EL.En. S.p.A. (ELN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon to everyone, and welcome to EL.En's Final Year 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. Today's call will be recorded and so will be an opportunity for questions at the end of the conference call. With me on the call, Andrea Cangioli, EL.En's CEO; and Enrico Romagnoli, EL.En's Chief Financial Officer and Investor Relator. Before we begin, please note that the remarks management makes on the conference call about future expectations, strengths and prospects and forward-looking statements. Certain statements in this call, including those addressing the company's beliefs, plans, objectives, estimates or expectations of possible future results or events are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known or unknown risks, including general economic and business conditions and conditions in the industry the company operates and may be affected should the assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Consequently, no forward-looking statements can be guaranteed and actual future results, performance or achievements may vary materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The company undertakes no obligation about contents nor to update the forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date hereof. [Operator Instructions]. But at this time, I want to give the floor to Andrea Cangioli. Please, Andrea, go ahead.

Good morning, good afternoon. Thank you very much, Nicola. Thank you very much, Bianca. And thank you to all the attendees for joining this conference call we are holding after the release of the Q4 2024 and of the full year financial reports after yesterday's meeting of our Board of Directors. On the call with me, as usual, Enrico Romagnoli that will give you the appropriate highlights on our financial performance. The fourth quarter of 2024 was no exception to the business trend outlined throughout the year with a consistent pattern over the quarters. The medical business started the year slowly and progressively accelerated. Within the Industrial sector, the cutting business suffered throughout the year with strong headwinds that at this point, we could define a downturn in the markets that we consider its domestic markets, Italy and China, respectively. The rest of the Industrial business performance was slightly below expectation, mainly due to the weakness again of the Italian market. As you know, we are in a transition phase in our Industrial business. With the press release dated November 8, 2024, we disclosed our intention to transfer to the Wuhan-based Chinese Corporation YOFC, the control of what we refer to as our laser metal cutting business units. We held a conference call on this regard analyzing the details. With the subsequent update released on January 2, 2025, we disclosed that the proposed transaction would not involve any more the sale of the majority of Cutlite Penta and that the sale of the majority would be related to Penta Laser Zhejiang and our Chinese companies involved in the cutting business only. The involvement of YOFC in the Italian Cutlite Penta in order to preserve its full Italian nature and DNA would have been limited to a significant but minority shareholding. As of today, we are negotiating the terms of the share purchase agreements needed to finalize in a contractual binding form, the provisions of the framework agreement we executed in November [indiscernible]. The deadline of the negotiations is March 31. Please Rohan could you mute your microphone. I continue -- Mr. Rohan, could you please mute your microphone?

Rohan, please mute stop your microphone. [Foreign Language]

