Danone S.A. (BN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Danone Third Quarter 2025 Sales Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your speaker, Mathilde Rodie, Head of Investor Relations of Danone. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone. Mathilde Rodie speaking. Thank you for being with us this morning for Danone's 2025 Q3 sales call. I'm here with our CFO, Juergen Esser, who will go through some prepared remarks before taking your questions. And before we start, I draw your attention to the disclaimer on Slide 21 of the presentation related to forward-looking statements and the definition of financial indicators that we'll refer to during the presentation. And with that, let me hand it over to Juergen.

Thank you, Mathilde, and good morning. Thank you all for joining our quarter 3 call. A great occasion to share with you our latest sales performance and to discuss the progress on our midterm ambition. So let's begin by looking at our headline results for the quarter, starting with Slide #2. As highlighted in our press release this morning, we are announcing a strong set of numbers with like-for-like sales growth of as much as plus 4.8%, a growth that is driven mainly by volume/mix of plus 3.2%. Building on the momentum from the first 6 months of this year, this represents another quarter of consistent quality growth. In what remains a volatile and uncertain environment, our portfolio continues to deliver with resilience. We are increasingly leveraging 2 important elements. First, a unique portfolio focused on health and wellbeing rooted in categories that grow faster than the average of the food and beverage industry. And secondly, the quality of execution that is progressively increasing even if we have still areas of improvements. Let's break down this performance by region on the next slide, Slide #3. The strong momentum we see in Q3 reflects broad-based growth across the regions. Europe continued its consistent path of step-by-step improvement with a solid delivery across all categories. In fact, Europe has now delivered 8 consecutive quarters of positive volume/mix, a testament to the effectiveness of the ongoing transformation. In North America, we saw this quarter a mixed performance with, on one hand, high protein yogurts continuing to outperform in a very dynamic growth space and despite major capacity constraints. While Coffee Creamers are progressively rebuilding its distribution, we have more work to do to bring plant-based break back to sustainable growth. The standout also in this Q3 is the China, North Asia and Oceania zone. The team around Bruno delivered again exceptional growth in this part of the world, with all subregions contributing strongly from China to Japan to Oceania. And in the emerging markets of Latin America as well as Asia, Middle East and Africa, we saw a strong growth overall with our Dairy and Specialized Nutrition portfolio being the key drivers. Having discussed the regional picture, let's now turn to our performance by category on Slide #4. Our like-for-like sales performance reflects quality growth with a solid contribution from volume/mix and positive price actually in each of our categories, demonstrating the underlying demand for our science-based and value-added portfolio. In EDP, we delivered like-for-like sales growth of plus 3.5%, with volume/mix up plus 1.7% and price of plus 1.8%. Our global high protein platform, with brands like Oikos and YoPRO, continues to grow strong double digits with no sign of any slowdown. We are constantly fueling this growth by rolling out what has proven to work, but also by launching next-generation innovations into this dynamic space. In parallel, we see increasingly strong demand for other functional dairy innovations, for example, kefir. In plant-based, Alpro continues to thrive, whilst we know that we have more to do in the U.S. with our select brands. In Specialized Nutrition, we posted like-for-like sales growth of plus 8.3% with volume/mix up plus 6.5% and price of plus 1.8%. This comes on the back of a strong Q2 and reflects not only the exceptional demand in China, but also in other geographies. Our premium Aptamil platform grew at global level again double digit, winning broad-based market shares. Demand for our Medical Nutrition segment remained also very high across all geographies with brands such as Fortimel and Neocate achieving again double-digit growth. In Waters, sales were up plus 2.3%, with