Ceconomy AG (CEC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Ceconomy AG Investor and Analyst Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would like now to turn the conference over to Hendrik Finger from the Investor Relations teams. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our Q2 results call this morning. With me today are our CEO, Karsten Wildberger; and our CFO, Florian Wieser, they will guide you through today's presentation. Before we start, let me read the usual formalities. Firstly, this call is being recorded. A replay will be available on our website later today. Secondly, don't forget that today's presentation and potentially some answers to your questions may contain forward-looking statements. For additional information in this regard, please refer to the disclaimer. But now let me hand over to our CEO, Karsten Wildberger.

Thank you, Hendrik. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our Q2 and half year results presentation. Our second quarter showed double-digit sales growth and overall good recovery compared to last year's Q2, which as we have often discussed, was strongly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. So against this lower comparison base, we posted a double-digit sales increase of 18.8%, and an EBIT increase of EUR 84 million. We can also confirm our guidance for this financial year with a slight sales increase and a very clear increase in EBIT. Well, please note that we assume that current market conditions will stabilize and gradually recover. And Florian will detail our financial figures and the outlook later on. It's important to note that we have made further progress in implementing our omnichannel strategy, and I will share examples of our progress shortly. Let's turn to Slide 5. While our Q2 numbers are considerably better than last year, conditions on the market remained very challenging in the second quarter. And before diving into our business, let me start by commenting on 4 general questions I regulatory receive, and providing some clarity here. Firstly, people often ask about COVID-19, obviously, and the latest implications for our business. On the one hand, today, our stores are all open with no or only minor restrictions, and this obviously allows us to keep our business operations running far more stably. On the other hand, footfall is still clearly below pre-pandemic levels in markets like Germany and Benelux, but we can mitigate this effect by achieving higher conversion rates and increasing basket size, including sales of services. And moreover, our online business, as a share of total business, is actually running 10 percentage points higher compared to pre-pandemic levels. And click-and-collect still enjoys a 36% acceptance rate. Secondly, there is the question regarding supply chain shortages and availability. Although, supply chain issues have affected us and the rest of our industry for quite some time, we have been able to manage. In recent months, our situation has eased and improved. However, any outlook is difficult and depends strongly on the situation in China, the availability of upstream products and international shipping routes. And given this uncertainty, we are continuing to work very closely with our industry partners to secure supply, diversify our portfolio, increase inventories whenever this makes sense, and help our customers to find substitute products. And the third question concerns the impact of inflation. We are obviously working to pass on higher buying prices, and we have experienced a more volatile consumer demand during Q2 after a strong start. Overall, uncertainty regarding inflation is high. We are, therefore, stepping up our cost focus to protect our margins. Fourthly, people ask about our business exposure in Russia and Ukraine. Let me first say the war is a tragedy, and we strongly condemn the invasion and inhumane aggression. In terms of business impact, CECONOMY does not have any operational business activity or direct business exposure in either country. And as you know, since 2018, we have a 15% stake in the Russian consumer electronics chain M.video. And with that transaction, we sold our own continuously loss-making business in Russia and exited the Russian market. The stake is valued in equity without affecting profit or loss. Accordingly, we do not exercise any operational control. To sum up, the overall environment is challenging and complex, we are preparing ourselves for a considerable period of continued uncertainty. On the other hand, it's essential to emphasize that CECONOMY has proven to be especially resilient. We are focused on the things that we are in control of and will continue to do so. So let's turn to Slide 6. I'm regularly asked what progress we are making in simplifying our organizational structure on the basis of the planned Convergenta transaction. We held an extraordinary general meeting on the 12th of April, where the transaction was supported by more than 98% of our shareholders. And the envisaged transaction will pave the way for the simplification of our corporate structure and shareholding as well as governance. And as a result, MediaMarktSaturn will be a fully owned subsidiary of CECONOMY, and we will be able to simplify the complex double management structure and finally have a single management layer. In turn, Convergenta and the founder's family, Kellerhals, will become Ceconomy's largest shareholder and will be involved in the progress of our company at Supervisory Board level. In addition, leaner management structures will mean faster decision-making and lower overheads. Moreover, we will be able to use existing tax loss carryforwards, creating significant value for our shareholders. And one thing for your information, the deadline for filing