Ceconomy AG (CEC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome, and thank you for joining the Ceconomy AG Q1 2024/'25 Results Presentation.[Operator Instructions]. I would now like to turn the conference over to Fabienne Caron, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our Q1 Results Presentation. By my side today are our CEO, Karsten Wildberger; and our CFO, Kai-Ulrich Deissner. Before we dive into the detail of our performance, I want to remind you that we will be discussing certain forward-looking statements. Please refer to the disclaimer for more information. You can also find the presentation slide on our website for your reference. This call has been recorded and will be accessible on the website later today. Now, without further ado, I'm delighted to handover the call to Karsten, who will work us through the highlights of our first quarter. Karsten, the stage is yours.

That's great. Thank you, Fabienne. And good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Today we are proud to present to you the results for the first quarter of the current fiscal year '24/'25. And as you know, Q1 is always a particularly important quarter for Ceconomy and MediaMarktSaturn. So, let's turn to Slide 3 please. Ladies and gentlemen, we have delivered an outstanding peak season. We created great customer demand, executed exceptionally well across all channels, and delivered great results. We entered the quarter facing uncertainty and a challenging market environment and yet we delivered once again. And this is proof that our strategy is gaining momentum and that the real power of MediaMarktSaturn is becoming more visible than ever. And even when the market gets tougher, our business model stand strong. And we navigated these challenges with confidence and gained significant market share across our portfolio and nowhere is this more evident than in Germany where we outperformed the market and grew our share by an impressive 110 basis points. And the success was the result of our strategy gaining momentum, of course, of intense preparation, hard work and flawless execution by our teams. And I'm incredibly proud of what we've achieved together. Let me give you some color on what made the success possible. First, we followed a well prepared and flawlessly executed go-to-market plan. Secondly, we continued to drive great online growth, attracting new customers with target campaigns that generated strong interest and one proof point, the app visit surged by 23% and our digital engagement is clearly gaining traction. And this wasn't just an online success, our strategic efforts also delivered notable offline growth. And thirdly, when customers turned to MediaMarktSaturn, they found exactly what they were looking for. We ensured top availability with over 90% of our product ready for purchase, meeting great customer demand. And we ended the year with excellent stock levels and freshness levels. The future of retail is omnichannel and we proved it once again by seamlessly integrating our stores with our online platforms whether through our app or website. We enhanced the shopping experience and the results, a 6% increase in our online conversion rate. And also our 90-minute MediaMarkt delivery service powered by Uber in Germany remained a customer favorite. And on Black Friday alone, more than 3,000 orders were placed for the service and on December 24th we left the market being the only retailer offering this unique last minute delivery service. And none of this would have been possible without the passion and dedication of our team. They put our customers first every single day and it shows. Our Net Promoter Score rose by 3 points to 59 . A huge thank you to every team member for making this happen and for all the excellent Q1 performance. Now, let's put this performance into numbers. Our start to the '24/'25 fiscal year has nothing -- has been nothing short of remarkable, sales grew by 9.5% compared to the previous year, driven by a great 7.8% like-for-like growth. And that's a clear indicator of our strong customer traction. We gained significant market share particularly in Germany where we expanded our position by over 110 basis points. We delivered our 8th consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBIT growth, increasing by 13% to EUR 279 million in the first quarter. And our Net Promoter Score rose by another 3 points, reinforcing our strategy to enhance customer satisfaction and long-term loyalty. And with these great Q1 results, I am pleased to confirm that we are well on track to achieve our mid-term targets and we remain very confident in our positive outlook for the year. Slide 5, please. Looking at the first quarter, we ticked all the boxes on our growth plan. Sales increased across all categories. Our brick and mortar sales grew by 7.2% year-over-year and online sales surged by 15.9%. Our online share improved by 210 basis points reaching 28.6% in [ our ] share. And this underscores the success of our mobile-first omnichannel approach, proving that both online and offline can grow together. And our growth businesses delivered impressive results. Operational service and solutions saw a great increase. Marketplace growth hit 90% in gross merchandize value, GMV. Retail media income more than doubled and we are firmly on track to reach our revised and increased ambition of a 100 million retail media income mid-term. Looking at our country performance. Our largest markets, Germany, Spain, Austria and Italy, delivered great results. We always emphasize our lead strategy, meaning we aim to hold a #1 or #2 position every market we operate in. And there are 2 countries where we are not yet in a leading position, Switzerland and Poland. In Switzerland we have made excellent progress over the past 9 months, including a great Q1. Poland however, remains a challenge and we have work to do. That said, I am confident that we will find the right approach and solutions. Kai will share more details on this later. And what does this operational acceleration mean for our financials? We saw a significant increase in profitability with great EBIT improvement. And the same positive trend applies to earnings per share. Adjusted EPS increased by EUR 0.40 year-over-year, while reported EPS remained stable. Most importantly, we generated a strong free cash flow of EUR 1.5 billion in Q1. And let me emphasize, free cash flow growth remains a top priority. Let's turn to the peak season and product highlights. So, what product groups drove our strong performance during Black Friday and the Christmas season. Well, first, IT led the way with 12% sales growth. We achieved strong market share gains in the Premium Laptop segment in particular. And we may now be at the beginning of replacement cycle. Many customers upgraded their IT infrastructure during the COVID period. And with AI advancements and the eminent Windows refresh in '25, we expect continued momentum in this category. Second, our Mobile segment also grew by 12% with significant market share gains. We