As of today, we are negotiating the terms of the share purchase agreement needed to finalize in a contractual binding form, the framework agreement executed in November. The deadline of the negotiation is March 31. With respect to the status of the negotiations, I don't have any further information to release. I can say that the ongoing negotiations are complex and obviously, there are several hurdles to overcome and that none of the parties has deemed any of these hurdles to be too high or high enough to interrupt the negotiation and give notice of the cancellation of the framework agreement. Therefore, negotiations are still going on and expected to close. As an effect of the framework agreements and of our disclosed intention to divest, the way we report our financial results is compliant to IFRS 5 accounting standard. Please note that unless differently specified, all the financial figures reported in our press release issued yesterday and in this presentation are shown according to IFRS 5. Therefore, excluding the Chinese business from the upper part of the income statement and considering its assets and liabilities into dedicated and segregated lines of the balance sheet. The consolidated financials according to IFRS are highlighting an EBIT for 2024, which is just above 2023's EBIT result. So according to this representation, the EBIT metric of our guidance was met. Should we have reported according to the previous representation, thus representing the Chinese activities within all the lines of the consolidated income statement, the 2024 EBIT would have been lower than 2023's EBIT, slightly lower, thus highlighting a slight miss on the EBIT guidance. Well, this variance is, of course, due to a performance that in general terms was slightly weaker than expected, especially in the laser cutting business unit. But bottom line, we can also identify a couple of specific and unexpected events that caused the EBIT of Q4 2024 to not to be high enough to achieve the annual goal according to the former presentation of the financials and beat 2023's fourth quarter EBIT under the full consolidated representation. The first element was the deterioration of the situation related to our Japanese subsidiary with us, and the financial downturn of its largest customer that continue to affect its activity and income in excess of the allowances that we had already provided for in the previous quarters. By the way, in early 2025, we eventually decided to dispose of the control of Withus, which is not anymore within the consolidation perimeter of the group. Second, the unfavorable court ruling on the dispute initiated by Penta Laser Zhejiang customer [indiscernible] that was disputing the compliance to contractual specification of the complex production line complete of laser cutting systems and automatic material handling and sorting that Penta had installed at customer's facility forced us to book additional allowances for about EUR 2 million. Apart from the metric of meeting the guidance, we are pleased with our performance in the medical sector for 2024, which achieved a year-on-year revenue increase of roughly 4%. This is especially commendable given the overall market conditions, which have been less favorable than in the previous years. Notably, the U.S. market for medical aesthetic application has been reported to be contracting as indicated by the weak performance of several competitors. Our diverse range of products and distribution channels enabled the group to effectively navigate the challenges faced in specific application segments and with certain distributors on the U.S. territory in 2024. As usual, the launch of new products was a key factor of our success. Let me here mention DEKA's RedTouch for pigmented lesions and melasma. DEKA ONDA PRO, representing the evolution of a body countering device into a skin tightening and rejuvenation device for facial anti-aging treatments. [indiscernible] Red Edition MeDioStar redefining the diode-based hair removal approach, and Quanta System Magneto setting a new standard for effective store management in the urological field. On the other side, we couldn't be pleased with the performance of our Industrial sector, but we nevertheless continued to invest in innovation and more effective distribution for the companies engaged in the market of system for the manufacturing world. Customization and special purpose systems are being designed, manufactured and are gaining an increasing share of our total sales, both in the marking and in the cutting market. Distribution subsidiaries to enhance our ability to sell and serve our customers have been set up in several European countries and start to be effectively accretive to revenue and profit generation. Enrico will highlight the details of the performance of our business segments and business areas. But before he goes ahead with his presentation, I would like to mention that for the first time, revenues for the art conservation business exceeded EUR 1 billion in 2024. This financially is quite irrelevant and probably the unit -- the business unit P&L is barely in the black. But in the EL.En group, we are all very proud of this achievement as it testifies our effort in the social use of our technologies and the effectiveness of our technology under this profile. Moreover, since our sustainability policies that I always like to and have to state reaffirm our commitment to sustainable development and the environmental and social responsibility are increasingly becoming an integral part of our business model. I find that one of their most concrete applications is our art conservation business. And this gives me the opportunity to close this section of my presentation, highlighting that all our anti-aging applications are contributing to the well-being of our ultimate customers. And even though recently, sustainability and ESG do not seem to be particularly popular or trendy anymore, I think it makes sense to underline that this kind of sustainability approach has always been and will always be a cornerstone of our business development. Enrico, thank you. You can go ahead.