possible lawsuits against the resolution of the Annual General Meeting expired yesterday, midnight. So very hot off the press. As far as we know, no lawsuits have been filed so far. A final confirmation from the court is still pending. And we expect to be able to provide you with more detailed information in a timely manner, perhaps as early as the middle of next week. We are still very confident that we will soon be able to formally complete the transaction. After that, nothing will stand in the way of the merger of MediaMarktSaturn and Ceconomy into one company. So let's turn to Slide 7, please. As in previous results calls, I would like to provide you with a more structured update on how we are progressing and implementing our strategy. And I will do so in 5 key strategic areas. Firstly, the customer experience, which for us is fundamental. Secondly, online and marketplace, which for us is an area where we need to catch up and grow. And for us, this means mobile first. Thirdly, our store refresh program, where we are improving the experience and increasing the value of our space. Fourthly, logistics, where we are improving our capabilities and customer experience as well as boosting efficiency. And number 5, sustainability, which is becoming an integral part of our business by not only enhancing our core business but also offering new opportunities. Slide 8 summarizes how we are changing customer experience and perception through dedicated experience initiatives across all channels. Our Net Promoter Score has improved continuously in the past few quarters. Currently, our company-wide touchpoint NPS stands at 49%. This is the highest NPS since the beginning of our group-wide measurement at CECONOMY several years ago. Behind the aggregate score, there are numerous initiatives to improve important customer processes, known as episodes, which we also measure in terms of NPS. Such processes range from proactive customer updates and the provision of general information, to online delivery status updates in real-time and so forth. Let's turn to Slide 9. This gives an overview of the success of our online work over the past 24 months. Our in-house online share rose substantially versus the pre-pandemic level by more than 10 percentage points, peaking during the COVID induced store lockdown period. And we are implementing a broad focused upgrade program with initiatives such as split basket features, social commerce and online service improvements. And our web shops are now among the largest in Europe, and even so, we will continue to improve. So let's turn to our store refresh program on Slide 10. Our store refresh program is bringing new customer-centric store concepts to life. Last time you asked me where we stand overall? Since the start of the program, we have refreshed around 15% of our stores. And by the end of the year, we will have completed up to another 10%. And the benefits typically include an increase in average ticket, a number of checkouts and thus lead to a significantly higher space productivity of up to 10%. And we will continue to measure the results because, obviously, this requires time and a more stable measurement environment. Please note that this refurbishment is part of the overall CapEx budget we announced, and we are always aiming for a CapEx-light approach. On Slide 11, we've summarized a few important topics in logistics. If we are to offer our customers a consistent, easy and attractive shopping experience on all channels, our logistics, IT and ordering processes must be seamlessly integrated. And we have recently taken a big step forward on this path, and I'm actually very proud of what the team has achieved here. In April, we successfully launched our so-called Omnichannel Spine initiative in the Netherlands. And this program, and this initiative links and synchronizes our processes for shopping baskets, orders, inventories and transportation across all channels. We are thus improving product availability, optimizing our inventories and increasing the efficiency of our transport. And the go-live in the Netherlands is a milestone as we will be rolling out this solution to other countries. And last but not least, let us briefly touch upon sustainability on Page 12. Sustainability is a core pillar of our business model and strategy. I also said this from the beginning of -- when I started here at CECONOMY that this is an important area for us to focus on. Instead of nearly embracing sustainability as a necessity of our business model, we realize it is a critical differentiator for our business. According to the mantra, more-life-per-cycle, we're extending the lifecycle of products, reflecting the principles of a circular economy. We repair products, refurbish them and recycle level. And in the first half of this fiscal year, we recycled and reused 20,000 tons of electrical appliances in Germany. We repaired 275,000 products in our stores at our SmartBars. And in our reverse vending machines where old mobile phones can be returned, we accepted 25,000 old handsets and in return reimbursed our customers with EUR 700,000. And our efforts are also getting recognized externally, as shown on Slide 13. And I would like to briefly mention just 2 awards. Firstly, Google, and the HDE, German Retail Association ranked MediaMarkt, Germany #1 for the best customer omnichannel experience. And secondly, the international finance and business magazine, Capital Finance International awarded us the title of Best ESG Retailer, Germany 2022. And in their opinion, we are the retail company in Germany that has made the most progress in the field of sustainability. So with that, let me now hand over to Florian and he will guide you through the financial section and give you all the details on our second quarter. Florian?

