Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the report on the first half year 2024 conference call and live webcast. I am Alice, the Chorus Call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and one on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Mr. Stefan Pierer, CEO of Pierer Mobility AG, accompanied by Mr. Friedrich Roithner, Group CFO, and Mr. Hubert Trunkenpolz, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Pierer Mobility AG. Please go ahead, gentlemen.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our conference. I'll start with, basically, with the headline, what we did on, on Friday on our press release. Economically, volatile, difficult conditions led to negative results in the first half year. The outlook for the full year confirmed. Basically, that's the headline, but we have really very tough, global, conditions. We are working very hard on our program. So basically, working capital is still on a high level, so there's significant improvements we expect for end of the year 2025. Motorcycles, sales also slowed in some regions down due to the high interest rates in U.S. Yeah, and the basically market anyway, especially in Central Europe, or in Europe, is in a transformation phase, because, after the overheated, corona, hype, I think everybody has to do their homework.
What’s going on in our tough restructuring program? Cost management is the most important activity currently, because especially labor cost increases in Europe, energy costs and all those together. On the labor costs, we are on a very efficient track. Just as an indication, by year’s end, we will have around roughly 1,000 less employees in our group compared to last year’s end. We also adjusted immediately in the first half of the year the motorcycle production, especially here in Austria, very significantly, so that the whole sales channel can benefit out of that, and especially a tough restructuring on the bicycle division. If we would like to jump on the market conditions globally, I would like to hand over to Hubert.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.[crosstalk] So next- Let me give you some insights in market environments and sales developments. Let me start with maybe motorcycle. [crosstalk] It seems to be- We have to go back one slide, please.[crosstalk] No problem. We have to go back one slide, please, to market environment. Here we go. Thank you. Let me start with Europe, because Europe on the first look looked positive with a total market increase in the first half year by 5%. The downturn of this increase is that the drivers of this increase were very, I would say, price-wise, yeah, on the low end positioned entry bikes, mainly coming from China. So the Chinese entry bikes were driving the European markets, and premium bikes were suffering a little bit out of that. There was only one segment with the introduction of the new BMW GS, which has a significant growth.
But all the other manufacturers in the, let's say, premium segments had to suffer on sales reductions. On the other side, what we see, we could maintain our market share with over 10%. And for the second half of the year, we wanna maintain that. We also will see later on, we have considered all these developments in reduced supply to dealers to help them to digest the stock that they are carrying on their dealer floors. Let me then turn to North America. In North America, the total market has a minus of 4%. What at the first look looks worrying, in North America, we see some potential, especially for the second half of the year. Why this?
First of all, we see dealer stock going down significantly in the U.S., so dealers have again appetite for product. Second is, especially for America, we have a very attractive product range in the, especially in off-road for the second half of the year, supported by an outstanding success in our motorsport activities. We just won the Motocross Outdoor Championship in the U.S. in the last weekend. So all this makes us look optimistic in the second half of the year. And also, the first signs of decreasing interest rates are super important for the American market, because most of the retailers are financed. And interest rate is one of the major elements of supporting retails or not.
Australia and New Zealand, we see the markets are down by 7%. This goes hand in hand with, I would say, the global economic development. Also the mining business, especially in Australia, is affected from that. So therefore, this development was foreseeable. Other than in India, India is booming. The relevant market is up by 16%, and we have to make sure that we can utilize that. Next slide, please. So motorcycle unit sales, just briefly. When we compare 2023 to 2024, you see a significant reduction in wholesales. This, I would say, is part of the strategy, of the restructuring strategy, because we had to bring our dealer inventories down, what we really successfully did. We almost decreased dealer inventory by 30,000 units.
And, of course, this we had to reduce supply, especially with KTM and Husqvarna, we had minus 25% and minus 18%. On the other side, I was mentioning before that the market was driven in Europe by Chinese products. We took over the distribution for our—from our joint venture partner of CFMOTO for their products in most of the regions in Europe. And, together with the new acquisition, MV Agusta, we have a plus of 208%. In absolute figures, this means we have sold 4,200 CFMOTOs in the first half year and 2,600 MV Agusta, what is basically the volume of the MV Agusta sales of the total year of last year. So we already have achieved that by half year.
These two brands will drive growth also in the second half of the year. And when we take a look on the regional split, then you see it in half year, 2023, North America was accounting for 26% of the sales. This year, 21%. And this, I think, shows clearly where the potential for the second half of the year is seen from us. Next slide, please. Thank you. Working capital on a high level. Yes, this is, of course, still the case, because our focus was in the first half year, to stabilize or reduce dealer inventory, what we have successfully done. Now, in the second half of the year, we will significantly reduce the inventory in our warehouses, due to the massive production cuts that we have initiated.