Thank you, Andrea. Good morning, everybody. And I give you a comment on our last financials. As already mentioned by Andrea, the 2024 and also the 2023 has been prepared in accordance with IFRS accounting principles, reclassifying the contribution of the Chinese industrial cutting division in the asset liabilities and in the income statement results from discontinued operation, both for the current and for the previous year due to the ongoing negotiation for the sale of the cutting division. The 2024 financial year concluded with consolidated revenues of EUR 565.8 million, a slight decline of 1.8% compared to the 2023. The medical sector recorded a positive recovery quarter after quarter with an overall revenue increase at the end of the year of 4.6% and 11.4% increase in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2023. In contrast, the Industrial sector continued to suffer due to the weakness of the Italian market with a quarterly revenue decline of 33%, leading to an annual reduction of 15.3%. Gross margin was EUR 245.6 million, an increase of 4.6% compared to the EUR 234.8 million as of December 2023, with a recovery in sales margin from 40.8% to 43.4%. The improvement recorded was based on a favorable sales mix characterized by an increase in sales in the Medical sector, which has higher margins amid the decline in the Industrial sector. Additionally, the geographical sales mix in the Industrial sector with a decrease in the Italian market and an increase in export with high margins contributed to greater overall profitability. The improvement in gross margin is also due for EUR 1.9 million, equal to 0.3 percentage point of turnover from the proceeds for insurance and government reimbursement relating to the damage caused by the flood of Campi Bisenzio in November 2023 already accounted in the first half of 2024. Operating expenses increased and the impact in sales up from 8.7% to 9.7%. And the main reason are the sales and marketing expenses for trade fairs and Congress incurred by both medical and industrial companies and R&D expenses. Staff cost increased in value for EUR 6.2 million, plus 6.8% and has impact on sales from 16.1% to 17.5%. The national cost for stock option plans in favor of employees amounted to EUR 2.1 million in the 2024 against the EUR 1.6 million in the first half of 2023. EBITDA was EUR 91.8 million, in line with the EUR 92.2 million as of December 2023. The impact on revenue marginally increased from 16.2% in 2024 from the 16% in 2023. Cost for depreciation and provision decreased from EUR 15.9 million to EUR 15.5 million, and the impact on turnover is stable at 2.4%. EBIT showed a positive balance of EUR 78.3 million, slightly up from EUR 78.2 million from the last year with an EBIT margin of 13.8% compared to the 13.6% in the previous year. Financial management recorded a positive net result of EUR 0.8 million, a significant increase compared to the negative result of EUR 0.4 million from last year, partially due to the positive foreign exchange differences, but mainly due to the financial income plus EUR 1.4 million, resulting from the management of the cash held particularly by [indiscernible]. The exit of private equity funds from Penta Laser Zhejiang marked the impossibility of completing the company's IPO in the Chinese market. And according to the contractual clauses stated in 2019 for the purchase of shares in Penta Zhejiang, the listing by November 2024 was a condition for the payment of an earn-out of EUR 5 million to the minority partner liquidated at the end of 2019. Consequently, the financial liability was eliminated in Ot-las, holding company of the Chinese entities, recognizing the related income. The result before taxes shows a positive balance of EUR 84.1 million compared to the EUR 77.8 million for 2023, marking an increase of 8%. The tax burden for the year benefited from the agreement signed by EL.En with the tax office for the renewal of the so-called patent box for the period 2020-'24. The onetime benefit was around EUR 3 million. The net result from discontinued operations refers to Penta Laser Zhejiang and it's Chinese subsidiaries and amounted to EUR 3.5 million as loss. Excluding the capital gain from the sales of 100% of the shares of Cutlite Penta to Ot-las affected in the month of August, the consolidated loss of the Chinese cutting division increased from EUR 3.5 million to EUR 10.4 million of growth. And this amount is accounted in the discontinued operation. The group closed the 2024 financial year with a net income of EUR 51.6 million compared to EUR 48.2 million from the previous year with an increase of 7%. Looking to the balance sheet. The balance sheet is also prepared in accordance with IFRS 5 standard and the contribution of the Chinese industrial cutting division has been reclassified in the asset and liabilities from discontinued operation, both for the current year and for the previous year. We could note a decrease in noncurrent assets, mainly due to the disposal of the mid-long-term liquidity investment in insurance policy during the Q2 of 2024 for a fair value of EUR 16 million. And in the year, we had a strong cash generation. At the end of the year, the net financial position stood at EUR 110.6 million from the EUR 60 million at the beginning of the year, showing a strong financial stability of the group. The capital expenditure in the 2024 was EUR 13.3 million when in the 2023 was EUR 11.6 million. The group generated cash from operating activity. And in the year, we had a reduction in net working capital. We had one-off positive contribution to the net financial position from the elimination of the financial liability related to the earn-out for the EUR 5 million already mentioned before and from the disposal of long-term investment in insurance policies of EUR 16 million. The residual amount of this kind of investment accounted in noncurrent asset is still EUR 7.5 million. In the year, we had capital expenditure of EUR 15.3 million, and we paid EUR 17 million of dividends. The proposed dividend to be paid in May 2025 was EUR 0.22 for a total disbursement of EUR 17.6 million. In the [indiscernible] what concerns the revenue breakdown by business, the sales in Medical sector increase of 5% in 2024, thanks to the good performance achieved in Q3 and Q4 2024. Opposite is the result in the Industrial sales with a decrease of 15%, mainly due to the cutting division. In Medical, the increase of medical sales is mainly driven by post sales revenue, which reached EUR 79.6 million, plus 14%. The revenue from System, the fastest growth was recorded in the Aesthetic sector with an increase of 4%, reaching a revenue of about EUR 235 million compared to the EUR 226 million over last year. Thanks to the excellent performance in the fourth quarter, Therapy segment also grew by 2% year-on-year, exceeding the revenue result of 2023. Sales in Surgical are flat, but a strong contribution to sales was provided by optical fibers used as consumable in urological surgery and representing 14% of sales in the segment of goods and after-sale service. The Industrial sector, an overall decline of about 15%. In the Industrial sector, the overall decline of 15% is recorded mainly to the Cutting segment, showing a decrease of 24%. The Marking segment registered a growth of 6% and the most sustained growth in revenue was registered in the post-sale service amounting to EUR 17 million with an increase of 19%, a direct effect with the rapid increase in the number of systems installed over the last 2 years. The laser source, a decrease of 17%. In terms of geographical distribution, the most significant growth was achieved in Europe and in the Rest of the World. Italian market continued to be weak, particularly in the Industrial sector with a drop of 40% in sales. On the other hand, on the medical market in Italy, we had a growth of 3%. The Medical sector in Europe, we had a growth of 6%, while sales in the Rest of the World increase of 3%. In the Industrial sector, there was a strong performance in international markets with robust growth in Europe, plus 10% and mainly in the Rest of the World, primarily due to a rapid development across all other markets, particularly in the U.S. Andrea, can you go ahead for a comment on the guidance.