Yes. Thank you, Karsten, and Good morning, everyone. Let me guide you through our quarterly and half year figures. Both sales and earnings recorded a strong increase in Q2 against the COVID impacted prior year. The double-digit sales and EBIT growth more than outweighed the year-on-year decline of the first quarter. It proves again that we are operationally in shape to deliver solid growth once COVID restrictions ease. Yes, we had aimed for an even more pronounced recovery for the past quarter. I will explain the background shortly. Let me review our quarterly development in more detail by starting, as usual, with our 2 main KPIs. Sales increased by nearly 19% in Q2 against the backdrop of prior year's extended COVID restrictions and store closures. Thanks to softening restrictions, our bricks-and-mortar business regained momentum and grew beyond 70% between January and March. This sales growth, combined with a pronounced margin increase, clearly contributed to our results improvement. EBIT came in EUR 84 million higher versus prior year. Please note that from Q2 onwards, the prior, prior year comparisons, which we had occasionally referred to in our Q1 call are distorted by the first COVID wave in March 2020. Thus, we won't refer to them in this presentation. Compared to pre-COVID Q2 2018-'19, we recorded a modest sales growth. While we welcome the easing of restrictions, we continue to operate in a very tense macroeconomic environment. Karsten earlier highlighted the muted consumer sentiment arising from increased inflationary pressures in Europe and the Russian war against Ukraine. The associated uncertainty among consumers weighed on demand in March. At the same time, we gladly noticed a more positive sentiment since April. But overall, no clear trend has emerged yet. The situation remains uncertain. Now to online sales, on Page 16, which declined, as expected, following the record level in the previous year. The pleasing lifting of COVID restrictions led to a normalization of our channel mix unsurprisingly in favor of our bricks-and-mortar business. However, we continue to earn more than EUR 1 out of EUR 4 online. A further increase in the online checkout value contributed to the continuously elevated level. Thus, we are well in reach of our ambition towards 30% online share. In Q2, the pickup ratio stood at 36%, broadly in line with Q1 and prior year. Our target remains a ratio beyond 40%. Let's move to Slide 17. In light of the recovering bricks-and-mortar business, our Services & Solutions business developed positively. The magnitude of the performance improvement, particularly pleased us as it has been achieved despite footfall levels being significantly below pre-pandemic levels. Services & Solutions sales jumped to above EUR 300 million in Q2 or to 6.1% relative to total sales. Besides the revising bricks-and-mortar retail environment, also the enhanced online visibility pushed this growth. Online attachment rates were fueled by a smarter suggestion engine with service offers more suited to the purchased products. In terms of categories, in particular, the pickup of warranty extensions and the GSM business exceeded our expectations. The Services & Solutions business is an important pillar for achieving our full year earnings ambition. With business picking up again, we are taking essential leaps towards this direction. Let's move to gross margin on Page 18. Our gross margin stood at 17.1% in Q2, a significant increase of 220 basis points against the COVID burdened prior year. Still at around 17%, our gross margin remains below pre-pandemic levels of almost 19%. Most important contributor to the noticeable year-on-year improvement was the satisfying performance of our Services & Solutions business I had just outlined. In addition, the higher share of bricks and mortar business led to a margin tailwind from channel shift and reduced logistics costs. Lastly, reduced and more fresh stock in comparison to prior year's locked-on situation clearly benefited our margin. On the negative side, the goods margin continued to be pressured by intense competition, high campaign levels and a surging inflation. Goods margin is one of our KPIs, I referred to earlier in my presentation when I said that we had aimed for a better development. Here, a stabilization is key to re-approach pre-pandemic gross margin levels. As the COVID impacted prior year basis was relatively low, we expect a further year-on-year recovery of our gross margin for the remainder of our fiscal year. The continued strong performance of our Services & Solutions business is an important pillar in this respect. Now to our OpEx development on Page 19. While our cost ratio was flat year-on-year, absolute OpEx increased by around EUR 130 million. Most essential driver for this development was the absence of prior year's COVID subsidies and savings. Underlying costs were roughly flat. Tight cost control, obviously, remains a key priority for us. And the efforts have paid off. All-in-all, normalization of costs and inflationary pressures could be contained by cost savings, also thanks to the successful implementation of our new operating model. The view on our segments, as presented on this slide, paints a more homogeneous picture than in the previous quarters. The blended sales growth of 19% is driven by almost all regions. Major contributor to sales and EBIT growth was DACH and in particular, Germany after extended COVID restrictions and store closures in 2021. As expected, the positive performance of our regions, West and South was mainly driven by sales and earnings growth in the Netherlands. Also, Eastern Europe recorded double-digit FX-adjusted sales growth following continued strong demand in Turkey. The macroeconomic conditions there remain tense with high inflation and currency devaluation. Yes, we stay on course, and the underlying development has been pleasing so far. Now to reported financials down to EPS on Page 21. While this year's quarter was relatively straightforward with limited nonoperating items, last year, we recorded a partial impairment reversal of EUR 150 million of our strategic stake in Fnac Darty. This benefited our reported EBIT in Q2 2020-'21. Due to the nontax effective nature of Fnac Darty impairment reversal, our reported tax rate was relatively low last year. In the first 6 months of this year, it stood at 43%. All in all, we see a EUR 0.41 drop to EUR 0.28 in earnings per share for the first half of this financial year. Again, this was largely the result of last year's partial impairment reversal of our stake in Fnac Darty. Looking at our free cash flow development on Page 22, I see, frankly speaking, still room for improvement. The year-on-year comparison glosses over the underlying performance to a certain extent. While our net working capital development improved by EUR 445 million year-on-year, we need to keep the extraordinary low prior year swing in mind. Our underlying net working capital position as of this March was burdened by high stock levels compared to pre-pandemic levels. On the one hand, this was the result of consciously initiated measures to improve limited product availability. On the other hand, it reflects the muted consumer sentiment in March. Nonetheless, stock is another KPI where we had targeted a more balanced level. Aside from net working capital, significant reversal of prior year's COVID-related tax deferrals weighed on our free cash flow in the first half year. In total, we recorded a cash outflow of nearly EUR 600 million. After all, only a year-on-year improvement of EUR 100 million. We can and we will do better. Looking ahead, the pickup in consumer demand since April and targeted measures should free up capital for the months to come with a typical seasonal liquidity swing during summer. Now to our outlook and indeed challenging topic these days. In a volatile environment, with cloudy consumer sentiment arising from accelerating inflation and the war in Ukraine, we have posted solid Q2 results. We showed strong growth against the COVID impacted prior year. However, back a few months, we still had hoped for an even stronger recovery, as I just explained. The resurge in consumer demand, which we have noticed since the beginning of April keeps us optimistic that consumer sentiment won't be substantially impacted for long. Moreover, certain imponderables have relaxed such as COVID restrictions. At the same time, new challenges have emerged or intensified and many uncertainties will likely persist for the remainder of the year. The trends around consumer sentiment remains ambiguous. Inflation rates surpassed 7% in Germany in April. Goods availability slightly improved recently. However, the situation remains difficult and requires our full attention. As long as the market conditions continue to be as volatile and ambiguous as they are today, our visibility, and hence our ability to be more specific with our guidance remains limited. Nevertheless, based on the achieved results so far and our expectation of a recovering consumer sentiment, we confirm our ambition of delivering a slight increase in sales and a very clear increase in adjusted EBIT. This completes the financial section, and now back to you, Karsten.