On the other side, even if we have brought dealer stock down, we still have some challenges with that because we have to finance the dealers. We have to help them to dive through this to this challenging period and market environment. And of course, therefore, we need to extend dealer payment terms and also support the interest rates with higher discounts. These are more or less the situation that we have facing in the first half year and what finally led to these unpleasant results. On the other side, I would say we are basically on track with the restructuring. MV Agusta integration is running according plan.
Introduction of CFMOTO is according to plan, and with the key brands, KTM, Husqvarna and GASGAS, we took the measures to really get out of this situation together with our dealers, because the dealers are our commercial backbone, and therefore, we have to take care for them and look after them. Next, please. I think Stefan is-
Ladies and gentlemen, we temporarily lost connection with the video conference.
Now-
The speakers are now reconnected.
Now we can hear you.
Please go ahead.
Yes, we heard it. Go ahead, we can hear you. Hubert, [Foreign language] ?
Yes, I can hear you. So, bicycles-[crosstalk] Yes. I think, Stefan, you wanted to-
Okay, then let's jump on the market environment for the bicycle. Yeah, to this slide. As I already mentioned in the beginning, that our main market for the bicycle, it's basically Central Europe or the German speaking world, the DACH area. It's the most affected one. Due to the hype in throughout Corona, we have a total overloaded supply chain from the supplier to the dealer. The demand for bicycles skyrocketed during Coronavirus, and it came down in the years before. So basically, it's a reduction of around 15-20% less than throughout Corona, which was around 2019, 2020. So the inventories reached record levels. Still, we calculated around a year's volume is still in the pipeline, so it takes another year to come down.
Reduction of inventories to normal level is still ongoing, and its logical consequence is the pressure of selling prices. What are the restructuring measurements, what we are doing here? Let's jump on that. If we jump next one. First of all, we have clearly reshaped our strategy, not mass market. We are focusing on our main motorcycle brands, GASGAS and Husqvarna, and on the high end, in the bicycle, we kept Felt.
In the Felt, we involved very dedicated, experienced entrepreneurs with a shareholding of around 30%. And on Raymon, we were able to sell it throughout last year. It's completed the sale of Raymon, and the restructuring should be completed on Felt already, earlier than expected, in end of 2024. Felt is already in a positive shape, in a very positive one, and the high inventory level on Husqvarna and GASGAS will take another year to come down to a normal level. Let's jump on the results from the first half year. Fritz, please.
Yep. Good afternoon, also from my side. You can see on this page the revenue and gross profit development in comparison last half year compared with the first half year 2024. You have heard the decrease of the market volumes, and you can see it here in the turnover figures, the reduction to around about EUR 1 billion turnover and a reduction of gross profit to EUR 67 million. The reason, especially for the reduction of the gross profit is on the one hand the lower volume, it's a product mix issue, but on the other hand also high discounts we have used in the first half year to maintain the structure of the dealer stocks that lead to that development.
Gross profit, the EBITDA, and we will see later on the split between the two sectors, bicycle and motorcycle. So a minus of EUR 102 million EBITDA, which is strongly influenced by the negative bicycle result, but also the motorcycle result is not at the same level as we have seen it last year because of that already discussed presented decrease of volumes on the one hand, and higher costs, i.e., the already mentioned discounts, but also production costs on the other side. If I go to the next slide, we see the EBIT, the EBITDA and EBIT and EBITDA development. So I start with the first half year, EBIT 24.
Minus EUR 195 million , negative result. It's a development which makes us not satisfied. That's clear. But the main driver, and I come back to that, what I have already mentioned, is the bicycle segment, which brought a loss of close to EUR 120 million in the first half year. Whereof there is round about EUR 70 million-EUR 75 million came from one-time effects, devaluation of stocks and pipeline effects, which put the result in such a high negative area.
The free cash flow is following the development of the EBIT and EBITDA, as we have seen with minus EUR 650 million , and at the end of the day, this led to a net debt figure of EUR 1.4 billion , net debt. This is, so to say, I think the biggest challenge we have. The one issue is the lower volumes we are selling, the increased cost, but on the other hand, the biggest challenge we have is the high working capital and, as a consequence, the high net debt.
And this is a sector where we are working very hard to reduce this figure again, because this is a development which is caused, on the one hand, by a high stock volume in our books, but also, we'll say, relatively high volume in the dealer sector. And we are supporting our dealers because the dealers are working on the front end, and they are responsible for the retail business. And so it's our duty to support them however with whatever is possible to do their job, and this costs us that at the end of the day, a high net debt figure.