didn't just sell more devices, we increased our attach rate for accessories and services. And third, domestic appliances delivered 8% growth with floor care, vacuum [ cleaning ] robots, hair care, laundry and drier appliances driving strong demand. Looking ahead, we expect continued growth across all these categories in this fiscal year. Now let's turn to Slide 7, please. This is a key chart we share every quarter to track progress on our key pledges. In Q1 of this financial year, we made clear progress across all relevant KPIs. But now let's zoom in on Retail Core and then on our growth businesses. Our Retail Core is stronger than ever, driven by our omnichannel strategy and a focused approach to multi format store openings. In Q1 we prioritized expanding our multi format store network. Across all countries we opened 21 Xpress stores and 8 Smart stores. And in Germany we launched 5 Smart stores in former Gravis locations. In Switzerland, we successfully integrated 19 former melectronic stores into our portfolio as Xpress and Smart, contributing to our great progress in Switzerland I mentioned earlier. And in Italy, we strengthened our presence with further Shop-in-Shop locations in partnership with a supermarket chain, Bennet. And at the same time, we continued to expand our online business. Online sales grew by 15.9%, reinforcing the success of our digital strategy. And I'm very happy to report that we completed our state-of-the-art webshop and app rollout now across all our countries. And our app gained particular traction with user numbers increasing by 18% and total order value increasing by 30%. And this is a true omnichannel success story because we are strengthening our digital capabilities. We're expanding our physical presence and ensuring that MediaMarktSaturn is wherever our customers need us, and we are growing in all channels. So when we presented our full year results in December, I shared how we are unlocking the power of our rich customer data to become even more relevant and drive stronger customer loyalty. And I want to continue to explain what we're doing with data and how we're applying that for a better customer experience. And I'd like to explain that after more than 9 months of preparation now, we are ready to roll out a personalized shopping experience, as we call it, in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and soon Spain. And this initiative will set us apart from the competition by creating signature experiences across the entire shopping journey, both online and in stores. For example, customers can now book online appointments before visiting our stores. And in the store, we provide a personalized welcome and guided store visit experience. Our sales and service teams offer more tailored advice based on individual preferences. There's a lot of training going on. And customers can stay connected with their local store across multiple channels, making interactions smoother and more personal. This is about making every touch point more meaningful. And with online appointment booking, we add more convenience and value to store visits. Customers can share what they were looking for in advance, allowing our experts to prepare and deliver a truly personalized experience. And this is how we turn data into a competitive advantage by making every interaction smarter, more relevant and more personal. And as we say, my customer, my responsibility. So, I will keep you updated on all these initiatives and over time, of course, also share the numbers. Let's now turn to our growth businesses. Our growth business include Operational Services & Solutions, Marketplace, Private Label and Retail Media. All of our growth businesses played a great role in driving profitability. And today they represent around 1/3 of our total gross profit and are key drivers of EBIT growth. Now let's take a closer look at Operational Services & Solutions on Slide 11. We delivered remarkable 23% income growth in Services & Solutions, and this makes it a key contributor to our great overall performance. The entire Services & Solutions portfolio performed exceptionally well with rising attach rates, proving that customers see real value in our offerings. Looking ahead, we will fully integrate our Services & Solutions portfolio also into our marketplace, and this creates even greater growth potential. And this means we are now driving Services & Solutions growth in our core business and simultaneously adding momentum to our Marketplace business. Another exciting new addition has been our live video consultation, which launched in April in Germany and Austria, and the response has been outstanding. On Black Friday alone, we handled more than 1,000 live video calls. We partnered with 20 key brands to provide expert knowledge and real-time product support. Customers love it. Conversion rates are strong and customer satisfaction is super high with an NPS of 88. And this is a great example how we are innovating in customer service, making expert advice more accessible, more interactive and ultimately more valuable. Let's turn to Retail Media and Marketplace. I'm very pleased to report great momentum in both Retail Media and Marketplace. These business make us substantially stronger, creating greater value for both our customers and our partners. And our strategy is taking shape. We're enhancing customer loyalty, expanding our offerings and diversifying our income streams. And this is how we evolve our business model. And I'm both happy with our progress and confident in what's ahead. Our Marketplace gross merchandise value grew significantly year-over-year, increasing by around 90%, a major step forward. We also saw strong growth in refurbished products, meeting rising customer demand for more sustainable and affordable options. And our Retail Media business is accelerating with Q1 income doubling compared to last year, and we are already preparing for the next wave of Retail Media growth. We launched our new product in-store ads in 5 countries and opening another exciting income stream. And with the success of our growth businesses, we are no longer just a traditional retailer. And as I always say, we are transforming into a true omnichannel service platform, offering more value, more convenience and more opportunities for both customers and partners. And now let's take a look at our sustainability initiatives on Slide 13. In the first quarter, demand for eco-friendly products and services remained high, and that's a clear sign that customers are making more conscious purchasing decisions. Our BetterWay sales share or label for sustainable products continues to grow. The number of trade-in products has increased, supporting circular economy efforts and refurbished product sales have also seen significant growth. Sustainability is not just a responsibility. It's an opportunity to create value for our customers, our business and the environment. And with that, I will now hand over to Kai, who will take you through a deep dive into our great financial development.