Well, thanks, Florian. Ladies and gentlemen, let me put our results in a broader perspective beyond a quarterly view. And where do we stand as a business, taking this broader perspective. Firstly, we have a strong presence with more than 1,000 stores and over 40,000 frontline employees. We are where our customers are, and we have strong brands, MediaMarkt and Saturn are well known in the countries we operate in. We also have a strong market position. We are #1 or #2 in 8 European countries. We have close customer relationships, including 2.6 billion customer contacts per year and over 27 million club members, and you will hear me talk more about our club members in the future. We have long-standing partnerships with our industry partners. In short, we have got what it takes to be successful. So in a nutshell, ladies and gentlemen, let me summarize today's call. We have delivered a solid second quarter in a challenging environment for retail. We can confirm our guidance, assuming important external factors will stabilize and gradually recover. Customer focus and sustainability are at the core of our evolution into an integrated omnichannel platform. We will continue to improve the customer experience by focusing on refreshing our stores, extending our reach online and improving our logistics networks. We have everything we need to be sustainably successful, and we will leverage our simplified shareholder and organizational structure, we will take advantage of our growth opportunities by, for instance, extending our range of services, expanding into new categories and being the pioneer in the circular economy. Thank you, everyone, for your attention. And I will now turn the call over to the moderator for your questions.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Kepler Cheuvreux with Fabienne Caron.