So jumping to the next slide, you see the split into motorcycles and bicycles. And starting with the motorcycle business with a turnover of around about close to EUR 1 billion , and an EBIT of -78, it's a negative EBIT margin. This is caused on the one hand by the low volume I already mentioned, but also the product mix. The first half year is seasonally costly, always the challenging half year. The second half year, because of the product structure and the product portfolio, is the better one. We have seen this, I would say, regularly during the last years, so we expect that I go some slides forward.
We expect a much better second half year in the motorcycle business at the end of the day. The bicycle result 2024 is a restructuring case. So, we expect that, with that restructuring, stock-wise, it will needs two years' time, but result-wise, we will do the restructuring in 2024. And this is the reason for the relatively high negative EBIT of EUR 117 million in the first half year 2024. And looking to the net debt, you can see that, we have a net debt of around about EUR 300 million in the bicycle segment. This is cost to the stocks.
We have to reduce, and we will reduce within this and next years, theoretically, so that we can start with our new strategy, focus on lower volumes, on high-margin products. You see the EUR 300 million net debt, which is financed by the motorcycle business. In the other, you can see the consolidation effect at the end of the day. This is not, this is nothing else, the EUR 264 million, then the consolidation of the intercompany financing between the motorcycles and the bicycles.
But at the end of the day, end of next year, we expect to be on a very, in comparison with the actual figures, on a much lower level of net debt in the bicycle business, which will support also the motorcycling net debt. So that we come back to, I would say, a normal scenario, which is forecast for end of 2025. The result development is a development, I said it very clear, is not satisfactory. But the good news is that we have a very stable financing structure. We have, in our financing strategy, we followed a very long-term-oriented strategy.
That means that the necessary reserves, i.e., on the one hand, cash, but also credit lines, are given to finance this stressed year 2024, but also 2025, so that on this side, we have a stable situation. You see on the one hand the structure of the net debt. This is financial debt of close to EUR 1.5 billion . The biggest portion are promissory note loans and private placements. That's similar financing like promissory notes of around about EUR 600 million and two hundred million EIB loans.
That means EUR800 million are very long-term oriented, with a duration of up to 10 years when we took that financing tools, and this helps us in that actual situation, that on the financial side, we are stable. We can realize that cost-cutting program, that stock reduction program, which was also reported by Stefan here. And looking at the maturity profile, we don't have any significant repayment in 2024. In 2025, we are talking about the repayment of EUR 136 million , and these repayments are well covered by the positive cash flow we expect because that reduction I mentioned before, the reduction plan for the working capital is a two years program.
It's stock reduction on the one hand, but also a reduction of receivables out of the dealer financing support. This will give us enough cash flow potential to do the refinancing of the 2025 maturity, but also 2026, of around about 250 million EUR in total for these two years. So, on the financing side, we see a very stable situation, and this is, I think, a very important base to do the best on the restructuring programs. Is it cost cutting? Is it a new setup of processes in the product development to get again leaner and quicker, as we have been in the past? So the next slide, you see the share development.
Yeah, in that, I take it, because as main shareholder, together with Bajaj, we are holding 74%. Yeah, it's a disappointment, but it's reflecting what in the situation where we are. So assume it's getting better. Well, I see a certain potential, but currently, it's a tough environment, and that, it is how it is. We have a free float of 26%, so the 74% are facing the same painful situation. But, you can trust me, we are on the forefront to improve that. So that's on the share price situation. So it's just as on our, I would say, ongoing transformation, restructuring program, maybe some headlines. As I already said, on the cost management, it's one of the most important short-term activities.
We have, as I already said, by the end of the year, for sure, we have in total more than one thousand people less, or employees less, which is ending up for the next year, at least EUR 70 million-EUR 75 million savings. Secondly, all other savings, even in this year, we are also expecting a serious double-digit million EUR savings. That's clear, then clear focus on our premium strategy, maintaining, enforcing and restructuring the KTM brand. That's the main focus. What's helping us that, the strategic-wise, right decision to take over majority in MV Agusta, to let the resurrection process in the right way. It's doing good, yeah, so the integration and restructuring program in MV is running well.
And the tougher thing is restructuring the bicycle, coming back to a profitable premium bicycle division, which has a different size what we had in mind throughout Corona. That's clear, but afterwards, you're always more clever, but now let's do our homework. It is as it is, and back on stage as a person, and I will lead it. So that's on the transformation process, on the outlook. Fritz, please-[crosstalk] Yeah. support me.