volume/mix up plus 1.3% and price of plus 0.9%. We saw solid execution and delivery across Europe, with strong demand for our recently launched vitamin water under the Volvic brand and continued solid performance of our Evian brand, including in the U.S. At the same moment, we are continuing to post very solid performance for our Mizone brand in China, completing another successful summer season. To put those like-for-like numbers into context, I suggest we review now our sales bridge for the quarter on Slide #5. In addition to the plus 4.8% like-for-like growth previously discussed, we experienced an adverse currency impact of minus 5.1%, resulting from the appreciation of the euro against most currencies over the past 6 months. Importantly, though, for the first time since long, we reported a positive scope effect, which contributed with plus 0.7% in Q3. This is reflecting primarily the recent acquisition of Kate Farms, the first contribution to our compounding ambition. This ambition means to grow our company not only in like-for-like, but also in euro terms after an initial period of portfolio pruning and divestments. For Q3, it results into a reported growth of our net sales of plus 0.7% with sales in absolute reaching EUR 6.9 billion. Now let's take a closer look at each of our regions and their contribution to the like-for-like performance, starting with Europe on Slide #6. Europe delivered solid like-for-like sales growth of plus 2.6% in this quarter, driven by plus 2.1% contribution from volume/mix and a positive contribution from price. As you can see from the chart on the bottom left, this means a further step-up in the performance that Pablo and the European team delivered since the journey started some 3 years ago. In EDP, we are seeing double-digit growth in YoPRO, our high protein platform, but also in our newly launched innovations such as Activia kefir and Danone Skyr. This is an encouraging sign for our future growth ambitions, knowing that we have still many regional white spaces for rolling those successful innovations out. Our Alpro plant-based products, particularly yogurts, continue to win share in the market. The brand is now consistently posting quality growth in an overall category that is back on track. In Specialized Nutrition, let me highlight particularly our Medical Nutrition platform that delivered again a strong performance with Fortimel growing double digit, expanding progressively its reach to patients across Europe. And in Waters, we posted solid growth, notably driven by the evian, Volvic and Zdroj brands. So overall, another strong quarter in Europe, supported by all categories. Let me suggest that we move on to North America on Slide #7. In North America, we saw like-for-like growth of plus 1.5% with a 0.3% volume/mix and a plus 1.2% price contribution. In EDP, we saw continued strong demand for our high protein range with the Oikos brand going from strength to strength. Innovation in this space continues. And in Q3, we launched Oikos Fusion, a high-protein product, enriched with probiotic fibers very suitable for those consumers looking to manage their weight or taking GLP-1 like medication. As you know, we are, like all the industry, managing a situated production capacity for the yogurt category. And Q3 has been particularly tense. We will benefit over the coming quarters from more capacity coming online, which will release some of the current supply constraints. In some other areas of the EDP portfolio, the performance is not where we wanted to be. We have been progressively recovering distribution in Coffee Creamers and this is obviously a journey which takes time as the space we left on the shelf has been taken over by competitors. Beyond the distribution rebuild, we will leverage the moment to further innovate in this category, addressing the emerging trend of naturalness and clean label. The U.S. team is actively working on solutions to bring this business back to where it belongs. And lastly, on EDP, we are progressing with our ambient protein shake exploration. We are encouraged by the early results and,, as we speak, selectively expanding its distribution. We are hence continuing with this soft launch approach and are awaiting robust data on repeat purchase in order to decide on the level of acceleration and investment allocation for year 2026. Next to EDP, we saw satisfactory performance in Specialized Nutrition driven by our Medical Nutrition platform. Worth here to mention