Thank you, Karsten, and good morning to you all. Now let me share some more detail of our Q1 results. We will start with Slide 15. Karsten already highlighted in the beginning, this now makes 8 consecutive quarters with positive adjusted EBIT growth. And to be fair, this in a market that does remain volatile and competitive. So our latest results really are great. One of my key messages in the next few minutes will be that our growth businesses continued to perform really well and now account, as Karsten already pointed out, for around 1/3 of our gross profit. But let's start with headline numbers. We grew sales in Q1 by an impressive 9.5%. Please keep in mind, this is adjusted for currency and portfolio changes, and it is pre-IAS 29. And our like-for-like sales grew 7.8%. So we really did hit the ground running this financial year. In terms of countries, all countries contributed to this, except for Poland. Let's spend a word on Poland. In Poland, the market is really aggressive. And to be fair, we also lost sales and market share there. We had already last year put in place some structural measures. For example, we rolled out our group-wide online platform, and we did ramp up our service portfolio, especially around goods delivery. In addition now, a new management team will be taking over shortly, and we do look positively at the Polish market. Like in other countries, recently, we are determined to turn the business around again, but this will take some time. Back to overall sales. I'm really pleased that our growth was again driven by both bricks and mortar and online. This then resulted in the strong increase of market share, which you heard from Karsten. Especially in Germany, which, given the macroenvironment, I do understand is a focus for investors, we strongly grew market share. Then on bottom line, our adjusted EBIT on a group level reached EUR 279 million in the quarter, thus EUR 32 million better than previous year. That represents a 20 basis points margin increase to now 3.7%. So in summary, our strategy based on omnichannel and growth businesses and the rigorous transformation and execution do enable us to deliver a remarkable performance in a pretty competitive sector. Now in the second step, let's look at segments, starting with DACH and sales. We saw great like-for-like growth of 5.4%, driven by all countries in DACH and a similar like-for-like as well as in our home market, Germany. To reiterate, we strongly gained market share both in the region and in Germany. Profitability in DACH improved by EUR 24 million in adjusted EBIT. That's equivalent to a 40 basis points margin increase. And second, in Western and Southern Europe, we grew sales significantly in all countries again. But more importantly, we gained market share in all countries. Spain and the Netherlands continue to drive strong growth, but Italy reported again positive like-for-like, which by now really marks a [ trend ] break from most quarters last year. On profitability, we also increased our adjusted EBIT EUR 15 million and our margin again by 40 basis points. Moving to Eastern Europe. Sales once again driven by Turkey. As anticipated, the market continues to slow down in line with inflation. Profitability is normalizing, as expected, and we finally recorded a EUR 25 million adjusted EBIT, that's equivalent to a 2.4% margin. On Poland, I've already commented. Finally, allow me a sentence on our Others segment, which primarily represents holding costs in our private label business. I'm satisfied to say that we improved by another EUR 13 million this quarter. So you do see our strategic cost control really contributing. Now, let me take another look at another dimension of our business, not the segments, but the business areas. We start with one of our growth areas, Service & Solutions. On Slide 18, you can see that we grew sales overproportionally with a plus of nearly 24%, like the classical retail part, driven by both online and offline, so truly omnichannel. All service categories increased in Q1, but the strongest growth came from consumer financing. Perhaps you remember that this service is now available on our marketplace in Germany, so for third-party resellers, and is being well received by our customers. We thus plan to roll this out to other countries soon. Then the final dimension, online. Our first-party online sales also grew overproportionally with 15.9% increase and now reached a total of around EUR 2 billion. We actually grow across all regions with particularly strong performances in Turkey, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and Austria. And on the back of this, our online sales share increased to nearly 29% in the quarter. Again, a pretty great performance. So after these different cuts on our growth fields and our omnichannel performance, let me come back to our EBIT development as a whole on Slide 20 and dissect it for you. Most importantly, our absolute gross profit increased by roughly EUR 90 million in the quarter, driven by our great sales growth in core retail and in particular, in the growth fields. In percentage, our gross margin did decrease by 40 basis points, essentially impacted by a very competitive environment for the peak season. But to reiterate, overall gross profit was up 7% year-over-year. Now on cost and OpEx. Our adjusted OpEx ratio improved by another 50 basis points, thanks on the one hand side to our great top line growth as well as to our relentless focus on cost. As I shared already with our full year numbers, our specific program on headquarter and administrative costs, which we call [ DRIVE ], has now been delivered. And I just showed you the results in the Other segment a few minutes ago. Now what we add are 3 additional areas with dedicated cost initiatives: technology cost; supply chain and logistics costs; and finally, media spending. Overall, we target additional cost savings in the mid-double-digit million range for the full year. But all 3 initiatives are already delivering tangible results in Q1. Now turning to the full overview on Slide 21. Walking down from the adjusted EBIT of EUR 279 million, we recorded EUR 50 million negative of nonrecurring items. The bulk of those are: first, a EUR 29 million impairment for Poland. As just explained, we are not happy with the development in Poland, and we have started to restructure the business with both short-term and long-term initiatives. You can expect us to update you throughout the year. However, this performance did now meant that we had to record a write-off both for goodwill and for assets. Secondly, in the nonrecurring items, we also booked a EUR 7 million negative for our share in Fnac. That's mainly including the dilution of our stake. And for your information, we now hold a 21.95% stake in Fnac. And then thirdly, another EUR 7 million negative for IAS 29 hyperinflation accounting. Consequently, our reported EBIT thus reached EUR 229 million, which is still a robust increase of EUR 11 million year-over-year. And further down, our financial result came in at minus EUR 57 million. This is mainly due to our bond refinancing from last year as well as the currency impacts. The latter is noncash and mainly represents the translation effects from the Polish zloty to euro. Then tax. We again paid little tax with a 13.9% tax rate on an underlying basis, so which -- it means if you take out Fnac, if you take out IAS 29 and the impairment on Poland, our tax rate was an impressive 11.3%, pretty great level. This is the tax rate you should use for the year, so even lower than we initially anticipated. All in all, for the full year, our reported net results and EPS are stable, looking at our performance adjusted for the impairment of Poland, Fnac and pre-IAS 29. In other words, our operating performance, our adjusted EPS increased by 14% to EUR 0.39. To me, that's a very solid performance. Then let me close with free cash flow on Slide 22. Looking at this quarter, our free cash flow was robust with EUR 1.5 billion. And then looking at the underlying dynamics from left to right, first, our EBITDA improved by EUR 40 million to EUR 423 million. Next, working capital. As you've heard me emphasizing throughout last year, we use our working capital to drive growth, especially through better product availability. As you can see, we were really good, and we've also seen the great effect on the top and on the bottom lines in Q1. Then on taxes, you can see a positive year-over-year effect of EUR 24 million and actually a cash inflow of EUR 4 million, in line with the expectations. Finally, other operating cash flow was positive with EUR 117 million. The EUR 97 million improvement year-on-year is mainly due to the increase in VAT receivables linked to our strong sales growth, and that's coupled with some insurance payments. All in all, we generated a strong positive free cash flow of EUR 1.5 billion, EUR 23 million more than last year. That's a robust result for this very, very strong quarter. That completes the financial section. Let me hand back to Karsten for his closing remarks.