Thank you, Enrico. Thank you very much. So concerning the 2025 guidance, we wanted to accurately represent in our press release the mood under which our budget and forecast for 2025 were drafted and also the mood we are currently have in approaching this new year. As you know that our forecast cannot be made on fixed orders since we do not and never had any visibility longer than a few months in our order books to define the guidelines for the financial results of the full year. The projections we were outlining at the end of last year, we're combining the extrapolation of the trend of the latest months with the forecast about the local and world economy, and we're subsequently allowing a good degree of optimism. As we have seen, the trend of 2024 was a progressive strengthening of the medical market and the rebalancing of the demand in industrial market, especially in Italy after a very tough and weak year. As of today, roughly 3 months later, we have been able to verify that the sales and order bookings trend over the first 2 months is in line with such expectations, maybe a little weaker than expected on the U.S. market, but positive. However, the outlook for the rest of the year is more complex due to the ongoing conflicts and instability in international political relations, which for the time being, have led to increased caution from central banks regarding interest rate cuts, which has, of course, an impact on the ability and potential of our customers to fund their investment in capital goods has led to the weakening of the U.S. dollar and to forecast of a slowdown of the U.S. economy. In this very uncertain economic context, we decided to include more prudence in our guidance and anticipated, we plan to achieve our revenue growth, particularly in the industrial sector and operating results aligned with that of 2024. The qualification of the expected growth on industrial sector reflects the fact that in the medical sector, there will be an impact on revenues due to the exit of our Japanese subsidiary with us, which was worth more than EUR 10 million in 2024 in terms of revenue on the medical business. Moreover, in 2025, we will have to put up with a decline in sales to one of our historical customers, Cynosure, as a consequence of it being acquired by Korean Funhan and merged with the Korean medical laser manufacturer, Lutronic, that will eventually provide to Cynosure, the high-power alexandrite lasers for hair removal, [indiscernible] has been providing them in the last year. On these remarks, I would like once again to share with you my confidence in the ability of our group to continuously and consistently innovate and renovate in order to be able to face and overcome the challenges we are facing and to seize the opportunities that our markets are presenting. With this, we are done with our prepared remarks and so we are open to your questions.

