Bajaj Mobility AG (BMAG) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Half Year Results 2023 Conference Call and Live Webcast. I am Elise, the chorus call operator. [Operator Instructions] At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Mr. Stefan Pierer, CEO.

Thank you very much. Good morning to everybody. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of our management team, Hubert Trunkenpolz, Viktor Sigl and myself, we would like to inform you about the first half year '23. Let's touch, I would say, in beginning the highlights. First of all, we are very proud that we could increase our revenues another 20%, it's EUR 1.3 billion. It's mainly driven on model mix, I would say, yes. So it was very good. We are also very happy and very proud that we could increase slightly the operating result to almost EUR 97 million despite of a huge challenge on the bicycles segment, which in Enduro Racing, it's called Last Man Standing. So it started and it will go on, but we could handle it so far in a very professional way. The total sales of our 2-wheelers increased by 16% to up to 230,000 units. And coming from last year's difficulties on market shares, we could bounce back, especially in our developed markets, U.S. and Europe to a double-digit market share gain. That was also became for the record revenue. Then on the strategic side, we were able to strengthen on deepening our joint venture with CFMOTO, our Chinese partner. The most important thing we take care in the future for the distribution for CFMOTO products in whole Europe. It's very important for us. Secondly, we increased or deepened the cooperation for additional products for production in China. And due to that commitment, CFMOTO also increased the participation up to 2%. Our new KTM distribution headquarter in California and North America was done in March. And just to name it, we had a very good dividend in the first half year based on the last year's very outstanding result. It was a EUR 2 per share. And I think the most important to all the geopolitical and other issues and everybody is looking that we still stick on our guidance. So we see a positive outlook because based -- if we change to the next page, you see our 30-year track record. So we know exactly how to handle crisis. It doesn't matter if it's the financial crisis, corona or whatever. And we expect for sure for the next year recession, and that's this environment where we are used to. So that's basically the message. We are driven on 4 pillars on our success, it's globalization, it's clear. We are doing more than 60% meanwhile outside of Europe. We are -- in total, we're employing more than 6,000 people. So people and our, we call it, the Orange Family is the most important experience part of that. We are driven by innovation. We have a very high R&D ratio, which is around 8%. And finally, to run a premium pricing strategy, you need brands, and meanwhile, we have a couple of them. You can see it on the bottom line. And that leads me to the final structure, how we are structurized currently. The biggest part still is the motorcycle with more than 4,300 employees. Already, we call it New Mobility, the e-bicycles division. We employ 180 people. It is just marketing and sales. Then the design, R&D, digitalization. In total, we're employing 1,400 people. And just to make a first glance about Motorsport, which is a very important marketing instrument for us, it's a total size of 260 people. They are running all the different motorcycle activities, motorcycle racing globally. I would like to hand over to Hubert to go deeper in the sales.

