some smaller stakes held by management. The last question was our ambition, etc. There is no change to the ambition at all.
The white space ambition is as big as it's ever been and is only likely to get bigger over time the more we see how strongly the stores are received in new markets.
Thank you. Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Gregory Simpson from BNP Paribas. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Hi, morning. Thanks for the presentation. Again, a few questions on Action from my side. Firstly, on the 318 new store target, can you give some color about how this is mixing by country, Spain, Italy versus Eastern Europe? Second question is on gross margin. It was just over 40% last year. How has that trended this year? Can you give some color on what you're seeing in the supply chain in terms of pricing from China and outlook into next year? Finally, just any update on Action, U.S. thought process, timeline? Thank you.
Thanks, Gregory. The 318 new store target, the country which is having the most new stores opened is Italy. There is a good number of new stores in Southern Europe generally. There are a good number opening in Poland, in Germany, and in France. It is the usual crowd. It is the five big markets, and then there is a consistent number of other stores occurring in the smaller markets as well. The big opening number, along with a new DC, is in Italy this year, which is trading very strongly indeed. Gross margin is slightly above the 40.0%. It is slightly higher than that because we have actually had very good category sales in the higher margin categories this year. That has moved that across a bit.
In terms of pricing from China, we've bought very well this year in particular relative to previous years, but that stock is going to be coming into the stores next year rather than this year. We have nothing to add to Action U.S., but I know management is going to speak about that at the CMD in March.
Clear. Thank you.
Thanks, Gregory.
Thank you. We will now take the next question from the line of Andrew Lowe from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking the question. Just stepping away from France, it's been about three months, I think, since Lidl opened its non-food sort of home and living store sort of test concept in South Germany. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about that and sort of what you've seen in terms of any change of consumer behavior around those stores and just what you think they may be doing there trying to defend against you guys. The sort of second question is just a clarification. I know that you said that we need to wait until March to hear more on the U.S., but could you just clarify, do you have any employees in the U.S. at the moment? That'd be great. Thank you.
Sure. Thanks, Andrew. I mean, on the Lidl store, we're obviously aware it's opened. We've visited it. It is reflecting much of their private label categories, if you like. It is only one store. We obviously have over 600 in Germany. I don't know whether they're going to continue to roll it out. It's really not clear to us. I can't really add any great insights to it, but I don't think it raises any major issues for us at the moment. I'm pretty sure that we have employees in the U.S. carrying out our research. As you know, we're doing a research project there. We're sort of dipping into various pools of capability when we assess a market. There will be a range of people that are working on that project.
Great. That's really helpful. Thanks so much. Just maybe on that latter point, just to clarify, there are sort of employees rather than consultants that you might be using?
Yeah, but whether they've got their house there at the moment or anything like that, I don't have that detail, Andrew. We certainly have people on the ground consistently doing some work on the market as we would in any new market.
Got it. Thanks so much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Jeremy Kincaid from Van Lanschot Kempen. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I just have one more on France. Obviously, France has gone through political unrest in the past, and maybe 2018 or 2019 is a nice parallel with the yellow vest movement. I was just wondering this year what the like-for-like sales growth for Action was like during that period. Is the current political situation worse or not quite as bad as that? The second part is how long does it usually take for your like-for-like sales to improve when the political situation stabilizes?
Thanks, Jeremy. We certainly had difficulties during the yellow vest periods. In some ways, logistically, it was more of a challenge because we had a number of our DCs barricaded, and we were not able to supply stores. In individual regions, we saw a very material drop-off in sales as a result of that set of disturbances that lasted for several months. We saw a little bit of that in September with some of the general strikes that were called. I would say this is slightly different. This is clearly a, we're seeing a ratchet up of a problem that's been in France for some time. We talked about this going back some months, which is people there are very highly taxed at all levels, and they do not have much spending money. It is affecting a large part of the population.
When you put high food inflation into that mix and high services inflation and various other things, I think it is leading to people being careful. Now, how quickly that is turned around because of a different government or a different leader, who knows? It is still a very big market for us. We sort of represent the market now with 900 stores, and we believe it will come back. We have seen this sort of thing before. We had similar instances of this in the late 90s where we had some very low like-for-like periods. It is nothing that you do not encounter from time to time in retail. We will just grind our way through it, and I am sure we will come out of it at some point. When that will be, I am not sure.
Great. Thanks. Thanks very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Christopher Brown from JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Simon. Yeah, just a couple of quick questions. In France, just wondering whether the new stores there that you've opened over the last 12 months or so, were they faring any better in terms of like-for-likes?
Yeah. As we said, the general category of store openings has been very positive. We've opened about, I would say, getting on for 40 stores in France to date. I don't have the detail of that. I've only seen the aggregated numbers, Chris.
Okay. And just moving on away from Action onto realizations. I mean, a lot of your private equity competitors are talking up the sort of realization environment. And clearly, you've had a couple of really good realizations. Can you say a little bit more about what might be in the pipeline on the realization front over the next 12 months or so?