that outside of the like-for-like performance, we see a strong double-digit growth momentum of the Kate Farms company, which we are currently combining with our existing U.S. medical platform. Let's now move on to the CNAO zone on Slide #8. Q3 is another outstanding quarter in the China, North Asia and Oceania region with like-for-like sales growth of plus 13.8%, driven entirely by plus 15% volume and mix. This reflects both strong underlying demand for all categories where we operate together with a further step-up in competitiveness. In EDP, in Japan, both Activia and Oikos are continuing their stellar performance illustrating our strategy in action, bringing added value propositions into one of the largest dairy markets in the world that allows us to premiumize and win market share through functional differentiation. In Specialized Nutrition, the Chinese business was again firing on all cylinders. Demand for our infant mix formula and medical portfolio remains very strong. In IMF, the category is in a solid dynamic, growing particularly in the online and social media channels. We are continuing to win market share, thanks to our superior digital business model as well as thanks to our Aptamil Essensis innovation launched some 2 years ago with further expansion opportunities in front of us. Beyond China and Japan, let me highlight the strong performance of our Specialized Nutrition portfolio. In Oceania, we are reporting an increasingly meaningful contribution to the zone's performance with growth across the segments. Worth mentioning here, especially the great momentum of the Souvenaid brand, addressing symptoms of mild memory and cognitive impairments. And finally, in Waters, Mizone has successfully delivered also the 2025 summer season, expanding its reach with the fastest-growing segment of the category, namely the healthy hydration segment. Moving on to Latin America on Slide #9 now. In Latin America, we delivered like-for-like sales growth of plus 4.3% in quarter 3 with volume/mix of minus 2.3% and price of plus 6.6%. We have a solid momentum in EDP, where we are winning with Oikos, YoPro and the Danone brand as the market moves increasingly towards value-added dairy products. In Specialized Nutrition, we continue to win share with Aptamil, which is growing double digits. We're expanding in parallel our medical nutrition reach across our pediatric and adult ranges. And in Waters, the beverage market remains challenging due to weather and adverse economic conditions, especially in Mexico and here especially in the Away From Home segment. And finally, looking at the Africa, Middle East and Asia zone on Slide #10. The AMEA zone saw a clear acceleration in Q3 with sales growth of plus 6.8% with a solid contribution from volume/mix at plus 2.6% and price at plus 4.2%. In EDP, we continued to report strong growth, particularly in Africa with both the Danone and Activia brands. In Specialized Nutrition, the region continues to deliver strong competitive growth underpinned by our focus on science-led innovation and market execution. In particular, we continue to see a strong growth momentum of the Aptamil brand in expansion markets such as Vietnam, India and the Middle East. Beyond Aptamil, we are pleased with the successful rollout of our patented R&I biotic engine in regional early life nutrition brand platforms. And finally, in Waters, we are reporting a solid performance, including in Indonesia, in a very competitive market environment. Let me conclude the regional review, a review which proves the breadth and resilience of our portfolio in delivering on our ambition. Let's move on to Slide #11, recapping our key takeaways and priorities as we look ahead. We have delivered over those first 9 months of the year strong performance with consistent quality growth led by volume/mix. This reflects continued demand for our products across a well-balanced geographical footprint. We have several platforms delivering exceptional growth across the different categories. And at the same time, there are some areas that require further progress, which we will translate into future growth opportunities. As you did certainly expect, we reconfirmed today with confidence our guidance of plus 3% to plus 5% like-for-like sales growth and recurring operating income growing faster than sales. That's probably a good moment to stop and halt. Thank you once again for listening. Looking forward to your questions. And with that, Mathilde, back to you.