Yes. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm happy to give you a breakdown how this 230,000 powered 2-wheelers are splitted into. So the majority of course were 190,293 motorcycle sales, which distributed in the regions we will see later. On top of this 190,000 motorcycles, we also sold 40,000 e-bikes. And on top of that, which we do not consider as powered 2-wheelers, 31,000 bio-bikes or non-e-bicycles, which also contributed to the overall sales figures. When we take a look on the motorcycle sales, out of this 190,000, the majority or a big part was also distributed via Bajaj in Indonesia. It's 32,624 which are coming on top because they are not in our consolidation. The motorcycle wholesales, when we talk about the regions, then we see that we had 2 regions where we have a massive growth. Europe with a plus of 25% or 15,000 units was by far the strongest growing region worldwide, followed by North America with a growth of 13% or 5,783 units. Europe therefore is the biggest region, followed by North America. India had a very, very strong comeback after the corona crisis where the market suffered a lot with a plus of 81% or 14,000, so almost a doubling of the wholesales figures in India. Latin America was on the other side, suffering compared to the previous year. This has to do with some reorganization in our distributor structure, especially in Colombia and in Brazil, so where we are building up new distribution set-ups. The other regions with Asia is, I would say, with minus 26% as expected. Australia and New Zealand, quite flat. And Africa, which is a very small market and region for us with 1,214 sales. When we take a look on the bicycle wholesales, even the market is extremely challenging and the environment is, I would say, more than difficult. We increased the wholesales by 39% compared to the previous year -- previous half year. And Europe as well is of course by far the biggest region and also the fastest-growing region with a plus of 40%. And North America is also where we just entered into the market. I think we had also considering the market environment, a pretty good start there. And what is also worth to mention, you can see that the non-e-bikes, the bio-bicycles are playing a very important roles with sale of 31,000 units. So this is reflecting a general trend that we see that especially the road racing bike or [ carver ] bikes have a very strong comeback. And we are happy that we have withheld also a brand which is carrying respective models in the model range. When we then take a look on another very important number, this is the number of dealers in our dealer network. So currently we have a dealer network of 4,600 motorcycle dealers. We were adding 95 MV Agusta dealers in the last couple of months and already 104 CFMOTO dealers. We took over the distribution for CFMOTO in the most relevant markets in Europe already with the plan to cover whole Europe very soon. We have also, I would say, the strongest motorcycle dealer network of all European manufacturers in North America with 930 dealers. And when we take a look on the bicycle dealers, you will also see that from starting 2021 and having a look now on 2023, we almost doubled the number of dealers. And with just at the beginning because still the target is to end up with 5,000 motorcycle dealers and 5,000 bicycle dealers, out of which 2,000 should be combined motorcycles and e-bicycle dealers. And this is also reflecting the general part because already we have 334 of these so-called combined dealers. When we take a look on the next page, as Stefan Pierer was already mentioning, we had a strong comeback in gaining market shares. We are again double-digit in Europe with a market share of more than 10% again. In the United States, we have the market share of almost 13%, 12.6%. And this is considering that both regions, the total markets were growing and we could outperform the market in the first half year is a very positive sign that our retail is working very well. And I would say, dealer inventories so far is on a very solid and healthy number. So the development of market shares was a very positive one. When we take a look on the new mobility sales, we have still an estimate of a bicycle market volume of 6 million in Europe. We stick to that. Even knowing that the current environment is, as I was already mentioning, a very challenging one. It's especially for OEMs, it's very tough times. So it's more or less we are overstocked as most of our competitors are. In our case, I would say, we are the best ones of the industry because we were very careful. We always were expecting a sharp consolidation in the bicycle industry, which is massively ongoing at the moment and will for sure continue into the next year. And then we expect that the level of discounts, which are at the moment standard in the industry to handle the inventories will also come back to normal to a normal level, but this will for sure take another almost a year. We expect this to happen in the second quarter of next year.

Strategic partnerships. I'll start with Bajaj, since 14 years our most important strategic alliance. We celebrated the 1 million production number in January already of KTM. This in 2 months, the launching programs for the new generation, 125 up to 390cc starts. So it's more or less finalized the new naked bike, the intruder bike, the adventure bike will come in the next couple of months so that this is a big step for the joint developments. And in addition, we also agreed to bring down to India the first twin cylinder, the existing 790 Duke. We reduced the displacement on 4 stroke to 650 and that gets industrialized in the next year. In addition to that, the Indian market, as Hubert has already mentioned, has bounced back. So it's in a good mood. And we are also discussing also strategic ways to support them also in the distribution. That's an ongoing discussion that will come in the next couple of months. So it goes on and Bajaj is the most important alliance. And the second biggest, I would say, second largest, I'll hand over to Hubert.

Yes, CFMOTO, our Chinese joint venture. We made some very, very big steps in terms of enforcing our partnership in the first quarter this year as we signed in a strategic partnership agreement covering industrialization development, distribution, marketing. So a very, very close cooperation, even though the Chinese motorcycle market is struggling a lot at the moment as well as the Chinese economy is not in the best shape, as we all know. We strongly believe in the Chinese motorcycle market on the long-term. And therefore, we also decided to increase the production capacity of our joint venture factory, this is so-called CKM, from currently 50,000 units to 100,000 units annual production capacity. As I said, we strongly believe in -- on the long-term in this region. And therefore, we are very happy that we could team up with CFMOTO in a closer way. This cooperation also now includes the distribution of CFMOTO products in Europe as well as, as I was already mentioning, and also further projects on the development side.