Okay. I'll start if everyone is okay.

Yes, Giovanni Selvetti from Berenberg has a question.

The first question is maybe on the legal dispute. So I was wondering if you can explain a bit better what happened because as far as I remember, there were already some provision for the legal dispute ahead of a possible loss. And now I can see an additional cost of EUR 2 million, which is not exactly small. So I was wondering what happened there? And if in a way, this is bad in the sense that, of course, it's now lost, but at least it's something that it gets out of the negotiation with the possible acquirer of the Chinese company. And maybe, again, if you can -- I don't know how much you can say, but staying on China, I was wondering what drove the deterioration in the last quarter and how this is going to impact the success of the possible deal? And probably the third one is on the guidance. I mean, I understand that the variables on the plate are several, right, with possible tariffs and so on and so forth. But I wonder how can you think of increasing the revenues without increasing the EBIT in a sense? So if you can elaborate a bit more. Maybe you just mentioned the possible loss of some revenues with Cynosure. And so maybe if you can quantify how much are now the revenues from Cynosure and what are your expectations going forward?

Okay. Legal, you're right. We already booked a considerable provision last year. Enrico could be more precise, but I believe the provision was roughly EUR 2.5 million. We are talking of a very large plant we supply to a customer. Order of magnitude of the supply is EUR 6 million. And the supply took place years ago. So I mean, because the customer didn't want to install it, there were several problems on installation, which delayed installation. When they sued us in early 2024, we calculated a provision based on an expected outcome of the dispute in which we thought we were going to get some kind of acknowledgment of what we have done. While quite surprisingly, the ruling was absolutely negative for Penta Laser Zhejiang and therefore, we had to accrue a further allowance to cover not only what we had deemed would have been the possible cost of a possible unfavorable, but not fully unfavorable ruling, but we are allowing for the fully unfavorable ruling. We are appealing, but for the time being, this is what we need to account for as allowance on the sale. Concerning the sale of the company, of course, has several issues that surfaced before the transaction, the outcome of the lawsuit is on us. So I mean, either we -- in part, it is reflected in the price. And should any further cost hits the company based on the consequences on the lawsuit, it would be on us. This is a standard breadth and warranty within the sale contract. On the other side, if we would win the appeal, this would lead to an increase in the price or a reimbursement to us. Concerning the fact that the Chinese performance was negative in the fourth quarter, even more than in the past. Of course, the impact of this allowance was very important. So this does not affect the current business because it's not current business anymore. We are talking of a supply, which was initiated in 2023, which was concluded in mid-2024 and was disputed -- excuse me, initiated in 2022, completed in 2023 and disputed in early 2024. So for the time being, even though it is obvious that the Chinese market is very challenging, this is not affecting the -- or at least this is not explicitly effectively affecting the deal. Concerning the guidance, yes. I understand your point and your questions. In this year 2024, we had a severe reduction in revenues, but we had a slight reduction in profits. Also according to the new representation, we had an increase in EBIT. And in both representation, we had an increase in net profit, which is due to a mix effect. We had more sales in Medical. And therefore, since Medical has an average margin, which is higher, we had a positive impact on the consolidated margin. And within the Industrial business, we had less sales in Italy, which bears lower margin than the foreign sales abroad. As our reaction, as we expect in 2025, our reaction to the downturn in Italy by the Industrial business, we expect sales in Italy to increase again and therefore, average margin for the cutting business to decrease or to have an impact in the decrease in direction due to this event. And also, we expect the share of industrial revenues to slightly increase and therefore, affecting the mix. Moreover, I'm talking in this case about mixes, if we go down to the expected profitability of each business, we now need to account for a weaker dollar and the weaker dollar considering that we had roughly more than USD 90 million of revenues means also a lower margin on that piece of business. And so in a way, the answer to the question, why are you planning to increase revenues and correspondingly, you are not planning to increase profitability. It's a mirror answer to what happened in 2024 where we decreased revenue without affecting substantially profitability.