[Operator Instructions]

The first question is going to be from Guillaume Delmas, UBS.

Two questions for me, please. So the first one on Specialized Nutrition in the CNAO region because that's third consecutive quarter of double-digit like-for-like sales growth and accelerating every single quarter. So Juergen, can you maybe help us unpack this performance in the quarter as in what kind of category growth are you seeing at the moment? What's your market share development? And any sell-in, sell-out discrepancy we should be aware of? And I guess, looking ahead, how long do you think you can maintain this kind of double-digit run rate? So when would you expect a marked deceleration or maybe it's just going to be about a very soft landing because you've got this upcoming Nuturis rollout, which could be a key driver of growth going forward for SN CNAO? And then my second question is on North America EDP. I think the 1.5% like-for-like you reported in Q3 is the weakest quarterly print since at the end of 2019, so that's nearly 6 years ago. Comps are not getting easier in the fourth quarter. So just wondering here if these trends are a negative surprise to you? I mean, even worrying to you, particularly from a market share point of view? And are you still confident you can stabilize within this, your Coffee Creamer business? And I think the ambition at the start of the year was to by the end of 2025, grow Coffee Creamers in line with category growth. Do you still think you are on track to achieve this?

Guillaume, thank you for your questions. Obviously, the CNAO zone is delivering exceptional growth. And particularly, China is again firing on all cylinders, as you say. So let me double click on it. Early Life Nutrition, the category is actually progressing as we expected. And as we have been discussing over the last few quarters, we see a very moderate segment growth started in stage 1, thanks to the birth rates of year 2024, moving progressively in stage 2, so no surprise on that front. It translates to overall very moderate growth of the category. In the growth of the category, what we are seeing is that there is a shift from offline channels to more online channels, to social media channels, which is not a surprise when you look at the overall shopping trends of the Chinese consumer. In this category, we continue to outperform and win market share clearly. The shift to online channels actually allows us to leverage what the team has built over the last 10 years, which is a unique digital business model, which is truly a competitive edge. And secondly, and there's obviously no change in this message is that the Essensis platform is winning market share across China. Innovation, we launched now some 2 years ago, has become a quite sizable platform, and we see further growth opportunities on this front. And in parallel, as you say, we are preparing Nuturis, has been soft launched in Hong Kong, and we will bring it to Mainland China at the right moment when we see that we have positioned Essensis in the right way and that we have a solid print there. When it comes to China Medical Nutrition, obviously, different dynamics because there is an underlying strong demand from a category perspective, and this stands actually across all segments. And it starts from special pediatrics posting a stellar performance and especially our allergy formula under the Neocate brand. As we discussed a good 1 year ago, it has a lot to do with the fact that there is more and more babies rightly diagnosed and therefore, they are getting the right medical nutrition, and we're seeing that reflected. But we are seeing also very strong demand on our Advanced Medical Nutrition business, benefiting with no surprise from strong demographics. So here, we are pushing distribution of our tube feeding solutions as we have been discussing. We invested into medical sales force quite significantly and that starts to pay back. And at the same moment, we are building the future of this category with the oral nutrition segment. So looking forward, yes, China has been firing on all cylinders. Let's be careful not to extrapolate that for all the coming quarters. However, we have good reasons to believe that China will deliver significantly also to our growth in the coming quarters. When it comes to North America, let me step back for a minute. It's an important question. It's not a question of comps, let me be very clear on this one. When we look at the performance of the last 2 quarters, we cannot be satisfied as we missed some important growth opportunities. But there is a few reasons, probably 3 plus 1 reasons why we are confident that North America will progressively go back to where it belongs. First, high-protein yogurts, they continue to fly. The demand is extremely high. We are quite seriously kept by production capacity. Finally, we have new capacity coming online starting from Q4 and that we go into 2026, which will release some of the pressure we had in Q3 was particularly tense on this part. That will allow us not only to continue pushing high-protein yogurts, but also to finally again activate the rest of the yogurt portfolio. We have been particularly shy because there was no capacity available. And you will see Danimals is coming with a relaunch in Q4, which is important for us because it's a big brand, and the kid segment is very strategic to us. On Coffee Creamers, let's be very clear here. Yes, we have been progressively recovering distribution. But yes, this is also a journey, which takes time as this space on the shelf has been occupied by competitors. And as you can imagine, we are doubling down on our efforts to get our space back. But what we are also doing and that's important is that we are leveraging that the moment to bring our product portfolio closer to the emerging trend of clean label and naturalness, which will help us to bring our International Delight brand back to where it has been. The third element I would like to mention here, and I mentioned actually also in the prepared remarks, is Medical Nutrition. Now with Kate Farms, first time, we have a sizable platform in the U.S. that will help us to accelerate on this very important category moving forward. We wanted to become really a powerhouse of growth for North America. And lastly, there's a leadership factor, as you can imagine. Henri Bruxelles, who is the newly appointed President of Americas as of January 1, is already bringing a fresh perspective to the different categories. He is bringing back both, I would say, obsession about superior consumer experience, but also a renewed sense of urgency. So many reasons why we believe that North America will again play a very important role for our growth momentum in the future, and I have not even talked about the protein shakes.

Thank you, Guillaume. So we're going to take the next question from Warren Ackerman, Barclays.

Warren here from Barclays. Two from me as well. First one is on Europe, Juergen. Very pleasing performance in Europe. Could you maybe double-click a little bit on European EDP, where are you on the rollout of some of the more valorized ranges on the Skyr, kefir, high protein? What kind of ways are they now in Europe? Are we at a tipping point where it's offsetting the kind of more general ranges? And then can you maybe sort of outline what kind of growth you're seeing in the out-of-home channels in Europe that we don't see in the scanner data? So if you can double-click on European EDP and what you're seeing in terms of market shares and the trends? That's the first one. And then secondly, just on the guidance. You're running, I think, at 4.4% organic at the 9-month stage. Your guidance is 3% to 5%, so you're clearly tracking at the top end of that, the guidance range. You haven't today changed the guidance to the top end, but you're tracking at that level. Is there anything we should think about for the final quarter of the year? Is there any kind of sort of conservatism built into the guide? Any moving parts that you want to call out for the final quarter of the year, that would be helpful.