Yes. Thank you, Kai. And now let's turn to our full year outlook. We confirm our positive outlook for the year ahead. And despite the volatile economic conditions expected in '24/'25, we remain confident in our ability to drive further growth. Our performance is not just dictated by the market. We set the pace, we break away, and we define our future. So, we expect a moderate increase in currency and portfolio adjusted total sales with all regions contributing to growth, and moderate means 3 to 5 percentage points growth. We also anticipate a clear increase in adjusted EBIT, primarily driven by DACH, Western and Southern Europe. And here, we feel very comfortable with the current consensus at EUR 360 million. Before summarizing and closing, maybe just a bit of an outlook on some exciting developments. Everyone is talking about AI, and most of us are already using it in our daily lives from ChatGPT, Gemini, our Apple Intelligence to AI-powered smartphones. AI is no longer just a concept. It's becoming an essential part of everyday technology with rapid speed and rapid adoption rates. And at MediaMarktSaturn, we do not just sell AI-enabled products. We help customers understand them. Many come to us seeking advice, wanting to learn how to use AI and looking for guidance in this rapidly evolving space. And this growing demand is clearly reflected in our sales. Our sales of AI-enabled laptops were up 40% during the peak season, twice the market growth and allowing us to significantly expand our market share. And also the most recent Samsung Galaxy S25 launch had a very strong start with high demand from customers. And looking ahead, we expect also entirely new product categories to emerge as seen at CS and Vegas, and 2 trends stood out for me -- to me in particular. First, smart glasses, which are getting closer to mainstream adoption; and secondly, a new generation of home robotics offering higher quality and greater capabilities than ever before. And one thing is clear, tech innovation keeps creating new opportunities for growth, and we are very well positioned and committed to lead the way. So let me now wrap up this presentation with Slide 26. And here are the key takeaways. First, Ceconomy and MediaMarktSatlurn delivered exceptional results, outperforming in a challenging market environment. Second, we gained great market share, strengthening our competitive position. Third, our growth businesses continued to accelerate and expand, adding new revenue streams and reinforcing our business model. Fourth, we are making significant progress in leveraging data, enhancing the customer experiences with personalized services. Fifth, our focus remains sharp on cost, liquidity and profitability to ensure sustainable success. And finally, we confirm our positive outlook for the '24/'25 fiscal year with confidence in our strategy and momentum on our side. So ladies and gentlemen, the last 8 quarters have made one thing clear. Our company is on the right path. We have delivered great results in a highly uncertain and competitive market. We have proven our resilience, stayed focused on our customers and continued to evolve our business model. We are no longer just a traditional retailer. We are transforming into a growing profitable omnichannel service platform. And I'm deeply convinced in our strong foundation and our strategic direction, and most importantly, in this and our exceptional team. Thank you for your attention. Now Kai and I look forward to your questions.

