Casino, Guichard-Perrachon S.A. (CO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good evening, everyone. Thank you for making yourself available this evening. When presenting our results for the first half '25, I highlighted that the implementation of our strategic plan was already beginning to pay off. The results for this Q3 now confirm this. Strategic and operational choices we have made are the right ones. Since beginning of the year, growth dynamic is putting Casino Group on the road to recovery. In Q3, the signs of recovery are tangible. Our performance improved in operational and financial terms in the third quarter. Our turnover in Q3 grew up by 0.5% on a like-for-like basis and by 0.6% over the first 9 months of the year. Brands in convenience retailing only are even up by 1.1%. The rollout of the new concepts and the acceleration of quick meal solutions business contribute to this momentum. As far as Cdiscount is concerned, the commercial recovery is driven by an increased brand awareness and accelerating new customer acquisition. Our adjusted EBITDA also rose by 13% over the first 9 months of the year, mainly driven by the streamlining of our store network and the implementation of our cost-cutting plan. Free cash flow before financial expenses stood at minus EUR 39 million, and the group had EUR 1.2 billion in liquidity at the end of September. Furthermore, the Casino Group also satisfied its first covenant debt at the end of September. Capitalizing on these encouraging results and our capability to deliver, we have decided to expand our objectives to 2030 as part of our Renouveau strategic plan. We will seek for [ continued ] rolling out of new concepts, the modernization of our brands and the development of our franchise model. At the same time, we are launching the work required to strengthen the group financial structure. Actually, we want to equip ourselves with the means to fully implement of our transformation strategy going forward. Then Renouveau '28 is becoming Renouveau '30. Vision, mission and directions remain unchanged. It will be based on an ambitious value creation plan such as rollout of our proven concepts, remodeling and new store openings, development of quick meal solution in all our brands, implementation of efficiency measures and cost reductions. Renouveau 2030 has a clear objective to consolidate our recovery and transform this momentum into profitable and sustainable growth. In this context, the group maintains its objective to achieve breakeven cash flow before financial expenses in '26 and confirms the financial objectives set out in its Renouveau '28 strategic plan. Since majority of the group debt matures in March '27, we are now launching the work to adapt and strengthen our financial structure. For your information, the detailed presentation of Renouveau 2030 strategic plan will be published at the later stage of the process. I now hand over to Angelique, who will present Q3 results in detail.

