Dexelance S.p.A. ($DEX)

Good afternoon, and welcome to Dexelance Q1 2026 Financial Results Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I now have pleasure handing over to Andrea Sasso, Chairman and CEO. Please go ahead, Andrea.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for being here with us. Let's begin the presentation of the first quarter of 2026 and more [indiscernible] at the level of revenue, we achieved the sales of EUR 84.4 million. It means plus 17% versus year-on-year. But if we are talking about the organic perimeter, yet, we register a minus 10.6% year-on-year. With different performances between the strategic business area, omnichannel go-to-market, delivering a robust growth. We have a stable performance in Kitchen Systems. And then we have a decrease mainly in Luxury contract and furniture, but with a quarterly expected seasonality as announced and stated also in March of this year. With regard to the EBITDA, we achieved EUR 5.7 million, equal to a 6.7% on margin in total value in absolute values plus EUR 0.4 million with respect to first quarter 2025. But the organic perimeter was negatively impacted by operating deleverage in luxury contract and furniture. We are conservatively reached breakeven and adjusted [indiscernible] Speaking about that, we are at EUR 72 million net bank debt, we consider also the [indiscernible] announced, we achieved EUR 114 million. And then we reached EUR 150 million according to the IFRS 16 principles. In summary, in the first quarter, we have severance out similar to the 2025 here and outcome as we have stated since December. Giorgio, over to you.

Thank you, Andrea. Let's move to Page 3 and let's go through some of the initiatives that our company undertook during Q1, and you've seen a while a little bit more a little bit later than Q1. The first 1 was in January in [indiscernible] in Paris, used to be until a couple of years ago, quite an important the second most important, the furniture fair in the world after the [indiscernible] then the importance of furniture decreased a lot. But still, this far gather [indiscernible] a huge number of interior design and architect from everywhere around the world. We are likely having 2 mono-brand stores in [indiscernible] German a [indiscernible] and the others. And we participated in the, let's say, the downtown part of this design week, I would say, a pretty successful way. If we move to Page #4, a couple of globally speaking, minor events, but locally speaking about important events. In Toronto, we participate with the interior design show with the combination of 2 of our companies [indiscernible] that, as you probably know, are now managed by the same CEO. So we brought these 2 companies together in terms of commercial proposition and for the first time, we participated in a combined version with the architectural like of flexing and [indiscernible] line. If we move to Page 5 that went to place in New York is called the winter show. And the New York or the most important place in U.S. for artist and designer, and we participate in this winter show one of the many events that are organized in New York. We participate what is called the modern [indiscernible] where some of the products, the contemporary products of our companies has been mixed together with vintage pieces objects this so far the target of this event is a very high-level target, and we were proudly participate through this event. If we move to Page 6, some of the -- we decided together to include also some of the model in this presentation, although it occurred in the second half of April 1 of all, because of moves the most important furniture and design fair in the world by far. And secondly, because this addition was pretty much at risk because of the many reasons that you may imagine the worst fuel cost, et cetera, et cetera, difficulties in travels, flight castle and so on and so forth. But the end result was that this addition of some of the module has been very, very, very much, surprising and successful. The figure achieved 316,000 visitors to be compared with the 300,000 visitors of last year. So we were all expecting a decrease and the end result has been actually an increase, plus 4% to 5% participation with 68% of people coming from outside [indiscernible] So more than 2/3 of the visitors were coming from everywhere in the world. And surprisingly, we had also many visitors coming from those countries that were most likely to be close to this, such as Emirates, Far East, Middle East, Lebanon, Israel and so on and so forth. We have been featured inside the fare with 9 of our brands covering in total almost 3,000 square meters. On top of that, we have 6 of our brands having more store downtown Milano participated in the [indiscernible] in organizing specific events, thus to give you an order of magnitude, the far lasted from 2 day to Sunday but the real pick top days were Tuesday to Friday, each of our stents, received on average more than 3,000 visitors a day. We don't have statistics about Southern and Sunday because during the weekend, Fees open to the public to the private consumers and so we don't count the number of endless. But still, these numbers are astonishingly higher than any possible optimistic for it that we have made the within some of the model. If we move to Page #7 and we have some special events, for instance, Meridian marked its they anniversary as it was founded in 1996 and took the chance of this anniversary also to underline and promote the new slogan of trend, which is meet the short version of Meridian name with an establishing quarter year on May. If we move to Page 8, the last company that joined our group mode. As you know, it's not a manufacturer like the other 12, it's an omnichannel distributors. So it is not a bedside the fair Milan, but they still organize an event in one of the 2 locations in Milan called [indiscernible] as installation curated by [indiscernible] we are on season [indiscernible] as far as. If we move to Page #9, last important installation that was made [indiscernible] that on top of the participation to the far on top of the participation of the [indiscernible] with the [indiscernible] store at on Milano, also made the installation in its hometown called a fantastic light installation to celebrate its 4 years of work in light inside the core operated charge very emotional that will, let's say, achieved a very high level of success with the journalist and architects before during the sale, that's still after the [indiscernible] open, going to bid this unbelievable installation. We are quite unbelievable coverage also on the bottom or and the information newspapers and work on the Figaro to New York Times to many others. I don't want to go you any longer, and I pass the stage to Marella.