[Operator Instructions] And first question comes from Emmanuelle Vigneron, HSBC.

The first one is, could you please give us some color about the German performance as well as the competitive environment? Secondly, what can we expect in terms of financial results for the full year? And finally, what are the countries where you lost market share? And could we expect some rationalization in the portfolio?

Emmanuelle, this is Kai speaking. I'll take those questions. So on Germany, look, we are aware that many are struggling on the German market, and we do also see this market volatile, but I can only reiterate what we've emphasized throughout this presentation. We entered this most important quarter for us extremely well prepared. We executed extremely well. And so in Germany, we saw good market share gains and a strong, strong improvement of profitability. That's what I can say in Germany. For the financial results, let me also reiterate what I commented on when we talked about the 12 months results. For the financial results for the full year, we do expect a small improvement on a 12-month basis, so compared to the prior year. There are certain headwinds that we're facing. These are primarily from our refinancing from 1 year ago from last summer on the bond side. We've also recently seen some improvement on the Turkish market in terms of interest rates, which are not yet reflected in our numbers for Q1. So we expect these to kick in from Q2 onwards. And overall, we thus expect a small improvement versus the prior year on our financial results. Then perhaps finally, on market shares, again, I would go back to what we've emphasized. The one market where we are really facing headwinds is Poland. But I would repeat what we said. Look, we've put in place certain long-term measures. I'll reiterate my point about the online platform. We've also started to look at the store portfolio in line with our overall strategy. So we've introduced different formats on the Polish market. And short-term we've now also reacted with a new management team. So putting all this together, I do have to be open here. I do not expect this to be an immediate turnaround in the next quarter, but this is what I would see in that market. What I think the overarching message here is we have gained as a group strong market share throughout this quarter. So Poland is really the only exception for that. Let's emphasize the positive one here. I hope that answers your questions.

And the next question comes from Volker Bosse, Baader Bank.

Volker Bosse, Baader Bank. I have 3. I would like to start with the gross margin, which declined by 40 basis points. Is it fair to say that this was basically driven by a negative product mix effect? Or how do you look at your gross margin development by product categories in detail, please? Second question would be on your outlook for the EBIT in '25/'26, which you outlined, in June '23, you said 2.5% adjusted EBIT margin and above EUR 500 million EBIT. If I look at EUR 360 million as a potential EBIT for the current full year, this would mean a strong increase by 38% next year and 100 basis points margin improvement. How do you look at this guidance which you outlined? We all know the situation is difficult, but is it really fair to assume that you will achieve your targets as you stated in your presentation? And the final one, there were speculations in the market about potential interest of GD.com. It's, of course, not easy to say -- to comment on these rumors. But nevertheless, I would like to take the chance asking if you had any contact, if you heard anything from these sites, please, your view on the rumors, please?

Yes. Thank you very much. Karsten here. Thank you, Volker, for your questions. I will take the third question. And I will just make an introductory comment with regards to your first question that Kai will detail. And the remark I would like to make more on a general basis is that we look and I look at what we call the triangle. So of course, the product margin, percentage margin is an important factor in that, but there are 2 other things we look at. And the triangle is sales that also drives market share, then we have the percentage margin and then we have total income. And it's finding the optimum of those 3. And let me be very clear. I'm super happy with that quarter because if I take a metaphor, that was a great serve. So we were on the wave finding that optimum driving great elasticity. And rest assured, we have a strong program in place where we are actually getting better, also focusing, of course, on the percentage margin. But for me, it's most critical that also the sales drive the total income. And of course, we look at the margin, and Kai will also explain the effects. I thought just -- maybe just that you wanted to share this -- that my thinking. Look, on this speculation, as you said, in the last years, there have been many speculations. And as we did in the past, we also do it now. We do not comment on speculation. But the only thing I can say that with confidence that our company is on the right and a successful path. And what's also natural in my view is that when you are successful as a company, you're changing and transforming, that attracts attention. And -- but we are fully focused on the continued execution of our strategy of becoming what we call the leading omnichannel service platform. And Kai will answer it, but we're also confident with the '25/'26 result of EUR 500 million, and Kai will explain that. And our business model is very robust, transformation on track, and we are well positioned for the future. So with that, Kai?