Good morning, Warren. Yes, as you say, Europe progressing pretty well in this transformation, is getting better quarter by quarter. I think it's now 6 consecutive quarters where we see the growth accelerating and this is including in EDP. And as you say, this is thanks to the fact that our more differentiated portfolio becomes more important in terms of weight percentage of the portfolio quarter-by-quarter. All the innovations are working extremely well. High protein, we have been discussing for quite some time. Activia, back to growth in Activia, especially on fibers and what we are doing with the kefir, we are progressing very well. Skyr also doing very well. But all of those elements, we have been launching only 2 years ago. So we are still early in that journey. But this is exactly where the opportunity is because when you take products like kefir, Skyr, we have not yet even rolled them all across Europe. And this is where we see the opportunity, and you will see us going for that in a very speedy manner. To your point, we continue to outperform outside of large retail. This is also part of our strategy. This is where we have been underrepresented for decades. But this is also where we have been intentionally innovating for. The majority of our innovations is drinkable format, suitable for away-from-home point of sale and on-the-go consumption. And that means that we continue to grow 2 to 3x faster in away-from-home than in large retail. That is what the strategy and priority moving forward, which will stay on top of the table. When it comes to the guidance, obviously, we are very happy with the first 9 months of the year. You can imagine that we are not giving quarterly guidance, neither by category, neither by region, as you know. There is no particular message actually for Q4 to pass here. Overall, what is important for us is that we want to demonstrate that our portfolio focus on health is a superior portfolio and that this is also translating into a faster growth vis-a-vis the industry. We feel good with our 3% to 5% guidance for year 2025, but also beyond. And we are now consistently delivering in that corridor. And in a way, while our ambition is to grow sustainably as fast as possible, there's always something in a business which doesn't go well, and we had 2 softer quarters in North America. This is why we feel good about this guidance.

Thank you, Warren. So the next question from Jeremy Fialko, HSBC.

So just a couple of things from me. So the first one is, if you could talk a bit about Latin America. We've had some quite mixed things from other companies in the region. So if you could talk about how you're seeing the conditions in the various markets you compete? And the second one is, could you talk a little bit more about the rollout of the high protein? So why are we so confident this category is going to carry on at these very high rates? Where you think the big -- is the next sort of big rollout opportunities are? And perhaps a bit more detail on the kind of the scale of the capacity expansions you've got coming on in the coming quarters?

Jeremy, Latin America, we see what everybody is seeing, especially in Mexico, where consumer sentiment is pretty muted. That's one of the drivers why our Water performance in this year has not been satisfactory beyond the weather conditions, which have been quite awful during all the season. Actually, we don't take that as an excuse. We focus on those elements where we have value-added propositions and where we can grow. And you saw that quite nicely in Q3, which is particularly about Specialized Nutrition, which is now growing consistently at a very good speed, particularly in Brazil, but it spans all across the region to Argentina, actually. And this is on both Early Life Nutrition and Medical Nutrition on those categories. But also on dairy, which is doing well, and dairy is doing well across the region, thanks to Oikos and the Greek yogurt and high-protein yogurt, which are showing the same dynamic as everywhere else in the world. Thanks to our other core brands, including the Danone brand, which is doing very well. So overall, I would say, a satisfactory performance. Let me use that moment to say that when you look at our Specialized Nutrition business across emerging markets, and I put it together, Latin America plus our AMEA zone, you see that this is a EUR 700 million platform as large as China, growing at high single digits. So this is becoming more and more for us a key growth engine moving forward, especially with Aptamil growing very, very strongly across but also Medical Nutrition, which we are building. The second element and to your second question on high-protein yogurts, we see still a massive trend from a consumer perspective on health and well-being. Yogurt actually is a very powerful, efficient and convenient source of proteins and other goodies, and this is better and better understood. The consumption of yogurt is different region by region, but when you take the U.S., U.S. per capita consumption is one-third of the consumption of Europe, which gives you an idea of the size of the opportunity in front of us. And the protein trend continues. Clearly, there has been a recent study published in the U.S., which is saying that 71% of American consumers want to add more quality proteins to their diets. So there's many reasons to believe that this growth continues. On our side, we are actually innovating in that space, so that we go from quantity of putting into quality of protein and other ingredients. We launched what we call Oikos Fusion, which is a patented blend of a whey protein, amino acids and prebiotic fibers, which help to build or maintain muscle during weight management journey. So it becomes more and more functional, more and more science-based. And I think that will help to keep the momentum of the category moving forward. And then this capacity coming online for us, especially in the U.S., it will also release some of the pressures we have seen particularly in Q3.

Thank you, Jeremy. The next question from Celine Pannuti, JPMorgan.