Thank you, Giorgio, and good evening, everyone. So let's move to Page 10 and start with the quarterly performance by the different strategic business areas. Please note that the 2025 figures here represented referred to the previous excellence perimeter, so excluding all while the first quarter figures include 3 months of [indiscernible] contribution following the consolidation started the consolidation in the excellent perimeter started in the last quarter of 2025 after closing dates in late September. So in the quarter, as announced by Andrea before, revenues reached EUR 84 million, up 17% year-on-year, mainly driven by this perimeter effect of model. On an organic basis, luxury contracts declined by almost 15%, broadly in line with the exit pace that the segment recorded at the end of 2025 and reflecting a combination of 2 factors. On 1 side, in 2025, Luxury counter had a particularly strong first quarter per year to the slowdown that we observed throughout the rest of the year and mainly in the second half. And second, this year for 2026, we are experiencing a more pronounced seasonality or with backlog confirmed orders to date currently indicating a stronger second half for the business area. Moving to the residential business, both furniture and lighting were impacted by market conditions and ongoing uncertainty that we have been observing in the market since many quarters now, which continues to extend the average order cycle, most importantly in the soft contract project as we will see in a minute in the next slide. In particular, lighting after the strong Q4 2025, which was up almost 20% and ended the year plus 7% recorded a temporary normalization in the quarter, down 9% this quarter, which was actually approximately EUR 0.7 million, which we expect to be recovered over the coming quarters. Finally, a positive mention to mod within the omnichannel segment, which now this is now visible in the table because it's -- it was outside of organic [indiscernible] perimeter. Mohd started the year with around 10% growth year-on-year following an already solid plus 5% recovery in full year 2025. Moving to the next slide and the breakdown by channel. Hard contract essentially corresponds to the luxury contract and therefore, reflects the around 15% decline that has been already discussed. On the residential side, both retail and of contract growth that you can see in the table were supported by Mohd consolidation, given that its omnichannel business model is covering both retail across e-commerce and traditional distribution and project activities. But on an organic basis, retail remained broadly stable, while soft contract was negatively impacted by longer project times and lower conversion more or less along the different end markets that we are covering from luxury cruising to residential to hotels and Basel restaurants. Finally, moving to Page 12. Looking at the geographical breakdown, Revenue growth across road. All regions were largely supported by most contribution with the exception of the rest of the world, which was -- which is at minus 11%, which was impacted by a different geographical mix within the luxury contractor. On an organic basis, we saw solid growth in Europe, particularly in key markets such as Spain, Switzerland and France. And for the first time after several quarters, also some positive signs from the DAC region, namely Germany and Austria. We also saw a positive trend in North America and also in the United States. But focusing on the Middle East, this quarter, the region accounted for 8% of group revenues. It was 5% during the 12 months 2025, showing actually year-on-year growth and not yet significantly being impacted by the current political situation -- geopolitical tension given that the tensions escalated only March. We started to see some early signs of slowdown in March and April, in particular, in the retail part of the business because of the more cautious approach from these clients allow nothing material at this stage because key projects, in particular, in the residential end market are still progressing and by, of course, at a slower page on side. And I will move into Page 13, Alberto, please.