Yes. Perhaps let me start with that second question first to pick it up from where Karsten just left it. So to reiterate, we are confident to achieve our mid-term target for the end of the next financial year, so 30th of September, 2026. And what gives us confidence here? Look, we've just gone through the development in particular of our growth areas. And if you do the numbers on this, in each and every one, we see them performing overproportional to our overall top line growth. Services & Solutions, 25% income growth. Retail Media, targeting even more than we had initially anticipated at our Capital Markets Day. And Marketplace growing at 3 digits year-over-year. So we do see overproportional growth in those growth areas, and that gives us good confidence that we can achieve those numbers in -- at the end of the next financial year. Then back on gross margin, your question. I will reiterate the 2 statements that I think financially express what Karsten was saying. EBIT grew more than sales, right? More than 13% growth of EBIT, less than 10% growth of sales, which is still a strong number. So you see that the bottom line is actually overperforming, if you will, the top line growth. Secondly, we grew absolute gross profit by almost EUR 90 million. And as Karsten explained, it's an equation that exists of sales, market share and the margin. But what counts in the end of the day in the books is the absolute figure, and that grew by an impressive almost 3-digit number. Now I'm not pushing away your question on the margin. I just want to emphasize what's most important for us. If we do go to the margin as one of the 3 key elements in this, yes, it was driven by 2 things, I would say. It is the very high competitive pressure that we do have in our peak season. That is so. Keep in mind, we grew market sales. So we push back against competition. But yes, there is high competitive market pressure in that season. And secondly, we do see slightly different developments in the regions. So in West and South, for example, we saw a very, very good margin development. In East, guys, you know we keep talking about normalization of the growth in Turkey. So you can translate that yourself. And in DACH, we did see that high competitive pressure. But again, we grew market shares. We increased our profitability by more than EUR 20 million. So that's the underlying dynamics of that question. Hopefully, a little more color to what Karsten was saying.

The next question is from Andreas Riemann, ODDO.

Three questions from my side. First one, again, on the balance between growth and margins. So it seems that discounting and product mix in Q1 led to more traffic, higher volume growth and this also supported your growth businesses. So does it imply that you may invest more going forward in top line growth to further push those growth businesses like Marketplace, S&S and others? Or is Q1 an exception to the rule? So this is the first topic. Second one, the DACH region, the EBIT margin is now above 4%. Is it fair to say that the growth businesses account for 50% or more of the gross profit in DACH, so that the DACH EBIT margin is now the leading indicator for the group EBIT margin? That would be question number 2. And the third one, I'm coming back to a podcast last summer, you remember with OMR. And I think you mentioned something like you better -- you want to make use of people coming to the stores. So maybe you want to show a [ car ] and other companies basically pay for that. Are there any measures you can share with us? Number 3.

Great. Thank you, Andreas, for your set of questions. I will take the third one. And again, I will comment just more generally on the first one. First one is when you talk about growth and margin, Q1 is definitely a different quarter in that sense. It's more competitive because of the Black season, Christmas period. That's -- for us, it's clear. But we always have an eye on the margin. As I said, it's the triangle. It's really sales, market share and total income. And it's the total income that matters. Of course, we take into account the gross margin. You can assume that we have sensible financial economic steering in all of that. And of course, there will be periods where we either say, when we see the momentum, we push a bit more or we push a bit less. So that is really an ongoing decision. As I said, we also have this margin program in place that we use to steer this. But again, Kai will give you more -- say, a bit more details eventually. So on the podcast what I've said about making our stores more interesting for customers in -- and increase of footfall again. Look, the first thing I would say, and that's something I can share year-on-year, we have seen also in our stores, not just this great online growth, we have seen more footfall in our stores this quarter. And I think that is also thanks to the change in the portfolio, the refurbishment and also, of course, the products, how we display them. It is more interesting, more exciting for customers to come. And yes, new categories like health, fitness, for instance, that we try out. In some countries, we do have some cars. E-mobility is growing. Those, of course, those new category expansion attract customers. And let me put the expansion of categories into -- and next year probably we will also report on another very exciting business under the roof of MediaMarkt. We call that Space as a Service. So we give now top brands more ability to showcase their products, to showcase their brands in the stores through experience zones, through boutiques, through entrance statements. And yes, you will find eventually some companies showcasing cars, other categories. And for that, we get, of course, recurring income from our partners. And most importantly, that makes the shopping experience more interesting, more attractive and attracts more customers. So we are on that path. And because you asked me about some numbers, we will share in the not-too-distant future Space as a Service with some commercial numbers as well and also target because it's another income growth stream for us. And that will then basically put more meat to the bone, what I say when we say we make our stores more attractive through product expansion, different experiences. Kai?