Maybe to finish, like you said, $90 million. Okay. Okay. And maybe if you like -- the last question, I didn't get the answer how much is Cynosure today and how much you expect this to change?

We never disclosed the figure, but it's a figure which as a difference is going to exceed EUR 10 million. [Foreign Language].

Andrea, we have one question from Carlo Maritano of Intermonte.

I just have a quick follow-up on Cynosure. I was just wondering if you -- in your mind, revenues from this client are going to 0 in the long term or it is just a reduction in the order of magnitude of revenues booked with this client? The second question is on the potential impact from duties. Have you done any kind of estimate of what could be the impact for you in case of duties introduced for your machinery? And the third question is on the U.S. sales. I was wondering how much of -- looking at the new perimeter in case of the Chinese disposal, how much of your revenues are related to the U.S. market on your new [indiscernible]?

Carlo, I prepared a speech on tariffs because I knew that it was going to be a question. So let me answer before the question on tariffs on which I'm just explaining what can happen. But I mean, we decided -- I mean, I could also sound trivial, but I mean, in our case, the potential imposition of tariffs primarily leads to an increase in the purchase cost for our foreign customers in a country subject to tariffs. Secondly, the foreign customer will ask or would ask us to neutralize entirely or in part the burden they must bear for tariffs through a discount on the sold goods. Therefore, the effects of tariffs depend on the agreements reached with our customer can vary between 2 extremes, a mere increase in cost for our customer, which affects the sales volume as it effectively translates to a price increase. On the other side, a complete absorption of the tariffs through a discount on our supplies, which means a corresponding reduction in margins. Most likely, the effect would be an intermediate effect between less sales with the same margins or, let's say, the same sales with lower margins. I don't have an answer. I know that some of our U.S. customers volunteered to support their country policy to cover part of the tariffs, they would be charged if they would be charged. But as I just said, this doesn't mean that this doesn't have any effect because if they volunteer in paying them, they will have to increase the prices on the market, and they will be probably subjected to a decrease in volumes. But we don't know anything about tariffs and if we will be subjected to tariffs and how much the tariffs would be imposed and this is concerned the U.S. And then we don't know what will happen in other markets as an answer or a reaction to the imposition of tariffs on the United States. So what I can say and what we said is that we are not factoring in any effect due to tariffs in our projections that we shared with you with our guidance. Concerning Cynosure, the point is that for what concern the specific product we are providing them today, we probably will see a decline getting to an end of the supply. Then we will continue to supply spare parts, which is a few millions per year because spare parts, but also this will be declining over the time. It doesn't mean that we cannot maintain a good relation with Cynosure and have them be interested to future developments of new products that they are not able to develop with their own technology that we can provide then. This happened several times. And I don't see why it couldn't happen again, but it's simply not planned yet. Concerning the volumes of sales to the United States, I just mentioned the amount of sales answering the previous question, Giovanni Selvetti's question. And the order of magnitude of sales to the U.S. market, which is a little bit -- is just below EUR 90 million, 9-0, more or less was in 2024.

If I may, I will go on my side. Can you hear me?

Yes.

Very quickly, going back on the duty side, you already mentioned this in our previous calls. Can you briefly recap what's the competitive situation in terms of local production from, let's say, U.S. competitor? Because I remember that most of your products are manufactured abroad. I mean most of your industry products are manufactured abroad, Italy, Europe, Israel, Korea, maybe. So just a brief recap on what's your competitive position in terms if the client can't find a local content or if there is no alternative?