To sum it up, sorry, this was one slide too much. We can confirm the guidance. We published with the last information. We expect for the second half year significantly better result than in the first half year. That's clear on the one hand. I explained that the motorcycle result is a seasonally influenced result, and because of that, better product mix and the higher margins, especially in the off-road segment we are producing and selling in the second half year, we expect a clear positive result in the motorcycle segment. The bicycle segment, we expect only a small loss for the second half year out of the operations. At the end of the day, for the motorcycle, we see a slightly positive result.
In the bicycle, we confirm the EBIT between EUR 110 million and EUR 130 million for the total year. The revenue will decline between 10% and 15%. Also, this range can be, from today's point of view, be confirmed. And the working capital and net debt will remain on a high level. We will reduce the number between EUR 200 million and EUR 250 million around about. That means we see the first reduction already in the second half year. The next portion will come next year. Just to give you a feeling, we are talking now a year-end 2024 of about 25% net working capital in comparison with revenues.
The target I see round about in a region of round about 15%. So you can see that the additional potential for 2025 is to be expected on that side, that the working capital and net debt will be reduced in a second step, also in a very significant way to a normalized level. The good message I already mentioned before, we have a solid funding structure. So from this side, we are very stable and can go our way as we plan it to optimize the next year's strategy to come back on track. Okay. This was the last slide-[crosstalk] So- of our presentation.
So we are ready for Q&A.
Yep.
We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on the touch-tone telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Questioners on the phone, I request you to use only handsets and eventually turn off the volume from the webcast. Anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. Our first question comes from the line of Christian Arnold, Stifel. Please go ahead.
Yes, hello, everybody. Just a follow-up question on your last comment, Mr. Roithner. Reduction of EUR 250 million you expect for 2024, right? So we can expect a net debt position by year-end 2024 of around EUR 1.2 billion. That's the target you have. And then looking into 2025, you are looking for net debt position being below EUR 1 billion?
I think it will be at the end of the day from the direction it should go this way. This is clear, you know, our structure in the past. For sure, we have to finance the losses in between, but this is the direction which we are going, without confirming now any figure, because we are in the phase of setting up the plan for next year, so I don't want to give a strong indication for next year's final figures, but trend-wise, it will go in this direction because this is the biggest burden we have at the moment. This is the high stock.
This is the support from the dealer network, and with the measures, we already started, especially the reduction of the product volumes by around about minus 50 thousand-60 thousand units. And also in 2025, the number will stay on a lower level. So as a consequence, the net working capital, the channels will be reduced. Is it their own stock on the one hand? Is it the dealer stock and the necessary dealer financing, therefore, on the other hand, and that will lead to that development. So the path is very clear for us, and this is the task. It's a reset we are doing.
On the one hand, as Mr. Pierer explained, it's a very tough cost-cutting program, you know, that more than ten years of success led to too complicated structures, too high costs at the end of the day, and we have to use, and we use that opportunity now to realize that cost-cutting program to lean the management structure. It's not only cutting running costs, it's also structure-wise a change. Is it in the administration? Is it in the product development processes? We try to get back where we have been in the past, leaner and quicker. And this is the base for future progress and future positive results at the end of the day.
And In addition to that, basically, it's not our specific task. It's, I would say, a European task for the industry there. Because, after Corona and the de-globalization and all the conflicts what we have, the demand came down 10%-15%, yeah, compared to Corona time. That means cost-wise, we have increased in Europe. Labor costs between, especially in Germany, and also more than 15%-20%. And, so that means you have to adjust and to cut down from, I would say, a level of 2017, 2018. Yeah, and that's, yeah, it's a real transformation for the whole industry in Europe. Because, competition comes from China, even in our segment, in motorcycle.
You have seen in Europe, we got an increase of the total market, which is mainly, if you look in detail, it's coming from very price-wise, aggressive Chinese competitors, especially in Italy and France. Fortunately, we have done the right strategic decision to set up an, I would say, a joint venture and a close relationship with CFMOTO, one of the Chinese leading brands, so that is helping us in Europe. But yeah, on the other hand, if you look on the yearly working time in Europe, we have 1500 hours net.
If I look to China, it's 2550 hours , or in China, in India, at our joint venture with Bajaj, it's the same figure. That means 50% more, and meanwhile, China is at least on the same level status that we are. So don't get scared, because that's the reality. And if you wanna compete against, you have to do really tough things and, yeah, to stay very agile.