So Maxcom who is coming to our strategic partnership in the bicycles division, the joint venture with our partner in Bulgaria with Maxcom. As you know, we invested almost EUR 40 million in this JV. We started in July with the first operational activities connected to logistics services as well as inbound and outbound. The next step will be that we will install assembly lines to start also production in this joint venture. And with the target to transfer all assembly activities from our existing partner into this JV by mid of '26 latest. This joint venture should give us the possibility in strengthening the cooperation and especially to have assembly capacities under our control, considering the difficulties we faced in the supply chain over the past years. That leads us to the global production facilities, which we are running globally. Our home base in Austria Mattighofen in the first half year, we did 112,000 units in production. Then India, Pune, we also moved in a state of the new factory with Bajaj did 83,000 units in the first half more than the year before. China, we mentioned 8,800 in the first half year. It's rapidly growing. In our small trial production facility in Spain, we did 1,740. Bulgaria, Viktor mentioned, roughly around 60,000 e-bikes we produced in the first half year. So it's a very fruitful and very professional cooperation. And then we have our so-called CKD operations, Latin America, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, and our main facility in Philippines for the Asian markets to avoid import taxes. So that's the global footprint for production. If we jump to the brand collection, please Hubert.

Yes. Let's say, at the beginning, our brands are one of our pillars of success. And one of the secrets is that we understand ourselves as a house of brands meanwhile. And each of the brands has its own brand content, its own brand attributes and its own brand claim. So for KTM, we are the sport motorcycle brand in the group with the ready-to-race claim. Husqvarna is the pioneering brand, smart progressive dynamic for pioneers. The same stand for Husqvarna motorcycle counts also for Husqvarna e-bicycles. And also with GASGAS, the young brand in our portfolio, the same what stands for GASGAS motorcycles is the case for GASGAS e-bicycles. The latest brand in the portfolio is MV Agusta. As you might be aware, we took over 100% of the distribution activities and marketing activities of MV Agusta already. we have a 25.1% stake at the moment in MV Agusta S.p.A, which is the production company. Nevertheless, purchase and distribution and marketing are already 100% under our control. MV Agusta is the luxury Italian brand that we will develop over the coming years to -- on that level that the brand really deserves. With CFMOTO, we have a very important brand in the portfolio because it's the entry into the motorcycle categories. Also using technical platforms that we use all across the brands in the PIERER Mobility Group. Despite MV Agusta, because MV Agusta we stick to the technical base, which is used at the moment, this recently in the 4 cylinder engines. And we also will further develop this technology to the next level. Coming then to the bicycle brands, as I already was mentioning, Husqvarna and GASGAS stands for the same as the motorcycle in the motorcycle business. FELT is, I would say, maybe the most important brand in the future that we have in the bicycles portfolio. FELT will cover more or less most of the high-end segments in the bicycle industry, starting with road racing bikes, triathlon bikes, but also we will enter into the high-end mountain bikes with FELT, and FELT therefore, will be the fighting brand against track and specialized in the future. So MV Agusta, I was already mentioning, it's I would say, a lot of work in progress. We have already installed a small management team from our side in Italy, helping the Italian colleagues in the turnaround of the company. We get every month, I would say, more like into the company. And as we are keen that we think that this will take another 1.5 years until we have MV Agusta -- the restructuring finished in the most relevant parts of it.