So I would like to come back first on the U.S., if you could a bit help to understand some of the moving parts. So Juergen, you said that comp is not an issue, and you have a tougher comp, I think, in the fourth quarter. But at the same time, you're talking about this capacity coming online. Are we, therefore, expecting to see a sequential improvement in volume/mix in Noram? And if you could as well try to go a bit deeper in understanding the sequence of actions and potential improvement in Coffee Creamers as we look into the next quarters and, you know, as well give us a bit more details on plant-based because it seems that it has been several times you've tried to prop up that performance and has not yet happened? And maybe lastly on that, you briefly mentioned the Oikos high protein. I know you were launching it in Costco. Can you give us a bit more details on that launch and its potential contribution going forward? My second question will be so shorter. It's on the overall guidance. You mentioned the top line, but if I think about the profit growth and the fact that Specialized Nutrition is growing much faster this year and, obviously, a more profitable category from a gross margin and EBIT margin standpoint, can we think about how you -- how do you think about potential uplift to gross margin? Between putting that to the bottom line and reinvestment? And if so, if there are more reinvestment, where about are you putting this in the second half of the year?

Look, on North America, I think I probably said it -- I said almost all 2 softer quarters, but there is nothing structural here. We are pretty confident in the ability of the North American business to again deliver very solid contribution to the growth of our company. And this is because we are not dependent on one single growth engine. High protein yogurt, we will get a release on the constraints, which were really tense in Q3 as capacity comes online in the course of Q4. That we'll definitely have, in a category, which continues to fly. And this is releasing, as I said, not only the constraint on high-protein growth, but also on the rest of the Europe. Coffee Creamers, we are fighting back our products on the shelf. That's the journey, as I said, and actually gives us the opportunity to also innovate at the same moment to make our products more on trend of naturalness and clean label. And I think that's an important one actually to get international delight back to where it belongs. We have been winning share, and let's not forget that for 2 consecutive years on Coffee Creamers. 2025 is now a more challenged year because of, let's say, the supply chain issues we had at the beginning of the year. But structurally, we believe that this brand is a very powerful brand in a continuously growing category. Plant-based, I think this actually coming now to North America. We bring a lot of the goods, best practices we have been executing on Alpro in Europe region that will help. And you will see that in the not so far future translating into the way we are relaunching silk in the U.S. So we continue to be optimistic that this will play a role in our growth trajectory in North America on both sides on milk, but also on plant-based yogurt, something we have not been talking about so much over the last 1 year. And you know that plant-based yogurts play already a very sizable role in Europe, not yet in the U.S. There's the right space for us. And finally on protein shakes, actually protein shakes, we continue to receive very positive feedback from consumers. We are still not having a robust repurchase data, that takes some time as usual, but we are not standing still and just waiting. We have decided to selectively expand to retailers in the U.S. to build more awareness. And then once we have sufficient data, we are going to decide on the level of acceleration for 2026. And finally, Kate Farms is not to be underestimated, I believe, an amazing business. The traction we are getting on the ground is amazing. And finally, we have a $500 million platform of Medical Nutrition in U.S., something we never had before, which we believe can also get us a sizable contribution there. So overall, I would say, many reasons to be confident in the growth perspective of this region. When it comes to the guidance, look, I think top line is very clear. Bottom line, we are sticking with what we always said. For us, what is important that quality growth translates into operating leverage so that we can do both, expanding our margins progressively and reinvesting into our business. And I think this year, 2025, demonstrates again that the portfolio rooted into science is a superior portfolio growing faster than the industry. So you will see us doubling down on science on brand investments. You saw probably that 2 weeks ago, we opened a research center in Saclay, particularly on gut health, particularly on OneBiome in order to make sure that we stay pioneer in science for gut health for the years to come. And so we will progressively increase our margins at the right speed. And any upside, and we have been saying that, I think, consistently, any upside, which goes beyond, we will invest back into the business in order to solidify our growth momentum for the years to come.

Juergen, if I may just follow up on the U.S. answer you gave? I mean how much visibility you have on the short term? I mean, clearly, you made the point about the potential in the coming quarters? Just because I know that Q4 is a tougher comp, is this something that we should think about as we think the final quarter in that region or all the positive you mentioned, including the capacity, means that your volume will remain positive?

Celine, I think the two elements to say. Again, no particular message to pass on comps on either for Q4. And on the other side, we are not guiding by quarter by region. So probably good bucket there.

Thank you, Celine. The next question is from Jon Cox, Kepler.