Andrea. Yes, it's a good point. In the industrial market, we are providing a product for which there are no relevant U.S. manufacturers and supply. Therefore, the imposition of tariffs would result since we are serving the manufacturing industry in an increase of the cost for the industry we are serving without any advantage for any local manufacturer. And this is the industrial. In the Medical, there are U.S. manufacturers, but we believe that probably more than 2/3 of the U.S. market is served by manufacturers which are outside the United States. Moreover, it's quite ironic. I am under the impression that several U.S. manufacturers actually is manufacturing in Mexico. So they are American, but they are using third-party manufacturers which are placed in Mexico. And so they wouldn't be exempt from tariffs or maybe they already aren't exempt for this. Generally speaking, I think that the imposition of tariffs on most of our products would be bottom line punitive to the U.S. customers and consumer without any particular benefit to U.S. manufacturers competing on the same business apart from a few of them, which anyway are today representing a small share of the market in the United States.

Andrea, we have no more questions registered at this moment in our list.

I have some follow-up if that's okay.

Sorry, I haven't finished actually, sorry.

Andrea Bonfa. So please, Andreas, you.

Yes. Very quickly on your answer, the EUR 90 million sales that you were mentioning before, do they include also the -- is it only medical? Or do they include also the metal laser cutting?

They include all the sales.

Go on Giovanni.

I was just finishing. Well, I have another question maybe to follow up on the competitive environment because it's true that in a way, maybe the partnership with Cynosure is going to slow down a little bit based on the merger that they had. But at the same time, I could see that a few days ago, Cutera filed for bankruptcy. So I was wondering because this was the main player for the acne treatment, if in a way, this could give you a boost to be the only major player there. And more of a general question, if you see the industry consolidating further going forward?

There could be more consolidation, yes. Consolidation is hard in our business. I believe that the first year of consolidation of Lutronic with Cynosure has been largely unsuccessful to what we hear and what we -- but it's very complex to consolidate companies in our group and to be successful in consolidation. But there could be more consolidation. The Cutera bankruptcy is not a bankruptcy. So it is a formal bankruptcy, but it's a smart transaction by a group of investors who is delisting the company, taking control of it and relieving the company from a very large debt it has mainly against themselves. So they are writing off a large part of their investment, but they are investing a smaller amount of money to become the only shareholders of the company and to make it, for its actual size, stronger. So when we read the news, we thought that we had, let's say, that a competitor was leaving the market, exiting the market. But in fact, it's not a bankruptcy, but it's a Chapter 11, which means it's a reorganization of the financial liabilities and of the share capital of the company in order for the company to survive. So what will remain of Cutera is the wrong approach in their distribution of their acne device, but the acne device and their market positioning will not be removed from the table.

Okay. And maybe a follow-up, considering that despite everything, the cash position is quite solid. It almost doubled in the year. I was wondering if there is an intention to distribute more in terms of like accelerating the buyback or if you prefer to leave it there for further, a, acquisition in the future, b, investments that you feel you need to do?

I mean we face this topic also in light of the possible cash inflow, which would, of course, take place when we will close upon finalization of the negotiation, the transaction for the sale of the Chinese company and let's say -- so we will have a further cash inflow. We do not plan to specifically target M&A activity as a goal for the transformation of our company. We will continue to invest in the internal structures of our companies in order to make them grow faster and to pursue a fast internal growth, probably hopefully faster than the one we have been able to guide you to today. And we might also consider distributing richer dividends or other transaction on capital, but we have no firm plan and we cannot, in this moment, disclose anything about use of cash different from the use for internal and progressive investment aimed for internal and progressive growth of our group.

Andrea, we have no more questions registered at this moment in our list. I would like to ask investors still connected if there are any further questions. Any more questions from the part of investors? No. Okay, no more questions. Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is over. If you have some questions to investigate in the future, please do not hesitate to contact Enrico Romagnoli that we'll be happy to answer your questions. Thank you for attending this conference, and we hope to have you all again next time. Good afternoon to everybody. Bye.