Thanks, Marella. In the first quarter of 2026, sales revenues amounted to EUR 84 million, up 17.1% compared to the previous year. Excluding the contribution of model, sales decreased by 11%. The slowdown in organic revenues weighted on results and explained the decrease in the EBITDA margin from 7.3% to 6.7%. The organic percentage change in EBITDA compared to the same period last year by 2.2%. This effect is entirely attributable to operating the leverage. It should be [indiscernible] debt in the previous year. The first quarter was not affected by one-off negative impacts, which only began to materialize from the second quarter onward. The gross margin of 32.6% is 1 percentage point lower than last year due to the impact of which is a trading company has a lower percentage gross margin. Excluding Mohd, the gross margin improves by percentage points compared to the same period in 2025, reaching 33.9%. Personnel cost at 19% of our revenues show a lower incidence than last year, although still affected by the leverage. Financial expenses increased due to the higher bank debt compared to the same period last year as a result of the acquisitions of [indiscernible] and Mohd. In particular, Total financial expenses of EUR 10.9 million are broken down into EUR 1.3 million of banking investor EUR 0.4 million of IFRS 16 interest and EUR 0.2 million of other financial expenses. Adjusted net income is close to breakeven, broadly in line with the same period last year. We move on Page 14. On the left, we see the net bank debt the change in tenant compared to December 2025 is entirely explained by the cyclical effect of net working capital, which is higher during the year then at that year. But people do to inventories. Net working capital in the first quarter of 2026, amount amounted to 23.9 million, an increase by EUR 5.9 million compared to the first quarter of 2025, partially due to the acquisition of Mohd. With the reference to total financial debt of EUR 150.5 million, in addition to the bank that already mentioned, there was an increase of EUR 2.2 million in liability related to option and earnouts due to the remeasurement of an option whose exercise is being affirm by 3 years. Lease liabilities under IFRS 16 remains substantially stable. Please Andrea.

First quarter intake -- let's go to Page 15, where you can see that first quarter intake that it was plus 10% with respect to first quarter 2025. Together with the end of 2025 backlog shows a credit line with our expectation. As mentioned in March 2026, our expectations are to have a luxury contract business between EUR 70 million and EUR 80 million and residential growth in the low single-digit area. Marella, over to you.

Yes. Moving to Page 16. An update on the capital increase announced. So as you may recall, at the end of 2025 together with the announcement of our midterm ambition. We also announced the launch of a capital increase up to EUR 70 million and this has been subsequently approved by the extra assure the meeting at the beginning, mid of January 2026. And the transaction provides for up to EUR 50 million through the issuance of new ordinary shares and up to EUR 20 million through warrants to be granted for free alongside the new shares issued. So the update is that today, the Board of Directors has exercised the delegation to proceed with the capital increase. And out of the maximum EUR 50 million equity component, we have already received subscription commitments for approximately EUR 27.5 million, along with additional expressions of interest in the transaction for around EUR 8.9 million. The next step will be that the Board of Directors by the end of May, we will define the final terms of the transaction with objective to complete the capital increase within the first half exactly as announced at the end of 2025. And the presentation is now over. So this time for question and answer, whenever that is. Thank you, everyone.

[Operator Instructions] The first question today comes from Carmen Novel.

First, I wanted to ask some more color on current trading and how are you seeing the market sentiment after the outbreak of Iran conflict? And my second question is regards to profitability, we estimate an annual adjusted EBITDA around EUR 41 million. Is it still reasonable to expect that and to expect the recovery of those EUR 5 million of related to the one-off recorded last year in the second quarter. And finally, regarding Mohd, I don't know your visibility on that business, but given the strong performance of this quarter, can we expect a positive annual performance as well. We estimate annual revenues for more around EUR 75 million could be better than that?

So let's talk about the expected EBITDA. Now we expect to achieve an adjusted EBITDA increase of at least 15% compared to last year. So I mean your estimation, I think, is in line with our expectations. With regard to Mohd is as a business is growing double-digit growth well compared to last year. Then frankly speaking, there was also a good starting in April. And in general, the business after the Salone was really positive in terms of energy and enthusiasm as already Giorgio was telling to you, then this has to be has to be seen in orders. But in terms of energy, for sure, I mean the impact of the war in the Middle East in this moment is frozen some projects, but fix are going in the right way. We don't see it in now a strong negativity. On the opposite, there was many people coming from Saudi Arabia or also United Emirates. So we have done a very nice meeting understanding the situation in the moment, but with a positivity for the future. That's what I passed on get talking with many, many of our specify

The next question today comes from Paola Carboni.

Yes, I have a few questions. First, you have referred to an expected recovery in the coming quarters for the residential segment, in particular, I assume you were referring to soft contract, and you have, in fact, confirmed your guidance of residential business up low single digit. I was wondering if you can give us a bit more color on the order intake. You are seeing in that respect, it's a bit difficult for us to say, to figure out the picture chart that you projected, and so and understanding the different component of the order backlog you are presenting on Page 15. So if you can add a bit more color on that, how situation for the order intake in soft contract and what kind of visibility this provides to you for the next few months? And another question is about the Salone del Mobile you were commenting with a qualitative positive sentence stance. I was wondering when do you fact we might have a more quantitative feedback on that, which may be further support the second half of the year. And a further question is instead on the savings, you had anticipated when announcing your midterm ambitions, both in personnel, marketing, commercial organization. So I was wondering whether you are on track with that? And when should we start seeing some benefit at the P&L level from these actions?