I will start with 3 questions. The first one would be, can you share with us what was the price inflation out of your sales growth of close to 19% in the quarter? And the second question would be, could you help us quantifying the 4 building blocks behind the 220 basis point gross margin? And the next one would be, can you share as well with us how wage negotiations are happening in Germany? I know it's dependent on the Bundesland, but is there any visibility you could give us of when this will take place and what would be the level of wage inflation to expect?

Good morning, Fabienne, thank you for your questions. Question number one and number 2 will be answered by Florian, and I'll take the third question on the on the wages in Germany and inflation.

Yes. So first question on price inflation. So in general, the sales increase versus prior year is clearly driven by the low prior year. So it's clearly driven by the volume and the easing of restrictions. So we're also looking at the volume per category, we see a very encouraging growth. Looking at the price inflation, and what we commented, looking also at online and at the basket, we realize that the value of the baskets have increased. So what we observed looking at certain products that the price decline which you normally observe in consumer electronics is not so pronounced than it has been in previous years. So we are able to maintain the price level of certain products for a longer time. So this is from my point of view, the major impact we currently observe and currently price inflation impact, not so pronounced looking at the growth. Referring to the second questions on the 220 basis points of gross margin. So we have seen a significant contribution of service income. The contribution of service income has been largely offset or to be fully transparent, has been fully offset by the good margin decline and the remaining contribution has been come from the tailwind from goods channel -- sorry, from the channel shift from online to offline, which fair bit I mentioned and from the goods valuation as our stock aging structure has improved clearly compared to previous year where we have been impacted by the lockdown. So I think that's the transparency I can give you on the 220 basis points. And now handing over to Karsten for the third question.

Yes. On the wage negotiation in Germany, first, almost all employees are actually covered by collective agreements in Germany. And the collective agreement from last year includes a 1.8% salary increase which will become effective from May onwards, which is given this year good news. As it is good practice in collective bargaining in Germany, we will start negotiations for 2023 in summer or autumn, and that is then for the future period. Obviously, we, in this period, look, and I said this also during my speech, very carefully look at cost reductions, efficiencies across the company to also mitigate any potential future implications. So that's what I can say.

The next question is from the line of Baader Bank with Volker Bosse.

Volker Bosse speaking, Baader Bank. I would also have 3 questions. I would start with the gross margin. Could you set the expectation for the second half of the year in regards to gross margin as inflation is rising and also the previous year's level looks more ambitious in the first half of the year. So what do you expect in regards to gross margin given these 2 effects? The second question would be on OpEx, we have seen rising costs all over the place. Yes, the salary was just mentioned, but also energy, freight, et cetera. So how many bps of headwinds to say you expect for the second half, driven by these higher cost effects? And the third question, perhaps you can you the opportunity of this call to set expectations for the third quarter and to provide the trading update in regards to April. But also, I mean the previous year's level is very much distorted third quarter is more ambitious than the second quarter. So how do you look at third quarter performance to kick in? And finally, and first -- last on M&A opportunities, there were rumors in the press regarding potential names you might be interested or looking, Coolblue, [ AOL ] or whatever, I don't want to drop the names, but perhaps your general remark on where in regards to priority M&A opportunities on your list as of today, how do you look at these kind of things given the current environment?