Yeah. I mean, we would certainly expect to be bringing some other companies to the market on that sort of 12-month timescale. I think in terms of the broader environment, I do not know which markets people are talking up, but it has still been a generally very quiet and bitty period for realizations, particularly in Europe. There have been some mega deals done in various places, which maybe skew some of the statistics. In general, it is pretty subdued. I think the banks are receiving more mandates towards the end of this year for stuff to happen next year, and some of them have received stuff from us. There is going to be a pickup, I would expect, but I think it is much more about next year than about this year in reality.
Yeah. Great. Thank you.
Thank you. We have no further questions on the line, so we'll now hand over to Silvia Santoro, 3i's Group Investor Relations Director, to address any questions submitted online via the webcast page.
First of all, there's a question on a clarification on France. Could any of the weakness be attributable to maturity? Can you evidence that perhaps with performance in other mature markets?
The best comparison to make is with the Netherlands, where the store estate really dates back to the early 1990s. We are seeing very good like-for-likes there this year, broadly in line with the group average, I would suggest. We do not believe age is the issue. We believe it is to do with the macro in France.
What needs to happen over the next few months for you to hit your like-for-like guidance? How would that compare to prior years?
I haven't done the detailed maths, but if we were around budget or slightly better, we'd be pretty much in line with guidance. So we're not looking at anything truly exceptional, but there does need to be a focus on some Christmas purchasing in France in particular to turn this around.
The next question is, can we extrapolate the improved store growth from March 2026 into March 2027? I.e., can you grow store openings by another 30 stores to open 410 stores? I think they mean probably calendar year 2026. But yeah.
I do not want to steal anyone else's thunder, but the intention is obviously to open more stores next year on top of this year's number. That does not sound completely crazy to me, but I will leave that for the management to talk about.
Can you provide any update on the trading scene so far in November?
We're not giving out that update. P10 is pretty darn recent, so we're not going to go further than we've gone already.
Can you expand on the traction you are seeing in Switzerland and Romania?
Yeah. I mean, in Switzerland, where we now have eight stores, we're seeing very high sales per store. It looks very encouraging and perhaps reflects how expensive that market is and how attractive Action's prices are in that market. In Romania, likewise, we now have a couple of stores, and people have been buying way ahead of our expectations in those stores.
How much more of Action is that to buy, and over what time period might you be able to buy it?
We do not own 38%, so that might be one number out there. We only get opportunities now and then to buy more equity. We have an ongoing appetite to do that, and we have the resources to do that. We will take advantage of it. It is very hard to predict when others will want or will need to realize their position in Action.
Are you taking any specific measure in France to improve like-for-like, or do you think it's entirely macro-related and nothing needs to be done?
I think we're making sure that the availability is very good, that the whole supply chain is working in a very slick manner, and we are rechecking all our pricing to make sure they're as sharp and as competitive as possible. We are doing all the things that you would expect as we move into our biggest sales season of the year. It is really the next six or seven weeks which really make the outcome or not in that market given the year we've had to date.
What gives you conviction in the 5% like-for-like in the medium term? Can you give color in terms of the different levers? Example, basket size, frequency, geographies, etc.?
We've studied other great retailers, and some of those retailers that sit above us in the valuation charts have decade runs of like-for-likes which are in excess of 5%. So we've made a study of that, and we feel confident that we can emulate what those people have achieved over very long timescales.
Can you show some color on the EBITDA multiple at which the additional Action shares were purchased from GIC and other LPs?
As James said, it was purchased at the June valuation.
Please, can you talk about how you think about allocating capital to Action versus investing in existing portfolio or new assets?
We are not short of capital, so we look at new investments, and we look at investments into situations where we already have an ownership position, and Action is one of those positions. They always have the benefit of us having a deep and real understanding of the performance under our ownership. They are pretty straightforward judgments to make. As I said before, we see very long-term compounding coming out of Action, and that is a particular attraction that you find particularly difficult to find. That is always near the top of our priority list.
On the U.S., could you give a general comment of how you view the competitive landscape, especially against stores like Walmart, Amazon, Costco, that are very entrenched and dynamic?
I mean, it's a very competitive marketplace. By comparison with France at the moment, it has very high levels of disposable income. So shopping dollars are much, much bigger. There are all sorts of formats there, but there are no formats quite like Action, interestingly enough. Dollar stores are quite distinct from Action. Costco is obviously very distinct from Action. Walmart is very distinct from Action. There are some very strong businesses there. There are some less strong businesses there, but there's actually nothing there that's quite like Action.
You have spoken to your relative performance versus French supermarkets. There Carrefour traded broadly in line with your recent like-for-like performance in France. Should we now think about the French business trading in line with the market from here?
I don't think we trade like supermarkets. I think supermarkets have been beneficiaries of inflation. Broadly, our store is slightly cheaper this year overall than it was previously. We don't really benefit from inflation in that way, and we have some much higher margin categories than many of the food categories in our store. I would expect us to be able to trade above the supermarkets, but I'm not sure when this persistent food inflation is really going to come to an end. I guess people have to eat first, and that's something that's affecting the French market.
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Okay. Let me just wrap up. We appreciate the interest, and we appreciate all the questions. Thank you for joining today. Have a good day.
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