Again, as mentioned, beside the cost side, the reduction of volumes in the stock, is it on the dealer floor? Is it on in our own stocks? This will help us to come back to healthy relations regarding net working capital. 25% roundabout, we expect that the end is too high. It will be a double-digit figure. That will be the case, but so in a normal scenario, it should be between 14%-15%. And you can do your own calculation, what does this mean? This will lead to reduced net working capital and reduced net debt at the end of the day. In comparison with the past, we had to finance, especially the losses in the bicycle.
That's the case, but the cash flows will come back again in normal scenarios. So to say, starting 2025, 2026, and we see on the long-term run, again, at 2024, 2025, are years of lower revenues. That's a decision we took very seriously and very consequent. But at the end of the day, KTM can grow, but it's not growing alone. We will grow in high margin segments, and this is the main focus of future strategy, of the future strategy approach.
In addition to that, what we did in the right time, we set up our R&D and the strategic partnership in China and India. So the 790cc or 800 cc engine, even the 950cc , the new one, we are doing that program in the future, mainly for the mass market in China. And the new under developed under developing procedure, the 500 cc twin in India, it's also becoming a global product for the KTM. So in that, we have already the right, I would say, supply structure in the right areas, and the right assembling footprints. And in addition, in Europe or in also, we are focusing mainly on the premium end, the thirteen hundred bikes and on off-road. Because off-road, it's a specifically European product with the supply chain, what we have here in Austria, in Europe.
What is also important to mention is that it's necessary and then very important that the aging of the stocks are in a healthy structure, and this is the case. So on this, we are working the reduction, for sure, the quicker, the better, but we have to be patient, to reduce step by step. But parallel to that reduction, also, this aging structure has to be a stable and healthy one. This is the second important task we have to follow, and this we support with discount programs, so that the aging not only 2024, but also 2025, stays in a very good shape.
Question on the inventories. I mean, they also went up at your side as well as at the dealer side, and you wanna decrease the inventories. So in the balance sheet, the EUR 938 million, here we are just talking about your inventories, right?
Yes.
your place. And you wanna reduce that significantly, on the back of your production decline plans. Is that enough? Because the dealers' network still have above average inventories, right? So how easy is actually to reduce your inventories? Is it just because of-
May I maybe answer this question?
Sure. Hubert, please.
The measures. Yes, the measures that we put in place in terms of volume or production cuts are aligned with exactly the expectations that we have in wholesales for the rest of the year. So therefore, there is a plan behind, and I would say we did a radical really radical cut in production volume. So therefore, our stock decline is for sure a realistic one. On dealer level, I would like to mention that we decreased more than 20,000 units in dealer stock during the course of the year. And 120,000, giving the product range, the number of products and dealers that we have is, I would say, absolutely normal figure.
We will not see less than 120,000 in the future, because then I think the dealers are getting rather under stocked. The main thing is the quality and the aging of the stock, so Fritz was already referring to that. And you can expect an increasing dealer stock for sure by the end of the year again, because this is a normal development that we will see towards year-end. So at the moment, dealer stock is, I would say, in a good condition. It was really expensive to bring it there, as you can see in the financial figures. But, as I was saying before, we have to make sure that we go together with our dealers through this challenging situation, because the dealers are the backbone of our business, and therefore, we have to make them survive.
And two last questions-
The stock reduction, as Hubert mentioned. This is not the wishful thinking we are doing here. So we have a clear program how to feed the market, how to sell the products out of their own stock. And the reduction, at the end of the day, will lead to a reduction down to 50% of the half year's stock volume at the end of the day, by the year-end. So this is what we expect, and this is what is the plan, and this is not, as I mentioned before, it's not the target we have to reach. It's the consequence of a clear program we are following.
Okay. On the interest expenses, you had EUR 51.5 million in the first half. Is that something, same size we can expect for the second half?
The second half year will be similar to the first half year, so it will be, for sure, the net debt will be reduced, so we, at the end of the day, the interest costs will be reduced a little bit. On the other hand, so we see, in the one or the other credit facility, an increase of margin, but at the end of the day, we have to expect, so we are around about EUR 45 million interest in the first half year, and we expect a similar figure for the second half year.
Okay, and on the taxes, you had a tax credit actually of EUR 65 million in the first half. Is that also something we can calculate with going forward, or is that something extraordinary here?
No, it's at the end of the day. This is nothing else than deferred taxes coming out of the negative result. And so, we are not following a duplication of the losses in the second half year, so the taxes will follow the net result at the end of the day. And as I said before, the motorcycle segment will be much better, and we will turn the total result into a positive figure. We see a slightly remaining loss on the bicycle, up to EUR 120 million-EUR 130 million, however. So that figure will follow the net result at the end of the day.