So question number one, on gross margin, Florian will take. I will start with -- continue then with a few comments on OpEx, share expectation for Q3, April and then also comment on the rumor that you mentioned. First question on gross margin, Florian?

Yes. As outlined in the speech, we expect further increasing gross margin. So the increase in gross margin is driven by the Services & Solutions business, which was very encouraging in Q2. So it was one of the components where we have been very pleased, and this is encouraging us also for the remainder of the year. Looking at the other components, we also count on a recovery on the consumer sentiment. So we expect a further recovery also of the goods margin and the gross margin in total. So looking forward, especially in Q3 and Karsten will comment also on this on the total performance. You're right that COVID restrictions lasted last year until the middle of Q3. So in April and May, in particular, we still will benefit versus prior year from the lower base, and this also contributes to the overall margin development. So this would be the assessment looking forward. And I ask for your understanding that we cannot be more precise given the current volatility and uncertainty.

Well, your second question on OpEx rising costs in many places like energy. First of all, we are extremely cost focused. And as I said, we are trying to mitigate any of the pressure, of course, including the inflationary pressures through additional cost measures that we undertake to increase efficiencies. On the specific questions on energy, we are obviously not an energy-intensive business. Energy accounts for around 2% of sales in terms of energy costs. In this year, a certain part of the energy contracts we have is basically running out, so they're getting renegotiated. And this is a single million -- higher single million impacts. And obviously, we were working on mitigating that through further cost measures, but also enhances our effort and it accelerates our efforts to be more energy efficient in our stores. So there's clearly work on the way to mitigate as much as we can. And we will continue to do so. On the expectation for Q3 in April. Look, it's -- in terms of really giving an outlook, it's as we said, because of the uncertainties, not that easy. It has become more volatile on a weekly basis. What I can say that April was in line with our expectation. And we are still benefiting at the moment, obviously, from the store openings relative to prior year. This is very helpful. And let's not underestimate the fact. I'm very, very happy that we are actually able to operate in these relatively stable conditions now being open for a longer period because you can only run a business and improve the business further when you have continuous, more stable environment. So this is very helpful. And I would then refer still to the outlook and the guidance we have given, which kind of summarizes our view of expectation. But we also said there are uncertainties and the assumption is a certain level of stability and actually a recovery a little bit of consumer behavior over time. Now look, on the M&A opportunity, let me call it or we call it better rumors. It's very, very clear that we do not comment on rumors and it is a rumor. What I can say is we regularly discuss our strategy and, of course, our strategic target picture and we review different options, all kinds of measures internally. And we will also, when the time is right, investigate further options, maybe outside in the market, but there is nothing -- absolutely nothing to report on. And what I can say is we will, as we stated some time ago, give you an update on our strategy on the refresh on focus areas also will provide more clarity, give you more transparency of what you can measure us against. And we will update you on a specific date when this will happen in the next earnings call.

And let's keep fingers crossed that Convergenta transaction is going through and that you do not get bad news here from court, so to say, yes, on that.

The next question is from the line of ODDO BHF with Andreas Riemann.

3 questions from my side. First, on your pricing strategy going into the second half. Are you following competitors' pricing, which may imply that you do not raise prices, if they did not raise prices, or do you intend to raise prices for certain products regardless of competitive pricing? Would be the first question. The second one on consumer sentiment. You mentioned the dip in March, recovery in April and therefore, a difficult picture. But maybe from a country perspective, is there a country you would call out, which is particularly resilient at present? Question number 2. And number 3, on product availability. Is that an issue are today? Or do you have enough inventory for April, for May, so that this is only an issue for, I don't know, Q4. Any comment on the phasing of potential supply shortage would be appreciated.