And then let me add to Karsten's other 2 points. So first, on the balance between growth and margin. Let me just formally reiterate our guidance for this year. We continue to expect despite volatility a moderate growth of the top line and a clear increase of the bottom line. You know how this translates into percentages. So less than 5% of sales growth and more than 10% of EBIT growth that I think should give you an indication of -- more than an indication of financial translation of our balance between top line growth and bottom line growth. Of course, if there are opportunities on the market, we will not say no to that. But the target here is clearly on the increase of profitability and not on top line growth. That's just to back up what Karsten was saying. Then on the DACH region, we give you a little more color, just to remind everybody, growth in DACH that is bottom line growth, adjusted EBIT growth, EUR 24 million in this quarter. And all countries contributed to that. Each and every country contributed to that. But to be fair, of course, Germany is the biggest contributor to that result. In Germany, the one indication that I can give you is that one of our growth areas, Services & Solutions contributed in particular to this result. We're particularly happy to see that, because it [ does ] mean that we're simply asking what customers need, right? And it's also financially accretive for us. We do expect that DACH and especially Germany continue to contribute to the EBIT expectation for this year throughout this year. That's as much as I can say about DACH at the moment.

And the next question comes from Clement Genelot, Bryan Garnier.

Three questions from my side, if I may. So the first one, is the gross margin declining across all geographies in Q1? My second question is rather on the prices. Was Q1 like-for-like performance only fueled by volumes? Or is there any inflation boost as well? And do you see a small inflation or kind of deflation for this year? And my last question is on the services. Can you recall us your upcoming initiatives relative to continue to boost the services throughout this year?

Thank you, Clement, for those questions. I'll take the first 2, and then I'll pass over to Karsten. Now on the first question on margin, let me reiterate what I think we have emphasized throughout. EBIT grew more than sales. Gross profit is up in absolute figures. That to us is the most important message here. And while we do not want to push away the question about margin decline, I think we need to put it in perspective. Now on that margin decline in gross profit, we did see a different performance across the regions, as I think I answered previously, where West and South performed really well on the margin side. East dominated by Turkey normalized as expected. That's as much detail as I would give at the moment and reiterate the question that we had. Then you asked about volume versus inflation. We're really pleased to see that Q1 performance on a group level was mainly driven by volume, not by inflation. Of course, there are different trends in the countries and in the regions. West and South, where we just discussed a positive margin development, we've also seen a positive volume development. In Eastern Europe, in particular in Turkey, you can think of this rather stable compared to prior year. And in DACH, it's challenging still despite our market share gains, but we do see certain trend improvements in DACH as well. So that's on volume development. Now on inflation, keep in mind, the products that we sell generally decrease their prices over time. That's a general, I guess, rule or characteristic of this market because of the short product life cycles. So that's a general trend. On the other hand, there is one supporting factor here, and that is the AI laptops and IT hardware, which Karsten mentioned. These come into the market at premium prices. So we see some compensation here, but that's what I would say about inflation and deflation. And Karsten, I'll let you comment on services.

Yes. Thank you, Clement. A very important question, how we sustain and accelerate the momentum in Services & Solutions. I will explain 4 areas of focus. But before I do that, let me be clear what we're doing. We manage Services & Solutions in 2 ways. First, of course, we look at the current performance, review the performance, where we are on track, where is operational excellence going, and are the things we wanted to do gaining traction the way we wanted them to gain traction. That's one thing. It's more shorter term in the current fiscal year. The second path, the second work stream that we have in place, and it's very intense, we ask the team the question, what's the next level of growth that we are building. We call it internally how to build the ramp. And that is a lot of focus going in there. And that, of course, will become the short-term measure next time. What are the 4 areas that what we're looking into? The first one, I would say, is operational excellence in the sense of we have tremendous opportunity still in our stores by making more personal, talking to the customers, servicing the customers in person and increasing the attach rate. That is massive. One benefit of personalized service, and that's one of the other reasons we're rolling it out, is to increase that personal contact. I always say sales is contact sports, so let's do more good contact sports. So that's one element. The next element, very important, is process improvement, journey improvements. You will find that so how can we make it easier for customers to not just sign up to services, we take complexity out, but you will see that massive opportunity in online. And as part of online, as we said, we will have a double whammy by now introducing service in the marketplace. So working on the service process, the service experience also when we deliver the service is critically important. The third one is the portfolio, working on the attractiveness of offers, focusing on recurring revenues, et cetera, and enlarging the portfolio by not losing focus, but there is a lot of great work happening in making our portfolio even stronger. And the fourth area is great opportunity for us. I'm still surprised that so many customers don't know about our services enough. So there's a lot of education, communication going on because that is an untapped potential, and we need to also become even more famous for that because I want sometimes customers to come just for a service. And then by the way, we can also sell them a product. Anyway. So these are the 4 areas: operational excellence, especially the contact sports part; process improvement; journey improvements with very much focus also in online portfolio; as well as communications.