Okay. Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from the line of Miro Zuzak, JMS. Please go ahead.
Yes, hi. Thank you for taking my question. Can you hear me?
Yes.
Yes, we can hear you.
Okay. Hello, everybody. I have a couple of questions.
Hello.
Shall I take them one by one, or shall I just list them up? You can-
Maybe one by one, then it's more effective. Or-
Okay.[crosstalk] Let's start with- So the first one is an easy one that I just realized that the stated H1 2023 unit sales, they have been revised down a bit. So in the H1 report last year, they were a bit higher. Could you please remind me? There probably was some kind of deconsolidation happening or so, just a couple of thousand, it was lower.
Yeah, it's... I would expect that this, coming out of a deconsolidation of, maybe from the bicycle sector. But, we can have a closer look to that and, get back with you.
Hubert, Hubert, Hubert. This, we deducted the e-scooters from the last half-year figure.[crosstalk] Yeah. That's the reason why.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay. Thank you. Then the second one would be on the COGS line. I read in the presentation that you had, like, a EUR 65 million charge from the bicycle restructuring. And the question I have, is this the only special charge that you have in this line? Because I just see in terms of, or relative to sales, it went up still, if I correct for the EUR 65 million, by quite a large degree. I could imagine that there were additional one-off charges.
No. Sorry. No.
No?
No, no.
Sorry, was it the end already?
On which? This is on, yeah.
On which page? That's the COGS figure on the, in your P&L, like the cost of goods sold. EUR 940.2, and in the presentation, it's. Well, I would have to look it up again, but it's-
It's so the reason for this is the restructuring, the one-time effect of the restructuring in the bicycle business of EUR 65 million-EUR 70 million . This is the one-time valuation effect.
Was there any other one-time effect in the cost of sales?
No. No, we don't see-[crosstalk] Right. We don't see any evaluation issues on the motorcycle business, neither in the first half year nor in the second half year, and also in the second half year, for the bicycle segment, we don't see further needs for such evaluation losses.
Okay. The next question would be on your guidance.
Yeah.
The - 10 to -15. What I can see is that the comparison base will be much easier in H2 compared to H1. But still, like, even the - 15 seems to be quite a stretch against the backdrop what currently happens in the market, mainly in the U.S. market.
Yeah, this goes without saying. This will be a challenge, and it is everything else than easy. But also we analyzed it really in detail, and we still believe in it. Even though we know that we have to give it a really heavy push in the American market, in the U.S. market especially. because there we see the potential. And as I was mentioning earlier in my presentation, when you see also the regional split, then you see that there is space. There is also dealer stock were significantly down in the U.S. So in combination with what we consider as a very attractive product line, and hopefully less uncertainty after the elections, we still believe in that we can achieve that.
Okay.
Secondly, what were at first spontaneous effect. It's that the Fed announced that the interest rate will come down in September. That is also a message for the consumer confidence. So that in U.S., we have a serious hope.
Okay, and do you already see that as well, you know, from your dealers? Do you see the signs? I mean, everybody understands that lower interest rates are supportive-
Yeah, I think- [crosstalk]But do you already see, like, a pickup in- Did it last week. So I'm going to India tomorrow, so so far, Hubert, we are not in that close contact, but it's my personal experience and expectation. Interest rate is U.S. market is driven by retail financing. Everything is retail financed, even down to your single item. And that is a big help. Every-
What is also, [crosstalk]0.5% is a big help. For us, yeah, what for us is a good indicator is the pre-orders of the dealers. [crosstalk]Yeah. They really look good. If therefore we see that the dealers have appetite for product. If you take a look on the measures that we took in, especially for the American market, then you see that they were really tough, they were hard. They were to really get confidence of the dealers back and see that they've not left them alone, and therefore, yeah, what can I say? It's everything else than a walk in the park, but we believe in it.
Good. I can also see from the numbers that you have presented, that the average price per vehicle actually still went up versus last year. Is this... Is it fair to assume that you don't reduce prices?
We did not reduce prices at all. We supported sales by promotions, so supported financing costs, supported stocking costs, but the prices, we did not reduce.
Okay, good. Then the next one would be, again, regarding the P&L. All the cost lines, basically selling, and also G&A, they were a bit worse compared to last year. I mean, R&D was a bit down, fair enough, but the other ones, especially selling and racing, was up by quite a large degree, despite the restructuring efforts that you basically undertook already during H1. Was there any one-time effect in the selling and racing, or was it really-
Maybe-
Because of the down payment?