Thank you, Philippe, and good evening, everyone. Glad to be with you tonight and now commenting the figures for Q3. The group sales for Q3 amounted to EUR 2 billion, up 0.5% on a like-for-like basis with convenience brands up 1.1%. This performance is in line with the trend that we have observed since the beginning of the year with like-for-like growth of 0.6% over the first 9 months, including 1.1% for convenience brands. Adjusted EBITDA stands at EUR 456 million over the first 9 months, up 13% compared to 9 months last year, lifting the margin from 6.4% to 7.5%. Such growth is essentially driven by cost savings and the streamlining of our store network. Since beginning of the year, nearly 1,000 outlets have been closed or exited and about 80 integrated stores have been transferred to franchise or business leases. I will detail EBITDA performance on a brand-by-brand basis in a few moments, but please keep in mind that adjusted EBITDA for convenience brands this year has been impacted by dissynergies. I remind you that the group reported dissynergies in its other segment amounting to EUR 37.5 million over the first 9 months last year, whereas since the beginning of this year, such dissynergies have been reallocated to the brand following the implementation of shared service centers. They amounted to EUR 35 million for the first 9 months this year. Group adjusted EBITDA after lease payments amounted to EUR 112 million to be compared to EUR 59 million over the 9 months last year. Now going into the details. Monoprix posted like-for-like net sales growth of 0.6% in Q3, meaning 1% growth for the first 9 months, with its customer traffic slightly up 0.3%. Growth was driven by food sales growth by 0.9%, once again supported by a good performance in fresh products, plus 2.1%, particularly fruit and vegetables, which continued to benefit from the price repositioning initiated in H1. Nonfood sales remained stable this quarter with the Fashion & Home segment consistently outperforming the market. Monoprix also continued to develop its La Cantine quick meal solutions concept with the concept being rolled out in 3 additional stores this quarter. This pace is expected to continue in Q4. Adjusted EBITDA rose by EUR 24 million to EUR 287 million in the first 9 months by order of materiality. Such change is driven by the volume effect, the improved margins on the back of a favorable mix effect due to Fashion & Home, also a shrinkage reduction and cost savings, which partially offset inflation and investments in store staff. Now let's move to Franprix. Franprix net sales were down 0.2% on a like-for-like basis in Q3, broadly in line with H1, where like-for-like sales were flat. The good performance recorded in July, plus 0.9%, and also in September, plus 1.7%, was a bit canceled out by the performance in August, minus 3.6%, which was impacted by an unfavorable weather and a high basis of comparison resulting from the Olympic Games last year. Footfall, nevertheless, increased by 2.8% over the quarter. The Oxygene concept continued to deliver well with stores converted to the new concept outperforming the rest of the portfolio. Their like-for-like sales growth is 2.3% over the quarter. The concept was further extended to 26 stores over the quarter, bringing the total number of stores converted to date to 76 at the end of September. Adjusted EBITDA rose by EUR 19 million to EUR 94 million in the first 9 months, driven by cost discipline and improved collection of franchisee receivables as a result of actions to streamline the store network. Net sales for the Casinos, Spar and Vival brands rose by plus 1.9% like-for-like in Q3, in line with the Q2 performance. This performance was driven by strong momentum in July, plus 3.6%, and also September, plus 2%, ahead of 0.3% growth in August. Seasonal stores once again supported the trend this quarter with a good summer season in the mountains for the Spar and Sherpa stores. The focus on new concepts resulted in 22 new rollouts of the Coeur de Ble quick meal solution concept at Casino this quarter and encouraging initial results from the Spar Origines concept currently being rolled out. Adjusted EBITDA came to EUR 28 million over the first 9 months, down EUR 18 million year-on-year. Excluding the EUR 16 million negative impact of dissynergies on operating costs and excluding the EUR 12 million negative impact of logistics dissynergies, adjusted EBITDA would have risen by EUR 10 million, largely supported by the streamlining of the store network. Naturalia delivered an excellent performance in Q3, recording like-for-like net sales growth of plus 10.4% with a solid plus 9.1% growth in its customer traffic. This performance was boosted by a good momentum in the organic market, amplified by the effectiveness of in-store initiatives and the ongoing success of the La Ferme concept rolled out in 3 additional stores this quarter. In terms of e-commerce as well, Naturalia recorded a [ 27 ] growth -- sorry, 27% growth on its website this quarter, also keeping on developing its quick commerce offering by expanding its partnership with Uber Eats to 9 new stores this quarter. Lastly, for Naturalia well, the quick meal solution offer further expanded its rollout with 3 new stores having switched to the organic snacking concept this quarter, bringing to 9 the number of stores in the test phase. Naturalia adjusted EBITDA came to EUR 16 million in the first 9 months, up EUR 5 million, driven by both the volume effect and a tight rein on costs. As for Cdiscount, the positive momentum observed in the beginning of 2025 continued over Q3 with overall GMV up 1%, supported by dynamic growth of 5.5% in Marketplace GMV, which is now 69% of product GMV. GMV from direct sales declined by 1.7% over the quarter after a 3.6% decline in H1. A recovery trend was observed in September with plus 5% growth for direct sales. Cdiscount net sales declined by 2.9% on a like-for-like basis, in line with the momentum of the Marketplace and the moderate decline in direct sales. Cdiscount advertising developed well with revenues up 7.8%, thanks to the launch of a new Retail Media product, Sponsored Brand Video. Adjusted EBITDA amounted to EUR 48 million in the first 9 months, up EUR 4 million, supported by commercial momentum and more favorable profitability mix, mainly linked to the growth of the marketplace. Proper cost control also helped to offset the rise in marketing costs incurred as part of the Cdiscount reinvestment plan. Let's now -- moving on to free cash flow. Over the first 9 months of this year, free cash flow before financial expenses remained negative at EUR 39 million, showing a slight improvement compared to H1, which was negative at EUR 48 million. The difference being mostly supported by the increase in adjusted EBITDA after lease payments over the quarter. Financial interest amounted to EUR 159 million, driving our negative free cash flow to EUR 198 million. However, our liquidity position at the end of September '25 stood at EUR 1.22 billion, immediately and fully available. Our position is broadly stable compared to June, mainly due to the delay in disbursements related to discontinued operations. At the end of September, such liquidity position included EUR 346 million available cash at Casino Finance, our French cash pooling entity; EUR 621 million in Monoprix's reinstated RCF, which was drawn for EUR 90 million only at that time; and EUR 255 million in other undrawn revolving credit facilities, mainly related to overdraft facilities and Monoprix Exploitation RCF. Lastly, I'm moving now to our financial covenant, which is being tested for the first time this September. The covenant was satisfied with a net leverage ratio of 7.68 at the end of September, below the threshold set at 8.34. [indiscernible] is based on EUR 159 million 12-month covenant adjusted EBITDA and EUR 1.219 billion covenant net debt. Please note that the covenant adjusted EBITDA taken here does not benefit from any pro forma restatement granted by the documentation, and so that the EBITDA forecast for Q4 should ensure compliance with the next test. It will take place on December 31. So that concludes my presentation. Thank you. And now I leave Philippe for his closing remarks.