And the next question comes from Markus Schmitt ODDO BHF.

Just a couple for me. So the first one is more a technical question on the Other service and solutions revenue, given the change of illustration. So Retail Media and the commission and fees from the Marketplace are included now in online revenue and delivery fees from stores, brick-and-mortar. Is that understanding correct? And secondly, on Slide 38, I mean these are obviously then the restated operational sales and service figures under the new definition. I guess maybe this is right. Maybe you can confirm this? Then third question, you mentioned just mid-double-digit cost savings for '25. Is this the result of the already implemented optimization initiative, which will have an effect still in the first 3 quarters this year? Or are these new measures? So implying an upsizing from EUR 130 million to, let's say, EUR 180 million, maybe clarification there? And finally, on the cash taxes, could you just remind me what amount of tax loss carry forwards are left as of now, respectively, where do you see cash taxes in '25 and '26?

Okay, Markus. On the first 2 questions on the rather technical questions, let me give you a general answer here and the IR team around Fabienne will reach out to you straight after the call with the technical details. I don't want to -- I want to make sure that we use the time here a little more efficiently. So Services & Solutions, as we now use it, is Operational services and solutions, and that does no longer, no longer include marketplace or delivery. It's operational services, anything from installation of a device to customer financing or insurances. That's operational services and solutions. The numbers that you see in the backup are indeed numbers adjusted for this effect on Page 38. But Fabienne and team will reach out to you straight after this call to make sure that we go through all the details of that. Just for everybody, that's the definition. It makes it easier for everybody to see what prices was. Now on cost savings. Let me be clear on that. My statement was, and I'll reiterate it, in the course of this year, we expect a mid-double-digit million Euro cost saving contribution in addition and on top of the EUR 130 million that we reported, delivered at the end of the last financial year, okay? So these are additional cost savings in the course of this financial year that we would expect by the end of the year. And as I said, some portion of that is already in our Q number, but of course, some portion only coming from the 3 initiatives which I cited. Then finally, on the tax losses carried forward, essentially, let's be clear on this. Under German law, they don't have an expiry date. So they do not run out. They don't expire. The overall tax losses carried forward around to a EUR 5 billion sum, that's a rounded figure now, EUR 2.3 billion in CIT and then in trade taxes of EUR 2.5 billion. These are to be used in the future and offset against any profits that we may make. And again, IR happy to reach out with the details, but that's the rounded figure that I would give you. I hope that answers your questions, Markus.

And the next question comes from Alessandro Cuglietta, Kepler Cheuvreux.

I just have 2. One, maybe on the restructuring -- I mean, on the cost-cutting measures you announced for this year. Does that imply a restructuring cost, just to make sure I understand correctly that one? And the second question is on -- I mean, given the strong performance in Q1 and the fact that you confirm the guidance, are you may be considering resuming paying dividend as early as this year? Can you comment on that part?

Let me come back on cost again. So it's a double-digit million Euro cost savings ticket. And yes, some restructuring costs will be incurred by that. It is nowhere near the roughly EUR 100 million, which we've talked about for the last 2 years. The roughly EUR 100 million were for EUR 130 million of a savings run rate, EUR 100 million. So for the roughly double-digit figure for this year, expected in the low double-digit, high single-digit million Euro range for that double-digit million cost ticket. And then for the guidance and for the dividend, let me reiterate also our statement. We do aspire to be able to pay a dividend or recommend to the Supervisory Board and to the AGM to pay a dividend in the range of up to 25% of EPS. And we wouldn't have made that statement at the end of the last financial year in -- if we didn't see a chance of actually getting into that position at the very latest with the achievement of our mid-term targets. So that's '25 and '26. That's as much as I can say about this at this particular stage.

At the moment, we have no further questions. [Operator Instructions] There are no further questions. So thank you so much. I would now like to hand back to Dr. Karsten Wildberger for closing comments.

Thank you very much, and thank you, all, for your questions today, for your time and your engagement. I hope it's clear that we are fully committed. We will continue to work very hard and deliver our strategy. And the results today speak for themselves. Our plan is working and we're in full execution mode. And if you would like to engage with us again through our official channels, I invite you -- there are 2 great opportunities. First, our Annual General Meeting will take place on February 26th, once again in person, of course, there's always also a hybrid version, but it will be in Essen. And on May 15th, we will present our Q2 results and share further updates on our progress. Until then, I wish you all the best, and thank you for your interest, and see you soon. Bye-bye.

Thank you. Bye-bye.