Personnel. Coming to our fourth pillar, employees. I would like to mention that we were able to increase our staff by 226 employees in comparison with the year-end of '22. And when you compare it with the number by the end of June last year, we were able to increase our staff by 658 employees. We are very proud of that. We are investing a lot of in employer branding in positioning us as a very attractive company, a place to work. And in this program -- also our apprentices program is a very important one because this is the securance to have the availability of skilled workers in our company. At the moment, we have more than 200 apprentices in this program, in this education program. In September, additional 75 apprentices will start their education. And as I said, we are very proud of that. Also, we are a very young company. Our average age is 37 years old. So we are a very young company, a very dynamic company. And also our female share in comparison with our competitors in this industry of more than 1/4 of our total employees is a very high one. So finally, I would like to summarize the financials of the first half '23. As my colleagues noted before, we were able to increase our revenue by more than EUR 230 million, close to EUR 1.4 billion in total for the first half. We were also able to increase the total numbers in EBIT and EBITDA. Nevertheless, and you'll see this in the earnings, for sure, we have to support our dealers in regards of payment terms. We have to handle working capital, especially in the bicycle division. And this has an impact considering the increased interest rates over the last months on the total earnings number itself. Nevertheless, looking -- coming to the margins, EBITDA margin is more or less on the level of last year. And also EBIT margin is more or less on the level of last year, considering that we have to face, for sure, the increased costs, especially when you look on energy prices, raw material prices and please do not forget that we had also a huge increase of wages and salaries by the end of last year of close to 10%. When I split our revenues and earnings into the segments, motorcycles and bicycles, you'll see what we have presented before. We see a very strong performance in the motorcycle division where we were able to achieve a higher EBIT compared to the first half of last year of almost EUR 70 million. But -- this is the bottom in this chart, basically, business is a challenging one. We see a lot of turbulences compared -- in comparison with our competitors in this market. And we needed this money to support our dealers with additional discounts to support retail sales, which ended up at the bicycle segment, although we had -- we were able to increase revenues. EBIT was suffering in the first half. And coming -- looking into the future, the next second half year will be for sure a challenging one. A short look on the balance sheet. What I mentioned before, working capital is challenging because of the demand of our dealers for longer payment terms, considering the overall market conditions, and this has for sure an impact on our gearing ratio and our net debt. Nevertheless -- and this I think is the very positive issue on that. The free cash flow number is increasing or increased compared to the first half of last year. For sure, the first half in our company is considering the seasonality of the business, always a little bit difficult in regards of the free cash flow. But you saw it also last year, we were able to catch-up and show a very positive free cash flow number by the end of the year. So this is the free cash flow, I mentioned before. Just summarizing what I have reported, we put a lot of strength in improving our working capital and our capital employed in total. But nevertheless, free cash flow for the first half is also -- is a negative one. But compared to the free cash flow of last year, we increased it by EUR 50 million. So considering all what we have reported to you within the last 30 minutes, we have a guidance in the market, which means revenue growth of 6% to 10% for the whole year and the EBIT margin of 8% to 10% for the whole year. Considering the difficulties and the challenges in the second half, we stick to this guidance or no, knowing that for sure a challenging second half we are facing. But here we are optimistic that we can confirm this positive outlook for the whole year. Please note that we were covered by our brokers, Jefferies, Stifel and Vontobel. And this is the end of our presentation, and we would invite you and we are looking forward to your questions.

Our first question comes from the line of Christian Arnold with Stifel Schweiz AG.

So a question on the motorcycle development on Page 12. You showed us nicely that you achieved a very strong growth actually in the 3 largest markets you have, Europe, North America and India. A question on India. Is this the new run rate, so to say, so this 33,000 units in half year? Can we go for this kind of run rate also going forward? So 60,000 plus for the full year and also the coming years?

Yes, absolutely. And based on the launch of the new generation, we expect more than that because it's the last year of the old generation, you have to consider. And compared to the current model structure, we're adding on Enduro model. So we expect more than that.

Okay. And maybe looking already into H2 in terms of Europe and North America, you still see the same momentum here or do we see something different?

No, we don't see the same momentum because we had -- we have used momentum in the first half year and utilized it fully. But the second half year will be, for sure, a more challenging one. And we also will see a slowdown of the market dynamics. So what we have fortunately harvested in was very good sales figures and registration figures in the first half year. But this gives us the cushion also to stick to general positive outlook, but the second half year will not be as good as the first half year.