Yes. The presentation is on the right way. I would like to conclude by a couple of statements. The new Casino is nothing like it was 2 years ago, new governance, new market focus and ambition. Our positioning in Renouveau 2030 strategic plan are the proper ones. We are at the right place at the right time with the right team. And the last but not least, the group recovery is well underway, and we are in full swing execution. Now the presentation is over. We'll be coming back in a few moments for the Q&A sessions.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Q&A session is coming soon. Please keep connected.

We will now answer your questions. Thank you for this. First question is, can you explain the framework and notably the timing of the upcoming debt negotiation with creditors? What can we expect overall as key dates? As mentioned in our press release, the first step is to get waivers and NDAs from our creditors. This is a preliminary but very important step. Such waivers and NDA will be sent in due course to our creditors. They will allow us to start discussions on the basis of the Renouveau 2030 plan. It will be made available to the public at the same time. Another question is, do you believe you will be able to pass the net leverage covenant at December without using adjustment to EBITDA? So yes, at this stage, our forecast demonstrates that there is no issue with the net leverage covenant at December. We don't need to use adjustments to the EBITDA to pass such tests. And another question was to remind you of the target covenant of December. And it is 7.17. Another question is, is there any particular reason why margins across the convenience brands were so much lower quarter-to-quarter, while revenue actually saw pretty solid growth? The Casino proximity margin is still impacted by the dissynergies, as I explained, sorry, mainly on operating costs, but also on logistics costs. Those dissynergies correspond to costs linked to the disposal of the hypermarkets and supermarkets and taking into account the consequences of the job protection plan project. These are mainly staff costs or operating expenses.

I got a question. It is reasonable not to have booked any provision on the EUR 75 million potential fine because of the judiciary actions. And the second part of it, is it also a reason for CapEx slowdown? I mean the request do not constitute a court decision. This is the first thing, and they are not binding on the court. Furthermore, they do not take into account the fact that nouveau casino is no longer comparable in terms of size, financial situation or governance to what it was at the time of the event under investigation. Second point, we plead innocent doing this. And as usual, we are not booking any provision for this. As far as concerned, the CapEx -- I mean the evolution of the CapEx are fully in line with the schedule and our ramp-up. The store network, as you know, has suffered from years of underinvestment. And from the moment, as you know, that we took office, we launched a major plan to catch up. Renovation are being prioritized with a clear objective. First of all, ensuring the relevance of -- in every intervention, for example, rolling out new concepts in certain stores allow us to consolidate closure and carry out necessary upgrades. And the work is spread over time, but the plan is well underway. We are shifting from a model focused on a few flagship store to move systematic approach aimed at concretely improving the customer experience across large number of locations. And to finish this, I would say that our investments are focused on restoring appeal and shopping comfort for our customers through upgrade such as self-checkout, regular shelf restocking and being attentive as well to services we may have. But we are in line with our CapEx projection fully.

There is a question which is what is the liquidity position as of today given the RCF is completely drawn. Well, as you know, the liquidity position is a specific report to our creditors. It will be sent by November 14. The drawing has no effect on liquidity as undrawn lines are taken into account when we report on the quarterly liquidity position. Can you give us an indication on CapEx? We can have the feeling that you are putting it on stop because of your covenants. So there is -- in the way we manage and operate the business, there is no specific link into those 2 things. The CapEx program is on time and on budget as of today. There is no delay for -- versus our budget for 2025. Last question. Are there future one-off effects that we should anticipate in Q4 and H1 '26? Or specific base effect worth noticing on the remaining perimeter? We have no specific one-off effect that we should comment today. We will report to you as far as the operations are running and in accordance with our reporting commitments. Well, thank you for your presence tonight. The presentation is over. We will be coming back to you in future time. Thank you very much. Good evening.