Thank you, Andreas. Pricing, I will do consumer sentiment. I would take and product availability, yes, Florian will say a few words. So look, on the pricing strategy, as much as we can, we will do everything we can to protect the margin. That's very clear. So wherever we can, we will also pass on prices to consumers. And I hope also that this becomes a little bit, say, the market standard. On the other hand, we will always look into, of course, evolution of market share, demand, conversion rates, et cetera. And when you have to react, we will also react to sustain the business. So this is actually an ongoing optimization question on both ends. But let me very clear, we will do everything we can to protect margins. The last comment on this topic, it's also a question of how you manage the category based on availability topics, because it's also a question of availability, how much you can pass prices on. And I would say our availability situation relative to where we used to be, at least has eased in the second quarter, while the outlook, unfortunately, is also quite opaque and challenging in terms of availability for the reasons we mentioned and for the reasons that are known. But let's also be clear, this is a situation for everyone. And that is why I think, hopefully, also our very strong industry partnerships will also help us. Now on the consumer sentiment, the countries that are very resilient is, for instance, Hungary -- Italy has shown very resilient. And despite, say, the political situation in Turkey, Turkey is actually a very vibrant economy with lots of demand. So I would say that the first 3 callouts, Hungary, Italy, Turkey. And hopefully, well, we don't know what -- how the future will evolve. We will see it also happen over time in other markets. But the situation is, of course, very uncertain. And on product availability, Florian will take the question.

Yes. product availability is a very tricky topic right now. In the past, we just defined the campaigns and the reverse sales and order the respective goods prepared our marketing calendar. In these times, we also have to take into account how supply chains, how are the routes from China and have basically to look at 6, 9 months ahead to decide on the right stock levels. So looking at the current product availability, first message, it has improved versus Q1. So in certain categories, we have received more orders and suppliers have been able to fulfill the orders. So that's a positive trend, which we have seen in Q2. And at the same time, I mentioned it in my speech, we are not perfectly happy with the stock situation right now as we have some overstock in some categories due to the muted consumer sentiment in March. So there, we are not perfectly happy. At the same time, we deliberately decided to pile up more stocks than originally anticipated at the beginning of the fiscal year, as we are aware of the situation in China. You have probably seen all these pictures with the tons of ships in front of the Shanghai harbors and many products, which we sell come from China. We are also aware that this might have an impact later on in the year. So we -- as Karsten addressed it, we always act proactively and decided to consciously take more stock on board now with a negative impact on the net working capital position as outlined. So these are my thoughts on product availability, quite tricky and demanding for us and then also demanding for you to look at the net working capital swing, but these are the times we have to deal with.

[Operator Instructions] We have a follow-up question from Fabienne Caron.

2 quick follow-up because we just touched on working capital. Florian, any view of what to expect on a full year basis in terms of swing maybe the need to overstock a bit more? And any point in that direction will be useful. And my second question is that, if I take a step back, you're just saying that your guidance is based on assuming that the market condition gradually recover and that consumer confidence gradually recover. But from where I stand, I'm struggling to see why this should happen, and we all have the feeling that it may be more going the opposite direction. So can you share with us why you keep this sense for your guidance, please?

Yes. Florian will comment on network capital, and let me take maybe the second question first. Look, it's very clear that the situation is very uncertain. On the other hand, if you look into how we entered Q2, if you take January, February, momentum was super strong. which was better than actually what we expected. March, for instance, the first 20 days were very, very strong, then we saw a bit of volatility. And so the question is very hard to predict the future. What I can say is, let's not underestimate, also when the stores are open for a longer period of time, what is the -- that is a big impact for us when the stores are open, we can actually operate stably for a longer period of time. And so far, we have managed to work on the different conditions being resilient and delivered. Obviously, there is uncertainty out there, and that's something we have to flag.

Yes. Looking at net working capital. At the moment, a clear ambition is to bring stock levels down in the remainder of the fiscal year to have a solid net working capital position as last year. That's the current target. In the end, as I just said, we will deal proactively with the situation if we should realize that supply chain and the routes from China should worsen. We might also decide in Q4 to pile up more stock to secure Black Friday and the very important first quarter. So there's, as I said, uncertainty and will look at the situation and talk with the supplier's day by day. But best knowledge today, and the assumption is that we will bring down stock levels in the remainder of the fiscal year.

There are no further questions at this time. I hand back to Karsten Wildberger, CEO, for closing remarks.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your time and to your questions. As usual, if you have any follow-ups, please feel free to contact our Investor Relations team. And with that, let me conclude today's results call. Take care, stay healthy, and goodbye. Thank you.

Dear ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your time. This call has been concluded. You may disconnect.