Okay. And then maybe on Asia, a smaller market, but there you saw a decline. I believe that's very much related to China, if that is correct? And yes, what's your view on China for the second half?

China is, as I said, in general, in an economic crisis, which I will say is the first one where we have to see how the government and the industry were handling it. And of course, the motorcycle industry is also under pressure in China. Nevertheless, with talking to our Chinese partners, we know that the government has a couple of activities and subsidies in mind to help the industry out of this crisis. And therefore, we expect a weak second half of the year in China. But for next year, we are again more optimistic.

Okay. And then my last question would be of course on the bicycle business, where you see massive ongoing consolidation, overstock situation. In your speech, you were talking about that discount should come to more normal level next year. Does it imply that the second half of this year we should assume some similar pattern like we have seen in the first half?

Yes, for sure, because this consolidation has positives and negatives. Of course, the negative is that the margin is under pressure, that the discounts are high. But the positive is that this consolidation of the market was necessary anyway because there were too many players in the market doing stupid things. And therefore, we will go through that in the second half of this year. And for next year, maybe not in Q1, but as of Q2, we hope that the situation or expect the situation to improve. And over the remainder of 2024 then we think that the things will improve.

You have to distinguish between the dealer level and the OEM and the supply chain. The whole chain, we are talking about quantities, which is, I would say, covering at least a year. It takes a year to bring down the huge quantities which are from the different companies. On the retail or the dealer level, it's still okay. Why? Because in Central Europe, we have a lot of subsidies for e-bikes for employees, for companies and all these kind of things. So it's running okay. And what we see, the small shop or the mid-sized shop is in favor. The big chains are heavily under pressure, the XXL and [indiscernible] those names because they are heavily overloaded with material. So -- and the retail is on a, I would say, on a normal level. It takes, in my opinion, a year's time. The advantage what we have, we are beginners. So our inventory load is overseeable. And due to the fact that anyway new models really is driving at the end of '24, '25, in that period next year is a sort of a consolidation year. You don't need new products. You have to get rid of that material, be patient. But I can tell you, on a regular base, on a weekly base, I'm getting 2, 3 contacts, are you interested? Can you help us? So that means be patient, keep the vapors dry or the money dry and see what's coming.

The next question comes from the line of Constantin Hesse with Jefferies.

A quick one. Number one would be just to get a bit more color on the sell-through. I mean, I understand the sell-in data was of course pretty good in the first half because you were basically filling up inventories now with dealers. And maybe if you can share some words on what you're seeing in terms of the sell-out data relative to your initial expectations this year? I mean, could volumes even be negative in the second half? So a bit more color here probably would be appreciated. We don't -- I mean, we don't have to go through all the markets, maybe just the key markets here. So really looking at Europe and the U.S. primarily. And my second question is then really on the debt, which has increased quite a bit now to EUR 670 million. If you can share some words on the maturity profile of that? And yes, those are the 2.

So first of all, retail in the first half year as well as in Europe as in North America, we are double-digit plus. So this was helping a lot also to have a strong sell-in possibility. So the market in Europe had a general growth of 11% compared to the last year. Where we could outperform in the market driven by Germany, Italy and Spain, the markets where the markets were growing more than that. So in general, we increased our market share in the first half year from 9.9% in Europe up to 10.2%. So we clearly, we are outperforming the market. In North America, the market was also in the growth, but not that much as in Europe. And we could even gain more market shares in the United States with -- from 10.6% up to almost 13%. For the second half of the year in North America, we expect to be quite stable. So we do not expect that the market will be negative or even go down sharper. So we expect the North American market to be on the same level as last year and we will push hard to maintain our market share gain. In Europe, we expect the market to slow down in the second half of the year. We already see that in the month of July and August. But so far, we cannot see any big disaster coming up because our retail sales were in both months, July and August, again, double-digit plus. So we have a very close look on the market development. But so far, things are under control, I would say.