You explaining selling.
So selling is. Of course, in selling, you see also a part of sales promotions, yeah? And they also shown in that cost on the other side. Yes, racing for sure, it took some breaking time to bring the costs there because you have programs fixed and agreed with teams and et cetera. But I can confirm to you that already by the end of this year, we will see a significant cost saving programs in racing, especially for next year, even more. And with bringing demand and offer in balance again, that means producing the right products in the right quantities, we will also see significant cost reductions in selling.
On racing-
Okay, and-
You are, in the current season, you're running existing contracts and and existing series. So to reduce costs, short-term in racing is already based on a yearly basis. So for the next year, we have cost savings between EUR 10 million and EUR 15 million in that.
Only in racing, yeah?
Only in racing.
Okay, and so I can infer that basically, the improvement in the result will basically come through the better, like, an improvement in your COGS, compared to the sales line. This is the main driver, basically, of your-
It's a product, it's a product mix issue. We sell in the second half year more off-road models, and the off-road models, you know, that the off-road has the highest product margins, and this is the reason why the result is so much better than in the first half year. Together with the first cost effects we will see in the second half year, we will come to that positive result in the H2 in the motorcycle business.
Okay. Yeah, very clear. And then maybe another one regarding the high net debt, which you had mentioned in the presentation, the EUR 1.4 billion, and question about covenants and the potential capital injection. Is this a topic? For you, I mean, or what would you think would be a level where you would ask the market for new capital?
Yeah, you have to, if you look to the equity ratio, the equity ratio is much lower than in the past. But this is strongly caused by the balance sheet total figure. So that means with reduction of the working capital and net debt, the EBIT, the equity ratio will get better again. For sure, as I mentioned, so the loss financing in the bicycle segment, that costs equity. But at the end of the day, so we will come back in future, again in positive results, and we will build up equity again. This is the one issue. The second issue is that we are especially looking to our bonded loan structure.
There are no covenants agreed. We will increase the cost by 50 basis points because of covenants, but we have no cancellation covenants agreed on. In the European Investment Bank financing, we are discussing the long-term orientation, the long-term development, and also in that area, we see no covenant breach issue. That means that this is the reason why I said that the good news under this stressed situation is that the financing is a stable one, and this was where we have had a very strong focus in the past. On the one hand, structuring the financing in a long-term way, which gives the company stability.
It was not foreseen that we are in that stressed situation now, but this is at the end of the day a cycle has two directions. It is ten, twelve, fourteen years, it went up, now it is going down, and we have set up the base for that development also to go through it. At the end of the day, this is the base for future positive developments.
Good. Um-
I have to say, covenants are no issue. Everything is under control.
Okay, good. Two last questions, maybe quick ones. You have a lot of capitalized R&D on the balance sheet?
Yes.
Is there any reason to assume that there will be some kind of impairment to this at the end of the year because of the-
No
- let's say, the market?
We have done-
Or do it-
No. We have minor capitalized development costs on the bicycle segment. They are written off. This is done in the first half year. In the motorcycle segment, we see no need therefore, also not in the second half.
Okay.
On the bicycle, we don't have activated R&D costs. They're already written down.
Okay, and the last one, Triumph announced the motocross for roughly 10K price. That's 10K, that's roughly 20% below your price. Any reason to be afraid of Triumph from your point of view?
No.
No.
Okay, that was a clear one. I would go back into-
No, we.
Thank you.
They did, for about two and a half years, a very nice copy of our current existing, but next year replaced Motocross bike, so they're always a generation behind.
Okay.
If you look on the racing, who is leading? It's just the KTM, the Husqvarna, and in some segment, the Honda. So it... Just yesterday or on Saturday, we won the outdoors in the U.S. So back on track.
Congratulations.
Where we're coming from. Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
We have a question coming from `the line of Marc Bossard, [BDHE] . Please go ahead.
Yes, good morning, gentlemen. I would have only two questions, basically, since many have been asked already. The first one would be in terms of technological obsolescence. Can you remind us of the cycles that you see in off-road and road bikes? Is this like two, three-year cycles, like in the past? Or have the cycles kind of fastened because of innovations and things that would make the existing net working capital or dealers kind of obsolete or partially obsolete? And then the second question would be. Or do you want to answer this question, maybe?
On the off-road side, I expect it will stay. Maybe due to the global pressure, that maybe is a little bit extending, but it's not becoming shorter. On the street, for sure, we expect a longer life cycle, because the huge demand on the different technologies, especially on high-end street bikes, it needs a longer life cycle. It's not just an t hat's my personal expectation. So off-road stays as it is, a little bit slightly longer, depending on the regions, but on street, I expect an extension.