Okay. Let's talk about the order intake. Then it has to be also consequences of future sales in terms of turnover. I mean, in terms of axle contract, we reduced a good order intake, but seasonality in terms to transform this order intake in sales in the recovery will happen in the second half of the year. Even the second quarter despite the good order intake in the luxury contract, we will not see any cover in terms of sales. in the second quarter. But starting from the third and fourth quarter, you will see, I mean, the recovery. In terms of soft contract, we start to see some recovery even in the second quarter. even if in the second quarter, the recovery will be much more on an EBITDA level than on sales, sales, we recovered, we are thinking that in the second quarter, we will have from a residential point of view, excluding the luxury contract I mean, sales close to last year to the second quarter of last year. But the evidence will be much more in EBITDA because there will not be any more the impact on tool that we registered mainly in the second quarter 2020 variable. This is, I mean, what we are thinking in terms of seasonality between turnover sales and order intake. With regard to the cost savings, when Alberto was explaining the impact on gross margin. If we exclude mode, when we are talking about fixed cost, fixed cost in the first quarter of 2025 was EUR 19 million, okay, in the first quarter 2026. So if we exclude the model the same fixed cost was EUR 18.6 million. So we registered for a EUR 0.4 million fixed cost less than last year to the same organic perimeter. And then in the second quarter, we will start to see also some other recovery. For example, the impact of the fare that we are selling some EUR 100,000 sector last year. Actually from May, we have just 1 administrator and not both as it was in the her. So now in Mohd, we have one and President, where the founder is retired, partially starting for May. So this is another between bracket savings that we already explained to you and then from May, we start also to close the showroom of an of the 2 that we have in Milan. So I mean, in the second third quarter I mean you will start to see more than the savings that we already announced in the midterm ambition. But even the first quarter is encouraging from this point of view.

Say the order intake coming from the Salone normally -- pretty much different country by company because there are some companies like Gamma who take the chance of the Simone to really gather new orders, and they piled up more than EUR 2 million order during the pace of the Salone -- some other companies like Saba [indiscernible] they normally make the cost of only promotion that stays open till the end of May or until the end of June, in some cases, so only at the end of first half, we'll have a complete picture. Some other companies like a design, just an example, they normally don't in kitchen, they don't get the other orders during the Salone because installing the kitchen in [indiscernible] showroom is pretty much an investment decision by the dealer and this takes normally now over time. So we picture, we'll never include all the countries that have been imported during the sovereign activities. When I can compare apple with apple, I mean the order intake of gamma was significantly higher than last year, and presumably also some of [indiscernible] more orders, but we'll see at the end of June, more orders than during the sooner last year. But it's just a qualitative assumption that I'm making.

Okay. And another question, if I may, still on the residential segment. You said the kitchen system was broadly stable. In Q1, why is that was growing, if I'm not wrong, at the end of 2025. So I'm wondering if I hear as well, you have a visibility on a better trend going forward.

Paola, I mean, these anymore at this time, there was a [indiscernible] has been very good for kitchens. And then start just for the second quarter, we will see even some improvement in terms of order intake, we see these kind of things. So I can tell you that we don't see any clouds on the business of kitchens in 2026. So there will be a low -- between a low middle digit growth throughout the year. Then frankly speaking, we are starting also recovering in the seasonality of the lighting. Lighting last year was in 2025, excellent, frankly speaking, from [ Exelon ] Group on the opposite of what happens in the general market of lighting in the end, that was negative in terms of market trend. For the seasonality, we have an impact on the first quarter. So we have seen -- but I think that we start starting from the second quarter recovering. The impact was mainly in flexing North America, frankly speaking, but this is something normal in this moment from the technical architectural lighting. We are not worrying about that. And so I think that also during the second quarter and then the second half. So the real [indiscernible] will be at least align if not even low digit better than last year. That was again an extraordinary record. I want to underline again. So what we have to improve is the full net activities that starting from the second quarter, we will see something close to the second quarter of last year. And then some adjustment in the numbers because the orders are going to us and all in the soft contact business. And then omnichannel, it seems finger-cross growing better and better all the [indiscernible] practically.

[Operator Instructions] As there are no questions queued, I will now hand back to the speakers for any final comments before bringing this presentation to a close. Please go ahead.

Thanks for being here with us, and then we will see each other in the next conference level. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone, for joining today. This presentation will now come to a close. Thank you.