Coming to your question in regards of our debt position, the duration. As you know, we issued a promissory note loan in 2018 with a very long-term duration, 7, 10 and 1 single portion of 12 years. We also received additional loans from the European Investment Bank by the beginning of this year with a duration of 10 years. So our strategic target is to have here a very solid long-term liquidity profile, operation profile and added with committed working capital lines up to 3 years.

Can I just ask Hubert again very quickly on the motorcycle business. Any chance you might have to step up your discount rate in Europe because of the market -- I mean, I get that you're selling double-digit plus, but do you see the chance that you might have to do a bit more discounts to get your volume through? Yes, that's a question.

We have of course our promotion programs in place. Without them, it would also not been possible to have these strong sales figures in the first half year. But this is, I would say, the regular thing. So we especially help in financing to bring interest rates down for in the retail business. So this is the biggest subsidy that we give to and this is also reflecting the very positive retail figures, because as you can see, Europe was up by 20% in our case. And I think these promotion programs, they worked out very, very well. And some of them for sure will maintain also in the second half of the year, but there is nothing really over the top planned.

Okay. So nothing above normal promotional side?

I think it's normal, yes.

It was already in the first half year, so it's ongoing.

Especially, you have to help in financing. That's the main theme because interest rates are very high and every retail finance facility is very expensive. Meanwhile, in America, it's more than 10% meanwhile, and this is where we are helping that consumers get attractive finance facilities. And this is what we're supporting and this is what is working very well.

Your next question comes from the line of Frank Biller with LBBW.

So the one is on your free cash flow. So free cash flow was much better in the first half than last year. So what can we expect for the whole year 2023? Should it be then also in the range of EUR 50 million, EUR 60 million positive or is the second half a bit more negative? That's my first question. The second one is on the e-mobility side, so new mobility. So what is your target here on the margin, speaking on a strategic margin target? So 27%, the target for sales is EUR 500 million. So your strategic margin for motorcycles, I assume it's 8% to 10%. Should we assume also such a target range here for the bicycles?

Well, let's start on the margin discussion. If you look in detail to the product mix, so we are looking on electric motor gross bikes for kids and those kinds of products, we have a similar margin like on the motorcycle on the combustion engine. On the e-bike currently, related to the circumstances, you don't -- can achieve that margin. So that was the reason that we -- when we stepped in, we said, okay, for the next couple of years, we are starting on half size of motorcycle margin, that means 4% or 5%. And sooner or later, it should go up at the same level as the motorcycle. So this year and next year for sure, the e-bike margin is under pressure, no doubt. So that's -- but finally, if the consolidation has taken place, I think it should have shown -- it must show the same sales as a motorcycle. It's a powered 2-wheeler.

Maybe in addition to that, you may have seen that we've put out Raymond out of the e-bicycle portfolio. What does it mean? It means that we focus in the future on premium in the e-bicycle segment. Raymond was at the beginning a good brand to step into the business to learn not to damage on one of our existing brands. But meanwhile, we have enough knowledge and experience about the business that we will take out Raymond from our brand portfolio and hand it to somebody else. And we'll stick to Husqvarna, GASGAS and of course FELT. And all these 3 brands will be positioned in the premium of the bicycle industry, whether if it is e-bikes or non-e-bikes. And this should help to bring up the margin -- the EBIT margin on the mid-term based also in the guidance of 6% -- of 8% to 10% as we see it in the motorcycle business.

Coming to your question in regards of the free cash flow, as you have seen last year, we were able to achieve a very positive free cash flow in the second half. And we do expect a similar development for this year. Keeping in mind our guidance and keeping in mind for sure a challenging second half, but we're expecting a similar development.

And maybe another question on the bicycle business. You talked about M&A opportunities. Are you thinking about further acquiring new business? So I've seen Johansson you already purchased. Is there anything on the hand still now?