What we are doing is, so with that lean program lean target in the development processes, we want to get quicker again. We have been quicker in the past, so that we can react to market developments in a quicker way, and it's not the reason to speed up. The target is to be better than our competitors. And this was a big advantage, and it was be in the past of KTM, and this should be won back again. That's the reason why we are working hard also on the development processes. But it's not the need because of the reduced life cycles of the products.
Marc, maybe as information, what we are more or less for. So anyway, we are strategy-wise doing the number or the size of R&D in the headquarters will come down due to nearshoring. We have a very efficient operation in Barcelona, where the labor costs are 25% less than we have here in Austria. And in Barcelona, in Spain, on Friday, they are still at work. I don't talk about work-life balance here in Austria or Germany, maybe in Switzerland. So that's one thing. And secondly, we have a middle class in China. We are finally. We are just doing project steering.
We make the concept, we make the project management, but the detailed construct, engineering is done in China, and similar with the new 500 platform in India. So currently, we have around, in total, 800, still here in Austria. If you sit together in two years' time, maybe it's 200 less, but don't, please don't communicate it, but that's real, the real story, what we have to do in Europe.
And this will lead, at the end of the day, so this development in the product development cost structure. This will lead to reduced CapEx figure-
Yeah
- in the past, so in relation to turnover, because we
In the future.
So, in the future, because getting quicker, getting cheaper, this is the target.
Yeah.
And this will lead to reduced, for the same product, for the same product quality, reduced CapEx figure, and so that relation CapEx to turnover will get better again in future. This is the main focus we have on the product development sector.
Okay. My second question will be about market shares. We haven't really heard a lot about market share developments. I think lately you had said that in the U.S., you had lost some market shares again. Can you maybe update us on that context for the different continents? And-
Hubert, please.
Yes. Look, our target, and this was also communicated, was to maintain a double-digit market share. When it comes to markets, you have two impacts. The one is certainly the market size. When the market size is going down, you have a lot of movement in, also in market share, but the main thing are the number of market participants. And here, we have seen a tremendous change over the last years, because some Chinese makers were coming, other manufacturers were expanding into segments where we have been in, like, you know, Triumph in Motocross, even if the numbers are very low, but there's a lot of movement in the market itself.
Nevertheless, we won't give in, and we are keen to maintain this double-digit market share in the major regions, especially in Europe and also in the United States, but market share growth is something that you eventually have to buy for a really high price, and this is not what we want, yeah? Of course, we want to have this double-digit market share, but the main thing for us is to be premium with the brands that we have in the portfolio, especially with Husqvarna, with KTM, with Husqvarna and MV Agusta. With GASGAS and CFMOTO, we go a little bit different direction, but we still call it entry premium. Therefore, the focus is on maintaining that strategy and going back to really good margins and earnings.
Maybe one last question. Thank you very much, Hubert. Concerning the participation in the MotoGP circus, can you remind us of your stake that you have in there and how that would be valued today? I mean, taking current kind of TV streaming revenues and other measures, where would that stake be valued at?
So the direct media value is more than EUR 100 million. And indirect, when you consider all the social media clicks and everything, is more than EUR 400 million. Still with considering a gross investment of EUR 70 million, it pays off. On the other side, we're not satisfied with the results at the moment. There are a handful of Ducatis still ahead of us, and we want to change that because this would, of course, improve significantly the media value again. Because when you finish in the top three and you're part of that podium ceremony, if you're part of the interviews, post-race interviews, et cetera, et cetera, you have a completely different awareness. Also, for the future, we have a strategy change.
Everything in connection with high-end motorsport will be executed by KTM. So therefore, we will step out with the brand GASGAS from MotoGP by next year, and we'll have four KTMs on the grid. Same in other high-end motorsport activities like American Supercross and MXGP Motocross World Championship. So we will refocus on what the brands are standing for, and KTM with the Ready to Race brand content, with its brand attributes, we consider is the right brand to do high-end racing activities. Nevertheless, of course, we will do some off-road racing activities still with Husqvarna and GASGAS, but with both brands, we will step out of road racing.
Okay, thank you very much. Very interesting.
So refocusing is also-
So meet each other in a week's time. Okay. Thank you, gentlemen.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
That was the last question for today. Gentlemen, back to you for any closing remarks.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Cool.
In a week's time, we are on tour in Zurich, in Switzerland, and to have some one or the other investor call. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Bye-bye.