Johansson was a specific business. It's called the cargo bike. It's a specific segment, mainly customer group is coming from the [ green ] there, and you must have that. And for such kind of a product, you need a specific well-known brand. But on the classic bicycle segment, e-bike, we stick on the 3 brands, what Hubert mentioned, it's GASGAS, it's Husqvarna in the premium and FELT. So we don't -- you have seen a lot of start-ups already, they went bankrupt like [indiscernible] and all these kinds of -- they are burning money like hell. Finally, you must become a global player. And honestly saying, after a certain period, you must have 800 million units to cover the global footprint. That's my personal vision and my expectation. So the Last Man Standing, a lot of them have to step up. And the European Central Bank and the Fed are doing the best for that.

The next question comes from the line of Mark Diethelm with Vontobel.

I have several, so I'll ask step by step. The first one is on new mobility and kind of the delayed revenue target. Is this purely due to the overstocked market and the consolidation or is there a different view on the demand?

No, no. Yes, that's it. It's 100% coming from the overstock because the demand is still almost on the same level what we had in '22. '21 was a hype on corona. But in '22, it was stabilized. And so far, in Central Europe, we see the same retail quantity as the year before, but it's totally overstocked. You have to consider, there is a very long lead time of the supply chain. If you place an order in Far East in Vietnam, wherever, 1.5 year ahead you're placing that. And 2 years ago or 1.5 year, the OEMs were heavily overmotivated. They have placed the orders and the material is coming, yes. And now it's here. And that's the reason that the situation like that and that postpones it for a year.

I mean, this -- we hear that smaller kind of window is there going out of the market. So that presents also opportunities to fill that gap. I mean...

For sure. Yes, but the material is still there. It takes a year to get rid of that. And then it's the space is open.

Okay. The second one is on the margin guidance. If I take the lower end of the targeted range, you would have to get to over 9% in the second half. And then considering your remarks on a continued difficult bicycle end market, your motorcycles margin would need to improve a little bit stronger. So can you give us a bit more kind of details where...

This is a very logical development. We always have a lower EBIT margin in the first half of the year. This is due to the fact that in the first half of the year, we predominantly sell street motorcycles. And street motorcycles have a lower margin than our off-road motorcycles, which are dominating the sales in the second half of the year. So the gross margin is a couple of percent better in off-road motorcycles and off-road motorcycles are dominating the revenues in the second half. This is why we are keen to lift up at least 1% from 7% EBIT margin into the guidance of the lower end of 8%.

Okay. I was hoping that you might say that. Maybe on the bicycle market we should see an improvement as well.

I think that still is so small in relation to the overall business that we can handle that. So we strongly believe in it. And therefore, we also speak to this EUR 500 million for e-bicycles just later in 2027. And also, in general, we believe in this market because we still think that the total volume in Europe will be 6 million units. So therefore, we stay in. But it will give us the time to develop this part of our business over the years on a healthy scale and this will not dilute the general business case of the Pierer Mobility Group.

Okay. Only 2 to go. The third one is on CapEx. Multicycle CapEx was further up in the first half versus last year. I think that last year you included the U.S. headquarter. So I thought it would be maybe not that growing that much. The question is, how do you see CapEx for the full year on a Group level? And should -- can we expect that free cash flow to sales will be in the 3% to 5% range for this year?

What you have to consider for this year is the investment in our JV in Bulgaria, which has an impact on the total CapEx figure. But you also see that especially in the first half of this year, we invested more than EUR 15 million more in R&D in tooling than last year, meaning investing in new models in a new model range for the upcoming years. CapEx itself, I would say, in total, it will be a little bit higher than last year, considering what I have mentioned, the investment in Bulgaria and our investments in R&D. Nevertheless, as I mentioned before in regards of the free cash flow, we still see a positive free cash flow number for the whole year in a range of, I would not say 3% to 5%, but maybe on the lower number of this range.

Okay. And the last one is on GASGAS. Just wondering the wholesale sell-in was negative in most markets, is there a specific reason for that?

This is a credit due to a new model development which will come later on this year and beginning of next year. So we are renewing and launching the model range. And this has just to do with the cycle of introducing new motorcycles.

Gentlemen, there are no more questions at this time. Back to you for closing remarks.

Thank you very much for the session. Some of them we'll see next week on a road show. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing chorus call, and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect your lines. Good bye.